Hell Contractor: Rise of the Last God

Demon Hounds.

Now that Ayanda realizes that it's the evil Abyss Sect, he has roughly estimated his chances of survival as being far lower than before. If he had known before, he would have made plans to leave the canyon he was camped in. All he can do now is think of a way out, but as soon as he tries to move his body, his entire head suddenly bears an unbearable weight. The veins on the side of his head begin to pop out as he struggles to lift his head, but for some reason, his whole body has lost it's strength.

"Don't bother. Once Petal left her mark on you, you were trapped." the leader says to Ayanda casually as Sipho takes his syringe and injects it into his neck. The syringe is empty, and Sipho uses it to draw some of Ayanda's blood. As the blood comes out, a tiny sliver of metal suddenly forms within the blood in the syringe, which eventually takes the shape of a tiny coin with the face of a monkey on it. The coin shrinks to become much more microscopic, and then Sipho injects the blood back into Ayanda. There's a sudden rush that flows within his bloodstream, and he can feel the tiny coin floating around his chest. Sipho takes a step back, then nods to Luka.

Luka turns to the leader to await for more instructions, but the leader simply waves her hand for him to move on with his scheme. He lifts Ayanda up like a feather, and hoists him over his shoulder. Ayanda suddenly feels all the blood rushing to his head, as well as the Tranquilizer Mark, but with Petal's lock on him, Ayanda can't even move an inch, he's forced to endure the heavy burden which starts to push against his skull, pushing his heart even harder. Ayanda begins to suffocate, he can't even express it in any way. By the time Luka places him down to scout ahead, he's almost passed out 3 times. Once on the ground, he can finally breathe easily, and starts to come up with any plan he can think of to escape, but his main problem is the lock Petal has placed in his forehead. Unless he can sever its hold over him, he's doomed.

Razor and Luka are both scanning the entrance of the inner chamber for any signs of the hidden beast. Razor silently nods to Luka, who picks up Ayanda again, but now his movement is so fast, that he places Ayanda near the entrance and returns in between the hidden beast teleporting. The second Luka gets back to his original position, Razor has a look of horror on his twisted face when he sees the hidden beast is right behind Luka. Up close, he can now see the chimera with black lion heads, connected to the body of a giant shadow furred goat, with an onyx viper for a tail. The lion heads have bloodshot eyes, with the slit pupils focused on Luka, who senses danger and brings out his Werewolf Alpha companion beast out in its full form. Luka pulls out a tusk like dagger, which oozes bloodthirsty intent, and along with his Werewolf, they crisscross in a lethal move which appears to be based on a sacred art that focuses of knifework. 

Razor immediately summons his companion beast, which looks like a grumpy old goblin shaman with a long smoking pipe. The goblin blows a tremendous amount of purple smoke out to shroud Luka as he attacks the scary chimera. As soon as Razor has provided cover, there's is a painful howl of a wolf, followed by Luka bursting out of the smoke grasping his broken arm which has exposed flesh and bones sticking out. He coughs out a painful amount of blood and dashes past Razor while screaming, "Run! It's a mythical beast that can use sacred arts!"

Just hearing those last words made Razor summon his goblin shaman into his own form, then quickly phases into the ground just as a goats hoof slams into the ground where he was through a dark vortex. The chimera reappears by the entrance again, and sniffs around Ayanda's body. Ayanda had just witnessed the ferocity of this space element chimera a moment ago, so now he's practically resigned himself to being a light snack for the chimera. But after it sniffed him for a while, the chimera actually uses it viper tail to pick up Ayanda, then place him on its back before suddenly teleporting away.

 Back at the camp where The Twilight Vanguard company were waiting for Luka and Razor to return, now has Sipho frantically bandaging Luka's wounds, with Luka arguing with Sipho's lack of medical skills in actually treating him. Razor is giving his report to the leader while Petal stands on guard.

"A wild mythical chimera!?" the leader was astonished. As far as chimeras go, they were supposedly exclusive to the west, but not many people know much about the west since the level of beasts are usually at mythical in those parts. Just imagining how someone was even able to bring one this far east makes the leader struggle to come up with a new plan.

"Should we call for reinforcements?" Razor asked. Even for himself, taking on a mythical level beast is possible, but if it can use sacred arts, then even the master of the Abyss Sect may have issues. Mythical beasts that can use sacred arts have higher levels of intelligence that most beasts, even humans. If a wild beast can fight with sacred arts, that means it had a powerful master that trained it, and also continued to cultivate his foundation to have its learned sacred art reach a mythical level. Not even the most powerful master can contend with a beast that has a higher sacred art cultivation, so the chimera already has them beaten when it comes to martial art skills.

"Let me take care of it. My sacred art is about to be promoted to match my mythical beast, so I can take it out at long as he's taken the bait." she looks over to Luka who's almost calmed down now.

"I definitely let that rat there! If that damn cat couldn't use sacred arts, I could take him on myself!" he argues as Sipho wraps up the wound on his thigh. 

The leader assess Luka, then turns to Razor, "Take me to where it is. I'll find a way to deal with it while you provide cover. This time, I'll wait to ambush it after you draw it out." she orders Razor, who accepts and nods confidently. Razor is more at ease as long as the leader bring her mythical companion beast into the fray. There aren't many high level daemons that are willing to be contracted by a human, and fortunately, the leader has Lucifer, which allows her to have control over hell flames that boost her Flame Prison sacred art. With her cultivation, she can stand a chance to take it out. "Sipho, watch over Luka, make sure he doesn't need any more treatment. Petal, guard the camp. We'll be back as soon as we deal with the chimera." the leader issues orders as she vanishes with Razor, who has to speed up to catch up to her.

The leader arrives to the entrance, but doesn't see Ayanda, or even sense the chimera. With only Razor around, she pulls back her cloak hood to reveal a gorgeous face, with soft caramel skin and a thick afro which has been pulled back. Her deep brown eyes alight with a scolding flame that pierces the entire area. "He's gone. And I can't tell where the chimera is." she says as she pulls back her hood. Razor appears next to her and also scans with his nose, sniffing deeply, then he evaporates into smoke which permeates the area where Ayanda was left behind.

"The chimera took him away. But I don't know why I can't sense them anymore. It's like they're not on this mountain." Razor reported in confusion. He couldn't tell if it was a blessing or a trap, but for now, the chimera is the least of their worries. 

"Go back and tell the rest to hurry back here. As long as the chimera is gone, we can go into the temple to look for the treasure." the leader says, and Razor instantly dashes off to bring Luka and the rest of the company, while the leader looks to the entrance of the inner chamber solemnly.

Ayanda is woken up by the sounds of water dripping off stalactites into a shallow pool. The constant dripping noise makes him slowly ease his eyes open. Ayanda is shocked to realize that he is completely naked inside a deep pool of luminous liquid. It has no actual feel or passes any sensation of water, its more like fog or mist that enters Ayanda's bloodstream in order to circulate his body. Ayanda stands up to inspect his surroundings, but as soon as he moves, he realizes the lock he had on his body before doesn't feel as constricting. He suddenly has vast amounts of vitality swelling inside him, but for some reason, he doesn't understand how he even ended up in the magic pool.

As he looks around, Ayanda spots the chimera, which is taking a nap in it's own pool, but its so big that it's basically covered it up entirely, so only the three heads are seen snoozing away. Ayanda never expected that such a cruel monster from before would be relaxing like its at the spa, with its guard down. But what's even more bizarre, is that it brought Ayanda back with it, and even helped heal his body in some way. The vitality poring into him now makes him feel invincible. Ayanda contemplates for some time before deciding to step out of the pool. As he does, he checks to see if the chimera has any problems, but it's almost snoring now, so he feels at ease when he pulls himself to the surface. 

Once Ayanda is outside the pool, he feels the power of the lock in his power trying to slowly come back to control him, but suddenly the vitality mixed into his blood fights back. The struggle is instantaneous, but Ayanda feels that the split seconds are turning into hours, and just has he feels like he can break free from the lock, Sipho's Tranquilizer Mark somehow appears to reinforce Petal's lock. The monkey coin has been like a silent killer, waiting for a chance to react, and now that Ayanda's blood is rushing violently, it's attempting to restrain Ayanda. While he's standing motionless outside the pool, dealing with the internal struggle, the chimera appears to have been woken up by the clashing going on inside Ayanda's body, then takes a moment to think before extending its viper tail over to Ayanda's body, and biting his neck in order to inject a dark venom into his blood. The venom looks like it has galaxies and stars within, providing Ayanda now with unbridled vitality to push back at the restraint on his body. There's almost a lock opening sound that Ayanda can hear as he finally breaks free from Petal's lock, and Sipho's Tranquilizer Mark disintegrates into the venom, changing the color of the venom for a moment. The venom dissolves into Ayanda's blood, and suddenly he can feel the cells in his body brimming with life. 

The chimera has jumped out of it's pool, and now sniffs Ayanda again, this time, jumping up and down like a happy puppy. It looks to Ayanda with its red eyes, and it's as if the chimera is telling Ayanda something. "What do you mean, you know where the mythical beast is?"

The leader of The Twilight Vanguard company is standing inside a temple area beyond the entrance the chimera was guarding. Inside, there are ancient monuments of a behemoth existence, a terrifying dragon shaped body without wing, revealed in an intimidating pose as it domineers with it's ferocious fangs and deadly claws. There are multiple stone statues which are almost breaking out of the walls, in the completely abandoned temple. The leader scans over each monument, taking in the sheer size of the beast depicted.

"s**t! Is this a mythical companion beast! It looks like a dragon!" Luka exclaimed as he slowly makes his way in, leading Sipho and Petal through, with Razor following while spreading tiny metallic pins on to the ground near the entrance.

"I doubt it. Dragons have wings." responded the leader calmly, while still in awe. She turns back to return to the group, but stops abruptly when she sees the blood dripping from Sipho palm. In a split second, Sipho was able to use a powerful sacred art skill to s***h at Luka's neck, and now all the leader, Razor and Petal can do is watch as Luka's decapitated head falls down before he can even say another word. 

The leader bursts with her hell flames, with two devil horns growing out of her forehead, glowing like lava, with Razor and Petal also switching to their sacred arts instantly. Sipho remains standing where he is, with a smug smirk on his face, "Finally, I thought he'd never shut up." he mutters.

"Sipho!!!" the leader rages as she unleashes a wave of fire-chains which wrap around him, binding his body tightly. The chains squeeze him, while the fire sizzles his skin, flaying him instantly, but he doesn't cry out in pain; he actually starts to build up a maniacal laugh which sends chills down Petals spine. 

The leader and Razor are far more hardened, but even Razor found it strange that the hell flames weren't causing Sipho more pain, those flames can burn the soul. "Not many powers can resist the leaders, unless they're at the same level, at least mythical" just as Razor was thinking about how Sipho is able to contend with the leader, Sipho summons his three monkeys, only now one of the monkey grabs the other two, and stuffs them both into its mouth and starts to chew on them. The leader and her company are in shock at what they're witnessing, but become even more shocked when they realize that the monkey that ate the other two has started to transform into a chimpanzee wearing a lime green tuxedo, with a neat gold monocle. The chimpanzee leaps towards the hell flame chains, and pulls Sipho out of their hold almost like a cartoon character would, completely subverting the dangerous power of the flames.

Sipho cackles as he heals very quickly as his companion beast puts him down, then they fuse into a form where Sipho is now dressed in the tuxedo, but has a golden cane that he twirls with his finger, "Forgive me, but I was ordered by our Master to ensure that the companion beast you're looking for, remains lost." he bows apologetically towards the leader.

"Abaddon?" the leader asks without taking his eyes off Sipho. 

Sipho glares at the leader before responding, "Yes, our Great Lord, Master Abaddon, wishes for the Leviathan you seek to remain as a myth. As one of his trusted officers, I was tasked with making sure your mission failed." he arrogantly admits, almost implying that his task was basically complete.

"And what if we don't want to fail?" the leader starts to release more and more hell flames which wrap around her body, forming a brutish armor which is dripping in magma. Razor summons his companion beast, and becomes a frightening specter by using a forbidden sacred art, which actually surprises Sipho. Petal is shaking slightly, but is not faltering. With a pale lavender glow,  she goes through her own mysterious summoning, but remains hidden under her cloak.

The leader and Razor leap towards Sipho, but in the next moment, Sipho somehow teleports behind them to pick them up, and turn them into toy versions of themselves and then vanishes again. The leader's hell flames still exist, but now seem to be burning her transformed self, while Razor has completely lost his coordination, and had to release his forbidden sacred art in order to save his companion beast from being affected.

"Who would've thought Razor turned out to be a filthy Blood Handler! No wonder your nose is so good, you've been mixing rare mythical beast blood with your own." Sipho snickers, reappearing in front of the leader and Razor, who have to hold back their power if they want to stay alive for now. Sipho doesn't seem to be in any rush in attacking them, but his abilities have already transcended reality, so the leader is assuming that Sipho feels like he has the upper hand. "It's a pity, my Beelzebub, was only meant to deal with Lucifer, I didn't think I'd have to also take care of a Blood Handler." Sipho says in disdain. He turns over to glare at Petal, who reluctantly steps away scared. The next second, Sipho points his golden cane at Razor,  and delicate golden chains fly out to wrap his body. He's constricted until his neck snaps, and Sipho throws his body out of the temple towards the entrance to the chamber.

"Razor!" the leader attempts to reach out to stop Sipho, but unfortunately due to her current form, she can't react fast enough. With Luka and Razor now dead, all of her fighting power is gone, and she has to rely on herself, even with Petal around. Petal only has skills from her companion beast that can restrain almost anyone, but they have to be in a weakened state in order for her restraints to be effective. 

Now Sipho looks at the leader with pity in his eyes, " I thought the hidden beast here would have been enough to deter your wild antics, but I'm not pleased in having to kill my Master's daughter."  he mutters to himself before letting out a slow sigh. But just as he is about to point his cane towards the leader, Petal leaps in front of her, even though her body is shaking like jelly.

"Petal, leave. That's an order." the leader firmly shouts at her, but her voice only seems to barely come out.

As Petal is standing as a shield in front of the leader, the temple starts to tremor, vibrating with a low resonance, but is now beginning to become a deep rumble that's building up. Sipho is alerted first by the change, and as soon as he twitches to look away, Petal quickly grabs the leader and vanishes in a plume of lavender flowers. Sipho completely loses track of them momentarily, but is more focused on the sudden changes happening inside the temple chamber he's in. There are sounds of frightening monsters howling and screaming, echoing through as the tremors build up, and the statues all over the chamber begin to crumble and fall, breaking down. 

In the midst of all of this, a lone familiar figure walks out of the falling rubble, coughing up smoke and pushing away at rocks. Sipho barely has to even squint to realize that he's seeing Ayanda come up out of the tremor's epicenter, without so much as a single injury or scar. Even more alarming, is that the chimera from before is following him like his loyal pet.