26.  End of Days part 3

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Penultimate chapter

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Slicing upwards, Buffy created two complete halves of a demon, as a vampire lunged, only to get a stake in the chest. He burst into dust, as two Old Ones came at Buffy. They swung their large claws; as Buffy did her best to avoid them, but was finding it difficult when she hit the ground for the third time, blood running down her lip again. Quickly rolling to her feet to avoid the claws, Buffy stabbed with the stake, striking an Old One and causing it to growl in annoyance, as its foot lashed out, kicking Buffy through the air. She landed hard, groaning as the air left her and slowly got to her feet, before noticing Willow lying nearby with her eyes closed. Hurrying over to her friend, Buffy checked for her pulse, relieved to find one

“Will, wake up. Come on, Willow, get up. I need you to get up”

“All Geminis to the raspberry hats,” Willow cried, still with her eyes closed

Buffy looked up and saw the two Old Ones coming towards her

“Willow, get up now!”

Buffy slapped her friend, getting an instant response. Willow’s eyes shot open, which were completely black and she sat up, before removing the bolt from her shoulder. Seeing the two Old Ones nearly upon them, Willow released a blast of magic that sent the pure demons flying back. Buffy smiled as she helped Willow to her feet

“Are we winning?”

Buffy looked around and turned back to Willow

“No, I don’t think so. The portal is closed. We’re badly losing this fight. We’re holding up well, but not for long and we need to retreat. But we need to open the portal. Think you can open it, let us all out and trap the baddies in here?”

“Give me something harder to do next time, huh?”

The last of the trebuchets were destroyed, along with the three remaining helicopters. The dragons’ numbers had fallen greatly, with only forty dragons remaining. The battle was still raging, but it seemed now that the Old Ones were starting to win. Slayers and commandoes were falling in their numbers, as the Old Ones slaughtered any opposition in their way. There were still at least fifty to seventy Old Ones left, but Buffy knew there was no way they would be able to kill them all

“I gonna need some cover during this,” Willow said

“You’ve got it,” Buffy replied

Willow and Buffy headed towards where the portal had once been, as the redheaded witch knelt down and drew a circle around her. Buffy watched her back, gazing upon the battle that was raging on. Lightning arced through the sky, as crows wheeled overhead and the fires burned high into the air. Buffy was feeling a little bad, leaving the battle, but retreating was the best thing to do right now

“Okay, this is going to be a while,” Willow said

“That’s alr – Gaah!”

Kenny roared as he stared at Buffy with beady little eyes. Willow had started her spell, as Kenny charged. Buffy ran towards the dinosaur, dodging to her left, narrowly avoiding his jaws, then swinging the scythe. Kenny reeled back, blood running from the cut on his bottom jaw, before swinging his head. Buffy went to chop, but was smacked aside, as Kenny went for her, raising his large foot. Buffy rolled out of the way, getting to her feet, before dropping onto her stomach to avoid his tail. Kenny growled and snapped his jaws again, as Buffy slashed. With his left nostril now bleeding, Kenny growled and lowered his head, before charging at Buffy. She dived out of the way, as Kenny whirled around, his tail striking Willow and knocking her down, but Kenny took no notice of this

“Willow!” Buffy asked

She moved slightly, allowing Buffy to take a breath of relief, but then Kenny was going for her again. Running at the dinosaur, Buffy ducked under his jaws, before stabbing the stake into Kenny’s stomach. He roared in pain, as Buffy removed the stake and sliced at his leg at the same time he stepped back. Blood flecked the sand, as Kenny struck Buffy with his snout, throwing her through the air. She lost hold of the scythe and quickly got up. Kenny charged, just as Buffy went for the scythe, but Kenny was quicker, snapping his jaws around Buffy. However, she grabbed hold of his jaws, her feet digging into the sand as she held him off

“Will, get up! Do the spell!” Buffy cried

Willow groaned and groggily sat up, before moving back to her earlier position and redrawing the circle

“I have got to stop getting knocked out,” Willow muttered to herself

Buffy groaned as she struggled to hold Kenny off. Summoning all of her strength, she shoved Kenny aside, then picked up the scythe, whirling around just as Kenny closed his jaws around her and she stabbed with the stake. Kenny groaned, the stake having penetrated the roof of his mouth and pierced his brain. Buffy removed the stake, jumping back to avoid the blood that gushed out, as Kenny fell to his side. Making sure he was dead, Buffy then rushed back to Willow’s side

“We’re winning!” Icarus cried, “Keep it up!”

He growled and lunged at a Slayer, taking her down. He was about to bite when a fist crashed into his head, knocking him away from the Slayer. Growling, he turned his attentions to the attacker, as Illyria swung her fist again, making contact. Icarus felt as if a Mack truck had struck him, as Illyria punched him for the third time. Drawing a dagger, she then stabbed him in the throat, before uppercutting him. Icarus collapsed on the ground, choking on his blood, as Illyria blocked a vampire’s kick, then defended his punch, before throwing him aside and kicking a demon in the stomach. Knocking the demon to the ground with her fists, Illyria stabbed the demon in the back, then threw her dagger into the throat of another charging demon

“Illyria, am I correct?” rumbled the voice of an Old One

Illyria looked up at a massive demon. He stood about at about ten metres tall, with a light coat of brown fur covering his muscular humanoid body. His eyes were red, while his horns curled up from his head and a ring glistered in his nostril

“Gorthakis,” Illyria said coolly, “Been a long time”

“Such a shame that you’re not in your once glorious form. Such a shame that you have to take the form of a weak human. Shame you’re fighting against us”

“You and I battled each other for centuries,” Illyria said, “Like now”

Gorthakis growled and swung his fist, but Illyria nimbly dodged out of the way, grabbing a crossbow on the way and firing. Gorthakis growled when the bolt imbedded in his cheek, as Illyria threw the crossbow aside, before drawing a pair of daggers and getting into a stance. Gorthakis grinned, before punching the ground, just missing Illyria as she stabbed the back of his fist. Growling, Gorthakis swung his fist again, but Illyria did a small cartwheel to avoid the blow, throwing another dagger, this one impaling Gorthakis just below his right eye. He clapped a hand to the irritating injury, as Illyria grabbed a pair of axes and charged in, planting the blade of one axe into Gorthakis’ leg, just above his right foot, then imbedded the second axe into his heel. Gorthakis roared in pain, as Illyria removed the axes, then danced out of the way of his large fists. Roaring in frustration, Gorthakis continually punching at Illyria, but her small and lithe size enabled her to avoid the blows, as she threw one axe at his face. This one finally planted itself into Gorthakis’ right eye. He roared, removing the axe, as Illyria hacked into his other heel. Gorthakis crumbled to his hands and knees, gritting his teeth in pain and humiliation

“I cannot believe it. I, the mighty Gorthakis, falling to the now puny Illyria?”

“Believe it, for it has happened,” Illyria replied

She picked up the fallen axe and planted both blades into Gorthakis’ head, right between his eyes. He collapsed, falling limp, as Illyria removed the axes and spun around, decapitating one vampire and taking down a demon with a blow to the chest. A troll lunged at Illyria, swinging its club, but she blocked, before smacking the club aside, then splitting the troll’s stomach open, spilling its guts everywhere. The troll fell over, as Illyria kicked a demon in the jaw, spinning around with another kick to a demon’s chest, then killing the second demon, before turning back and killing the first demon. A T-Rex roared at Illyria, as she dodged the jaws, slashing at the dinosaur’s head. It roared, blood gushing from the wounds, as Illyria moved underneath it, hacking into its chest. The T-Rex gave out one final roar, as Illyria moved out from underneath it before it collapsed. Illyria then sliced a demon in half at the waist, before decapitating a demon, twisting and kicking a vampire in the chest, before whirling her axes in a windmill fashion, cutting down a demon, then imbedding an axe blade into a demon’s chest, before beheading a vampire, then spinning around and slashing wide as she went down on one knee. The two demons fell away from Illyria, gaping holes in their stomachs, as she rose up with a satisfied smile

“I am Illyria”

Meanwhile, Spike was cutting a bloody swath through the demons and vampires, avoiding the Old Ones, before spotting Angel not far away. His grandsire blocked a Pylean’s sword, pushing the blade down and away, before spinning around and elbowing the Pylean in the face, then kicking him in the chest, before slashing with his sword. The Pylean collapsed, his face split open, as Angel impaled a soldier, before seeing Spike. The two vampires growled, before running towards each other, their swords held down flat. A pile of bodies of all different kinds, surrounded by heads impaled on pikes, separated the pair, but they raced up the pile, before lunging at each other. Angel and Spike crossed blades in mid-air, before twisting around, clashing blades once again as they landed on opposite sides from each other

“Let’s finish this,” Angel growled

“Mate, I couldn’t agree more,” Spike growled

Then, they lunged at each other

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