Chapter 56- Bringing down the Abomination (part1)
Disclaimer:- all the characters form the game belong to moonton and this is not a commercial story but just the work of a diehard fan.
Claimer:- the other characters which are not in game of mentioned are mine
With Nhari's help, Hanabi was able to reach near the siege machine far faster than she could have with her own legs. The Demons that were after her no longer followed her because the black horse was easily able to lose them with her speed.
"You know, for an old horse, you sure are fast." The human girl complimented, oblivious that the horse was just getting more annoyed by her praises.
They rode on for a good while till they neared their destination, The Siege Engine.
"Whoa…" Hanabi gasped breathlessly, marvelling at the size of the metal beast that stood over 50 meters tall. The girl was rightfully intimidated by the colossal machine but the horse still seemed unimpressed. The Turtle had been far bigger and she ran neck to neck with that mountain sized creature so the machine was not gonna amazed her anytime soon.
"Okay, can you get me closer? I have to board it." Hanabi requested and the equine was ready to oblige. Now running just beside the machine, Hanabi could feel the ground shake with every step the machine took and it really made her nervous and she was supposed to climb that thing and somehow manage to shut it down. It was utterly crazy but she had herself suggested this, so it was her responsibility to see it through.
"Here goes nothing…" she mutters and readies herself. The machine's leg came crushing down into yet another earth shaking step, that was the exact moment when Hanabi decided to jump off the horse and latch on to the metal limb.
Fortunately she was able to secure a grip on the limb and didn't fell to her death. Now that the first step was done, Hanabi started to slowly climb up the leg, while constantly repeating her mantra, "Don't look down…"
-X-
Against all hope, Miya prayed that Hanabi's plan would somehow succeed and she would return back safe and victorious. They tried their best to create a diversion and she was genuinely happy that the Ninja girl was able to get away on a horse before the demons would overwhelm them.
However, her celebration ended abruptly when she realized that the Abyssal Witch had seen Hanabi and was now tailing the human.
"NO!" she cries and shoots an arrow at Selena's direction, in hopes that it would somehow stop her. But before the arrow could reach anywhere near the Witch, the projectile was blocked by a huge axe, whose owner was none other than the Balmond himself.
"The Battle isn't over yet, Elf." he declares. More troops back him up and soon Miya , Nana and the rest of the soldiers found themselves completely surrounded.
Miya's throat went dry at this; a sickening feeling came in her stomach that this may very well be her last stand. She holds her bow tighter and mutters lowly, "God speed, Hanabi."
-X-
Numbness was all that Alice felt at the current moment. Many emotions raced within her mind as she walked down the decimated city without any care of her surroundings. Disbelief, shock, anger and besides that, sorrow. Heart wrenching sorrow, the likes she had never felt before.
Sorrow that the person she had ever love would leave her like that. The betrayal was agonizing and Alice had no idea what to do.
She never had been one for matters of heart. That was the reason why she had been so weak when Saya had managed to slip into her heart and the very reason why the previous actions hurt Alice so much as well.
The Breaker of hearts had her heart broken for the first time and she could not bear it at all.
Alice didn't know how to cope with it because the pain in her heart was too much. Nothing had ever hurt her to the extent that her beloved had and the Blood Demoness wanted to end it by any means.
She asks herself often, 'Why did she do that? ... Was my love not enough? ….What does that human have that I don't? …. Where did it go wrong? ….Was it because of who I am?'
The Demon Queen laughed bitterly at this, even when tears fell freely off her eyes. She should've known that it was just too good to be true. That someone like herself did not deserve to be loved and accepted.
She was, is and always will be a monster and that was a fact that she had to accept.
Alice wiped her tears with the only spare item she had, Saya's scarf. Realizing whose item it had been, Alice was hit by a wide array of emotions, the fondness and affection she still had for Saya. The anger and bitterness of her betrayal and the deep sorrow of losing the only ounce of compassion she had in this whole world.
Oh, how the Demoness wanted to throw the scarf away, to throw it away along with all the emotions of love, compassion and all the pain that she felt for the Sai'ore, but no matter how much she tried, Alice could not. She could not throw away the only thing that served as a reminder of all the time that they had spent with each other. The only time when she found refuge from all the hate of the world and found sanctuary in Saya's affection.
A few explosions went off in a distance, reminding Alice of the battle that was still raging on. The Demoness looked out towards the battlefield and the Siege Engine that was still up and about, slowly making its way towards the city. Soon the city would fall along with everyone in it and so would Saya, whom Alice had failed to save.
'Perhaps there is still a way…' Alice looks towards the King's castle. The very thing the Abyss had attacked the Kingdom of Elves in the first place. Alice wonders that if she would be able to get what the Abyss wanted, the invading demons would have no reasons to keep on with their invasion. She could still save her!
People would wonder why Alice would be so willing to protect Saya, if she had just betrayed her. The answer was simple, she still loved her. She had loved her like she had never before and even if she hated her; she would hate herself even more if something was to happen to Saya.
Thus, Alice headed towards the castle with determination to do one last favour for the tall Zeno and nothing would stand in her way.
-X-
Hanabi was able to finally climb her way up the mechanical limb, using the various bolts, fissures and crannies as hand-holds whilst avoiding the parts of the machine that moved like joints and rotating clogs.
Upon reaching high enough, Hanabi found a way into the main body of the machine via an air vent and traversed inside the engine without alerting the crew that operated the machine below.
Well, she did it. Hanabi was successfully on the moving metal hulk but now another question arose, how was she going to stop this thing?
She doubted that even with all her explosive tags, she will be able to damage the machine enough to completely shut it down. She needed another way, or at least more fire power.
The ninja girl stopped in her tracks when she heard someone talking below the air vent that she was in and remained very silent in fear that they might hear her and in doing so she couldn't help but over hear them.
"Watch it, Ya git! You could've blown us all to oblivion!" a deep voice scolded and Hanabi had to peek down the ventilation, from there she saw a huge Orc accompanied by several other underlings who were carrying several barrels of explosives.
A chill went down Hanabi's spine knowing that they were probably planning to drop them once the engine was inside the city.
"Bring it faster, we have to stash it with the rest!" the orc commanded and the creeps followed. His words making Hanabi even more worried because it meant that there were likely more of them and considering just how big the machine was, there was most probably going to be a large number of it.
This thought troubled Hanabi a lot and she knew she will have to stop this machine fast. With her will further solidified, Hanabi thinks of a way to achieve her goal. It didn't take her long to figure out what she had to do.
Should she be able to find the stash of explosives, she would surely be able to use it against the machine itself!
The idea was brilliant!
Now finally armed with a decent plan, Hanabi tailed the demons through the Air vents.
"Hang on guys, I can do this….."
-X-
"Wait!" roars a voice through the swarm of demons that had Miya and her fellow elves surrounded. The enemies halted and a lone figure push through the crowd, "I will deal with these pests myself."
Turns out that the speaker was none other than the leader of the orcs Balmond himself. Upon his command, the Abyssal army took a step back and formed a circle around them, preventing anyone from getting out alive.
However, as powerful as orcs were, going against an entourage of thirty Elven warriors on his own seemed like madness, even for Balmond.
"Come on, soft blooded Elves. I don't even need an army to squash you all!" the massive orc declared mockingly, his head held high with confidence.
Seeing the orc speak with such arrogance really angered the Elves, "Filthy orc, you will die here!" they yelled and charge head on, even when Miya warned them not to. "No, it's a trap!" She cries, but her words fell on deaf ears. The soldiers were too blinded with desperation and rage, causing them to charge blindly. They believed that their overwhelming numbers would be enough to deal with the lone orc, but they were wrong. So very wrong.
With skills not seen in any Orc before, Balmond was able to hold his own against the entire platoon. Their rage and attacks only seemed to empower the red Orc the more they fought him.
Soon, the orc had stored enough rage to enter his berserked stage and when Balmond used his dreaded cyclone sweep, they didn't stand a chance.
He was just too powerful and strong, his axe shredded through armour and flesh alike and soon the ground was littered with blood and bodies. Seeing the demise of her people angered Miya, causing her to act immediately, "Nooo!"
Arrow after arrow flew towards the orc's direction but unfortunately, in his berserked state, Balmond didn't feel any pain due to those wooden missiles. It only served to make him angrier and since her arrows did not hit any major organs, Balmond didn't stop.
With a loud roar, the Orc covered the distance between himself and Miya. Using his dash, Balmond shoulder bashed Miya, sending the frail and thin elven woman tumbling away and injured her severely.
Balmond stomped towards the wounded and disoriented Miya to finish her off, but before the Orc got any closer, a pink explosion engulfed him, sending him tumbling away and leaving everyone else shocked.
Suddenly Nana showed herself beside Miya, armed with her boomerang, she yells, "Get away from my friend, you meanie!"
Miya was certainly very surprised but glad as well because the cat-elf had essentially just saved her life. However her expression quickly turned to that of horror when they learned that Balmond was still up, about, unharmed and pissed.
"I will crush you beneath my boots, you little fly!" he roars and charges towards Nana.
"No, Nana run!" yells Miya, she herself too beat up to stand up herself.
The child tried to hold the orc off with her boomerang attack but Balmond deflected the attack effortlessly and didn't slow down. His axe glowed in a sinister red hue as Balmond prepared to use his most devastating attack on Nana.
"NOOOOOOO!" Miya yells, watching helplessly as the axe fell towards Nana. Then out of the blue, all they saw was a bright blue flash and the sound of metal clashing with metal. Slowly Nana looked up and couldn't help but smile brightly, "Karina!"
There, before the cat-elf, stood the night-elf assassin, blocking the attack of the orc with a bright blue dual blade.
-X-
Like a true assassin-ninja, Hanabi was able to follow the demons towards the explosives which were stashed in the storage area of the machine in numbers enough to completely level the city. The air vents helped to conceal her approach through the machine half the way, after which she had to get out to the air vents and rely on her true stealth skills to stay hidden.
Once they reached their destination, the orc who had been supervising the labours left as he had other urgent works to carry out. The underlings were busy arranging the explosive barrales on racks with lids that opened outside, most likely to drop the barrels on the target below the engine.
"Not anymore…" hissed Hanabi and rushed out of her hiding place.
The creeps had no chance to react as Hanabi's higanbana was able to dispatch every single one of them in a single attack. Pleased of her handy work, the masked girl proceeded on to the next phase of her plan.
It took a bit of time but the ninja girl was able to rig the entire place with her own explosive tags that would detonate on her command.
"So far so good. Now, the third stage, how to get off this death trap?" wonders Hanabi while walking out of the storage area. She will have to get out of the siege engine if she wished to trigger her explosive tags and walk out alive.
"Maybe I can go back the same way I came…." She thinks, moving silently through the metal corridors.
Suddenly her senses flared, warning Hanabi of the sudden danger. A black creature covered in smoke had just jumped down upon her with its razor sharp claws; an attack that would have been fatal had Hanabi not moved just in time to avoid it.
"Hmm, you are fast." The creature speaks in an unearthly voice that made the human's skin crawl.
She got a good look at the creature now; it had deep blue skin with razor sharp claws and tail. Its face was obscured under a large hood. Underneath it, all she could see was rows of sharp teeth curled up in a twisted smile and glowing red eyes.
Hanabi readies her weapon and speaks, "Who are you?" the creature laughs lowly and introduces itself, "I am Helcurt, the Devourer of light and you, human, are my prey!"…
