654 - The Champion's Champion
The sight of Lex’s cutie mark on Solvei was enough to make Drafty’s thoughts come to a screeching halt, not understanding what she was seeing.
After a long moment, her eyes drifted down to Lex of their own accord. His clothes had become disheveled in the wake of Prevarius’ fireball, allowing her to catch a glimpse of his flank, confirming that his own cutie mark was still there. So then what-
“Drafty,” came Solvei’s voice, snapping the pegasus out of her surprise. “If you can use your seidr to revive Master without hurting him, do so as quickly as you can.” The winter wolf didn’t take her eyes off of Prevarius as she spoke, slowly advancing on the injured devil. “I’ll make sure nothing interrupts you in the meantime.”
“R-right,” sputtered Drafty, berating herself for getting caught up in what was happening. Taking care of Lex was the most important thing right now. Even so, she couldn’t help but sneak another glance at Solvei as she started constructing her spell, amazed at the changes in the winter wolf. It wasn’t just the way she looked; there was an edge to her voice now that hadn’t been there before, one that spoke not only of cool confidence and controlled anger, but which was delivered with a mellifluous timbre, enunciating her words with greater clarity and an articulation that bespoke-
Hang on a second, realized Drafty, finally noticing what she’d almost overlooked in her shock. Did she just call Lex “Master”?
“And as for you, Red Man. Or rather, Prevarius the phistophilus devil,” continued Solvei as she came to a stop a short distance away from the creature in question, the rage in her eyes visible as she glared at him. “You’ve brought misery and suffering into the lives of everyone I care about. My father is dead because of you. You tricked my family into signing away their souls, and when they got them back, you severely injured them all. You still have a claim on my friend Drafty’s soul. And if all that wasn’t enough, you’ve caused hardship for my strong and proud master, Lex Legis; someone who’s already endured more than his fair share of heartache!”
She threw back her head then and let out a howl, one so loud that it not only filled the clearing, but seemed to echo across the valley. “FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO THEM, PREPARE TO DIE!!!”
Her declaration caused Prevarius to sneer, readying a scroll in each hand. “It’s too bad. I could have made a fortune selling the souls of you and your ‘master’ together. Now your deaths will be nothing more than a wasted opportunity.”
Despite the devil’s words, Thermal Draft could tell that Prevarius wasn’t doing so well. He was favoring his left side, where Solvei had shattered his body-horn, and his face was drawn tight with pain, his breath heavier now. Between the phistophilus’ injured appearance, and whatever power-up Solvei had just gotten, it was enough to give Drafty real hope that they’d finally be able to overpower the devil.
Solvei seemed to think so also, because she didn’t bother wasting anymore of her breath on threats or warnings. Instead, she charged.
Prevarius had clearly been waiting for her to do so, his hands whipping out in an instant. Instantly, the scrolls darted out, coiling through the air as they spun toward Solvei.
They never came close to touching her, however. Instead, the winter wolf seemed to dance between the scything slices of each ream of paper. Despite her increased size, her agility seemed to have heightened even beyond what Lex had enhanced her with a moment ago, allowing her to move around, under, and between the twisting scrolls without so much as a single hair from her coat being cut.
Drafty’s eyes widened at the graceful display, and she saw Prevarius’ do the same right before Solvei was in his face, jaws snapping outward. It was enough to make the devil jerk to the side on reflex, and that made Solvei’s jaws clamp down on his right shoulder instead of his head. Immediately, a muffled crunching sound reached Drafty’s ears, followed by Prevarius’ scream of pain.
Solvei didn’t stop there, opening her jaws only to immediately close them again, clearly intent on tearing Prevarius arm off. But even as she did, Drafty saw Prevarius grin through the pain, somehow managing to flick his mangled right arm enough to loop the contract it held up and around Solvei’s neck, pinning her in place. At the same time, his undamaged left arm swung its scroll around in a heavy arm toward the back of Solvei’s neck, clearly intent on beheading the wolf in one fell swoop. And with the way Solvei was tangled in his other hand’s contract, Drafty couldn’t see any way to avoid it.
That was when a purple aura surrounded the contract wrapped around Solvei’s neck, yanking it off and giving Solvei the half-second she needed to release Prevarius shoulder and leap back, his decapitating strike hitting nothing but air.
Letting out the breath she’d been holding, Thermal Draft found herself panting in relief, knowing whose telekinetic aura that had been. But her respite turned to confusion an instant later, realizing she hadn’t used her revivifying spell on Lex yet.
A glance at the unicorn she was holding confirmed it: he was still unconscious. So whose telekinesis was-, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Across from her, Solvei’s eyes were glowing green, with purple contrails sprouting from their corners, making it clear whose aura that had been.
For a moment Drafty’s jaw worked soundlessly, before a hysterical laugh bubbled to her lips as she realized she had no idea what was happening anymore. Realizing that the one person who could make sense of everything was the one she kept getting distracted from, she put all of her concentration into finishing her spell. “C’mon, Lex! Wake up! You’ve gotta see this!”
As if in response to her urging, the unicorn cradled in her forelegs shifted, a groan escaping his lips as his eyes fluttered open. “…nngh…mnff…”
“Lex!” Unable to help the rush of relief that went through her, Drafty smiled, lifting him up a little more-
Just as Prevarius went on the attack.
“There doesn’t seem to be any end to how many tricks that pony can grant you,” he spat as he swung his scrolls around again, somehow able to still wield two despite the damage done to his right arm. “But can you do it to both of these contracts at once?” He swung them outward then, the edges of the paper cutting through the air so fast that they almost whistled…
But not toward Solvei.
“Because if you can’t,” jeered Prevarius cruelly, aiming one scroll each at the downed forms of Ebbe and Sten, the two of them lying near each other, still blackened and unable to move – let alone defend themselves – after the devil’s fireball had tossed them away, “you’ll need to decide which brother you want to save!”
Solvei was already moving before Prevarius finished speaking, rushing toward her brothers. Although her eyes continued to shine, no telekinetic aura wrapped around Prevarius’ scrolls, and Drafty knew with a sudden certainty that there wouldn’t be; she’d known enough unicorns in her life to understand that trying to grab moving objects with telekinesis was a difficult task, especially when it came to things moving as fast and as unpredictably as the phistophilus was swinging his scrolls.
Is she planning on taking the hits herself? wondered Drafty with a sudden rush of anxiety. Even if Solvei did that, she’d only be able to save one of her brothers! They’d landed near each other, but still too far apart for her to cover both of them!
“…no…”
The quiet murmur from the pony in her arms made Drafty whip her head around. “Lex!”
But the stallion’s eyes, half-focused and only partway open, were fixed on Solvei. “…s’a trick…”
“What?!” Her heart rising in her throat, Drafty turned her gaze back toward Solvei-
Just in time to see the wolf grow to immense proportions.
It was just like what had happened back when they’d first met, when her family had come after them in the cave. Just like then, Solvei suddenly increased in size, going from being only slightly larger than Princess Celestia to being the size of a small house…except this time, Drafty noted with a quick glance, Lex wasn’t holding his wire-wrapped hoof out toward her.
Just like with her use of telekinesis, Solvei was invoking that power completely on her own now.
A moment later she crashed onto her belly in front of Ebbe and Sten, her increased size giving her sufficient mass to cover both of them before Prevarius’ scrolls could make contact with either, a realization which made Drafty silently cheer. Yes! She saved them both!
Then she realized that the devil was smiling.
And suddenly she knew why Lex had said it was a trick.
“Gotcha,” snickered Prevarius, twisting his arms just slightly, altering the trajectory of the contracts’ attacks, both now directed right toward Solvei’s throat.
Drafty’s eyes widened as she realized that Prevarius had been counting on the fact that Solvei would use her body as a shield to protect her family, and that in doing so she’d leave herself open. Even if he couldn’t possibly have known that she’d increase her size like that, all it meant now was that she was a bigger target for him to hit. And with how Solvei had thrown herself to the ground to keep Ebbe and Sten safe from harm, there was no way she’d be able to recover her stance in time before the edges of Prevarius’ scrolls slit her throat.
It was over, realized Drafty with a surge of despair. The devil had won.
The two metallic clinks that rang out across the clearing a moment later, however, suggested otherwise.
Now it was Prevarius’ turn to stare with wide eyes, mouth hanging open at the sight that greeted him as his scrolls fell away from Solvei harmlessly. “What the…?”
Across from him, Solvei slowly stood up, the motion causing more soft sounds of scraping and jangling to fill the air. Their source was no mystery, however; everyone could tell that they were from the dark plates that Solvei now wore. Black and lusterless, they covered her body completely, as though sculpted to fit her enlarged proportions perfectly. The matte black substance enveloped her head, neck, middle, legs, and tail, leaving no part of her visible save for her eyes, which were once again glowing green and purple.
Black crystals, realized Drafty dazedly. She covered herself in armor made out of black crystals.
A moment later the muzzle covering opened, and Solvei roared in anger. “NEVER AGAIN!” she bellowed. “YOU’LL NEVER HURT ANYONE I LOVE EVER AGAIN!!!”
This time her roar was no mere declaration, followed immediately by a sharp inhalation. It was enough to make Prevarius fall back, expecting another blast of her breath weapon.
But he was still underestimating just what Solvei was capable of now.
In between her open jaws, a blue light began to gather, coalescing into a glowing orb. In a matter of seconds it grew brighter and larger, its azure radiance steadily increasing. As it did, Drafty felt a chill fall over everything, as though the energy coalescing in Solvei’s mouth was devouring what little heat could be found in the clearing, causing her teeth to chatter as the temperature plummeted.
Prevarius clearly felt it too, because his lips pulled back in a sudden snarl of alarm, eyebrows rising as he turned to try and dive out of the way.
But it was too late, as he’d barely started to move when Solvei brought her head forward and unleashed the gathered energy with a roar of anger.
Instantly, the ball of blue light exploded forward, turning into a rushing torrent of pure cold several feet in diameter. The cerulean beam shot across the clearing to engulf Prevarius entirely, the devil’s outline immediately disappearing beneath the onslaught as the shockwave sent snow flying in every direction, adding to the chill of the attack. It was enough to make Drafty cover her eyes, leaning over Lex and wrapping her one good wing around him protectively.
After a moment, the worst of the chill abated, and the pegasus dared to lift her head up and glance back at the results of…whatever it was Solvei had done, belatedly wondering if Prevarius’ resistances to magic and cold temperatures had protected him from the winter wolf’s attack.
A second later she saw that it hadn’t.
Prevarius was still standing, but that was about all that could be said for him. His injured right arm was frozen solid, encased with a coating of ice crystals, as was the lower half of his torso, and both of his legs. The only reason the rest of him had been spared was because he’d twisted his body to stand in profile to the blast, managing to keep his left side and his head mostly undamaged, though even there Drafty could see welts forming from the extreme cold. Even as she watched, the devil issued a pained grunt, forming a small flame in his left palm.
Then Solve bit him in half.
It happened in an instant. One moment the devil was rearing back with his small flame – whether to try and melt the ice covering him or use it to attack was unclear – and then the house-sized armor-clad wolf was there, rushing forward and scooping him up in her jaws, which closed over the middle of his frozen body and clenched down hard, causing it to shatter like glass.
Drafty watched as Prevarius’ upper body, now missing everything below his ribs, hit the ground and lay still, a surprised look on his face.
She did it, realized the pegasus, the thought seeming almost dreamlike for how unreal it was. After how strong Prevarius had been, it was almost hard to believe that they’d finally defeated him. Even now, Drafty could feel her nerves refusing to relax, ready for whatever new trick the phistophilus had up his sleeve. Hyper-fast regeneration. Or his death was an illusion. Or he’ll possess someone like that other devil did to Nosey. Or his body will suddenly explode.
But all that happened was that Solvei spat the remaining pieces of the frozen devil out of her mouth, shaking her head as she ran her tongue over her lips. “Disgusting,” she snorted.
In Drafty’s forelegs, Lex shifted slightly, as though trying to raise his hoof. “…Sol…vei…”
The words were barely audible, but the wolf in question reacted instantly. “Master!” Wasting no time, she bounded over to Lex, the black crystal armor dissolving into nothing as she shrank back down to her normal size, a whimper escaping her throat as she crouched down in front of Lex. “Master, please grant me the power to heal your wounds!”
With a low groan of effort, Lex managed to make his hoof twitch, and Drafty quickly reached over to help him raise it toward Solvei again. While there was no visible effect, only a second passed before the winter wolf drew in a sharp breath. Without hesitating, she raised a paw and pressed it to Lex’s torso. An instant later, the worst of his burns began to fade, and the disorientation disappeared from his face, his gaze sharpening as his consciousness fully returned, sitting up.
But his wounds weren’t completely healed when Solvei withdrew her paw. “Master,” she began, her tone apologetic, “forgive me. I know you’re still injured, but this power you gave me is limited, and my family…”
Lex nodded once. “Go help them,” he ordered gruffly.
Solvei’s expression brightened immediately. “Thank you, Master!” Then, before he could react, she leaned forward and licked his face, causing him to blink and sputter before Solvei turned and ran toward the rest of her pack, tail wagging.
The spectacle was enough to make Drafty giggle, suddenly feeling euphoric as the realization that they’d somehow managed to win despite everything that had happened began to sink in. “So, you’re her ‘master’ now, huh?”
The teasing made Lex scowl. “I don’t know why she’s calling me that,” he snapped, cheeks burning. “Nevermind that now. Tell me what happened.”
The command made Drafty tilt her head. “What do you mean? We won, that’s what happened. You gave Solvei all sorts of super magical powers and she tore Prevarius apart.” Sitting back, Drafty gave him a wry look. “Just a suggestion for the next time we get in trouble: give your allies the big power-up first thing, instead of waiting until the last possible second, okay?”
But Lex wasn’t listening, instead looking between his wire-wrapped hoof and Solvei, his brow furrowed. “I made her that strong…?” he muttered.
The question, more directed toward himself than her, made Drafty blink. “Wait, you don’t remember doing it?” Sitting up, she nodded toward where Solvei was going around to each of her packmates, running a hoof over them and causing their burns to recede in favor of white fur, causing them to slowly stir, already moving toward the last of her injured family members. “You and her and the other wolves were almost killed by Prevarius’ fireball, and Solvei got back up anyway, giving me enough time to try and revive you. You pointed your hoof at her and said-”
“Drafty!” called Solvei, making the pegasus look up, seeing that the winter wolf was bounding toward her now that the rest of her pack had been healed. Like Lex, they were by no means completely restored, but their burns no longer looked life-threatening. “I still have some healing left,” announced Solvei as she rejoined the ponies, her eyes on Drafty. “Hold still so I can fix your wing.”
The offer made Drafty blink, suddenly self-conscious. “Oh, no, that’s okay. Everyone else is hurt worse than me. You should-”
“Fix her wing,” interrupted Lex. “Now.”
The command made Solvei wag her tail again. “I knew you’d want me to help her before healing you any further, Master!” she bragged, reaching a paw over to brush Drafty’s injured wing. The pegasus immediately gasped as she felt the sudden absence of pain in her torn limb, the wound suddenly gone as though it had never been there in the first place.
“You’ll probably want to go find that pact that Prevarius made you sign so you can destroy it and get your soul back,” added Solvei. “I’ll stay here and watch over Master while you look for it.”
Her announcement – which struck Drafty as being unusually pushy – was accompanied by her moving alongside Lex…and shrinking in size. Completely nonplussed, Drafty watched as Solvei’s height decreased until she was pony-sized, no larger than Lex himself as she moved to sit next to him. “Master, please lean on me if you feel unsteady!”
An awkward silence fell then, the other winter wolves glancing at each other uncertainly. “Does anyone know why Solvei is suddenly all runty?” asked Ebbe pointedly. “And why she’s calling that pony ‘master’?”
But before anyone had a chance to answer the question, a hacking cough cut through the air…one that came from Prevarius’ body.
Immediately, the wolves turned and growled, Solvei the loudest of all as she resumed her normal size. Drafty flared her wings in alarm, her eyes going wide. Lex struggled to his hooves, gritting his teeth as he prepared to continue the fight.
A short distance away, Prevarius – now reduced to little more than a head atop a mangled torso – coughed again, before his voice dissolved into pained laughter. “Done in by a mutt…” he choked, blood staining his lips. “To think that’s how I’d go out…”
Drawing in a ragged breath, he glanced over at where the others were huddled, one corner of his lips turning up as he made eye contact with Lex. “Though really, I suppose it’s your victory,” he granted. “After all, you gave her…whatever that power was.”
“Why isn’t he dead?!” muttered Drafty, backing away from what should have been the devil’s corpse.
Lex, however, seemed far less afraid. “These creatures aren’t completely dependent on biology to stay alive,” he explained, slowly walking toward Prevarius’ broken body. “Because of that, even catastrophic physical damage can take some time to kill them.”
“Then we’ll just have to make him completely dead,” growled Turid, warily padding toward the mutilated devil.
The threat only made Prevarius chuckle again, not taking his eyes off of Lex. “You should call off your dogs,” he muttered. “At least if you want me to give you your reward for defeating me.”
“Master, this is some sort of trap,” warned Solvei. “Let us finish him off now before he tries something!”
Lex hesitated only for a moment before waving a hoof at the others. “All of you stay back. I want to know about those pony souls he said were being traded.”
Prevarius snickered at that. Or at least, he tried to, the laugh turning into more guttural coughing that ended with him spitting up another mouthful of blood, pulling in another few tortured breaths of air once he’d cleared his throat. “Oh, you don’t need to be concerned with them. You have bigger problems to worry about now.”
Lex’s eyes narrowed at that. “What do you mean?”
“That’s your reward,” smirked Prevarius. “Despair. You see, I know you’re going to tear up all of my contracts” – his eyes slid over to the papers that lay scattered across the clearing, all of them out of reach now – “and I just wanted you to be aware that Hell doesn’t take kindly to those who interfere in our business operations. You can expect to be made to pay for all the souls you’re going to cost us,” he laughed, the sound watery. “With interest.”
The threat made Lex scoff. “Hell will never know who was responsible for what happened here today. With your death, there’s no one who’ll ever tell them.”
But Prevarius’ grin only widened. “That’s where you’re wrong. By now, Degron has already made a report about you.”
That prompted a round of concerned looks among the winter wolves. “You’re bluffing,” huffed Sten. “We killed Degron. His head was torn clean off.”
“He’s alive,” insisted Prevarius. “The summoning I used didn’t call him fully here. It was what you’d call an astral body. It takes solid form here, since this is the physical realm, but his real self never left Hell. Destroying his local incarnation just sent his consciousness back.” His grin grew wider then, giving Lex a mocking look. “And since he communicates telepathically, it was easy for me to tell him your name before that happened.”
The news caused a dark look to pass over Lex’s face, staring daggers at the spiteful creature. “You…”
“Enjoy looking over your shoulder for the next few decades,” laughed Prevarius. “Compared to what’s going to happen to you, oblivion isn’t such a bad fate.” His eyes slid over to Thermal Draft then, and his eyes narrowed. “Don’t you think, Drafty?”
The question sent a chill down the pegasus’ spine. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Prevarius didn’t answer right away, seized by another coughing fit. This time it was worse, and when it finally ended his breathing was noticeably shallower, each breath coming slower. But his smirk remained. “I put a special clause in your contract,” he admitted. “A little something I’ve been working on for a few decades now, to strengthen the sanctity of infernal deals.”
The revelation drew a hiss from Lex, his eyes sweeping over the wolves. “Bring me Thermal Draft’s contract!” he demanded.
But the wolves didn’t move, instead looking between Lex and the scattered papers. “We can’t read runes,” admitted Kaja after a moment, flinching in clear expectation of Lex’s anger. “So we can’t tell which one is hers.”
“Then gather them all up,” suggested Solvei. “I’ll stay by Master’s side in case this is some sort of elaborate deception.”
Her siblings glanced at their mother, who in turn looked between Solvei and Lex for a moment before nodding, their movements guarded as they moved to gather up the scattered contracts.
But Lex wasn’t content to wait for them. “What clause did you add to Thermal Draft’s contract?” he demanded. “Tell me!”
“Certainly…” rasped Prevarius. “Wouldn’t want to miss…the look on your face…” Pausing the draw in a deep breath of air, he forced the words out with visible difficulty. “It’s a special provision…one which says that…in the event that Hell…can’t collect her soul…then it forfeits any other destination…and with no ability to go anywhere…and no life force to anchor it to her body…simply ceases to exist…”
Thermal Draft turned as white as a sheet then. “Wh-what? You’re…you’re saying that…that when I…when I die…”
“It’s the end…for you…permanently…” wheezed the devil. “Even…resurrection magic…won’t be able to…bring you back…”
“You’re wrong!” hissed Lex, marching up to the dying devil, heedless of whatever danger Prevarius potentially still posed. “When her contract is destroyed, that provision will cease to have any effect, along with the rest of it!”
Prevarius shook his head, the motion feeble. “What makes the…provision special…is that it…survives…the contract being…terminated…” His breath rattled as he exhaled. “…her signature already…put that directive…onto her soul…”
His teeth grinding together as his eyes widened in fury, Lex snatched the devil up in his telekinesis, putting his nose an inch from the phistophilus’. “YOU’RE LYING!”
“I’m not…” The weak breaths that came from Prevarius’ mouth then were only barely laughter. “You might…have killed me…but I wonder…if you’ll be able…to call this…a victory…?”
Lex threw what was left of Prevarius back down with a roar of anger then, but it was too late. Even before the devil’s body hit the ground, his eyes closed, and he breathed no more.
But even in death, his smile remained.
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I freaking hate Prevarius. Even dead, he found a way to screw Lex over. Seems like Lex will need to focus more on his eternal youth/immortality research sooner or later. Well that or hope the Night Mare can reverse what was done to Thermal Draft...or Kara though I think the latter will probably be pretty pissed at what happened though I suppose the goddess will probably use this as an opportunity to cement her influence over Thermal Draft...
Anyways, on the bright side, that was one hell of a power up for Solvei though I can't help but wonder if Lex is able to use ice breaths or at least gain some resistance to cold environments now. Still, Solvei's referring to Lex as Master now is rather telling, which also implies the Night Mare's authority over monsters is more powerful than I previously thought.
Does this mean that Lex can summon her to his side whenever he wants cause if so, Solvei will prove to be quite the asset when he goes back to Equestria though I can't help but wonder if Lex might try to break whatever contract he made with Solvei(once he realizes what had happened) since splitting up a family for his benefit doesn't feel like something Lex's moral guidelines would allow.
Oh shit, drafty really needs a divine intervention for this one. In any case I do like the new solvei, never knew lex was a beast aster rangerbXD
So I guess Pathfinder doesn't run on the "If you kill an outsider away from their native plane they just get sent back and stuck there for a century," thing? After all it'd be bad enough making devilish enemies without having ones he's faced before waiting for their own chances for revenge, either on him or his descendants.
Of course, Pevarious could just be smart enough to not mention this if Lex hasn't sussed it out for himself...
Thats not just a hit for Drafty, that would be the default binding in all further contracts, unless it would trigger outright deific conflict, as no Gods able to collect power up souls further?
11044926 Prevarius might have lost, but he was more than smart enough to make sure that even though he was defeated he made it as costly and empty of a win for Lex as he could. Despite his jocular attitude, he was really a spiteful individual, and it shows here. As for what - if anything - Lex (or perhaps a helpful deity or two) could do about the apparent "Hell or oblivion" path etched onto Drafty's soul, that remains to be seen.
As for Solvei...yeah, that was a monstrous power-up, wasn't it? Utilization of Lex's dark magic, incredible ice powers, and at least some of the powers he previously granted her with divine authority before...and possibly more than that. She's become quite the powerhouse! Presuming that this is another aspect of divine authority made manifest, then it far surpasses anything Lex has done with that power to date. The fact that she's now referring to Lex as "Master" also carries quite a few implications with it.
Presumably, we'll find out more about that later on, though whether or not Lex takes Solvei with him or tries to dissolve whatever bond now exists between them remains to be seen. He doesn't exactly seem happy at the prospect of how close they are, but on the other hoof, we got a glimpse of his inner feelings before, and know that despite (or rather, because of) the events of the last few days, he's actually come to care for her a great deal. With his being cut off from his home, not knowing if Sonata, Aria, and the others are alive or dead, and finding out that he might not have saved Drafty after all, you have to wonder if he'll really want to throw away what solace he's managed to find with the winter wolf.
I suppose we'll find out soon.
11045020 Well, the Night Mare is a goddess of strength, as well as magical beasts. So having power over magical beasts the way that Lex does certainly seems like it would lead to something like this, no?
As for what can be done about Drafty's soul...that's a much harder question.
11045041 Prevarius' skill as a liar is extremely high...but in terms of the game rules, Pathfinder has no real provisions regarding Outsiders who die off of their home plane. Really, D&D (which Pathfinder is an offshoot of) has always reinterpreted that particular rule across the editions, but generally kept some form of having demons and devils reform on their home planes when killed elsewhere (even if they made that rule damnably hard to find in some cases).
Pathfinder (in its first edition, at least, which is what this story uses) made no such concessions that I'm aware of. The closest that it has is the difference between the "calling" and "summoning" subschools of conjuration magic, where the former brings an Outsider forth in their entirety (and says that if they die while called, they're actually dead, since they're fully there) while the latter simply sends them back to their realm of origin, since they're not "actually" there. It's a small jump to say that having an Outsider who isn't otherwise taking special precautions or is otherwise projecting part of themselves to another realm will really die when killed, regardless of location.
Which doesn't mean that they can't be brought back, of course...
11045048 Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be a standard clause in most contracts; Prevarius made it sound like it was a pet project of his, especially since Lex did review (albeit briefly) the contracts for the winter wolves and found nothing like that.
I know King Phasmatodea can fix this.
11045803 This story's a little more high-fantasy than that one.