A spider-web of cracks and hair-line fractures spread from the point of impact, as the Heart-Eater head was thrown backwards while his brain was ricocheting around the confines of his skull.

The possessed gargoyle didn't give him time to regain his senses, blasting him over and over with fully mana powered punches that snapped the Heart-Eaters head from side to side with every powerful blow. Each punch let out a thunderous crack as the stone fist slammed into the crumbling face plate, before one final haymaker shattered his chitinous armour into pieces.

That same blow sent the Heart-Eater, and the gargoyle that was holding him, flying backwards until they crashed into the ground and were forced to separate. The gargoyle bouncing and flipping before being sent careening into the wall.

The Heart-Eater himself simply bounced like a skipping done before skidding to a halt, his bare face scraped across the ground and left a trail of blood in his wake, like a meat crayon.

The Possessed puppet that had lost itself in a fit of rage heaved its chest, as if it was breathing deeply from exhausting or overexertion. Of course, possessing a stone body, such a thing was impossible, at least in a physical sense.

It didn't even breathe, so its deep heaving breaths were completely useless. Yet it wasn't entirely psychosomatic. It had put a lot of its very limited energy into that flurry of blows, losing itself in rage, all whilst Seth was inadvertently, and unintentionally, sapping away at its energy bit by bit.

It didn't have much to left with, even the body it was possessing was crumbling, as one hand had completely disintegrated into powdered stone from the merciless beating, while the other was only half a hand.

Even still, seeing the Heart-eater shift slightly on the ground, the Possessed Gargoyle grit its teeth and blasted forward once more. It moved like a blur, channelling a fraction of its power into its legs before pumping the last dregs within it into the remaining arm as it cocked it back for one last punch.

Just as the Possessed puppet was about to end this wretched monster's worthless life, the Heart-eater whipped his head around to reveal the petite figure and innocent face of an adorable girl. The face was ruined and torn apart by the skid across the ground, as tears welled in her puppy dog eyes. When she spoke, her voice trembled and caught in her throat, as if she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

"W-why did you do this to me mister? Why did you hurt me? I'm... I'm sorry if I was a bad girl."

The Wisp in the Gargoyle Shell halted its crushing blow, its entire being trembling with a surge of conflicting emotions at the sight of that face. It wasn't stupid, it knew what this child was, it hadn't even changed its arms back to suit its new form.

But it was the face that was causing it to pause. Despite everything, it just... just couldn't bring itself to crush the skull of an innocent girl. At its core, it was still a normal person. He had been killed in the first few days, how could he go from a salary man to a child killer, even if it was just a mask being worn by a monster?

A twisted smile replaced the weeping innocence on the little girls torn up face, her large emerald arm lashing out in a blur as it slammed against the Gargoyles face. Turning its moment of conflict into its final moment entirely, as its head was shattered in a million pieces.

Stone dust puffed into the air and fragments of stone scattered through the courtyard as the Gargoyles headless body teetered unsteadily before collapsing. The rest of the Wisps energy dissipated into the statue, which quickly crumbled into nothing more than a pile of rocks. Half of the dissipating energy rushed into Seth and fuelled his soul, much to his misery.

"God, I can't believe you fell for that. You're pathetic."

The little girl let out a condescending, venomous laugh as she turned to the crowd of puppets. Even though Corvus was still clawing himself out from his freshly made tomb in the castle wall, Seth had more than enough eyes on the demon child to witness the next event from all manner of angles.

As she flashed them a wide, sharp toothed and mocking grin, her face began knitting itself back together. The peeling skin crawled its way back onto her bones and covered up the exposed flesh, her cuts and scraps closing themselves up as the damage reversed itself before his multitude of eyes.

Of course this cockroach got his grubby little hands on a self healing ability. Things could never be simple, could they? At the very least, the silver lining was while the wounds were healing themselves, they weren't instantaneous nor were they considered fast, at least by super natural standards.

At the sight of the statue crumbling to dust more than a wheaty breakfast bar, all while their enemy was gradually losing all signs of harm, more Wisps flared up in anger and followed the guidance of their soul brother.

Like meteors falling from the sky, they plunged themselves into the remaining Gargoyles, causing their bodies to shudder as the sudden surge of power began to erode the unprepared vessels from the inside out.

However, the Gargoyles were quickly taken up and in only a few seconds there were none left solely under Seth's control, yet there were still dozens of Wisps filling the skies and boiling of anger.

A small group of them broke off from the rest, soaring through the air and darting inside of the castle, seeking out the blindly grasping threads and guiding them to suitable puppets for them to possess.

The Heart-Eater wasn't willing to wait for them to find these suitable hosts, however, mostly because he was completely unaware of how it was happening and had no way to stop it. But instead of fearing the already overwhelming numbers gaining powerful boosts, the Heart-Eaters smile simply grew larger, until it was utterly deforming the innocent face he had stolen.

Not bothering to shift from his innocent facade, the Heart-Eater dashed towards an approaching Gargoyle, meeting it head on. When it lashed out with an earth shattering, clumsily formed haymaker, directed straight down to plough through her little head, she weaved out of the way at the last second.

The Gargoyle stumbled, the thought that she would dodge never entering its mind, as she leapt into the air with a flamboyant flip.

Landing on the Gargoyles shoulders, she bolstered her legs with mana before pushing off, sending herself rocketing through the air while the possessed Gargoyle, still off balance from its over committed punch, was forced to become an ostrich as its head slammed straight into the ground.

Like a bolt shot from a ballista, she flew fast and true. The psychotic smile never left her face for even a second as she rocketed towards another Gargoyle, who recoiled at the sudden appearing pre-teen.

It stumbled back, his glowing blue eyes blazing with panic and fear, as it lashed out with a frantic, uncoordinated punch that hit nothing but air. The Heart-Eater leaned her tiny body back, letting the punch sail harmlessly past her, as she dug her tendriled arm into the ground and let her body be yanked to a sudden stop.

The momentum forced her body to flip backwards, as she whipped out her tiny leg before the Gargoyle could properly react.

The petite leg sliced through the air like a sword, clipping the possessed puppet across the face as her tiny, delicate foot carved through its chiselled chin like it was butter instead of stone.

She landed on her feet, letting out a snide chuckle before slamming her fist into the panicked Gargoyles chest, sending it flying backwards.

The possessed puppets might have gained a massive amount of power from the wisps diving into the stone shells, but they had lost their main advantage in the process. They had once been a unified force, one mind with one goal. All of them working together like the intricate gears of a pocket watch, filled to the brim with Seth's determination and an unwavering fearlessness that came with being non-living puppets.

Now they were powerful, but an utter mess. No co-ordination, no control over themselves. Now they could die, for the second time.

Hell, half of them didn't even know how to punch properly, never mind how to fight as a unit. It was a disaster... But at least it couldn't get any worse, right?

As if to slap him in the face with the red flag he had just thrown out into the world, the little Heart-Eaters voice run out once more. But it wasn't the innocent, cheerful tones of a young girl nor was it the sadistic, whiny pitch of his true self.

Instead it was a deep, guttural and rumbling tone of something utterly demonic and unholy.

"Let's have some real fun, shall we?"

The emerald skin spread from her arm, covering the rest of her tiny body as it started to grow. It inflated to the size of a regular adult, and didn't show signs of stopping. More and more she grew, her adorable face shifting into the gnarled, masculine visage of the Orcish warrior as the Heart-Eaters body grew to match its new appearance.

Demonic wings erupted from its back once more, spreading the dirt beneath their feat with fresh blood. Blood that pulled itself from the ground and lifted into the air as undulating crimson marbles, as the Orc's emerald skin shifted to the scarlet hue of the Hemogoblins.

But this was only the beginning...

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