Nazad & Kaviel

"Ouroboros Fang: Draco Animus!" Isrina's arm morphed into a veined flesh dragon that spat demonic fire. "Ouroboros Fang: Baneful Dreadscythe!"

Her arms transformed into bloody muscular sickles shredded with eyeballs and protruding fangs. She growled as dark veins surrounded her angry eyes full of hatred and sadness, longing for Shien.

"Very good!" Iagen applauded. "I'm impressed. You've become one with the Ouroboros Cycle. Now, you're ready to take down Fanghui."

"Master," Isrina bowed. "How do I kill him?"

"First, you need an army," Iagen stroked his human-ribbed necklace. "Many of my people were sealed away in Vultau artifacts. We must awaken them to build resistance against Fanghui's power."

"What must I do?"

"I need you to go to the Vultau Temple hidden in Niagara Falls. One of my apprentices is locked away in a sarcophagus. You must help me free her."

"I understand, Master. Do we have a plan?"

"Yes, Isrina. I can help distract the Vultau while you infiltrate the sanctuary. Now, go!"

"Yes, Master," Isrina's mind left the music dimension.

Iagen slit his hand with a sharp thumb to summon his zurna made of skin and eyeballs. When he played a desert song with shrilling notes, two piles of melted muscular mass mixed with eyeballs, noses, and white hair formed before his feet. They took the shape of two entities.

One was a small elderly lady with a hunchback and a gazelle's skull as a head. Standing under three feet tall, she wore a pink flowery robe and held a tsuzumi drum. The other was a tall emaciated man with long gray hair and skin. He wore a dark red robe with a v-neck that exposed his rib cage protruding from his thin layer of skin. The man had a long mouth opening diagonally with oversized human teeth across his face as one green eye blinked above and below. He carried a golden khakkhara staff that held a red eye of Wdjat surrounded by dangling rings.

"Awaken my servants! Nazad! Kaviel!" Iagen ordered. "It's time for us to reclaim Indeavorga's sarcophagus!"

***

"Fanghui, you monster! We won't let you open Delmisa's sarcophagus!" The African Vulpi Guardian Abon and the other masters stood against Fanghui in the underground Kalahari Desert temple.

"Monster? Ironic coming from people like you," Fanghui frowned.

The masters aimed their xalam string bows to fire snake venom darts. With tearful eyes, Fanghui replayed the dreadful day the Waxing Sickle murdered his family.

"Herald's Hand: Claw of Fenrir!" Fanghui swiped a claw, deflecting the toxic darts at the masters. "Herald's Hand: Holy Mjolnir!"

The Supreme Herald's eyes shone hot white as he jumped at Guardian Abon with a bright fist that looked like it held Thor's hammer. Fanghui smashed the Guardian's head, concussing him and releasing a sonic boom that sent everyone flying.

"My family cannot rest in peace until I redeem my failure as the eldest son! Herald's Hand: Breath of Garmir!" Fanghui roared, breathing hellish fire that burnt Abon and the other masters into ash.

***

Meanwhile, as Grandmaster Aian battled Zefaquiel in Cyclia's mind, Saitori held Cyclia off. Within the dark realm, Aian used her dizi to battle against the jade Malaysian Kris blades. Soon, the General showed Cyclia the teddy bear Cecilius gave her before dying.

"What's this?" Cyclia stopped swinging her shadow blade."It's familiar."

"You remember, don't you?" Saitori huffed. "You and your father made this bear together! He wants you to have it."

"And he couldn't give it to me himself?"

"He wanted to until Zentroid killed him! Cecilius held on to this bear at work all the time."

Cyclia was speechless. "N-no. He forgot about me!"

"Your father never forgot about you in the first place!"

As Cyclia cried, Zefaquiel held his void cloak in heartache, dropping his blades. "What's this? No! The grip of my host is weakening!"

Aian punctured her staff into the weakened demon. Makiyu's creations are not for sale!

When Aian twisted the staff into the cape's darkness, Zefaquiel shrieked as a bright light tore him apart. His wendigo skull dropped as his fleshy arms disintegrated into jade pieces. Simultaneously, Cyclia fainted in front of Saitori.

Zefaquiel's skull growled as it rolled on the transparent floor. "Not bad, Aian, but I'm afraid you're too late! Fanghui has opened Delmisa's sarcophagus, and Iagen shall release Indeavorga with his new apprentice of the Ouroboros Cycle."

The demon laughed as his skull slowly burned to ash. "Face it! You failed! Mark my words, Master Iagen and the three sisters will fuse with Shien. Then, Sol Eszkeios Epsilon, the silencer of music, will return and deal with you-"

Aian stomped on the skull remains to shut Zefaquiel up. Only if the Omaunukai wins the prophesied war ritual against the Vultau, which you won't be able to participate in.

She played her dizi flute to return to real life, checking on Cyclia's sleeping body with Saitori. The General told her about the teddy bear.

The demons of doubt can cloud our memories of those who love us if we let them. Aian sighed.

The sandy ground rumbled below them, making Aian realize the worst. Dark clouds of swarming locusts buzzed in the sky, tormenting nearby cities.

"Despair, Aian! The end is near!" An apparition of a dark-skinned and robbed Vulpi with an Anubis head walked in the desert. "Humans shall face judgment for their sins against Vulpi. For I bring death!"

The red-eyed Delmisa barred her jackal fangs, playing her shamisen to command sandy hills to rise and erupt with black scarabs that ate every living thing in their path. Saitori carried Cyclia's body to the cardinal fighter while Aian aimed her flute to blast a holy sphere at the ghost. Delmisa's spirit vanished into the musical realm, making all the locusts and scarabs turn to dust.

"Who the heck was that?" Saitori asked as she flew the fighter.

Delmisa, the Death Sister. Aian held a fist. We must protect the last sarcophagus and find Shien quickly.

The General nodded, flying the bird back to America as fast as she could.

I apologize if our battle with the Omaunukai demons seems confusing to you.

"Don't be, Aian. You helped us during the Niang Chronicles, and you helped me find Cyclia. So, I'll do my best to help you, especially if it involves Shien and Isrina's safety."

***

Within Niagara Waterfalls, the hidden temple entrance exploded within the deep caverns. Masters Yanshi, Psyinen, and Seniel led a group of Vulpi apprentices outside. They stepped out of the shrine entrance lined with Rhu Makiyu Eta dragon statues to look for the attackers.

"Who goes there?" Yanshi drew his erhu while Seniel played a note on her guzheng to transform it into a water spear. "Show yourself!"

As Psyinen readied her oboe staff, the masters found two Omaunukai demons standing in front. Nazad held his Wdjat khakkhara next to the giggling hunchbacked Kaviel. Nazad's large diagonal mouth and unnatural eye placement startled the Vulpi.

"Ehehe. Lookie! Lookie!" Kaviel's gazelle-skulled head smiled as she hit her tsuzumi drum. "More tasty young foxies to eat! Right, Nazad?"

"Don't get too excited, for we have our orders," Nazad's diagonal mouth hissed. "Kaviel, we must demolish these fools to awaken Indeavorga! Then our master will give us a share of Shien's blood!"

"Oh, dear. These two are Iagen's servants," Seniel pointed her spear at the two demons. "We must hold them off with our sea of magic!"

"Awaken from the earth, Macadion Firma!" Yanshi played his erhu to summon his green-eyed rock golem. "Leave quietly, Omaunukai demons! This is your last warning!"

"Impressive summon, but two can play that game!" Nazad stomped his khakkhara. "Rise from the deathly sands, Hel Amuru!"

The metal rings dangled in tune, summoning a mist of hot sand. It morphed into the disgusting Hel Amuru, a giant moaning ball of human ears and sharp anteater tongues that slashed the Vulpi defenders and dragged them inside its fleshy body to devour. Yanshi played notes on his erhu to command Macadion Firma to punch against the weaponized tongues and defend with impenetrable rock armor.

As Nazad and Yanshi commanded their summons, Psyinen and Seniel led the apprentices to surround the little Kaviel who stood less than half their height.

"Didn't your parents tell you all to respect your elders? Ehehe!" Kaviel bobbed her gazelle skull. "I'm just a weak old lady that needs some tasty foxy blood to survive. Could we get along if you just served poor grandma some food?"

Psyinen lunged at Kaviel with her oboe staff, but the little demon cackled and jumped away. Kaviel bunny-hopped on everyone's shoulders and smashed their heads with her tsuzumi drum. The others used their woodwind staffs and string bows to battle Kaviel, but she was too small and fast to hit. Kaviel played her tsuzumi to summon illusion clones of herself to confuse the Vulpi.

"Which one's the real me? They all are!" Kaviel and her replicas laughed and jumped across the shrine entrance. "I'll teach you, youngsters, to respect your elders!"

The clones couldn't touch or hurt the Vulpi, but their jumping distractions helped the real Kaviel sneak on the apprentices and slaughter them. Soon, only the three masters remained. Nazad and Kaviel's diversion helped Isrina to sneak inside the temple unnoticed.