Grey watched the cartoi's movements intently. The creature drew his victim in with his claws and used the tail as the final glancing blow. He then waited, guns out in both hands as he waited. The thing screeched and pouched again, this time standing on its last legs and slicing in the air with the other four clawed hands. Grey ducked and dodged, firing hard into the thoracic region. The bullet bounced off the monster's hard plated body and he rolled away. The thing rushed again and he used a wind spell to knock it away. The woman who had summoned it had run away and Grey thought about Jay inside the prison. The half-elf could hear a lot of things so Grey wondered whether he could hear this battle.
He circled the cartoi again who was waiting and decided to sheathe his pistols, they didn't seem to of much use to him in this battle. He drew both the whip sword and his short sword and stood, waiting for the cartoi's next attack. The cartoi came overhead, slicing for its head. Grey twisted, throwing the whip in a tight circle and grunted satisfactorily as it circled two of the hands. He jumped over the creature, dragging its weight with him. He then smashed it on the wall.
The cartoi screeched but it was tied up and all Grey had to do was find a soft spot in its armored shell and stab it to death. When he was done, he raced out of the room, the woman would be back of course but they had to leave the tower or they would be smoked fish by the time she got back. He couldn't trace the cell they were been held in. The walls of the tower were gray and green and all that filled it were cells. He changed tactics and tried to find Jay's scent.
He caught it and quickly ran through the hallways of the tower, turning at where the scent was strongest. Soon enough, he reached the cell. When he looked in, he saw no one. He was angry, had the phantoms carried the half-elf too.
"Jay." He called.
The boy cartwheeled out of the dark part of the cell, smiling. When he saw Grey, he yelped for joy.
"Oh my God, I never thought you would come back. Do you know how to get out of here?" He asked.
Grey shrugged.
"At least we aren't prisoners here. We have to run quickly, there's a woman running this place and I have cause to think she'll be after us soon." He said.
Jay held the bars.
"Can you do magic?" He asked.
Grey nodded.
"The block seems to affect only inside the cell." He said.
"Stay back." He warned the boy. He summoned some magic, and as it flowed up his right arm, he made a fist. He punched clean through the bars, making a wide hole. Jay came out quickly and jumped for joy.
"You're an eccentric little fellow, let's get out of here." He said.
The tower seemed to have never ending hallways but Grey asked Jay to reach his hearing for the sound of water while he tracked fresh air with his nose.
As they turned down a hallway, they entered a large room. It looked a king's court with banners of a demonic lion roaring, and of demons kneeling. The walls were painted in blood and depicted scenes of sacrifice and beasts.
"That's horrific." Jay said, covering his eyes.
"Ok, where do we go next?" Grey asked himself.
Jay strained his ears.
"I can hear a river from that direction." He said, pointing west.
A thick wall was all that lay there.
"Looks like we'll have to break that wall." He said.
"With what?" Jay asked.
Grey made a sign, an earth crushing spell and moved his hand from down up. Boulders and rocks broke out from the floor and smashed against the wall in a grinding noise, again and again until the wall gave in and fell. A cold breeze blew in and there was a hole. They could both see a cloudy sky and the river they'd followed was flowing around the tower.
"Freedom." Jay yelped.
There was a strange clicking sound and the woman who interrogated Grey came into the room, albeit changed. She wore a shiny green demon armor, carried a spiky staff and her hair was a coiling mass of pythons.
"It seems we have a prison break." She said.
Grey grabbed Jay by the ruff of the neck. Phantoms were gathering now, their tendrils shooting out. He ran towards the hole and leapt out of the tower.
They landed awkwardly, but he covered the boy with his body and coat as they rolled down what was the mountain that the tower was on.
"Ouch." Jay complained, but Grey kept it on. He couldn't risk the boy to fight and he wanted to test if the phantoms could attack him in daylight. Something broke their rumbling fall and they both fell on the sandy beach.
Grey stood up and Jay rolled out of the coat, legs and arms folded like a ball. He straightened up and stretched his bones.
"You changed shape?" Grey asked.
Jay nodded and smiled. The weather was cloudya nd there was a storm coming. Grey looked at the demon tower again, he had an urge to go back in there and slit the throats of all the demons inside but he had a companion now and he wouldn't want to risk it.
"Let's get out of here." He told Jay who was washing himself in the shallow part of the river. He checked all his weapons but knew they would be there. A magical energy tied them to him so that no matter how far they were apart, once he summoned them, they came.
Jay stood up, clothes wet. The half elf was wearing what had once been a colorful acting costume but was now a tattered rag.
"That coat of yours is sure handy." He said.
Grey nodded.
"Nothing can cut it, it enables me to jump very high and fly from great heights." He said.
Jay caressed it.
"You can fly?" He asked.
"No, yes, I mean only if I am falling from let's say somewhere high. All I can do from the ground is jump up." Grey explained.
Jay looked around.
"So, how do we leave demon island?" He asked.
Grey looked at the green orb in his belt.
"I don't know where we are, but we can jump dimensions." He said.
Jay caught sight of the orb and marveled, mouth open.
"Is that a Warp?" He asked.
Grey nodded and tired of explaining, started walking down the beach. Jay followed quickly.
Suddenly, there was a thunderclap from behind and they both turned. Smoke obscured the front view of the tower but Grey used his eyes to look inside the swirling smoke. He grunted in anger.
"They are coming for us." He said.
"The demons?" Jay asked, fearfully.
Grey nodded.
"Can't we just warp out of here? That way, they won't know where we went at all." Jay asked, hopefully.
"The Warp doesn't work like that, Jay. We have to fight them now." He said.
They both looked at the smoke. Grey looked around and saw a group of rocks and a mountain forward.
He pointed there.
"Look at those rocks, we'll ambush them there. It'll be safer and they won't expect it." He said.
Jay trembled and Grey grasped his shoulders.
"Don't be scared, we're going to get through this. I'm a Hunter, I was trained for things like this. All you have to do, is follow my instructions and watch." He said.
The boy nodded.
"You're growing into a young adult, you have to grow some backbone too, you understand?" He asked.
"Yeah, I kinda do." He said.
Grey nodded and smiled.
They raced towards the rocks.
The woman led them riding a normal horse, the foul beasts. They had once been human, a long time ago but now the Lion God had made them into something that inspired and sent terror down the spines of those who fought them. They wore rags and walked like zombies, their skin green and their voice a low growl.
"They must have a weakness, right?" Jay asked. Grey could feel the boy's fear and sought to assuage it.
"Yes. Everything does, Nature has a way of damning every species. They have to be slow at least, if they're not like the ones I faced in Farmer Bread." He said.
"Where's Farmer Bread?" Jay asked.
Grey shook his head.
"Don't worry, I'll be the one doing the fighting." He said.
"But I can help." Jay argued.
"Yes, but I'd rather you survive in one piece. You're not going be doing that if you go into that scrap." He said, patting the boy down.
"Stay here and watch. Don't leave this place." He ordered.
The demons came closer, the woman leading two dozen of them.
Here we go. Grey thought. He drew his pistols and waited as they came in view. He then leapt into the air, guns blazing. They were all surprised and about eight were down before Grey rolled to the ground, sheathing both guns and drawing his whip sword.
"Let's play, fuckers." He said. The demons growled and came at him, slow but strong. His whip sword moved with grace and he weaved around there, his fist smashing into the demons' heads and chests and sending them into the air. By the time the press had cleared, he was face to face with their leader.
"You don't seem to understand, demon. I eat things like those people for breakfast. Now, are you going to make this interesting or not?" He asked.
She cocked her head and opened her mouth. A forked tongue darted out of her black mouth and shot at him. Grey flew over the strike, coiling the whip around it. He yanked and drew her out of the saddle.
She somehow disentangled the tongue and landed gracefully. Her clothes began to rip as she changed. Her hair returned to the python state and her skin seemed to be made of scales, green and hard.
"A Ministress, eh. That's surely interesting." He said.
"I will end the will of my master here and with you. You will end your life as a Hunter." She said.
"I don't think so, I have quite a lot of people to kill." He said.