Hi guys.
So I don't really do much on here any more and I thought it was about time to get back into the swing of writing so here we are. This will be a multi-chap but I'm not sure how far I'll take it, probably five or six chapters unless there is demand for more.
I always feel games like this deserve more credit on sites such as this.
I do not own any characters or rights to ToB. I just borrow them for your entertainment and my writing addiction.
Exorcists, there were so many exorcists.
Velvet had not stopped in her tracks to count exactly how many she had cut down on her route of vengeance. Even now, as she cut through the waves of armatus joined holy-folk, she did not consider how many lives she was ending. They were all necessary to achieve her goal, all standing in her way of executing revenge.
Feet pounded the ground behind her as her companions followed at an all out sprint. Titania had been overrun, their safe hiding place lost to many of their enemies. Velvet could smell the blood of their bodies, scattered around the prison island like squashed ants under her boots.
Fight after fight had awaited them here, their once safe haven island had become overrun by Abbey excorsists, each one joining in turn with their Malak companions. So much so that it had taken most of their strength to fight battle after battle, heal wound after wound and make their way across the island.
Now the front docks were finally in sight, the Van Eltia waiting patiently out in the islands unsettled waters, moored down waiting to be hastily thrown toward the wind and the open seas.
Velvet's feet hastened to a stop, her laced boots biting the ground and bringing her to an abrupt halt. She threw out her one human arm, steadying Laphicet beside her, everyone else gliding to a graceful standstill.
One last group of excorsists blocked her path. One more group of Malak and men, joining forces to stand in her way. She growled, the sound echoing around Titania's lonely walls. They didn't have time for a other confrontation she knew, yet rage burned brightly within her. She looked over to Eizen, knowing their ship could wait no longer.
"Send the Van Eltia on," she growled "we'll steal an Abbey ship. We can't leave any armatus alive."
Seeing the blood lust in her eyes, Eizen knew her mind was made up regardless of anything he could say. Magilou shrugged her shoulders and Eleanor clasped her hands together nervously, shifting her weight from side to side. Eizen looked over at her gently, his blue eyes scanning the younger girls nervous movements. He knew how difficult this was for her, fighting alongside them against some of the people she once knew as friends, even family. Eizen shot a fleeting look at Benwick, who had been waiting for them by the islands front exit, hidden away in the room's shadows, away from the prying eyes of the Abbey soldiers.
"Benwick, raise anchor and get as far as you can from the harbour, we still have work to do." Eizen said swiftly, his voice the commanding tone of the first mate. Benwick knew that when Eizen gave an order it was not up for dispute.
"Aye aye sir." He replied. Turning swiftly on his heels, he whipped through the oak double doors quietly, heading straight for the docks.
Rokurou fixed a smile firmly on his daemonic face, making his one red eye glint in excitement. One excorsist stood out to him more than the others, one man stood proudly, his great-sword resting lightly upon one shoulder, steadied by the hands of a swordsman. That excorsist would be his.
Velvet walked boldly forwards, her blade shooting out from its holder on her forearm. She stopped just in front of the group of excorsists. Five white uniforms shining back at her. For a moment, the Abbey group just waited, almost coaxing the demon before them to pounce. Then one by one, they each summoned a Malak, fusing instantly to form their armatus.
Velvet took the moment and struck, leaping forwards across the field in an acrobatic whirl of daemon and blade. Flames danced down her sword and across her shoes as she whirled, flowing out and striking at the men before her. They had braced themselves well, flames sidled off of their uniforms, leaving blackened clothes in their wake but not touching skin, their Malaks had protected them from nearly all of the damage. To her left, Velvet glanced Rokurou bringing his short swords down upon one man from a flying jump onto the battlefield. She heard his swords hit armour before the sound was lost in an explosion to her right. Magilou had entered the fight loudly as always, with a crown fire of incredible power.
Velvet felt as alive now as she ever had. Fighting just held some sort of joy for her. Not just through the presence of vengeance against the Abbey but also in a love for her own skill and strength, for showcasing her own unique set of acrobatic abilities.
Although hers somewhat pailed in comparison to the friendly young exorcist she could hear fighting behind her. She caught a quick glimps of Eleanor's fire red hair as the girl swung her spear skilfully. Her apponent wielding what looked to be a similar weapon.
Velvet felt the tip of the nearest soldiers blade knick her arm, leaving a crimson trail in its wake. Firing back in anger, her blade met its mark, driving a hole straight through the man's armour before her and deep into his chest below. Swift as ever, her claw consumed him whole, leaving not a morsel of him sprawled across the floor.
One down, four to go.
Actually, two down. Rokurou had finished off his own excorsist in a similar manner, minus the claw. Instead his sliced neck ran thick with his blood, spraying to the flagstones beneath their feet. Rokurou wiped his swords lovingly down the front of his flowing garb, removing all traces of blood before setting his sights on the man closest to Laphicet. Laphicet was busy aiming a healing arte Velvet's way, causing the wound on her arm to disappear without so much as a small sting.
Velvet nodded her thanks, charging at the next man furiously. Just as she raised her blade to strike him, Eizen jumped him from above, his fists battering down the armatus arms, shattering the rock they were formed from. The man hit the ground hard, leaving Eizen open to punch at his body freely.
Velvet didn't need to watch to tell which direction that exorcist was heading.
She peered across the battlefield just as one of Magilou's spells landed, temporarily blinding her in a haze of dust and flying debris. That witch was many things, arrogant, annoying, interfering but Velvet couldn't deny that she was a powerful ally. She couldn't recall magic that strong ever been cast before. Even Laphicets artes as a Malak pailed in comparison to Magilou's magic.
Just as her eyes begun to allow a slight amount of her surroundings back through, something hit Velvet hard across her feet and knees, forcing her almost to the ground behind her. Looking down in surprise, she realised that Eleanor was the object of the attack. The girl had been thrown halfway across the battlefield by something. Perhaps Magilou's spell she thought, however it was unlike Magiliou to miss with her magic. Regaining her balance just in time to look up, Eleanor still pressing against her lower legs, Velvet was wholey unprepared for the spear flying towards her. It's sharp end was propelled by the excersiset Eleanor had been fighting.
She braced her boots against the floor, preparing her demonic body to take the attack head on, claw braced in front of herself. The weight against her legs shifted, dissapearing completely as Eleanor scrambled to her feet in front of her, her spear thrown upwards in a defensive position. Just as the excorsist was about to collide with them both, his blue armatus cape flowing backwards from him like a flag caught in the wind, Eleanor parried the direct strike upwards with her own weapon. This caused the blow to lose its aim on Velvets chest and shoot in an upwards direction, straight through the soft flesh of Eleanor's own shoulder.
She staggered backwards a step, warm blood hitting Velvets face and neck, her back pushing the other girl backwards too.
Pain ripped through her like wildfire, grasping her body in a tight embrace. His spear carried on, embedding the handle firmly against Eleanor's skin until it could go no further through. The tip just touched Velvets own collarbone, a few inches behind Eleanor's impaled body.
Pain turned to desperation and rage faster than Eleanor could stop it. Her spear quivered in her hand, lowered now into a more offensive position. Swiftly and without thought, she brought the weapon upwards, peircing straight through the mans abdomen and upwards out of his back. He shouted his pain out towards her, falling forwards, he shifted the spear in her shoulder enough to make her feel as if she'd pass out at any moment.
She was vaguely aware of Velvet, still almost pressed up against her back, but not as aware as she was about the excorsist's blood, flowing down her arms and across her hands. She had mortally wounded him she knew. For a moment, the knowlage of this hit her harder than his spear ever could.
"Protecting a daemon now are we traitor..." He stammered, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.
That voice. She'd heard that voice before.
"Little orphan Eleanor. Our class number one crybaby has finally grown up," he whispered, his grip dropping from his spear altogether. "she's finally grown into a traitor who'd turn her back on her comrades to protect a daemon."
Eleanor's eyes widened at his words and her pain faded to numbness, the only evidence of her wound continued in the constant trail of running blood.
"There was a day... girl, that you'd... have never beaten me... in a spear fight."
His voice tapered off as his body lost it's fight to stay standing. Numbly letting go of her spear, Eleanor let him and her weapon clatter down to the floor before her, dead weight slamming against the hard stone. He was dead.
For a moment, Velvet just stood motionless, her mind processing the action Eleanor had just taken. She had indeed stepped in front of a member of the Abbey to protect Velvets own life and in doing so, had murdered another human being in self defence. Velvet was also aware of the bitter smell of blood staining her upper body. Unlike the blood of her enemies, it horrified her to think of the awful smell of one of her friends blood, even if it did only belong to a girl she'd forced into servitude for Laphicet.
"Phi!" Velvet called quickly, pushing the events to one side as best as she could. Eleanor was just coldly staring down at the object sticking through her body, almost as if it weren't actually there. Before Velvet could stop her, the fire-haired girl had clasped the spear handle with both hands and roughly pulled it from her body, her facial expressions not even wavering. Her eyes were cast down at the man's lifeless body and she did not even attempt to retrieve her spear. Instead, she quietly knelt down and removed his helmet, revealing the face of the man she'd cut down.
Without saying another word, Eleanor turned from him, tears pricking the corner of her eyes.
Velvet gripped her good shoulder firmly, still confused about the entire situation but more concerned about her young Malak's vessel.
"You should sit down." Velvet said quietly, no concern showing on her face, yet her tone commanding. Almost as if she were addressing a young child in discipline.
Eleanor shook her head, ignoring the raven-haired woman before her. Amber eyes met green as Eleanor stared down the woman before her. She didn't need telling what to do, not by Velvet of all people.
"No, I'm fine." Eleanor replied coldly, "we should leave."
She pulled her shoulder roughly from Velvet's grasp just as Laphicet reached both of the girls side. Without thinking, the young boy conjured a healing arte, powerful enough to heal the worst wounds imaginable. With his hands clasped across his body he focused, all his energy flowing to his hands to cast. Eleanor reached down quickly, parting his fingers and interrupting his arte.
"Leave it, this is something I deserve to bear." She whispered bitterly.
"Eleanor..." The young Malak started to say, being cut swiftly off by a wave of her hand. Her shoulder was bleeding heavily, her half white uniform making the crimson stand out further.
"It's not serious, just a flesh wound." She said quickly, "the pain lets me know I'm still breathing."
Turning heel, she walked swiftly away, ignoring Velvet's start towards her and Rokurou's open mouth. Even Eizen looked as if he may say something. She just needed to be away from this place before she broke down completely, she needed to walk away from the eyes of the dead man that were boring into her skin wherever she stood. She figured she'd just head out to the back docks where several unmanned Abbey ships were bobbing up and down with the waves outside.
"Fool." Velvet murmured, looking down at Laphicet. They young Malak's face was alight with worry.
"Don't worry Phi, she just needs a bit of time. Heal her when she lets you, or while she sleeps, she's your vessel so we need her healthy." Velvet said, as softly as her daemonic tones would allow, letting sympathy soak into her words for the young boys sake.
"What happened to Miss Sunshine?" Magilou asked, carefully picking her way around the carnage of dead, before coming to a stop next to the deceased man everyone else seemed to be looking at.
Velvet didn't answer right away, instead she bent down and grasped the wooden handle of Eleanor's spear. Putting one foot against the dead excorsist's body, she wrenched the spear roughly from him, jerking his body unnaturally.
"Don't ask me," Velvet answered, "it's not like I needed her protection."
"Your telling me she killed a fellow excorsist? Eleanor?" Rokurou added, his voice almost showing amusement.
"Jumped right in front of me and impaled him clean through." Velvet said, spinning Eleanor's spear around clumsily. It was heavier than it looked.
"Perhaps she's feeling generous towards her captor on this fine afternoon." Magilou said with a wicked smile. "Might want to stem that bleeding though, or Laphicet might not have a vessel to go back to."
Laphicet looked up at Velvet with a pleading expression, his worry at Magilou's words evident.
"Don't worry Phi, I'll talk to her as soon as we're off this island." Velvet sighed, it wasn't something that she particularly looked forward to discussing. It's not as if her and Eleanor were particularly best friends. Still, Laphicet needed a vessel to return to and Eleanor was a useful fighter. Perhaps something else briefly stirred within Velvet for a moment though, something close to concern.
She shook her head and disregarded it as worry for Laphicet. She'd gone to so much trouble to secure him a vessel, it wouldn't be right to lose Eleanor now.
"I'd be careful with that conversation Velvet, the way that girl walked outta here, I'd say her emotions might start to produce malevolence." Eizen added, his voice as wise as ever. "If that happens, she's got a one way ticket to daemonhood and Laphicet's going to spread his wings as a dragon."
Velvet growled softly to herself. So now she also had to be pleasant to the girl.
Well she'd always been good at comforting children so maybe she could just apply the same concept. Either way, she had to maintain Eleanor's balance for Laphicet's sake. If that meant being nice to an excorsist.
So be it.