The footsteps grew louder outside the doors. Wyvern stood ready with his blades, Violet had mist curling at her feet, and Silvester kept his rifle aimed.
A tall woman, at least seven feet high, came sprinting in. She was lanky and skinny, with pale skin stretched tight over her bones. Long black hair hung in wet strands across her blood-covered face. Her eyes looked hollow, empty. She screamed and cried at the same time, her voice raw and angry. Tears mixed with the blood on her cheeks as she ran around the room.
"They promised me food!" she shrieked. "They said I could do whatever I wanted! They promised no one would interfere!"
She leaped at them, arms swinging wild, fingers like claws slashing through the air. The three dashed in different directions to avoid her. Wyvern spun to the left, blades up parrying a strike. Violet moved right, low and fast. Silvester jumped back toward the tables.
The woman kept screaming as she chased after them. Her leaps covered big distances in the large room. She slashed at Wyvern, who ducked under her arm and rolled away. She turned quick and went for Violet, who misted a meter to the side. Silvester fired two shots that hit her in the back, but she did not slow down.
Wyvern spun and swung his arm. The chains still bolted to the walls shot out under his control. They wrapped around the woman's lanky limbs, pulling tight on her arms and legs. She thrashed against them, screaming louder.
Silvester took multiple shots at her. Bullets punched through her chest and stomach. "Might be a demon but she's pretty holy right now. Get it." He kept firing as she regenerated, skin knitting back together in seconds. "Fuck sakes, you killing me joke here."
Violet dashed back, purple mist erupting from her skin. She grabbed bodies from the tables and the floor with the mist and threw them at the woman from different angles. Decapitated corpses and limbs flew across the room, slamming into the tall figure.
"It's not my fault!" the woman cried out, voice breaking. "I just wanted to eat people like me!" She thrashed hard against the chains. Her body grew bigger, muscles swelling under the pale skin. With a violent pull, the chains snapped. Metal links flew everywhere.
She slammed her arms around the room. Tables cracked under the hits. Boxes smashed open. She grew even larger, now closer to eight feet, her lanky frame filling out with new mass.
Silvester unloaded multiple mags into her skull. The shots blew out chunks of her brain, spraying across the wall behind her. She dropped to the floor with a heavy thud, body still.
The three of them paused, breathing hard, watching her.
Then her arm swung up from the floor. The hand grabbed the scattered brain bits, clumping them together, and shoved them back into her broken skull. The bullet holes started to close right away. New tissue pushed out the remaining blood and bone fragments.
Silvester loaded another mag, jumping back. "Come on, stay down you freak!" One of his bullets suddenly shot out from the woman's lanky elbow, hitting him in the calf. He yelled in pain. "Son of a bitch."
He rapid fired back, but the woman grabbed a metal table and redirected the bullets into the ceiling. Sparks and concrete dust rained down.
Violet kept at it. She teleported short distances around the room, purple mist flaring each time. More bodies and parts flew through the air at the woman, hitting her from the sides and behind. The tall figure roared and cried, swinging at the mist.
"This isn't fair! They promised!" she screamed again.
Wyvern moved in closer, blades slicing at her arms when he could get near. The woman blocked with growing strength, her limbs now thick with regenerated muscle. She grabbed for him, but he pulled back, using metal from a broken chain to whip at her legs.
Silvester limped to a better position, still firing. "You got a real appetite problem, huh? Maybe try becoming vegan, for the both of us." His shots kept hitting, but the regeneration stayed fast.
The fight stretched on in the bloody room. The woman charged Violet, who misted away just in time, leaving a trail of purple that wrapped around the attacker's ankle for a second. Wyvern used the moment to send more chains from the walls, wrapping her midsection. She broke free again, growing larger.
Tables lay overturned. Blood from the old bodies mixed with new sprays on the floor, making it slick. The smell got worse with every movement, thick and heavy in the closed space.
Silvester changed mags again, his calf wound slowing him a bit but not stopping him. "This thing doesn't quit easy. Wyvern, you see any weak spot on her?"
"Keep pressure on the head," Wyvern said, voice steady. He forced a section of the floor metal up into spikes under the woman's feet. She stepped on them but kept coming, feet healing as she moved.
Violet threw another set of bodies. One hit the woman square in the face, staggering her for a moment. "She's getting slower with the growth. But not enough."
The woman cried out again, tears streaming. "I just wanted to eat! Like the others!" She ran backward suddenly, crashing into the far wall. The concrete broke under her force. She fell through the hole, dropping down into a dark abyss below.
The room went quiet. Dust settled. The three of them stood there breathing hard, looking at the new opening in the wall.
"Finally," Silvester muttered, lowering his rifle a little. He wiped sweat from his face. "That was one persistent bastard."
Wyvern walked closer to the broken wall, blades still ready. "She mentioned others. And promises. This connects to the notes."
Violet nodded, mist fading from her hands. "Lower levels. We need to find the way down properly."
They took a moment to catch their breath. Silvester checked his calf wound, pressing a hand over it. "Bullet went through clean at least. Your metal tricks could patch this later, yeah?"
Before anyone could answer, an arm shot out from the ground under Silvester. The long, lanky hand grabbed his leg and yanked hard. He cursed loud. "Not this again! You gotta be fucking kidding me."
He glanced at the others, his face bored like it was just another hassle. "Take your sweet time guys." Then he vanished into the abyss below, pulled down fast.
Wyvern and Violet stood in the room, the silence heavy now with just the two of them. The bodies on the floor, the broken chains, the blood everywhere. The hole in the wall and the new one under Silvester marked where the fight had gone.