Silver, Black, and Gold

by B1ue Ange1s

When one needs a glimpse of power look no further than Dragon Slayer Ornstein. He has seen wars with dragons, demons, and darkness. But what happens when all that time fighting leads to nothing. The fire still fades no matter how bravely he and his men may fight. But when he chooses to leave, opportunity will rise what would he find, fellow knights? A strange new world? Love?

4. Breaking Point

I do not own Claymore or Dark Souls

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Yoma or extremely dark character speech"

'Yoma or extremely dark character thoughts'

Chapter 4: Breaking Point

Near the Southern tip of the Island

It was a bright and sunny day as a woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties calmly made her way down a popular mountain path. She had light brown hair that flowed down to her waist that was done in bunches, she didn't bother to wear shoes, and by simply looking at the dress she wore, it was easy to see that she was quite wealthy.

So that begged the question as to why a woman dressed so nicely was casually walking down the path without a care in the world?

"Hey, hey, hey. What do we have here?" She hears in the tree line and stops walking as a small group of about four men walk out of the tree line.

"Pretty little thing such as yourself walking all alone. My that should be a crime to let you walk alone, need some company?" One asks with a leer in his eyes as he stared at the jewels around her neck and her partially revealed bosom.

"Yeah don't you know that it's dangerous to be walking all by yourself, what if someone decided to…." he pauses before he and the others positioned themselves around her, "..try to rob you. Tell you what my friends and me are generous how about you could pay us for protection. Say all the jewels you have on you and we protect you all the way into town, you never know what kind of monsters might be out here." He finishes as they slowly move in closer all the while drawing their knives.

"So what'd you say? Want us to protect you?" One asks smugly while the other three laugh. However all of that stopped when they heard the woman herself giggling while she held a smirk on her own lips.

They looked at her confused as her giggles grew louder until it almost a sadistic chuckle, "Oh this is rich. You four imbeciles thinking you could rob me? Good Lord you truly are unlucky." She says before her giggling started again.

This went on for a bit as the four were stuck between anger and confusion, before the one if front grabs her by the dress and gets in her face, "Oh, and tell me bitch, why is that?" He says putting the knife to her throat.

She meets his eyes and he couldn't help but notice that they were a beautiful shade of pale yellow, but something about those eyes set off warning signals in the man's head. However he quickly ignored those in favor of trying to intimidate the woman, but any trace of him trying to be intimidating disappeared with her next words.

"Simply because I already have a bodyguard. Don't worry though, you'll meet him soon."

After hearing this the leader of the group hears a blood-curdling scream, turning the woman in his grip around and putting the knife against her throat. He stares at her supposed bodyguard and nearly pisses himself.

Standing at a height of a staggering 7'1 stood what he would describe only as a devil. The armor it wore was charred and scratched and the helm was solid black with wicked looking horns atop it.

The reason for the scream though was the fact that he at the moment was effortlessly picking up one of his men by the head, and from the looks of it he was slowly crushing his skull.

To add an even greater layer of intimidation the knight had a truly sinister looking greataxe over his shoulder. It was double sided and had a rather sharp looking point between them and the ends of it near the handle curved a bit with what seemed like hooks. And on his back was what a appeared to be a greatshield, (to the bandit at least) and both weapon and shield held the pattern of scorch marks and dried blood, much like the armor.

This giant of a man looks between the three of them still on the ground then to the one in his enormous hand. "What would you have me do with them, my lady?" He asks with his fingers tightening around the axe.

For her part the woman put her fingers on her chin and gave it a bit of thought. "Well they did try to rob me, and one has a knife to my throat, well I guess there's only one thing left to do." She says smiling to the man beneath the armor.

"As you wish, Luciela." He says before crushing the screaming man's head like a grape.

And in the shower of blood that moment of shock was all it took for the knight to be next to the man to the right of his lady. Said man was unprepared as he was effortlessly sliced in half at an angle by a mighty upwards swing of the weapon.

At this point the other two were in shock and were truly terrified, but that didn't mean they ran. To one's credit he throws his knife at the towering Black Knight, and then rushes him with his own hand axe.

However when the knight simply didn't care about the knife that bounced off his armor, and at the sight of the small axe let out a laugh, it became very clear who was about to win the confrontation.

Using his free hand, the knight grabs the man's arm and looks him in the eyes before snapping it like a twig, causing bone to pierce the skin and the man to scream in agony.

He then receives a fierce punch to the nose, breaking it and not knocking him down. Opening his eyes through the pain the thief looks into the seemingly empty sockets of the knight above him raising his axe above his head for a colossal downward swing.

"NO!" The man screams in horror and denial as he watches helplessly before the axe splits his head in two and creates a small trench from the force behind the swing.

The knight then rips his axe out of the ground and turns to the last one holding his charge. "You know how this ends don't you?" He asks smugly to the last one, who was shaking in his boots at this point.

What he didn't see though was that the woman's pale yellow eyes were now a glowing golden color, and that from under the dress emerged a razor sharp, toothed tail that then began to slowly make its way to his throat.

"S-Stay where you are!" He shouts taking a step back, and into the grip razor sharp teeth.

Not even having enough time to scream the man is beheaded on the spot by the woman's tail.

"Damn it I got blood on my favorite dress!" She complains looking at the small bloodstain on the side of her dress. "Meinen, tell me are there any other stains on my back?" She asks turning around showing him that her entire back was covered in blood.

"Just a small one." He says with a deadpan expression. "Honestly my lady why didn't you just let me handle that?" Meinen asks removing his helm to reveal eyes almost the same color as her golden ones, only a shade or two lighter in color, and without the slit in the middle, and ashen-colored hair.

"Because Meinen, the last time that happened, the bastard almost ripped my dress off entirely, and while I know you'd just say, 'you have more at your homes' just remember that it is all about principle." She says before her teeth all grow into large and razor sharp fangs and began to tear open the body of the decapitated man behind her.

"Yes well, just remember that can't exactly recall the principles I once had." He says honestly leaning against the closet tree and casually observed his master eating the entrails of the unfortunate fools who tried to rob her.

"Oh yes I know, you and your amnesia." She says between bites.

Strange though, Meinen could have sworn there was some sort of cannibal in his old land. This was a very familiar scene to him, strange, but after learning as to what his lady truly was there really wasn't a sensation of shock like one would expect. His body didn't react in any way when he saw her true form, perhaps he had seen worse at some point.

Yes ever since he awoke against a mountainside he has not been able to recall any of his memories, aside from his name and his skill with an axe. There were feelings of Déjà vu at times, but even then nothing truly came to mind, however he remembered two key things about himself. One that he was a knight by nature and heart. And two that knights must have a ruler to serve.

And that was how he met Luciela, the so-called Lady of South. True their first time meeting was less than pleasant, but the end results worked out in both parties favor. Meinen found a ruler to serve and Luciela found a servant who could survive one of her outbursts, someone who didn't annoy her to the point where she would kill them, and a fighter to help her against the Man of the North and the Witch of the West, if it ever came to that.

Now while they were at arms for the first few weeks they've been together, what with her need to feed, and his personal code of chivalry. Leave the innocents be, and those who harm others, are not worthy of mercy or pity.

And that led them to this system, many, many bandits patrolled the roads of the south seeing Luciela likes to keep the territory all to herself, meaning not too many Yoma. Meinen thought why not kill two birds with one stone, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty.

"Meinen, hand me something to wipe off with, I seem to have gotten blood on myself." He turns his head to his master topless with a light coat of blood covering her mouth and upper chest.

"You really have to work on eating a bit more neatly, my lady." Meinen says while trying to look away from her breasts, even though they were covered in blood that didn't mean it was hard not to admire the beautiful woman the possessed them.

Quickly reaching into his bottomless box, something he was very glad to have rediscovered in his time here, he removes a small handkerchief and walks over to Luciela who merely rolled her eyes at the comment.

He then hands it to her and turns away in an attempt to give her a bit of privacy, "So then, what shall we do next, my lady?" Meinen asks her while looking over to the other bodies on the ground.

"Well, after we finish up here, I heard that one of my orchards has had a rather large growth in recent days, so it looks like we'll be heading over to that. And after that, I'm not sure what to do after that, there isn't really anything exciting to do. Maybe we should let a Yoma cause some havoc, I might get to introduce my knight to my little sister. What do you say to that?" She asks moving on to the next body.

"To that I say, I look forward to meeting her. But really though why did you have me hand you a cloth if you're only going to dirty yourself again?" He says annoyed while looking towards his razor-toothed charge.

"Well I didn't want you to feel useless just sitting there and watching me eat." She says in return making him shake his head.

'Still though, I do hope I regain my memories soon. I do not know why, but a part of me knows something or someone is out there looking for me. I hope I will recall if they are friend or foe.'

With Ornstein and Teresa

At this point in time the unlikely trio of Claymore, Child, and Dragon Slayer stood atop a mountain overlooking the village of Rokut.

Standing there in the morning sun it seemed to illuminate Ornstein more than the other two of the company, what with his golden colored armor and spear.

"That is Rokut, we should be there by tomorrow. That is where we go our separate ways." Teresa says looking towards the girl, now known as Clare.

Noticing the saddened look on Clare's face Teresa speaks up again trying to lift her spirits up. " Now don't be like that, you'll be happier there than you'll ever be with me." She says in a comforting voice.

Ornstein however wasn't convinced that what Teresa said was entirely true. Perhaps humans could give her a better life, but even then life had a way of turning good lives into miserable ones in the blink of an eye.

Clare shakes her head at the thought of leaving the two of them, making Teresa smile a bit at her, "Don't worry we won't abandon you right when we get to town. Ornstein and I will make sure that we find someone who can look after you. I personally won't leave until I know that you're safe, so rest easy." She says making Clare wipe the tears off her cheeks.

Later that night

"So she cried herself to sleep, what an unusual girl? All those tears over leaving me. Even when I could never be the family she needs." Teresa says looking over the sleeping child that was resting against the mountainside with Ornstein by her side.

"I hate to say this, but you don't know that." This causes Teresa to look to the sole male of the group in confusion. "And why do you say that?" She asks him.

Ornstein looked down towards the sleeping girl who was leaning against him, and for a moment Clare disappeared in his mind, and was slowly replaced by another girl.

A girl Ornstein would've been proud to call his own child, a lonely girl clutching the only gift anyone had ever given her tightly against her white fur coated body. Shivering as she slept next to him on stormy nights in Anor Londo.

"Experience, and lets leave it at that." He says quickly, but Teresa was able to see a look of pain cross over his face as he stared at the girl for a moment.

"Well I'm sorry, but whatever family she finds in Rokut, will give her a far better life than I ever could. She'll be fine, and she'll have the life she deserves. It may not be what you want for her, but something tells me even you would provide a better life than I could."

This makes him, "What makes you think living with me would be all that bad, perhaps I live in a grand cathedral with servants at every corner." He says in a joking matter not really letting her know that he did in fact live a palace larger than most cities.

This got a small laugh out of the woman, "Yes because, you of all people would be comfortable living in a palace." She says back to him making him crack a small grin at his own inside joke.

Later that night when Teresa was sure Ornstein had gone to sleep she made her way into the woods. After walking a good distance away from the camp she stopped suddenly and darted her eyes around looking for something.

"So what can I do for you?" She asks into the dark, and out of it stepped out the bandit whose hand she had cut off. He slowly worked his eyes over her backside as he spoke in an inaudible mess of words.

Turning towards him Teresa glares at him, "I knew you follow us, and if you'd seen to your injury instead of stalking us this entire time, your new stump might not have gotten so infected."

Not really getting a reply aside from his obnoxiously loud mouth breathing she then went on, " If you've come to take your revenge on me I suggest you reconsider. Just because I am forbidden from killing humans, doesn't mean I can think of other ways to be rid of you."

This actually makes the bandit laugh a bit, in his own insane fashion, "Oh I know you can't kill me, and I'm not here for a fight." He says looking at her with bloodshot eyes. Before tackling her to the ground, "I'm glad I found you, but don't worry though this little get together is going to be painful and bloody." He says with hungry eyes looking over her.

"You'll get no pleasure in raping me." She says with a small bit of both annoyance and sadness in her tone. "Do you really think I care, this about humiliation. I'll make you live this for the rest of your life, like you've forced me to live with this deformity." He says tearing away at her clothes.

And that point he was monetarily stunned by what he saw, a huge surgical type scar that looked like it ran down the entire length of her body, and looked almost completely untreated.

This made Teresa smile a bit, "What's the matter, don't like what you see?" She asks mockingly towards the one handed bandit.

This however only served to enrage him as he tore away again at her clothes, "Oh I don't worry I can look past this thing, I just want to wipe that smile off your face. The same one you had when you cut off my hand. And I'm going to wipe it off your pretty mouth, you're so damn sure of yourself, don't worry though I'll teach you how to feel like the monster you are." He says only to be interrupted by the impact of a log on the top of his head.

Feeling the blood run down his face the bandit turns to see Clare holding a log in her hands.

Getting up and walking towards her he pulls back his arm and prepares to punch he, only to feel cold steel at his neck.

Looking back he expected to see the silver eyes of the Claymore, but what he found instead were eyes burning red with rage, and that the weapon at his neck belonged to the knight who had killed four others in his group a few days ago.

"If you touch the child, you forfeit your life. I have no qualms, and nothing to hold me back from killing you, vermin." Ornstein says in his commanding tone of voice making the other man go weak in the knees by simply meeting his glare.

He tried to run, but before he could the knight was in front of him in less than the blink of an eye. He is then grabbed by his throat and lifted into the air.

"I never said you could leave. I told you if I ever heard you insult or threaten my companion again I would take off the rest of your arm. And here I find you about to harm a child, and in the beginning stages of violating a fellow warrior. I believe that more than warrants for what I'm about to do to you."

He then drops the man, and faster than he or Clare could comprehend slashed his spear upwards and took off the rest of his injured arm from the shoulder.

The man then lay there screaming in pain, thrashing about as blood shot everywhere, all over the grass, and on Ornstein's boots. He then plants his spear in the ground and removes a small bundle of charcoal pine resin from his bottomless box.

He then walks forward and puts his hand over the screaming man's mouth and holds him down before slamming the pine resin onto the bleeding wound.

Clare flinched at the display as well as the sound and smell of burning flesh filled the air, and hoped to never feel this kind of pain herself. While Teresa on the other hand only watched with a half grin seeing him suffer.

Letting go of him Ornstein rose and grabbed his spear, and watched as he ran off faster than any horse Teresa had ever seen. He then looked to her and reached down to help Teresa up.

"Worthless vermin, still though, wouldn't want you to get the blame for his death." Ornstein says almost to himself. There was a moment of calm before the almost forgotten Clare somehow was able to hug both knight and Claymore at once in a sweeping hug, all while crying.

She cried in between the two of them, and while in close proximity to Teresa's semi naked form, Ornstein did gain a bit of a blush knowing there was really much to cover her.

"What's wrong?" Teresa asks the still crying girl. She then began to open her mouth and what was once impossible to understand gibberish slowly turned into words, "D-Doesn't it h-hurt?" She asks glancing at the scar along her stomach.

At hearing this both knight and hybrid were shocked, "So she speaks," Ornstein says out loud.

"It looks like it hurts, so much." At hearing this Teresa understood completely, "Oh, you mean this scar? It does look bad, but it doesn't hurt as much as you would think. Don't worry about me." She says trying to comfort the girl, however she wasn't buying it.

"But it does hurt, I know because I can see on your face. Even when you smile, I still see it hurting you inside….Your eyes, they, they look just like mine. Like you're scared and alone and you hurt so much and you can't stand it and don't want anyone to know….I know, that was why." She finishes off letting Teresa connect the dots in her mind.

Meanwhile Ornstein somewhat awkwardly stood there somewhat in between an almost parental bonding moment. But after that he knew what Clare meant, 'So you've been comforting Teresa the whole time, and not the other way around. You are indeed a strange child.'

Again he saw another girl in her place, tears threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she looked to him before smiling, and running towards him, with the doll he gave her swinging freely from one hand, crying tears of joy, before leaping towards him, 'And it seems like everyday you find someway to remind me of her.' He thinks and without realizing it lets a lone tear fall.

He then felt Clare's arm, the same one that held him close to the other two slip away and wrap itself around Teresa. Seeing this as his queue to leave he did. And returned to the campfire, all while fighting down memories he hadn't thought of in a very, very long time.

'Some memories are best left in the past. And being near Clare, I can't help but remember how I let her down. I'm sorry Teresa, Clare, but this is something I never wish to go through again. ' He then looked at the dying fire and thought about rather to move on and find the other knights, or risk more heartache by simply being near these two.

Morning

When the sun rose both Clare and Teresa awoke to find Ornstein gone. Clare thinking that he was simply off gathering food or water went about her usual morning of eating some fruit and waiting for Teresa to tell her it was time to go.

Teresa on the other hand was worried, she wasn't only paying attention to Clare last night, and she had seen Ornstein's face. And she saw the look of pain that had crossed it, it seemed to be happening more frequently, something happened and now she wishes that she had asked him about it sooner.

He had always dodged any kind of question she tried to ask, but after that she had been somewhat reserved, and now she thought that it was a mistake to be that way. He always said that he had seen something like her and Clare happen, but he had never told them how it ended. Thinking about it she really, really didn't want to think about that.

Was he that upset that she was leaving Clare in the village? Or was it something on his end that kept bugging him.

Either way that really didn't matter as he was so far she could only feel his general direction, and that only meant that he covered a lot of ground in very little time. She might be able to catch him if she really tried, but looking towards Clare she knew it was a bad idea to simply take off and not really tell her where she was going.

So she simply looked towards her and nodded her head. "Teresa, where's Ornstein? Clare asks making the silver-eyed warrior sigh. "Don't worry Clare, I'm sure we'll meet him sooner or later, he's not too far away right now.

With Ornstein

The sun had just started to set and Ornstein sat against a lone tree atop one of the many mountains. He was cleaning his spear at the moment and kept watch for someone, he knew Teresa would come for him, if anything just to get some answers. But he still felt a small group of souls down in the forest, and was still here to keep and eye on them, just in case his suspicious were true.

He then stops in the middle of cleaning his spear when he felt a disturbance in the wind, looking up he sees Teresa, and she was not happy. "Why?" She asked with a stern voice.

It was quite for a moment as silver eyes stared into red before Ornstein reached into his bottomless box and threw something at her.

Catching it Teresa looks at it for a moment and sees that it was a small doll, not any thing special simply just a small doll in the shape of a girl, made of a mixture of cloth and straw.

"So this belonged to the child you cared for?" She asks getting a nod from the man. She walks over to him and sits down across from looking it over. "I'm sorry for your loss." She says thinking the girl is dead.

"No," Ornstein says simply getting a raised brow from the woman, "Excuse me?"

"She's not dead, although at this point she might as well be. She is just…well very, very far away right now." He says in a sad tone making Teresa see just how attached this girl had been to the knight.

"That doll was the first present anyone had ever given her, and after I bought it for her I don't think she would've taken any other gift. She was a lot like Clare, alone and scared at first, give it some time though and Clare, like her will become something incredible." Teresa seemed to smile at that thinking of what Ornstein might've looked like with a small child hanging from his hip and it honestly made her giggle a bit at the thought.

"You make it sound like she was with you for years." Teresa says trying to dig a bit deeper into the man's past.

"She was." He said simply, "I found her scared and alone when she was just a child, she was probably younger than Clare. Now I won't go into detail about who her parents were and why she wasn't the most welcome in Anor Londo, but she really wasn't someone you'd let near you. Her situation was like Clare's or any other children that have been affected by Yoma, shunned and constantly under suspicion everyday."

Teresa still stood there understanding where this was going it was similar to her and Clare, perhaps too similar for Ornstein.

"I found her on one of the many bridges of Anor Londo, she looked like she was about to jump off. And at this point I knew that one of two things were at war inside my head. If I save her I would be saving a child of someone I truly never respected or trusted, but on the other hand she had no control over who her parents were, after all she was only a child of no more than eight. And in the end my code as a knight won, as usual, and I grabbed her arm just as she took her first step over the edge. At first she was shocked, then she became furious that someone had saved her, she pounded her little fists onto my chest plate as hard as she could, then when she tired herself out she latched onto me and cried for what seemed like hours. It was much later, for what felt like the entire day I held her close and let her cry to the point wear she fell asleep. After this I knew I had to at least help a child who appeared so broken."

Ornstein took a breath and slowly a smile dawned on his face, "And before I knew it I was letting her sleep in my bed while I slept against the wall. She awoke told who she was, and what had been happening to her up until that point. Now at first I let her stay with me out of pity, since she was only a defenseless girl. But after some time days turned into weeks and weeks into months, and before I knew it years went by and at that point she was a part of my life, a permanent resident in both my heart and mind. Not a day went by when I thought about how she was doing, or that I worried what would happen if word of her strength got out."

This made Teresa raise a brow, seeing this Ornstein explained, "Well I don't want to tell exactly what her power is or how it works, but all I can say is that she is indeed a one of kind warrior. I taught her how to handle most weapons though nothing really clicked with her until we reached pole arms and from that point on her skill jumped by leaps and bounds." At this point Ornstein dawned a frown on his face.

"But all good things come to an end eventually, one day when I was off at war. Something happened to her, and what kills me is that I still don't know what it was. All I know was that when I returned all I found was a note telling me that she would be safe from those who tried to harm her, and that she would always remember me as a…" He stops when he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

Teresa saw this as well and widened her eyes, she thought that Clare and her were comfortable around one another, she could imagine staying with the girl, for years, then to just suddenly loose her without explanation.

"…that she would always remember me as her father. Or at least the one she always hoped for." It must have truly destroyed him.

Then before he knew it Teresa put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, true she had lost fellow warriors over the years, some of them close friends. She couldn't imagine loosing a child.

It was quite for a moment before Teresa looked him in the eyes, "So that's why you left? Because Clare reminded you too much of a daughter you once had?" She asks getting a nod from him. And once again a silence fell over the both of them as the sun slowly went down over the horizon.

All the while Teresa took glances at his admittedly handsome face, though she would never admit to actually calling him that. But every time she looked it wasn't the Ornstein she knew it was a man who couldn't let go of his mistakes, a man who couldn't forgive himself.

And that was not the Ornstein she had come to know, that wasn't the man who she decided would travel with her. This was only a shell of him, and she wasn't just going to sit there and watch.

When Teresa couldn't stand it any longer she snapped, it just didn't look right seeing Ornstein sad in any way, he was this proud and powerful knight, one who she was sure hadn't even begun to show her his true power. So it didn't suit him, he needed to cheer up.

Doing the first thing that came to her mind she grabbed his spear out of his hand and jumped to the other side of the clearing with it.

"Teresa what are you doing?" Asks generally confused by her actions. She glares at him and stabs his spear into the ground. "You can have this back when you prove yourself worthy to use it again." She says seriously making him even more confused.

He thought that this was simply some cheap way to raise his spirits through mischief, and wasn't really looking forward to that. "Teresa, give me my spear." He almost commands her.

Her response was to draw her sword and point it at him, "Come get it then."

And like that both disappeared with what sounded like thunder.

When they reappeared Ornstein had one hand wrapped around the wrist to the arm holding her sword, and the other one blocking a knee from smashing into his gut.

"Is this really what we're going to do? Fight, and me without my weapon?" He asks before she pushes more yoki into her muscles, causing Ornstein to slowly be pushed back.

She then uses her free hand to land a solid punch right into Ornstein's gut making the helm-less knight loose his footing, she then capitalizes on this and flips him over her shoulder and goes for another punch to the face this time.

However Ornstein seemed to know where she was aiming and catches her fist before channeling some of his power into a Force miracle. The sudden shock wave was enough to send Teresa off of him, and in her momentary shock Ornstein was able to vanish from sight and retrieve his spear.

But this wasn't over as Teresa appeared in front of him, her sword already half way to slashing through his side. Seeing this the knight blocks the blade with his own and begins to twist and turn a bit trying to throw her off, but before an opening could be presented she corrects herself and jumps back and gives him her signature smile.

From here both warriors have a bit of a stare down and this only served to make Ornstein angry, "What's the point of this?" He asks her in an irritated tone of voice.

"Haven't you ever heard of stress relief Ornstein? You need to calm down." She before dashing at him dragging her sword across the ground, trying to throw dirt in his face.

His response was to appear behind her and nearly run his spear through her stomach, "You have strange ways of calming down." He says flatly before they clash again spear against sword. This goes on and on as neither seems to really have the advantage.

It was clear though to both of them that Teresa the stronger of the two, but that Ornstein made up for it in speed alone.

After breaking Teresa's guard Ornstein twists spear to wear it was pointing away from Teresa, before he then began to land at least seven clear thrusts with the blunt end of his spear before spinning and lightly drawing blood across her shoulder.

"You sure you want to go on Teresa?" He says to her already knowing what her answer was though. What he wasn't expecting was for the cut on her shoulder to heal in a matter of seconds.

"Well then if you can simply heal yourself, it looks like I can get serious." He says while channeling a bit of lightning into his hands causing golden sparks of electricity to spring to life in the now almost orange sky.

Teresa already suspecting this ability of his pumps more yoki into herself causing a few veins in her head and arms to bulge out her eyes began to take on a golden hue. "Yes indeed it does look that way."

They then move, so fast that the ground under them shatters. Ornstein was the first to attack twisting himself like a screw straight at her. Teresa knew that she was tough but an attack like that was suicide to take on at her current level. So she chose to go leap above it and in position to slam Ornstein into the ground when he passed her.

And by the time he did reach her, Teresa couldn't help as another smile dawned her face. But when she went for the attack Ornstein planted his spear into the ground and was able to use it as leverage and twist his form in order to give Teresa a lightning infused punch to the face.

Not expecting the punch and being in midair Teresa was sent flying from the power behind it, and didn't stop till she crashed through two full-grown trees. Rising out of the ground she grips one of the trees in her free hand and throws it at the Dragon Slayer.

Ornstein focusing on the incoming projectile and brings his spear at a downward angle and slices through the tree like water. What he wasn't expecting though was Teresa to be standing atop of his spear, effectively holding him still.

And that moment was enough for Teresa to smash the flat end of her sword into Ornstein's side. Keeping his stance firm though Ornstein was able to keep poise to which he capitalized by locking his armored arm around the blade, a risky move but he was able to keep her from using it. Using her sword to brace himself along with his poise he was then able to block her follow up punch to his temple. He then channels lightning into his spear, and watches as it travels into Teresa's metal boots.

Feeling it coming Teresa prepared herself for it, and grit her teeth as the lightning struck her from below. However she was ever to fight through it and remain on his spear, using it as leverage as he did Teresa swung both her legs into Ornstein's chest sending him sailing through the clearing.

When he rises she sees that he was now holding her weapon. Looking down with another smirk though she quickly picks up his and points it at him, "Your stance is shit, I do hope you know that." Ornstein says to her making the Claymore shake her head at him.

"Yeah and apparently yours isn't as terrible as I thought it would be." She mocked back to him as they both took off again, yoki against the soul.

When they clashed as a courtesy both of them threw the others weapon in the air. From there both engaged in hand to hand, Teresa was the first to land a blow in the form of a rather sharp elbow to Ornstein's shoulder with a follow up backhand to his jaw.

However the Knight of Gwyn was far from down as he locked up her arm his own and the spun his way around her and put her head first into the dirt, him above her twisting her shoulder.

"You know that I will break it, yield Teresa." He says in a commanding tone of voice. However all he sees is that damned smirk, "Yeah I know, I'll save you the trouble though." She says before a loud sickening pop was heard as Teresa broke her own shoulder to escape.

Completely stunned Ornstein wasn't prepared for the punch to the nose that came from her good arm.

After hitting his back against the tree that was able to catch him, Ornstein smirks before fixing his broken nose. "I'll give credit where credit is due Teresa, that was impressive." He says watching as the Claymore fixed her broken shoulder. "And I thank you for the compliment." She tells him smirking the entire time.

"Now then show what those sparks of yours can really do." She says throwing his spear at him. Moving to catch it Ornstein pole-vaults himself into the air and Teresa watches in mild amusement and amazement as Ornstein summons a bright yellow lightning blot in his left hand.

"Don't say you didn't ask for this!" He shouts before throwing the bolt with the speed of, well, lightning and the boom of a thunderclap. Teresa gladly taking it on unearths a tree that was close by and swings it at the bolt. Only to watch as it exploded in her hands.

"Ok then, don't hit the lightning bolts. Good to know." Teresa said to herself.

Looking to the one who threw it Ornstein chuckled to himself seeing her almost scold herself. "At least you're learning some didn't quite understand that part."

He then charges up another bolt and before she knew Ornstein was laying down a constant barrage of bolts, lighting up the sky with flashes of bright yellow as she ducked rolled and jumped over almost every single one of the possible dozens he had sent her way.

However one did catch her dead center in the stomach making her cough blood. It felt like her insides were on fire after being hit by that bolt. After getting her breathing under control she looks to where the bolt had hit her and finds the area of her suit completely vaporized, the flesh burnt, and no doubt bleeding on the inside.

Pushing yoki to the wound she flinches in pain as the scorched flesh was removed by the incoming new flesh, and was almost done when all of the sudden she felt an armor hand on her shoulder.

Looking up into her opponent's red eyes she saw concern, and compassion defiantly not the sad look in them she had seen before the fight began. This was the Ornstein she knew.

"Here let me help." He says before kneeling next to her, she then saw a small golden light emanate from his hand before a large circle glowing orange, like that of the setting or rising sun, emerged with him at the center. Almost instantly she felt her wounds close, and all she felt was warmth surround her. The burnt and cauterized flesh around the area where the lightning had struck her was now smooth and pale, as if she was never hit by it in the first place. The dull ache in her shoulder that came with healing her wound with yoki disappeared as well.

All in all she was completely healed.

She stared at him in shock before he then suddenly hugged her, both adding to her shock and making her blush a bit both at the suddenness of it and the warmth that he emanated from him.

"Thank you." Was all he said in her ear causing her to blush even more from how close she knew his lips were to it. Though she quickly snapped herself out of it and smiled. "If you're really thankful, then maybe you could do something for me." She says to him making him separate from her and look at her suspiciously.

"What did you have in mind?" He asks curiously to her. She responds by widening her smile, "Come with me." She says plainly making it his turn to blush.

"Think of it, you'd travel around him me and get to keep your ear close to the ground and hear of any news involving the other knights you were talking about. And in the mean time, I'd like the company if you're willing to go?" She finishes letting him decide.

However before he could giver her an answer both of them saw something strange in the distance. Looking closer both of them could see that it was a large trail of dust. Looking even closer both could see exactly what it was, bandits.

Turning to one another they then sprint down the side of the mountain not at all caring that they'd created two fresh craters when they landed.

"Bandits far in the woods, I should've know they'd be after the town from the start." Teresa berates herself for not thinking. "Don't be angry at yourself there was no way you could've known this was the town they'd hit." Ornstein tries to reassure her only for Teresa shout at him, "No this is the ONLY town they could hit. Tucked away in the mountains no one would ever know if they were under attack!" She shouts as they both pick up the pace and begin to run so fast that the world around them begins to blur.

"Why now though!?" Ornstein shouts as he fell back a bit to run alongside her. "There was Yoma in the town, it must've been keeping them at bay. They must've thought the risk of a Yoma was too great of a factor. But now that I destroyed it there is nothing protecting the town, and Clare's in there!" She shouts at him while both of them went even faster.

Ornstein then came up with a small plan to get her there faster, falling back and charging up an Emit Force miracle. "Do you trust me Teresa?" He asks her from behind, turning to him Teresa sees the miracle in his hands and hesitantly nods.

"Alright then when I say jump you'd better jump!" He shouts to her while she prepared herself for what was coming. "JUMP!"

Then with the force of a hurricane Ornstein launched the miracle under her and watched as she went sailing over the trees and into the distance towards the town.

"And now I just need to catch up," he says to himself while channeling lightning into his legs before he exploded off into the distance in an effort to catch up to his companion.

With Teresa

When she landed onto the bridge she knew that things were already bad enough, making her fear the worst for Clare.

When she arrived she found bandits pulling women of their homes, most buildings were on fire, and most of the men were dead in the streets. Approaching them the bandit leader smiles seeing her, "Hey boys look what we've got here! Quite the coincidence isn't it, what with the Yoma destroyed it looks like you're not needed. And since Claymore aren't allowed to be involved in human affairs," he then gestures to the town, "what we're doing here is of no concern to you." He says mockingly as Teresa began to memorize where every bandit within eyesight was located.

"So what is it that brings you before us Claymore, sight seeing? It's not like you can anything about our fun here, think we deserve a spanking?" He says making the others laugh around him all the while no one seemed to notice, that Ornstein was had entered the town.

With his lightning enhanced speed it didn't take him long at all to reach the town, now sporting his frightening Leo helm, then with spear in hand, and fury in his mind he sought out those who'd harm the innocent.

And it didn't take long before he quickly began killing anyone outside of town square in a time frame of about a minute. Every single one of them brutally pierced, slashed, and or electrocuted. No one was even aware that he had essentially become a silent agent of death in the town. Well, no one except the terrified women and children that watched as he killed his way from house to house.

'Vermin! Scum! Vile creatures lower than any demon of Izalith! May the Abyss take you!' He shouts in his mind while glaring at the corpse that was currently suspended off the ground on his spear. Before he carelessly flung it off like trash.

Going to edges of town Ornstein began to evacuate the survivors of the attack, after all he didn't want them to get caught up in what came next.

Back with Teresa she found herself frozen as she saw the same damned bandit as before dragging Clare out of an ally by her hair.

He then turned to her, a look of madness influenced his face as smiled at her, "Hey, so nice to see you. Did you forget something the last time you were here?" He says gesturing at the girl on the ground. "Finders keepers, don't worry I promised to take real good care of her. I mean we're already such good friends, aren't we, my new pet?" He says making Teresa clench her hands in rage hearing him talk.

But he still went on, "I love watching the veins in her when she's screaming, she kept crying 'Teresa, Teresa.'" Then in the blink of an eye Teresa had moved from in front of them to behind the one armed bastard who used to hold Clare.

When her cape fell it revealed that he was missing his other arm. Not really registering what had happened he looks to his hand, " You hurt me witch. Now how am I going to caress your filthy body?" He says before a small line of blood appeared from his mouth, "I'm tired," he says quietly before exploding in a shower of blood.

This leaves everyone, including Ornstein who had just arrived in shock, 'And so it begins.' He says in his head, and watched as Teresa's composure snapped entirely.

"Damn you, you rotten bastards. You are worse than Yoma, and all deserve to die for what you've done!" She shouts in rage before turning to Ornstein at the other end of the yard, "There will be no survivors. Each of you dies tonight."

Ornstein then looks to where a sudden burst of laughter came from and sees the leader of the company leap off his horse and onto the ground holding his sword. "So she's finally lost it, they'll be coming for your head when word gets out you killed a human!" He then draws the weapon and points it towards Teresa, "You'll be slaughtering us that could be? But don't underestimate my friends and I. But you aren't the only one who can handle a weapon! I don't care that you're a Claymore, I couldn't give a fuck if you were a full-blooded Yoma. I'm still going to take off your head!" He shouts slashing at her.

To which she simply, and easily blocks with one motion of her sword. "You're the only one that's ever deflected my first attack. Which gives me a new chance to try a new move I've been working on. See how well you do against, this!" He says bringing his sword upwards before sending the chained blade down towards her.

And once again an attack that was easily dodged. But when the dust settled in her place stood Ornstein. The boss of the company looks to the knight in confusion before smiling.

"So this is the knight that promised to kill everyone of us a few days ago. What the matter scared I'll kill your whore." He mocks Ornstein who simply ignored him and looked around at all the dead people of the town.

"Teresa you've already proven your point and killed a human, its best you go now." Ornstein says in a deadly serious tone of voice making Teresa look at him in anger, "I promised that they would all die tonight I intend to make that promise a reality." She says.

"Teresa, trust me I will uphold that promise. But please, what I'm about to do, is not something you should be here for. I know you would survive, but Clare will not. This entire town will be turned to ash. Everyone in it will only be dust left to be blown in the wind." Teresa looked to the man still proudly swinging his sword around and then to Ornstein who had a cold look of murder in his eyes. Seeing that they were to die either way she began to make her way out of the town.

Before she disappeared and killed the three men blocking her path, just to reinforce her point.

Once he was sure she was out of range Ornstein looks to those left in the square and gains a look of absolute fury in his eyes.

However the leader chose to fight him rather than let the oncoming feeling of dread get to him. "So you think you'll be able to save your little whores from us. After we kill you they'll be next." He says swinging his Falcon Sword towards Ornstein who merely turns his body and lets the blade pass him.

This continued for some time with the bandit growing ever so angry at the fact that his attack were so effortlessly being dodged to the point where he lets out a war cry and sends an attack akin to a simple thrust.

And to the shock of him and the rest of his men, Ornstein caught the bladed tip, and wraps it around his hand. "Like she said no one will survive this night."

The leader then felt his arm clench around the grip of his sword, and in panic tried to let go only to find that he couldn't. It was then that he felt the pain. Unspeakable pain.

Screaming in agony the leader began to spasm as everyone else was able to see small sparks of lightning that quickly grew into rather large bolts of electricity being sent through the chain of his sword.

All the while the electricity increased, and the leader only kept screaming, soon his voice broke and it was only more silent shouts and gasps of pure pain in his eyes. The knuckles of his hands began to bleed they were clenched so tight. Blood soon poured out of his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. This began to spread fear among them until the lightning once again grew in size, and before anyone knew what happened the boss' eyes popped out of his head.

And then to top it all off the man who lead them, completely exploded in a red shower of blood and liquefied organs. Those closest were covered and quickly emptied their stomachs at the sight and smell of boiled blood.

They then turn in horror as the golden monster in front of them raised his hand to the sky and summoned a bolt of lightning golden in color, and longer than he was tall.

Panic set in as they tried to run, only for them to run into a straight into a wall of fog.

"No one leaves this place, now perish." He says quietly before he brings the bolt down onto the ground.

And in a single moment, a flash of gold, and the wrath akin to a god…Rokut and any poor soul that was not evacuated turned to ash.

With Teresa

From her spot almost three miles outside of the town atop a hill, Teresa could feel the power radiating off of Ornstein, and it was intoxicating just to be near. It was akin to releasing her own yoki, but strangely warmer in context, she felt both drawn by it and mesmerized by it at the same time.

Then it happened, in a flash of light so bright she had to shield her eyes, the power that had been built up was unleashed, and it was absolutely insane.

When the light died down Teresa uncovered her eyes, and where Rokut once stood now only a crater remained to show where the town once was. 'Incredible.' Teresa said in her mind.

She then waited for a moment as the knight who had caused all the damage made his way towards them. His armor didn't look any worse for wear, in fact it held a certain glow to it that only made him stick out among the darkness that had fallen over the mountains.

Looking to him Teresa couldn't contain her shock, she assumed he was powerful, but this was something else entirely.

He was just full of surprises, wasn't he?

When Ornstein finally made his way to her he removes his helm and looks at the still unconscious Clare in Teresa's arms, "Well then, with done what do you say about getting moving? I don't like being around battlegrounds for long."

Teresa nods at him and smiles seeing as he wasn't going to be leaving any time soon. And then the two of them move along, however neither one of them even bothered to notice the cloaked individual hidden among the trees.

'So it finally happened, Teresa of the Faint Smile has taken a human life. I'm sorry but there are no exceptions to the rule, not even for our finest warrior.' He says in his head watching as the trio walked off into the night.

'And what truly amazing power your companion possess, I can only wonder what else he has in store for us. After all it is truly amazing to see the power of one who is called the Dragon Slayer.'

And Done

Alright then, now we're getting into the good stuff.

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