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The undead king glowered down at the two insignificant worms, his billowing aura filled the palace courtyard, spilling through the gates and into the street. A pack of demons running toward the palace with weapons ready slowed at the sight of the glowing black energy pushing out through the broken gates.
Dave took a step back. There was no sign of recognition or even sentience from the revenant monarch. Uncharacteristically, Dog bowed humbly to the king, trying to placate the revenant.
It didn't help, the king drew his black sword, the blade that devoured light.
"He's not alright!" Samael said, glancing back at the king as he kept the demons bottled up on the stairs, "He's confused. He doesn't know who he is."
The king snapped his head around to glare at the ghoul. Then the revenant noticed the demons still flooding down the palace stairs and any hint of uncertainty in the revenant's behavior vanished. The glowing black aura writhed, becoming sharp and spiky in agitation as the revenant reacted to the presence of his ancestral enemies.
"Pet Cemetery," Dave whispered, his eyes widening.
The revenant raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. The king's barbed aura surged and all the demons in sight yelled at the same time as thousands of pinprick wounds appeared all over their bodies, as if they had been put in an iron maiden.
Then the king exhaled noisily, "Sahhhhhhhh!" and very demon in sight burst apart and fell to the ground in piles of small chunks of meat, bone and equipment. Puddles of demon ichor spread slowly from the piles as the moment after the grotesque display stretched out.
The moment was interrupted by demons appearing at the palace doors and advanced down the stairs toward Samael's position.
A vibrating growl came from the ghoul. The sound ratcheted up to a continuous bestial scream, accompanied by wet tearing sounds as Samael started growing, changing.
The ghoul grew taller as his shoulders widened, back hunched and swollen with brutish muscle. The bones of his face grew immensely thicker and heavier, showing curved fangs, the chin and jaw protruding like a steamshovel. The serene, friendly ghoul that Dave knew was gone, replaced by a savage, frenzied brute three times bigger and taller than his original form.
Samael swiped black, scimitar-length claws through the demons rushing down the stairs.
The shifted ghoul growled at Dave in a voice like crushing boulders, "Your dullahan's magic was not sufficient, the king has no memories, no persona. He is an empty husk. There is one chance to fix this. Putting the Death Heart back in place might restore the king's memory. I will keep the revenant occupied here, you go and put the Death Heart back."
The undead king slashed at Dog, but Dave pulled the dullahan away from the sword and interposed his shield. Sliding back from the impact, Dave cursed, he needed to disengage and try to get the Death Heart back to its place.
Samael's form blinked and appeared in front of the undead king. Black claws met black sword, dark lighting snapped and arced where the edges met. Samael strained against the revenant's strength. He leaned back "Please don't make me do this..." then he headbutted his king, disorienting him.
The king shook his head and roared as he lashed back at the ghoul with his sword. Scimitar claws clashed against sword, but Samael was faltering.
"GO!" the jotunn-ghoul grunted through clenched overdeveloped jaw.
"Dog, you're with me!"
Dave ran for the stairs and started climbing them with the dullahan right behind him. They went through the palace doors. There was a spiral staircase leading up to the throne room in the entryway. Two Demons waited on the stairs, swords ready.
Dave activated [Stampede] and rammed into the demons. He moved past them with Dog following close behind.
As he climbed more demons appeared, he used spectral skulls to blow them off their feet and continued past them. He used the same tactic on the next pair of demons that got in his ways
The stairs circled up all the way leading directly to the throne room entrance. His ultimate destination was a small door in the throne room that led to the roof of the tower.
Halfway up the stairs, a larger group of demons showed up on the steps above and he could hear the ones that he'd bypassed chasing them from below.
Dog crouched, palm down on the step, black sigils spread across the stone from his hand. His basilisk appeared and suddenly the steps were much more crowded. Dog grunted, pointing, and the basilisk leapt up the steps blowing away demons, clearing the way.
"Damn good idea, Dog!"
They followed after the basilisk and arrived at the top. The throne room's golden doors were open revealing the columned interior, Dave's expression turned grim when he saw the pack of ten demons inside.
Dave looked down the steps they had come from. Demons shouted insults as they rushed up the steps toward them. He had to keep the demons away somehow or they would be surrounded. He pushed the golden doors closed, but knew they wouldn't hold against the demons long.
Dave knelt and touched the floor, black sigils wrote themselves across the stone and Grumpy appeared. But, the summoning drew the attention of the demons in the throne room. Shouting, the demons came running at Dave.
Chapter end
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