CH. 31 - A Temple's Curse

Alston groans a bit as she slumps forward while they walk down a large hall. 

"Come onnnn… We've been walking for hourssss…" She groans.

"Do not be so dramatic. It has only been 93 minutes since we entered the temple. We will surely find our way eventually."

Cole says while they come to a crossroads. He thinks for a moment with his hand on his chin before smiling a bit and pointing left.

"Left."

He says while marching onward. Alston is a few steps behind him as she looks up only to sigh and continue following him. They take a few steps when suddenly Alston's foot dips down on a pressure plate under her foot.

In an instant, large spiked walls come flying at her as she stares at them, not given enough time to even react properly. The walls smash together as Alston falls on her butt with an oof, being yanked by Cole and his Soul Shell tentacles.

"Okay, maybe this place isn't so boring.." Alston says, rubbing her head a bit.

"Are you alright?" Cole asks.

"Yeah. I guess we should keep an eye out for more traps?" Alston asks. Cole turns around and sees someone walking down the dark hall towards them.

"Maybe…"

He says softly as the slightly stumbling and awkwardly walking person comes into view. They're wearing normal clothes and a large straw hat covering their face.

"A lost local?" Alston asks, confused by the sudden appearance of the person.

"Not likely."

Cole responds, not removing his gaze from the person. Suddenly, the person pulls out two hand scythes that shine in the darkness. Cole's eyes widen as the person dashes at him moving in inhuman ways. They jump up and slash the two scythes down as he quickly blocks with his Soul Shell.

"Cole!"

Alston calls out. Cole tosses the person back as they fall lifelessly to the ground. They watch as the person lay there for a moment before lifting their legs into the air and then slamming them down to prop themself up. 

"What the fu…"

Alston whispers. Suddenly, another person grabs her from behind.

"Alston!" Cole shouts.

"Big mistake buddy. Putting your hands on me is the last thing you want to do." She says before slapping her hand onto their leg but nothing happens. Alston looks totally confused.

"Wait, what the-"

It then lifts her up off the ground as many more people start surrounding them.

"Let go of me, you prick!"

She shouts before biting her lip hard and drawing blood. She quickly forms a long thin spear from her blood and grabs it with her mouth before twisting her head sharply and running the spear through the person's head causing them to let her go and stumble back.

Alston quickly turns to face the person with her back close to Cole. The person stumbles a bit but no blood comes out. In fact, hay falls down instead.

"Straw? What is going on?" Alston asks, bewildered by the scene unfolding before them.

"Book of Green. It is a strawman spell." Cole says as his eyes sharpen. They look around and see all the people around them are scarecrow strawmen. 

"Magic, huh? This stuff seems to be really useful." Alston says, thinking for only a moment before Cole snaps her back to focus.

"Focus. We are surrounded now." Cole readies himself. "I suppose we will have to destroy the dolls before we move on." Cole says clearly and calmly. Alston looks sharp before getting an idea.

"Oh. Idea!"

She then hardens the blood in her fist and turns towards the wall behind them and slams her fist straight through it, destroying an area of the wall revealing another hall. 

"Ah, perfect." Alston says, satisfied. Cole looks at her confused.

"What-"

"Alright, new plan. You handle the strawmen and I'll handle the cult. Break!" Alston shouts before dashing through the hole in the wall and smashing through another wall past that.

"Alston!" Cole shouts frustratedly before having to block another weaponed attack from the scarecrows.

Alston continues to go smashing through walls with a smile on her face and not a worry in sight.

"This is much faster than figuring out the maze."

Alston says before smashing through a wall into a particularly large and messy room. She slides to a stop as she looks around the room, noting the viscera and blood everywhere.

"This doesn't look good."

She says as she turns towards the low groaning of the now much larger, much more deformed cult leader. 

"More flesh to feed… More flesh to mend…" The leader groans in a low tone. Alston raises an eyebrow at him.

"Okay."

He suddenly extends a large rotten hand towards her and tries to grab her but she calmly puts her hand up in defense, is pushed back a bit by the force but the hand explodes on impact. The leader is surprised as Alston smirks a bit.

"Considering you're made of flesh and blood, I wouldn't do that." Alston warns. He looks at his arm as it reforms.

"I see. A body like yours would be useful to assimilate. Fortunately, I don't need blood to get you."

The leader says, pointing his fingers at her as his hand bones jet out towards her. Her eyes widen as she blocks most of the incoming attacks but is sent flying into the wall behind her with a smash. She falls down before a bony skeleton hand with little to no flesh attached to it, grabs her body. 

"A new world is on the horizon with me at the epicenter. Considering your power set, I would like for you to help me achieve that." The leader offers.

"If this new world smells anything like you, I think I'm good." She says with a grunt as she struggles under his grip. The leader huffs a little in disappointment.

"Fine then."

He says. Suddenly, brink pink tentacles come hurtling through the wall and right into the leader's body, sending him flying back and smashing into the ground. They pull back as the dust clears, Alston falling to the ground. Cole comes stepping through the rubble and dust.

"See what happens when you do not listen to your Hunter?" Cole asks rhetorically.

"Oh, you better not start with that." Alston says with an annoyed look as Cole smirks.

"Blrg… Another talking corpse to rend. It seems the world is more eager than I anticipated."

The leader says with his grotesque voice as he gets up. Cole stares at the monster for a moment before looking at Alston with a completely neutral look.

"What is stinky's problem?" Cole asks, attempting to be funny. Alston tries to hold in a laugh as she shrugs. "I mean really. If you are going to have plans to conquer the world or something, you need to have a look to match. Otherwise you end up like fugly over her-"

Cole gets up off mid sentence as the upper half of his head is slashed off the rest of his body. Alston's eyes widen as Cole's blood splashes across her face and the floor. His body collapses with a thud and a splash of blood as Alston stares at him.

"If you cannot learn to respect the new order, you will be eliminated. Now, I will offer you a chance once more." The leader says, pulling back a sharp whip of flesh and blood. Not listening to his words, Alston stares at Cole's body on the ground.

"Cole…" She says softly as she licks her lips, tasting his blood on her face. She begins to sweat a bit as her cheeks get red and a wide grin spreads on her mouth.

"Cole's…" She smiles a twisted smile with bright eyes and a blushed face.

"Cole's blood…" She moans. The leader sweats a bit, confused.

"Perhaps I should just kill them and move on… Whatever."

He lifts his arm and shoots his fingers at her in an attempt to skewer her. She just waves her hand in his direction and using Cole's seemingly surplus amount of blood, large spikes form from the blood and jet at the leader.

In an instant, he is run through his body and face three times with spikes large enough to tear through the entire temple as well. 

"Wha… This isn't… possible…" The leader sputters out.

"Don't interrupt me. I'm really feeling this glorious moment." Alston says with a sharp look before turning back to Cole's body on the ground and smiling lustfully at him. 

"Monsters…"

The leader says with his final breath before the blood begins to liquify once again and make its way back to its host. Cole's body then sits up as the blood flows into his body. He grabs his upper half of his head and places it on his body.

"I appreciate the leader cutting me so cleanly. It saves me the work of regenerating more." Cole says casually as he heals almost entirely from his injury. Alston smiles coolly at him as they both get up. "It appears you handled the cult leader like you said you would."

"Of course. Thought I was gonna mess it up?" Alston asks smugly.

"Perhaps." Cole says with a soft smile before turning around and walking away. Alston gets an offended look as she follows him.

"Excuse you! Who was the bitch who got his head chopped off??"

"Speaking of which, I heard you say something about my blood while I was out. What were you saying?" Cole asks directly. The question catches Alston off guard as she blushes ever so slightly before looking away defiantly.

"I dunno. Nothing important I guess since you thought I was gonna mess it up." She crosses her arms as they make their way out of the temple collapsing behind them.

In the South Range, Southpaw happily bobs back and forth, expecting their arrival.

"Hey now, how are my two prized pupils??" Southpaw asks excitedly.

"Great-"

Alston says with a smile before getting interrupted by a hand in front of her face as Cole looks down, eyes closed and adamant. 

"Please sir, we all know that's not true. We could never meet such honorable status." Cole says firmly. Alston looks upset.

"Speak for yourself…" Alston pouts. Southpaw sweats a bit but smiles anyway.

"If you say so.. Anyway, how was the cult life?" Southpaw asks.

"Disbanded and dismembered."

Alston puns with a smug smirk. Southpaw laughs a bit before patting her on the head with his big hand.

"You always had a great sense of humor!"

Southpaw says happily. She smiles happily as Cole watches, slight envy in his eyes but composed nonetheless. Southpaw then jumps back and gives them two extra large thumbs up. 

"Great job you two! Purging the cult from the Temple of Demir has been a long time coming. Now the local archeologists can get back to studying the temple with no interruption."

Southpaw says clearly as he smiles at them. The partners both stare at him with blank looks. 

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

Southpaw stares back blankly. They stare in silence for a moment before Southpaw rolls his eyes and exhales loudly.

"I uh.. I take it the temple didn't survive the mission?" Southpaw asks.

"Uhhhh okay, now hear me out, you're gonna think this is really funny-" Alston starts to try and explain while she sweats before Southpaw interrupts her.

"You both failed."

He says firmly. Alston sighs with a defeated smile as Cole lowers his head, the shine on his glasses covering his eyes.

"Well, it was worth a shot." Alston says.

"Go back to the dorms and rest up, failure or not, you still worked hard!" Southpaw says, smiling at them.

"Sir." Cole and Alston say in unison before turning around and exiting, taking the failure on the chin.