All eyes were fixated on two blood red humanoid silhouettes that were unnaturally hovering over a pool of boiling blood. Soft, rhythmic chanting was coming from two elderly men in dark green robes standing behind a wall of shields as they begun to use magic to guide the floating bodies towards opposite sides of the pool and away from each other.
The floating bodies were covered in a blood red film that made it only possible to distinguish the outline of their major features. The one on the left had an extremely thin body and looked to be around the age of six in human terms while the other had an identical shape, however, a few extra appendages protruding from its body that made it obvious it wasn't a human. It had small horns that sprouted from its head, seemingly pointless tiny wings and a long, thick serpent like tail that gently swayed even though there was no breeze.
“Demon half-breed” [Green robed mage]
He could not tell what type of hybrid it was at the moment, but as soon as it left the edge of the pool the blood film would dissolve allowing him to inspect the creature more closely.
The room visibly tensed at the mention of the demon half breed with some of the men resting hands on their weapons ready to wield them at a moment's notice. They already had captured a pure-blooded demon as well as some other demon hybrids and all of them had caused trouble, the worst being the pureblood who had crippled a man for life.
Hybrids or more commonly known half-breeds were mixed blood between two different major species which were considered exceptionally rare. Not only was mating pretty… awkward for them in some cases, most seemed to naturally prefer the company of their own kind.
If birthed normally, the hybrids mother's race tended be dominant meaning the child would have all of her physical characteristics and abilities while the fathers would slightly slightly mutate these appearance and traits while adding in some abilities and skills from his race. However this ritual was unnatural and one could only wonder at the evolutionary process and abilities that these spawned creatures especially the half breeds would possess.
“Urg… yet another demon. That's four of them now” sighed the general. When he had been young he was stationed on the southern border and maintained a healthy level of fear for them after he witnessed an entire platoon decimated by a single demoness. Apparently one of the soldiers decided he would try his luck. Unluckily for him the demoness seemed to be in mourning and quickly lost her temper and the mand and his unit quickly lost their lives.
“Luck of the draw” snipped a elderly man who was clearly displeased at the whole event. He wore a red robe that smelt faintly of brimstone and had a slight limp caused from an female elf attempting to escape earlier.
“Such a sore loser Albert, you would think that a grand mage would know how to suck it up and do their job” [General Rolf]
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“Unless your going to try and comfort them like the elf that nearly bit through your leg just sit back and watch.” snickered the general trying his hardest not to burst out laughing.
The grand mage, Albert didn't bother to respond and continued to look lifelessly at the pool.
You fools are playing with hellfire. You expect highly intelligent creatures with unlimited potential to roll over and beg. Always leave room for escape, nothing is more dangerous than facing an adversary that has nothing to lose. [Albert]
A call came from the other side of the pool “Think this one could be a human” [Mage]
==== General Rolf ====
Excellent another human, you can have all the monsters in Acoria but without powerful leaders, taking over the continent is just a dream. The males would be trained to lead the armies while any attractive females would be made the king's concubines. The others would be given to prominent nobles as gifts, mixing in their unique blood into the nobles bloodlines would help to ensure humanity stands at its rightful place as rulers of the world.
“Draconic Demon” [Knight]
“.... WHAT…. ” I scowl at the man who spoke. It was Grieves, a veteran I had been on many campaigns with and knew to be more than competent. Still I had a hard time believing I heard him correctly.
“Just what you always wanted for a pet… both of the most uncontrollable and unstable bloodlines mixed into one…. Wonder if it likes the taste of old ignorant knights.” chucked Albert darkly.
Ignoring Albert’s obvious attempt to irritate me, I focus on the group surrounding the demon. Due to the natural animosity towards each other, bordering on the near genocidal blood-lust it was generally considered impossible that a hybrid could be born. It wasn't only the willingness of the individuals that was the problem, demon and dragon blood reacted violently when mixed togethernormally exploding on contact. It was so volatile that they were the most common ingredients in none magical explosives.
As the capture team are blocking my view so I decide to move closer and inspect the creature for myself. What I find is disappointing, bar a few almost subtle differences it looks almost the same as a normal demon.
Its horns are rougher with a slightly yellow scale like pattern and continue backwards like a dagger where demons tend to rise at the tip. The biggest difference is the tail. It is huge compared to a normal demons in terms of width and covered in black, none reflective reptilian scales. It is very muscular at the base slimming down to being almost being whip like, finally ending in a dagger like bone making it look much more deadly than either pure bloods.
“Get a dragon's collar on and in a cage before it wakes up. Use sleep magic and paralysis powder to keep it unconscious. We don't need it waking up and causing a scene”
I let out a loud sigh, I can already tell that these siblings are going to be a major headache. I strongly doubt the other is human now and even if it was, with a dragon as a brother he would be too dangerous.
I look over and watch the other group start to inspect the other creature as the demon hybrid is loaded into its cage and moved to the surface. Suddenly my entire body tenses and cold sweat drenches my back. I quickly turn to look at the exit to only see the feet of the men taking the cage up. What was that?