I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
Unstoppable
"Why? Why would you do this?"
"To tame it!" Jura cried. "Even though I was pissing and shitting myself that time, I couldn't take my eyes off of it! I knew from the moment I saw it that I must have it!"
"I'm cutting his head off," Ethan growled.
"Too late," Ryu breathed, trembling in fear again. "It's already too late!"
Then, there was a deafening roar, not belonging to any monster Ethan had ever fought. Even at his most basic instinctive level, pure, undiluted terror flooded him. It surpassed fear which heightened senses but left one vulnerable, surpassed dread which left one numb and weak, and surpassed horror, which left one frozen. This was true terror, where the only possible response was to flee. And he knew, this sound, this roar, was it. The monster Jura had worked so hard to summon.
Ethan swallowed hard, his trembling hand gripping his sword's hilt, and the sword rattled in its scabbard. Then, there was movement and a scream. Four adventurers fled into the room from it. For a half a second, Ethan thought he saw a pair of glowing red eyes. Then, it was gone. He dropped his eyes back to the four adventurers, the only ones fortunate, or possibly unfortunate, enough to reach the dead-end room they were in alive, just as there was a flash of movement in his vision, like a twitch in his eye, and suddenly, there were only three. His jaw fell open and his eyes snapped back up to the roof of the chamber. There it was, in all its grotesque, horrifying glory.
It's body was huge, and yet disgustingly thin. It's almost bony arms and legs were gripping the joints of the walls and ceiling, holding itself up. Its arms were disproportionately long, as were its digitigrade legs, like a cat's back legs, making its torso look unnaturally small. It's head was that of a gigantic beast, like a cow's, except for the horns. They were slightly curved, slightly enough that they could almost be called straight, and reached backward from the top corners of its head for the same length as its head, longer than Ethan's arm. The thing's four meter long tail was currently coiled up above it, and its neck seemed to be nothing more than its spine. Its entire body was coated in an exoskeleton that glinted in a dark, purplish-blue light, and its glowing crimson eyes were glaring maliciously down at the remaining adventurers. Its body, in total, was roughly three meters long, not including the tail, with four deep-purple claws on its feet and six clawed fingers on each hand.
The Adventurer it had snatched up was held in its mouth, and he reached out a hand toward the others. "H-Help m-"
With a sickening crunch, the Adventurer's black full-plate mail shattered as the thing closed its jaws as though it were nothing. The Adventurer's head fell, bouncing once, twice, and then the Juggernaut was gone. Ethan sensed its approach from behind and dove to the side, tackling Ryu, as Bell dove the other way. The Juggernaut's claws drew a purple arc in the air and pieces of an Elf sailed into the air. The last two struck as its feet touched the ground, in a desperate attempt to survive, but its legs bent an it was gone. One Adventurer's greatsword met nothing but air. The other's axe shattered as the Juggernaut's tail swept through it in order to crush the Adventurer's torso. The last Adventurer turned to flee, only for the Juggernaut to appear before him, its hand crushing him to the floor, then lift the mangled piece of flesh he used to be and fling him away. Then, it turned its eyes on Ethan and the others. It was impossible. It was too fast. They couldn't flee. They couldn't fight. And then, it was there, its claws descending on Ryu.
There was no decision. No switch had flipped. No conscious thought had happened at all, in fact. In the instant that the Juggernaut should have claimed its next victim, it instead found that its blow had been diverted by a shockingly powerful blow from Ethan's sword, forcing the claws to, instead, embed themselves into the ground, chipped bits of exoskeleton bouncing across the floor. Its glowing red eyes swept to Ethan and locked with his own shining ones, the sclerae around his irises every bit as dark as the shadows of the Juggernaut's eye sockets. Then, as its body began to turn in order to kill the person who's scored the first impact since it was summoned, the last Adventurer's greatsword swept down, slamming into the Juggernaut's arm, breaking off still more bits of its exoskeleton and forcing it to leap away.
"You will not lay a hand on her!" Ethan snarled, feeling his wrath erase his terror as his two most powerful skills activated beyond anything previously.
Here was the thing that had ruined Ryu's life. The thing that stole away her Familia. The thing that haunted her so terribly.
It. Will. Die. A furious, terrible voice snarled in the back of Ethan's mind.
Then, in the next instant, his Xiphos, held in reverse grip, flashed upward at the point where Ethan had already weakened the armor. The Juggernaut leapt away, evading the would-be paper cut, then launched itself forward again. Bell shrieked in surprise at its speed, hurling himself sideways as Ethan exploded forward. He could see it. With his skills active, he could track its movements, just like anything else. He watched its arm pull back, fingers flexing to split him in half with its claws, then shot forward. His sword tore along its underside, chips of exoskeleton scattering behind him, and then, at the last second, his Xiphos slammed into its leg, taking it out from under the thing as it was swinging forward and sending it crashing to the ground. Bell didn't miss a beat, and swung the Greatsword down at the Juggernaut's neck, only for it to vanish. Ethan's head snapped up just as it caught the ceiling above them, then leapt off. Ethan leapt backward, seeming almost calm, if not for the thick streams of black fluid streaming down his cheeks. Bell only narrowly avoided the thing, diving into a roll, where as Ethan remained upright as he leapt backward, leaning back only slightly. The shockwaves threw Ethan further than he'd expected, but he landed on his feet, squinting to protect his eyes from the bits of crystal the Juggernaut's explosive landing had thrown. The shards tore cuts and gashes into Ethan's body, but he ignored it. Bell, on the other hand, tossed his shattered greatsword away and held out a fist.
"No!" Ryu shrieked, but it was too late.
Bell had forgotten her warning, and a moment later, the Juggernaut's exoskeleton flashed and Bell's spell rebounded into his own chest. The Juggernaut rounded on him, so Ethan exploded forward, slashing both of its back legs before slashing along its underside again, beside his last strike's path. Larger chunks of exoskeleton crumbled and fell from its front as the thin strip between the two scratches crumbled. Then, as Ethan got out from under it, he spun, swapping his Xiphos to his right hand as well as he raised his left hand, curling it just in time for the thing's claws to explode into the Durandal plating running the length of it. Ethan's arm shattered, but the armor held, allowing him to both survive, and keep his arm, though he sailed across the room.
"Ethan!" Ryu shrieked.
Ethan bounced off the wall and landed on his feet, muttering his healing spell and restoring his arm, then took his Xiphos back into that arm. Then, it exploded toward him, passing Bell on the way. Except, it didn't just pass. Bell drew the Hestia Knife to strike, but as the Juggernaut shot past Bell, Bell's right arm spun through the air, severed at the elbow. Ethan roared in rage, exploding forward. He was failing. He was supposed to protect both Bell and Ryu. Bell had lost an arm, now. He refused to continue failing. This thing had to die.
The Juggernaut slashed at him, but he kicked off the ground hard, narrowly slipping inside a slash before flashing under it, slashing overhead with his sword. This time, blood sprayed out of the Juggernaut's front as his sword flashed along the gash he'd made before, the sides of his blade skidding along the jagged, broken edges of its exoskeleton. Then, once past the Juggernaut, he instinctively leapt into the left, the thing's tail exploding to the ground where he should have been. Then, the tail whipped back the other way, slamming into Bell diagonally from his left hip up to his throat. Bell's armor all but exploded, and a crack rang out from his neck, though Ethan wasn't sure if it was his throat or his spine that had been shattered. All he knew was that a fresh, all-consuming rage flooded his body. His arm snapped up and his mouth opened to call upon his healing magic, but before he could, he launched himself to the ceiling in a blur to avoid a swipe of the monster's claws. Then, just as his feet touched the ceiling, so did the monster's, and the pointed end of its tail exploded into the center of Ethan's chestplate. His ribs exploded, his spine cracked the length of it, and he sailed backward. He incanted, shone green, and landed on his feet, ready to continue, only to find the Juggernaut behind him. Claws exploded into the back of his chestplate, repeating the damage from before in reverse. He incanted again as he felt consciousness slipping from the agony and damage to his spine. Thanks to his skills, the spell was likewise empowered and restored him fully, ad he flipped, landing on his feet, once again before the monster that had already circled around ahead of him. He launched himself backward, but the tail was waiting and as he twisted in the air, is exploded into his chestplate where it wrapped under his arm, shattering his ribs from the side. He healed himself again, but before he could even land this time, claws exploded into his chest and he exploded into a wall of the cavern, beside where the Lambton had come to rest, and crumpled to the ground.
His vision swam and he watched as Ryu finally managed to finish casting Noah Heal on Bell. It wasn't a fast spell, however, more like his Regeneration skill than his Restoration spell. But as soon as it had been cast, she was off. She closed distance with the Juggernaut in an instant and dropped to all fours to avoid the claws, allowing her cape to take the blow in her place. Then, she was inside of its claws' range, striking again and again, chipping away at its exoskeleton as much as using the section Ethan had opened, widening the target. Then, it leapt back and left, getting her in range again before she was instantly on the defensive. Ethan tried to move, but his body refused. He could feel his skills were still active, and he could feel his Regeneration working more quickly than normal, but he couldn't heal fast enough. He needed to help her now. Then, Ryu screamed, venting as much of her terror as she could, to keep fighting, striking more and more ferociously. Then, the Juggernaut let out something like a sigh and slashed Alf's Lumina from her hand, the wooden sword all but exploding. Bits and pieces of it landed scattered around Ethan. Time was up. It was now or never. Ryu leapt backward, reaching for her Durandal sword. Ethan forced his broken jaw to work, forced his lacerated and punctured lungs to expel the last of his breath.
"Restoration!" he croaked.
His body spasmed and roared with the sounds of snapping and realigning bones as it shone blindingly green. Then, he was off. As the Juggernaut's claws began to descend, the tip of Ethan's sword punched through its exoskeleton, burying itself in the Juggernaut's side. The sword was to long for him to wield as fast as he needed, even as light as it was. The Juggernaut roared in pain, twisting and swiping at him, but he ducked under it, slashing across the now roughly-circular hold in its exoskeleton on its torso, which was about a foot wide. The Juggernaut shrieked in pain again, backing away, but Ethan pursued it, striking again and again, his entire body twisting, lunging, rotating, and slashing in a blur. The Juggernaut swiped downward at him and he all but pirouetted around the arm, his right foot flashing around to crash into the end of his sword's hilt, driving it the rest of the way into the body until the guard was resting against the monster's exoskeleton. It shrieked and Ethan lunged, a Light Blade appearing around his Xiphos before he stabbed into the missing section of its exoskeleton. It leapt away as the Light Blade faded, slashing at Ethan, and he jumped, allowing the claws to slam into his grieves, shattering his lower legs, only to heal them as he sailed through the air. He flipped backward, landing among the pieces of Alf's Lumina again and snatched all of the pieces up in a blur before shoving them into his pocket with the mermaid scales before exploding forward again.
He passed Ryu just as her left shoulder was split open by the Juggernaut's claws. Along with her Durandal sword, she was holding one of her tanto. Then, Ethan reached the Juggernaut, slipping inside of a swipe of its claws with a millimeter to spare, then slashed hard, his Xiphos, still held in his left hand in reverse grip, drawing a line diagonally up and to the right across its skull. The Juggernaut reared back and Ryu passed over Ethan, her Durandal sword slashing down the Juggernaut's front, blood and bits of exoskeleton both flying as the opening split wider open still. Then, Ethan's right hand closed around his sword's grip and he spun, Ryu remaining in a low crouch from her landing so that he could slash over her. His sword tore a scratch into the Juggernaut's exoskeleton on the right side, but then tore into its flesh in the gap and caught the left side much more deeply, resulting in it tearing a massive shower of fragments free, uncovering a huge section reaching all the way to its left side where the sword had been impaled in it earlier. The Juggernaut leapt backward, shrieking and roaring angrily.
"Restoration," Ethan said, Ryu shining green and healing.
He grit his teeth as he felt his Mind getting dangerously low. Then, a Firebolt exploded against the gap in its armor. The Juggernaut shrieked in pain, wheeling around on the newest threat, Bell, fully healed and with his arm restored. Bell grinned, exploding forward with the speed of a bullet, the Hestia Knife held in his right hand and his left outstretched. Another Firebolt collided with the decent-sized target Ethan and Ryu had made, then another. The Juggernaut lowered its head and reflected the next, but Bell ducked under it, not slowing for an instant. Then, just as the Juggernaut was about to lunge, Ethan shot under it, swiping its legs out from under it with his blades as Ryu shot under it cross-wise, her sword shattering the monstrosity's exoskeleton on its right, mirroring Ethan's most recent destruction opposite it. And then, Bell reached the falling Juggernaut. It swiped at him desperately, contorting its body mid-fall to do so, but its claws found no victim. Instead, they threw sparks as they were deflected by Bell's black scarf, which he'd wrapped around his arm. Then, Bell's knife tore along the opening Ethan and Ryu had formed. Then, he spun on his heel, eyes wide with surprise.
"There's no magic crystal," Ethan said. "The only way to kill it is complete annihilation."
Bell nodded, adjusting his scarf up so that it wouldn't cover his left hand. Then, the three Adventurers all exploded forward. The Juggernaut roared in rage and leapt backward, then exploded into a charge of its own. Bell deflected one of the sets of claws with his scarf, Ethan slashed the other arm into the air with his Xiphos, pivoting the moment it was high enough and resuming his charge as three blades struck the Juggernaut's front. Ryu's tore down the Juggernaut's front. Ethan's ripped along the sections of exoskeleton that hadn't been broken yet on the left side of its torso, shattering some of it, then slashed the inside of its left thigh in a spray of exoskeleton fragments and blood. Bell's, on the other hand, wasn't aimed to draw blood. Instead, his slammed into the right knee hard, producing a loud popping sound as it dislocated it. Then, the three of them scattered out of the way of the Juggernaut's tail before skidding to a stop and spinning, the Juggernaut likewise spinning back toward them. It was still putting full pressure on the leg, but even while able to stand and move the rest of its body at full speed, it could no longer leap around the room with double the speed of an Iguaza. Ethan narrowed his eyes, and as one, they exploded forward again. The Juggernaut charged, but it couldn't leap at them. It was slower in its charge, which gave them a brief advantage. Brief, in this case, because a soon as they met, the speed of its blows resumed. Bell began to deflect blow after blow with his scarf, striking over and over with his knife as Ethan and Ryu took off, adopting the same strategy as against the Lambton. They timed their passes for the exact moment that Bell deflected a strike and staggered them. Meanwhile, Bell struck out again and again with the Hestia Knife. After nearly a minute, as Ethan was passing, he heard a sloshing coming from Bell's left arm and realized that even though the claws couldn't get through the scarf, the force of the blows were. He finished his pass and sheathed his Xiphos as he skidded to a stop, yanking his one and only Mind potion from his pocket.
"Restoration!" he shouted, Bell shining green, then drank the potion in a second.
Then, he was right back to it. The Juggernaut was letting out a continuous string of roars born of rage and pain and attacked Bell more and more relentlessly, and yet still that scarf fended off its strikes. Somewhere in the back of Ethan's mind, he realized that it must be a part of the Goliath Robe Welf had finally finished for Lili before the expedition. That was why it could withstand even the Juggernaut's claws. It was a strip of reinforced flesh from the Black Goliath. The ultimate shield of the Dungeon, now standing against the ultimate weapon of the Dungeon. He appreciated the irony and poetic justice of that.
Finally, the juggernaut stepped backward. Its other foot moved to step back and Ethan slashed it forward again, sending it crashing onto its back. Ryu flashed over it instantly, her Durandal sword shining with the aura of her Aero Mana, and split it across the chest, her tanto back in its sheath, just as Ethan's Xiphos had remained in its sheath after he'd healed Bell, which he promptly did again. The Juggernaut shrieked in outrage and rolled backward over its shoulders to its feet again. Blood coursed down its body rapidly from its countless wounds, and yet it didn't seem to have lost any energy. However, that was unimportant. Ethan would bleed it dry if that was what it took.
"Firebolt!" Bell roared, firing seventeen successive shots in an instant.
Five scored a it on the Juggernaut's exposed torso before it got its head low to defend itself. As twelve fireballs raced back to meet Bell, he exploded forward. A single fireball hit the Hestia Knife as the rest exploded around Bell, but instead of exploding, Argonaut instantly began to charge to both the knife and the Firebolt. Ethan's eyes widened as the knife's blade grew, literally expanding from the power as the flames from the Firebolt shone a blinding crimson, condensing around the blade with Argonaut's light particles. Bell was still racing forward. The Juggernaut stood frozen, though it had barely been seconds. Finally, the Juggernaut moved to leap out of the way, only for Ethan's arm to snap out.
"Lightning Spree!" A single bolt of lightning, much too fast for even the Juggernaut to move his head or arms into the way of, exploded into its chest, blasting it back to the ground as Bell closed in.
Nine seconds. Bell had managed to charge his new strike for nine seconds. The Juggernaut rolled, slashing at Bell, but it was too late.
"Argo Vesta!"
The strike unleashed a blinding light, and the Juggernaut shrieked deafeningly in agony. Its right arm from mid forearm down landed at Ethan's feet and he instinctively slashed the fingers, severing the claws from them. Then, his eyes returned to the Juggernaut. Its right arm was gone to the shoulder, the segment in front of Ethan turning to ash but leaving its claws, as he'd hoped somewhere in the back of his mind, and its exoskeleton, everything that remained of it, had been shattered. Its torso was largely missing, the opening in its exoskeleton having allowed the blast in without having to travel through the new opening in its shoulder, and now, as it lay in the center of the room, its ribs were exposed, and it was writhing and shrieking in agony. Ethan narrowed his eyes. It was finished. They could kill it now. Except, someone else had reappeared with other plans. Jura reached the Juggernaut so fast that none of them could react in time. He snapped a collar around the Juggernaut's neck and leapt away, bringing out his crimson whip and snapping it against the ground.
"Rise, monster of mine!" Jura roared. "Kill Lion and the others!"
Ethan smirked. Jura was mistaken. With its exoskeleton gone, it was susceptible to magic, now. It could be killed with a single blast from him and Ryu. However, despite its horrible wounds, the Juggernaut rose, trembling. Blood splattered across the ground, and Jura's eyes widened as he finally seemed to notice how grievous its wounds were. However, he didn't seem to understand fully, because he snapped the whip again.
"Hurry and kill them!" Jura roared. "Kill them all! With those claws of your-"
The Juggernaut's tail, missing halfway down, snapped out to the side and Jura's body was split in two. The upper half sailed across the room and landed in the waterway where Bell had landed after losing his arm, then sank, the lower body falling to its knees before pitching forward. Ethan narrowed his eyes, beginning to chant under his breath. It wasn't over. Not until that thing had been blasted into paste by his magic. However, at the last second, he heard a noise, stone crumbling. He spun, seeing the Lambton racing across the ground at Ryu. She spun, but it was two late. Ethan spun, allowing his spell to detonate and fling him at Ryu, faster than any of the three could run. The serpent lunged, meaning to bite Ryu in half. Ethan crashed into Bell, grabbing him and bringing him with him, then into Ryu, who Bell grabbed, all three slipping inside the serpent's mouth before it could bite Ryu in half.
Leave a review.
