Chapter 9
"The Valley of Death, part 2"
Eliah waited inside of the church and counted birds she saw fly by in the sky through a hole in the church ceiling. She sat with her head leant back and her eyes remained half-open.
"534…535…"
Sometimes she wondered if it was the same white bird that flew back and forth. She sighed and looked out the broken windows. It had been hours since her big sister left for the weird scent. Eliah wondered what it was since it felt different from the false people and the silver sisters she had seen thus far.
The third scent that had lingered in the town tht she couldn´t identify. She was worried for big sister´s sake.
Where are you big sister…?
She saw another bird and kept counting and stayed in place as she promised.
Darkness surrounded Grace and a gnawing feeling spread through one of her feet. She got slightly disturbed by it and opened her eyes in confusion. Momentarily blinded by the sunlight along with an intensive headache. She held her forehead in slight pain as she moaned.
"Ouch… that hurt."
She sat up on harsh ground and blinked in painful confusion. Oblivious at first and looked around.
"Where am I?"
The first thing she noticed was a forest and a small creek that felt unfamiliar to her. The gnawing feeling still lingered in her leg and she looked down to see the reason. It laid in the water of the creek and a lot of dead stranded fish by the side of it, long dead by now. She couldn´t move her leg on her own and pulled it up with her hands instead. Completely numb and not responding to anything or her touch, she focused her yoki. After a while it started to tingle within and moved again. She looked slightly pleased as she stood up and tried to remember what happened.
"Now…how in the name of the Goddesses did I end up here?"
It went a couple of seconds and then the answer struck down like lightning from a clear sky. She remembered the sneak attack from Medea.
"Oh… that´s right… she knocked me out, and then brought me here…"
She still don´t recognized the forest and asked out loud.
"But where?"
Her sword stood a bit away from the spot she woke up on. Stuck in the ground like a grave marker; she just picked it up in a non amused grunt.
"Her idea of a joke?"
Her walk into the unfamiliar forest commenced in her pursuit for a way out and back to Eliah. She would also report Medea back at the Organization for assault on a fellow warrior. It was quiet like there were no birds in the trees or animals moving through the forest. Some insects passed by her head that required a small wave with her hand to scatter but that was it. The only sound came from her footsteps and her breaths. It was unsettling and the feeling of being watched lingered everywhere. Like something hid in every tree, behind every rock and even right behind her. She stayed calm and let the world go dark as she tried to utilize her low perception skills. Just enough to at least catch anything close by.
But no light could be seen. Only dark void that remained silent in its complete absence of life. She let the world lighten up and thought to herself.
I guessed that... If Medea is here, she still would be on those suppressants, I wouldn´t be able to find her even if she stood right behind me…
Grace looked over the shoulder just to be sure that she was alone. Medea didn´t get her nickname for nothing.
She had heard stories about her, rumors mostly, of how Medea once walked right behind a yoma for a whole day and disappeared whenever it turned its head back. But she had to say that the rumors didn´t do justice to the actual person. She had expected a powerful and imposing warrior to fit them, not someone who ate suppressants like sweets and reduced her yoki to near undetected levels while acting like awakened hunts were games.
I better hurry back to Eliah… she must be worried right now… but what if I am being followed?
She stopped for a while and noticed something else. She had followed the road up and looked down now, noticed how it leant downwards. Could this place be a valley perhaps? She looked up and ran in high speed, rushing through the forest with the hope finding the exit intact.
She stood at the end of the forest and watched the hindrance in her way. The forest ended abruptly by a mountainside that appeared troublesome to climb. The wall, twenty or thirty meters high and with rough rocky surface that forced her to look for an easier way up. Much to her disappointment, the wall remained the same all the way around the valley.
A deep sigh and a look back up again.
If it is the only way up.
Another deep breath and she got a hold of the closest rock on the wall.
It took an hour and process had gone slowly. The danger behind a fall while affected by a suppressant forced her to focus as broken bones wouldn´t heal until it wore off. She reached the edge with some sweat on her forehead.
It seemed like the forest continued up here and she got going again. The feeling of being watched increased in strength as the trees passed by her steps and it made her even more suspicious of it. She constantly held her hand at the sword handle. She had seen Medea in action and as far as she could tell, she would not even know what happened until it was too late.
A small childish and creepy giggle echoed in the woods, traveling between the trees like a faint wind.
Grace stopped at once and held her breath, ready to strike against anything that made one more sound. Her heart beat in her chest and she could hear it in the surrounding silence.
Nothing.
It went a minute, then two, maybe that had been a hallucination? She exhaled and then walked onwards. Now with her nerves tensed up to the smallest noise her senses allowed her to receive.
This forest walk continued for one more hour and several spooky encounters occurred. All in the form of branches that broke at a distance, sounds of steel carving into the trees, more giggles and a feeling of someone stood right behind her.
But it stopped every single time she turned around and there wasn´t one single sign of anyone else beside her. It got more and more tense and she didn´t like it. Just wanted to unleash her hidden anger and cut down the entire forest by herself to be sure. But then Medea would probably just use the fallen trees to sneak up and stab her from behind. She held back for now and remained alert with her life as bet. As further ahead, the forest got thinner.
And it was another mountain wall.
This time with sharp and pointy rocks that would more likely destroy her hands on the way up. She just shook her head in a tiresome manner and stabbed the ground in slight frustration. There was no way up that wall and she started to reason with herself.
"Okay… maybe there is an exit somewhere else…"
She looked around and noticed the spiky mountain side continued on all edges as far as she could see. She followed the mountainside to the left while she threw a suspicious eye at the forest in precaution. A shadow moved among the trees at a distance but that could just have been her imagination.
"There is no way out…"
A whisper from the forest and she choose to not even try to determine if it had been real.
She spent another hour walking and didn´t come across an end or gap of the wall. It bent slightly and she followed the curve while she was constantly harassed by sounds from the forest. Eerie giggles and broken branches tensed her senses.
She stopped for a moment, then rushed forward. It seemed like the wall ended further ahead and she got her hopes up. It dropped almost immediately since there was a canyon in her path and a long way down, with what appeared to be a rushing river at the bottom. It was approximately four meters wide.
Grace looked in the other direction and saw an exit in the other end, but attempts to climb the mountainside could prove to be the same as suicide. She just stood there while she looked down in the canyon and didn´t know what to do. The sun moved over the clouds for a while and she could see her own shadow in front of her.
Along with a second shadow right behind it with a sword at hand.
A voice whispered in her ear.
"I told you so…"
She turned around in the middle of unsheathing the sword and the second shadow withdrew without a sound. By the time she faced it, its owner had already gone out of sight but the presence still lingered there and haunted her.
It still whispered with superior dominance.
"I could have pushed you in the canyon for three minutes now… are you still suffering the after effects?"
No respond came from her while held the claymore in a tight grip and ready to parry any incoming attacks. She moved her eyesight between the trees while Medea still whispered.
"Oh? You try to see me? But it is useless…after all…"
A sudden sharp pain on her shoulder and a small line of blood flowed from the cut. She swung with the sword in retaliation and only hit empty air. Medea giggled again in her cruel and creepy manner.
"… I am the apex predator here… little rabbit…"
A second cut along her left arm and she tried to strike her down again. Medea disappeared before she could catch a glimpse of her and the sword sliced in empty air. Medea whispered in the middle of the battle and sounded more amused in a sadistic way.
"…This is my own Death Valley… little rabbit… hmm…I wonder how you would look in a red cape…"
She swiveled her head quickly around her and tried to determine where that voice came from while three more cuts appeared on her body and with small squirts of blood followed. Medea laughed in her ear and she realized what the sound of steel through the air was.
Grace swung the broadside of her sword against her own neck and a sharp cling struck it. The laughs stopped and someone rushed away only to stop in front of her. One look up.
Medea had the golden eyes from yoki and an excited expression on her face and exposed her teeth which slowly sharpened to canines. She touched one of the fangs with the tip of her tongue and let out a angry remark.
"Damn… Now you got my heart running… hold a second…"
Medea picked out two pills from the bag that hanged in a rope around her waist, and chewed on them with eagerness. Her teeth returned to normal and the eyes turned back to silver.
"Still not enough… need to take one more… later…"
Medea looked at Grace with her claymore in her right hand with a delighted grin on her face.
Grace tried to keep her in sight since if Medea disappeared again, she would be good as dead. Medea slowly moved to the left and she hesitated to attack directly. Then a whisper appeared behind her.
"Over here…"
She turned her head away on instinct and then back again. Medea had disappeared. The whispering continued.
"Over here…"
The whisper came from her left. She turned in that direction and swung with the sword. It hit nothing and she received a cut on the right side of her body as a reward. She swung the sword back to the right but there was nobody there either.
"Behind you…"
The creepy voice still whispered in her ears and she swung the sword in a half circle at it. The only result she got came in two more deep cuts on her back. She turned back at that direction. The whispers started to move all around her.
"Over here…over here… over here…"
The voice appeared behind every tree and direction, Grace frowned as she tried to swipe her sword around and keep Medea away. More cuts appeared on her body for every swing she made in the air. She bled a lot from multiple wounds as she slowly backed up to the edge of the canyon. She tried to narrow down the attacks as much as she could. Medea giggled again and appeared in front of her now, chewing on two more yoki suppressants in the process.
"Trying to be clever? Won´t work…"
"I got you out, didn´t I?"
Medea looked at her with playful viciousness and spoke with trickery in the voice.
"Oh really?"
Someone whispered in Grace´s ear from behind.
"Over here…"
Grace opened her eyes in shock and turned her head around to see this illusion.
Impossible!
Nobody stood there but instead a large thrust of a heavy blade stabbed right into her abdomen. She turned her head back and Medea stood right in front of her with a psychotic grin on her face that oozed viciousness.
"Got you…"
Medea kicked her in the abdomen before Grace could retaliate. It shoved her off the blade and she fell into the rapid river far below. Medea watched the body go under the surface with her sword on her shoulder. She remarked with playfulness.
"Come back so you can suffer some more…"
She walked back into the woods while chewing on one more pill, reversing her silver eyes back to brown again.
Below the suffocating river surface, Grace tried to stay awake and get closer to the shore.
Medea had avoided cutting her anywhere vital out of wicked amusement but the blood loss along with the lack of oxygen could prove just as lethal. She tumbled around in the currents and didn´t even know which way was up. She needed some direction. She ended up close to the bottom and used her claymore to stop the tumble like a anchor. She stabbed her sword in it and used her yoki to heal some of the wounds, not all of them, but enough to stop the blood. But the problem was the oxygen and she had run out of it.
A hand broke the surface in muffled splashes and grabbed her by the uniform´s neck. She looked up and saw a silhouette stare down at her. It made one harsh pull and she found herself back on dry land, soaking wet, and took deep breaths of invaluable air.
The grip around her neck released and she landed on the rocky ground as she coughed a little. Her wounds slowly closed together again but the large one in the abdomen would need some more time to get healed. The one who pulled her up stood to the left of her and looked down as a shadow with the sun behind its head.
"Are you all right?"
She answered, while greedily pulling in more air through her lungs.
"Give me a minute…"
She held her hand over her abdomen to check the deep wound, she used ten percent of yoki and it healed together nicely without complications.
She answered with relief.
"I will be fine…"
"Good…"
The figure grabbed around her neck again and with some force pushed her back first against a tree and grabbed around the arm that now locked her neck to the wood and tried to remove it. She looked down on her attacker…
…and right into the Mantis´s, now in human form, angry face that spoke with a calm fury in her voice.
"…Now I will kill you!"
Grace looked around for her claymore and found it placed on the ground by the riverside. She thought fast and tried to figure out a way to get out of this pinch.
The Mantis didn´t seem to let go of the grip and, if anything, tightened it harder. Anger radiated from the golden cat eyes. It pushed on her throat with her forearm and escape was impossible. The Mantis had yet to transform to its awakened form and finish her off.
"But before I do that, I want you to tell me something that has been bothering my mind for a while now…"
The pressure of the forearm eased up a little bit and the Mantis used the other hand to grab something around Grace´s neck: The silver medallion with the ruby, the gift and symbol of a promise.
"Where did you get this? Tell me right now…!"
The pressure on Grace´s throat increased again and she saw no point in delusional or misguided lies in this situation.
"It is a gift from someone special… why do you care?"
"Tell me that one´s name…"
The Mantis pushed harder with the forearm and got a reply thrown out in single words.
"Blanc! It is a gift from Blanc!"
The Mantis just froze on the spot when the name reached her mind. The pressure on the throat increased a little, while the Mantis whispered something.
"…"The Barehanded"... no, that must be a lie…"
The Mantis turned her attention toward Grace again.
"Tell me the truth! There is no way that he would just give it to anyone!"
"What? You know him? How?"
"I am the one asking the questions here, Claymore! How do you know him?"
"Wait! wait, wait…"
The discussion came to a standstill. Not one single sound moved through the entire forest with the exception of Grace´s countdown.
"…5…4…3…"
The Mantis frowned.
"What are you doing?"
"Wait… 1… and exhale…"
Grace released a deep breath and the being just stood there plain confused. She then looked completely calm and spoke in an eased voice without aggression in her eyes.
"Now… let´s just calm down a little bit…"
"Are you joking with me?"
"You saved me from drowning for a reason, even if it was to kill me, but now, I owe you a favor…"
The being listened with small interest and the pressure eased a little more.
"...How about letting me down, and I won´t kill you…"
"You think I would fall for that one?"
"And… If we get out from here, I will let you walk away, free as a bird, without the death sentence over your head…"
The Mantis appeared intrigued.
"Sounds good enough… how do I know that you won´t stab me in the back? And what can you possibly offer to convince me to not kill you right here and now?"
"You need my help… and I am willing to provide it to you…Trust me…"
The Mantis laughed in mockery at that statement.
"Trust you… trust a Claymore! It was trust that got me into this mess from the start!"
"What other alternative do you have?"
"…"
"So, how about it? You helped me, I will help you… what do you say?"
The Mantis considered it for a second and then glared at her in a threat.
"If you are lying… then I will rip you apart like a rag doll…"
"I always keep my promises…"
The being stared into her eyes with serious doubts and then let her down on the ground, while she removed the forearm from her neck.
Grace held around her sore throat and rubbed it a little bit. The Mantis kept its eyes on her with suspicious undertones. She stood up and then walked back to the sword by the river shore. The being raised one of its arms, still in human form and ready to attack anytime. She grabbed the handle with slight suspicious hostility at the being; she slowly sheathed the blade on her back. The being lowered its hand and then she spoke in a calm voice.
"Now… where is the exit?"
After a tense and unusually hostile forest walk with a lot of suspicious stares at each other, they arrived at an open area where they could look around to see how the valley was structured, Grace wasn´t relieved from the sight that meet her. The valley was composed of two levels with two high walls, the first one climbable and the second one would destroy the hands of anyone who attempted to climb it with its sharp cliffs. No visible escape.
The Mantis remarked with foul tone as she spoke of a dirty despiteful thing.
"Number 5´s Valley of Death…"
"You know about this place?"
"I was trapped here a month ago, escaped after a week… It works like this, the level we are on now, is the Dead part, and where the "prey" is being stored. Then, if you make to the second level, then expect the worst hours of your life… no escape, no respite, hearing things, you will start to turn your head on reflex…"
"I know… I just experienced it…"
It looked at her and Grace responded in slight distrust toward her unwanted company.
"Just tell me where the exit is!"
"Okay…"
The mantis pointed at a narrow opening in the mountain, barely visible as a gap in the wall.
"See that? That is a small path, and the only way out from here…"
Grace headed in that direction and the Mantis called out at her with a slightly hostile voice in confusion.
"And where do you think you are going Claymore?"
"Where do you think?"
"You are going to be sorry…"
"How come?"
The Mantis didn´t answer and leant back against a tree with arms crossed and a smug expression.
Grace headed towards the exit. She would have to spend another hour with a climb on the mountain wall again. When she got back on solid ground afterwards she turned her head back to look down the way she came. The Mantis sat on a rock down below and smiled in the same smug manner as she looked back at her. She turned around and shook her head before re-entering the woods.
The uneasy feeling of being watched returned immediately and the sun would settle down in an hour. Its light threw shadows along the trees and created more hiding spots. The giggle started again and whispers bounced between the trees.
"Already? How fun… just keep going, little rabbit…"
Grace had a strong urge to shout back at Medea but resisted it since she would give away her position otherwise. She swung the sword in a full circle, just to make sure Medea didn´t stand behind her. Four seconds passed and a shadow moved swiftly between the trees. It cut up wounds on her body before she could counterattack it.
Four cuts, two across the chest and two on the back. She retreated since each cut went deeper and deeper for each strike. Medea rushed towards her one more time and clipped the left arm clean off. She grabbed it in mid air and made a run for it back the way she came. The giggle started again.
"Run… run… as fast as you can…run, run…back to your hole."
She looked back and noticed Medea that chased after her with golden eyes in her face and vanished the same moment she got spotted. She saw the expression of a huntress and increased her speed. Her disappearance between the trees was solely to mess with Grace even further. She found herself back at the cliff side once again.
Medea swung her claymore to dismember the other arm and maybe a leg in the same attack.
She dodged the attack and Medea kicked her while she did this. She fell down and Medea giggled in excitement.
"I am all excited again… better hold back the flow…"
Medea ate two more pills, shivered a little and her eyes changed back to brown. She departed into the forest and disappeared like a shadow once again.
Grace lay on the ground, all bruised up, with a broken a bone or two and still held onto her dismembered arm. Everything ached and hurt. She wondered how Medea found her so fast.
The Mantis chuckled from the show.
"By the way… number 5´s campsite is right next to the exit… in case you didn´t make it there…"
Grace kept her fury in check to not show it in her face and put the arm back at the stump. She channeled some yoki into it while her eyes turned gold-colored. It was as good as new after thirty seconds. Her other injuries already healed nicely and she looked at the amused mantis.
"Having fun?"
It answered with a smile on the face.
"Indeed, and that was for chopping off my arm by the way…"
Grace got back up and fought her desire to chop the Mantis up into tiny bits for its behavior.
But she made a promise after all.
"Okay… fun time is over… now, come up with an escape plan…"
"I have one already…"
"Let´s hear it then…"
"Okay, it is very simple… you go back up there get the other claymore distracted, while I make a run for it…"
She protested for reasons completely understandable reasons.
"A real escape plan!"
"Then you have to kill her…"
"I won´t kill a warrior…"
The Mantis just looked at her in surprise and disbelief.
"Let me get this right… She used you as bait, knocked you out cold, dragged you to her hunting grounds, sliced you up and kicked you over a cliff two times… And you still don´t want to kill her?"
"She is still a warrior of the Organization. Killing her is a crime…"
The Mantis rolled with her eyes while she shook her head a little and put a palm to her face. It muttered something faintly.
"An Idealist… Deity, what have I done to deserve this…"
"Excuse me?"
It looked up at her and retreated deeper into the woods, away from the mountain side.
Grace followed with a hidden insulted pride in the eyes.
As they headed deeper into the forest she asked…
"What did you call me?"
It turned around with an annoyed look in its face. It started to lecture her with a simple question.
"How does the world look in your eyes? Answer that first… What is right and what is wrong?"
"Easy! Obey the rules of the Organization, protect the humans, slay the yoma and kill the awakened beings…"
"Okay, then let us see how you justify this… you know what I am… right?"
"You are an awakened being, that I should have slayed by now…"
"Yeah right, keep telling yourself that. If that sick predatory claymore hadn´t intervened, then you would have been cut in three pieces right now…"
"Was that a threat?! And in your nightmares!"
"Anyway… you know what I am… now, do you know what I was?"
"I have been told that the awakened beings were warriors, but abandoned their humanity and turned into monsters…"
"Isn´t that strange then?"
That question got Grace off guard and she asked in confusion.
"What?"
"If I have lost my humanity as you said… would we even be having this conversation?"
"…?"
"And another thing… Since I have not lost my humanity by awakening, then what´s the line between being a warrior and awakened? Is there even a difference? Except the fact that I don´t hold my yoki back like you do…"
"YES! There is a difference! You eat people! I don´t!"
Now it was the Mantis being´s turn to become silent. It replied to interrupt.
"Don´t even try to pull that old one on me! I am picky when it comes to that!"
"Oh really…"
A lot of sarcasm behind the voice and statement. The Mantis started to explain like a child being caught with her hand in the sweet jar.
"If you really need to know, I am on a strict diet!"
"Enlighten me, even if I will regret it later…"
"It is! Since I awoke, I have only preyed on three kinds of people…"
"Let me guess…. Men, women and children?"
"No!"
The look on the being´s face, still in human appearance, twisted into an insult and it explained further once she asked.
"Then what is your diet?"
"Bandits, rapists and slave traders! Simple as that!"
She stopped with the sarcasm as the being inhaled a deep insulted breath and it was obvious that it took great pride in its diet. Grace just tried to get some things cleared out.
"You eat that!?"
"You heard me! I eat the foul scum of humanity, I might have awakened but I still do my best to protect humans from each other…"
"That is a lie…"
"Don´t try to tell me what the truth is! I if anyone should know that!"
"I seriously doubt that you had human interests in mind when you went picky... I think you just like dangerous men or tastes…"
"You…shut up!"
The Mantis looked a little angrier and then bowed its head to look at the left palm. The female face calmed down a little, they resumed the forest walk.
She followed since there would be no point in going back up to get sliced and diced again.
After a half an hour in the dead silent forest, she thought through the whole situation.
How did this happen? Not only do I have to escape the clutches of a Top five but I also got to into this unthinkable alliance with one of the very monsters I´m supposed to eradicate and protect people from… Well… at least it´s docile for now… but if she turns against me then she will meet my sword again…
The Mantis looked around with watchful eyes and listened carefully around the spot.
She asked it.
"What is it you are looking for?"
The looked at her with some unpleasant eyes and responded.
"If you don´t want to kill that Claymore, and won´t be a distraction, then I am going to find the being that served as my distraction…"
Grace did not like it and asked out loud.
"What? There is a second being here?"
"Yeah, a male…"
"Oh, Goddesses no..."
She said this in a dejected manner and put her face in the right palm. The Mantis looked back in slight surprise.
"What? You have actually met one?"
"You can say that…"
"Ahhh….. Let me guess, you saw it, then ran off like a scared dog…"
"I fought it… and killed it within two minutes… singlehandedly."
The mantis just stopped in her tracks and looked back at her with an emotionless expression at first. The silence turned complete and the atmosphere around them became tense. Then without any warning the Mantis burst out in laughter that filled half the forest.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Grace experienced an insulted shame on her pride and honest mind. Shouted while it continued to laugh.
"It is true!"
"Yeah right! … Let me finish this…."
The Mantis continued for three more minutes and then coughed a little from exhaustion. It inhaled deep breaths to not suffocate from its laugh attack.
Grace waited patiently while slowly counted to ten in her head with eased frustration on her lips. The Mantis talked with a more amused tone.
"Okay… okay… let me explain to you why that feat is impossible…"
"Go ahead…"
"Once awakened we utilize a hundred percent, all the time, and unless you are a single digit, then taking an awakened down alone, is equal to suicide…"
"And what do you know about that?"
"Hey, I was a warrior once, remember? And I used to hunt a lot of awakened…"
"How many?"
"Well, before awakening… I had fought 22 and killed 21 of them…"
"And after that?"
"None… I had to go into hiding after awakening… for obvious reasons…"
The Mantis being looked around and appeared a little disappointed with resigned eyes.
"What is it?"
"He is not alive… otherwise he would have heard me laugh…"
"Perhaps it is just unconscious… or maybe I just don´t know what to look for… how does it look?"
"Okay… I guess I can tell you that… It is a small guy, roughly a little shorter than me. You could easily miss him, unless he goes into awakened form, then you would have to be blind to not see him… liked the smell of apples…poisonous, I remember that part… had an interesting way attacking people… a real sloth… I think his name was Gilas…"
Grace held up her hand to interrupt and the Mantis being looked at her while slightly annoyed. A little mosquito flew by and its faint buzz was the only sound in the forest now. She spoke in a voice of insight and remembrance.
"Poisonous…"
She moved her head in a certain direction and followed the sound of water. The Mantis just stood plain confused and followed her just to see what she would do. All with hidden curiosity and for the lack of other options to choose from.
She returned back to the spot where she woken up to this nightmare. At the edge of a small creek with the dead fishes, she looked in the water with a calculated stare and the Mantis being caught up with her.
"Don´t run off like that, I have to keep an eye on you after all…"
She didn´t respond and followed the creek upstream. The being looked after her, sighed and followed while she glanced at the fishes for a short moment.
Grace finally stopped when she found the source of her suspicions.
The body of a large humanoid, eight times bigger than a human in proportions. It rested on its stomach and had green studded and leather-like skin, pointy claws on its fingers. The head of a large lizard laid on its side with golden eyes and plenty large, sharp, teeth in its half-opened maw. It´s muscular body showed a dark red pattern over the back and a long thick tail, almost as thick as the body. Multiple sword cuts and stab wounds scarred over its body and both off the hind legs were cut off with coagulated blood from the stumps.
It resembled a desert lizard of some sort with a split tongue from the half open mouth which hung powerlessly from its gap.
Its open mouth rested in the wider creek and the water flowed through it. The Mantis caught up again and remarked with a casual tone.
"Look at that… he didn´t make it…"
Grace slowly walked up to it. The Lizard being didn´t move and even if her perception skills worked now, she wouldn´t have felt any traces of yoki from it. It appeared to have perished some time ago; the Mantis moved alongside it´s body and remarked with slight interest.
"I thought it would be tougher than this…"
Grace touched its head out of curiosity and slowly stroke her fingers over the rough bulky scales, as she never seen an awakened being´s form up close and wasn´t hostile towards her. The differences in it and the Mantis was greater than the line between night and day.
It twitched and grunted loudly to both of their great shock and surprise. They both took several steps from it with their reflexes and it turned its head around in fearsome desperation and drowsy confusion. It slowly supported its body on its hands and raised its rounded head. The yoki levels slowly raised within it as its claws scratched the ground.
"Grrh…Rraghh…Huurrggh…"
It looked around in confusion and Grace got a little startled by its behavior. She grabbed the handle on impulse and looked at the Mantis.
"You said it was dead!"
"Just messing with you… You are the claymore here. You if anyone should have noticed…"
"My perception skills are not the best…"
"Oh, you don´t say…"
A lot of sarcasm from the Mantis that grinned a little bit. The Lizard appeared distracted and only made primitive sounds from its throat.
"Grragh…Grrurrr… AAooorrrhh…"
It gazed up at the sun drowsily and showed no reaction to the others. Grace talked to the Mantis in a low voice.
"He´s definitely not the sharpest knife in the box…"
"What do you think? He must have been here for months, tortured, starved and terrorized… no wonder he would turn out like this!"
The loud voice got the Lizard´s attention and it looked down at the other awakened. The golden eyes in its head had not even the tiniest bit of higher intelligence left in them. She felt a tension build up as she stared back into the Lizard´s huge eyes, stunned in place as it leaned towards her. It sniffed twice and bared is teeth towards her.
"Rrrrrr…."
It turned its head to the side like a rooster searching for food. Its slit pupil moved down and ogled her uniform. It roared as its brain kick-started with the spark of fury.
"PRRAAYYMMOOORRREEE!"
The Mantis threw an amused glance at her and spoke in a calm voice.
"Seems like he wants to have a chat with you"
Grace got interrupted by the roar and instead provided the Mantis the evil eye.
The Lizard roared even louder and opened its huge maw widely. It spit a huge projectile made of saliva at her. She jumped away as it hit the ground and the Lizard prepared a second projectile. The Mantis just stepped out of the way and provided a piece of advice.
"Don´t get hit! It will slow you down a lot!"
"Was it not poisonous?...and why do you care?!"
"It is only toxic if you get it in your mouth! Otherwise it will just slow you down for him!...and I need your little blonde head alive!"
A second projectile headed towards her and she unsheathed the claymore. The projectile missed as the Lizard needed to focus the remains of its mind to aim. She rushed forward toward the being and the Lizard made a new move. It kicked off with the thick tail and stood on its hands as it lifted its entire body up for a couple of seconds.
The shadow covered the sun for a moment. She found herself within its shadow and the massive body tilted forward. She rushed to the left and it missed her by inches in a thunderous crash. The impact shook the ground in a massive earthshaking tremor that got the trees within proximity to tilt.
The Lizard turned its body to the left and began to roll around. She had to run and avoid being crushed under it. She turned on the spot as she prepared herself with the sword, the Lizard came at her and then she stopped it by an upward stab into its body. The blade cut deep into the flesh as the Lizard roared and rolled of in the opposite direction to get off the sword.
She waited for its next move and it went back to support itself on its arms again. It opened its mouth and spit at her. She tried to not dodge it this time and instead attempted something else. She made one quick swing and sliced the projectile in half, an easy task since it was only made from saliva.
It shot more projectiles and she inhaled a deep breath as she focused on them. She sliced the first three in half and used the broadside of her sword to block the fourth one. It exploded over the surface of her blade and she got partly covered in a sticky transparent mess.
The Lizard made a forward flip again and she jumped forward towards its head this time. As the Lizard tilted forward to crush everything in front of it, she threw herself on the ground, sliding along it with its own projectile to lessen the friction on the ground. She tried to slice the Lizard´s head apart with a sword strike.
It bounced off the hard surface. It bounced off the thick layer of rough shells with a dash of sparks. She side rolled and the being shook the ground again as it landed on its back. She jumped up at its throat and tried to stab it there but found out how that the plates went all the way around its neck and turned decapitation an impossibility.
She jumped off after a fast stab into its body and the Lizard attempted to roll back to support itself on its arms once again. She thought for a possible tactic to use and then came up with something out of the ordinary and controversial.
A little spark of madness twinkled in her eyes.
The being went back to spitting projectiles; she sliced the first two while avoiding the next three and ran to cut the mouth open.
The Lizard built up a larger projectile and then fired it.
She managed to avoid it while she picked up a smaller rock from the ground. Large enough to fit in her hand while she stood up and moved forward. She threw it with ten percent of yoki in the swing and it hit right into one of its eyes. The impact contained enough force to shatter both the rock and the eye. It tilted its head down in pain. She rushed even faster and leapt up in the air against it to deliver a killing blow that would slice its thick skull in half.
The Lizard thrashed its head around and roared with its maw wide open. She got caught in its huge mouth in one bite.
It went quiet and the Lizard chewed a little on her.
A smaller pulse of yoki pushed out from within its mouth, raised to thirty percent. The two-edged blade protruded out from the base of its skull and then sliced all the way to the end of the front jaw.
It broke and bent off the carapace scales like nothing. The vertical wound squirted blood and the entire upper skull opened vertically. A second heavy swing from the blade and it went across horizontally this time along the part where the mandible and the skull met. The two parts, one of them with a still functioning eye, fell off and the entire body trembled forward, sending tremors into the ground one last time.
Grace stood on the lower jaw, mostly covered in thick saliva and looked like a drenched cat out of the river. She kept her eyes and mouth completely shut, the Claymore rested in her hand and also covered in the sticky saliva as well. It shined a little from it.
It had only taken three minutes.
The Mantis just watched and clapped her hands a little in irony.
"Impressive… I don´t know if you are either a genius or completely insane… but you got him…"
Grace held up her hand and one finger pointed upwards as to signal.
Hold.
She followed the sound of the river with closed eyes. Once there she dipped her entire head under the water first. The currents washed off all stinking and slightly warm liquid that covered her face and hair. She held the head there for a minute and then pulled it out, opened her eyes and took one deep breath with her mouth. The Mantis Being just stood on the riverside and spoke in a bothered and slightly sympathetic voice.
"I don´t want to imagine what that must have felt like."
Grace then proceeded to wipe her hands clean. She removed the tattered uniform´s armor so she could clean herself properly. It had been disgusting and humid like the breath of a hundred dogs all at once.
She brought the sword with her down in the river and used it to anchor herself under the surface. Felt the rejuvenating water cleanse all the sticky filth from her body. She walked back up once she got rid of every single bit of it.
The Mantis shook her head in slight disbelief and still thought about the way Grace killed the Lizard. Found it repulsive.
"That… was probably the most insane things I have ever seen a claymore do…"
"You are surprised?"
"That one you just killed, is no real big deal, he was on the brink of death before you found him… taking him down proves nothing, but the way you took him down... unbelievable…"
"You still don´t believe me?"
"Until I see it happen I will stay doubtful…"
She sighed and put her armor back on. The Mantis looked back at the Lizard.
"Now... is there a reason to why you had to kill him like that? Do you care to tell me about it?"
"Yes…"
"Then go ahead and tell me then. Since I doubt you just went through that for nothing..."
"This is the reason…"
Grace pulled up a small box in her hand and the Mantis just twisted her face in a hint of interest.
"What is that?"
"This…"
She looked at it with a superior smile and a voice that contained confident victory.
"…is now the key out of this valley…"
That little black box in her hand shimmered a little in the dusk as night approached.