Chapter 3: Tengu, meet Anti-Tengu
The journey to... Vale, as the semi-petite girl garbed in black had referred to it, was simultaneously a journey of rigorous awkwardness, and a bizarre feeling of confusion, coming from both the girl and The Legion.
The Legion were finding this newfound land to be a surprising challenge for them, they had expected yet another war-torn country of bloodshed akin to Ashfeld, and yet they found themselves surprised. This place was scourged by beasts and man, from what Blake had explained of the living, breathing world around them, the beasts would surely be an issue big enough to unite the populous under one banner? Or were these people so ingrained in their beliefs that they were too blind to see the issues surrounding them? This place was more complicated than Ashfeld could ever hope to be, however thanks to the rather overzealous and oppressive presence of these Grimm, unification into one nation could be entirely possible... The real question, is would it even remain? After all, once the Grimm are eradicated, they will turn on one another again... regardless, a temporary cease fire is certainly better than full-on war.
The Arc Legion were now apparently four hours away from Vale's perimeter walls, the vanguard which prevented the attack of the raging hordes writhing deep within the depths of mahogany The Legion found themselves entangled within. It was a strange trip, especially for Blake, as the Grimm seemed to have disappeared entirely, their presence was practically non-existent over the last few days of travel by foot. The Arc Legion, Etiam in particular, found the scourge to be rather disappointing as opponents, if that beast from earlier was one of their most revered for its combat prowess. Perhaps a horde of runts would be more intimidating, as they were about to find out.
Blake slowly scrambled her way up a tree, slightly thicker and certainly more towering than the rest, in attempt to ascertain her specific location in reference to Vale's outer walls. After scurrying through the cluster of thick bramble above, she managed to barely poke the top end of her head out above the tree, spotting a familiar concrete wall standing tall and proud a few miles out. After practically falling to the bottom of the tree, embedding her blade into the tree and using it to slow her descent just enough to guarantee her legs did not become paste upon landing.
"We aren't far out, only a few hours, give or take." Said Blake, thankful that the overbearing awkwardness of the atmosphere surrounding The Arc Legion was simultaneously an annoyance, and a disturbance to her. An annoyance, purely due to the awkwardness, and a disturbance, due to their combat prowess, they could easily destroy her with brutal efficiency, as if she were mere cattle to the slaughter.
"Excellent, hopefully we can get out of this forest." Said Holden, speaking up for the first time in many days, Holdens strange silence had been very noticeable to The Legion, however they let it be, Holden was likely just aggravated by the three month trip consisting entirely of merciless marching, which was effecting him especially, given his extra chunky armour, whereas the likes of Tengu and Yamato would likely not mind the travel.
"Hopefully we find solace in the bastion ahead." Stated Blut, who had a noticeable Atlesian accent, which was news to Blake, seeing as the man hadn't talked to anyone, at least in the time she had been in his presence, however, according to Reynauld, 'Blut doesn't talk unless he deems it important.'
"Poetic as always, aren't you Blut." Stated Tengu, a small smirk hidden by his beard, thick, surprisingly well maintained, and a sign of his arrogance in combat, since a beard's can be a rather itchy irritant during battle when the blood and sweat begin to seep into the fibres.
"Tengu, shut up." Mae grumbled, obviously tired from three months of walking, since she was the least muscular of The Legion.
Tengu let out yet another lecherous grin, seeping with arrogance.
Tengu would have continued to movehis mouth flap, however a sudden change in the wind silenced them all.
The wind had changed direction, seemingly at random, now pushing force from back wence they came, rather than dead ahead like before. The change didn't seem natural, it had a slight... ethereal essence to it, a feeling of dread slowly encompassing the group, something was changing the wind patters, and they likely weren't an ally.
A deep, guttural howling came from the reddened mountains far off in the distance.
Tengu grinned.
"Well, it appears there's a doggy who wants to play."
As if lady luck had turned its back on Tengu, immediately after his statement, a second howl joined the first, and then a third...
and then a near uncountable amount joined the pack.
Tengu's grin, for the first time in recent memory, had fallen into a tight frown, his expression tightening into a serious one.
The Arc Legion readied their weapons, whilst Blake looked around, adrenaline pumping throughout her every vein within her body, every facet of her body was telling her to run, that out of the choices of fight or flight, the first option had been revoked, there were way too many for nine people to eliminate, or even distract...
But what were they hunting? Why had they been attracted to them? The Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, anger, regret, sorrow, and anything in-between.
Blake then slowly came to the realisation of just who she had been travelling with.
Warriors, clearly used to bloodshed and brutality, no doubt they had taken part in the 'festivities' themselves, some obviously more than others, the raw, unconstrained rage of Sverker, the obvious fury of Etiam, not to mention the violent tendencies of the entire legion, and who knows what demons reside within behind the masks of these seemingly regal and ancient warriors? The steel of their masks could easily maintain their facades, however their true feelings would likely be pushed into battle, used as the spark to ignite the fire that could swallow the world in an instant. However, what resided behind the imaginary mask of Tengu, the only unmasked warrior present besides Blake herself. While that perverted, snarky attitude of his could be legitimate, it's likely a facade, but to hide what? What demons could he possibly possess that requires a complete deviant take his place?
Regardless, Blake had a fight to attend, and she would be damned to let her saviours die in vain.
Slowly drawing her dual katanas, Blake lowered her torso into a battle stance.
Tengu looked over in her direction.
"Your stance... it's so... incorrect." Said Tengu, obviously slightly aggravated.
"What?"
"You are too low to the ground for such a blade, maybe a dagger would suit the stance better, give yourself some more verticality for better vertical slices?"
"Wha-I."
"We'll talk later, we have some friends to attend to." Reynauld ordered in a commanding, yet pensive tone.
Both Blake and Tengu obliged to these orders.
Soon, small blackened beasts began to pour from the bushes, coming in swathes, and quickly encircling the nine, ready for a fresh meal, salivating at the mouth for it, desperation seeping from the beasts mouth like blood from a fresh serrated wound.
Tengu made one last comment before the battle commenced.
"Holden, time to use that 'versatile' halberd of yours, yes?"
Holden merely chuckled.
Then the battle began.
Holden made large crescent slashed horizontally, dealing effectively as crowd control, his mighty blade carving through the bony exteriors of the swarm like a knife through play-doh.
Tengu was swinging his blades with the opposite of elegance, no regal appearance or standard, only violent, brutally quick, efficient slices, carving through beasts, one after another like sheep through a butchers.
Yamato was stood upon a nearby rock outcropping, standing slightly above the rest of the group, launching his kusarigama at beasts nearby, protecting his mother who stood behind him.
Blut was using his shield to bash the beasts back into the crowd, halting their advances temporarily.
Sverker... well, he was just going completely berzerk on the beasts, his passion, his pure lust for bloodshed coming through, cackling like a villian out of a childrens tv show.
Etiam was doing a similar deal of insanely brave, yet stupendously idiotic attacks, stabbing beasts with his blade in his right hand, whilst punching the beasts with a seemingly unstoppable force, each punch shattered the face of a beast, without fail, all while Etiam screamed out latin curses, which Blake could not comprehend in the slightest.
Reynauld and Mae showed off their teamwork by working in tandem. Reynauld was low to the ground in his stance, slashing at the kneecaps of the beasts, stopping them in their tracks, while Mae stabbed her naginata swiftly and gracefully into the brains of the beasts, a true show of teamwork.
Blake, however, was having trouble, there were beasts encircling her, trying to separate her from the pack, a few beowulves had pinned her down, and she likely had no way out. Blake was using one blade to hold one beast's claws at bay, using the other blade to prod another beast away, while her left leg kept the third at bay.
Blake, was fucked.
Or at least, she was.
The whiz of a blade passing by her face, splintering the wind into fragments caused her to briefly look away from the fight, Tengu had arrived, and had beheaded the beast on her right with an uppercut from his blade, he quickly eliminated the one at her boot by hopping over the corpse of the previous, and driving both blades into the beasts head.
Blake managed to deal with the final beowulf, although by the skin of her teeth.
Blake looked around, the horde was gone, now a pile of rapidly disintegrating corpses, turning to dust in the wind, the current carrying the powder back to the valleys they had come from.
Nobody was harmed, although Blut did have a new few scratches on his shield, which he was rather disgruntled about.
"I told you, raise your stance, you aren't going to get very far like that." Tengu said, his voice oddly monotone, with his expression in a similar vein.
Blake seemed taken aback by the comments from the man, while he was obviously a better swordsman than her, she hadn't experienced an issue such as this one before.
"Tengu, what are you moaning about?" Reynauld questioned, while sauntering over, alongside Mae and Holden, who stood slightly behind him, cleaning their blades of blood and soot.
"I want to train this girl."
The Legion froze.
"W-what?"
"I must, she'll die without it."
Reynauld was silent for a brief moment, taking a look at the bigger picture, finding the outcomes within his mind.
Reynauld eventually replied.
"Fine, if she agrees, she's with us."
Blake began to think to herself.
These warriors were clearly good people, they had saved her after all, they were also clearly skilled, able to make nine feel like a million... even if they turned out to be bad people, she could at least learn something from them, Tengu was a better swordsman than Adam, by miles.
"Okay, I'll do it."
While Blake and Tengu were almost polar opposites, perhaps both could benefit from this mentoring.
To Be Continued...
