Part 8: Defeat and Victory
> You decide to wait and see if you can ambush some of the cultists and take their robes as disguises.
"We should lie in wait and ambush some of the cultists as they leave the temple, so we can take their robes as disguises. Then, we can get inside the temple to take out the summoner while there's nobody around." You say.
The plan is met with approval from your companions. You wait patiently outside the temple for a few hours. A few robed figures leave the temple from time to time, but they quickly notice you and head straight for you. You strike quickly and with deadly force, killing them with your silver dagger before they can speak. You wear their robes and head inside the temple.
Inside the temple smells like death and filth. You feel sick just standing here. Worse, you hear the shuffling of feet and the grunting of monsters straight ahead.
> You stay calm and let your disguises get you past them.
You stay calm and let your disguises get you past them. You manage to walk straight past a group of demons without them doing anything. You walk for several minutes through the foul dungeon, passing groups of demons who just grunt at you, completely unfazed by your presence. Soon, you get to a spiral staircase leading up and climb it.
You emerge from the staircase and find yourself in the main temple area with a fifty foot high ceiling. Countless bones cover the ground, making a loud crunching sound with every step you take. You look up and see a circle of twelve demons standing around an altar, chanting in some foul language that sounds painful just to hear.
Behind them stands the figure in dark robes from before, wielding his twisted scepter. He looks into your eyes and freezes you with his stare. You feel cold, dominated, like a mouse caught in the gaze of a snake. He raises his hand and silence falls across the room. He clearly speaks in their foul language, and the demons turn around to look at you. You slowly back away, preparing to sprint back to the staircase when they charge at you.
You roll under a demon's swing, letting its sword sink into the chest of another demon. You grab your silver dagger and drive it into the knee of a charging demon, causing it to howl in pain and stagger backwards into a wall.
Your party members battle alongside you. Gabri fires an arrow into the head of a demon, before running away as several demons surround and attack him. Galik slashes at a demon and nicks its arm, before being hit with a mace in the chest and falling to the ground.
You yell and fight with all your magic and skill, but it's not enough. One by one, your allies fall to the horde. Stabbed, hacked, bludgeoned and crushed, they fall.
Eventually, only you remain, surrounded by more than a dozen demons. They howl and growl, laughing at you. The robbed figure with the scepter nods, and they advance towards you. A fist the size of a human head flies towards your face, hitting with a crunch. You feel your nose break and blood spurting out of it as you stumble backwards into another demon, clawing at you. You feel claws cutting into your chest and a fist hitting your stomach, sending you into the ground. You spit out a tooth, look up and see a demon raising a sword high in the air, preparing to strike. You close your eyes and await the death blow.
You hear Galik yell and the demons around him cry out in pain. After a few moments, you open your eyes to see several dead demons and Galik standing with a sword in hand.
"RUN!" He yells, and you comply. You sprint away from the demons, heading towards an exit. As you turn a corner, you hear Galik shout in pain. You turn your head slightly and see several demons surrounding him. They tear him apart, ripping off arms, hacking off feet and cutting off his head. You sigh sadly as you continue running. Galik was a good man who died honorably in battle and didn't deserve the fate the gods gave him.
You run further, jumping over a dead body and round another corner. You find yourself in a large hallway with several doors. You head into one of these, closing the door behind you. You hear a cry of pain from inside, and find another person hiding in the corner of the room. It's Reyana. She stares at you desperately, and you can see she is wounded badly. The worst wound is a cut reaching from her shoulder, through her chest and to her stomach. She looks at you with sad, scared eyes.
You hear the demons approaching, and turn around to defend yourself. One demon stands outside the door, trying to get in. You charge forward and slam the door open, hitting the demon in the face and sending it back a few inches. You step out of the room and run your dagger through the surprised demon's chest. It winces and cries out in pain as black smoke emerges from the wound. The smoke condenses into a small ball and floats through the air, before heading straight through the ceiling. You turn your head to the side and watch it disappear. Reyana begins crying as you hear several other demons enter the room. You turn around and stare at them, raising your dagger defensively and readying a spell. The demons charge towards you, howling victoriously. You attempt to fight them off, but there's just too many...
> You transform into your full demon form.
You close your eyes, and focus. You breath in, and out. You feel your body changing, as the demonic powers inside you awaken. You growl slightly, and release a burst of flames, burning one of the approaching demons. It falls backwards, screeching horribly. The rest of them close in, wielding spears and swords. You charge forward and swing your claws at one of the demon's chest, tearing through its armor and flesh. The creature screeches in pain, falling backwards. You stab your claws into the face of another one, killing it instantly. The rest of the demons surround you, but they appear afraid now that you have revealed your true demonic form. You charge forward with a roar, hitting one of the demons and grabbing another, crushing its skull in your hands. You swing your claw, tearing through a third demon's chest and killing it instantly. The rest of them fall back in fear, brandishing their spears and swords. You laugh, baring your fangs at the row of demons.
You focus again, returning to your normal form. You breath in and out, calming yourself down as the pain in your body returns. You look down at your torn clothes and burnt skin. "Well that wasn't fun," you say with a wry smile towards Reyana.
"P-Paorco?" she asks.
"Yeah?" you answer.
"You're a demon!" she says, pointing at you.
You look down at yourself, and then back to her. "Yes. Yes I am."
A grin spreads across your face.
You feel bloodlust rising within you as you look at her. You feel your demonic heritage screaming inside of you to take her, to finish her, to kill her. You clench your hands, taking a deep breath as you look into her terrified eyes.
You know what you are. You are a predator, and she is nothing but prey. You could easily sweep your arm across, shattering her neck and killing her in an instant. Or you could show her true cruelty, and break each of her limbs, allowing her to suffer for days before dying alone in the gods forsaken place.
You look into her eyes, seeing the fear and the tears welling up. You feel your demonic energy surging as your bloodthirst grows.
But then, you think of Galik who was torn to pieces while protecting you. You think of your companions, whom you had tried to protect, lying dead in this horrific place. And you know what you have to do.
"Reyana! Get out of here!" you yell as you throw a fireball at a group of demons.
She looks at you, the fear in her eyes turning to confusion and then to determination.
She turns and runs, dodging the attacks of the demons, and quickly disappearing from sight.
You strike down another demon, moving forward back to the main chamber. You see Galik's body, clawed and hacked many times over.
You enter the main chamber, seeing dozens of demons ahead of you. You raise your hands, and they all suddenly burst into flame, shrieking in pain and anger. You smile, sending a fireball that envelopes several of them. Then you send a wave of demonic energy, knocking many of them off their feet. You walk forward, raising your hand and sending a bolt of energy forward, through a demon's head. You laugh as the demons attempt to attack you, but they are no match for your wrath. Soon, all that's left is a pile of demonic corpses.
You turn your eyes upward, toward the altar and the summoning circle. You can feel the dark magic emanating from it, tingling your skin and sending shivers through your whole body. You slowly approach it, ready for anything.
You step into the summoning circle and see a hooded figure standing above you. Suddenly, you seethe shadow of a horned demon appear behind you, sharp claws raised and jaws open to crush your skull.
"Yes! Yes! Kill him!" the Dark Summoner laughs from the shadows before you.
You turn, trying to avoid the blow, but you're far too slow.
The demon's claw knocks you into the stone wall, and his other claw is raised, about to strike your face and finally end your life.
You widen your eyes as the claw rapidly approaches your face, when suddenly a bolt of lightning strikes the demon. You look up and see Reyana standing next to the summoning circle, a staff in her hand. She fires another bolt of lightning, striking the demon again. The demon roars and turns to attack her, giving you the time you need to catch your breath and stand up.
You run over to the summoning circle, and before the hooded figure can react, you shove your claw through his chest.
He gasps as his body turns to ashes, and within seconds he's gone forever.
The demon shrieks and claws at his body, clearly affected by the death of his summoner. Another lighting bolt hits him. He lets out a final roar, before falling to the floor dead.
"Thank you," you say to Reyana.
"No problem," she smiles holding the wound on her chest. "I owed you one."
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE DARK SUMMONER AND SAVED THE WORLD!
ALL THAT REMAINS IS TO DESTROY THE DARK ALTAR AND THE SUMMONING CIRCLE TO PREVENT OTHER EVIL BEINGS FROM HARNESSING ITS POWER...
A. Smash the altar and burn the summoning circle to ashes.
B. Become the new Dark Summoner. Summon an army of demons to conquer the world and keep Reyana as your slave.