American Bowman: Wyatt Colt
Forest of Aragami Trees
A roar sounded through the air as Wyatt and Lindow arrived at a small cliff to get a better view of the new threat to the settlement, a Vajra. The Aragami trees spikes were useless as they broke against the Vajra's armored hide while the massive lion knocked over one tree after another in its march towards the settlement. "A Vajra," said Wyatt, "Why is it always a Vajra?"
"Guess we're just lucky that way," said Lindow when an alarm suddenly sounded back at the settlement. "Oh please tell me that's because of the Vajra," said Wyatt as he put his hand to his forehead. "I'm afraid not," said Lindow, "They only sound that alarm if an Aragami is already in the settlement."
"Outstanding," said Wyatt with an exasperated sigh. "Well I got a mission for ya newbie," said Lindow, "Get back there and protect the civilians, and keep yourself alive while you're at it." "Any idea how I'm supposed to do that without a working weapon?" Asked Wyatt.
"I've given you an order," said Lindow in a serious tone, "Now run and don't let a single person die, and as for your God Arc, simply believe in it." Wyatt wanted to argue more but he knew there was no time as he turned and ran back towards the settlement, grabbing the bow and the box of ampules while he was at it. No idea if these things will do any good, thought Wyatt as he ran through the trees, but at the very least they could serve as some kind of distraction.
Back at the Settlement
The siren continued to sound as Wyatt ran into the settlement. People were scattering everywhere as an Aragami Wyatt had only read about and seen in pictures was rampaging through the area. It looked like a cross between a knight and a scorpion with a long, pointed horn on its head and claws which appeared to form two halves of a shield at each end.
A Borg Camlann, he recalled as he raced towards it. People were fleeing in terror from it, or at least most were. One of the civilians, a man in a white shirt with dark hair, was firing at the Aragami with a crossbow. But as expected, at least to Wyatt anyway, the crossbow bolts bounced harmlessly off the Borg Camlann's armor as it raised one of its shield arms. Gotta move quick, thought Wyatt as he dropped the box of ampules so he'd have a free hand.
Just as the Aragami struck, Wyatt tackled the civilian out of the way as the ground was partially destroyed behind them. "I'm afraid that won't cut it against an Aragami," said Wyatt as he stood back up. "Then what can I do, I don't have anything else I can use?" questioned the civilian.
"Well," Wyatt was about to say when the Borg Camlann tried striking them with its tail. Wyatt managed to move just in time to grab the civilian and rush out of the way of the Aragami's large, spike-like stinger, but they were still knocked over by the force of the blow on the ground. What we really need right now, thought Wyatt as he scrambled back to his feet, is a certain Russian girl with the actual functioning weapon!
Wyatt reached for one of his grenades and was about to throw it when a little girl's voice called out. "Leave them alone!" exclaimed the girl in the pink hoodie as she threw one of the ampules at the large beast. Surprisingly, the Borg Camlann roared in surprise as it shook its head, trying to get the orange substance off of itself. Lindow was right, Wyatt realized, other Aragami don't like that stuff, in fact it seems they hate it quite a bit.
"We need to get out of here," said another one of the frightened civilians. Wyatt glanced back and noticed a small group of three or four had emerged from one of the warehouses and was trying to flee, the girl in the pink hoodie must've been one of them. "We're gonna die if we don't get out of here," said another one of the civilians as the Borg Camlann managed to regain its senses and began bearing down on them.
"Everyone," said Wyatt, getting the civilian's attention as he readied his grenade, "Grab as many of those ampules as you can and when I give the signal, run!" Enough of them seemed to understand and started grabbing some of the canisters which had spilled out of the container Wyatt had been carrying.
It was fortunate the Borg Camlann wasn't a terribly fast Aragami. The civilians just managed to get all of the ampules together as Wyatt pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it. "Now RUN!" He yelled as the grenade exploded in the Aragami's face, temporarily blinding it as everyone fled to the nearest hiding space between two of the buildings, leaving the confused Borg Camlann looking around aimlessly for a moment.
"So is this everyone," Wyatt asked as he leaned against a wall and started pulling arrows out of the quiver on his hip. "We were the only ones who were still outside," answered one of the civilians, "Everyone else is at the shelter."
"A shelter designed for regular disasters I'm guessing," said Wyatt as he peeked his head around the corner, noting the Aragami was slowly moving towards it as it seemed to be searching for its original lost prey. "There's no way it'll withstand that thing," said one of the civilians, "It was already bad enough that Fenrir left us out here to die, now everything we've worked for is gonna be destroyed too."
"Not everything," said Wyatt as he ducked back around the corner, "Yo crossbow guy, you got any string or rope in that pack of yours?" "I got some survival cord," replied the civilian with the crossbow, "But why do you need that when you have your weapon?"
"It's kind of busted at the moment," said Wyatt. "What about Lindow," asked another one of the civilians. "He's kind of tied up taking down a Vajra right now," answered Wyatt, "So it's just us for the moment, but I got a plan to slow that thing down if we all work together."
"What do you need us to do," asked the girl in the pink hoodie. "Take crossbow's, sorry don't know your real name, cord here and get all these ampules attached to the arrows I got here."
"Okay but what then," asked one of the other civilians, "We can't just slow that thing down, we have to stop it." "Still figuring that part out," replied Wyatt as he started wrapping the cord around one of his arrows and a container of ampule, "For whatever reason, Alisa's not out here tearing this thing a new one." "Man if only we had some way to get rid of that thing," said another one of the civilians.
My thoughts exactly, mused Wyatt as he poked his head back around the corner again after cutting and securing the cord on his arrow with his survival knife. Just as he was about to move back to the wall, he caught sight of the dam the settlement used for power. "Hey can you open that dam of yours all the way," asked Wyatt.
"Well yeah," answered one of the civilians as they finished attaching the ampules to the arrows, "But what does that have to do with anything?" "Well if you're all willing," said Wyatt, "I want you to open the dam at the precise moment that the Aragami is in front of it."
"Yeah we can do that," said the civilian with the crossbow, "But how are we supposed to get the Aragami in front of the dam?" "Leave that to me," said Wyatt as he managed to slip the last of the arrows back into the quiver, albeit in a much less organized manner, "And will someone please find Alisa so she at least knows there's a rampaging Aragami out here."
"I can do that," said one of the men. "I'll head to the dam," said another. "And we'll head to the store house," said the girl in the pink hoodie, "We can get more ampules there." "Thank you all," said Wyatt as he stepped back out into the open area.
"Just be careful out there," said Crossbow guy, "We're counting on you too God Eater." Wyatt responded with a quick nod and a smile as he raced towards the Aragami.
The Borg Camlann was only a couple hundred feet from the shelter when Wyatt ran up behind it, taking aim with the compound bow, he pulled back on the bowstring as the Aragami raised its head and let the first of the ampule wrapped arrows fly. It was fortunate he was aiming at such a large target as the weighted arrow fell a bit short and hit the Borg Camlann in the back of the head. The Aragami reacted in much the same way as it had when the little girl had thrown one of the ampules at it earlier as it roared in displeasure, shaking its head back and forth.
"Hey sting ##," yelled Wyatt as he fitted another arrow into the bow, "If you're looking for a fight it's over here!" The irritated Borg Camlann turned towards Wyatt then and began stomping towards him, readying its tail to strike. That's right, thought Wyatt as he began circling towards the river, follow me.
As he ran, his pursuer stabbed at him with its large tail, narrowly missing him as Wyatt jumped forward and rolled onto his side, just managing to raise the bow and fire at the oncoming Aragami before it got too close. The Borg Camlann reared as the arrow collided with its head, spraying more ampule in its face. It really doesn't like this stuff, thought Wyatt as he booked it toward the river.
The sound of multiple large footsteps told him his pursuer was right behind him, and was even more displeased than before. Just a little bit closer, he thought as he willed his legs to go faster, just a little bit closer. The Borg Camlann tried striking him with its tail a few more times, but Wyatt was able to stay just ahead of it as he reached the river and turned back towards the Aragami.
Now for the incredibly stupid part of the plan, he thought as he watched his target raise one of its shield arms. "Let's see you strike underneath!" yelled Wyatt as he charged at the Camlann, narrowly avoiding its shield arm as he slid underneath the surprised Aragami. Wyatt saw its legs shift as the monster turned to find its prey, giving him more than enough time to nock another arrow and fire. The Borg Camlann roared again as it began backing up towards the river.
"Let's see how you like swimming!" said Wyatt as he nocked the next arrow and fired, forcing the Aragami back even further. Wyatt fired another arrow, then another, and another, each one causing the Borg Camlann to back towards the river as it tried to shake the foreign substance off of its head. Just a couple more should do it, thought Wyatt as he glanced at a couple of civilians out of the corner of his eye, one of which was the little girl with more of the ampules in a wheel barrow.
Good, he thought, more than enough ampules to see this thing off. But, as Wyatt was firing another shot, the Borg Camlann raised its arms and put the two halves together, making a complete shield in front of it and deflecting the arrow. " # #," he swore aloud as he quickly nocked and fired another arrow, this time at another opening.
But once again, the Aragami deflected the arrow. Not good, Wyatt thought as he fired another shot which was deflected, before reaching for the quiver again, only to realize it was empty. "Really not good," Wyatt thought aloud as the Borg Camlann marched towards him. As Wyatt turned to run, he caught sight of the civilians again.
"Leave the ampules and run!" yelled Wyatt as the Borg Camlann lowered its head and fired a series of large spikes from it. The hot projectiles flew within mere feet of him as they destroyed a nearby building, causing an explosion which sent rubble flying everywhere. Wyatt and the civilians were all knocked over by the shower of debris as the Borg Camlann marched towards them.
So it can shoot spikes too, he thought as he struggled back to his feet and drew Vajra's Bane from his back, outstanding. The civilians had it a bit worse, however, as one of them had been pinned under some of the larger debris while the little girl was trying to get to her feet. Only got one idea left, thought Wyatt as he took a fighting stance, a real risky idea, but one way or the other I need one of those ampules.
"Mr. God Eater!" a small voice suddenly called out. Wyatt risked a glance to his right and saw the little girl with one of the ampules in her hand. "Throw it!" yelled Wyatt as he dove to the side, narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of the Aragami's shield arms as he raced towards the girl, "Just throw it this way!"
The girl quickly complied as she threw it with all her strength. Time seemed to slow in that moment as Wyatt leapt into the air, out of the way of the Borg Camlann's tail as his momentum carried him towards the canister of ampule. At the apex of his jump, Wyatt snatched the canister out of the air as he hit the ground and rolled.
Only ever let this happen one other time, Wyatt thought as he stuck the canister's injector into his Oracle bracelet, never thought I'd be forcing it to happen now. With that thought on his mind, Wyatt injected the ampule into himself. The effect was almost instantaneous as pain temporarily shot through his body as blue veins stood out against his skin. In the next moment, the parts of his God Arc which resembled eyes began to glow as he activated the devour function.
A newly regenerated mouth shot out from his damaged weapon, this time crackling with electricity for some odd reason as it clamped onto the face of the Borg Camlann. The surprised Aragami shrieked in pain as Wyatt pushed back against it, causing it to stumble backwards. Just a bit more, he thought as he put every last ounce of his strength into one final shove. With a final deafening roar, the Aragami tumbled over the side and into the large river below.
As the devour mouth retreated back into Vajra's Bane, Wyatt collapsed to a half-kneeling position as the ampule wore off. Wasn't sure if that was gonna work, he thought while trying to catch his breath. The sound of rushing waves greeted his ears then, and for Wyatt, it sounded like a symphony orchestra as the mass of water from the dam washed the Borg Camlann out of the settlement and down the mountainside.
"I think that's the hardest I've worked to kill just one Aragami," He thought aloud, "At least this time." "You did it!" squealed the girl in the pink hoodie as she tackled Wyatt with a hug, nearly knocking him over, "Thank you Mr. God Eater!"
"Oof," said Wyatt, "I've told ya before, you don't have to call me 'Mr.', the name's Wyatt." "Well thank you either way," said the girl happily as he managed to get back to his feet.
"He did it," called some of the civilians as they emerged from the dam and the shelter. "We washed it away," said some of the other civilians as they all gathered around Wyatt. Words of congratulations and camaraderie were exchanged as everyone cheered.
Well I'm not exactly used to this, thought Wyatt as people kept clapping him on the shoulder and offering words of thanks. Normally it's just kill Aragami and go home with a word of job well done. "Hey newbie," Wyatt heard a familiar voice call as he turned to see Lindow approaching, having finished dealing with the Vajra, "Nice job."
"Oh I was just following your orders," said Wyatt as he held up his God Arc, "I believed in my weapon, and a bow, arrows and a bunch of ampules, and I didn't let anyone die." "And you worked together with the civilians," said Lindow, "A good job all around." Wyatt could only smile dumbly as the rest of the civilians continued to celebrate.
You did it, Alisa thought to herself as she stared out the window at the celebrating crowd, even when you had to fight without Vajra's Bane for most of it, you still managed to fight without fear. Alisa's hand curled into a fist against the window. Meanwhile here I was, she thought as feelings of anger and inferiority washed over her, cowering in some wardrobe like a frightened child, just like that day.
She glanced one last time at the setting sun before she turned away from the window. I have to find a way to get rid of this fear, thought Alisa as her eyes settled on Wyatt's jacket, that's the only way I'll be able to kill that monster, and the only way I'll be able to pay him back.
And down goes the Aragami! Hello everyone, first off, sorry for such a late update on this story but it's been a bit difficult getting back on track, but fear not as the next chapter for this story will be coming out before my other story. I'd also like to give several words of thanks to my reviewers, followers, and viewers who've kept up with this story and shared their constructive criticisms and ideas, it really helps make the story even better. Be sure to stop in next time as Wyatt, Alisa, and the other members of the First Unit deal with the aftermath of their encounter with Dyaus Pita.