Once I was back on my feet after my loss to Tyler, I set to examining everyone's wounds. Kallaway's injuries wound slow him down a bit, but he could still fight. He needed some stitches put in, but that was about all he needed. Sera hadn't suffered any fatal damage either, but she had fractured a collar bone and several ribs. She'd likely need to sit out the rest of the conflict.
Tony had it a lot worse.
"You don't need to tell me," he said, as I looked him over. "I'm smart enough to know when I'm useless in a fight."
"You came dangerously close to bleeding out," I informed him. "You're gonna wanna eat a lot of meat, beans, and greens after all this."
"And rest up, right?" he asked.
"No shit, sherlock," I replied. "So Kallaway says you summoned a demon?"
"Azail, the Enabler," he explained. "One of the ten Daemon Lords. Made his acquaintance a few years ago, on a case. He's dangerous, but generally pretty agreeable, if you can avoid pissing him off."
"And he accepts shoes as payment?" I asked.
"Spent most of his existence barefoot," Tony replied. "Footwears a bit of a new concept to him. He seems to enjoy the extra protection against the rocky hellscape he calls home."
"Checks out," I said. "I take it this isn't a trump card we can play too often?"
"Oh, no," Tony agreed. "He is an absolute last resort."
"Good to know," I said.
"There you blokes are!" came a familiar voice.
We all turned to see Professor Malkator approaching us, both Myrir and Puppy Dog following. Puppy Do was noticeably restrained. Myrir, noticeably, wasn't.
"Heya," I said. "Hostages, I take it? Why is one free?"
"We've agreed to a temporary truce," Myrir said, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.
"That's right," Kallaway said. "Dawson left you guys behind, didn't he?"
Myrir didn't answer, but Malkator nodded silently. Puppy Dog, however, just started chuckling to himself. Something wasn't right.
"Well, okay then," I said. "So why's happy pants here tied up?"
"I um... I think HELLFIRE should ask him," Malkator said.
Kallaway seemed to have a sudden realization, and uttered an "Oh shit..."
"Something up?" I asked.
"Um, yeah," Kallaway said. "Maybe HELLFIRE should talk to him..."
I turned to Puppy Dog, and let HELLFIRE take the wheel.
See what's up, I instructed.
HELLFIRE approached Puppy Dog, and locked eyes with him. His eyes were grayer than I remember.
"Good morning, motherfuckers!" he said.
"Language," HELLFIRE scolded. "What is your name, shard?"
Now I understood. Peppy Dog was being possessed.
"Name's Flyt," the Shard said. "Been a whiole, Kieda."
"Have we met?" HELLFIRE asked.
"Not quite," Flyt said. "Haven't seen you since to left me to rot in that fucking corpse!"
HELLFIRE seemed confused for a few moments, before a sense of realization set in for both of us.
"You're the part of me I lost when Emily dies," HELLFIRE said.
"Yeah!" Flyt snapped. "You cared so much about that bitch that you stripped me away from you, and cast me aside to expire!"
He started chuckling again.
"Fortunately, the Archangel found me," he continued. "And he had a whole list of reasons to want you dead! Busting into the Brute's domain, risking awakening it, stealing power from the Burning Bride, bringing that monster Silvermist into existence, and then killing one of his Apostles!"
He then stopped laughing and stared daggers into HELLFIRE's eyes.
"Lucky for me, we shared a common enemy," he said. "So we made a deal. He gave me a new host, and even a bit of his power. And I agreed to help him kill you."
HELLFIRE immediately drew my sword and sliced through Flyt's restraints, much to everyone's surprise.
"You're welcome to try," HELLFIRE said.
Flyt suddenly lunged at me, grabbing me by the throat, and I felt him pass from Puppy Dog into me. I managed to throw Puppy Dog off of me, as war erupted inside my own head. I fell to my knees, clutching my temples.
"Oh, fuck this!" Puppy Dog said, before taking off.
"Daniel!" Kallaway cried out. "Are you okay?"
"Hard to say," I said. "I've got two Dying Man Shards duking it out in my head. I... I need to get involved. See you in a minute."
I dove into my own subconscious, and found myself witness a fight that was kind of weird to describe. HELLFIRE appeared as he normally did, as a mass of black flames in the shape of a human body. Flyt, however looked more like a cloud of black mist, that was randomly sprouting wings made of blades and weapons made of feathers. The two of them were darting all over the place, repeatedly crashing into each other and throwing power back and forth. No wonder I was getting a headache.
I raised my finger gun and waited for just the right moment, before shouting "BANG!" and firing a bolt of lightning directly into Flyt's path. The blast hit, and Flyt stopped in place and let out a cry of pain. HELLFIRE seized the opportunity, and expanded into a mass of black flames, that completely surrounded Flyt and began enveloping him. I saw glimpses of feather-weapons and blade-wings attempt to break free as HELLIFE shrunk down to his normal size, but they faded away as HELLFIRE reutrned to his normal form. HELLFIRE's energy shuddered for a few moments, as Flyt put up one last fight from within him, but that soon came to an end. HELLFIRE opened his familiar eyes, and turned to me.
"Thanks for the assist," he said.
"That's you, right HELLFIRE?" I asked. "Did you just fucking eat the other guy?"
"Language," HELLFIRE said.
Good. He was still himself.
"And yeah, I've absorbed him," HELLFIRE said. "And..."
Blade mist emerged from HELLFIRE's hand, which took the form of a black longsword.
"...His power," he finished.
"Huh," I said. "Neat. We should wake up now..."
I came too, to see everyone standing over me, worried.
"Hey guys," I said. "Good news. HELLFIRE won."
"And how the fuck can we be sure of that?" Kallaway asked.
HELLFIRE took over for a moment, morphing my eyes as he did.
"Stop swearing. you prick," HELLFIRE said.
Kallaway nodded.
"Yep, that's our shard," he said.
"Had a feeling it would go that way," Malkator said.
Not long after, a young girl entered the scene, accompanied by s couple of Martyrs. She spoke to Malkator first.
"I found the AMU soldiers, as you asked," she said.
"And who's this?" I asked her.
"My name is Molly Gordon," she told me.
"She's a white mage," Malkator said. "And my new apprentice."
"eat," I said, turning to the Martyrs. "So where are we going?"
"We're preparing to regroup with th others," one of them said. "You are Dr. Ferris, correct?"
I nodded. They nodded back.
"We would appreciate your assistance," they said.
"Sure thing," I said, rising to my feet, and leaning on my cane. "I'm a little tuckered out, but I'll try not to slow you guys down too much. I kimashiyo."
"He means 'let's go," Kallaway said.
"Oh good!" I chuckled. "You're learning!"
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