Syraleth, in her full baroness form, stands at the edge of the scorched chamber, wings draped like black silk behind her, her horns crackling with crimson magic and her eyes blazing like rubies carved of madness.
"Well?" she purrs, beckoning them with a curling finger and a tilt of her head. "Shall we get started?"
"Gladly!" Vuvi barks.
She drops to a knee and with a twist and flick, she fires off the Boombuster. A volley of volatile grapeshot erupts from the barrel with a loud, violent kaboom, pushing Vuvi back with a powerful kick of recoil.
Veena grunts and vanishes in a spiral of smoke.
A dozen explosions echo through the room as Syraleth is engulfed in fire and smoke. Small magic-infused pellets tear into her flawless figure, leaving her wings and body pockmarked with sizzling burns and a bubbling black ichor oozing down her legs.
She chuckles.
Her wings flick out before wrapping around her like a fleshy cocoon, pulsing with glowing demon magic.
With a cracking snap, her wings open, releasing a shockwave of energy through the room that knocks Vuvi off her feet and sends Pip skidding backwards mid-beep.
She stands again before them, unmarred and completely healed.
[Threat detected. Power-Level: SS]
[Target Name: Syraleth]
[Combat Objective: Defeat Demon-kin Baroness (x1)]
Pip's body blasts out a cloud of steam as his servos pulse and core crystal sparks with power. He prepares to launch himself toward the baroness, fists glowing with divine magic.
[Engaging Combat Protocols]
"Pip!" Vuvi yells, pulling two bombs from her belt. "Get Bunny out here! Now! You can't fight her!"
He hesitates, his body buzzing as he's torn between obedience and his mind calling him to action.
"GO!" she barks, eyes fierce, yet filled with worry.
Pip answers with a resigned beep.
He sweeps a swooning Penelo up into his arms as she moans and giggles happily, and with a blast of divine force, he launches through the air and toward the gaping hole in the ceiling.
Vuvi looks up smiling as Pip waves back at her from the edge of the hole with a sleepy-faced Penelo grinning over his shoulder.
Penelo gasps as Vuvi suddenly disappears, knocked away from the hole and against a wall by a blast of magic. She hits the ground, coughing and spluttering as she slumps into a heap.
Sylareth struts up and looms over her. "You're facing a baroness, kitten. You shouldn't get distract—"
the baroness' words are cut short as Veena crashes into her chest like a flaming artillery round. The impact sends both of them careening and crashing through wall after wall while Veena pummels the baroness with a flaming flurry of demonically-powered punches.
Veena's final punch blasts Syraleth upward, through the mansion's foundations, layers of earth and finally cobblestone, launching the baroness into the clear night sky above her estate until she comes crashing back down into the garden, slamming into the earth and sending up a massive wave of dirt and debris.
Syraleth lay in a crater of crushed rose bushes. Bloody, bruised and cackling with joy.
She erupts from the ground with a flap of her wings, hanging in the air as Veena appears below in a puff of smoke, eyes glowing with violet rage.
"I feel so ALIVE!" Syraleth howls, her hair fluttering wildly in the wind.
With a deafening shriek, she blasts toward Veena, trailing crimson smoke and fire, eyes ablaze and body pouring out dark magic.
Veena stands firm, lifting her arms before her face. With a grunt, her magic erupts from hands and horns, producing a multi-layer energy barrier ahead of her.
The baroness flips mid-flight, aiming her pointed heels at Veena as she screeches through the air toward her.
They meet with a tremendous boom. Veena strains against Sylareth's strength as the baroness shatters layer after layer of her energy shield. When the last layer breaks, Veena is catapulted back toward the mansion, hitting a wall in an explosion of rock and stone.
"YAAARGH!" she screams as bones crack and muscles tear across her body.
"VEENA!!" Vuvi roars.
A bomb explodes besides Syraleth's head as she laughs, ripping a massive hole through her cheek and blowing out an eye socket.
She shrieks, reeling back as flesh falls off her face.
Another bomb hits her chest, blowing apart her breasts and the third falls at her feet, enveloping her in a thick, acrid gas that sizzles through her lungs.
She stumbles, coughing as she rubs at her eyes, wings flailing madly around her.
"You dirty bitches!" She shrieks as she bursts into the sky. "DIE!!!"
Through blurry vision she releases a horde of red, flaming orbs, firing them wildly across the estate, ripping apart the grounds in massive eruptions.
Vuvi dives onto Veena as she lay bleeding on the ground. She pulls a rune-covered metal sphere out of her toolbag and activates it. The sphere erupts outward, enclosing Vuvi and Veena in a small, metal, protective dome while Vuvi provides Veena health potions and first-aid.
Inside the mansion, Pip scrambles through the crumbling halls, dodging chunks of falling stone and grabbing stunned staff as he runs with a piggybacked Penelo clinging to his shoulders.
"Oh Maidens of Mercy! I can't die yet!" she cries as the building collapses around them. "I haven't had a turn with Pip! SAVE ME, PIP!"
Pip kicks down the grand entrance doors as they exit the mansion, carrying 8 bodies including a fawning Penelo.
"Oh Pip! You saved me. Again! You're getting an extra special oil-bath tonight! Full-service!" Penelo purrs, stroking her paw over Pip's body.
Pip beeps worriedly as he watches the scene unfold across the estate.
The previously pristine grounds now look like the aftermath of a large-scale battle. Flaming craters litter the lawn while Syraleth hangs in the sky, black blood spewing from her face and chest.
"Show yourselves!" she screams before glancing at Pip and smiling coyly at him.
She slowly descends to the ground, wrapping herself in her glowing wings as she walks. As she reaches the steps toward the entrance where Pip stands, her wings open, revealing her perfectly pristine body. Completely healed and restored.
"Oh, little prince." she coos. "Don't worry, we'll return to our fun in a moment. As soon as I—"
Sylareth pauses and flicks around.
She grins, snatching Veena out of the air as she appears in a blink of smoke, wielding a blade of dark magic aimed at the baroness' heart.
"Almost had me there." Syraleth smirks, her claws wrapped around Veena's throat as she holds her up to the sky. "W-Wait! Aren't you…" she stutters as she gets a closer look at Veena's face. "Silver hair, violet eyes… it can't be!" she grins. "Oh, my my my. Your mother has been—"
"Shut up!" Veena wheezes. "She means nothing to me!"
"Oh? Well, she certainly doesn't feel the same way about you. She's been—"
"Hey!" Vuvi barks from behind the baroness. "You're facing a Blackthorn, bitch. You shouldn't get distracted!"
Sylareth tosses Veena aside and chuckles as she turns to face Vuvi. But her smile quickly disappears when she stares down the barrel of a magically-overloaded Boombuster 5000 hovering inches away from her face.
"Consider your appointment cancelled!"
Vuvi tugs on the trigger while grinning like a demented gremlin. The magic infused shot bursts from the barrel at point-blank range, launching her backward with explosive recoil.
The baroness' eyes widen as she raises her hands to cast a magic shield, but it was already far too late.
She watches, in slow motion, as a small, flaming orb spirals toward her forehead.
She's struck by a bullet of highly condensed mana alchemically fused with dessicated dragon fire and microscopic shards of divine crystal.
The projectile pierces her flesh, tears through bone and brain and explodes out of the back of her skull, blowing the top of her head clean off.
She collapses instantly. Slumping to the ground into a heap as smoke curls out of her empty eye-sockets.
She twitches once before her fingers slowly unfurl and she finally lays dead.
Vuvi takes a deep breath. "I killed a baroness!" she yells proudly, punching her fist into the air. "Mother's never gonna believe this!"
Veena limps forward, clutching her chest. "Don't celebrate too soon. She'll be back."
"What?!" Vuvi groans.
"She's not dead. Well… not completely."
Vuvi kneels down, poking at the smoking corpse between them. "She looks pretty dead to me."
Veena shakes her head. "Powerful demons like her don't die. Not unless you destroy their heart-core. They usually keep it hidden. There's no way she's keeping it in her body, far too risky."
Vuvi sighs. "Let me guess… she keeps it in a fortress in the Demon Lands."
"Probably." Veena replies. "It will be well hidden, most likely guarded. You'd need an army and a miracle to get anywhere close to it.
"Whatever." Vuvi scoffs, wiping sweat from her brow. "I blasted her face off, pretty sure that counts as victory."
Pip descends the stares, beeping with joy while Penelo dangles over his shoulder like a love-drunk ragdoll.
"You guys were so coooool." she moans as she weakly lifts her head. "That was the hottest fight ever!"
"You okay, Fluffy?" Vuvi chuckles as she waves at Penelo.
"I love you guys!" Penelo cries. "You're both getting oil-massages when we get back to the inn. Full-service! Ears and everything!"
Veena smiles. "I might actually take you up on that." she mumbles, coughing up splotches of blood.
"Ah! Veena! You're hurt!" Penelo yelps. "Pip! Take me to Veena!"
Pip beeps affirmatively and quickly runs to Veena's side as she slowly sits down on the staircase to rest.
Penelo slips off his back and quickly hugs Veena tightly before placing her paws on her friend's body, and flooding her with pink healing magic.
Vuvi steps next to Pip, tossing her arm over his shoulder and leaning on his chest. "Glad to have you back, Pip." she smiles warmly.
Pip turns to her, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a tight, warm, glowing hug.
"Okay! okay!" Vuvi chuckles. "I missed you too, Pip! Let's get back to the inn. I need a drink, a bath and probably some therapy."
Vuvi offers her hand to Veena while Pip collects a stumbling, giggling Penelo onto his back.
They walk together through the ruins of Syraleth's estate, side-by-side, glowing in the aftermath of their violent victory and covered in blood, soot and just enough trauma to last a lifetime.