Nyx

Nyx responded instantly to his command; spreading her wings to the fullest, and driving them down with everything she had. Her wings now held so much power, that she was surprised at how far she traveled upwards with just one beat. Colliding with several imps that flew between her and her master’s target.

The distinct memories from Lord Benjamin’s old team were blending together and fading away. She could no longer remember their individual thoughts or how it felt to be them. With each powerful beat of her wings, Nyx was becoming herself. Who she was; she still didn’t know, but she no longer felt the pull of multiple personalities in her head.

Another beat of her wings, and another slash from her sword. She carved a path through the air, dropping bodies in her wake. She could feel their dying essence flowing from her to her master. Since she didn’t have a core anymore, she wasn’t able to store the essence, she could however make use of it. She used a portion to heal her injuries as it passed through her to Benjamin.

Seeing the observatory window rapidly approaching, Nyx repeated the move she had used on the big kobold. Hunching down behind her shield and readying her body for the impact. One final wing beat to increase her speed saw her crashing into the window pane, and rebounding. She saw that her attack had cracked the glass as she fell, but the majority of her attack had been absorbed by a kinetic shield.

Tumbling head over heels down the seating that led up to the window, Nyx did her best to regain her balance. Unfortunately, she had been going too fast and the impact had rattled her too much. Reaching the highly polished floor, she slid for several yards. Right into the waiting maws of the hellhound trio who had caught up at last.

As the teeth came down, she instinctively raised her shield arm, only to discover the shield had shattered again on impact. Her obsidian bracers absorbed the bite as the hellhound bit into her arm, but the pressure bruised her flesh. Not waiting for the beast to shake her arm from her body, she swung her sword up and drove the blade, point first, into the biting hound’s throat.

Its jaws bit down harder at the contact, and she heard the cracking of her forearm bones, before it released her with its death. That was one down, along with her shield arm. Nyx swung her wings up, attempting to divert the lunging hounds. The attempt succeeded in part; they were forced to step back to avoid her wings. It was only a momentary reprieve however, as her wings swept back again, they lunged.

Only to be taken down in near unison by the attacks of her master and his mount. Lord Benjamin brought the King’s Blade down into, and through a neck. At the same time as the thickly muscled she wolf pulverized the others spine, with a bite of her own. The pair were lacking in training, but they moved in tandem with one another seamlessly.

“Remind me to make you a stronger shield,” he said with a grin, pulling her to her feet and cleaving an imp in half. Nyx was able to evaluate his sword skills, they fell somewhere between non-existent and clumsy. He was powerful and had fantastic hand eye coordination, he just had never been taught to use a blade. She vowed to correct this deficiency at the earliest opportunity.

Ice fought like what she was, a predator, used to hunting single targets with a pack behind her. Nyx didn’t know if she could assist her with this, but she would have to try. The wolf was leaving herself open to attack from all sides, as she focused solely on her target. She couldn’t allow their own shortcomings in combat to endanger them going forward.

“Yes, Master.” She said, having regained her feet. She turned and, without hesitating for a moment launched herself back into the air.

Her shield had shattered along with her arm; but if she could kill enough of the imps before she reached the window, perhaps she could remedy that. She could hear Benjamin calling up to her as she bee lined for the window again, but she didn’t have the time or attention to respond, as she hunched in on herself and plowed into the glass once more.

She hadn’t been able to summon the shield in time, but her horns had worked well enough as a substitute. Stars danced before her eyes as her skull collided with, and finally penetrated, the glass. Tucking herself into a roll, Nyx tumbled through the shattered window and into the observatory. She looked for her master’s target, but the golden ‘chicken’ had fled.

There was a doorway at the end of a short hall, not finding any other exit in the small chair filled room, she ran to it. Finding it locked, she moved back and gaining momentum smashed herself into the door with her full might. The still healing bone in her forearm broke again on contact, but the door rattled in its frame. Nyx backed up to repeat the move.

* * *

Benjamin Vryce

Resolving to watch his wording to the demoness going forward, Benjamin raced up the bleachers after her. When he told her to get the chicken regardless of the cost, he hadn’t meant for her to break herself to do it. He heard the impact when he was halfway up the stands, and redoubled his pace. Reaching the shattered window in time to see Nyx, complete with broken arm smash into the barred door once more.

“That’s enough Nyx,” he called in at her. “Come guard the window while I get Jade,” he continued turning to Ice and dismissing her once he had Jade in his arms. The window wasn’t large enough to admit her bulk, and even if it was, she wouldn’t fit into the doorway beyond.

Thankfully, she listened this time. Moving away from the door and back to the window, slashing at the imps who approached while he climbed in, with Jade in his arms. Doing a quick scan of the room, Benjamin discovered this must be a VIP box for whatever sport was performed below. The window had a rolled-up security grate above it. Looking like any he might find above the stores inside his local shopping mall.

Setting Jade down roughly in a chair, he leapt at the security grate. There was a locking mechanism keeping it closed, thankfully it was mechanical and not digital. He was able to cut it away with a slash of the King’s Blade, and with a helping hand from Nyx, pulled it down over the window. A quick scramble later and he had latched the grate into place.

“What was that back there?” he asked Nyx, while he caught his breath. He wasn’t actually winded, but the act of breathing deeply had a calming effect on his racing thoughts.

“Master?” she asked, “You told me to capture the golden chicken regardless of cost. I was only following orders.”

Well, she had him there. He had done exactly that, and she had followed his orders to the letter. Again, he would just have to watch his wording going forward, especially if she was going to take every command so literally.

“Never mind,” he said with a sigh. He was beginning to sigh the way the Arbiter adjusted his jacket, he thought with a wry grin. “Let me heal that arm and get your shield fixed again.”

“You need to make me a stronger shield,” she reminded him dutifully. “Also, your sword work is rudimentary at best, master. I will teach you how to use the King’s blade, with the skill such a fine weapon deserves.”

His wry grin turned into a laugh, which was interrupted when the first of a new hellhound trio crashed into the security grate. The beast rebounded and the grate was unharmed, but they needed to move soon. He thought about the shifts in personality she had exhibited, as he healed her arm.

Right now, she was most strongly channeling the blue king and Stomper. Jade had told him all about the training drills the axe wielding goblin had put her through. He looked into her as he healed her arm, checking the status of her pattern. It was still stable, and the newly adjusted aspects of her personality were slowly solidifying into their permanent shape.

As he watched, there were minor shifts here and there. He suspected she was developing her own personality with the aspects that had been introduced and blended, and that the stimulation she received in the near future would influence who she became. He caught himself sighing again, making patterns was harder than he expected.

The grate shook as the hellhound impacted it again. Nyx, arm now healed moved over to the window and stabbed the beast through the eye. Benjamin supposed that meant their intelligence level was pretty low. Nothing with reasoning skills would just stand there and be stabbed to death.

“Great job, Nyx.” He said as the essence rushed into him from the kill. “Keep doing that, while I try an get this door open.”

The door was, of course, metal. He didn’t understand the point of so much metal inside, until he remembered that this might have once been the outside of the station. If Shipwright was always building outward, then the material would have to hold up to the vacuum of space. A smile crossed his face when a few repair drones scuttled into the room and began repairing the damage, regardless of the battle still being fought.

It reminded him of Silver, likely still alive in his forest world. Benjamin had told himself he would look in on his world, he had to be a better lord than Shipwright was over this station. He just hadn’t had time, prioritizing Nyx over the still sealed world. He would find out how his world had developed however. Once he could catch his breath, and get to a safer location.

Turning his attention to the door, he discovered it had been locked from the other side, and with the repair drones already working on fixing it he had to move quickly. As another hellhound died to Nyx’s blade, the rush of essence into his core gave him an idea. Channeling the dual essence into his arms and back.

Gripping the door as his partial transformation ended, Benjamin blinked in shock at what he saw. His hands had grown into claws and his arms had grown thick white fur, very near what Ice sported. Now he knew why Jade had called him wolf boy, but why hadn’t he noticed this before. He didn’t have to think long to remember; the only two times he had used this technique, he had been a little distracted.

Wedging his enlarged fingers into the gap made by Nyx’s charge, he braced his legs and pulled. Nothing happened at first, but after a brief pause the door came away so quickly it nearly bowled him over. Catching himself with a hand on the wall, Benjamin peeked beyond the door.

A long and narrow corridor greeted his eyes, empty of anything, including lights. Having no other options but to move on, he reverted to his normal state and turned to collect Jade’s sleeping body. Nyx was still stabbing the incoming enemy to death through the grate, but she stopped at his call.

“You take point, stop at every door and check for ambushes. I’ll follow behind with Jade, it’s going to be just the two of us for a while Nyx. So, I need you to keep yourself from excessive damage alright? If you go down, I’m alone here.”

To her credit, the demoness listened and pondered before nodding her head. Good, at least she understood. Shifting Jade’s position on his shoulder, Benjamin clutched the King’s Blade tightly. As Nyx led the way into the blackness, he followed right behind.