The group of re-constructed leech slimes moved immediately. They suddenly zapped forward, moving too quickly for the eye to track, the reconstructed adventurers charging head on, black teary eyes set upon Brill and Idemay.
Hellfrit's body erupted in black flames, sparks flying every which way, the winds whipping around him as the leaves and trees, no longer attached to roots and trunks, snapped and whipped away, and the forest creaked from the pressure.
"You fools have no idea who you are dealing with..." he growled, the power vibrating in his voice making the air around Brill and Idemay thrum.
Then he barked.
A small, and utterly comical, puppy bark.
Aww.
The reconstructed adventurers came to a sudden halt in their charge, looking at each other with, what could only be described as, confusion.
Hellfrit showed tiny, sharpened fangs, and growled, "Don't... Don't think because my bark is like that that I am weak!"
He slowly looked at Brill, and thought, 'Ha! After seeing this, you'll have no CHOICE but to make a contract with me!'
The reconstructed adventurers continued on, slowly at first, the wind from the puppy bark radiating from them in pulses which spiraled the air around them as leaves, dirt, and dust flew. The momentum built and continued to build into spiraling gusts and by the time they were nearing Brill and Idemay, the final blast hit.
The reconstructed slime Adventurers went flying like rags from the intensity of the wave, leaves, trees, dirt, everything was shredded from the shock wave.
Brill's jaw dropped, while Idemay's eyes widened, and then a question escaped her lips in unison with Brill's own exclamation. "What?!"
Hellfrit turned around, the flames on his body sputtering slightly from amusement. "Haha! Told you! And that wasn't even one percent of my power!" His small body moved however, as one of the slimes broke off, heading directly for Brill, its ice blade glistening with killing intent. It was Cliff.
Idemay stood unwavering and, fully trusting Brill, didn't move an inch.
Brill's legs automatically moved. He dropped into a split to duck the attack, then rolled into a series of break-dance like moves that made his legs sweep the slimes legs from under and It floated in mid air for a moment before Brill planted his hands on the ground and popped himself upward, bashing both feet to the reconstructed adventurer's face which sent it flying through the air.
Hellfrit's mind raced with thoughts:
'So the kid can fight after all... And his mother didn't flinch or coo over him once! Focus, Hellfrit! If I want to get my memory back, and uncover all that seems lost to me, I need to go all out. I need this contract with this boy!'
He unleashed another great bark which echoed and shook the treetops and the constructed slimes charged once again, but Hellfrit grew and expanded his body, wolf-like, cloaked in black and red flames, glowing eyes and four whirring tails slicing the air behind him.
And that made Brill's eyes spark. "Awesome!" Brill cheered, "Ma! He turned into a wolf!" Brill's excitement couldn't be contained and Idemay staggered as if the entire world shifted under her feet, her hair torn through her fingers in disbelief as she shrieked, "What the hell?!!!! Impossible! There's no way that annoying ass mutt could turn into that! I refuse to believe it!"
Then, multiple wolf heads stuck out and emerged from Hellfrit's sides and his back of as he dashed forward straight those the reconstructed slimes, red and black flames exploding from his form, the ground splitting and trees scattering as the destruction rolled through the woods, Brill's grin widening while Idemay's mouth hung open in pure shock.
Hellfrit panted after he stopped, the constructed slimes were little more than smears of blood and slime goo smeared across the forest floor. He shrunk back to his puppy form and Divine Energy slowly dripped out of him like smoke from a burning fire.
"Welp. There you have it. Can also claw things up and bite pretty hard." Hellfrit grinned smugly.
"That was amazing!" Brill's eyes widened in awe, heart racing against his ribs.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, kid. Now then..." Hellfrit said with a pause that drew attention.
"Huh?" Brill cocked his head in question.
Idemay was pacing, her hands running through her hair as she muttered under her breath, "Impossible... Impossible... I talked so much shit and I, Idemay Alpam, just ended up looking like a fool?! Impossible!" Her words spilled faster and faster.
Hellfrit's eyes were fixed on Brill, the little eyes glinting. "Do you want a contract with me now?" The question was expected, and Idemay's rapid movements stopped. She paused and turned to them.
The trees, flames, chaos... They all seemed frozen for just an instant.
Brill didn't know what to say, all he could think about was the Holy Land, the goddess, and the idea of being truly unbreakable.
'If I make a contract, I won't get into the Holy Land, will I? I'd have to be the same old me, right? I don't know..this puppy is strong though. What should I do..?'
Brill looked at Idemay, and said, "Ma—!"
Before the question could even sink in the air, it was torn apart as a scream pierced the forest, high-pitched and wild from a girl.
"Leave me alone...!" The scream said.
Brill's head whipped toward the sound before his mind caught up, his body already moving, already deciding for him. That voice was familiar, something he didn't want to dwell on too long because if he did, he might waver, and wavering was never good for him.
"It had to be her... It sounded just like her!"
His feet hit the dirt with a thud, dust spraying behind him, each stride carrying him faster and harder, the trees blurring into scenes of bark and shadow. He didn't bother looking back, not even to check if Idemay and Hellfrit followed, because naturally they would.
"Brill!" Idemay's voice chased him but he was already past them, hurtling through the trees as if some hook had snagged in his chest and was dragging him forward.
The atmosphere shifted before any danger revealed itself. The ground began to vibrate at first, then harder, making the leaves rustle, the branches shiver as if trying to shake something loose.
Then something dropped from above.
An Emir Wasp hovered between the trees, its long, segmented body covered in dull gold and sick green bands that caught the light with a sickening sheen. Its wings moved with impossible speed, a speed that bored into the air, making the very earth quiver below. Ruining it all was its face, stretched into a ghastly, human-like mask; its vacant eyes staring straight ahead as if it had already judged nothing in its path worth caring about.
It was definitely a Divine Beast without a host, one would expect to find this thing in the Grudlen Woods where the other rogue Divine Beasts are.
The wasp's abdomen twitched and a flurry of stingers launched, each coated in viscous poison, toxic threads trailing through the air like spectral silken webs.
Brill didn't slow down, he dropped his weight mid-run, sliding under the first barrage, palms scraping the dirt as he twisted his body laterally, letting two more stingers whip past close enough to brush his sleeve.
He planted one foot, kicked off a tree trunk, and jumped over a third wave, landing in a low crouch before pushing off again at full speed. Weaving through the torrent of poison-coated darts, he moved too fast for someone his age. It was like his body knew the moves without his mind recalling the lessons.
The wasp adjusted, wings beating faster, the pitch of its buzz deepening as more stingers began to sprout along its body.
Before it could release them, the earth beneath it burst open.
Hellfrit blasted from underground, larger than life in his wolf form, red and black flames consuming the soil as his sharp jaws clamped around the Emir Wasp's abdomen. The impact cracked roots and sent trees flying as he crushed down, the wasp's face twisting into a grotesque semblance of anguish as it was flattened.
The flames licked around its body, licking at its wings until they sputtered out, the buzzing faltering to a broken rattle. Hellfrit gave his head one powerful shake, the resulting sound horrific, the wasp's body ripping apart as fluids splattered across the ground where flames devoured the last remnants.
He dropped the crushed thing with a huff of smoke from his jaws.
"Brill!"
Brill didn't stop, and didn't even glance back.
A mile ahead the trees cleared, thinning enough to let the light spill into a large clearing.
The little girl, Sinder, crawled across the dirt, her fingers digging into the soil in an effort to pull herself forward. Her gown was dirty, caked with dried and fresh blood, hanging off her like a second skin of gore. A dull, nicked blade wobbled in her hand, barely held together by her fingers.
Behind her stood twenty Palta, her kin, arranged in disturbing order, their positions too precise to be random, some still, others moving in slow dances rather than combat preparations.
Their horns came in varying forms: some short and blunt, others long and sweeping back along their skulls. The flick of a few tails left trails in the ground. Their attire blended nobility and warfare, dark materials trimmed with the deep red of blood and muted golds, layered with what appeared to be ornamentation rather than real armor.
In their hands they held weapons, each carrying a luminescence that hinted at power contained within.
Sinder's voice cracked. "Get away from me..."
One of them took a step forward.
Arlag.
His skin had the dark hue of ember that had long cooled, rather than burning brightly, his eyes a dark orange color that seemed to take in everything at once, needing no more movement than to merely observe. Strands of black hair on his head, stained with a gray color, fell to his shoulders and his horns curled up and back along his skull.
A long coat fell over his lean frame, detailed with designs suggestive of something far more important than decoration, and a staff clutched his hand, a vortex of ash, magma, and gold swirling within it, the surface of the wood moving as if it were alive.
"You could've stayed with us, little girl," he said. His voice was unnervingly calm. "Did you think we would not find you?"
He took another step forward, the others staying in their precise formations.
"The Palta are no scattered rabble. We advise kings, manipulate wars before they even begin, influence decisions upon which entire kingdoms rest. Knowledge is our heritage and our charge. We have earned our place amongst the surface dwellers, far from the discord of the lower layers of Hell." His eyes finally settled on her. "And yet you squander it."
Sinder forced herself to stand, her legs buckling almost immediately. She sank to her knees again. "You... You trapped me in a cage! You trapped me!"
"It was for your own good," Arlag replied, unhesitatingly. "You refused to concentrate or to learn. You ran from the academy like a child after a bauble. We thought that confined you would help you understand." He looked at the blade in her hand before returning it to her face. "And then you threw yourself towards a Divinity Gate," his voice hardened. "A foolish act. You know as well as I that only humans form contracts with Divine Beasts. Your trip to the gate provided nothing."
Sinder's voice broke, but the words still came out. "You... You killed my parents!"
"I hoped it would persuade you to stay and listen," he said. "To sit still and to see what is important." The staff beat like a heartbeat again, ash gathering on its length while magma oozed through cracks, warping the air around it with heat. "As an Elder of the Palta," he continued, raising the staff high, "I take command over anything that might disrupt our kin's progress and our mark on the world. We earned what we have and we deserve it. You.. no longer serve a purpose." He lifted the staff further and the ash whirled faster, the glow growing more intense. "Begone!"
Sinder's eyes widened, a body slammed into the space between them.
"Stop!" Brill's voice rang out.
Brill stood there, his small body perfectly positioned to block the descending staff.. Arlag's weapon halted inches above Brill's head.
The clearing went silent. The Palta formations ceased their dance and all eyes turned toward the boy who was not supposed to be there.