Chapter 152

Jaldabaoth was utterly at peace with his entire world. Though the anguish of his father's passing would always be a part of him, another aspect of himself was at peace in a way he had not ever imagined. 'The words of the Supreme Beings have never been so clear to me before… and now I wonder how I could have so sorely misunderstood them.'

With the entire area thoroughly looted and large quantities of ore obtained, what remained was to deal with the inevitable. His demon familiar, a little winged bat through which he could watch when not controlling the Evil Lord of Wrath, revealed the coming of twenty-five hundred quagoa, or so he estimated them to be. 'Just as I predicted, they're going to launch an initial attack to get their most important assets through and disguise their retreat. An intelligent decision, their leader should be spared so he can serve Nazarick.'

The noise of the quagoas' trampling feet over the stone was lower than it should have been as they trotted along, they were obviously endeavoring to be quiet, the dragons were more successful in that much. Presumably they were flying, as the bat wings fluttered back and forth with a heftier breeze against its body than should have existed underneath the mountain.

'One hour or less.' Demiurge considered, and he abandoned the consciousness of the familiar. His mind was back in his own body where it sat cross legged in the now completely empty vault.

He didn't linger, casting it out to dominate the mind of his subordinate, the Evil Lord of Wrath. The towering demon accepted his Master's will over his own, and anticipating the arrival of the quagoa, he ran back to the dwarven Royal Treasury and shut the door behind himself. The handful of summoned demons put their backs to the path the quagoa would come from, seeming to be focused on the prisoners they kept for experimentation, the dwarves and quagoa were few. But it would be enough to drive the point home about common enmity and propel his Master's narrative.

The 'hour' estimate proved to be off by only a little as the quagoa picked up speed. They roared out their war cries and charged at the demons who turned on the attackers in surprise.

They charged the quagoa with the utmost arrogance, taking the earthbound prey on their own level, their claws sweeping out and slashing through six at a time before the quagoa could get close enough to bite or claw for themselves.

Jaldabaoth however, only listened while the quagoa swept past, and seeing prisoners, freed them indiscriminately without thinking, cutting the bindings of dwarf and quagoa alike and pointing back the way they came.

Here and there, his sensitive ears caught a few words.

"Go that way if you want to live!"

"Slay the demons!"

"Defeat the Demon Emperor!"

And the assorted curses and cries of relief and pain all blended together in a kind of musical harmony of the likes Demiurge never tired of in the least.

The demons 'fell' backward, crushing the quagoa on their back, the prisoners, those who were able, ran for their pathetic lives the way they were told. Their shared suffering was such that they grasped even at an enemy's hand if it promised some small hope of salvation.

Pounding feet and cries of hatred and rage quickly changed as the sound of great dragon wings beating in the air outside briefly drowned out all else.

'Now.' Demiurge told himself, and Jaldabaoth emerged from the vault, bellowing with rage as he realized his forces were under attack, the dragons curled their throats and blasted him with their icy breath, Jaldabaoth opened his body up by squaring off against them and holding out his fiery red arms so that he was easily struck. He laughed at the dragons, "Fools! Fools! You may escape for now, but you can't hide forever! I know where it is now! I will finish off the quagoa myself, and chase you down and kill those disgusting animals you call dwarves! I will avenge my past defeat a thousand fold when I skin you alive! I will have you healed and skinned and healed again! Your suffering will be without end! So run! Run and enjoy your delusions while I let you have them! You'll know true despair soon enough!" His body was coated with the blue ice of their breath weapon, but if it was strong enough to do anything against him, they didn't see it.

Jaldabaoth charged toward the fray, his body burning through flesh as he came near to it, the quagoan fur burned as easily as oily animal fat, and his 'fallen' demons began to turn the tide. A few quagoa started to flee as if they were chasing after their courage, others redoubled their efforts.

They clambered over the demons in a desperate bid to take down the beings that looked down on them. Their claws didn't do much damage, but they began to topple the evil beings one by one, slaying the summons.

"It doesn't matter if you kill these… I'll summon more tomorrow and come for you!" Jaldabaoth shouted to the ones who ran. He waded into the fight of those who continued the fight, with the dragons gone, and seeing no hope of escape for themselves, they fought with wild abandon.

Slashing, clawing, desperately trying to reach the apex of the demons where they could get at the vulnerable eyes, some became smears when they were thrown against walls. Others became like squashed bugs when demons quashed them underfoot.

Jaldabaoth himself however, only walked and what came near, turned to ashes and blew away in the little breeze.

The numbers of the quagoan invaders began to dwindle faster and faster, several of Jaldabaoth's weaker summons were dead, but it didn't matter, even those who remained could see that for themselves. Jaldabaoth's mere existence determined their defeat, and brave quagoa died screaming in pain and fear when he came close to them.

But there were no other runners.

They fulfilled their oath to stand and die, buying time for the dragons and their comrades to escape to some form of relative safety.

Finally there were only three remaining quagoa, their backs pressed to the wall, they held their claws up in defiance, one leg back, both claws up. More notably to Jaldabaoth… they were all exactly alike.

He stopped close to them, he pointed down at the three dark streaked quagoa warriors with the bright red stripes in their thick fur, "You three… are you related?"

The surviving demons fell in at either side of Jaldabaoth, forming a semicircle which surrounded the trio against the wall.

"Brothers!" The center quagoa shouted and tensed.

"Brothers, are you… ready to die together?" Jaldabaoth's mocking voice met the three, who shifted on their feet but remained resolute.

"That's right!" They shouted and snarled, baring their teeth at their end maker.

"I will spare the one who kills his brothers." Jaldabaoth replied, the three stopped where they stood.

The center quagoa answered for them all. "Not on your life!" He hissed.

"And you two… does neither of you want to live?" Jaldabaoth pointed from one to the other of the triplets.

"Enough to kill you!" Said the left hand brother.

"But not enough to kill each other!" Said the right hand brother.

Jaldabaoth thought that over, his flames began to heat up and spread, the triplets each pressed as far back against the stone as they could, unable to bear the searing heat or the bright white light of the increasingly heated flames.

It blinded them so much that neither the left nor the right knew why they were falling until the pain hit after they fell to the ground.

The center brother looked down by instinct when he could see as the firelight faded to something tolerable and he heard the noise of his brothers' screams.

Each one was missing the outermost leg from their eldest brother in the middle. They clutched at the stumps that were cauterized at the thigh just below the groin, the claws once turned on Jaldabaoth were now turned to grasping at useless stumps.

Jaldabaoth held the missing legs in a single hand.

Before he could say anything, the center of the trio fell clutching at his right eye socket, his left looking up to see Jaldabaoth had plucked it out of his head, having moved too fast to be seen.

The demon threw the parts away to land with weighty thuds and a nasty 'splat' when a leg crushed the eye. He was howling still when Jaldabaoth repeated the act, taking the left eye as well. "My reward for your faithfulness to each other. You are your brother's legs, they are your eyes. I wonder if you'll make it to the dwarves or not. Now go… run… or I suppose 'hop' away before I change my mind and you become ash." Jaldabaoth laughed as the blinded fumbled for brothers and they for he, then the demon left them alone to whatever end they found for themselves.