That will be eons from now, if ever," Iggwilv retorted smugly.

Kostchtchie grunted angrily and hefted his iron hammer. "Lying and perverse old human bag! Bow to the will of King Graz'zt, or by All Unholy-"

"You bandy-legged bastard! My fungi will feed upon your filthy yellow flesh," Zuggtmoy said as she altered shape, and strange buds began to form on the mass of her body.

"You are wrong, toadstool!" Yeenoghu growled as he lifted his terrible flail and advanced. "I'll spread bits and spores across this no-place so that your little mushrooms will be without a head!" With this, the hyena-headed demon vented his awful giggling bark as a battle cry.

Szhublox spread forth slimy pseudopods to counter Yeenoghu's threat while Graz'zt faced off against the hard-visaged Iggwilv and livid Iuz. The lesser demons still in attendance could see what was happening. They assumed ferocious postures but held back, for they had not been commanded to take part and no actual combat had occurred. They were powerless to affect the course of events, but it was apparent to them that in a moment the null-space would become a war ground of unimaginable sort.

"It had to come to this," Graz'zt grated harshly as he raised his huge sword.

"You are at least right about that!" Iuz snarled back, hefting his own weapon.

"Both of you, stop!"

This last came from Iggwilv, who in the space of an eye-blink had placed herself between the two rivals. Iuz was stunned at this, instantly suspecting some treachery against him on the part of his mother. Graz'zt too, a victim once of the mighty powers of this human terror, seemed surprised and disconcerted. Iggwilv's move was sufficient to make both demon and cambion pause.