Imp-aling

Under the piercing moonlight overhead, five thousand or so of the small demons the pair had encountered earlier that night swarmed towards the temple like a plague of ravenous rats, their combined chittering and cackling creating a maddening noise that carried far above the surrounding trees and into the broken night. Amongst the sea of black imps, at least twelve Haerjoord were treading a deliberate path towards the temple. The imps clustered most densely around their larger brethren like clingy offspring.

The dark horde did not surround the temple, but rather hemmed themselves in against its gate and the front walls, the imps clambering feverishly over each other to get closer and closer. Within the walls, Fred and Astra could see a crowd of torch wielding monks huddled in terror near the temple door. They parted ranks swiftly as Father Tyburn stampeded through them towards the gate. Stopping within a few feet of the gate and the unholy army behind it, he threw his arms into the air in a grand gesture.

"Begone, fell Core filth! This place is your antithesis, and your mere presence here is offensive to the balance! Back, back to your pits and your dens! In the name of Duskvar, LEAVE THIS PLACE!"

"Give me your sword." ordered Astra quietly, holding out her hand. Fred complied without thinking, still staring agape at the demon horde. Realising what he had just done, he turned to Astra in time to see her pour a portion of the holy water over the blade of his weapon. The water almost seemed to clamp onto the cool steel, glowing in the silver moonlight. "Uh.....why are you doing that, Astra?" inquired Fred. He didn't like that blazing glint in her eye. She handed him back the sword and picked her stick back up. "It'll hopefully make them easier to kill." she replied.

There was silence for a while, except of course for the demons, who were collectively mocking Tyburn's order with guttural laughter.

"What do you mean?" asked Fred, instantly wishing he hadn't.

"You said we should help the monks." muttered Astra, surveying the scene with a cold, analytical precision. She fingered the tip of her makeshift spear, then tipped another splash of Zarach's water over it.

"No, no. No. What I said was that we should go and see if we can help the monks. There's a definite difference. Now, I haven't counted all of them, but I'm fairly certain that the odds...."

Astra charged forwards, spear held aloft, her battle cry lifting itself even above the demons' cacophony. Fred made a noise that could realistically only be compared to that of a dying whale, and with that he pelted after Astra, giving his sword a couple of experimental swings as he ran.

Thankfully, the vast majority of the black army remained focused on the temple, as they made attempt after attempt to break down the silver gate or scale the high walls next to it. However, two of the Haerjoord and a good hundred imps did turned to face whatever had made that deep-throated bellow of defiance. Astra sprinted towards the nearest cluster of imps, drawing her damp spear back like a bow string. As the closest imp prepared to leap into attack, she drove her weapon into it. And the imp behind it. And the next three behind those two. They howled and wriggled their impaled bodies on the consecrated wood for a single second before disintegrating into a puff of dusty shadow.

Astra did not stop. Her muscles were tense and primed, her mind was clear, her will was focused. She charged deeper into the fold, skewering yet more of the imps as her previous victims collapsed into pieces in her wake. She could feel her heart pounding enthusiastically; a child clapping with glee as the bard plays her favourite song. Here, in this place, surrounded by death, Astra felt alive.

When Fred reached the outskirts of the throng of demons, all their attention was focused on the rampaging warrior woman. He swiped at the crowd unimpeded. Those imps that found themselves in the path of Fred's blade did not even last a second, imploding instantly into the virile chaos-mass that comprised their being. Energised by his apparent advantage over the beasts, Fred began hacking a swathe towards Astra. He saw her, now spinning on the spot like a sentient cyclone, flinging enemies far and wide as her spear whacked them with awesome force. The lucky few that succeeded in dodging the sanctified wooden weapon could only hope to cling onto Astra's body and half-open their jaws before either the centrifugal force of her whirling or a well place hand chop sent them hurtling into their nonplussed siblings.

Fred staggered to Astra's side as her mammoth spin manoeuver ceased, his armored back laden with several gnashing, biting imps. One was getting far too close to his neck. "I could use some help!" yelled Fred, turning his back to Astra to defend against the foes that closed in behind him in an instant. He felt a couple of breaths of wind at the back of his neck, some rapidly fading agonised cries, and the weight was gone from his back. Then a familiar sensation; Astra had pressed her back against his.

"My, this tactic really works!" shouted Fred as he stroked his sword back and forth, slaying countless more of the demons.

"Keep turning!" ordered Astra. "Don't let them adapt!"

Fred complied. There they fought, back to back, rotating on the spot. All that dared come within their weapons' reach was dispatched without mercy. The pair's actions had attracted the attention of several more imp contingents, and fresh platoons scampered towards the knight and the warrior as they identified the more immediate threat.

"I think more are coming!" yelled Fred, kicking an imp into the air. "That's good, isn't it?"

"Not really." growled Astra. She looked up at the two Haerjoord as they stamped their furious way across the ruined grass towards them. They would be in attacking distance in a few seconds.

1. Just then, a blinding light emitted from the temple, bathing all in a brilliant glow.
2. Astra steeled herself for the impending battle with the massive creatures.
3. Fred cried out as a wily imp succeeded in jumping on his face.
4. Suddenly, every single imp and Haerjoord stopped and stood motionless, a look of confusion on each of their expressions.

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