Headed by a Snake

Lulu placed her two fingers upon her lips and blew a kiss.

Tycondrius resisted the urge to recoil as the cold shock of instinctual fear washed through his senses.

The temple's blessed shrine tore apart into 4 twisted black bodies formed of wood and hellfire. In perfect timing, they arranged themselves as descending stairs for Lulu to descend upon. With each step she took, their flesh sizzled against her naked soles and the scent of charcoal suffused the air.

"Sorry for dying, Boss! There was a defector in the forest!" Lulu licked her thick, pink lips, "You know~ what we do to traitors."

Tycon narrowed his eyes, "Are you... implying that you copulate with them?"

The demoness drew a long, sharp fingernail lightly across Tycon's chest, "Pleasure and pain go hand in hand, Ivory Prince."

"...Which means?"

"I tortured the shite out of her, then I murdered her. Kihihi!" The woman giggled as if she'd told the funniest joke in the world.

"Please!!" Priest Villiers begged with his forehead placed against the ground, "Master Invictus, I beg of you! Seal the portals!!"

Tycon pursed his lips and observed his surroundings. The rifts in the walls revealed a plagued, fire and brimstone hellscape beyond. The ceilings were starting to break away, falling up into a twisting vortex of sinner's screams.

He helped the priest up, "Don't be so cross, old priest. Look at the bright side."

Villiers held onto Tycon's shoulders, his nose filled with snot, and his eyes streaming unbroken rivulets of tears, "WHAT BRIGHT SIDE?!?"

Tycon grimaced, hiding his embarrassment that the ritual was more powerful than he expected, "Well... the hells exist-- a fact quite obvious, by now. By the process of induction... this proves that the heavens exist! Isn't it nice to have some validation in your beliefs?"

"Not like this, Master Invictus! Not like thiiiis!!" The priest trembled and put his head down, continuing to sob.

Tycon hesitantly pat the old man's shoulder, "Perhaps you're overreacting? You're in no danger. My guild appears to be doing just fine."

Sasha, the chocolate elf, tightly gripped the back of Tycon's cloak. She wore a look of curiosity and was especially interested in Lulu. Tycon didn't think she was frightened of the glimpses of the hell around her-- just generally shy.

Lone had his weapons at the ready, murmuring prayers to himself. He flinched at every infernal roar and agonized scream-- and there were many of them. That was probably a normal response.

Lone did keep his guard up as his training dictated, so Tycon chose not to reprimand him.

Wolfbanger... Ah. Priest Villiers had pointed at the weretouched boy with a shaking hand. Wolfbanger had opened the temple's small donation box and was stealing the tens of copper and odd silver piece inside.

"Mister Levi, while I commend your attention to detail... Can you not do that while the presiding priest is present?"

Wolfbanger turned momentarily to glare back, "I'll do what I want, Tycon. You can't stop me."

Tycon frowned. That was certainly not the response he was expecting.

The sound of glass shattering resounded in the temple and the air grew still as an uncomfortable silence reigned.

"Wh-what's happening?!" Villiers cried out.

Lulu idly rotated her parasol, "Oh! That's the sound of the barriers breaking! But don't worry, only the small fry will be able to get in."

On cue, a red-skinned, muscled humanoid began to crawl its way through one of the walls. It roared with slavering, pointed teeth, its yellowed eyes filled with hatred.

Tycon casually approached it, pressed his drawn pistol against its forehead, and fired a bullet into its skull. The demon collapsed, its body effectively blocking the portal, "That will do. Miss Lucifer, please seal the portals."

"Teehee! I love being a girl! Everyone's so nice to me, ehehe!"

Tycon decided not to comment, "Mister Levi! Mister Lone! On the portals, if you please."

Sasha took an offensive stance-- likely copied from one of the Sea Wolves in the fight against Liang Qiang. Tycon ruffled her hair, "Sasha, remain vigilant."

Barza Keith, the Lone Shadowdark, brutally struck a three-armed, flaming-handaxe throwing demon with a cross of his hammer. He ran from wall to wall, playing a game of whack-a-demon. The young man had utilized what little mana he could muster in lighting his wolf-hammers aflame.

How Lone expected fire to be effective on demons crawling out of a fiery hell was beyond Tycon's understanding. Still, the dark-iron hammers remained effective.

Lulu walked past the priest, winking at him seductively, before standing at the center of the temple hall. As she chanted in Infernal, her eyes glowed with a decidedly pink mana as she levitated with power, "Come on, my lovelies! Use my holes as you please!!"

Tycon coughed, "Lulu. Seal the portals. We want them sealed."

"Oh, right--" Lulu grinned sheepishly, "Last call! Enter my holes now or be blue-balled in the Eternal Battlefield for another thousand years!!"

Sasha looked to Tycon as if she wanted to ask something. A hard grimace set into Tycon's face. He would not willingly explain anything that the demon-woman said.

A small, lanky demon made it through a rift, dragging its greyish body across the floor and leaving a slimy trail.

Tycon fired a crossbow bolt into its eye, sneering in contempt, "Pathetic."

He kicked the mass back into the rift it had emerged from, reloading his crossbow with practiced motions.

He grabbed onto a demon woman's greasy hair and jammed his second loaded pistol into her mouth. She tried to mutter something unintelligible. Tycon shook his head, "I'm sorry, Miss. I'm not interested."

Pulling the trigger, the back of the woman's head burst in blood and brain. Tycon pushed the woman back into the rift and shook off the juicy bits splattered onto his left hand.

With the rate of demons flooding into the temple, Tycon's and Lone's efforts were not enough to stem the tide.

"Wolfrider! Your halberd would be *appreciated* about now."

Tycon scanned the walls. A few of the rifts had sealed, thanks to Lulu's spellcasting, Lone was still valiantly fighting against half-demons... that is... demons half in the temple and half out. If any of the demons escaped the temple, the fear and havoc they would wreak would be catastrophic to Brume.

An uneasy bile pooled in Tycon's gut. Had he miscalculated so keenly? Was the current strength of Invictus too low to seal the demon portals?

Turning back to Priest Villiers, the man was kneeling down, eyes shut, fervently praying to his gods with his holy symbol upraised. First to answer, however, was no god-- but Wolfbanger...

Seeing Villiers hold up the bronzed divine focus, the weretouched boy grabbed hold of it and wrenched it from the priest's hands.