[M] Retribution IV: Rebirth

[Shang Tsung]

“FOUL DEMONS!"

Argento swung the broken hammer with all the fury of a caged lion. The splintered, dulled head of the weapon crashed against the slobbering hellion’s visage and tore away the jaw before crunching down through its trachea, esophagus, and spine. Gouts of putrid blood sprayed out as the gurgling monster fell back against the surging hoard behind it. Those demons literally tore through their peer, showering themselves in its blood before lunging toward their adversary.

With the hammer virtually falling to pieces in his grasp, Argento surged into the chaos and swung at the nearest red-skinned creature. A final, defiant thud issued forth from his weapon before it broke into jagged gray chunks and ceased to be a war hammer. Turning sharply, Argento used the broken haft of the weapon as a stake and drove it through the heart of a leaping demon. Although the creature died before it could tighten its fel fingers around his neck, its hefty bulk was still carried by momentum into the paladin, who staggered as he tried to shrug off the corpse.

The demon hit the red earth, but the damage had already been done.

Three of the creatures got close enough to grab at the paladin. A stiff forearm bash knocked away one of them, but without a weapon, Argento was unable to easily land a deathblow. As the stunned demon staggered back, its peers tore through the makeshift armor that the man had summoned—their claws tearing through the material en route to the flesh and muscle beneath.

“Begone… monsters,” Argento rasped as he felt claws rend his pectorals. He laid into a second demon, knocking it back into the growing crowd behind it. A swift downward thrust of his elbow broke the arm of the demon clawing into his chest, and as the creature roared in pain, the paladin managed to close his hands around its neck and twist. Beneath the heavily corded muscles was still a spinal cord, and it snapped all the same.

The corpse toppled into an accursed heap before the paladin, but that small victory was meaningless as the mob surged toward him once more. Three, four, five… eventually there were too many bodies around him to keep track. Claws lashed out, tearing into his flesh. Fists and spurs of bone bashed against his body relentlessly. Every so often, he’d find a small, fleeting moment to retaliate, but soon, he felt his strength fail him. A knot of jagged bone struck him in the chin, and Argento hit the ground an instant later.

As the word above him faded in and out of focus, he swore he heard one of the monsters speak out in the Common language.

“Belial will pay well for this one.”