Chapter 24
"Foul Tears, part 4"
The eastern wing was in no better state than the western one. There was a lack of bodies in the hallways along with the missing blood. It seemed like most of the guards were in the same corroded state as they had seen before. If not worse, some of them were only consumed "halfway" through. The guards appeared melted apart with the soft tissues like rotten fish meat. Some of the torches had burned out and lowered areas in darkness. Sheena looked at them while noticing something of interest.
"Anyone else finds this unsettling?" She mentioned and Valerie glanced back at her.
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked.
"There is no sign of carnage here… no bloodshed, no dismembered body parts, and no traces except for these half digested guards…"
"You point is?"
"Where are these "feeders" as Grace called them. Shouldn´t they be present here as well?"
She looked back at Grace who thought over the answer while Victoria provided the status report on the feeders.
"These feeders are mostly present in the southern wing, chasing after the fresh meat of the guards, but there are still pockets of them scavenging in your area…" Victoria whispered.
Grace closed her eyes and answered Sheena.
"The feeders are like any other predator; they must have gone somewhere the meat is…"
"Perhaps so, but doesn´t that mean there will be more of them gathered up in a single spot?"
"Sorry, but the chances of that are very likely."
"Who cares! As long as I have something to beat up…"
Valerie´s interruption was convenient and broke the silence around them. Nothing attacked from the dark, and the cells gaped empty with opened doors. Some of them contained remains of carcasses inside, chewed through and clean.
Victoria´s warning could still be legitimate or complete lies Grace considered. They had not encountered anything yet despite them.
The metallic cling returned, far away as it wandered aimlessly in the hallway in front of them. All the torches had been put out, lowering the hallway in near pitch-black presence. Valerie and Sheena seemed to have stopped for a moment and made their swords ready. Apparently something was there, something that emitted yoki. Grace was at a disadvantage, since her own skills were close to useless, but she had the determination to not let this discourage her. She stayed in the light to listen on the sound. It sounded like it moved near a wall or something. Grace stepped out in front of Valerie and Sheena and while they watched, she hit the tip of her own blade against the ground in a similar manner like Lucia did before, but without the demanding undertone.
Cling…
The step stopped and a heavy breath started along with a guttural growl. It didn´t seem to attack them yet, like it waited to determine something and Grace, very well aware that blind fights were never a good idea, prepared herself while Victoria whispered.
"I can provide light for you… do you want my help?"
"Do it…"
Unseen to Grace, the little root-like thing around her ear started to blink rapidly and constantly in a weak bright light. The entire hallway in front of them lit up in a wave of similar lights that emitted from the hand-shaped holes spread over the walls, illuminating the corridor far better than any torch would. Valerie and Sheena gazed plain shocked over it, but this replaced itself with seriousness considering the thing that sat in front of them.
It appeared to be a guard, with the common feeder mouth and the compact gold eyes, trapped with the lower body under a heavy iron door. Chunks of metal dropped out from its mouth, while it feasted on its left leg like a ferret trapped in a fox-trap with blood over the front of the armor. The ferocity showed in the way that the leg barely could catch up the regeneration of the consumed limb as the feeder slurped the flesh off from the bone. The lack of armor on one of the elbows along with the chew marks and the healed tissues, suggested that it had ate on it as well. It reacted at the light, stopped its feast on the leg for a moment and regenerated within a minute.
It noticed the yoki from the warriors ahead of it and started to drool between the open spaces in its fangs, a thick drop falling down on the floor. Sheena grimaced in disgust and Valerie bolstered up enough confidence to make a stand.
"Just one? What a joke…"
The feeder got up on its feet and started to run toward them, much faster than the weak feeders they encountered this far, Grace got ready to slice it down when Valerie pushed her out of the way.
"Move… this one is mine."
"Valerie, you don´t know what you are doing…" Grace pointed out.
"Shut up Forty-Two…"
The feeder charged and Valerie prepared to swoop it down like the others.
She swung the sword rapidly and the feeder responded by bending its head backwards until it hit the armor in a high cling, while her swing missed completely. Valerie tried a second swing. The feeder threw up one of its arms in a sloppy move. The armor on it shivered for a moment and the iron shattered as a blade made from hardened bone and flesh shaped out from it.
The plain shock on Valerie´s face was enough to certify how big the disadvantage she really had was. The feeder swung with the blade arm directly at her and managed to scratch the hard skin on the face, luckily for her. If it had been a warrior without that little ability then she would have died. Valerie woke up from the shock when Sheena pulled her out of the way and impaled the feeder through the torso. It didn´t care one single bit and Sheena kicked it backwards to let it slide off the sword. It fell.
Clonk!
The feeder experienced difficulties getting back on its feet, burdened by the heavy armor. Grace was not late to attack it, but it kicked at her while forming a blade-like appendage from the bare foot. She blocked it, but the feeder rolled backwards to get back on its feet. It grunted while grabbing the cuirass by the throat, and began to shake and shiver on the spot. Valerie, now recovered from the initial shock, charged forward with the full intention beating it into a pulp. A dent built up from within the cuirass, cracks and the feeder threw out with the hands. Grace shouted out a warning.
"Get down, It´s going to shoot!"
While she swung with her sword, broadside up, towards Valerie's knees, she tripped over it and fell down on the ground. Sheena showed more trust in Grace and followed the command, while Grace herself went down while holding onto the sword.
The feeder shouted a primitive roar and the entire cuirass shattered in a violent explosion of organic bone projectiles, spewed out like thick arrows over their heads. Grace got back up on her feet and the feeder, which tore off its upper body´s armor off and flexed its bulky arms with renewed flexibility, headed towards Valerie, since she was the closest to it.
Valerie cursed a little while moving back up. Sheena crouched on the ground and prepared to perform the "grasshopper" with her sword in indoor position. Grace swung her sword against the strong feeder and managed to slice a forearm off, but it regenerated immediately. She went down on her knees and leant all the way backward as Sheena executed her attack and leapt right through the feeder in height of its armpits. It was not a clean cut as the regeneration in its body intervened, and it followed Sheena as she flew through the air. Sheena put a foot on its abdomen and performed a second "Grasshopper" while on it. The force from her yoki was enough to create a foot imprint on the Feeder and it flew through the air from her sword while she leapt back to Valerie and Grace. The feeder crashed down on the ground while avoiding head trauma. Grace used the distance to give the other two a warning.
"Be alert! This thing is far worse than the others!"
Valerie glanced back at her with a "little" angry expression. Mostly over that Grace had taken the command over them without any respect for the chain of number authority.
"And who died to make you the leader? You are at the bottom! Forty-Two!"
"I don´t have time to tell you off! Just get up and get ready! You too Sheena, this is going to be a real challenge… take the head!"
Valerie muttered something and got up after some conviction from Sheena. The feeder still regenerated the deep cut caused by the latest attack and charged towards the three warriors. Valerie sheathed her sword while cracked her knuckles and threw an unpleasant expression on her face that ended in an ill-intentioned smirk. Sheena was about to use ordinary swordsman skills. Grace thought of an appropriate strategy.
The feeder reached them and Grace opened up with a sweep against its chest. It just regenerated the wound. Valerie aimed a punch towards it and only hit air as it avoided the attack. Sheena aimed with her sword down and impaled one of the feeder´s feet vertically, nailing it to the ground. The feeder created blades on the inside of its arms and swung them against Sheena. Grace blocked them with her sword while Valerie followed up by an elbow in its back. The feeder´s shoulder blades turned outwards and turned into actual wide blades which bent backward at her.
Grace landed two attacks that dismembered the arms from its body and it countered by a twist with the ribs inside its torso, cracking them up as they punctured the skin to line up clean shots against Grace. She dodged them with a side roll and the ribs hit the wall behind her, impaled deeply. The arms regenerated quickly and it continued to shoot projectiles in a circle to attack anything nearby. While still impaled on Sheena´s blade and with mobility hindered to the point of being stationary, it still posed a threat. Valerie moved in front of Sheena while they tried to avoid a direct hit from the bony flesh projectiles.
Sheena grabbed the hilt of Valerie´s sword and used it as her own while Grace made an opening for them and stepped up towards the feeder while being hit multiple times from the projectiles and stabbed it in the chest from behind. The feeder immediately stopped the ranged attack to engage in close combat instead, twisting its arms backwards with blades sprouting out from them and turned its head to get a bite of her. Sheena leapt forward and vertically impaled the feeder´s other foot into the ground, hindered any movement from it. The feeder started to shiver and projectiles pointed out from all around its thorax. The warriors retreated behind the cell doors, with the exception of Valerie who stood firm on the ground.
The ribcage fired in every direction from the feeder and managed to crack the wooden doors with the force. Valerie got hit by the projectiles, using forty percent of yoki to enhance her defense. The projectiles bounced off, but the force still took its toll on her. She coughed out some drops of blood. Not in any pain, in fact this just pissed her off even more, and she wiped the blood clean from her face with the back of her hand.
They proceeded to attack it again.
The feeder tried to lift its feet but it was fruitless, nailed to the ground. Grace held on to the hilt of her blade. Valerie charged up a punch at the feeder with thirty percent of yoki, distorting her face. She delivered a clean hit in the side of the feeder´s face. The yoki in the attack was strong enough to punch out five of its fangs. She followed it up with a second punch to the other side, did not knocked out any teeth but still enough to make the blood flow. It charged up projectiles in the front of its body. Grace kicked it from behind and it bent its knees sideways, firing the volley of fleshy bones at the corner of the ceiling instead. It straightened its back again and Grace tilted the sword so it turned horizontally instead, while the blade was still jammed in its body.
The feeder looked forward and Valerie charged a much worse punch this time, using fifty-five percent of yoki, distorting the entire body in the process. She smirked and took a good stance to deliver the attack. The feeder tried to bend its head backwards but stopped when Grace changed the angle on her sword so it leant against the head. She charged her yoki up by ten percent, so she didn´t have to fly off the ground by Valerie´s punch as well. The feeder tried to create a new projectile but got interrupted as Valerie unleashed her fist.
She hit the feeder right between the eyes and the entire upper half of the feeder's skull got decimated into a blood-drenched mess. Valerie´s fist stopped at the blade Grace held onto and the insides of the feeder´s head resembled a blown-up haggis. The only real part left was the mandible and a small part of the neck. The rest turned history.
The power levels dropped and they both seemed a little relieved that it finally dropped dead, but Grace knew to not let her guard down yet.
Valerie grabbed both of the swords used to impale it and threw one back to Sheena.
"That was not so bad, this bostma pulled up a real fight!"
"It isn´t over yet…" Grace declared.
"What?"
The body of the feeder started to convulse and twitch in short spasms and the body pulsated and ill-looking tumors spread across the body, the regeneration process in the feeder lost control. Grace knew what to do, dragging both Valerie and Sheena, with heavy protests from Valerie, into the nearest cell and closed the door.
"What do you think you are...?!"
Valerie´s protests got interrupted when a fleshy and organic explosion thundered through the hallway, along with multiple sharp projectiles that shattered the thick prison door into shreds. A look out through the hallway and there were nearly a hundred projectiles spread within the blood stain where the body had been moments ago. Valerie didn´t say one thing while Grace looked at her and replied.
"You´re welcome…"
The light in the hallway faded out, and returned the hallway into its nearly pitch-black state again, some torches remained lit around the corner further ahead. Neither Valerie nor Sheena said anything. They processed what just happened in their minds instead. Grace on the other hand walked ahead of them and whispered to herself.
"I hope you enjoyed the show…"
"Indeed I did, sorry for leaving you in the dark, but I had to recover some energy…" Victoria explained.
"What?"
"I will explain later, when you get to my cell, right now, you need to move on! There are worse things further ahead."
"Are there any survivors?"
"The guard force here had only a third of full force when the outbreak hit them. They took position in a secure location and from my viewpoints, it seems like they are in no danger at the moment…"
"Any prisoners still alive?"
"It is easier to say it this way instead… all locked cells contains survivors. And there aren't many locked cells, that Vanguard woman has been particular about that…"
"Do the prisoners need help?"
"No."
Grace just thought to herself in small sign of relief…
"Just what I needed… "
They moved on around the corner and the comfortable light of the torches felt secure. Grace wondered what else the Vanguards could throw at them.
Further ahead in the eastern wing, the guards had recollected a small barricade in the mess hall, blocking the door with spears and trying to enforce it against any hostile prisoners, an easily defendable position with only one entrance and thick walls on all sides with the exception of the strange small holes in them. The remaining guards left in the Eastern wing in the outbreak had secured the room properly. So far it seemed successful and the guards discussed the next step.
"Okay… we are going to need reinforcements."
"Send two men in each direction until they reach the gate. At least one team will be able to get out of here…"
"Done and done, what do we do now?"
"We hold the door and wait…"
The door was completely blocked with only one guard as a watch-post.
Nixie stood a bit from it and tried to cure the boredom that built up in her mood. She already disposed of more than one guard so far and the feeders had moved to the south wing, hunting fresh meat there instead. Nixie herself considered joining up with Brook there once she was done with the guards here. She looked forward to it, not to kill all the guards, that would have been something she would do anyway, but to get back to Brook.
She could entertain herself for ten, maybe fifteen minutes when he wasn´t around, but even her continuous teasing with the men lost its value if he wasn´t around to see it. Nixie had no intention to experiment with the humans here anymore, and would engage what she did best, turning men into dumb smiling idiots before consuming them whole. She took a look at the guard they had stationed at the barricade. He looked like a young uncertain man that lacked any real experience with women. Nixie smirked to herself while starting to remove the few armored pieces she had.
This was going to be easy.
The guard stood outside and to say that he was scared was an understatement of the century. He had not enlisted for any of this. It had just been a job like any other, with gold in exchange for watching people in cages but these cannibalistic prisoners that he seen here? He wasn´t trained for such things. A part of him just wanted to go home. He wished that he only fell asleep and the entire thing was just a nightmare from bad mead or something.
"Hey, pretty boy…"
A woman´s voice from his left side. The guard turned his head in its direction and couldn´t believe his eyes.
It was a woman, leaning out from one of the prison cells, gorgeous with a body that made it impossible to take his eyes from her. He thought that if angels really existed, then this would be one of them, dressed in this, almost painted, dark uniform that only tempted his imagination further. She smiled at him with hidden intentions that only made her even more desirable. The woman didn´t look like any of the prisoners that he seen, or any woman in Purge for that matter. She was above them all in terms of beauty. The guard just stared at her while she giggled a little.
"See anything you like?"
The guard couldn´t even answer, stunned and didn´t even know where to start. The woman interrupted his thoughts by slowly moving a hand so he could follow it. She stroke one of her fingers over her face while keeping those seductive eyes on him. It infected his thoughts with desire for her body and warmth. The woman asked him something else while stroke a finger over the lips.
"Do you want to touch me?"
The guard could feel how a dumb smile crept up in his face, and he couldn´t hold it back either. The woman only smiled a seductive smirk and waved with the finger in an inviting gesture towards him.
"If you keep quiet… then I will be all yours for tonight… come over here… and take off my clothes…"
She slipped into the cell and the guard stood there, sweating heavily from the intensity she had invoked. He didn´t know what to do, if this really was a dream, then someone would be bound to wake him up sooner or later. He was certain that the whole thing was just a dream after all, such a beautiful woman was just too good to be true. He smiled to himself.
And since this is a dream, what harm would it do to live it through?
The guard headed towards the prison cell where the woman waited for him without a word spoken. He raised the visor and his hand to touch her face. He knew it was just a dream but there was still no need to spoil the moment. She moved closer to him, slowly pushing up at his cuirass. He could only remark over how enchanting her face really was up close. He was incapable of speak and couldn´t even say a word to her. It was just a dream after all. The woman moved her hands over his armor, one of them slowly upwards to his face while the index finger tease fully circled on his lips. She whispered with soft tones.
"It must be tight inside this armor…"
Her finger felt so smooth and he closed his eyes over the sensation from it. Like smooth silk. The woman moved with the finger inside his mouth and it turned slippery on its own.
"Let´s make some room in there…"
The young guard turned wide-eyed and to his shock, she shoved her entire forearm right into his throat, all the way to the elbow. He started to choke on it and could feel how her arm moved around inside him. The woman just smiled an unsettling smile while shoving more of her arm in, to the horror of the guard who couldn´t make one sound. He could feel her hand start to slither within his stomach like a snake. It pressed up against all bones in its body, the woman continued to force the arm in until her shoulder touched his lips. He was still aware and could still breathe through it. He could feel how her hand moved around in his intestines and wanted to scream to wake up from this nightmare. The woman said something that he could hear too well.
"After all…guts are a dish best served warm."
The pain started, it felt like something burned inside him. This woman´s arm had lost its human shape and it felt like a nest of roaches consumed him from the inside. He could feel how his body started to become hollow and it was one nightmarish experience in his mind. Her arm, he can feel it right next to his heart, for every heartbeat, he touched that slippery surface and turned more frightened. The woman started to look delighted and become more excited, feeling how his innards became digested by her. The woman started to wring in her other hand into his mouth and snapped his jaw wider.
"Ohhhh…. That feels so good, keep going, I won´t consume your heart or lungs as yet, just keep beating, keep beating, faster…"
It was like she didn´t have any bones in her body, and her other arm went in nice and easy. The guard almost lost his mind and kept thinking that it was just a bad dream, and that he should wake up at any minute now. The slithery feeling started to spread in his muscles. Pain and cold carved him out from the inside, spreading through his legs, through his arms, and now up through his face, under the skin. And he was still alive and breathing during this. The woman was close to ecstatic.
"You have a pretty face, just keep pounding, you are doing a good job! Just hold your death for a little bit longer."
The guard couldn´t answer and to his shock, the sight from one of his eyes disappeared in pain, consumed by this woman from within, along with his tongue, and something gelatinous moved up in his nose from the mouth, slowly breaking through, digging deeper into his skull. He fell down and the woman carefully helped him down on the ground, keeping the noise at a minimum. She sat over his chest while pushing herself deeper inside him. Her body turned gelatinous and transparent. She didn´t even remove her clothes to slip in and she put her entire head into his mouth to get inside. The guard felt how heart beat, but that was pretty much it. Her chest rubbed over his lips and he could feel that too. The skin on her legs remained, bulged and contorted the abdomen as she digested him and crawled towards his chest, she slipped in even more and her waistline turned at his mouth, the guard felt how something broke inside of his skull and how the head started to feel more at ease, a small gnawing feeling in the front at first, but it was not unpleasant. The other eye got consumed and only revealed darkness. The woman still forced herself down through him, made room while keeping him alive.
If this is a nightmare, then I am on the brink of waking up now, yes the pain is going away...
He couldn´t move and it felt like even his thoughts slowly slipped away, it got difficult to think, to feel, to remember.
Thinks this… what´s called?... hard… bad dream… no… worse… pain gone now…
The remaining parts of the woman outside him bent forward and dived down through his mouth, his body, not much more than skin and bones in armor. The guard left to nothing but his thoughts, as this empty feeling spread through his head and consumed the brain.
Wake…I…now…
The woman's left foot slipped in and the guard got reduced to nothing else but a mask and bones, along with a hollow head. The armor twitched a little and then slowly rose as a gelatinous mass filled out the empty face of the guard, grabbed the armored pieces of the uniform and put them inside the armor. It grabbed the helmet and put it on place with the visor down. The armor headed outside and took position at the outpost, waiting for the chance to be relieved of its duty.
In the southern wing, Brook looked around and was impressed from the mayhem he witnessed so far. The walls that separated the cells from the corridor had been breached completely and made more free space around him. Even the ceiling had taken several hits and enlarged the place further, along with several craters in the floor. He thought over the results of his latest test subject.
The subject has increased in strength, durability and size. Seems to take the yoki infused from the tears for better use than humans would be able to do, not surprising since it was using yoki from the start. But it seems like even this one has trouble with handling all this increased amounts of yoki, based on the visible signs on its body, and there is no telling if this thing has any higher brain functions. But as a battering ram, it is effective beyond expectation. I wonder what to call it? Considering further experimentation to create more of these creatures…
It seemed like the fire died out and the monstrosity started to move to the next barricade along with feeders which tried to sneak past it. One or two got squashed under its feet and it didn´t care at all. Brook walked slowly behind it and decided to watch and enjoy the show since there was no need for his intervention. He wondered how Nixie held up and what took her so long to get there.
He stopped and turned around, tempted to check on her to see if she was all right but he had to focus on his orders as between the two of them, Nixie had no sense of responsibility. It was up to him to make the deed happen.
The target is close, I can´t go back until I have finished up here, Nixie can handle it on her own, after all, we aren´t Vanguards for nothing…
He turned his attention back to the barricade where the archers fired their crossbows at his latest test subject. It had nearly no effect and it roared a deafening roar as it smashed another wall in with its fist. The feeders charged instead and the guards used their shields to block the holes. The test subject continued to smash in walls and seemed unfocused.
On second thoughts, the test subject lacks proper aim and will go berserk on anything regardless if it is a threat or not. I might need to take caution around them.
He noticed an archer aim directly at him from the other side of the barricade. Brook pulled out a dagger and in a swift move threw it straight into the only soft spot there was for him to aim at, the guard's eye. The guard screamed and fell backwards out of sight. Brook did not raise an eyebrow, and then realized something trivial.
Did I just throw an ordinary dagger?
He counted the vials and raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Will you look at that…? I did.
The test subject turned its attention to the barricade and raised its fists while the guards retreated back to the last one.
Back in the eastern wing, Grace stopped for a second when a distant thunder echoed through the tunnels. The others seemed to have heard it as well and Grace quietly spoke.
"What was that?"
"The abomination that the male Vanguard created, it is breaking down the defenses, you must hurry…" Victoria whispered.
"After making sure that the guards here are safe…"
"I don´t understand, why do you want to help the guards? Most of them are not better then the yoma…"
"They are still humans Victoria, and I am obliged to protect them, that is the purpose of us warriors…"
"Really, I was never told that…"
"What kind of warrior are you? And I have not heard of the number 10 warriors, what is your purpose?"
"We don´t have time, and if you really want to save the guards here, then you must hurry. The Vanguard woman is so close from killing them all. And don´t make a sound, the cell in front of you is dangerous…"
Grace looked up and noticed an open cell with a lot of chewing noises from out from it, along with several human remains and armor pieces. She held out her broadsword to halt Valerie and Sheena, while moved one finger to the lips to keep them quiet. As quietly as she could, Grace sneaked up and took a look inside.
The entire cell was filled with feeders, prisoners and guards, all chewing on themselves and on each other. Most of them were normal feeders but there were a couple of aggressive ones among them and Grace really didn´t wanted to fight them all since time was short enough. She noticed a sword on the ground among the other remains, and carefully picked it up while the feeders were busy. She grabbed the handle to the cell door and slowly started to close it.
Knirrrrrrrr
The feeders stopped at once and turned their heads in her direction with drool from their maws. Grace closed the door in a hurry and used the sword to lock it in place. The feeders threw their bodies against it and angry growls came from the other side, but there was no risk that they would be able to do any damage at the moment.
"Forty-Two… what was that?" Valerie asked with a scowl.
"Believe me Valerie, you don´t want to know, we better hurry…"
"What for?"
"Sheena can tell you, and there is something further ahead…"
"The being? Then what are we waiting for?! I want to have the first hit on it!"
Valerie took the lead and didn´t need to push Grace out of her way this time. Sheena noticed that Grace looked troubled by something and asked.
"What is it?" Sheena asked.
"I don´t think we should be fighting with it without support from Lucia…" Grace explained.
"Do you really think it is that strong?"
"All I know, is that one person can´t bring it down."
"Well, I actually agree with you here. Valerie might not admit it, but she isn´t as invincible as she believes…"
"Oh really?"
"To be honest, I don´t think she knows it; I am the one holding her back from doing the really stupid things."
"Then you better keep up with her, and if you don´t mind, hold her back when we encounter the being, for your own sake."
Sheena nodded and ran to catch up with Valerie. Grace whispered.
"Victoria, how much further is it?"
"You have nearly reached it, just a couple of hundred meters ahead, but hurry, the southern wing is considering releasing the torturers on the Vanguard male."
"And why is that bad?"
"I know that if they are willing to resort to that, then they are desperate, hurry!"
Grace turned to the others to say something, but got interrupted by wood breaking apart behind them. They glanced in that direction just in time to see the aggressive feeders burst out from the cell, falling over each other with several deep bite marks on the ones in the front after chewing through the door. They got up and turned their heads towards the three warriors, while the ones still on their feet started to hurry in a limped walk and hungry maws.
Grace sighed in a tired manner and grabbed the hilt of the sword while stepping forward towards them.
"Stand back, I will handle it…" Grace stated in exasperation.
Valerie stopped her with one of the fists raised in front of her to block the way, all with a confident smirk on her face.
"Forget that Forty-Two…! They are mine!"
Grace let out a small surprised expression and glanced at her.
"You sure you won´t need my help?"
"The last one was nothing and besides you failed to kill it, so just stay back and watch how I handle these bostmas!"
Grace dropped the argument and turned her head to Sheena.
"I will go ahead; can you handle things from here?"
"Where are you going?"
"I will distract the being; you can provide support once you are done here…"
"Got that, and don´t worry, I will make sure that Valerie is not doing anything stupi…"
She got interrupted when Valerie shouted a battle cry and charged dead on the feeders, started with a straight punch into the face of the weaker ones that knocked out a couple of fangs. Plenty of fist fighting and curses left Valerie and Sheena face palmed while sighing deeply. Grace just walked away while providing her sympathies.
"Good luck."
"You too…" Sheena turned her attention to Valerie while going for the closest feeder, ready to attack. "Valerie, use your sword!"
Grace started to run while Victoria remarked in an intrigued voice.
"Grace, did you just trick the one called Valerie?"
The only answer to the question was a content little grin over Grace´s lips, one that Victoria could see.
"This way they won´t get hurt…"
"You really plan to take on this Vanguard woman on your own?"
Grace did not answer and changed the subject.
"Victoria, can you bring any help here?"
"In my current state? I can only provide minimum support…"
"I don´t get it, if you really are everywhere within this place then supply me with at least some tentacles or talons or whatever you now have."
"I can´t… I have to struggle just to help you…"
Grace remained a little puzzled over this and if there had been more time, she would ask more about it. She started to run faster and made a request.
"One more thing, tell me when I am there, I have a tendency to get lost if I don´t have directions..."
"Okay."
The secured passage in the eastern barricade opened up and one of the guards walked out. It seemed like nothing had happened.
"Anything to report?" The other guard shook slowly with the head while the other one gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Good enough, get inside, it is time for a new shift. "
The stationed guard walked into the mess hall without a word, while the barricade closed in behind him. A small grin built up below the visor.
Only thirteen guards were present in the room and some of them had taken the command and discussed tactics with the others. Five of the guards posted by the barricade used tables and chairs to enforce it. There was no escape from this room. The guard moved over to one of the other planners, who looked up from his sword.
"What is it?"
The silent guard glazed at him while slowly pulling the helmet off. The face held a tricky smirk and no depression like the others. The guard started to get nervous; there was something unsettling with that face and the head of the other one. The silent guard waved with the armored hand for him to get closer and he stood up in height with his face.
"So? What is it you wanted to say?"
The silent guard smiled wider and opened the mouth.
A thick transparent gelatinous tentacle, like water, burst out from his mouth, ripped the face to pieces and engulfed the other one´s head entirely. The other guards reacted in shocked surprise and got paralyzed in action. The guard who got his head engulfed, looked around in a panic and tried to remove it, the tentacle jiggled as he screamed in terror. To the horror of the other guards, the trapped guard´s face started to become liquefied and digested, while still alive, everything organic within this tentacle melted apart and the fluids went straight into the mouth of the silent guard and the creature within. The trapped one screamed until his brain turned into mush and got sucked out through holes where his nose had been until the only thing left was a cranium with open mouth.
The other guards pulled out their swords and looked terrified while the tentacle dropped the dead one. It giggled in a distorted, female voice and the entire tentacle vibrated from it.
"DEMON!" They screamed.
Three of the guards stormed forward while others reloaded their crossbows. The thick tentacle retreated back into the mouth and sprouted two more tentacles that swept towards them. They impaled their chests through their cuirasses and through to the other side of their backs. The last of the three looked through the holes and could see the exposed spines and ribs inside them. The guard leapt forward and stabbed the invader in the stomach. The creature, still with the trashed face of the silent guard, glanced down while grabbing him in a violent manner.
The silent guard´s armor started to break and a third tentacle shot out from the left side under the armpit. It shoved itself down the frightened guard´s throat and into his lungs, snatched them in the process along with the entire throat. It dumped the body like a bag of dirty laundry and then started to walk over to the other guards in an intimidating manner. They fired their crossbows and three hit the torso while two arrows missed completely. Another giggle from the creature and it untied the armor like a snake that shed skin, devouring the human face in the process. The creature that stood in front of them drove the guards crazy from fear.
A gelatinous mass, like compact water with human proportions covering a skeleton with a human heart beating in its chest gazed at them. The gelatinous part was minor, like soft tissues of a real person and started to reform itself over the surface of the bones, altering its proportions. Generous female features and an attractive transparent face covered the cranium; still beautiful enough to catch the eyes of the guards despise its morbid appearance. Her hair consisted of two tentacles wrapped down over the shoulders. Two bright spots shined up in the empty eye sockets and Nixie smiled while moving her hands to shape the gelatinous mass properly.
"It is all wrong… my hips are smaller… the chest is not as I wanted it… chin too wide… but that is what happens when you use a male skeleton… but it is just temporary…"
She glanced at the other guards who reloaded their crossbows properly. They fired again and the arrows went deep into her gelatinous tissue. Some of them are made a ripple over the surface and she giggled in response.
"Not even close… I better hurry up with this child´s play."
Nixie ran towards the archers and relocated the bones of the skeleton, shooting out the forearm bones like spears and impaled two of the archers on them. The blood dripped down on her and got devoured immediately. She killed two more in a rush and grabbed one by the throat while he coughed blood. She smiled at him, kissing him while licking up his blood inside the mouth, digesting his lips in the process. He tried to scream and her two tentacles wrapped around his throat, digesting it whole as she squeezed.
Another guard with a sword tried to take a swing at her and she flipped the gelatinous mass backwards and grabbed the guard´s hands while falling down over him. Her soft tissues slithered over his armor and through the gaps in them. The guard got crushed, melted down until only bones remained and the flesh gathered up in her right arm, coloring it rose-red. The other guards tried to attack her all at once. She turned the arm towards them and sprayed a blood-stream that blinded the horrified people who screamed out loud.
She got back up and killed two more in a gruesome matter, smiling delightfully at the carnage.
Knock…knock…
Nixie stopped for a moment and turned her head towards the barricade. The second after that, the entire wall of wood got destroyed by a huge blade that cut through. Dust built up and splinters spread in the air. Nixie took one look and the other guards were stunned over the sight of the figure in the doorway.
Grace took one look at Nixie with golden slit eyes after the abrupt break-in, and they reverted to silver. She charged straight towards the Vanguard with the sword raised.
Brook turned his head back in the tunnel again and this time with a worried face expression.
Nixie… I better wrap this up, one line of defense left, no need for extensive force
He considered going back; to prevent further damage, but couldn´t since the target was too close. A second look on the test subject who was in the middle of a massacre with some abandoned guards caught his attention. He called out to get its attention.
"You! Go back and break the front gate!"
The huge creature stopped the relentless smashes and obediently headed back in the corridor, crushing the walls in the process. The remaining feeders put the pressure on the guards and Brook started to move towards the last barricade to finish the job.
"Halt commoner!"
A voice filled with despise addressed to him. Brook stopped and turned around.
A Claymore stood there and pointed the broadsword right at him along with an eye-piercing glance. The test subject seemed to have missed her, or she had deemed it unworthy of her attention. Either way, it still moved away while they had the stand-off.
"Kneel…"
Grace swung the sword at the gelatinous mass that covered the skeleton. It lifted one of the arms to counter and she sliced right through it and the bones in the process. Nixie didn´t care much about it and swung down with the arm like she swept away an irritating fly. Grace jumped back to avoid the tentacle and it shattered the floor on impact.
"I guess that we shouldn´t be surprised over the presence of claymores…" Nixie smiled.
Grace thought quickly in silence while Victoria provided advice.
"Grace, the bouncy bag of bones is not emitting any yoki…"
"It doesn´t matter… I can´t risk other´s life in something like this, even if it means I have to break every single bone in its body myself!"
Nixie appeared a little surprised and smiled at her.
"Claymore I have nothing against you, just let me kill these guys and I will leave…"
"I can´t let you do that Vanguard…"
Nixie silenced and asked while stepping up on one of the corpses.
"You know about the Vanguards?" Nixie asked.
"Yeah, I meet a couple of them a while ago…" Grace commented while remained alert.
"That…is unfortunate… but if you keep quiet about it I will let you go…"
"Like you actually have any power for that. From what I can see, you are just bones…"
"Oh, then take another look…"
She turned the hand and pointed with the thumb at something to Grace´s left side. She followed it and noticed a second figure rise from the broken armor, dressed in the Vanguard uniform and with golden eyes. It looked like a younger version of the gelatinous Nixie, and without the body to fill out the uniform. It sagged a little over the young form. She smirked at Grace while leant back against the wall. Grace´s eyes bent in honest confusion and looked back at the talking skeleton.
"As you can see, I have not even gone awakened, I am just using the technique I had when I was a warrior myself, "Doppelganger" except I have so much yoki that I can use it with minimum amounts. Take a good look at me Claymore, because I am the doppelganger and even if you beat me…I can always create a new one."
"Feeling confident aren´t we?"
"I wanted to make things clear so you won´t get the wrong impression, my awakened form is much more beautiful than this piece of shit…"
"And too full of yourself as well…"
"I shaped my own awakened form before awakening, I have the right to be confident!"
"You did what?!"
"I don´t have time for this so I will make you a deal, defeat my "Doppelganger" in five minutes or less. If you succeed then I will leave the guards alone. if you fail I will kill them and then leave."
"Five minutes?!"
"Considering that any opponent that has faced "Doppelganger" has perished within three, and that was before I awoke, so is it quite generous."
"Why are you doing this?"
"The entertainment starts immediately at my signal… one, two and three…"
Before Grace could ask anything else, the doppelganger attacked with one swing of its slimy arms like a tentacle-whip. She sliced cut it off, but it was just a flesh wound. The tentacle grew back while the cut part slithered into the doppelganger again. Grace thrust forward with the sword and the doppelganger used one arm to thicken the gelatinous mass over it.
Her sword stopped halfway from the ribcage and the doppelganger pushed her away with a thick tentacle. Grace got thrown into the wall and broke a rib or two and used yoki to undo the damage in seconds while side-rolling to avoid a thick tentacle that swept downwards at her. She tried again to get a good slice of the doppelganger, only to be countered when it slapped her in the side with a heavy tentacle that altered its thickness to the size of a tree trunk.
She remained on her feet and charged ten percent of yoki while swinging the blade at the Doppelganger´s femurs. She managed to cut through the left one but received a kick from the other leg in the process. She nearly lost her breath for a moment but the force from the kick was enough to put her down on the ground. The Doppelganger raised the leg with the broken femur to knee her in the chest.
Grace answered by a roll to the side while the attack missed. She got back up again, grabbed the hilt and tried to knock Doppelganger´s head off with the broadside. The entire doppelganger jiggled from the impact and its movement halted. Grace used the momentum from the bounced off blade to twist the hilt in her hand to make the edge horizontal and swing full circle on the spot to perform a decapitation.
The doppelganger countered with a pull in the cranium, reverting it back into the ribcage like a tortoise while leaving the gelatinous mass where it was. Her blade went right through it and the gelatinous tissues closed quickly as the cranium retook its position. Grace did not stop the assault and delivered rapid attacks that managed to shatter multiple bones in its body, but to no effect. Nixie started to talk causally while devouring a half-melted guard´s remains like on a picnic.
"Do you want to know how the doppelganger worked before? I know you will so I can go ahead… I just used yoki to move so fast that I became two people in battle. It was just plain amusing to watch the yoma stand there and try to figure out which one they should attack. And considering that they only had three minutes, they had to choose quickly. They always failed, much to my amusement. I did tried to create one more "Doppelganger" just to see if it worked, just imagine, three of me in battle, that would turn their heads inside out for what I know. But it didn´t went so well. I lost too much energy and pushed the limits too far to make it safe. I always stopped and held back to not awaken…"
Grace was too occupied to listen and tried faster swings while only caused flesh wounds on the doppelganger, not even close to the bones. Grace moved her sword upwards and managed to scratch the sternum on it while impaled the wall above her.
The doppelganger opened its mouth and a tentacle shot out from it to impale her. Grace immediately grabbed the hilt with both hands and swung herself up while bashing the doppelganger with her feet to shut its mouth. With a foothold on the wall and ten percent use of yoki, she swung the sword with force and got a clean cut through the cranium of the doppelganger. It staggered backwards from the impact and the two halves of its head floated like a "V" within the transparent flesh.
Grace used this to get away from the wall, pushing away and landing behind it. The doppelganger just used its tissues to get the skull whole with the exception of a straight line through it. Head damage would not do the trick, since this thing had nothing inside it.
"Nice try, but predictable… two minutes left…"
Grace remained entirely focused on the doppelganger and had no time to question her decision. She made a heavy thrust to impale it against the wall and it used both arms to thicken its mass around it. She continued to push through with more and more yoki, twenty percent, thirty percent, thirty-five percent. The blade slowly went through the gelatinous mass and broke the ribcage. Grace turned the blade to increase the damage done on the bones.
The doppelganger aimed a kick and it hit her on the arm, started to break down the organic parts and Grace had to pull the sword out. She could see the bone in the open wounds. They healed quickly. There was a big open hole in the ribcage where the heart beat remained exposed. Nixie looked intrigued.
"But I got to say… you might last longer than most people would… there are now forty five seconds left. "
Grace ran out of options and she had no choice but to put it all on one finale hit.
The doppelganger swung both its arms together to trap her in between. Grace rushed forward and blocked the tentacles with the broadside of the sword in two swings. When she stood right in front of it, she punched right through the hole in its ribcage and grabbed the heart. Her arm started to melt, but she did not let go of it.
She quickly pulled back and the still beating heart rested in her grip. The Doppelganger acted confused and Grace crushed the organ in her palm with a smirk and one squeeze. The body of the doppelganger rippled and jiggled only to dissolve into a mass on the ground. The bones turned lifeless, crushed and Grace appeared victorious and the gelatinous mass started to move and slithered off the broken bones.
Grace followed it with her eyes and it crawled past her feet without any interest in her.
It reached Nixie´s feet, slithered up around the legs and body. The young woman opened her mouth and it went straight in. Nixie´s body started to change and fill up the uniform into her initial appearance, fully matured and the clothes fit like a glove once more. She moved both hands over it and gave off a delighted smile.
"Ahhh… that felt much better, I was going to dispose of the "Doppelganger" anyway, might as well be in a fight…"
Grace held back the exhaustion. That creature had not been the easiest opponent and what a challenge, a sword technique combined with an "awakened" body, the combination was lethal, in that other awakened beings abandoned their sword style in favor for the might of their new body and its capabilities. This was not good from Grace´s point of view and she pointed the sword at her.
"Now, I won…"
"Let´s see here… you did beat my Doppelganger, even if I was just playing around with it; I still give you credit for that. It took four minutes and forty five seconds. Go ahead, claim the prize…"
Grace turned to the guards while shouted.
"Hurry up! Get out of her…"
She silenced as the silver gaze fell over their faces. They had melted from the blood sprayed in their faces, a result of digestive acid mixed within. They seemed to have suffered in silence while she had been occupied. Nixie giggled.
"But just so you know… they were dead before you come barking in here anyway…"
Grace pulled herself together and felt how anger built up inside. She turned to Nixie.
"So why even make the challenge!?"
"Simple, I was bored."
Grace turned furious. She knew it was a Vanguard. She knew it was a awakened being that Faith referred to as a "Seasoned" one, but after a night full of Valerie´s constant taunts, she was on the edge of a furious outburst. She squeezed the handle until the knuckles turned paler.
No thought of breathing exercises, as she wanted the blade to sink deep into flesh.
Nixie sighed while walked over to the sole exit.
"Well, this has been fun Claymore, but I have other things to…"
Grace stood between her and the doorway with the sword raised, her eyes glowed from the furious tornado within. She did her best to contain it as anger clouded her judgment.
Nixie raised an eyebrow as she glanced back, following the edge of the sword with her eyes.
"Are you suicidal or something?"
Without a single warning, Grace swung the blade with a fast furious strike, right at Nixie´s head, diagonally.
CLING!
Grace glared up at Nixie who only smirked back at her. The edge of the sword had been blocked by a small throwing dagger that protruded out from Nixie´s face. She just laughed while Grace pulled the sword away.
Nixie remarked while the dagger returned back into her body while the eyes in her face narrowed in amusement.
"Aren´t you interesting claymore. Okay then, maybe you can entertain me for five more minutes…"
Grace didn´t say a word back at her and swung the broadsword in a second attack, filled with suppressed rage…