[M] White Night: the Heart of the Demoness | ElizabethStark & 커비 | (IC)

[ElizabethStark]

Several Hours Before the Incident

Amelia ground her teeth in hostility, fully aware that this wasn't going to end well for the municipality, Anchorage. The city itself would soon face destruction, only due to Amelia's anger. It wasn't as though Anchorage had anything to do with her painful past, but it was full of crime the local news reported human trafficking... she could deal a great amount of devastation - the territory would inevitably face her. And the foolish superheroes, who did nothing to wipe out the criminals of human trafficking and other discreet crime, would be none the wiser as Amelia's plan would soon unfold. She sat there in her room, musing over her scheme... with Yjorn expressing in her head how awful humans were - like whispers... his voice could be heard in every direction.

"You know what they deserve," said Yjorn, a most devious and gravelly masculine voice it was, "Humans are such vile creatures with the worst of intentions... annihilate Anchorage and kill off the League."

Yjorn was, what he called himself, a death scythe of immense knowledge. He was intelligent, yes, but exceedingly evil... just as his master was. His liege, Amelia, had conjured him at the small age of ten. For fourteen years they spent together thus far; Yjorn stated the plans and Amelia constructed them.

"All you must do is place your summoning signs inconspicuously across Anchorage."

It was simple, really, according to Yjorn. All Amelia needed to do was stay in her current appearance as she engaged around the city placing her summoning signs. It would take hours to prepare, but she was sure it would be worth it in the end. Not a soul would see it coming.

Amelia settled for walking across and all over Anchorage; it took several long hours but was well worth it. The day was October 31st, 2019... she began placing her signs at dawn and didn't finish until nightfall. Everything was going according to plan. Although her alias would be enough to cover for her, she decided upon wearing cozy dark clothing with an umbrella to match as the day started with light rain. She wore shades despite the weather and shifted her hair to a longer length. Her bright blue eyes stayed the same and her jet black hair remained straight. She stood at five feet and seven inches, and her figure was that of an hourglass - although you could not view her body very well as she wore baggy apparel since the temperature was below 40°F at the onset of the day. Amelia traced the symbol in discreet locations all around Anchorage as advised.

She then stood there, on one of the highest structures in Anchorage, glaring down at the puny humans below. Every trap was set, two hundred to be exact and many would come forth from each sign. Amelia smiled deviously; being able to change her hair to very long and wavy, and eyes to a glowing orangish-yellow in but a flash was quite convenient. And she shifted her clothing to match that of her deviousness. Her anger, was so much stronger this time... the Demoness would show no mercy. So many abusers and rapists and heinous souls were in this city, and they needed to be wiped out - along with the League of Superheroes.

Nightfall, the Same Day

The night was filled with humans, walking around like laughingstocks on Halloween night. Her summoning inklings were in neighborhoods and bars and red-light districts and areas where crime was high. Anchorage was a beautiful city, but the crime was abundant.

The Demoness created another symbol in midair gesturing with her left hand alone. The color of the emblem was a glowing blue hue. Anakee formed before her, the entity of great height and outstanding rank among its comrades... they stood at eight feet and eleven inches, not the tallest monstrosity and certainly not the smallest either. Their six faces varied in gender, two female and four males but they all shared the same mind.

Her scythe was equipped in her right fist as Anakee spoke, with a neutral voice of a genderless nature, "Are we ready to begin?"

Yjorn quipped in, "Most definitely."

Anakee quivered with excitement.

The Demoness was ready as well and with a gesture of her hand, she brought out a horizontal line with the same glowing color as before and carried it upward back into the line vertically. She whispered words of an unknown language as she drew, thus entering the entities through the summoning pools to her world. Havoc would ensue as she commanded every monstrous being to destroy Anchorage.

She jumped down the building alongside Anakee and Yjorn to the myriad of people below who were in all sorts of costumes. The Demoness touched the ground with the utmost silence... however, some people noticed her and after she appeared to them, the beings broke their silence, and then the screams of terror commenced.

Although the creatures were mostly of considerable intelligence, some were more than others and the less intelligent ones simply put much fear in the hearts of anyone they came across and could kill off humans at a great rate. They were, for the most part, instructed to murder the corrupted humans first and then work their way to destroy all sorts of buildings.

The Demoness walked calmly through the storm of wailing humans. She quickly stretched out her death scythe to the side and spoke telepathically to every hero she ever came across in Anchorage with a feminine and monotonous voice, "This city will be conquered, Heroes, and there will be carnage... I refuse to show mercy, especially to all of you supposed decent ones." She then outstretched her arms and gazed up at the night sky and smiled evilly, this time speaking out loud, "Expect the worst of me... TONIGHT... the massacre has begun!"

And so, the Demoness set out to kill any hero she came across, ignoring the multitude of humans being slaughtered by her entities.

[cwlee]

Digitally Crowned Studios
Anchorage, Alaska

“You know, Jack. Crime’s been at an all time high since mayor Gonzalez was elected,” spoke the host for the Heroes of Today with Stephen Stephenson. He, the one commenting about the crime rate of Anchorage, was dressed in a sky blue suit, each fold of the fabric of the suit perfectly bent in uniform. He was Stephen Stephenson. Believe it or not, his father was also named Stephen, as was his father before him. The Stephenson family had a long history of following abnormal activities that happen across the northern hemisphere and voicing their thoughts about them. At first many claimed them to be lunatics and full of hoaxes, but as stranger things had begun to occur more frequently within the last fifty years, the Stephenson name had grown more and more in popularity, amassing nearly one hundred million subscribers.

The other man sitting across from Stephen was Jack Nichols, the chief executive officer of the League of Superheroes and now the richest man on the planet. His father established the League of Superheroes during the Cold War when the Soviet Union had formed an organization composed of humans with abnormal powers, superpowers. After his father had passed, all responsibility of the league was handed down to Jack who had to this day not only progressed the league itself but the entire world, or so he said. Without he and his father’s contribution to the world, the Soviet Union would have run rampant across the globe and liberty would have died with it. It is the effort of two men alone that kept the United States of America as the most powerful country in the world, so Jack had time to wait patiently for Stephen to finish his phrase, and perhaps end it in a question for him.

“Where are the heroes, Jack?” Stephen finally asked. “We’ve been seeing a tremendous decline in your heroes in the past half a decade.”

The owner of the superheroes seated himself upright, squaring his shoulders as he leaned forward, his eyes shifting to seriousness. He himself was a human with no powers, but somehow he and his father had managed to create a legacy where humans managed to stay on top of the supposedly quickly-evolving brothers and sisters of humans. Unlike Jack’s counterpart who sat across from him who was cleanly dressed, Jack appeared himself to be a bum, wearing gray sweatpants and a black hoodie with a logo symbolizing the League of Superheroes. If it weren’t for the smell that radiated into the room when Jack walked in, surely anyone could tell this was the same outfit he’d be wearing for the last few days. He slicked his long, gray greasy hair back with his wrinkled fingers, hooking some hair behind his ears, as he prepared himself to respond. Were it not for his branded name, he would easily be passed off as one of the homeless.

“They’re coming,” Jack replied simply, his voice calm but somehow demeaning.

“Who’s coming, Jack?” Stephen, the man who loved asking questions, continued to ask them. “Let’s face it. Nobody wants to be a superhero any more. To be honest, if I had superpowers too, I’d want to go use my power to its fullest extent.”

“My heroes.”

“What heroes, Jack? Literally less than one percent of the population of supers are registered heroes, let alone do an act of good deed.” Stephen’s breaths grew short as if growing more and more anxious about the conversation.

“Quality over quantity, friend. They are coming.”

“We’ll see, Jack. We’ll see.”

League of Superheroes
Anchorage, Alaska

Everyday was Halloween for every hero of the league. Costumes, or supersuits as some people like to call them, were the uniforms required by their work. Granted, their work required the secrecy of their personal identity. However, as much as this night was no different than any other nights for the heroes, Halloween most definitely brought more mischief than any other nights of the year. In this sense, many heroes had split off into teams of four to five and had been dispatched to designated watchpoints located throughout North America. Others, more powerful heroes, were dispatched for reconnaissance in teams of one or two.

Justin Lee was one of the heroes assigned on the reconnaissance mission, however, he had been invited to a Halloween party several blocks down from his residence, so he had prioritized going to that instead. He wasn’t much for socializing, but he did enjoy going out to events where he could neither recognize anyone nor could anyone recognize him. And after all, Justin was one of the most powerful superheroes right now in America. He was White Night, and of course, nobody knew that, not even his immediate family. Should trouble arise, he would be able to help in a moment’s notice.

He had dressed himself in a costume that was actually his super suit without his usual mask. The white and gold of his suit shined under the light as if being blessed by the heavens. He packed his mask, the Mask of Imae, inside his backpack that also carried other gadgets and tools of the sort all necessary for different situations. As he stepped outside of his home, screams of terror could be heard from all directions. Were it not for the special event, he would have rushed in towards the scream, but this time, he did not. Justin made his way eastward where the party was being held.

Justin could fly, but he had preferred to walk like a normal human being, and to not so obviously stand out. Justin wasn’t much for attention despite his bright attire. He had made his way to the party, a block or two away from the main block. Seemingly, the party covered a few blocks, maybe a couple. The streets were filled with people dressed in costumes of all sorts, sexy, cute, scary, ugly, gory, you name it. It was packed shoulder to shoulder until someone pointed out to the sky.

“Yo! What the fuck is that!” The man pointed upward at the night sky that had turned the attention of everyone near him. Those who looked up witnessed that the sky had turned cloudy and a red hue, dimly lighting the entire night. And in between the expanse of the sky and the bloody clouds, a large silhouette lurked, but nobody could see it but Justin. At first, many laughed it off saying the drinks were playing tricks on them. However, such comedy was followed by screams from all directions, much like before when Justin had stepped himself out from his residence. Only this time, the screams were happening everywhere. And with that everyone began to panic as they stampeded in herds, trampling and crushing those who could not run fast enough.

Now, realizing that the situation was looking more serious and grim, Justin retrieved his mask from his backpack, latching it onto his face. He threw his backpack down a dark alleyway where he would go and retrieve it later. White Night was here. The commotions were happening everywhere, and right now, White Night wasn’t sure what was happening. He had yet to receive any communication from the league, but he knew better than to not trust his guts. With no time to waste, he followed the screams of the nearest person, lifting his body into the air with incredible force.

However, by the time White Night arrived at the scene which was only three seconds later, it was already too late. The woman who had been screaming for her life for the last several minutes was now being consumed by something so grotesque, White Night had never seen it before. He almost wanted to hurl, but he held it down, supposedly remembering he had seen worse.

The thing that had just devoured the woman in a singular gulp was merely a mass of flesh, a blob of muscle. It had no skin, and it was clearly bloated, possibly from eating humans. It was large, easily oversizing a school bus, possibly also having grown in size from consumption. It had no face or any other noticeable features, except an entryway which White Night presumed to be the mouth… and likely the anus. The mouth was circular with razor sharp teeth going all the way down its throat. Anything it would consume would be ground down to an atom.

It was quiet now without the woman screaming, and to be fair, it made White Night be able to think clearly. He took a deep breath as he tried to formulate a plan. He had no idea what this creature was capable of. For now, he had thought to only avoid the mouth and not get eaten. While White Night had only been thinking for a couple of seconds when the creature had already noticed him flying directly above.

The blob of muscle gave White Night not even a split second to respond as the mass launched itself into the air, even faster than White Night could react, smacking and launching White Night through the wall of a nearby office building. “What…” White Night had to recollect himself, having caught off guard by the mere size of the thing. Not often was he bested like this. He grew frustrated at the thought of being bested. His body began to ignite, white-like flames engulfing his body. Even faster than before, White Night launched himself from the building towards the massive blob, leaving a small crater under his feet before leaving the ground.

[ElizabethStark]

The Demoness flew through crowds at top speed with Anakee tailing behind her and Yjorn at her side. She could hear the screams of terror that were induced by her entities and herself. She was looking for any hero, any at all, almost hard to tell among the myriad of costumes... but it should be simple. Of course, all she needed to do was find the ones using their prowess to try and defeat the monsters she had summoned. She realized then it would be too easy.

She abruptly stopped in her tracks; two heroes were fighting one of her stronger monsters - Religin. She could tell the two were having trouble standing their ground as the ten-foot beast toyed with them... grabbing one of them and crushing their throat while the other used spiders of electricity to try and stop Religin, but it did nothing. He launched the hero he was gripping into a crowd of humans, injuring many as his strength was tremendous. The hero was sent spiraling into a building and knocked down the first floor. Religin ignored the electrical female as he went to finish off the other hero.

The Demoness did not hesitate as she teleported to the female hero and sliced her into two starting at her head with her death scythe, blood splattering in all directions - striking people that were close by and they screamed bloody murder. One among the crowd yelled out, "IT'S THE DEMONESS!"

She laughed quietly and whispered to herself, "So they notice."

And with swift action, the Demoness turned her attention to Religin who grabbed the hero he had just thrown and tore him limb from limb. The puny being hoarsely screamed and screamed as the pain was more than he could bear. She smiled and continued onward, running this time and maneuvering through the public with incredible grace.

She killed numerous heroes and watched as her summons killed off the known guilty humans who faced her wrath. She murdered three Superheroes, as part of the League... the first was Firegress, then Madam Multiverse, and lastly the Lady - assassinating the three took over an hour, and her creatures assisted in this endeavor.

Covered in blood, the Demoness continued onward, taking to the sky and flying across Anchorage... murdering many heroes along the way. After just minutes of aviation, she finally came across another one of the League.

Unbreakable.

"Anakee," said the Demoness, "leave this one to me."

"Very well," Anakee bowed.

Unbreakable was part of the League of Superheroes and he would be hers alone to eliminate, not even Yjorn could be by her side. She disengaged with the scythe. The superhero's ability was like that of his name... he had unbreakable bones, incredible strength, and his skin was like that of tungsten. He would be a difficult kill but the Demoness was determined not to fail.

"Demoness," the super called her name with assurance, "I refuse to let you overtake this city."

A pause.

"My comrades and I will defeat you, there are many of us, less of you..." Unbreakable loured angrily, "for you are alone!"

The Demoness couldn't help but chuckle, "Look around you," she gestured with her arms outstretched, "I, too, have many comrades. How could you not tell?" She teased him. Unbreakable glared, clearly disgusted by the Demoness and her creatures. There was only one way to deal with this superhero... and that was through hallucinations, but to do that she needed to get close.

Without hesitation, the Demoness transported directly behind Unbreakable but somehow he saw her coming and abruptly nearly elbowed her in the face. She dodged the assault and teleported ten feet back, her bare feet barely touching the cement below. She realized immediately what was going on - the All-Seer was here. All-Seer could see from up to two miles away and give telepathic messages to those in her direct line of sight, she wasn't a part of the League of Heroes but she sure was a nuisance nonetheless. She was fast at reading her opponents and giving intel to whomever she set her eyes on. She truly could be anywhere.

Aggravation started setting in, and she demanded Anakee find All-Seer and destroy her at once. She wanted to kill this one on her own without any interference whatsoever. Anakee went quickly, soaring above and beyond them. The Demoness conjured Yjorn, despite her want not to use him, and with great speed attempted to slice Unbreakable's chest open but the death scythe did nothing to pierce his seemly indestructible skin. She lacked strength but she thought surely her scythe would be powerful enough... although things seemed bleak for a moment, the Demoness was clever.

Suddenly, Yjorn spoke to her, "I may not be enough to pierce his skin but remember my power."

She ignored the scythe and put him away.

Unbreakable then aimed a punch at her ribcage but the Demoness was faster, avoiding the hit with mere ease. She did her best to distract him while Anakee went searching for All-Seer in a two-mile radius. The two fought incredibly for a solid five minutes, and the Demoness took control of the situation by deflecting and dodging his attacks - causing Unbreakable to grow fatigued. He may be one of the stronger ones but everybody had their point of deterioration.

Anakee reappeared, stating All-Seer had been compromised and laid dead. Unbreakable, of course, could overhear what they had said and suddenly his outrage grew stronger, "How dare you kill her... HOW DARE YOU!"

The Demoness smiled at him and teleported to his side, floating in midair she whispered words of a foreign tongue... she could see into his past but could not see his face nor anyone else's. However, she could make do with showing him what she assumed to be an older relative judging by what she could see.

Blackness surrounded Unbreakable and beyond that darkness was an unmistakable figure. He collapsed to his knees in fear but was unexpectedly tied down in chains when he tried to move. It must have been his worst nightmare; Unbreakable, one of the strongest out there, could crumble just by a mere mirage. The Demoness continued to float behind the superhero, allowing events to unfold in this hallucination.

[cwlee]

CNN Studio
Atlanta, Georgia

“Breaking News, a supervillain strikes Anchorage! Heroes have been dispatched, but the president has issued a martial law, pleading everyone to evacuate if they can or take shelter to the best of their– What’s that…? Oh. This just in, folks. We’ve just received reports that…” The studio grew quiet for a moment before the anchorman finished his sentence.

“Firegress, Madam Multiverse, and the Lady have all fallen to the terrorist.” The man was clearly flustered and surprised by the turn of events. A Madam Multiverse admirer himself, he went into shock to realize one of the most powerful superheroes in the world had just been killed off by the Demoness. “Folks, um…” All while visually the anchorman composed himself, on the inside, his mind was running all over the place, his human instincts to scream wanting to kick in.

“We’re gonna need a goddamn miracle.”

Downtown Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska

The ball of muscle proved to be nothing when compared to the power of White Night. Although the mass of flesh had shown its tremendous speed and incredible power for its size, White Night was far more superior than it as he flew himself at mach two in under a heartbeat, penetrating the creature from its mouth, exiting through the clump of mass through the rear. In doing so, the thing exploded, its blood splattering into the air before raining back down.

Once defeating his foe, White Night could not help but feel a sense of familiarity with the creature, and the other ones around him. However, the situation left White Night no time left to ponder as more screams ensued. He lifted himself back into the air, above the buildings at intense speed as he scoured the nearby city blocks from the sky. It would seem that he alone could not prevent the chaos as he watched the city of Anchorage become engulfed in inferno. Screams gurgled throughout each city block as did explosions and firefights. In a matter of an hour, hell was unleashed to its fullest. It was then a strange yet somewhat familiar voice began to echo inside of his head.

“This city will be conquered, Heroes, and there will be carnage… I refuse to show mercy, especially to all of you supposed decent ones… Expect the worst of me… TONIGHT… the massacre has begun!”

White Night tried tapping into his communication device, but it was apparent that communications were down, leaving all the heroes, and everyone else, in the dark. “League, do you read?” he decided to try anyway, only to be returned with static. He, himself, was not worried about the summons or the threatening message; he was worried about the others who could not protect themselves. In the distance as White Night continued to come with a proper strategy, he saw familiar colors: black and red.

Curious, White Night lowered himself towards the shade of colors. As he approached closer, his eyes did not believe it to be her. It was Firegress. To think someone as powerful as her could be slain so easily by these creatures. He touched the ground by where Firegress laid cold. Her eyes remained open, continuing to stare at the bleakness of the world-turned hell. Out of respect for his comrade, he shut her eyes with his two fingers and left her to rest, darting off back into the sky, more angered than before.

“Rest easy, Firegress,” White Night mumbled to himself.

Then the realization began to hit the young White Night. As powerful as he was, every second he wasted on thinking was a person he could not save. By now, hundreds if not thousands of people had been killed. Heroes were nowhere to be seen, aside from the ones already slain. In less than a single night, the city of Anchorage, the world’s supposedly most protected city, was turned into a bloodshed and a warzone. Even as the United States and the Canadian military rolled themselves in with tanks and vehicles alike, they would find their efforts to be futile against the demonic creatures of the Demoness. To them, the humans were no different than lambs to the slaughter.

“White Night?” called a familiar voice when he was about two hundred feet up in the air. White Night looked around, at first unsure where the voice was coming from. His third attempt at locating the voice would reveal to be Faith Winters, the most powerful superhero in the world and also the only super being to use their actual name. It made sense. She knew she was the most powerful superhero, everyone knew it, even the villains. It would never make sense to try and mess with her or her immediate friends and family. He had never worked with her before, but he had conversed with her enough times at the league headquarters. He had never seen her powers in action and neither did many of the members of the league, but somehow, everyone just knew she was the most powerful.

Faith Winters herself seemed unclear of the situation. “I just got here, what’s the damage?” she asked him softly, her vocals hiding her true powers.

White Night replied with a shrug. “I’m not sure. The whole city went up in smoke within minutes. Seems the city went off simultaneously.” White Night relaxed his fists, regaining his composure. “They got Firegress,” he said quietly. “And a whole bunch of others too.”

“Madam Multiverse and the Lady too. As well as Captain Clark, Electric Boy, Speedster, Fish Lord, and All-Seer. And likely others too,” Faith Winters added.

“Goddamn. Madam and the Lady?” The death of the heroes only motivated White Night even further, enraging his body in an even brighter aura. Faith Winters appeared impressed by the sudden change of energy from White Night, but she remained unmoving. “What do you suggest we do then?” The rookie league member looked to Faith Winters for inspiration.

It didn’t take long for her to formulate a plan, “I know you’re strong, White Night. I suggest you find and cut off the head before this can spread any further. Ignore the small ones to the other heroes if you can. I will lead the evacuation party, for whoever might be still alive.” She let out a huff of air. “Any stragglers, citizens or heroes, you send them my way. Got it? Have them rendezvous at the league headquarters. From that, I will do my best to send you a team to support.” She let out another huff of air, this time psyching herself up.

“You’re defense. I’m defense. Simple enough,” White Night replied, wishing Faith Winters good luck before they darted off towards separate directions. White Night flew at incredible speeds with both of his arms stretched forward to help him guide and glide through the city blocks. There was so much carnage everywhere, the message from the villain guaranteed that. Pools of blood splattered all over the streets with people that laid lifeless just about everywhere, and not to mention all the torn limbs that were also littered about. He flew by far too many creatures he could have killed or by helpless people he could have saved. However, he had to sacrifice a few to save the many, the consequences of a hero.

White Night was traveling at mach two when all of a sudden he was abruptly swatted out of the sky like a mere fly. Like a deflating balloon, White Night was thrown everywhere until he was eventually stopped by a lamppost, leaving a long line of split earth between him and where he initially crashed. He was unharmed but certainly had the wind knocked out of him. When he quickly returned to, he immediately located the creature that had struck him, a ten-foot beast with horns nearly as long as its elongated skeleton arms. Its entire body was a skeleton, but it showed no signs of decay as if being permanently contained in this state. Then everything finally came to fruition for White Night. Everything behind tonight was someone he had fought some time ago, perhaps around five years ago. The familiarities from earlier all made sense now to White Night. As if the situation wasn’t serious enough, White Night knew he had to take the battle more seriously.

[ElizabethStark]

The supervillain could then see the events of the hallucinations conspire; although she could see somewhat into his past, what she couldn't see were the people in it. They were but dark silhouettes and the visions were always hazy. She could only witness events - couldn't hear anybody speak, couldn't even read their lips... could barely make out the setting, but it was enough for her to cause past psychological damage to reappear in her subject. This type of apparition was called Praeter. Unbreakable would, however, be able to see what's to come in full detail. In his eyes, it was an older brother he was deathly afraid of... especially as a child when the ordeals first unfolded. The Demoness could only see an awfully tall and shadowy image do unspeakable things to the chained man.

She was not able to control what the hallucinations demonstrated in the eyes of Unbreakable. It was still a relatively new ability that she discovered two years before today. Strangely... she stopped smiling. It was happening again. Her expression shifted to that of pain, just for a split second as she watched what unfolded, but it was there for that awful moment. The hallucination came to an abrupt halt and her sudden enigmatic countenance was remarkably hard to read. Unbreakable was left there... crying in an almost fetal position. She didn't realize how easy it would be to break this man, but she did it... the Demoness' cold gaze remained upon him.

---

Ten Years Earlier

SMACK!

Amelia smashed her fist into the temple of her foster brother.

"Fuck you, useless piece of shit!" She yelled loudly enough for everyone in the house to hear. Her temporary brother, only two months younger than herself, suddenly went to tackle Amelia but with graceful movement, she was able to avoid the attack and he went crumbling down to the ground.

She quickly grabbed her candy bag from his room and swiftly ran out, closing the door behind her. She was beginning to run to her room but was stopped by her foster father in the living room. The man screamed at her, "What the fuck is going on?" Amelia's brother came out of his room, holding his head in pain. Their foster father stared at both of them and then set his angered gaze on Amelia, "I oughta ring your throat, you fuckin' brat."

"I"m sorry, Mister Smith..." Amelia was afraid of what was going to happen, she attempted to simply go to her room... but nothing was quite that simple in an abusive foster household.

---

The Demoness had a flashback, the hallucination reminding her - bringing her back in time. She was terrified that might happen but at least she could compose herself quickly and quietly. Her feet hit the ground and she waltzed toward Unbreakable, all she could do was stare down at him with her frigid gaze and stay in the reminder of her past; what had happened to her a myriad of times also happened to him. She was correct in using Praeter despite the consequences.

[cwlee]

This creature proved itself to be more of a challenging foe compared to the blob of flesh from earlier. It was apparent that its skeletal body was nearly indestructible, White Night's punches barely budging the monster. However, it was not its armor that troubled White Night. Its arms posed a greater threat. Arms that were as long as its ten-foot body moved at speeds even faster than the earlier creature White Night fought. Even standing still, this skeletal creature could rotate its arms in any three dimensional space at an instant's notice, also providing further defense to its arsenal.

Just as White Night was formulating a strategy, the creature began to let out a low sounding vibrations, like it was trying to vocalize itself. At first, everything sounded incomprehensible until it eventually began to tongue each syllable of the English language in perfection, "Your efforts are futile, human."

Either amused or surprised, White Night tilted his head as he crossed his arms across his chest as his body levitated a couple of inches above the ground. "So you can speak. That's new. We'll see how futile my efforts are, monster," White Night dictated as one second he was standing still and the next second, he was zipping and revolving around the large creature like an annoying mosquito trying to find the right spot for penetration.

As the creature almost effortlessly defended itself, it continued to speak, "Cease this or you shall be--" Its speech was cut short when unexplainably, its arms had entangled with its other pair above its head. "Hnnnnnnng?!?!" Clearly, the monster had not seen this coming despite its incredible speed and likely its incredible intelligence, but much like the others that came before White Night, it too was outshined by him.

"It usually doesn't come down to this, since most can't handle my normal strength," White Night said as he lowered himself back onto the ground, lowering his upper body and clasping his hands together. For a moment, nothing happened, but as he pulled his hands apart, a wave of energy pulsed in between his hands like flow of electricity running from pylon to pylon. "But you are special," he said, glaring at the creature with full intent to destroy it. Now, the current of energy was running through his entire hands and up his forearms. They were so white that they were radiating all the colors of the spectrum.

"Goodbye."

---

Some time later, White Night was seen flying above the city with the head of the recently slain creature, holding it by its one unbroken horn. As he flew about, the city continued to rage on, but it had certainly grown more quiet as if the initial carnage was over. Blue and red lights scattered across the city flashed aimlessly as those who came to serve its people had quickly met its demise. When White Night looked up, he could still see the giant thing lurking above the clouds, but it still remained unthreatening as if its only purpose was to be up there.

And then he spotted her, finally, the Demoness. There she was dueling with the Unbreakable, one of the other stronger members of the league. However, it was evident that he was being broken by the much stronger foe. Physically, the Unbreakable was indeed unbreakable, but mentally, that was another story, and the Demoness clearly knew the weakness of her opponent. Wanting to waste no further time, White Night swooped down from the sky like an eagle, launching the head of the creature by her feet.

"Your creature can talk now?" was the first thing he said to her. He stood on guard, ready to defense or strike should he need to, but knowing the Demoness had the upper hand with the Unbreakable as her hostage, he had to tread carefully. Possibly the only way out of this was to feint. White Night relaxed his stance, releasing his fists. "I'm gonna need you to let him go, ... miss," he suggested as he also not knew her alias as they had not exchanged it during their last quarrel.

[ElizabethStark]

Carnage filled the streets. The creatures were hungry for human flesh and so they sought out the evilest of them for they were the tastier ones, but their master wanted heroes as well... not that all heroes were good. They could sense in a human whether or not they were good or bad or somewhere in between. Most humans were somewhere in between, however, that did not stop the Demoness' entities from devouring them. Eat the eviler ones, let the purest go... although the purest were rare and far in between.

The Demoness shifted her gaze to the superhero in front of her. She ignored Religin's lifeless head and the sobbing Unbreakable at her feet... it was him. Her expression shifted to annoyance, "Miss? Do you not remember the name given to me by heroes and civilians alike?" Her flashback was over at the mere sight of White Night. The Demoness placed one foot on the facial cheek of Unbreakable and pressed down - he was so weak-minded she almost couldn't believe it. A wicked smile returned to her countenance as she laid her eyes on the man below her, "How could anybody truly not remember?" She paused and moved her eyes back to White Night, "Now think."

[cwlee]

White Night huffed when the Demoness refused to cooperate with him. To witness her humiliating Unbreakable like that was unforgivable. Realizing his feint had not worked as planned, he resumed his fighting stance. All while, he was asked to remember her name which was difficult as in the past three years he had met far too many people with all different names. However, he did recognize her power and the threat she posed.

"I know we met some time ago," he spoke calmly, hoping to recover Unbreakable while she was partially distracted. "It's hard to forget someone of your caliber, but I'm sorry. Last we met, I was but a pupil to Master Cannon, but now, I'm a top, affiliated member of the League, and when you're a League member, you meet more people and start to forget the ones you met earlier so," he shrugged, and after the bit, he chuckled lightly. "Or perhaps I never considered you strong enough to be remembered," he taunted. "But seriously, what do my colleagues call you?"

"I don't care," White Night would abruptly interrupt the Demoness the second she began to respond. "You made me mad. And now," his seriousness regrew as his body ignited into the white flame like before and this time, his eyes were lit as well, streaks of ember escaping from the outer corners of his eyes. "You're going to pay for what you did to Fire... Multiverse... The Lady." His body grew lighter, beginning to levitate a couple of inches above the ground. "I will not tell you this again. Let Unbreakable go."

[ElizabethStark]

Angered by White Night's choice of words, the Demoness' ever-changing demeanor switched to anger, "Not strong enough?" That was the one sentence to set her off and just as she was to make her move on White Night, Unbreakable grabbed her by the ankle and hurled her into a nearby wall. It was not at his full strength but enough to do some damage. He was still recuperating from what he now knew as a hallucination. White Night appearing before him and his words were enough to snap him out of his horrid memories. He then recognized the supervillain as the Demoness.

Blegh. The Demoness coughed up a small amount of blood and it drooled out of her mouth. She tried to catch her breath but the wind was completely knocked out of her. She crumbled to the ground for just a moment before quickly realizing she needed to act fast as the two superheroes before her were undoubtedly powerful. She promptly summoned Yjorn back to her side and lifted herself from the ground holding onto the scythe for support when she acknowledged her ankle was broken. Her breathing was still hoarse and rapid. She needed to heal now.

"Yjorn..." She said roughly as she looked at the death scythe.

He spoke to her telepathically, "Slight hemorrhaging from the inside, broken ankle, minor concussion, cuts here and there... I shall heal your broken ankle and concussion first. That will keep you going, but I will need precisely twenty seconds."

The Demoness wiped the blood from her maw and cursed under her breath. Twenty seconds, huh... she could manage that. She was a dirty fighter and she knew it well; Anakee knew what was at stake and immediately went for Unbreakable before he could make another move. Her bright orangish-red eyes were set on White Night... she would need to be on the defensive if he were to go after her in mere seconds... or he just might try to rescue Unbreakable. There were many things he could do, the Demoness just had to be prepared.

[cwlee]

White Night was taken aback to find Unbreakable still moving as he hurled the Demoness against a concrete building, leaving a crater around where she landed. Soon after, White Night approached Unbreakable who had managed himself onto his knees but was still not back his full functioning self. Nevertheless, the first step of the strategy proved itself to be successful, even though White Night had counted on Unbreakable remaining incapacitated.

"Don't count me out yet," Unbreakable replied, his Russian accented voice was deep yet showed signs of weakening. He was clearly breathing abnormally despite not being physically harmed. Whatever Unbreakable had gone through before White Night came to support, it had clearly had shaken him up. White Night could have never imagined someone like Unbreakable could even bend a knee.

"We have to--" White Night was interrupted when he spotted her companion summon accelerating swiftly from the Demoness's current position to the two superheroes. Had the two's reflexes not been honed to follow such movements, they would have been obliterated by the force of its speed alone. Fortunately, they were not the average Joes. Knowing in his current state Unbreakable could not fend for himself, White Night stepped in front of Unbreakable to take the first blow from Anakee.

With one hand in front of the other, his palms facing outward and his knees bent, he absorbed the initial blast from the multiheaded creature, but in the process, he let out a groan as the Anakee felt more powerful than the last time he had encountered it, or perhaps it was his imagination. Wanting to give the monster no time to react, White Night discharged his collection of chi within his body, creating an explosive effect as he tried to knock Anakee back. The original plan was to go for the head, and right now, White Night could easily take down the injured Demoness. However, far too many lives were lost tonight and White Night could not bare to see Unbreakable die as well. For now, he stood guard around Unbreakable as he took some time to recollect himself and try to protect him against Anakee.