The Legacy of Lothevis: Awakening

Noelle's wave of ice and cold covered the raging, staggering giant, momentarily imprisoning him in a vast glacier. His strength was still great, however, and while he quickly broke out, it was only one more moment of advantage for the heroes that were heaving barrages of shots and strikes at him. His wounds were trying in vain to heal, but without the massive healing factor of the ascendant prince, each bruise, each fracture, each cut, each burn, each puncture and bullethole was being replaced by more and more before any one could repair itself. Despite the power he still had, it was obvious Lothevis didn't know what he was doing without Darkthorne's aid, and was quickly losing this fight.

The Darkthorne-shadow merely chuckled to himself off to the side, staring at the portal device and the Wheel of Destruction as he listened to the fight. Lothevis' howls and roars of pain and frustration tickled him to no end. He made no other move, letting the heroes relish their triumph against the arrogant old fool of a mage.

Muffin jumped up onto his chest, pressing her thumb hard against his large windpipe. She stared at him with intense hate in her eyes and said,

"Go to hell."

She began to press hard, cutting off his air, her other hand holding his head forward to add an incredible ammount of pressure to him.

Lothevis suddenly stopped fighting, despite the fact that he could easily crush this small woman in one hand. He simply sank to his knees as Muffin tried to crush his throat. It wasn't fear he had in his eyes now, however. He was grinning again.

"He knows he's lost," Darkthorne said almost disinterestedly, not even looking in their direction, "and he wants you to kill him. I'd advise against that."

Muffin stood there, trembling with rage, her hand on his throat. She lowered her head, hair falling to either side of her face, and backed off of Lothevis. She turned and spat on him, then, exhaustion finally coming over her, backed away to let the others go at him.

The appearance of Muffin and then Darkthorne threw Scorpia for a loop. Even with what little explanation was given in the exchange between them, she was still completely baffled. But as the other heroes lept to pound on Lothevis with renewed vigor, she erected shields around the newly arrived hero before renewing those around the others.

When the device is mentioned, she looks over at Darkthorne where he floats above the control panel, thinking if she can get over there while Lothevis is distracted, she might be able to help.

Kinetica stood there, still aimed at Lothevis head, ready to blast him back into the wall if he got up and started fighting again.

"So... Uh... Could someone please tell me what is going on? Insane mage on the ropes, potential highway to hell about to open? Answers would be good right now. Solutions even better.", Erin hated all this magic stuff, it made no sense to her semi-orderly world of science and technology. Having seen everything she had seen meant she somewhat had to believe it existed and worked, but it still made her somewhat uncomfortable to have to deal with it.

Muffin shook her head, panting, kneeling on the floor. She said quietly,

"I'm not sure even I know what happened. Just... listen to whatever Darkthorne tells you to do."

Lothevis growled with a sneer, holding his broken and shattered body.

"No . . . kill me. You know you want to. All the pain I've caused. I've been a bad boy."

"That," Darkthorne shouted, "is true! Unfortunately, you've also been a big dick to me, and I don't like that sort of thing."

The shadow-thing finally turned and moved toward Lothevis, who only seethed in silence.

"They easily could kill you now. One good blast from Vincent would bake you like Alaska. But you and I both know that would just send us back to Hell to slumber, and then your bond would happen in silence, and you'd win. Can't have that, can we?"

Darkthorne chuckled as Lothevis fumed.

"You forget, Lothy, I know what you know, because you're still in my head. And I think, for the moment, I want it back."

With a headlong rush, the shadowy Darkthorne rushed at the beaten creature, flying into Lothevis, who jerked backward as if struck. Another shadow was instantly ejected out the other side of the demon body. The smaller, weaker Lothevis version, which cried out in rage.

Immediately getting to his feet, the demon . . . now apparently the true Darkthorne . . . lert out a roar of his own, bringing his power to bear once more, his wounds healing, his bones knitting, his massive wings of shadow flaring out behind him.

The Lothevis shadow tried to rush back into the body, but only succeeded in wrapping itself around Darkthorne like a parasitic, shadowy octopus, spewing curses. Darkthorne didn't seem to care.

Returned to full glory, the massive demon looked down at the heroes, appraising them.

Noelle held another wave of ice at the ready. Was the demon Darkthorne again? And did that make it a friend, or just a new kind of foe?

Pulling her Jacks back, she waited....