Blood on Fire (Horde Perspective)

Lacime breathed deep, taking in the smell of burning wood, the ashes. Darnassus burned in the distance. It was a delightful smell, the demon hunter thought, and he couldn’t stop grinning. The orcs and forsaken and the rest of the Horde rushed towards Lor’danel, and after taking a moment to indulge the chaos, and the screams and warcries, he ran with them, laughing his own battle cry.

He runs, runs as fast as some of the wolves of the calvary, burning fel energy, rushing ahead into Lor’danel. The last stand of the Elves here, they must be retreating, after watching their tree burn. He laughs as he runs, the joy of the battle bubbling up in him. The demon within rejoiced as well, even in the chains within Lacime’s soul.

It only takes moments, and they crash across Night Elves’ lines with a roar. Lacime flashed with his glaives, twisting, turning as he laughs. A night elf near him clutches his stomach as the glaive opens him up, slashing past armor. An arrow strikes into his chest, and Lacime twists, dodging two more follow up arrows as he twists, decapitating the elf attempting to keep his intestines in. Another soul to feed his demon, and he tore the arrow loose, the torn muscle and skin healing rapidly.

More.

The demon craved more, and Lacime was happy to give it. He ran into the lines again, working with an orc to bring down a large bear who roared. The orc went high, Lacime, low, and the bear was torn apart by the two. The demon hunter laughed as the orc saluted the blood elf, and Lacime returned the salute with his glaive, bloodied and fur covered as it was. “Lok’tar Ogar!”

The orc’s face twisted in something like…. Disgust? He couldn’t really tell, but there was something. Lacime shrugged it off, dashed forward again, slashing where he could, helping the Horde where he could. A flash of Light, and the whinny of a horse as an extremely large woman, clad in silver and purple plate, charged forth. The horse charged, and the woman on swung a massive mace, caving in the skull of a Forsaken, and another swing that cracked in the ribcage of an orc, sending him flopping to the ground, bonelessly.

“That’s a big hammer… and a big horse,” muttered the demon hunter. Even in his blindsight, he could tell the Light coming off of her, protecting and wrapping her.

A CHALLENGE.

Lacime can’t help but grin, and charges towards the horse. He weaves through the chaos, and it seems that the paladin notices him as well, untouched by the madness of the battle. His glaives weren’t going to be able to dehorse the paladin… unless they hit the horse. Applying fel power to his feet, he flashes forward, swinging his glaives in a wide arc. Blood splatters from the horse as the glaives hamstring the horse, cutting a wide and deep cut into the beast’s forelegs. The massive screams, and falls to the ground, the paladin managing to roll away from getting her legs crushed… and the follow up strike from Lacime’s glaives, as the demon hunter launched himself at the Paladin.

She throws a sword at him as he charges, the blade infused with the Light. Lacime backflips away from a possible disemboweling strike, glaives at the ready for any other tossed sharp metal objects. She scrambled up, and Lacime cackled, pleased. His demon was right, she would be a challenge. Fel energy poured into him, energizing his arms, the empty sockets hidden behind the blindfold suddenly glowing with dark green energy. He pours on the speed, as she holds her hammer at the ready, rage and fury beneath her helmet in gritted teeth. He moves with the speed of lightning, glaives swinging. Sparks fly as the glaives carve deep grooves into the armor, and the hammer swings down, Lacime barely sidestepping as the skull crushing force makes a light infused. He was, however, not expecting the sudden shoulder follow through, a bone crushing force that nearly caves in his sternum

Mid-laugh, the wind escapes him, and he tumbles ass over end as she follows, swinging her hammer, intent on crushing his skull. He can’t help but laugh at the well done move, and as she maneuvers him into a large burning inn, fast, furious swings from her hammer hemming him from getting into the open area. She takes the blows from his glaives, more grooves and drawing some blood from her, knocking her helmet off, but not knocking out her righteous fury. Even with his three lighter strikes to every one of her swings, she’s still managing to control much of the fight, with wild brutality. She backs him against a wall, and none of his speed matters as she brings the hammer down to his face, and he brings up the glaives to block. The hammer stops just a few centimeters from his face, and the demon hunter grins even wider as the light infused Fury tries to put him in the ground. She draws back a fist, keeping the pressure on his glaives, and with the strength she’s brought to bear, her armored fist will have nearly as much force as that hammer, ready to pummel Lacime’s exposed chest and stomach into a nice, messy pulp against the inn’s walls.

He sighs internally. He hates resorting to this, but the demon hunter will have to cheat. He smiles wider as his teeth grow into massive fangs, his arms grow stronger, wider, the runes tattooed on him glowing brightly, the flesh around them growing darker.

FREEDOM!

The demonform hunter surges, and drives the glaives with strength and speed against the paladin. The energized weapons tear bloody grooves against her armor and flesh, as she uses the hammer, and her forearms to block the worst of the blows. One blow from the glaive sheers into the hammer’s haft, nearly chopping it in half, and another blow from the other glaive drives her back as the edge bites deep into her chest. She parries, and dodges, and maintains, but the intense yet brief fight has taken its toll on both of them. He can’t stop grinning. This is the most fun he’s had in ages.

She tries to rally, as the burning inn collapses partially, as the onslaught drives her back in a dark parody of what she did to him. She punches him, hits him with the heavy hammer, but the dark demon form surges back, the mad, joyous laughter of Lacime hitting her ears. Fel flames gather around the demon, and blasts her back, slamming her against the wall of the inn. He’s energized, the smoke and ash and destruction feeding his demon almost as much as the souls of the dead would, while she seems to be tiring the Light dimming slightly.

There’s a shriek, from neither of them, of young terror, as a piece burning roof collapses towards a young elven girl, who had been hiding. There were still civilians that were in the village, and Lacime hadn’t noticed… or cared, he had been enjoying the fight so much.

The paladin, not even thinking of her own safety, dives towards the girl as the rest of the roof collapses. The heavy beams collapse and land onto the paladin and the girl, and the paladin grunts in pain, then her eyes widen as Lacime’s blades stop inches from her throat. She’s pinned, protecting the night elven girl from the heavy burning beam. A shield of pure holy Light is saving the girl, not her, but in time that will fade. It will be gone if the glaive moves a hair of a centimeter, the razor sharp edge just at her jugular.

FINISH HER. FINISH THE GIRL. CONSUME THEM.

The demon hunter’s grin twitches, and there’s a brief, internal struggle. The glaive is steady at her throat. A moment passes, then two. Sweat beads down the paladin’s brow into her eyes as she holds the burning, horrifically hot metal and wood from collapsing the rest of the way. Lacime’s fel flame eyes glance from the paladin, to the child, then back to the paladin.

The glaive drops to the floor, clattering, as the demon’s hands grip the beam, and heave it up, and away from the paladin and the child.

The demon form fades in a burst of fel flame, leaving only the hunter behind. In harsh Common, he points to the girl. “Go, take her. This is not a place for her. Run, to save her.”

The paladin looked stunned for a moment. She nods, using her hammer to stand. She helps the child night elf up, throwing her own injuries to the wind. “I’m praying for you, traitor. My father bled and died for Lordaeron. For Quel’thalas.” She pauses, spitting blood. “Pray we do not meet again.”

Lacime simply smiles brightly, long white canines shining, while shoving the demon back into the prison that was his soul, and chuckles at the absurdity of it all. He shrugs slightly as she takes the child into her arms giving him a confused, angry look, and runs, bleeding but able, as quickly as she could in all the heavy plate, the child wisely staying silent.

Lacime just laughed once more, and burst out of the burning inn, laughter loud and joyous. It was now a fighting retreat for the elves, but still a fight! Still more for the Horde to do. Perhaps he’d meet the paladin again, on another battlefield. Now, that, that would be fun.