The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 366: Blood And Sand

Chapter 366: Blood And Sand

Anko cracked the knuckles of her four hands as she stretched, enjoying the chance to sit in a chair after spending so long walking.

"Call me Hartl," their hostess said. "Don’t get many folks this far up. Most people stick to the roads unless they’re property," she cast her gaze over Anko, Malz, and Ferro.

"Thanks for letting us in," Anko looked around the room. Inside the house, it was pretty bare. Just a table and a stone. Weirdly there was a pile of boots of all sizes in one corner, along with a group of long wooden poles. The furniture was all made of magic-shaped rock, and a large stone door hid the rest of the building.

"Did you think I wouldn’t just ’cause you got a bit of demon in ya? Or your friend?"

Anko thought about what she said for a moment. She actually hadn’t thought about it. She remembered being kept at a distance when she was a human amongst demons, and then the brief bit where she’d been treated normal. Until Maledict brought everyone to the dark city... which turned out to be under Heaven the whole time...

Once the mana got scarce, she was isolated on account of working directly for Maledict. And things had been getting pretty... dire... between half-demons who were more capable of generating mana and the full or near-full demons who relied on feeding...

"I guess I should have," Anko admitted as the giantess moved to the oven and started stacking firewood into it. A small burst of mana later and it was lit, the smoke diverted by a pipe leading out of the building, as she tossed on a kettle to boil. "My friend’s an angel by the way. We’re just trying to find a port."

"Only think discriminating serves is losing money," Hartl chuckled. Weirdly, she grabbed a bushel of fresh grass and tossed it into the fireplace, which seemed redundant if she was going to be lighting the wood with magic. "An angel, huh? Be better off if you three head to Aaru..."

Malz let out a relieved sigh as soon as she sat, pulling her newly stolen boots off and checking her feet. "I’d rather stay with present company than try to find a way across the desert," she finished her checks quickly and then re-shoed herself.

"Hope you three are fine with tea," Hartl looked over at Ferro, who had elected to stand near the door since the windows were too high up for him to see out of without climbing. "You gonna come get comfy, little catkin?"

"I’m fine," Ferro said. He was holding his compass in hand and staring at it like it was about to give him instructions, but all Anko saw was three little lines, two pointing to her and Malz, and the other pointing off to Hell knew where. "But, um... thank you."

"If you’re worried about bandits, don’t bother. Army came out of Aaru a couple of months ago and clapped everyone they could in irons," Hartle poked a bit at the firewood and grass to keep it going before shutting the stove door.

"Why didn’t they get you?" Ferro asked, his tone snippy like he had something to prove.

"Now that’s just rude," Malzkael scolded.

"Suspicious little thing aren’t ya," Hartle laughed. "Fair enough. Have you ever seen a giant in chains?" she smirked confidently.

"There’s more ways than iron to keep someone chained," Ferro said.

"True. But they got no reason to try it with me and my boys," Hartl kept her grin, which didn’t quite meet her eyes. "Looks like they’re coming now."

As soon as she said this, Ferro’s eyes went back outside.

Anko stood on her chair to see out the window, spotting a human an equikin on skinfaxi - one brown steed and the other black - , his long, horse-like face clearly scowling even at this distance.

As soon as they had their steeds tied, they entered the building, one of them gesturing for Ferro to enter, and then pushing him when he didn’t back into the room fast enough.

"Hey!" Anko tried to shout before her voice was drowned out.

"Boys!" Hartl greeted. "How’s the fields today?"

"Slim pickings all ’round, mama," Horseface said.

"More like no pickings," the human scratched his blonde beard. "Whistled up for the others. But it don’t look like there’s nothin’ out there but these three."

"Good then, we’ll make do. Thought the Breakers would go chasing after the army they ran off," Hartl’s demeanor changed as she dusted her hands. "You three got two choices now," she said. "You come quiet and get sold, or Mama Hartl snaps your legs and then you get sold."

She stomped her foot, and the doorway sealed as a stone slab rose up out of the floor. At the same time, Beard and Horseface drew their weapons, a pair of short clubs.

A moment later, Beard cried out as Ferro attacked, tossing a handful of sand from under his cloak "My fucking eyes!" His club clattered to the floor.

Horseface had been about to go for Malz when his companion cried out, and he switched his attention to Ferro while Beard pawed at his own face.

Anko saw something coming out of her peripheral vision and rolled backward off her seat, dodging Hartle’s hand as the giantess followed up by turning her foot where she stood.

Surging mana into her enhancements, Anko felt the moment the ground beneath her started to liquidate, and she flowed into her momentum as she drew four knives from her storage tattoos, tossing one at the giantess and managing to stick her in the arm.

The moment Anko did, the giantess stomped, crashing part of the ceiling down towards Anko.

Rolling out of the way, Anko tossed a second knife before drawing two more. The knife she threw was caught out of the air by the giantess, her hands now covered in rock that shifted and flowed with her body.

"Mama loves doing shit the hard way," Hartl charged, swiping down at Anko who found out quickly that as liquid as the rock was acting, it was still hard enough to stop her knives as she slashed.

Anko was about to throw a knife at her face when her back hit the wall, and she was forced to roll as Hartl grabbed for her. Standing out of the roll, she poured in a bit of speed to run along the wall as her attacker swiped again.

Mid-air, she tossed one knife, but it struck handle-first, the blade leaving only a tiny cut on Hartl’s forehead.

"I told you it was too easy!" Ferro shouted at Malz as he dodged a swing from Horseface. A moment later, he blasted the floor with ice, causing the hooved man to start skittering and dancing as he fought for purchase after stepping onto it.

"I’m sorry!" Malz shouted back.

At that moment Beard, finally managed to scrape his eyes clear right as Ferro jumped onto Horseface, his claws sparkling with lightning for a moment before he jammed his hand into the beastkin’s throat.

The moment he did, Horseface began to writhe uncontrollably, and Ferro kept up his spell all the way to the point that Beard bodied him into the wall.

The human started to punch Ferro, who raised his arms, blocking as much as he could while he kicked at him, swiping with toe claws left exposed by his sandals. Beard shrieked as Ferro’s claws caught him on the hip, just above the belt. Clearly done with trying to capture Ferro, he drew a knife and -

"Mamoru!" Ferro, clutching at the necklace, called out, lacing his voice with mana.

One moment, Beard was about to stab Ferro, and the next, he was bouncing off the ceiling and back onto the floor a measure away. A shield, so finely woven it resembled a single thin one, flashed into existence around Ferro for a moment. He stood for barely a moment before suddenly lurching to the side and grabbing the wall to stabilize himself.

"Gods dammit Cleto!" Hartl called out. She redoubled her strikes, drawing Anko’s attention upward before suddenly lashing out with a kick that sent her flying back-first into the wall.

WIth the breath knocked out of her, Anko raised her daggers to guard her face, but the giantess’ punch was actually a gesture that, upon pulling it back, caused the stone of the wall to flow over Anko, hardening and trapping her limbs the moment the giantess withdrew her mana.

She went for Ferro next, grabbing a stone chair and tossing it at him.

"Ferro!" Anko called out, watching him look up as the chair collided with him in a flash of magic against stone.

Anko expected him to get flattened, but instead, the chair bounced off of the shield, putting him through the wall behind him, where he bounced along the ground before lying still.

Realizing it was down to her, Anko put more magic into reinforcing her body, managing to crumble free of the stone right as Horseface rose shakily to a stand.

Grabbing a knife out of her storage, Anko threw it with all the strength she had, which was enough to send the knife hilt-first through the man’s skull, dropping him like a ragdoll.

"Useless fuck!" Hartl grabbed the corpse by the leg and threw it at Anko, who ducked beneath as she stabbed at the giantess with three hands. For six strikes that failed to penetrate, Anko found one that would.

After succeeding in landing three blows, however, Hartl seized Anko by the wrist, "Tough little shit. You think those needles can kill me?" She chuckled, squeezing until with a sudden, meaty snap, Anko’s upper left arm broke. Writhing in pain as she was lifted, Anko tried to headbutt the giantess, even punching at her face, only to do nothing as the living stone pulled itself upward to help catch the knife. The giantess chuckled. "Guess that’s more pay for me, not that I won’t make you little shits pay for what you did."

"Let her go!" Malz stabbed the giantess just under the ribs, and a moment later was backhanded away. She collapsed onto Horseface’s corpse and reached for the knife in his head, tugging at it hard until it finally came free, right as Hartl stepped toward her, continuing to hold Anko by one arm.

"You should have stayed out of the fight, chicken wing. Now I’m going to have to break off that- "

From outside the house, a blast of sand and pebbles flew in, accelerated by Ferro. It pulped Hartl’s left eye, causing her to drop Anko and scream as she held onto her face, staggering heavily away from the source of her anguish.

"We need to run!" Ferro shouted.

For once, Anko agreed with him. Pushing through the pain in her broken arm, she dashed over to Malz and grabbed her with two of her good arms, leaving several knives behind as she left the building through the hole Ferro had broken through.

"W-wait!" Malz cried out as they started to run past the skinfaxi. She started to pull herself free and Anko let her go.

The moment she did, Malz dashed for the brown steed and mounted her, grabbing the reigns of the black one.

"Come on!" she shouted as Hartl appeared in the window.

"You fucks are dead!" the giantess screamed. "Fucking dead!" Where her eye had been, the lid was swollen shut around deep, dark blood.

Anko jumped onto the black steed as soon as Ferro finished awkwardly mounting it, and she grabbed him and the reigns with her three good hands, just in time for a whistling tea kettle to come flying overhead.

The skinfaxi started galloping the moment they saw Hartl about to throw another stone chair, and Malz guided them away from the house and towards the mountains as fast as she could make them go.

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