AN: Okay, this chapter got way longer than I originally planned to make it, but I hope you don't mind :) Also since I got asked, I'm planning to follow the story of the manga and not the anime itself, of course if there are people actually wanting to read it. Anyway, have fun!
"Eva, are you sure it's this way?" asked Eliza. They were walking in a forest in the East. The moon was high up in the sky. The ground under their feet was rocky, the tall trees stood far above them reaching into the sky.
"Yes, it's this way." answered Eva, number 7 of the organisation. They were sent out to hunt down an awakened one seen around this area. Eva sensed the monster's yoki energy coming not far away from them, so they just kept walking forwards.
Soon the forest around them became sparse, then they arrived to a glade. In the middle of it stood an old ruin of a church of some sorts. Most of the supporting walls were destroyed, the glass windows long gone.
"Nice." remarked Zelda, the weakest member of the group. "Is it inside?" turned she to Eva, who just nodded.
Soon they were at the entrance, which surprisingly still had it's wooden double doors. Eva carefully pushed it open, and all three of them slipped inside. Indeed this building was an old church, since some of the benches were still in their original place. The moon lit the big hall through the missing ceiling. The church was dead silent.
"Eva, I don't see anything alive." said Eliza quietly. They stood in a triangle all of them facing the interior. Eva nodded to the far end of the building. It was the place where normally the priest stood, but instead of that, there was a platform with a coffin on it. It looked like it was made from wood.
The group began walking in that direction, moving as quietly as possible, but with steel boots it's a hard task. They drew their swords from the holsters. They were only a few metres away from the platform, but due to the lack of light they couldn't make out the details. Suddenly the top of the coffin creaked open surprising all of them.
"How can I help you kids?" they heard a female voice from inside the coffin, and soon saw the person. A head with short blond hair emerged from the coffin, slowly rising above the edge of it, so they could take a look at the person's face. It was a young woman in a black outfit, she didn't seem more than 25. She put her arms on the edge of the coffin, then leaned her head on her arms, and so looked at them curiously. "You know I don't usually get visitors here."
"Eva, is she the one?" asked Zelda.
"Yes."
"Who am I?" asked Seras a bit surprised. When she saw that all the soldiers grabbed their swords tighter, she knew this wasn't going to be a piece of cake. Of course without killing them.
"An awakened being." answered Eliza with unvarnished anger in her voice.
"Why do you think that?" asked Seras genuinely confused. "And what's an awakened being anyway?"
"Don't play the stupid monster! You release the same energy like an awakened being." yelled Eva.
"Oh...dammit, looks like one of my seals isn't working properly..." said Seras digressed. "Let me fix it." she looked at her stomach obviously completely forgetting about the warriors in front of her. She pulled up her T-shirt and grabbed her abs. There was a strange circular symbol on her stomach, but the warriors couldn't see it. Nevertheless they took this opportunity to attack. Eva, being the closest, brought down her sword at Seras and the coffin.
"Wha-" gasped all three of them. The coffin was properly destroyed, but Seras wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Is that how you treat an innocent girl?" asked Seras grinning from behind them. All the warriors spun around.
"How did she..?" asked silently Eliza. But Seras paid no attention to them again, but was occupied with the repair of her seal. This time even the soldiers saw what she was doing. On her stomach was a dark spiral coming from her navel, and at the end connecting into itself back. The empty space inside the spiral was filled with scute-like lines. The last one was shining bright red and that's what Seras was examining from up close. "These seals are so annoying, they get corrupted so easily..." said Seras in a mused tone.
"Oi! Pay attention to us monster!" shouted Zelda but got a glare from Eva.
"Why should I? All you did till now is that you smashed my bed." answered Seras briefly looking up at them. Zelda lost her serenity and charged at Seras, who still didn't look at her.
"Stop Zelda!" yelled Eliza but it was already too late. Zelda reached Seras, and struck at her. Everybody was surprised and shocked when Zelda's sword simply stopped in Seras palm, who gently grabbed it.
"You are really annoying you know?" Seras said with a small grin. Then she kicked Zelda with such speed that neither of the warriors saw her moving, and with such force that she flew right into the wall behind the platform. Zelda was stuck in the wall for a few seconds, then fell on the ground.
"Zelda!" cried out Eliza, and ran to her. Eva glared at Seras with anger in her eyes. Seras grabbed the sword by it's grip and thrusted it into the ground. Then she leaned against it.
"So I'm guessing you are Claymores...why did you come here?" asked Seras in a casual tone.
"Yes, the village hired us to kill a monster, who is killing them." hissed Eva between her teeth.
"Oh, those bastards. I'll have to teach them a lesson." Seras looked into the direction the village was.
"You have to kill us first." yelled Eliza, who was done with checking out Zelda, and now both of them stood behind the platform looking at her. They looked very decided. Seras looked at them while she tilted her head sideways a bit. Then sighed.
"I really don't want to kill you guys, but if you don't give me a choice I'll have to...But first things first, let me repair this shit already." and with that Seras looked down on her stomach once again and grabbed the symbol on it. She suddenly turned her hand a little bit, then turned it back immediately. For that millisecond the three soldiers could feel a much stronger awakened being's energy coming from the woman, but it was too quick so they weren't sure if the felt right. However they got much more careful.- "Much better." sighed Seras, and Eva only now noticed that all kind of power disappeared from around the woman, she appeared to be just like any other human being.
"What?" gasped Eliza too, when she noticed it.
"Hm?" looked at them Seras. "Oh, so you really did follow that little power that leaked through my seal. That's funny..." she chuckled. She grabbed the sword again, and pulled out from the floor. All the warrior's tensed, but then Seras just turned to Zelda and threw the sword to her. "You'll need this." she smiled. All three of them were shocked by this, but Zelda took this opportunity and got her sword back. All three of them stood in silence then, watching each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. After a few seconds, Seras spoke again. "Okay, I decided. I'll use only melee combat style, so it's more fair for you guys." she grinned, and stood into a fighting position.
Eva launched her at Seras in a frontal attack, while the other two got around Seras on both sides and tried to flank her. Seras looked only at Eva, and as soon as she was close enough, Seras dropped herself to the floor, and kicked upwards into Eva's chin while she stood on her left hand. This sent Eva falling backwards, since she didn't except such an attack. However this position provided a great opportunity for both Eliza and Zelda, and they didn't wait to take advantage of it. They both held their swords high above their heads, and sliced downwards. But Seras simply pushed herself away from the ground, this way flying upwards above the reach of the swords. A loud noise could be heard as both swords hit the ground. Zelda and Eliza gasped in frustration when they noticed what happened and looked above them. But they were too slow for Seras, who already was falling back on them. She did an asparagus and kicked both girls on the shoulder. All of them heard the loud crack when the bones broke.
"AAAAAAAAA" cried both of them out in pain and dropped to the ground grabbing their shoulders.
Seras stood up casually between them and was greeted by Eva's sword trying to pierce her. Luckily she managed to dodge it by turning sideways. Eva's hand went past her, and that's when Seras grabbed Eva's arm and bent it in an unnatural way upwards. She broke her elbow. Eva's sword dropped from her hand to the ground, when she grabbed her broken arm. And then for good measure Seras even kicked the girl in the stomach, and with that she dropped to the ground as well. Seras walked back to the platform and sat down on it.
"Well, that was disappointing..." she said.
"We aren't done yet, monster!" yelled Eliza at her.
"Monster?" Seras turned her head sideways again. "You are still alive aren't you? If I were a monster, you would have died...But you know what? I'll play a game with you."
"Shut up already!" grunted Zelda.
"If you can cut me, I'll let you all leave. If you can't I'll kill one of you." Seras said with an evil smile. The warriors looked at each other, and Eva murmured to the others: "Not like we have a choice..." the warriors looked at each other, and like they could read each other's mind, they nodded at the same time. Zelda and Eliza both tightened their grips, and began charging at Seras.
"The same thing again? Seriously?" said Seras calmly and jumped upwards, avoiding the women's blades that came crashing down on the platform. She was already in the air, when she noticed that one girl was missing. As she looked up, she barely had enough time to dodge Eva's blade, who jumped up when her teammates attacked Seras. Since Seras was surprised, she didn't get out from the situation without an injury. Eva managed to cut down Seras arm, when she leaned away from the way. Seras and her arm landed separately on the ground.
"Oh my...you really did cut me now, didn't you." said Seras casually, not even flinching from the lost. She turned around and saw the warriors glaring at her. Then they looked at the cutdown arm, and their eyes widened in surprised and shock when they saw that Seras arm melted into a black goo. After that the goo moved to Seras foot and merged with her boot. As soon as the black goo disappeared, Seras arm began reforming at it's original position. Seconds later there was Seras without an injury again. "Well then, I'll keep my word, and since you did manage to cut me, you may go now." she said and began walking back towards the platform. Seras walked past Eva, and between Eliza and Zelda, neither of them made a move. They were stunned. Seras got only a few metres away from them, when finally Eva spoke up.
"What the hell are you?" she asked. Seras turned her head to the side, but she still showed only her back to them. Then she pointed at the symbol on the back of her cloak, and said.
"Remember this symbol, and ask your superiors. Now please leave, I want to go back to sleep." and with that, she walked to the platform, and sit down on it. The three warriors looked at each other, Zelda and Eliza looked for permission to leave, while Eva was completely confused. Claymores don't retreat, they either die, or win in a battle, but never flee. But this time, she knew that she has to make an exception. Seras lay down on the platform, and she looked like she would have solidified into stone. All the three Claymores looked at her for a few seconds, then Eva just simply turned around and with a bowed head, began walking away. Her comrades followed her, and soon they were lost in the darkness again. Nobody saw when Seras grinned, and then drifted away into her dreams again.
