Chapter 20: Katrinas Godlike Moment Part 1
A/N: It feels like I haven't done enough with Katrina as a character as of late, and with her being the spiritual descendant of Kratos, I feel that's a bit disappointing. So for those who wanted Katrina, this one's for you. Fair warning though, this one is going to be sad. Also, my phone is acting up so I have to split the chapter.
A furious Adrian and Calvin stormed into their house, followed by Katrina and Asia, the latter of which was now holding a small purple blue dragon.
"I'm sorry that the trip to the familiars forest didn't turn out like it should," said Asia sympathetically.
"Not why we're pissed Asia," said Calvin bluntly, "but thank you." Calvin turned to Adrian, still furious, "What I AM pissed about is how you seem to keep defending Issei and his bullshit!" Adrian whirled around to stared down Calvin,
"I'm not DEFENDING anything! What he did back in that forest WAS bullshit, but you didn't need to damn near throttle him either!"
"The fact he stood there and watched as all of us were in trouble, sounds like it deserves a throttling to me!" Katrina simply rolled her eyes and looked out the window, and to her surprise, out past the lawn was Kessler! Simply standing out across the street, making a shush gesture, and beckoned her to follow him. She turned to her bickering friend and boyfriend, grabbed both of them by the backs of their heads, and clunked them together, forcing them to stop fighting and look at her with pained expressions.
"Both of you need to stop fighting for a moment!" She shouted, "We can deal with Issei another day, but for now, our good friend Asia," she turned to the former nun, "deserves a celebration for being the first of us to get a familiar. What's his name again?" Asia blinked and held out her small dragon familiar,
"His name is Rossei," she said with a smile. Katrina tickled the bottom of Rosseis' chin,
"Rossei," she returned Asias' smile, and turned back to the boys, "Now, you two help her celebrate however she wants, I'm going to go for a walk. No need to wait up for me," she said, making her way to the door and closing it behind her before anyone could say anything more.
She was now following the older man down the street, into the park, and eventually into the forest, where he finally stopped, and Katrina had already withdrawn her blades and spawned her armor.
"And just what do you think you're doing around here Kessler?" Demanded Katrina. The old man smiled, and turned to face her,
"To be technical, I'm not here at all." Katrina, not wanting to play games, hurled one of her blades at him, only for it to pass right through him, and the old man vanished into a flash of white light, and for another Kessler to reappear behind her, making her turn around. "This form you see before you is merely one of my doppelgangers. Sent here to lure you away from your friends," said Kessler, and he approached the Goddess of War, with her raising her blades in a defensive position. Kessler then stood almost too close her, an unfamiliar gleam in his eye, "I know your doubts...and your desires," he said, sending a chill down Katrinas back. He tried to hook her chin with a finger, but she smacked it away with the flat of her blade,
"You know nothing about me, Kessler!"
"I know you doubt yourself, in terms of being the Goddess of War," said Kessler, making her eyes widen in shock at the accuracy, "and I know you desire to prove your worth to your friends...and yourself." Katrina had slowly begun to lower her blades, "I'd keep those up if I were you, because this is your chance to prove your worth." Katrinas expression turned to stone hard glare as she turned back around, seeing a large mass in a brown cloak making its way towards her.
"And who, exactly, are you?" The cloaked figure stopped, and glowing orange eyes appeared out of the hood,
"That depends," said the figure, a deep gravelly voice rumbling from the hood, "are you the self proclaimed 'Goddess of War?'"
"Perhaps..." The cloak was then thrown off, and there stood a massive, army green skinned monster, clad in brown hooded robes, leather armor, a white skull half mask, and a serpentine bladed sword in his fist, a fanged skull decorating the hilt.
"Then you shall know me, as Shao! Second of my name! Elder brother and bounty hunter of the Empress of Outworld! And you, child..." He brought the sword in front of himself, ready to strike, "...are my bounty!" He then dashed at Katrina, encased in a bright green light, and smashed his shoulder into her chest, sending through the Kessler doppelganger, making him dissappear, and slammed into the ground a good distance away. He dashed again, this time flaring his sword, clashing with Katrinas blades as she barely blocked the attack. Kessler reappeared behind the two blade wielders,
"So you sent a bounty hunter to try to kill me?!" Asked Katrina incredulously.
"No," said Kessler, "But if he does, then I will have to pay him handsomely for it." Shao then forced Katrina back, breaking up the locked blades between the two, and he held up his sword for Katrina to inspect closer,
"You see this sword, girl? It's my trophy after I merged my first realm with Outworld," Shao bragged, "It was a realm called Nosgoth, ruled by a vampire named Kain. This sword, the Soul Reaver, was formally his, but now it is mine!" He cast an evil smug grin at Katrina, "The creature that lives within this blade will feast on your soul...while I feast on your heart!" He made another lunge for Katrina, but was once again blocked, and this time HE was forced back,
"Guess it will be disappointing once I take that blade away and destroy you with it," said Katrina, with vicious intent in mind. She charged, and the blades clashed away at each other, each trying to make a slash at the other, only for said slice to be blocked or parried away. She then kicked Shao away, and prepared for an overhead strike with her blades, only for Shao to lash out with his blade, leaving a deep cut on Katrinas' abdomen. She stumbled backwards, dropping a blade to clutch the wound, keeping her other blade up and ready, until a sharp pain hit her in the same area as her cut. She knelt to the ground, and reached down, feeling blood beginning to drip down...and it wasn't from the wound. Kessler saw this, and he responded with wide eyes,
"Shao, stop!" The green monster of a man kept his blade at bay, unsure of why the man who hired him was stopping him. The old man walked to Katrina, and saw her raise her free hand, seeing blood covering her fingers after she reached for her lower half, and both his suspicions, and her horror, were brought to light, "You...were with child?" She said nothing, instead she kept staring at the blood, her eyes mixed with emotions; shock, horror, sorrow, and loss. Kessler turned away, out of her view, and shed a single tear, "Do what you've been paid for," he said, and Shao raised his sword back up, about to strike, until Katrina lifted her blade, and when the blades collided, it created a shockwave that sent Shao flying past Kessler, making the old man whirl around. Katrina stood up, her eyes shadowed by her hair,
"Thanks to you bastards..." She lifted her blades, igniting them with a firey blaze, eyes now filled with rage, "I now have nothing left to lose!" She roared and dove through the Kessler doppelganger, and started to hack away at the the Outworld Bounty Hunter, crashing her blades to his sword, and even managing to slip one past his blade and slide across his mask, leaving a deep scratch. Shao was soon becoming overwhelmed, and had his legs knocked out from under him by a slice from Katrinas' blades, dropping his sword in the process. He slowly rose to his feet, trying to stand, until Katrina slammed both of her blades into his torso, plunging them deep into his stomach, before tearing them back out, making him spin around from the force of the withdraw. As he was kneeling, hands full of his innards, a sharp pain hit his back, and he saw a serpentine blade, HIS blade, exit his chest, and the same blade was torn upwards, slicing through his head, and splitting it in half.
Shao fell to the ground, dead as dust, and Katrina turned to the Kessler doppelganger, she pointed the Soul Reaver at his heart,
"If I ever see you around here again, doppelganger or no, I will tear you apart FAR WORSE than what I did to Shao!" She threatened. Kessler faced her, and gave her a sad smile,
"I'd expect nothing less from the Goddes of War...and I'm sorry for your loss," he said truthfully, and he turned, and vanished from sight in a flash of light. Katrina then fell to her knees, the pain in her abdomen becoming too much, and let out a scream worthy of a banshee...
Sometime later...
Asia was sleeping soundly in her bed, with Rossei nowhere in sight, and she was jolted awake when a hand was pressed over her mouth, revealing Katrina in the darkness of her room.
"I need your help Asia."
Soon the both of them were in the bathroom, with Asia wrapped in a white towel, healing a now nude Katrinas' wounds. Thwre was then a knock on the door, followed by Adrians' voice,
"Everything okay in there you two?"
"Just a moment," said Katrina, "Asia, you have your towel on, right?" She nodded, "You may come in." Adrian did so, and was at first surprised at what he saw, but soon relaxed,
"Feeling a bit like an exhibitionist tonight, are we?"
"Now is not the time for wisecracks Adrian," said Katrina, deathly serious, "I just barely managed to survive an attack from our mutual friend Kessler."
"What?!" Adrians' eyes widened in shock towards what he had heard, and anger towards the name mentioned.
"He sent some sort of bounty hunter after me, but I managed to take him down..."
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" Asked Adrian, frustrated at his friends irresponsibility.
"Keep your voice down!" Pleaded Katrina, "And I didn't say anything because I just barely got home! And...there's something else you should know-!" She couldn't finish her sentence as there was a loud knocking erupting from the front door. Adrian gave Katrina a look, which read we will speak more later, and left to answer the front door. Katrina then grabbed a nearby bathrobe, and as she slid it on herself, she turned to Asia,
"Thank you for taking the time to heal me." She then tied the sash around her waist, covering herself, and making her way to see who was knocking on the front door.