This Dreadful World

Short

High Lord Bael

Invasions at midnight.

Chapter 01: Ganking

Location: Anor Londo

Another cold night passed on, with the screams of unfortunate invaders filling the frozen air. High above the carnage that raged on sat Veris, who observed everything paying close attention to the phantoms down below. Disgusting, this was. All of them were clad in Havel's armor, all three bringing their arms down on any who dared to trespass into this world. Blood painted the snow that had caked the ground. the invader had three dark swords rammed into him at once.

Poor fool, he should've waited for back up. The last hour was spent observing these unskilled pricks butcher any invader that was dumb enough to take them all on at once, not bothering to wait for back up. One had even tried to make friends with them. His answer was being violently pointed down at as his body faded from this world. Perhaps he forgot that being an invader, he was unwelcome in this world? They all were truly. It was futile to think otherwise.

Thankfully these cowards were afraid of coming up here. Those silver knights were a sure deterrent and because of that she set up a small perch, surrounded by beautiful prism stones to alert other invaders to not get too close. The last one who did, being the mound maker he was, found himself incinerated. His robes contributed to the campfire Veris had made, though the smell of charred flesh was rather unpleasant. It was one she had oddly grown used to.

No, she deep down didn't. Even countless victims later she never truly did. At this point she was pretending, just as that Aldrich Faithful did. Decked out head to toe with the gear of the Abyss Watchers, he walked as if he was someone special. Carrying himself with the utmost confidence, that illusion was shattered swiftly. Another one bites the dust. Really, truly saddening to see how far the Abyss Watchers have fallen if they are losing to idiots like that.

What exactly was going on in their worlds? She couldn't stop pondering on this. That train of thought died when a portal opened from behind with a figure rising out of the ground, arms up in the air... arms made of solid rock and chain. Bathed in a golden and red glow, the man looked as if he was chiseled out of a mountain. The stone armor bounded by chain evoked the natural elements. In one hand was his towering solid shield, and in the other something too rough and twisted to be called a sword. If anything, it resembled black slate.

A low laughter emitted as he laid eyes on his targets in the distance. Down below them, in the main courtyard, were those ganking sons of bitches. Part of her didn't want to look at him, but for once she couldn't let the hat shelter her. If that thing was brought down on her, she wouldn't survive. Being resurrected by the dark sign was a rather unpleasant process she sought to avoid at every opportunity. Plus she had a pale tongue to extract, and hers wasn't on the menu.

Reluctantly, she spoke, "hello," choosing to look at his head rather than hide using her pointed witch hat, similar to the one that Karla wore. Such a fine woman she was, thinking of. "Why hello there. Waiting for back up are we?"

With a sigh of relief she answered, "Finally someone who won't rush in and get murdered."

"I bet those fakes are too weak to lift what a true Havel monster should!" The man hefted his sword and shield with determination. Veris simply smoothed out her blue robes when she stood, the two carried on. Going down the rooftops to the building that sat above the grand court yard. She hid her flame from sight, and was the first to drop down, her fall broken thanks to the silver cat ring. Yet the Havel clad monster sat above. All three gankers turned their eyes onto her.

They all were wearing untrue dark rings, hiding their aura and making it difficult to determine which one was the host... if you didn't know what you were looking at. Two stepped forward, while the third stayed behind. Judging by the formation, the host was in the back. Quickly a plan clicked. She exposed herself as a pyromancer, and these gankers were smart enough to make casters their first target. Hurling a chaos bed vestige, it burned against their armor, yet wasn't enough.

Sure of their ability to quickly kill her, they didn't even bother downing their estus. Odd, these types will usually shower themselves with it. Veris bolted up the stairs, the cold air filling her lungs and bringing some discomfort. She rolled into the building with the two phantoms trying to hound her, their swords screaming for her blood. This was perfect.

And like the dumb fish they were, they bit the bait. The Havel monster landed on one of them, his weight crushing the victim while his Fume found itself planted into the other phantom. The two bodies faded from existence. Veris picked herself up and clapped before moving back out to chase after the host. "What's the matter? Lost your balls? Not so brave are we?" The other dark spirit taunted. Being lighter the pyromancer got to the host faster, allowing herself some time to recover before tossing another chaos bed vestige.

The poor fool rolled with difficulty, indicating his weight issues. His cowardice only grew stronger when a red eye appeared out of thin air, indicating this world had become subject to invasion by a Blade of the Darkmoon. Behind the host rose a blue figure, dressed in tattered robes fitted over ruined knight armor. In his hand was an icy sword engulfed by frost. The Blade charged headfirst doing nothing but violently swing his weapon, even if it missed.

In which it did, Veris deftly rolled through the blows. Once behind him, her hand warmed up with immense heat, and she lashed out, her hand squeezing his throat with molten fire pouring out. The victim's head exploded from the heat with the upper part of the body melted, it collapsed and dissolved. The host like the little bitch he was pulled up his shield and hid behind it, inching back towards the summon signs on the ground, one of them purple.

Don't do it you idiot.

Don't.

Just.

Stop.

And sure shit, he did.

At that point, the trash was going to take itself out. The friendly Havel monster finally caught up, with Veris stopping him with a mere gesture. A portal formed from behind with a man bathed in purple rising out, the host now found himself surrounded.

That mound-maker was likely going to kill all of them, if given the chance. His attire certainly reflected well on his madness, torn asunder and bloodied. With a serrated katana he flipped the blade, jamming it into himself and then pulling it out as if it were nothing. This made Veris a bit sick in the inside, how could someone inflict such pain like that and not even let out a peep? Blood dripped from the blade, as the insane man swung it into the host.

The ganker quickly became the ganked, and thus all three of them gave that poor bastard the worst beating in his miserable existence. Once the deed was done, the three stood over the body. The Mound-maker lunged at her bringing the blade down on her, with the Havel monster almost breaking it with his strike. His Fume took the hit effortlessly, and he slammed his shield into the insane man.

Right before the finishing blow could be delivered, they all faded from the world.