Viana and Qicy run into the pavilion, meeting with a distraught Emma as she clutched her phone with shaky hands. "Do you know what's going on!?" Qicy questioned before looking out to the grey sky above, slowly being oppressed by a red glow that began to spread as far as the eye could see. "Where is Dahlia!?"
"I-I don't know. Some guy-- Simon, he was here."
Viana's eyes widen. "Simon? The one the teachers are hunting right now?"
"Y-Yes... h-he was here. I- It was some guy with a fuckin' beard wearing these round sunglasses. Some war veteran type. Have you guys not seen Dahlia?"
Qicy shook her head. "N-No, not at all. S-So... that's why you're panicked-- I-It'll be okay, uh... Let me think."
Emma shook her head. "He knew me... he knew Dahlia. He knew about our relationship."
Viana turned around, looking at the other end of the pavilion. "We aren't alone, get ready." She took out her rifle in the process, leveling it at the rising creature.
Emma groaned. "Rider, wake up." She demanded, her machine getting back up, ready for action, already repaired. "I made sure to get him back into order to keep my mind off things.
"H-He was out of order?" Qicy questioned, glaive at the ready.
"I'll talk about it later." Emma readied her weapon as well, a blond young man clambering over the side of the pavilion, crashing into the marble ground below, chuckling maddly. They looked up, revealing their faces to be covered by a mask —a completely red mask, smiling.
Viana sighed. "What the hell is happening to this city?" Viana leveled her rifle at the man. "Stay back! Who are you!?"
In that moment, they removed their mask, revealing a young, effeminate face before taking one hand under the jaw, and the other onto the side of their head in a twisting motion. In that instant, with one swift movement, they spun their head like a top against their neck, which bulged out, purple and red, before popping like a balloon, rocketing their head into the air. The body stumbled forward, splitting at various ends, one hand catching the head as hair spread out across the ground below, covering both themselves and the body, a thorned crown of gold forming along the skull as they smiled wide and bright.
Their bodies began to metamorphose, splitting as multiple limbs formed, almost spiderlike, if it weren't made of human flesh and human flesh alone. "Beautiful sacrifices for the Blood Mother!" The man screeched out.
"W-What the fuck is that!?" Emma screamed, almost tripping over herself as she backed away, Viana and Qicy being shaken by the sight as well.
Combat Begins!
Rider immediately sprang into action, stopping just short of 9 meters from the creature in question as Emma fired out supporting fire from afar, each shot sounding like an explosion going off against the beast's body; however, only one of the shots managed to pierce its thick skin, but, contact is just enough, as flowers of rot bloomed across their shoulder.
They laughed due to the pain, rushing forward as their limbs chaotically crossed over one another, almost clambering toward Rider, raising one giant fist in the air and crashing it into the automaton, sending it flying back, scraping against the marble below.
As Rider fell, it continued rushing forward, almost moving to trample the machine, and like a crushing force, Rider was immediately knocked out of the battle by the beast.
The beast crouched low, jumping into the air, quickly bridging the distance between them and the party, landing right in front of them, their smile growing more crazed by the second.
Qicy stumbled back, pointing at Viana with her shield. "Virtus!" A magical aura encompassed Viana in that moment, but the effect was unknown before she prayed for an invisible shield to be cast around her.
Viana followed up that enchantment with a rain of bullets, managing to pierce a bit of skin just beneath the armpit, causing some blood to leak out across their chest. The following shots, though, could barely penetrate the skin, but the more effort they put into it, the weaker it would become, regardless. Nothing has an infinite amount of energy, unless it were a God.
It cackled, and just as Emma was about to fire, an arm flung out, grabbing and slamming Qicy into a nearby pillar, forcing a cry from her lungs as pain shot throughout her entire body. It then brought her into the air before throwing her back into the ground, their sight not completely locked onto the party's healer.
Dahlia isn't here... Emma thought to herself, throwing her rifle over her shoulder and rushing forward at the beast. I'll have to play that role then! Please! Don't die,Dahlia! Tears in her eyes, these thoughts flooded into her mind as she reeled back her fist, a blade sliding into her off-hand.
Her fist dug into one of the creature's legs, causing it to stagger momentarily —that is, at least, what it looked like to be doing, though, as one of its legs slipped under its torso, flying out at Emma, who blocked with her meteor shield, now attached to her suit. Emma could feel a fracture in her arm, but she powered through the pain out of sheer desperation, holding the sword now in both hands.
Emma swung forward, cleaving through a chunk of the monster's leg, whispering to herself. "Not enough!" Where she had cleaved through the monster's flesh was a collection of flowers, signifying the spread of Emma's rot coursing throughout the creature's body. I'll focus my ability's healing onto Qicy! Before Emma could think about it any further, she was hit with an absolute flurry of attacks, stomping her straight into the ground.
"No!" Qicy cried out, almost becoming a victim of the beast's onslaught as well if she hadn't ducked in time, jumping to the floor as an arm swung overhead. Qicy proceeded to roll back into Emma's direction, scrambling to her unconscious body.
"Sana!" With a single heal, Emma was back into the fight, gasping for air.
Emma looked up at Qicy, bleary-eyed, before the Halfling girl was slammed back into the wall behind her.
"E-Emma!" She wheezed. "Y-You can do this!" And with that, magical energy permeated around the red-headed girl.
Viana ran back, keeping distance from the monster as she peppered bullets into his hide from afar. By pure luck in that moment, though, one bullet blew open one of its wrists, specifically the one holding its head, causing it to almost fall to the floor before being caught by a loosely hanging hand, having its own head by the hair.
Emma lowered her stance, rushing in between the monster's feet as she sliced across the bottom half of its body before rushing past it, toward Rider. Emma's ability had been reapplied.
"Where are you going!?" The beast screamed, almost as if overjoyed that they had been giving it as much trouble as they had before following Emma to Rider's position, rushing over to her with a hungry fervor.
Emma sighed, looking up as one of its hands smacked her straight across the face, throwing her over Rider's body. Her already bleeding head is opened further, dripping all over the floor, crimson spreading across the marble surface below. "Uh oh..."
CRACK! With a kick, she is sent sliding across the floor, her face covered in her own blood, eyes rolled to the back of her head.
The monster then proceeded to grab Emma's unconscious body, dragging it through the pavilion, back to her comrades, throwing them limply across the floor, appearing right in front of Viana.
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"Fuck! Again!? Just fuckin' ask me next time! You don't have to keep stealin' shit!" Tierre yelled, giving a pointed look at Emma. She sat with a wry half-smile on her face as she leaned on the front counter of their shop. "Once again, I have to fork over the bonds--"
"I didn't get caught, though!"
"It isn't about gettin' caught or not! It's about the principal, girl!"
"Oh! Come on! I know for a fact you wouldn't give me jack shit that wasn't already in the shop otherwise!" Emma had her dyed black hair like before, unlike her fiery red locks in the future, arms thrown out in frustration.
"You're right, but it doesn't c--"
"Nuh uh! You just said that I could've just 'asked' when you wouldn't even give me the shit anyway!" A mechanical spider holding a hot drink tumbled up beside the belligerent girl, placing it down before backing up and heading back in the opposite direction. "Oh, thanks."
"Is that hot chocolate?"
"Of course it is, we're in winter. A nice hot chocol--"
"While we're arguing? You're g--"
"Yeah, while I'm fuckin' arguing! You expect me to drop everything!?" She took a sip of her drink, wincing. "Shit!"
"No, you igit! I'm expecting you to focus on what I'm fuckin' saying because it's only wisdom you're gonna hear once in yer fuckin' lifetime-- also, if you do get caught, you know damn well I ain't gonna bail you out! You gotta live with the consequences!"
"Alright! Alright! I fuckin' get it!"
"Do you!? Do you get it!?"
"Yeah!"
"No, you don't." He shook his head. "Stop stealing. Just because you get some momentary satisfaction doing it doesn't mean that it'll help you in the long run. In fact, doin' this stupid shit is only going to bite you in the ass in the future!"
"What? How is it gonna bite me in the ass?"
"Karma is a very real thing, Emma! And one day, karma will come knockin' harder than hell! So be careful, for yours and my sake, please!"
"You believe in that shit?'
Tierre scoffed. "Believe? I know it. But if that doesn't get it through your head, then I hope that this does!" Tierre crossed over to Emma, leaning over her.
"What?"
"Emma..." He sighed, grabbing a nearby chair. "Look, I honestly couldn't give a rat's ass if you steal. In all actuality, what I care about is that you keep stealin' from the wrong people. Additionally, bad habits like that are only going to get worse. Sure, stealin' from time to time is nice, but with the frequency you go about doing it and the whole strategy behind it... I just... people got precautions. I have to go out of my way to cover for your ass a lot of the time because, even if you don't notice it, you get caught a lot more than you think, okay?"
Emma just watched Tierre's expression in this moment, remaining silent as he continued.
"You have to be more concerned about the people around you. I know you don't give half a shit about a lot of things, but at least care about that, okay? Sometimes people need the money, or sometimes they are fired, not realizing that they had neglected to catch you. Do you understand?"
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I don't want my niece dyin' on me." She put an arm around her shoulder. "I love you, you know that, right?"
Emma nodded. "Tierre..."
"Yeah?"
"You... you're more than an Uncle to me, y'know?"
"What am I to you?"
"You're... you're more of a Dad than my actual Dad was..." As Emma spoke, she couldn't see Tierre's expression sour at the comment before she continued. "Can I treat you like that...?" Emma looked up to see Tierre looking almost shocked, fearful. It was the first time Emma had seen this face on her Uncle. She felt as if she had said something wrong. "I-I'm sorry... I..." Her heart sank, and she averted her gaze.
Tierre couldn't say a word, just giving Emma a comforting squeeze of the shoulder before heading back to work.
Emma wanted to cry. I guess this is that karma he was talking about?
And then, she woke up, Qicy looming over her with tears in her eyes. "E--" Before she could get another word out, Emma vanished, going invisible.
A gunshot cut through the noise, another shot from her rifle piercing the creature's hide before she attempted to run away, the beast reacting in time as a fist shot out from its horribly contorted body. Qicy gasped, Viana being violently grabbed by the leg before a meaty snap could be heard as she was whipped straight back into the ground.
For a moment, they stood triumphantly over the beaten and unconscious Viana before stumbling slightly to the left. They brought their head around to the back of their body, spotting as a bit of their leg began to rot away. "How? Isn't the girl dead? It goes away every time she's died." They pouted, eyes locking onto Qicy, who shrieked in terror. "Where is she!?" A hand grabbed at Qicy, holding her up in the air. "Where is she!?"
"Lux Lunae!" Qicy screamed out, holding their shield in the air.
"W-" A massive beam of light shot through the ceiling of the pavilion, firing down onto the creature's body, skin burning at the touch as it screeched out in pain. "W-What is this!? This isn't fun pain! What is this!?" They let go of Qicy, throwing her to the ground as it scrambled away from the light. It continued to push itself back, meeting with Rider, now back in action.
The monster recoiled, confused that the machine from earlier had somehow returned to its feet. Rider ran up to one of its legs, cracking their fist against it and snapping it in two with a single hit. On that same leg, just as it was broken, it was then sliced straight off by an invisible force, the creature becoming even more confused, recoiling in pain and fear.
"Get away from me!" It screamed out, lashing out wildly at the ground below.
Rider is smacked out of the way, their mechanical body flying into a nearby pillar, once again destroyed. Thank you, Rider. Emma thought to herself, avoiding the remaining attacks of this beast. You gave me a fantastic opportunity to finish this motherfucker off!
Qicy scrambled over to Viana's unconscious body, wincing as she spotted their leg pointing in the wrong direction. "D-Don't worry, I-I got you!" Qicy took a deep breath. "Sana..." She clutched her divine focus in pain as healing magic spread across Viana's body, waking her up from her unconscious state, reeling in pain as her leg spun back into place.
Sparks flew out from under the monster as they cried out in pain. "Where!? Where are you!?" Their body slowly began to fall apart as wounds appeared sporadically across their flesh. "N-No! Get away!"
Qicy watched with Viana, astounded by what she was seeing. "W-What is going on over there...?"
I lost too much blood. Emma could feel her consciousness fading as she clashed with the beast, struggling to keep her eyes open as she pushed her body beyond its human limits. Just a bit more...
"I can do one more..." Qicy whispered to herself, standing up, raising her Divine Focus in the air. "Lux Lunae!"
"No!" The monster stared up at the moonlight that crashed down from above. A massive chunk of its body is melted off, blood bubbling violently at the spot they were hit in, causing them to stumble onto the ground, falling onto their side.
"AGH!" Emma cried out, jumping onto the beast.
"W-What!? What is on me!? Why can't I see it!?"
"DIE!" An ear-piercing screech, stabbing her sword repeatedly into the monster's flesh. "JUST FUCKIN' DIE!"
Viana joined in as well, shooting the beast as it was down, the monster scrambling in pain, attempting to fight back, but was only helpless to do so before its hand let go of its head, rolling a bit away from the party before coming to a stop. "N-No! I-I can't... I-I must--" Before it could speak, Emma rushed over to the head, crushing it under her foot, slamming down onto it multiple times until she felt satisfied.
"AH! DIE!" What remained of their head was kicked into a nearby wall, Emma's legs then, and only then, finally giving out from under her. Her hands shook, her breathing heavy, as the helmet on her suit retracted. "W-Where... where's my phone?"
Qicy limped over to Emma, putting a hand on her shoulder. "A-Are you al--"
"Where is my phone!?"
"I-I dunno! Uh... I-I'll-- rest, okay!?" Qicy looked around, finding Emma's bag and taking a phone out from inside. It was slightly cracked, and being flung across a table, even in a bag, could do that to a phone. Qicy crossed back to Emma, who snatched the phone out of her hands.
"Dahlia... please..." Another flood of messages. "Please..."
Once again, her phone vibrated, almost completely buried under a pile of rubble that was her dorm room. What looked to be multiple Vampire Spawn, some injured, some looking completely fine, grabbed the phone and called someone themselves. "This one didn't have an aspect." They said off-handedly, inspecting the nearly destroyed touch phone in their hand. "We completely buried them. No matter what, a bomb is a bomb."
"Did you have to blow up the fuckin' place, with me in it!?" One of the injured soldiers cried out, holding the spot where their missing arm was. "We can't regenerate like the higher-ups, asshole!"
"Look, you did what you needed to do." They snickered, thoughts interrupted as the rubble beside them began to shake, making way as Dahlia, half-dead, pulled themselves out from beneath the ruins of the dorm. "No fuckin' way."
"It's because she's half-orc! Finish her off! Don't give her time to breathe!" Another Spawn shouted, jumping from the roof down to Dahlia's position. Before they could react, a javelin of spectral light shot out into the Vampire's chest. "W-What--" Before combusting into ashes in that very instant.
"Shit! She attained an asp--" Once again, a Javelin is thrown through the air, instead, stabbing through the jaw of the Spawn who remained on call, head exploding into a pile of ash.
"Son of a bitch!" The one outside, who was injured, sprinted past the dorm room's window. Dahlia rushed on over, crashing through and grabbing them by the neck, snapping them in half with just her bare hand. Finally, they were let go, flopping onto the floor, dead.
She paused for a moment, almost stumbling over herself, before forming a javelin into her own hand and stabbing it into herself. "I... I need to find..." She huffed. "I need to find, Emma."