On A Pale Chocobo

Day 95 - Noon:

BEST CHAPTER EVER! :D

The Chapter won't load for me T_T Are you editing it?

I've been busy w/ my own @home projects, but I'll probably check out your website on my lunch break or something.

Also, best chapta eva! lol

Sweet

awwww ; ; the new chapter is gone for me too...

can't wait x.x absolutely... love.

must see!!!

Something probably came up as he was starting it and had to run out.

Don't worry, he'll get back to it when he can.

can't wait x.x

Day 99 - Recap - Part 1:

Just as I set my pen down before, things got a little crazy.

The Gigases had sounded their horns and began to play their drums, the signal that there was something amiss. Immediately, Wolfgang blew a whistle and we were ordered to get into our ranks. I was pulled to the side by Rumaha and he grabbed Alyria. We were technically decomissioned for now, so we just kind of got to stay together.

We headed to civilian quarters for now, because there was nowhere else to go. Stikle was there, as was Selim. They both came to us as they saw us. A few moments later, Ludo stumbled into the room.

We were silent for a moment before Rumaha glanced at Alyria and then Ludo. It appeared as though they were all aware of a plan and I was not, as though it was a dedicated place to meet when an emergency happened.

"Ludo, what's the situation?" Rumaha asked.

Stikle had stood up, looking suddenly rather much as though this was the first time he had not been bored in weeks. His crab crawled out from under a bed and the wyvern followed, stopping at me so I could scratch his ears first.

"Fourteen demon ships," he said. "Approaching in the distance. It's more than we can handle with what we've got here."

Stikle was grinning now.

I glanced at him but stopped when Rumaha said, "I guess it's settled, then."

I turned to Rumaha then.

"We're going to The Dominion. Now."

And then we walked out, and I followed. I found myself gripping my scimitar tightly.

These people, they confused me, but I trusted them. It seemed like all the odd people ended up in this circle, this team, and I should just get used to it. I suppose Marz and Selim were basically part of the team now. Dasva, I hadn't seen yet. They said that she just left one day and never returned.

Stikle seemed happy. Cai was coming, I hoped, and would be there soon. Life was just strange.

And it was about to get stranger.

Day 99 - Recap - Part 2:

We fled to the Behemoths' Dominion, and why I did not know at the time.

The ships were still far now, and the forces were already mobilizing for guerilla warfare. We simply passed them by, basically having no attention heeded to us. Perhaps they were used to us going off the beaten path.

It took us almost half an hour to travel through the tunnels of Qufim and The Dominion, but it was definitely worth the travel.

When the clearing after the tunnel was in sight, we paused and let Stikle go first.

He walked slowly forward into the pale light of what seemed to be a relatively large field. We crept a bit forward to watch him.

And then came some of the loudest roars that I had ever heard, and we watched as Stikle simply stood still for a moment. There was rumbling now, as though something was charging towards him.

And then it started to make sense.

"You didn't..."

"We did," Ludo said.

Stikle took out a horn of his own and blew it, and the roaring and rumbling stopped almost instantly. He walked forward, out of our sight now. We heard what could only be described as the stamping of several enormous creatures slowly making their way to him.

Stikle called back to us, "It's safe, they still remember me."

There was a collective sigh of relief and we all began to walk out of the tunnels.

I had never seen a Behemoth before, and now before me were at least two dozen of them, all gathering around Stikle. Stikle was petting this one that was at least twice the size as the rest.

"That's their pack leader, or their King," he said, rubbing behind its ears. Its head was the size of his whole body, but it was bowing down to him to be scratched, as though it was just a chocobo.

"I'll take The King. Someone take Sect on one, the rest of you take your own," he said. He literally just climbed up its horn and sat on its shaggy head, holding on to its hair.

Alyria grabbed me by the shoulder and almost dragged me to one of the smaller ones. She was excited. Very excited.

If my mind wasn't so far blown, I may have been, too. Instead I kind of just went with it. The others each climbed up the horns of one of the Behemoths. Alyria almost tossed me up ours.

When we were all as mounted as one could be on a hulking mass of a monster, Stikle let out a few sounds that I cannot begin to describe in writing, and The King began to charge forward back towards Qufim.

Ours, naturally, followed.

And all the others did, too.

hehehehe <33333333333333

things become exciting! :D

but... Day 95 is still missing =/, missing page on the notebook?

Day 99 - Recap - Part 3:

And we rode.

Oh, how we rode.

I thought I was going to vomit by the time we reached Qufim. I was latching onto Alyria for dear life. She seemed to be enjoying the ride, though.

As our... mounted division(?) reached Qufim, she pulled her Hellfire off her back and held the Behemoth with one hand, looking through a scope she mounted.

"They'rrrre docking," she purred. She seemed excited.

Maybe everyone was going out of their mind with boredom.

Stikle seemed to be enjoying himself, and as we rode past Delkfutt I saw another amazing sight revolving around him.

I watched as his Wyvern and crab saw him.

And then the crab kind of crouched.

And then the wyvern kind of grabbed it.

And they took off. Flying. Soaring through the air, straight for the master.

There was a wyvern carrying a crab, and they landed on The King Behemoth.

I mean really, what the heck was going on? Really. Truly.

But I digress. And I know, I say that a lot, but I digress.

There had to be two dozen Behemoth just headed right down towards the shores of Qufim.

The noise was unbearable.

And we made it to the shore, and there they were. Three ships had docked, and there were demons flooding out everywhere, assembling ranks.

And they were clad, this time. Clad in armor, clad in weapons. They were prepared for a full frontal assault.

But they were not ready for us.

I felt a flash in the back of my head as I saw one. It had a funny headdress on.

Him!

And before I knew it, as we rode towards them, I grabbed my scimitar.

Him. You have to get him.

I licked my lips as Stikle collide with the first line of the demons and sent them flying absolutely everywhere. But the Demons knew how to deal with Behemoths; there were flaming arrows suddenly pouring out from the ships.

But as the arrows came from the ships, I barely heard a voice that sounded like Cid cry out in the distance, Fire! and a series of cannons blew, assaulting the ships.

Within a moment, the shores had turned into an outright war, and for once, I had no idea how the tides would turn.

Him.

And then while Alyria and I reached the front line on our Behemoth, I stood up and launched myself into hell.

Day 99 - Recap - Part 4:

The first thing I heard was Alyria screaming at me to not be a hero and get the hell back on.

But by that point, there was something in my head that was gone. Totally switched off, because there was a demon inside me--metaphorically and literally--that needed to get a job done, and I trusted it. I trusted it, because how could I not trust something that I shared my soul with?

Altana be damned, I was massacring. I was going through the lines like a fiend of my own. I was fighting dirty. My left hand had become tentacular and I could not even begin to place when that happened. I was grabbing Demons, pulling them forward, and then I was slicing their heads off. I was grabbing their weapons with a tendril.

I was murdering them now, because there's a difference between murdering and killing. I learned that in Mamook. I was enjoying the feeling I got as I killed them, and when I tired even a little bit all I had to do was dig my face into the throat of one of them and I would feel a lot better.

I was going from bad to worse, and I was letting it happen, and I knew it. I was playing in dark territories. There was a damned war going on around me. Literally.

I felt an arrow run through my shoulder and I pulled out out and slammed it into the eye of some demon or another. I liked the sound of its scream. I felt the ground shaking as I did all this, and I saw the Behemoths charging. I felt hands, familiar ones, trying to grab at me.

"Leave me!" I snarled, and I felt as though there were two voices snarling.

As I sliced another head off and sent it flying into a crowd of demons to panic them more, I found myself talking to the one inside of me.

Why do we need to get him?

There was the almost too cool, too calm, too all knowing voice of the demon to quickly reply. For he is one who is like us. He, too, has killed many men, but he-unlike you and unlike I-used other men to kill the men.

He's higher up.

There was just cackling as I said that, but I knew that I was right.

To him, The Prince fell. I am strong and you are strong, but he is stronger, and we are stronger.

I found myself smirking. I was slowly mowing my way down to the demon with his fancy hat. I think he knew I was approaching just for him.

Or maybe it was the shriek that I let out that was clearly not a language of Altana that led him on, but I watched as he took a step backwards and looked through the crowd until he saw me.

There were bullets flying everywhere. There were arrows, flaming and not, everywhere. There were Behemoths charging, some tumbling, one having fallen. There were demons littering the beaches.

But there were no Allied bodies, because we were playing it smart.

Would I be the first to fall? I thought so, to be honest.

But I had a goal. I would not fall until I took the fancy hat demon to hell with me.

And so I charged, and as I began the final pursuit forward to that particular high ranking enemy, I was joined by Selim and Stikle.

I suppose they realized that if you could not convince me to stop, you may as well join in for the fun.

"We need him alive!" I called out, as a tentacle pointed to the Demon that was trying to get more Demons to cover himself and allow him to flee.

I called out again in a language I knew not, but this time, I heard the words in my head.

Come now, brethren; for now, you too shall die, and you shall die for good!

Day 99 - Recap - Part 5:

Selim had pulled out a crossbow and was firing as though bolts were going to go out of style, and Stikle was impaling two at a time. There were moments where I'm pretty sure he would be pushed backwards, only for his Wyvern to swoop down and grab him by the shoulders and force him up.

There was also a single moment where we heard a loud whistling through the air. I paused to look and saw that the crab was flying in the same exact trajectory as the cannon balls. I had a sinking feeling that his crab had been fired out of a cannon, of its own volition, no less.

And then the crab had come back to shore and was doing a lot of damage in its own regard.

I was assaulting the enemies in front of me, massacring them, and I felt like as long as I kept killing I would be alright.

And then before we knew it, our target was in front of us.

He must have known that fleeing was useless, as he had produced a massive scythe of his own and had thrown himself forward to meet me. And then we met.

"It is good that two killers such as we have met," I growled, and I could not help but smirk as his scythe met my scimitar, and I kicked him back.

There was a circle forming around us now, as though no one could believe that what I know now to be a leading Arch Baron was engaging in single combat with a boy. Stikle and Selim were keeping us covered, destroying any who came too close, and cutting the lines down further.

He struck again this time, harder, and I found myself struggling to push him back.

"You know nothing about killers," he said, and it was in standard this time.

He was almost forcing down too hard for me to repel, and so I gave in. I suppose the best offense was convincing the enemy they did not need to be defensive.

I allowed him to almost slice me by loosening my arms and letting him force me back. I stumbled backwards.

He swung again at what he was starting to view as an unworthy adversary.

And as he did, I was still on the ground, and I let him get close. Close enough that when he swung again he had to bend his body to get the right angle to impale me.

Enough that I could, if I so duly desired, swing my own scimitar behind my back and allow him to hit it dead on and send me flying right into his chest.

Which he was not, I must say, expecting.

I excel in extremely close combat fighting thanks to my tentacles.

I let loose my sword and grabbed him with my left hand first, wrapping it around his throat, and letting my right hand grab his wrist as it was sent flying backwards as the scythe ricocheted off my sword, which I had now dropped. I began to constrict around his throat as my right hand burst into a series of tentacles, flesh and blood spraying everywhere, and I snapped his wrist in a few seconds.

He howled in pain now, but I closed his throat a few moments later.

I let go of his hand and immediately reached up towards his face. Enemies were much easier to deal with when crippled.

Much, much easier.

I managed to pluck his first eye out, and before all who were watching--and the victim--I popped it into my mouth and mashed on it.

I swallowed it and grinned madly at him.

I was going to leave his other eye in. I wanted him ready, because I had plans for him. I wanted him to be able to see what was going to happen.

What I was not prepared for was for him to knee me in the gut.

I guess I got lost in the moment.

But screaming, gasping for air, he managed to grab his scythe and now he was swinging wildly.

And this time I was the one that wasn't prepared.

If he could actually see what he was doing and was using the proper hand to swing, he would have taken my left arm clean off. Instead, I escaped with a really, really bad slice that immediately started spraying blood everywhere.

I looked up at him as he went to slice again.

And then Selim was in front of me and had pinned a dagger in his shoulder before either of us could mentally register that he was there.

He swung around as the demon stumbled forward and pulled me up by my right mess of tentacles.

And then we began another assault on him.

Selim had produced a third dagger and had immediately tossed it into the demon's other shoulder.

"Let's do this," he said.

And we did it.

What did we do, you may ask?

As Selim produced his fourth dagger I managed to will my right hand back to be a hand and grabbed my scimitar.

We were almost twirling around each other now, as though we were part of a troupe of dancers, and without a word exchanged we each managed to duck and avoid the next scythe swing.

We were then both close enough to him to cripple him.

There was a dagger in his gut at about the same moment that I had managed to stick my scimitar into the back of his knee and twist it. He buckled to the floor and Selim kicked his scythe away.

And then we grabbed him as Stikle let out a whistle and a The King came running through the masses. Stikle jumped unto him and Selim and I tossed the Demon up to him before jumping up ourselves.

And we fled, for a few minutes.

Day 99 - Recap - Part 6:

We fled for just long enough to explain to Cid that he was to be kept alive.

And then we went back.

I saw eight fallen Behemoths.

A few of our soldiers had died to arrows, but primarily, it looked as though we would be able to hold the beaches.

I could not spot Alyria or Rumaha in the mess of fighting, but I heard her Hellfire firing madly and figured she was holding her own.

I kept licking my lips.

I knew that there was something off. There was something different this time.

But I could not think too much about it, because in under few moments we were back on the beach, back in the hell that we had stumbled upon.

I was bleeding pretty badly at this point still, and everything was getting harder to focus on. There was no time for medical attention. There was barely time to think.

I had just enough time to take my turban off and wrap it around my arm and pray that I did not die in the battle.

Perhaps it was luck.

Perhaps it was fortune.

But there was something that happened that we did not expect.

There had been Demon ships a bit farther out that had finally made their ways towards the shore, and what was absolutely mind boggling was that they were firing upon the first group of demon ships.

There were battle cries to be heard.

Human ones.

Eastern ones.

And then it all made sense as they crashed to the shores and hundreds of immortals poured out, with Caiyuo giving them battle orders.

The tide of battle had tilted ever more in our favor.

And then I knew blackness.

Sect, this is awesome man. Keep it up!!

i came.

Epic fight scene weeee!

Day 99 - Recap - Part 7:

I came to some hours later, back in Delkfutt. Someone was washing my arm, and I heard voices whispering all around.

"--did you see what he was doing--"

"-never saw anything like that--"

"--is it safe to be so close--"

"--is he even human?"

I tried to open my eyes, but I was too worn out. I managed to roll my head ever so slightly. The whispers hushed.

There was a voice with a slight eastern accent.

"His body could be undergoing a different form of rejection."

That sounded about right for how I felt. I felt in shock. As though I wouldn't be able to move if I wanted to.

"Can you hear us, monsieur?"

I managed to barely open my eyes a crack and tilt my head towards the speaker. I could barely make out a young Mithran woman.

I closed my eyes again and tilted my head back to a more comfortable position.

I began to realize that there were leather bindings holding me down to the bed I was on.

The mithra walked over to a door and opened it and a few more people walked in.

"Take those binds off, for Altana's sake! He's not an animal!"

It was Cid's voice, and I was thankful.

"Oui, monsieur!" the mithra squeaked. "I was just following orders!"

I felt pressure leave my wrists. That at least made me realize that I had more human features at the moment.

"Do you have any V.I.T. potions?" Cid asked. There was a short pause. "Inject him with one, he's in bad shape."

There was a moment of silence and then I felt a needle being pressed into my elbow and I felt it burn for a moment.

I opened my eyes, fully this time, and turned to where Cid was.

"You lost a lot of blood," he said.

"I had scarcely any idea," I said cynically, and started to sit up but half the room urged me down.

"Wolfgang almost had a canary," said another voice. I turned and saw Cai sitting down across the room.

It was good to see him alive.

"He doesn't understand why you did what you did. Fortunately, Cid managed to convince him not to kill the demon you brought up."

I turned to Cid. My throat was dry and it cracked as I thanked him. Someone procured a cup of water and it was being pressed to my lips within a moment.

I leaned back and shut my eyes again.

"If you're an Immortal, part of my squad, a friend, a friend of a friend, or called Cid, you can stay. Everyone else, leave please."

"Monsieur, I'm afraid I cannot--"

"Or a nurse."

People began to shuffle out of the room. I heard one of those nifty vertical doors shut and seal the room.

"You are not to repeat anything that I say from this point forward. Understand?"

There was a murmur of, "Understood."

"Does anybody remember when Jeuno was overrun and the squad had to overtake it? The particular night that something inside of me snapped?"

"Yes," Cai said.

"Clearly," said another voice. It was higher pitched.

I opened my eyes to see a familiar Taru standing on a chair.

"Guess you didn't die," I said to Dasva, who shrugged and I continued.

"I'm not sure about the total details, but the Arch Demon I had slain had successfully entered... or maybe been sucked into... my mind... soul... something like that. There is a demon inside of me. Literally."

There was a single gasp, I think from the nurse.

"We worked out an agreement. He needs me to kill him, I need him to help me save us."

I was neglecting to mention the implication that suicide seemed the only logical ending to me at the moment.

"He's been relatively helpful, to be fair. He shattered my soul. He's been tainting it, but that leads to all sorts of peculiar abilities, as I'm sure you've seen demonstrated. Mostly, it's helped me take more souls in. I take them in full. I can communicate with them, and I think if I let them, they can communicate through me."

I let myself relax for a moment and tried something new.

I called upon The Galka. I woke him up, and I asked him to talk.

My voice was deep and sandy.

"It is true. It is like a Talekeeper."

I opened my eyes again. "The Demon saw the one we captured and recognized him. He told me to take him alive. I trust him. He's got nothing to gain at this point."

"I intend on interrogating him. As I've determined, sentient creatures have a ferocious fear of losing their eyes. I've already deprived him of one eye; he'll be terrified if I try and pluck the second."

There was an eerie silence.

"This is war. If he does not crack, I will break him. It's not going to be pretty," I finished simply.

It was a lot of effort to talk.

"What's the situation outside?"

There was finally room for other people to talk. "The threat has been neutralized. Two Behemoths were killed, a dozen of our soldiers wounded. Three are deceased. Six Behemoths are being treated. Besides your captive, there are no Demons left," came Rumaha's voice.

"We had found the Demons south of Windurst. Under my suggestion, we chased them all the way up here in their own ships. We let them get a lead as they got closer here to make them think that they lost us. I suppose they figured they could secure Delkfutt and then trap us."

I gave a half nod. "Could be."

"You're all sorts of messed up," came Stikle's voice.

"Pretty much."

I needs moooorrreeeee!!!! <3 it just totally <3 it!!

Day 99 - Recap - Part 8:

That was what happened on the ninety-fifth day.

What I recanted last was late in the night. I must have been out for a few hours.

For almost a half of a day after that I was forbidden from moving around too much. I was starting to hate being in care.

When it came time for the nurse to swap with the next one, I simply walked out and headed to where Rumaha and I had set up our quarters. Rum was there, as was Cai, Marz, and Dasva.

"You should be resting," Cai said simply as I walked in.

"Don't care," was all I could think to say. "Where's my sword?"

Rum reached under my loft and pulled out my scimitar.

I glanced at them and finally settled on Dasva.

"Dasva, do you have a strong stomach?" I asked.

She nodded, unsure of where I was going.

"Good. Come on. We've got business to attend to."

I could hear the howlings of a demon this whole time echoing throughout the corridors of Delkfutt. I would figure out where they were keeping my prisoner.

She simply followed. I think she knew best what was about to happen.

I licked my lips.

Strangely, I was looking forward to this.

O_O






Now THAT was an update worth the wait!!!!

Can't wait for more.

At the current rate, OAPC is going to be as long as the first parts combined.

Woo?

Day 99 - Recap - Part 9:

With some wandering, Dasva and I found where they were keeping him. There were two Mithran Rangers standing guard at the door. After some convincing, we managed to get access to the room he was kept in. Before we did, I took a moment, shut my eyes, and leaned against a wall.

You're going to have to work with me.

There was that guttural laugh once more. Would it not work against me to not work with you? You are brave, but you are young yet.

Oh, can it already.

My scimitar still sheathed, I nodded to Dasva, and we entered the room. The red demon was chained to a wall. Thick chains. Heavy chains.

I took a moment as he thrashed against them to analyze the situation. He screamed out.

Work with me.

And then I opened my mouth, and we both began to speak.

"The only way out of this is to work with me."

I think the red demon was shocked that I could speak his damned language, because he stopped screaming.

"Killers such as we know that the only way out is death. There is no other way."

He was still.

"You can tell me what I want, or I can make you tell me. And if you will not tell me, then may Altana and Promathia bless your soul, because I will not."

Dasva was looking at me uneasily.

"What's the purpose of this Plague?"

There was no answer. I took a step forward and unsheathed my scimitar and walked up until I was mere inches from his face. I took the tip of my scimitar and ever so lightly traced the area around his remaining eye.

"It would be a shame to scramble that one. It was ever so tasty. Did you know that? I have already eaten part of you. Shall I continue? One part at a time? I could have some nice mulsum as I do it."

I could see in his single eye a look of ever so slight panic.

"I'll ask you one more time."

The red demon gave a heaving breath.

And then spit on me.

I snickered.

"Dasva, would you please light his left hand on fire? A slow roast, if you can," I said, taking a step backwards.

This was something that Dasva seemed to be familiar with; interrogations. Real ones.

She may have been sicker than I was, because she smiled and happily began the incantation. We stepped back as a fire slowly traced its way around his left hand.

And I laughed. Oh, how I laughed.

It was slime like this that had my country burning, and now I was giving the order to burn him.

He howled. He howled a lot, and I kept laughing.

"It stops when you talk!" we said.

I walked forward as he thrashed.

"A little hotter," I said, and the flame grew a little brighter.

He thrashed his hand at me, and in one quick movement I took off two of his fingers, and he howled more. This time, he screamed.

"You can still feel that, because we're not burning you up so much yet," we explained. Forcefully now, "LOOK AT ME!"

I picked up one of his claws as his eyes jumped to me, and began to chew on the fleshy part.

It was disgusting, but I pretended to like it anyways. I would rather eat another Mamool, because at least those didn't taste rancid; they were just sour.

Although with a little seasoning and some salt...

He shrieked again, and this time I took my scimitar and cut his whole wrist off. It tumbled to the ground, still burning.

Now I was once a mage, and I knew that there were some things you could fix. I tossed the claw I was chewing on to the side and picked up his wrist from the tip of another claw and placed it near where I sliced it.

With an incantation and a flash of light, it was back on, and he could feel the burning again. I should mention, I healed the part that was being burned, so he got to feel it all over.

I was enjoying myself. I was enjoying myself a lot.

I was enjoying myself so much that my left hand just burst into tentacles on the basis that it seemed like the thing to do at that moment in time. He was thrashing, screaming.

He lunged forward the full extent of his chains at me, which was highly convenient for what I was planning. He was making it easy.

I wrapped two tentacles up his face and a third jabbed straight through his skull. It ever so lightly graced the smooth inside of the top of his skull before I took it out. It was slimy and bloody.

I licked it off as I took a step backwards.

There was raw, utter, panic in his single eye.

"Blaze his hand off," I said.

And the fire increased ten fold and in a moment his left hand was gone. It was just a pile of ash on the floor.

"What part shall we do next?" I asked.

"Toes!" she cried out. She was adorable, being so giddy.

That was just the start.

haha i love interogations now xD

Can you guess what my favorite TV series is atm?

WHERE BE MY DRUGs-

i mean...

please hurriedly to writing the more =D

Day 99 - Recap - Part 10:

The toe bone connected to the heel bone,
The heel bone connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone...

I worked my way up according to a childhood song.

His bottom claws tasted horrific, but as I worked my way up the meat grew ever more tasty. It was almost sweet in some of the parts. It wasn't too filling, though. By the time we had gotten past the heel bone, we decided that we would need to introduce more than just fire and the mental anguish of being eaten alive.

"Dasva, he looks a bit toasty."

"I was thinking the same thing!" she said. She was enjoying this.

"Shall we cool him off?"

"Indeed!"

And then we began freezing him before we would roast him. His entire body was screaming. We could see it. I was going to take a more direct route soon.

A route I did not want to take, because I wanted a witness.

But there where always more painful routes.

One day I had gone to the market below port Jeuno and bought a chicken, live. They had to kill it for me, and I had to clean it up, and as I did I noticed that if I would touch some of the joints it would twitch. Meg, ever the scientist, knew exactly why.

I could hear her explanation echoing through my mind.

"Well, you see, there are some things called nerrrrves," she purred, smiling, and she explained the science of it.

All living things had nerves, and that was a fact. Those nerves were sensitive.

Very much so.

"It ends when you talk," we said.

The red demon still would not talk.

"Cut the spells," I said. "It's time for something new."

The elemental slaughter abruptly stopped.

I took my scimitar. I was getting very, very tired now.

I shouldn't have been doing this.

I sliced his entire left arm below the elbow off. He now had a stick of a limb just flailing about, howling.

I crabbed him by what was left of his left arm and began to stick my fingers into the area that was left open. The howling multiplied amounts I cannot even begin to describe.

"Make it stop!" it finally shrieked.

Progress was made. I licked my lips and took a step backwards.

"In standard," we said.

The demon shrieked again, "Make it stop!" in warbled, deep, harsh standard language.

Language that Dasva could understand.

Language that Cid and Wolfgang could understand.

There was a long pause.

"It is good that three killers such as we have met in the path of life and death," the red one said.

I smiled. It looked like we were all finally starting to understand each other.

I stepped out of the room and spoke to one of the rangers. "Get Wolfgang and Cid and anyone else who matters. He's ready to talk."