Tavor assumed a firm horse stance as the three demons closed in around him. He could sense that, within their own minds, they were already rending him apart, tearing limb from limb and severing soul from body.
The thought elicited a faint, knowing smile upon his face in quiet defiance as his Saiyan blood began to boil.
"Eliminate him and seize the girl!" commanded the leading demonic entity, its voice erupting in a screech that resembled the grating sound of metal nails dragged across a chalkboard, rather than any utterance conceivable from a living being.
WOOSH!!
FWOOSH!!
Both avian-like demons lunged at Tavor, their eyes ablaze with murderous intent, razor-sharp talons glinting with an uncanny light as they struck in unison from his left and right flanks.
Tavor swiftly shoved Illyana behind him, sending the small girl tumbling onto her backside, before launching into a breathtaking corkscrew spin that carried him just out of reach of the first vicious slash from those lethal claws. In a fluid motion, before the demon on the left could recover and strike again, Tavor lunged forward, seizing its wrists in a firm, unyielding grip before pulling.
"GRAAAA!" The demon-bird cried as its claws were forcibly pulled in the direction of its compatriot on the right.
"You fool; I'll have your beak for this!" the demon-bird on the right attempted to fly out of range of the attack, but the swiftness of the incoming attack had still managed to clip a few feathers.
Seeing the feathers fall made the cold rage that the demon-bird was feeling into a white-hot mass of hatred that focused completely on Tavor, who was battling with its demonic compatriot.
"I shall rest peacefully tonight, envisioning the echoes of your anguished cries as I rend and consume the essence of your being," the demon-bird shrieked with unrestrained fervor. From deep within the darkness of its beak, a searing light began to emerge, casting an ominous glow upon the surrounding shadows.
POW!
SLASH!
CRASH!
CRACKAAACK!
TWIP-CRACK!
Tavor delivered a powerful hook to the side of the demon bird's face, forcing its long neck and head to snap sharply to the side.
In retaliation, the creature's claws lashed upward with a piercing screech, slicing through the fabric of his shirt and leaving a thin gash upon his skin.
The wound quickly began to turn crimson as fresh blood seeped into it, marking the ferocity of the encounter.
Tavor propelled himself off the side of a nearby wall with precision, using it as a springboard to close the distance to the demon-bird.
His compact frame twisted into a controlled roll mid-air, harnessing the motion to build momentum before delivering a forceful, well-aimed kick to the creature's abdomen.
The impact resounded along with the sound of bones shattering as the bird-demon was launched upwards, but before it could get too far, Tavor leaped upwards with enough force to crack the pavement, launched himself up next to the demon-bird, and began rolling forwards.
Tavor extended his left leg, driving his heel forcefully into the demon-bird's chest, causing it to collapse inward at the point of contact.
The sound of the actual strike was accompanied by a muted, almost indiscernible crunch as bones were pulverized into fine dust, before the creature's body was propelled earthward with the velocity and force of a falling meteor.
BOOM!
RUMBLE!
Tavor, who was slowly falling towards the ground, watched with cold but excited eyes as the demonic-bird's body impacted with the ground, creating a large crater that spanned the entire alleyway, but before Tavor could attempt to finish off the demon, he suddenly felt his instincts scream at him, his hair standing up on end and his pupils being reduced to fine needle-points.
However, before Tavor could react, a fire that was somehow the color of pain and hatred rushed up from behind him and struck him with enough force to fold his body towards the back of his legs.
"AHKKKHHHH!" Tavor cried in pain as the fire reduced a circular portion of the back of his shirt to cinders and smashed into his flesh.
The pain was immediate, a pure, mind-numbing agony, the likes of which no one of Tavor's age should experience, tore through his nerves like a sharpened scythe cuts through wheat.
"TAVOR!" Illyana cried as she saw this, her pale-blue eyes reflecting the roaring flames as she looked at the newly formed crater where Tavor crashed.
Within the depths of the crater, the young Saiyan Tavor gradually rose from the scorched and fractured cement, the oppressive heat radiating beneath his feet.
His shirt hung in tattered, blackened remnants, while clouds of acrid dust swirled through the air around him.
Straightening to his full stature, he stood amidst the drifting haze, the aftermath of devastation clinging to every breath.
Tavor struck the ground with force, sending a spray of jagged shrapnel erupting from the point of impact and arcing through the air toward the demon-bird that had engulfed him in flames.
With fists clenched and teeth bared in grim determination, he surged forward, closing the distance between himself and the monstrous foe.
The demon-bird barely had time to register Tavor's approach.
One moment, the young Saiyan was charging through the cloud of dust, and in the next, he was directly in front of it.
Tavor's hand shot forward and clamped over the creature's face, his fingers digging into the ridges surrounding its beak.
The demon's fiery eyes widened.
"What..."
Tavor tightened his grip.
A violent pressure rolled from his palm.
"Got you."
He twisted his hips and drove the creature sideways with all the force his compact frame could produce.
BOOM!
Both the demon and Tavor slammed into a parked car, which crumpled like delicate origami under the force of impact.
In an instant, metal and plastic erupted outward in a violent burst, scattering fragments across the street and leaving behind a mangled frame and a coughing, sputtering engine in their chaotic wake.
Tavor was launched upwards by a powerful uppercut to his chin, the demon-bird's beak seeming to twist into what might be a smile as it launched after Tavor with blurring speed, its flight speed being vastly superior to its grounded speed.
As Tavor's eyes fluttered open, his pupils constricted to pinpoints under the oppressive gaze of the demon-bird, its head contorted at an angle so grotesque and unnatural it defied the very laws of anatomy.
"SHI..." He nearly cursed internally before the bird demon once more disappeared from Tavor's sight.
POW!
Tavor's body folded inwards as the bird's foot crashed into his stomach from directly above.
"AKKKKKHHHHHH!"
He let out a cry mere moments before descending into the alleyway like a small meteor, crashing into the awning of a storefront that absorbed the majority of the impact. Tavor rolled across the fractured pavement, regaining his footing with swift precision, then assumed a defensive fighter's stance and raised his gaze toward the two avian demons hovering ominously above him.
The two avian demons locked eyes with Tavor, who glared back with Saiyan intensity.
"Are they gonna..." As he began thinking this, his eyes suddenly widened, and he moved.
Tavor swiftly raised his hands to either side of his body, intercepting the two-pronged assault launched by the avian demons.
In an instant, the two winged adversaries found themselves ensnared within his unyielding grasp, their movements halted as his vice-like grip tightened with merciless precision.
"BAAAAAAAAWWWWWKKKKKK!" The bird demons cried as Tavor spun them around at intense speeds, their figures blurring until they struck something.
BOOM!
BAM!
CRACK!
CRUNCH!
Tavor struck the demon on the right with such force that its beak cracked, then executed a precise jumping kick to simultaneously create distance and evade the advancing assault from the second demon, whose own powerful kick had narrowly missed delivering a potentially devastating blow.
Spinning on his heel, Tavor kicked the foot out from under the kicking demon before spinning his body and delivering a nasty elbow to the avian demon's ribs.
The avian demon reeled from Tavor's elbow, its ribs caving inward beneath the impact.
Tavor used the recoil to twist through the air and flipped backward; his palms struck the fractured pavement, and in one smooth motion, he pushed off and landed on both feet, knees bent and fists raised.
The instant he regained his balance, a sickly glow washed over the alley.
Tavor's head snapped to the side.
The second avian demon hovered above the street with its wings spread wide. Its beak had opened unnaturally far, exposing a growing sphere of hellish fire within the darkness of its throat.
The flame twisted through shades that should not have existed.
Red.
Black.
A bruised, hateful violet.
Every instinct within Tavor screamed.
MOVE!
The demon fired.
FWOOOOOOSH!
A beam of infernal flame tore through the alley.
Tavor threw himself sideways, flipping over the initial blast as it scorched past beneath him and carved a molten trench through the pavement.
The wave of heat caught his back and sent him spinning toward a nearby storefront.
He thrust both feet forward, his soles struck the building's cracked, well-worn wall.
BRRRAK!
The bricks fractured beneath him, but held.
Tavor crouched against the vertical surface, using the wall as temporary footing while the beam of fire swept toward him.
He prepared to launch away, but then he heard it.
SHRRRIIIP!
The unmistakable sound of feathers slicing through the air.
Tavor's eyes widened, and his small hairs stood up.
The first demon had already reached him.
With its black wings folded tightly against its body, the creature streaked along the storefront wall, one taloned foot arcing toward Tavor's exposed throat.
At the final instant, he leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the strike as the claws sliced through the air, missing his neck by scarcely a hair's breadth.
SHINK!
Three strands of black hair drifted away from his face, and Tavor's pupils shrank to needlepoints as he watched them fall.
"That would have taken my head off!" He thought as the bird passed by him, the demon's talons struck a brick wall instead.
SCRRRAAAAPE!
They carved four deep grooves through the wall, sending sparks and fragments of masonry spraying across the alley.
The creature twisted its neck toward him, its beak splitting into a cruel grin.
Tavor drew back his fist.
"You almost..."
Tavor was abruptly hit by a searing beam of flaming energy, the force propelling him violently backward.
A subtle grimace of agony flickered across his face as newly inflicted burn marks scorched his skin, the pungent stench of charred flesh hanging heavy in the air.
Moments later, his body collided with a wall with such force that the remaining masonry crumbled around him, leaving only one bloodied hand protruding from the heap of debris.
"Enough with the boy; now bring the girl. The master has given his command, and I can sense his mounting impatience." With that, the authoritative demon pivoted sharply and retreated through the spatial portal, vanishing from sight as he crossed to the other side.
One of the smaller bird demons attacking him turned immediately and grabbed up Illyana, who had passed out from fear and was rushing towards the portal.
"N... No, let her go, you seven herbs and spices piece of shit!" Tavor pulled himself free of the rubble, blood leaking onto his face from a gash on his forehead, but the blood only seemed to make the faint blue glow in his black eyes appear more distinctive.
Tavor suddenly unleashed a searing blue-white beam of energy from his eyes, aiming it directly at the back of the avian demon that struggled to drag her into the gaping tear in space. But before the beam could strike its mark, a swift, shadowy silhouette streaked into its path, wings crossing in a defiant shield as it absorbed the full force of the attack.
KASHAAAAA!
The brilliant blue-white beams slammed into the shadowy wings of the second bird demon with devastating force, ripping through them as a storm of feathers erupted into the air.
The chaotic flurry swirled wildly, caught in the shockwave of power, while the relentless energy blast steadily consumed the wings, tearing them apart piece by piece in a dazzling display of destruction.
Soon, the bird demon's wings were painfully worn down to useless nubs, and the blast struck him head-on.
Yet, the cunning plan had succeeded; his desperate efforts had managed to slightly alter the trajectory of the devastating force, sparing the avian demon who was just now crossing the threshold of the tear in space.
BOOOM!
The demon crashed into a distant, parked truck, which seemed to erupt into an explosion as the demon and the beam crashed onto it, before the avian demon was then smashed into the corner wall, causing a mountain of masonry to fall on top of it.
Tavor began to walk slowly towards the ever-pulsating tear in space, his eyes full of resolute determination and a slight killing intent.
Suddenly, Tavor thrust his arms upward, just in time to block a powerful kick coming from the side.
The sheer force and blistering speed of the attack sent him sliding backward several feet across the ground before he managed to dig in his heels and halt his movement.
Steadying himself, he lifted his gaze to face the demon who had struck, but the sight that met his eyes left him utterly stunned.