Into the Abyss

Without thinking he dove upwards, much like he’d done when trapped on the color plane. Up he went, sixty, a hundred and more feet. He then paused, and stared down at the demon. It was looking for him, unsure of where he’d gone. The flames had so covered him and obscured the other’s sight that for the moment and he wasn’t sure where Tom was. Before the other demon could get a bearing, Tom came down. He came down hooves first, just like when he’d fallen in the Abyss. This time, however, instead of using his wings to slow himself, he used them to speed up and direct his path. He came down, hooves first, directly onto the smaller demon.

As Tom came in for his kamikaze collision, the smaller demon saw him. His eyes widened in surprise, just as Tom’s hooves connected with his face at a forty five degree angle. The little demon’s head went crack, backwards in a severe case of whiplash. His body was plowed backward by the force of the collision. Tom stumbled a little as he landed, but regained his balance. He looked toward the little demon.

He’d expected a knockout, but unfortunately, he didn’t get it. The little demon was about ten feet away. It was standing up, shaking it head, slightly dazed. Connecting him and Tom was a foot deep gouge in the ground where the little demon had tilled the ground with its body. Deciding to take advantage of every possible opening, Tom leapt over to where the demon was, and delivered a double punch to the stomach, using both hands and all his strength.

As always, he was suitably impressed by his strength. His fists didn’t go through the demon, but they did send it flying. It was hurled backwards and upwards twenty feet, bowling into a crowd of onlooking soldiers. The soldiers were knocked down forcefully; none would have been hurt more than some bruises and cracked bones, except that the little demon was now annoyed. Angrily it clawed its way out of the pile of soldiers, shredding uniforms and human flesh in equal proportion. Tom was rather nauseated by the sight, but he didn’t have time to fully realize the situation before the demon was on him.

It flew at him. Literally. It came at him with both fists extended before it, in a Superman pose. As it came at him, Tom who was in the air, flew slightly to the side, but the demon veered. Both of its fists connected in Tom’s middle. The momentum of the demon carried them both backwards. Tom’s backside rammed painfully into the force wall. As they slid down the few feet to the ground, Tom grabbed each of the demon’s wrists, which were still pressed against his stomach. He drew them apart and twisted them with all his strength. He twisted them inward and downward, so that the backs of the demon’s hands would be inside. He twisted and pulled. A human’s arms would have been broken and his shoulders thrown out of joint; the demon, however, only howled in pain. Thinking quick, Tom brought up his right hoof and slammed it between the demon’s legs. Because of his leg’s structure, the kick wasn’t as effective as a human kick, but his excessive strength more than made up for it. The little demon truly howled in pain now.

Its howls were so loud that Tom almost thought his ears would break. Having no choice but to carry on, Tom brought his knee up, and pulled the demon’s two wrists down. This action promptly connected the demon’s head to his knee with a satisfactory clunk. It didn’t knock the demon out, of course, but it did change the pitch of the demon’s scream slightly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tom noticed some movement coming towards him. Looking up, he saw the other three demons converging on the fight rapidly. Quickly he scanned the sky looking for his support, he didn’t see any. Fun, thought Tom. Stepping over his now kneeling opponent’s back, Tom turned, bringing the demon’s arms with him. The demon’s arms were now behind its back, and crossed over each other. Using the oldest restraint trick in the book, Tom shoved the demon’s wrist up over the back of his head. Human arms would have been in bad shape at this point, instead the demon simply uttered a completely new timbre of howling.

Knowing that he had to get rid of this guy for the moment, he bent his knees and lifted. Ungracefully, yet with the rudimentary form he’d learned in class, he flipped the little demon over his back with all his muscle power. As it was, even if he’d been the greatest black belt of all time, instead of not quite a brown belt, he probably couldn’t have pulled it off if it hadn’t been for the shear strength in his new body. The demon went sailing over Tom’s head, forty feet, into the middle of the on looking soldiers. These soldiers, Tom decided, must be really stupid, despite the fact that they kept getting a demon thrown into their midst, they still held their ground and watched the fight.