Toxic Positivity

"You think you can touch this that easily?" Heloise gestured to herself while speaking in a singsong tone. "Better looking men than you have tried and failed."

Naturae Spinosa Hedera.

Barbed vines rose up from her feet and glided up the pale calves of her legs, leaving a soft red trail of blood where the thorns sliced into her skin. They slithered along her body, reaching her arm before swiftly spreading out onto the demonic fingers she had her hand wrapped around. The sentient ivy had wound itself throughout the dark body almost instantly and had encased itself around the entirety of the nuckelavee's pulsating mass of black muscles, squeezing them mercilessly. Sharp thorns slashed and shredded through layers of muscle as the vines twisted around the nuckelavee, causing it to twitch in visible anguish as well as release a deep, monotonous moaning.

Naturae Strangulatus Venenum Incursio.

The thick spines embedded in the creature pumped out a hazy black liquid. A strange poisonous mixture made of magic meant to melt the insides of any creature that absorbed it. For a powerful beast of magic like the nuckelavee, that meant a searing, uncontrollable pain. The black blood rushed through its spasming veins and bled out through the small punctures in its body, mixing with the toxic fluid that was being injected in. The monster let loose a piercing cry that would cause any normal human to wince. It scraped its craggy hoof against the ground and instead of retreating, prepared to crash into the earthen barrier erected by the witch.

Still grabbing onto it from both sides, the monster slammed its bestial head against the solid wall like a slingshot in a blinding burst of speed. The dirt that formed it crumbled even more as cracking streaks invaded and broke it apart.

Heloise simply watched arrogantly, awed by the beast's tenacity. As it finally broke through her barrier, the witch made a swift gesturing sign with her hand, signaling more thorned vines to group together, twisting itself around her waist and forming a seat under her, pulling her away from the oncoming danger. The same purple venom oozed from the barbs and slid across her skin, harmlessly neutralized as it came in contact with her blood.

“What in nature’s name are you even trying to accomplish?” The witch said, from her briar perch above him. She chuckled loudly at the monster before sinking her lips into a frown. “Just lie down and die already.”

She made another gesture with her finger, sending one end of the thick commingled tentacle of vines hurtling toward the beast and attempting to skewer him only for it to pierce the ground where he stood. This continued over and over again, with the nuckelavee dodging her barrage of poison plants and her growing only more frustrated.

"You know, you're pretty lucky! Not many have gotten to see this side of me." The witch struck a perky pose. "It's pretty gorgeous, don't you think?"

A loud blast reverberated in front of her. The nuckelavee had fired another shot of its dark energy, only for it to be immediately blocked by her living amalgam of vines. Heloise delicately reached for the stopped orb embedded next to her and drank from it. "Not very smart, are you? Trying to get me drunk? Can't exactly say you're my type."

The nuckelavee glared malevolently at Heloise before turning away. The witch watched on, eyes widening in gleeful expectancy while still grinning from the safety of her throne of thorns. The demon pulled back its arms then raised its hands upwards, an ebony static vibrating through the air around them. A different type of dark energy gathered around its arms, materializing into two very long blades of pulsating black mass, appearing as grim extensions stretching out of its body.

Before it could attempt its next move, the witch angrily sent her briar tentacle slamming down onto the demon, only for it to be parried by a crossing of its throbbing blades.

"You're kidding! I'm trying to be the cool one here and you've been mucking it up every step of the way!" The blaze in her emerald green eyes burned with a caustic bitterness.

The nuckelavee swung both of its arms in a wide arc, bringing the sharp blade of each black sword slicing into the trunk of Heloise's living vine.

"Stop!" she yelled, her breath angrily catching in her throat. The witch grasped the briar crown on her head and as she readied to throw it at the demon, recited an incantation.

Virgo Ignominiosa

The circular crown grew large enough to land around the beast, encircling it and pinning down its arms. Almost immediately after touching the ground, the entwined twigs grew upward and formed a dome-like prison around its body. Heloise smirked and with a quick snap of her fingers, the thorny twigs pushed inward, sending dozens of wooden spikes to impale the nuckelavee trapped inside. As they made impact, the various squishing sounds of impaled meat was like music to Heloise's ears. With a morbid grin and sickening delight, she gestured her plant to place her down and excitedly ran up to her brambly death trap. But just as she started to listen in for the last remaining death gurgles of her demonic opponent, the worm-like appendages that had been pinned down by the wood swung back towards her. With hardly any time to think, she made a mortal gamble and pushed against the rushing blades with her bare arms. Rather than cutting her in half, she had successfully deflected the blade with the strange power that was emanating from within her. The impact however, was still powerful enough to send her flying backwards, tumbling into her own wooden death trap and causing it to collapse—freeing the demon.

She could feel the nullifying energy within her body begin to waver. The power she had used to block those magical blades had drained a lot from her, and because she wasn't quick enough to absorb it, she was now feeling the pangs of mystic hunger that had been driving her.

The demon roared behind her, preparing to slice at her once again.

Looking over her shoulder, the witch, out of breath, struggled to get another strained word out. "I can't… I can't do this anymore!" Body quivering, she was prepared to give it one final push. She raised one hand out in front of her just as the nuckelavee raised its blades above her, ready to bring them down. As her lips parted to recite her last attempt at saving grace, the thunderous crack of something familiar splitting the air rang out before the words could leave her mouth.