"STAND STILL LITTLE MAN! I WANT TO HIT YOU!"

A gruff voice shouted and slurred as the hulking assassin punched repeatedly at the air. He was a man who had a body that lended itself very poorly to the sly, stealthy name of an assassin and would look more at home if you simply painted him grey and called him a wall.

His meaty fists whistled and tore through the air, sending gusts of wind with every punch that tore through trees and uprooted the grass just by the wind cannons he was creating. Yet air was all he hit.

Tiny fists dug into his flesh in turn, like pebbles against a mountain, yet with every blow of the tiny fists, a thunderous boom echoed out and the mountainous body jolted backwards, having to dig his feet into the ground to avoid being thrown every time.

The giant let out another rage filled roar as he swung his fist again, but just like every other time the horned, draconic kid posing himself as a demon easily dodged the blow and returned one of his own.

Ducking under the punch, Omelette swung his fist up in an uppercut that, due to the serious height difference, only had one target to go to. Right between the giants legs.

He had heard that was human's most vulnerable spot. The human reverse scale.

The giant let out a pained, high pitched whimper and collapsed to the ground with the thud of a mighty oak being chopped down, letting out weak gurgles and groans as he laid on the ground.

Dusting his hands off, Omelette grabbed the giant by his cloak and started to drag him across the ground, like he was simply an uncooperative puppy, as he made his way back to his father.

When he arrived back at Seth's location, he found his father standing over another man's corpse. Deep claw marks in the bodies chest, blood pooling beneath it as wisps of flames flickered on its hands. It still had a shocked expression on its face as it stared up at the sky, mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

His Father was not concerned with the body as his feet, nor was he bothered by the beating Astra was still giving her own victim.

Instead, Seth stood with his eyes closed, his hands held before him with his palms facing down, as his fingers twitched like he truly was a puppeteer performing an invisible show with real strings tied to his fingers.

He wasn't stupid enough to believe that hey were the only targets. This was too organised, too perfect. It wasn't a coincidence, after all, that these individuals seemed to have abilities perfectly suited to suppress or counter Astra.

Those damned communication devices... Even in this time, social media was a curse they could never break. But their information wasn't perfect, clearly. It couldn't predict him being here, after all.

He just hoped his other companions were doing just as good, although if they were being countered too...

Puppets and Unkindly Guards were sent to all the important people in his life, all those important to the Lord Corvus.

When he found Fox, he found him stood in the middle of the castle courtyard. Half a dozen bodies surrounding him, each with a single sword stroke as the cause of their demise. He didn't even seem out of breath, and barely had a scratch on him despite the overwhelming numbers.

But what could be expected? They came after Fox wielding freshly polished weapons. He was a man that rarely showed his abilities, never mind got them recorded. The mysterious Fox made them pay for that ignorance.

Cynthia and Alexandra were found together, in a secluded spot in the city. A table laid across the ground, in little more than splinters. Intricately prepared and absolutely delicious food was scattered across the ground alongside it, candles resting next to them with smoke curling from their freshly snuffed wicks.

Alexandra was on all fours, hunched over as she coughed and wheezed. Her hands clutched at her throat while her partner patted her back, trying to help her rid her lungs of the poison gas they had dosed her with.

Speaking of, Cynthia was smaller, only standing at half her height. He didn't know what they had done to counter her, but half of her slimy mass was missing, while the core that floated within her was cracked and chipping in places.

Blood was spattered across the ground around their ruined date site, but there were no bodies to be seen. They had wounded their assailants, but they had escaped.

Alfie was unreachable to his guards, but it was because of that he felt he was the safest. His mission to the Bo'garen was secretive and he had yet to leave the kingdom of the planet people. He was undoubtedly safe in their prescence.

The same could thankfully be said for Ophelia. She was content within her room of the castle, having noticed that nothing of importance was happening within the city she now called home. Her presence here wasn't exactly secret, but she hadn't been here for long enough for people to really know about her.

Even if they did, she was simply the sister of the lowly squire Seth, who himself was not someone of importance.

However not everyone got out as well as the others.

When Seth's guards finally found where Erik had led his own date, clearly swept up in the romantic fever spreading throughout the city, he found Erik's attacker on the ground, the watery knights sword sticking out of his chest like the blade of King Arthur standing proudly in the stone, waiting for it's rightful owner to claim it.

But it would be waiting for longer than expected, as Seth found Erik's date, kneeling on the ground and sobbing her eyes out as she cradled Erik's body.

His eyes were closed, his mouth hanging open with his lips twisted into a peaceful smile. Frost spread across his face, keeping it fresh in its last moments. His armour was warped in the chest, a dozen icicles pierced through the chest plate.

The body was still, too soon for rigor mortis. His very blood had been frozen solid from within, starting from the source.

***

The arachnid assassin crawled down the long, winding corridor until it finally opened up into a wide space hidden within the depths of the castle hill. A sinister smile spread across his lips at the sounds of voices coming from within the room.

Sticking to the ceiling, figuratively and literally, he crawled into the room and slowly followed the sounds of their voices until he came across his victims.

Two men- no... those things weren't men. They were freaks. With his armour plating and hairs, he was considered one of the worst looking in the City of Light. They had long since purged the city of freaks like this.

Only demon worshippers would turn into such horrid abominations. Killing them here was an option... but perhaps he could earn another Divine Blessing if he brought the abominations to the Lightbringer so they could personally face His judgement.

Dropping from the ceiling, webs shot from the assassins hands and latched onto the black skinned abomination. With a strong yank, he was flung across the room where his face met the Assassins rising knee.

A sickening crunch sounded as bones shattered, golden ichor flowing from his nose instead of true human blood. More proof of its inhuman nature. Disgusting.

The tall, pale white abomination turned at the sound of its demonic brethren hitting the floor, and the arachnid assassin had to hold back the urge to puke at the sight of it's face. Beady black eyes, multiple sets of them, were the only feature of its face. No nose, no mouth.

It threw the scalpel it held in one of its hands at the sight of him, but the assassin simply flipped into the air and clung to the ceiling once again. More webs launched from his palms, but the white demon held up one of its arms to block the webs, before immediately cutting the sticky threads before he could pull them.

The demon thrust its hand forward, forcing the assassin to dodge again, but when he landed a frown creased his forehead. He had dodged, but no attack actually came when the demon moved. Even now it was still holding its hand up to where he was once stuck to the ceiling.

Risking a glance up, the assassins face twisted in shock and confusion as a demonic symbol was painting themselves into existence, as if there was an invisible being holding a brush and using the air itself as his canvas.

The demonic symbol rapidly formed, before pulsing with a bright light. At the same time, a beam of pure light shot from the demonic lettering, shooting towards where the assassin was stood.

He rolled to the side, but even as he was coming out of that roll, he saw the most horrible sight. Hundreds of demonic symbols, just like the one before, were painted into existence in the span of a second, covering the entirety of the ceiling.

Beams of light descended like torrential rain, or the wrath of the heavens themselves. The beams scorched the stone where they landed and easily melted through the metal tables they struck.

So when they came into contact with the assassins flesh, it met absolutely no resistance what so ever as it burned hole after hole straight through him.

He leapt around, pushing his dexterity to its limits, but it was impossible to dodge them all.

By the time it stopped, he had more holes than swiss cheese. A pair of stick thin and bleach white legs stood before him as he laid panting on the ground. He was unable to bleed out from the scorched wounds, but his body was rapidly descending into shock. That would not be his end, however.

The demon grabbed him with all of its hands, lifting him into the air until he was eye level with him. It tilted its head, regarding him coldly, before making the assassin realise a mistake he had made.

It did have a mouth.

Like a blooming flower, it's entire head opened up into multiple sections, revealing a gaping maw with strings of spittle connecting the 'petals' to each other, each of these 'petals' having its underside littered with hundreds of backwards facing, dagger like teeth. Mandibles, as large as a mans forearm, unfolded from the abominations throat and primed themselves to strike.

'D-dear Lord... Please no- Save me! Save me your Divine Greatne-'

CRUNCH!