When the man appeared, the sight made her breath seize... Muzio's borrowed body already halfway swallowed, the Gula's sludge creeping over his head like a grotesque crown.
And then... Boom.
A single cleave split the night.
The force of it tore through the air, a violent gust slamming against Yona hard enough to sting her skin, to drag grit into her eyes, to whip her hair across her face.
She raised her arms on instinct, crossing her blades to shield herself, teeth gritted as debris pelted them. The already ruined gate cracked further, splinters snapping loose like arrows.
For one stunned heartbeat she thought the village gates had finally given away, splintering into the air.. but no, it was the Gula itself, part of its hulking body flung into the air as though ripped apart at the seams.
It was nothing like Diego's claymore, whose heavy strikes she had met head-on in battle.
