"By the fires of the elder's pit, by the fists of the enshrined ones, I call upon my true name and invoke my sealed power! Og'drimun!"

The demon's severed arms writhed on the ground as replacements sprouted from the stubs on his back. They were covered in ichor, but seamlessly replaced the ones he had lost. The two arms on the ground started to melt away and turned into an inky black pool. From the foul-smelling liquid rose shadowy beast that only vaguely resembled wolves.

Og'drimun let out a deep bellow that shook the ground itself as his shadowy wolves moved to stand between him and the smiling man. As the others rushed to attack him, suddenly Death appeared behind the smiling man with his scythe pulled back. The smiling man tried to move away, but everywhere he went, Death was always right behind him as his scythe swung closer and closer. The smiling man twisted this way and that, but with the mist pulled back by the whirlwind, there was nothing to stop the force of nature.

SCHWING!

The smiling man grabbed onto the blade of Death's scythe. A trickle of blood dripped down his hand where it met the blade. Death tried to pull back, but he couldn't free his scythe as the smiling man put a foot against Death's chest and violently extended his leg. A shockwave from the blow nearly knocked Sentenza and Lulu over as they both struggled to cover their faces.

Death's torso had flown back from the blow and left his limbs lying loosely in the air. As they started to fall, the smiling man grabbed the top of Death's skull.

"You really wanted to see what dying would be like that badly?" the smiling man cooed as a hungry grin looked down at Death's skull. "I guess morbid curiosity must come with the territory. And who am I to..."

He was interrupted as several bullets and playing cards flew towards him. His body shifted around so quickly it was almost like he hadn't moved at all as he twisted around the bullets. For the cards, he moved Death's skull to intercept them.

"Foolish mortals!" Laughed Og'drimun. "Leave this to me. Spend your time doing something actually valuable, like worshipping me as the deity I am!"

As Sentenza raised his gun towards the smiling man, one of the shadow wolves leaped out in front of him. It was so massive that it stared straight into Sentenza's eyes from the same level. The assassin sneered. "You have until the count of two to step out of the way before I kill you."

The wolf stared at him with a savage viciousness boiling behind its eyes.

"One."

The wolf let out a low growl.

BANG!

"Two." Sentenza fired the old gun Nariisa had given him right between the wolf's eyes.

It seemed to freeze in place before flakes of it started to fly off, like ash blown into the wind until it had crumbled down to nothing. As another approached to block off their group, Sentenza shot that one too. He turned his eyes to Og'drimun and narrowed them as his hand tightened on his pistol.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Sentenza glanced up at Og'drimun and said coldly. "Do what you can," he glanced back towards Bakade. "I'll get the final piece to finish him off." He ran off towards the giant demon as he started to kill off the giant wolves.

Trizel grumbled. "Should have known we could not trust a demon to keep his head."

Several wolves moved to stand between them and the smiling man as Og'drimun rushed their patron.

Bakade scooped up Narissa and Sid into her hands and stepped back as she watched the fight unfold.

"These things look like quite the handful on their own," chuckled Lulu. "Too bad they don't have meat on them, or this would be a great day."

"On that we can agree. Mmm, just imagining such a feast," purred Trizel.

The wolves stood firm as they spoke. They seemed content just to stand between them and the fight and weren't actively attacking them just yet.

"You always underestimated me and my kind, but no more." laughed Og'drimun as he slowly walked towards the smiling man.

Hey, I uh got something to say to you. Death chimed in. You're a real downer, you know that?

Og'drimun grew flustered and flames spewed from his mouth as he shouted, "What! How dare..."

Whoa, obviously not you bro. This wet blanket over here.

The smiling man laughed. "Ah, defiant until the end. I admire that, but sadly this is the end. Not even death can escape fate it seems." He squeezed his hand down and the skull shattered into powder. Then, he tossed the scythe down into the ground. "A pathetic tool for a pathetic force of nature."

As the scythe hit the ground, it disappeared and Og'drimun let out a low chuckle. "You're far too cocky for someone so weak." He held open one of his hands on his stomach, and in it was all of the pieces of Death's body intact.

Phew. Thanks for that save bro. I owe you one. Death said as he pulled himself back together.

"For you? Anytime my man." the demon bellowed.

"Clever," the smiling man chuckled. "Too bad you showed your hand so early."

Og'drimun threw Death off to the side and cracked his neck back and forth before he held up all ten of his hands towards him. From each of them, a shadowy tendril sprang forth and sped towards the smiling man. They tore through everything they touched, as if they were nothing more than bubbles. But, like usual, the smiling man just appeared where they weren't as they lashed out at him. Except, as they started to strike at him, others began to circle around and try and block him in place.

When he was almost surrounded, the smiling man leaped up into the sky and completely out of the way. However, the tendrils quickly followed him. Almost like they were homed in on his heartbeat and tearing through anything that might get in their way as they hunted it down.

As this went on, Og'drimun continued to step closer and closer. He had a giant grin on his face as his eyes stared at the small man assaulted by his tendrils. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You're such an insignificant speck of your kind, but I am the pinnacle of mine. I hope you're ready to see how quickly we can overcome elderly races like you."

"Ha...hahaha...hahahahahahaha!" The smiling man laughed maniacally as he stopped dodging out of the way.

His body was pierced over and over by the tendrils, as they seemed to sew themselves into his obscured flesh until he was completely covered by them. They squeezed down more and more as Og'drimun let out a proud huff.

"I told you I could handle it," he boasted but then he frowned as he saw the others fighting with his wolves. "What are you...hrgk!"

The smiling man had pulled himself free and grabbed all of the tendrils under one arm. He forced them back and wrapped them around Og'drimun's neck. With a few of them still through his body and wriggling, the smiling man pulled them tighter.

"Pathetic. Best of your kind? Hah! Who cares about who's the king of the dung heap," the smiling man mocked. "You were pathetic enough to be enslaved three separate times by humans. Consider this execution a mercy."

Death brought his scythe down and cut through the tendrils, releasing their grip on Og'drimun's throat. I got your back! He called out.

"No! I have this!" Og'drimun yelled angrily before he smacked Death away. "I don't need any help." He said this without realizing he had already shrunk a couple feet.

BANG!

Og'drimun stumbled back slightly as a massive burn mark appeared on his chest. Sentenza had shot him, but as he started to turn, five more shots rang out. Each one tore through his demonic body and left behind a sizzling mark.

Sentenza's eyes burned with a cold fury as he reloaded and continued to rush towards Og'drimun as wolves turned to ash all around him.

"Why did we let him live again?" Trizel sighed as he held a wolf by its rear legs and used it to smack another one into the distance.

"Uh...results?" Lulu suggested. "Guy's got some serious skill after all."

The hollow king held open the eye on his palm at a wolf that howled in pain. He turned to them and let out a low hiss of air as he shook his head.

Nugget looked completely unphased by the wolves as she danced around their attacks and left a small scratch with each dodge. Slowly, draining the spectral beasts bit by bit.