Seige of the Roswaal Mansion; Part Two
—
Nani? Instead of an original name you're sticking a "Part 2" of the end of the previous chapter's name? This marks the end of the unique chapter names.
Finished the new (colored this time) cover of Meiss. Tried my best to make him look younger and a little shorter.
Edit: The bold and italics and such didn't port over. That is now fixed.
Enjoy!
—
"El Huma!"
The spears of ice materialize behind Rem and shoot into the crowd without prejudice. There was no reason for such a thing since there were so many demonbeasts that it was hard to see the ground. The warding stones planted under them were useless. They merely acted like a strong suggestion of "don't go here it's bad," it worked against most demonbeasts, but the bodies packed so tightly together overrode that suggestion. Rem scanned the sea of demonbeasts and the treeline further back for any signs of the blue-haired little girl. She seemed to have disappeared after Rem scared her off. Unfortunately, she took the warding stone with her and left a hole in their defences.
Rem reaches down to her feet and picks up a dimly glowing purple-blue crystal. Lagmite specifically for storage of mana. These crystals passively absorb the mana from the atmosphere, recharging themselves for whatever use someone finds of them. Either that or someone deposits their mana directly into the crystal. Rem pilfers the one in her hand, forgetting to leave some mana left within the crystal. With a crack, the lagmite shatters into fine powder in Rem's hand due to her carelessness.
Rem wonders what Subaru-kun is doing.
Suddenly, three ear splitting cracks echo to her side in rapid succession. The explosions happen under the foundations of the mansion, and as a result, shake the mansion itself. This causes Rem to lose her balance on the slanted roof. She falls to her butt and starts to slide over the roof's tiling. The oni taps into her superhuman strength and plunges her hand into the roof, stopping her descent.
Due to the shape of the Roswaal mansion and where Rem is standing, the oni can see the two wings of the building quite clearly. Another explosion rings out, and Rem can see a plume of smoke seep from a now-broken window. Roswaal-sama's study. Rem can smell a fire; it's on fire now.
Rem has no time to wonder about what exactly occured, because her oni nose picks up a new scent. A larger demonbeast, no, two larger demonbeasts. As well as the strong smell of that blue-haired little girl. Sauntering in from the forest, over the rubble of the mansion's fence created by Rem, the two beasts in question make themselves known.
A giant pig, with midnight skin and red eyes that contrast menacingly. Atop this pig rested the little girl that had orchestrated the wulgarm incident. At her reveal, Rem feels rage boil under her skin for what she did to her Subaru.
Without the chant, Rem fires a large volley of ice at the girl. Just before she is hit, just before she is shredded, broken, and flung off the pig, the second large demonbeast swipes it's paw through the air. The ice goes flying in a completely new direction as the second beast prows in front of the pig. This one has the likeness of a large black lion with a pure white mane and the torso of a strong horse. Instead of a tail, a striped red and black serpentine extends from the base of it's spine. The lion-like beast growls.
Rem growls deep in her throat as well. This beast dared to protect the one who had inflicted such pain on her beloved? Eyes murderous, Rem fires volley after volley of ice at the pig and lion.
She completely forgets about the explosive lagmite.
—
Frederica is now running to the escape tunnel in response to the explosions that reverberated through the mansion. While she was the initial advocate for going all-out in response to the threat, it would be counterintuitive if the mansion fell while they were still inside.
I smell blood.
While not as strong as when she transforms, Frederica's sense of smell is several times stronger than that of the average human. Such were the perks of being a quarter-blood. Of course there were the cons as well, but from a purely physical standpoint she was superior.
The maid rounds a corner, and collides with the smell of blood. Stepping back and raising her fists to each other, Frederica prepares for combat. After a second, it clicks who she just ran into. The woman lowers her hands and reaches down to pull the boy she knocked over back onto his feet.
It's Meiss.
The boy is bleeding from a small hole in his abdomen and a few isolated splotches of blood dot his exposed skin. Besides that, his clothing is singed and blackened around the edges and the front has a crispy look to it, like he had jumped on a fire but quickly rolled off. Frederica notices his sleeve smoldering and pats at it until the heat dies.
"Where are you injured?"
So far all Frederica can see of injuries was the small stab wound, the blood splatters everywhere else didn't seem to come from him. While examining his body for more wounds, Frederica notices the weapon in his hands.
"Is that…"
"Yeah, I'll be fine for now."
"So what Petra said was true, the guthunter is here."
"Waiting in the tunn-"
"KA HA HA HA!"
Meiss looks over his shoulder and down the hall. Frederica is tall enough to look over his head. Emerging from the smoking door that leads to Roswaal's study, Elsa Granhiert stalks into view. Not a drop of blood nor a speck of dirt is visible on her beautiful skin or flowing cloak. She is completely free of any burns or even signs of exhaustion.
"WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU JUST DIE!"
Meiss hurls this at the guthunter. Not a question, but more of a statement. He knows that she must have died, she was close enough to touch that fire crystal when it exploded. Not to mention that her hand is now completely reattached to her wrist and her skin is free of burns as if nothing happened.
"Now where's the fun in that? My blessing is a truly wonderful thing to allow me to do this!"
"Enough talk, Ul Goa!"
Frederica spreads her hand and aims at the guthunter. A small bullet of fire whizzes from her palm and down the hall. Elsa has no trouble dodging, and a small explosion can be heard after the fire-bullet reaches the opposite end of the hall. Watching this, Meiss leans back to Frederica and whispers.
"Cover me with that."
Meiss opens distance between him and Frederica, raising his stolen kukri after judging the distance as enough. Elsa sees this and grins, a wide grin that only people with large problems can pull off so effortlessly. That is a category that Elsa falls into quite well.
The guthunter closes the distance fast, aiming for Meiss. The blonde lowers his arm, blocking the kukri that would have passed through his abdomen like a hot knife through butter. He strikes out with his own weapon, but like before, the new weight in his hand is something he is not familiar with and he misses. The guthunter takes a step back to avoid the blade and has to jump to dodge a fire-bullet from Frederica. Meiss seizes this moment and lands a punch into Elsa's gut before she jumps. She hits another fire-bullet which explodes. The force of Meiss' punch overpowers Frederica's Ul goa, so Elsa is flung only a few short meters due to the conflicting forces. She rolls on the ground amidst a sea of colored particles as her cloak dissipates into mana.
Frederica steps in near Meiss. She raises her fists together and the gates on her hands expel her caesti, which neatly slip onto her hands.
Elsa takes just a few seconds to recover. She crouches like a feral cat before jumping to the ceiling. The guthunter uses the ceiling to propel herself at Meiss with more speed than falling after a jump. The blonde responds by raising his kukri to block Elsa's attack. Frederica winds up an attack of her own, slicing at Elsa with the blades on her caestus. Elsa dodges by using her kukri as a leverage point to flip over Meiss' blade. The blonde spins around after he sees Elsa flip over him. He punches her in the side, angling his fist downwards to punt her into the floor. Elsa hits the ground hard, and bounces a little before Meiss hits her again in the face with dolorem++ this time.
Wood snaps and creaks before splintering away as it's fibers cannot support this force. With Meiss' punch as the catalyst the floor caves underneath him, dragging Elsa and Frederica along.
—
Heavy breathing. Not as a result of exercise or moving the body, but more to pull in ample energy if fleeing was ever needed. Of course, fleeing is useless in this situation since escape is not possible, but never tell the human body what to do. It does what it wants.
Heart beating, Petra warily glances out of the window in Meiss' room. This room was on the very end of the mansion's guest wing, and was the furthest from the main entrance on this side of the building. The workers wing, which had Roswaal's study included, was a no-go since that was where Elsa had attacked from.
Finally working up the courage to do more than sneak peaks, Petra fully takes in the state of affairs in regards to the demonbeasts. More than the eye can see or ever hope to count, a writhing mass that belongs in a nightmare. Petra has had her fair share of nightmares about the wulgarm incident, but Subaru was always there to save her in the end. This is reality now and Subaru was hours away by carriage, he wouldn't be coming to save her. Most of the reason that she took this job in the first place was to get closer to him. It's ironic that she was brought in after he had left for that "Sanctuary" place and wouldn't be coming back for a short while.
Petra's breath catches in her throat as she spots two towering beasts in the yard. Their gait was leisurely and unhurried, stark in contrast to the flowing bodies of the smaller demonbeasts below them. Those smaller demonbeasts were hurriedly scurrying out of the paths of the larger beasts, leaving space underneath them. Petra can hear the distant voice of Rem shouting incantations above the demonbeasts. Icicle after icicle after icicle finds itself flying at the two larger demonbeasts, completely ignoring the grunts under them. Meili, who sits atop the giant pig, seems to be having fun with this game of life-and-death.
What is Rem doing?
She's firing ice at the demonbeasts. Use your eyes Petra.
What Petra is really wondering about is why Rem hasn't activated the fire lagmite. Along with ones scattered throughout the yard, the explosives were put into a neat line surrounding the mansion, with enough distance between them to cover the entire mansion's perimeter but close enough that the blast of one should set off the one next to it. They were about four fifths done with lining the stones with gravel, only the left side of the mansion and the scattered lagmite were unfinished. The two large demonbeasts were well within the sweet spot of the gravel now.
Yet Rem never once targeted the explosives. The pig continued to stalk closer to the mansion, with the lion defending it from Rem's attacks. Petra notices gravel and the brown of recently overturned earth appear under the pig.
I'll do it. I'll show them I can be useful.
Glass shatters as Petra throws the weird red-black rock at Meiss' window. She leans out, cutting the side of her hand on a shard of glass. The maid raises her other hand, pointing it at the fleeting chance under the pig.
"EL Huma!"
The crumbly icicle forms behind Petra and shoots out with all her might. The lion thing is too busy guarding Meili from Rem's attacks to notice Petra's attack. The icicle slips under the pig, and hits the loose earth.
It isn't that forceful, but the sensitivity of the fire lagmite to stimuli is so high that the small nudge created by Petra's ice is felt. This small nudge pushes against the lagmite, compressing the ground around it as the ice piffs against the loose earth like a snowball.
The explosion, not muffled by stone and the structure of the mansion around it, is much louder that the explosions earlier. It causes Petra to stumble away from the window and cover her ears in response to the report. The shaking of the ground is less violent by a substantial amount since the foundation of the mansion is not directly affected.
The lagmite was directly underneath the pig when it went off. The gravel packed along one side of the stone shot out, shredding the pig's back legs. It wailed as the explosion itself tore into it's underbelly and lifted it up. A wave of blood washes down from the pig's abdomen as the girl atop it goes flying.
Meili flails out with her arms and legs as she flies through the air. Her terrified scream cuts short as she falls to the ground, landing hard against a decorative bush. Her form is unmoving after hitting the ground.
From the single volatile fire crystal that Petra set off, a chain reaction of explosions sounds out. Petra stays sitting with her ears covered and eyes shut tight as explosion after explosion cracks through the air surrounding the Roswaal mansion. The onslaught lasts thirty seconds, no, a minute, two minutes. Petra doesn't know, she can't discern anything more than the blasts of death and the shrieks of demonbeasts.
—
"GuaAH!"
Meiss tilts as the floor opens up underneath him. He had completely forgotten that they were on the second level when he threw that punch. The hallways are quite large, so it takes a second before he hits the floor of the level below him.
Frederica recovers before him and raises her caesti to the form of Elsa, only to sigh as she sees the woman's neck snapped into an unnatural angle. The head is nearly backwards and the neck itself looks floppy, as if it was stretched out. Meiss finally stands up and looks over the body of the guthunter. Wordless, he backs up and pushes Frederica back as well.
"Meiss-sama, I believe that she is dead."
"No, she's inhuman and can come back after dying. Cover me again, I feel like getting seriously serious."
"It shall be so."
Meiss looks at the kukri in his hand. The weight feels useless in his palm, he has no training and no experience. Turning, he raises the blade over his head with both arms and chucks it at the wall. Picturing what he's seen of people throwing axes, Meiss compliments himself when the kukri sinks into the wall next to a door. The blonde returns to watching Elsa for any signs of movement.
Slowly, like a marionette being pulled up by it's strings, Elsa rises. Her neck snaps back into place, the C vertebrae realigning themselves alongside the reconstructed spinal cord. The torn muscle fibers in her neck weave back together, and her head regains the ability to be raised. A grin alights on her face as she rises to her full height.
Her eyes instantly lock onto the form of Meiss.
The blonde in question spreads his arms. Face stern and grimacing.
"Come at me."
Elsa doesn't waste a second. This is too much fun for her.
Kukri flashing out of nowhere, the black blade finds itself bouncing harmlessly off of Meiss' skin. The boy sends out one of his burning wires to cut Elsa in half. The guthunter jumps over the attack, and over Meiss. Before she lands, Meiss strikes out with his hand, backhanding her into the wall of the hallway.
The guthunter hits the wall with a loud thud and slides down to a sitting position. Meiss turns to watch her slowly rise to her feet, from her mouth pouring a horrid kind of laughter with the potential to haunt dreams. It sends cold shivers up both Meiss and Frederica's backs, though the latter doesn't show it.
She spins another kukri out of nowhere and jumps again. The guthunter corkscrews in the air and hits Meiss over and over like a saw. The blonde raises both his arms and crosses them to block. Her momentum carries her over her quarry. A fire-bullet launched by Frederica hits the ground before Elsa does, the resulting explosion launching her into the air again.
Meiss takes a step before jumping as well. Elsa sees the blonde's approach and swings her kukri. Meiss punches out, his fist covered in acedia. There is no need to protect his hand. The intense heat of acedia melts right through Elsa's kukri and the two fly by each other.
Meiss brings his legs forward to catch himself on the ground. The blonde regains his balance and turns around to the smell of burnt flesh and smoldering carbon. Elsa stands with her back to him, her right arm severed from the shoulder down and laying halfway between them. Meiss hears a small chuckle from the guthunter as she turns around. Elsa raises her remaining hand to her hot face as she blushes like a schoolgirl in love.
"Ugh."
That expression should never be made in this situation. This woman is a special kind of messed up.
Meiss turns fully to face Elsa, stomping his foot as the acedia on his hand lengthens. The burning tentacle stops at two feet of length, flowing off his arm so smoothly as to be mistaken for his arm lengthening. Elsa continues to giggle to herself, licking her lips seductively as she narrows her gaze once more onto Meiss.
"I have never had the pleasure to dance with someone like you."
Why that line in every Memory?
The guthunter reaches behind her and pulls another kukri from her gate. The blade flashes orange as an explosion sounds outside. Meiss risks a glance out the window, and watches as the fire lagmite sets off a chain reaction of explosions that decimate the demonbeasts outside.
Shredded, miced, mangled, their innards taste the outside air for the first and last time as their bodies are torn apart by either the shotgun-like gravel or the raw force of the explosions. Bodies fly, parts of bodies fly, and windows crack from the sound of explosions and animalistic cries of pain and rage.
—
"…"
Rem watches silently atop the mansion as the explosions tear through the yard. Clods of dirt fly in tandem with pieces of flesh to paint a gruesome picture. The pig suffers heavy damage and the girl on top of it goes flying. The lion-thing is shielded from the nearest blast by the pig, but loses half of it's serpentine tail to the gravel.
What does Nee-sama always say… Rem wonders who set them off.
The explosions this time do not shake the mansion as much, since they do not occur under the mansion. The sound though is much louder since there is nothing to muffle it. Despite this deafening sound, Rem does not cover her ears. Instead, she looks at the wings of the Roswaal mansion to either side of her. After a few seconds of looking around, she spots Meiss' window not just cracked but completely shattered. The oni can't see who is there, but they must have set off the fire lagmite.
Rem returns her blue gaze to the severely reduced demonbeast numbers. What was once a sea of bodies has been reduced to a manageable drizzle. The oni has just one mana crystal left. It's time for Rem to get her hands dirty.
Rem reaches to her underarm, between her biceps and triceps, and pulls the handle of her morningstar from her blue gate. The chains rattle and clank against one another before the head of her weapon makes itself known.
The oni jumps down from the roof of the Roswaal mansion. It's time to begin cleanup.
The head of her morningstar cracking the wind is a common sound now, and often the last sound a demonbeast hears before it's torso is deleted by Rem. Spinning out, around, under, over, through; none of these grunts stand a chance against her. The lethality is increased by the fact that the remaining demonbeasts are now packed together, the warding stones still in the ground working as intended.
Her chain wraps around a neck, the new arc sends the ball of her morningstar through three more demonbeasts as the first demonbeast loses it's head. Rem pulls no punches. The numbers of the assaulting forces are barely worth the trouble, some of the assorted demonbeasts even fleeing into the woods.
Adjusting her footing against the spinning force of her weapon, Rem feels something under her foot. Looking down, Rem sees that it's the girl, now with a shoe print on her arm. Rem smiles; she lost track of the little girl when the explosions started, but now Rem has found her. This little girl's crimes extend beyond Subaru-kun, the children of Arlam village would have died had her plot succeeded. There is no telling what else she has done.
Rem averts her gaze from the girl when the feeling of the ground shaking hits her legs. The lion takes a swipe at her, and Rem jumps backwards to avoid the fatal claws. Her morningstar swings out in a wide arc at the advancing lion, the ball fading into a blur. Noticing the blur of death, the lion jumps as he runs. Silently, like the apex predator that he is, the lion advances.
Rem does a running start before jumping over the lion, firing ice into the lion as the top of her parabola. She hits the ground lightly behind the lion as it turns around, some of the ice being shaken off it's back and mane. Rem swings behind her with her morningstar, using the weight of the weapon to spin her around. The strike misses as the lion steps back. Rem lets out an animalistic roar as she raises the handle of her weapon above her. The path of the morningstar's head is changed, and a powerful downwards strike is realized. The lion, not predicting this fluid manipulation of the weapon, loses some of the skin covering it's ribs as it sidesteps.
Rem steps back, bracing herself to pull her morningstar from it's place in the ground. After a sharp tug, she finds it stuck. Weird, Rem's strength should be able to pull this through solid stone, even without her horn. Surprise flickers across the ex-maid's face as she sees the lion looking at the spiked ball in it's paw. The lion throws the head of the morningstar to the side, and Rem is forced to let go lest she be flung away as well.
"RRUUUUAAAAAOOOOOO!"
Rem lets loose a more guttural scream as the air begins to distort around her forehead. Fizzing pink energy crackles as a smooth bone-like horn extends from the middle of her forehead. To Rem, it brings with it a feeling of release and shocking cold as her senses suddenly go into overdrive. The glowing pink horn parts the oni's hair as she digs the ball of her foot into the ground. Still roaring like an animal, Rem launches herself towards the lion-thing. The lion charges as well, landing lightly on it's front paws so it can bring them up to attack.
"EL HUMAA!"
Mana being pulled into the horn allows Rem to go overboard with the cast of this spell. An imposing wall of icicles manifests behind the oni as she shoots over the ground. Rem lets loose El Huma as she jumps, letting the lion run into the attack as she rises above it. Stretching out her arm and using her other arm to brace it, Rem shouts once more.
"AL HUMA!"
Four large spears of ice sparkle and grow behind the oni as she hangs in the air dramatically. The spears, no, they're more like battering rams, of ice shoot off like the spinning chamber of a revolver. The ice rams imbed themselves several feet into the ground around the lion as it dodges them. One clips the lion's tail, severing the rest of the bloody stump.
Rem starts to fall, the forces of gravity taking hold of her once more. The lion charges at her, silent as ever, and swipes it's paw through the air. Having nothing to push off of or use to dodge, Rem braces her arm against the powerful blow.
"GYAAA!"
Rem hears the distinctive snap of broken bones. The lion roars, completing the swipe and sending her over to the mansion. The oni hears more snaps and cracks as she hits the mansion's door. The ice barricading the entrance crumbles and shatters against the force of her body, before the doors fly inward and off their hinges.
—
"WRYYY!"
Meiss snaps both his arms above his head to block the kukri's path to his head.
"Ul Goa!"
Elsa looks behind her, still suspended above Meiss. The blonde uses the opportunity to grab her arms. The explosion from Ul Goa hitting Elsa topples Meiss, and he flings the guthunter behind him as he falls onto his back. After a second, he hears her body hit the wall. Expecting her to jump off and attack him, Meiss rolls out of the way.
A thud, and the cracking of ice fills everyone's ears as the mansion's main doors are burst inwards and go flying. Meiss uses this distraction down the hall to rise to his feet, yet almost loses his footing halfway through standing up when he sees Rem bounce against the stairs. Her body slides down a few steps, and Meiss has the urge to run over there. Yet present problems force him to stay here, like the kukri heading for his face…
Meiss foregoes dodging or blocking, letting the blade bounce uselessly against his head. He shoots out his hands, grabbing Elsa's extended and only arm. Frederica shoots the guthunter again with a fire-bullet. The maid's aim is true, and Elsa is pushed by the explosion of fire. The recoil from this shot lets Meiss force his hand closer to Elsa.
Meiss has touched his first boob. It's soft kinda; moldable. Like memory foam but not as hard. It's not really an intimate thing, since his hand burns through Elsa's body a barely noticeable fraction of a second later. The short acedia sprouting from his hand melts straight through the left side of Elsa's chest and out her right shoulder blade. Straight through her heart. Meiss squeezes his eyes shut. God, that blood is gross… He can feel her blood running down his arm, and a faint brushing against his skin as the remaining parts of her heart try to uselessly beat.
Meiss turns to Frederica, and sees that she is already doing what he was going to ask. The blonde removes his arm from Elsa's chest cavity, worrying about Rem and what would happen if the guthunter healed around his arm.
Frederica sprints over to the stairs, El huma behind her. The icicles fire off in quick succession at a black and white lion-esque beast with a weird torso, forcing it to back off from almost attacking Rem.
"Ul Huma!"
Frederica shouts this, and a long, misshapen rod of ice forms behind her. The rod shoots at the base of the stars and molds into a slightly transparent wall. The unconscious Rem is protected for now. Defence taken care of, Frederica lurches over as her arms morph into that of a leopard's. Her maid uniform rips and tears away as she fully transforms into a sandy-blonde leopard without any spots. The perfect color for savannah grass, she would blend in perfectly.
"Guiltylowe!"
Her large feline form barrels into the guiltylowe. This sends them rolling over the ground like two streetcats fighting. They try to bite each other's necks while digging and kicking their hindlegs against each other.
Meiss hears a shaky breath, and whips his head around to see Elsa slowly rising to her feet. The hole in her chest is sealed and looks no different from before she was ever injured. Her arm is also back, prompting Meiss to look at where her severed arm lies on the ground. That's still there. So she just regenerates everything from scratch?
Meiss spreads his feet, lowering himself into a more stable position as Elsa stares somewhat blankly at him. She reaches behind her, to the gate on her lower back, life returning to her dull eyes as her face creases into a blushing smile.
"It's time to get serious, I'm almost at my limit."
Meiss raises his fists in a simple stance.
"You've failed the one-liner gatcha."
Elsa whips her arms from behind her back, revealing a stark-white and weirdly thick kukri as well as a serrated midnight-black kukri. Her smile widens as Meiss tenses a little at this change in weaponry.
DOON!
Meiss flinches as this loud, explosion-like sound ricochets through the hall. Seeing as there is a sudden and great increase in speed, accompanied by a visible cone of air around Elsa, Meiss can only guess this must be the phenomenon known as a sonic boom. Elsa spins like a corkscrew again as her colored kukri's flash in the daylight.
The guthunter is moving too fast for Meiss to accurately block her attack, so the boy gambles on the direction she's spinning to be the side she will attack from. The blonde holds out his left forearm, shielding it, along with his entire left side, in stagno. The heavy white kukri slams into his arm.
Krkrrkr…
White. Just like the kukri. This feeling overcomes Meiss for a second as he strikes out. The feeble attack completely misses, whiffing through the air as Meiss stumbles because of the air-cone slamming into him. His forearm hurts like hell now, and he struggles to twist it. The skin is unbroken though, so he has no idea what state his arm is in now.
Elsa backs off and jumps to the side. She lands on the wall and runs along the vertical surface. Meiss' eyes have trouble following the blur of black clothing and pale skin. The guthunter runs past Meiss, jumping off the wall and bouncing once against the ground. She changes directions after hitting the opposite wall, facing Meiss again, and shoots up the surface and onto the ceiling with another sonic boom. The guthunter, features indiscernible because of her speed, attacks once more.
This time it's her black kukri. The serrated blade seems to tear apart the very air as it travels towards Meiss. The blonde, not wanting to risk another injury like whatever state his forearm is in now, bends backwards into a precarious position. He also shoots an acedia out, attempting to remove the black blade from the equation. His attempt is mostly successful, as the serrated blade is severed from the handle. Unfortunately, the flying blade hits his shoulder and flays some skin as well as burnt clothing off. The sting of air is trivial in comparison to his forearm though, and Meiss shrugs the former off.
Elsa's momentum carries her past Meiss, and she flips in the air. Her white kukri seems to extend and whip around before Meiss realises that it's that snake-sword he saw last Memory. The blades near the handle are visible, but Meiss can't see the tip of the sword because it's moving so fast. Once more determining that trying to block would be counterintuitive, Meiss jumps back. He again sends out acedia as the whip bounces off the ground and speeds towards him.
"Hk-!"
Meiss cuts off the very end, severing a few of the strung-together blades. They continue to travel though, spinning through the air and slicing through the skin of Meiss' chest. The blades continue up and imbed themselves into his left collarbone, leaving a red streak behind them.
Elsa stares as Meiss hits the ground and stumbles. The blonde hurriedly raises his gaze to the guthunter, more wary of her than ever before. While Meiss' reaction time is faster than the average human's, at about 170-ish milliseconds while most people are around 250-280 milliseconds, he can barely perceive Elsa's movements now. How the hell does a human reach supersonic speeds? Wait, this is a different world so rules from beyond the Cascade don't apply here!
Elsa discards the useless handle of the black kukri by dropping it. Much slower this time, Elsa rushes at Meiss, swinging her white kukri. The blonde responds by raising his pained arm and bracing the entire appendage in stagno. The two collide.
KRAK!
"WRRYYYYYyYyAaAaAaAHuHaA!"
Screaming his pain and wrath, Meiss uses his other arm to brace the one holding off the kukri. FUCK! That hurts that hurts that hurts THAT HURTS! Elsa pushes the thick blade into his arm. While it has a blade, it would be more accurate to call the white kukri a club. Meiss pushes back, his voice breaking as the pain suddenly increases. The blonde is dimly aware of his forearm being bent in the middle.
Elsa giggles like a creepy little girl. Meiss pushes past the white feeling he has and sends acedia out from his bleeding chest. The tentacle shoots itself through Elsa's forearm and through her shoulder. The sudden loss of her forearm muscles and shoulder muscles cause her to drop the white kukri. Spinning around, she snatches the weapon from the air and sends it into Meiss' upper torso, his ribs.
KraRAK KRAK KRAK!
The sudden blow from the unexpected angle forces the wind out of Meiss' lungs. He didn't have time to move stagno. Along with his breath, spittle flies out of Meiss' open mouth as Elsa follows through with her swing. Meiss is sent into the wall, next to a door.
DOON!
I haven't even started falling yet! Meiss sees the white death of Elsa's kukri descending from above. The blonde reaches out to his right, jerking his head to the side as he does. He grabs the stolen kukri he threw into the wall earlier and yanks it free. Barely needing any strength, Elsa's speed sends her into Meiss' weapon as her white kukri hits.
KAK!
With an anguished yell, Meiss finally falls to the floor. All feeling from his left side is gone now, replaced with searing pain. He doesn't even need to look to know that his left collarbone is bent at an unnatural angle, like something from a geometry textbook. His breathing is shallow, despite his body's need for oxygen. That blow to his ribs was nasty, and now it hurts to take even the smallest breath. He looks down with his eyes, scared to move his neck for fear that may cause more damage.
Elsa is no doubt dead. Meiss' kukri had almost cut her head in half diagonally. It's funny, all he did was hold the weapon up and her speed did the rest of the work. Meiss reclines against the wall, his ribs screaming in protest. The piece of the white kukri embedded in the blonde's collarbone lies a few feet away on the ground. He takes a larger gulp of air, immediately regretting it when pain shoots through his body. The blonde tenses his abdomen in pain.
—
Petra watches from the top of the stairs. She was getting antsy after watching Rem get smacked into the mansion and left to investigate. She watches as Frederica in beast mode barrels into the lion, shouting what was probably the name of it's species. The leopard and guiltylowe roll along the ground, clawing and biting at each other while hitting the walls.
Petra tugs the vest tighter around her shoulders. Wearing the blonde's extra layer made her feel safer, more protected. She didn't have her arms through the armholes, wearing it like a cape.
Petra watches the feral fight for a few more seconds in silence before she moves. Rem is still unconscious on the stairs, a face of pain set upon her. Petra slowly rushes down the stairs and kneels with one leg on a higher stair over Rem. The maid can't see what exactly is wrong with her, but she must have a few broken bones from hitting the stairs and door. Blood trickles down the side of her sky-blue head.
The small maid has no worries of being harmed, her big sis' wall of ice looked dependable. She slips her arms under Rem's and starts to drag her up the stairs and away from the fighting. The woman cries out in pain at being moved, but is still asleep when the sound fades into small whimpers. Petra stops in worry for a second, before continuing to drag Rem up the stairs. She's light.
Breathing a little harder, Petra makes it to the top of the stairs. Her slight fatigue is from holding her arms in the position to drag Rem, not Rem's weight. Petra takes a moment to watch Frederica and the guiltylowe fight some more.
The two have opened up distance between them, and are stalking around each other. Frederica's tail lashes angrily. The guiltylowe's stump wags angrily.
"El Huma! El Goa!"
The leopard speaks, surprising Petra since she would think Frederica can't talk in that form. Flame jets from the front of Frederica, it looks like she's breathing fire. The guiltylowe dodges to the side and rushes in to swipe, getting a face-full of ice in return. Frederica takes this opportunity to swipe, her claws glinting off the sun.
"Goa!"
A small flame, barely more than what would be on a torch, flies from Frederica and sets the guiltylowe's mane on fire. The white fur crumbles and blackens, making it uniform with the rest of it's body. Frederica's swipe hits the guiltylowe, and her claws snag on the remaining fur. The leopard pulls herself onto the burning guiltylowe and resumes their rolling around.
Petra turns from the fight and starts to drag Rem down the hall. She hears a triumphant roar laced with Frederica's voice. The leopard has prevailed, the throat of her quarry beneath her torn out. The blood of the guiltylowe stains the carpets.
—
White.
Meiss has heard many expressions that use color. Red with anger, tickled pink, fading to black, green with envy. There are a lot of them for a lot of colors, but the only one he can think of for white is "white as a sheet."
Meiss is not as white as a sheet, his face is rather flushed. A result of needing to pull in air but restricting his breathing because breathing hurts. What Meiss sees is a faint white around the edges of his vision. White, the absence of darkness and contamination. His breathing slows a little more, and the pain lessens as well.
Thunk... thunk.
Meiss turns slightly, his torso screaming in his ears. A door behind him is trying to open. The return of sharp pain whisks away the white in his vision. His arms and legs feel like bags full of either osmium or iridium, it's useless to try and move them, so he just slumps to the side. He hits the ground gently, but still starts to hurt. This allows the door to push him out of the way. The blonde groans as his mostly uninjured side drags against the ground.
"Hmph, you look horrible I suppose."
Meiss weakly rolls over and laughs. He then drapes his hand over his chest as his ribs start to hurt sharply again. The blonde forces his eyes to see through the pain and at Beatrice as she leans out of her library. As his gaze clears, he notices something…
"Have… You been…?"
Beatrice waves her hand dismissively.
"Betty has done nothing of the sort. Your pain-filled eyes deceive you in fact."
The spirit looks at the body of Elsa, the kukri embedded firmly halfway through her skull. She then reaches down and presses her hand gently onto Meiss' shoulder, careful not to press too hard.
"Murak."
The blonde lifts gently up into the air. Beatrice opens the door wider since Meiss is no longer blocking it and pushes him in. He floats listlessly for a second before Beatrice walks up to him and undoes the spell. He thumps against the ground from his minute distance above it and flinches in pain. He then flinches in pain because he flinched in pain. He then flinches in pain because he flinched in pain, which happened because he flinched in pain…
The spirit runs her tiny hands lightly down his body, inspecting every injury. The blonde rolls his head over to look at her work. It looks effortless, though she hasn't actually begun healing. Then he looks past her, to a book lying open on the ground. Strange, why would she have a blank book? The spirit steps back with a finger to her chin.
"Betty wonders how you are still coherent. Excluding the nicks and burns both left forearm bones are broken, snapped in half in fact, your left collarbone is almost sticking out, three ribs are broken, and three more are fractured I suppose."
The spirit begins working on healing the blonde. Her glowing hands start with the more pressing injuries, his broken ribs that would inhibit his breathing. Without oxygen the body cannot properly use the fuel within itself.
Meiss lays quietly as Beatrice goes over each injured rib one-by-one, judging which one is most damaged. He has been on the receiving end of healing magic before but all of those wounds, except for the sliced vein after Ley, only affected his skin. The feeling of bone cementing back together is weird. He can feel his skeleton shifting and mass build up to repair what was broken.
"Hey Beatrice… how long could you use… teika if you drained my mana?"
"Hmph."
…
Uh…
…
"Honestly, you humans are all the same, showing up to Betty only when it conveniences you in fact. Betty's magic or her books, always one or the other I suppose."
The words are strong, but there is a certain hollowness to them. Akin to something memorized and regurgitated, or something not completely true or believed anymore. Meiss scrunches his face up. What? Why is she acting so different all of the sudden? The blonde shifts away from Beatrice's hands, biting back his pain. She has only half-healed one rib. The spirit looks at him with an expression wavering on curiosity, anger, sadness, and a million other feelings unable to be described in words.
"Stop healing me."
"Wha…"
"If everyone you have ever met; if not a single person has cared about you for yourself then stop healing me."
What crosses her face is new.
Uncertainty.
Her eyes waver as the glow around her hands flickers off and on rapidly. She is uncertain, a mental battle being raged within her tiny body. The spirit doesn't even try to hide it; the pain on her round face is clear as she seriously considers every person she has met in her long life. The healing starts to flicker less, the glow staying on longer and longer. Suddenly, she scrunches her eyes closed, drawing back and making herself smaller as the healing flickers again before shutting off completely.
Meiss sucks in air through his teeth as he struggles onto his stomach, using his good arm to push himself up. The effort is excruciating, and sweat beads on his forehead. The adrenaline of battle is slowly waning, and with it the suppressed pain and fatigue.
"I couldn't give two shits about these books or your magic; look upon thine field of fucks to give and witness it's barrenness! I can deal with this myself, I don't need to put others in danger. That's why Rem and Frederica had such safe roles in this, I advocated for them! I can shoulder every burden, every hardship and every responsibility… As long as there is strength to pull in air, I can raise my arm to shield!"
Beatrice watches this guy rise to his knees, determination making his icy eyes burn hotter than any fire. He's covered in cuts, covered in burns. His left arm is useless, his ribs are broken, he can barely keep his balance while kneeling. Yet he still rises despite the obvious pain he is in. The spirit can't understand.
"How… why… Betty doesn't understand why you never give up. Even while you're dying you idiotically think of others before you. You never cared for Betty's books or her strength, acting like we were old friends despite Betty being so cold to you… Betty wonders… Betty wonders what exactly the half-elf girl and the blue-haired girl see in you."
Meiss reaches out with his good arm and places it on Beatrice's shoulder. She's thinking about Subaru. The spirit flinches, before looking at Meiss with a perplexed and watery expression. Then he shoves her out of the way and Beatrice realises he was looking behind her. It feels slow, but she rather quickly turns her little head to see a white blur heading for where she was standing previously.
Meiss throws his broken arm out into the path of Elsa's white kukri using strength he doesn't have. His clavicle squeals in protest while grating against the inside of his skin, and his forearm refuses to twist or pull his hand onto a fist. The guthunter looks dead inside, as if all notions of personality have left her. The blonde is also acutely aware of a burning sensation overlapping everything and flowing throughout his body… into his right arm and hand… and into Beatrice.
He notices that the guthunter's weapon is hanging in the air…
One.
Then it hits Meiss like a ray of light piercing a cloudy sky.
The spirit, stumbling from his push, used teika.
Two.
Meiss is dimly aware of a chorus of damned souls wailing in his ears as dark mist starts to gather in the air. He probably would have taken a few seconds to realise what was happening if he didn't know it was possible.
Beatrice regains her footing.
Three.
Meiss moves his broken forearm down, surprised when it doesn't hurt.
The spirit to his side turns to face him and the guthunter.
Four.
The blonde raises to a standing position quite easily.
Five.
He moves his hand to his broken arm, feeling the tug of energy his overactive gate produces-
Six.
-and he pulls his last fire lagmite from his gate.
Seven.
Dolorem++ rapidly spreads down his intact arm, sparks of electricity popping into existence but freezing along with the world. The lagmite is clenched in his hand.
Eight.
Meiss takes a step back, winding up his battered body.
Nine.
Then he delivers the punch. He enters through her stomach and angles up and into her chest cavity, depositing the crystal inside and pulling his fist from her body.
"That's disgusting I suppose!"
Ten.
Meiss grabs Beatrice and scoops her into his working arm, jumping away from the guthunter.
Eleven.
The explosion rips through the air behind Meiss as his body careens into a bookcase. The furniture topples from the impact and Meiss and Beatrice land in a crumpled heap together on top of some books.
Meiss can hear fire and smoke behind him as he groans in pain. The books are ample fuel for such a thing. That explosion no doubt tore apart the front of the library, and Meiss wonders what surrounds the forbidden library and what would happen if the explosion ripped through the floor.
Beatrice struggles out of his grip and takes a look at the burning library. The ground where Elsa was previously is nothing but a scorch mark. The crystal must have blown any surviving parts of her deep into the library, if there were any surviving parts. The door was blown off it's hinges and now rests in the hall beyond the library next to a discarded kukri. The spirit wavers, despite not really liking this library she has been stuck in it for over four centuries, so she has a weird attachment to the place.
"I have enough time… time… I can get there in time… to Sanctuary. It's only eight hours and there's still two days before it comes…"
The spirit watches Meiss prop himself up with some hidden reserve of strength. Seriously, how is he still standing? Even if it is a powerful thing, sheer force of will has a limit. Seeing the depths of his determination, Beatrice tears up. Maybe she can begin to move again…
—
A giant leopard stands above a guiltylowe.
Frederica breathes in the scent of blood on her face. It's intoxicating. While in beast-mode, her urges are harder to control. Though unlike her brother, Frederica can see past the haze of instinct. She can even talk while in beast-mode. As for how she goes about doing that while leopards have no vocal cords… is something better discussed later.
The leopard turns to the wall of ice she erected. Her heart gives a little jump when she sees that Rem is no longer laying on the stairs. Frederica sprints over and jumps over the wall, noticing a faint trail of blood and the smell of Rem moving away from her. Not even looking down the hallway to check, Frederica sprints to the smell.
Her body, that of a beautiful leopard without spots, shrinks. The fur shortens until it disappears, and a mane flows from the back of her head. Her skeletal system morphs back into something humanoid as she reaches a little maid dragging a blue woman. Unfortunately, something her transformation does not preserve is clothing, so Frederica is completely naked as she stops next to Petra.
"What are you doing here? What if you had gotten hurt?"
"I'm sorry Frederica nee-sama, but I saw Rem get thrown into the mansion and-"
Frederica doesn't let Petra finish, pulling the small maid into a tight embrace. She holds the girl tightly for a few seconds, before squeezing her and pulling away immediately after. Petra makes a "gek" sound when Frederica squeezes her and holds her sides when she lets go.
"That hurt…"
"That's what you get."
The two turn to Rem as she makes a sound. The oni squirms for a second before her eyes open slowly. She tries to sit up, only to silently flinch in pain. Rem relaxes her body as she realizes she is no longer fighting the guiltylowe.
"Don't move Rem-sama."
"What… happened?"
Frederica kneels next to the oni and looks at her body closer. It's obvious some bones are broken, and her skin is swollen in some places. Some blood trickles down her forehead and a shoulder is dislocated. Frederica curses herself for not knowing healing magic despite having water as one of her affinities.
"We defeated the assaulting demonbeasts. Meiss-sama is fighting Elsa Granhiert, though I cannot hear anything currently."
Rem nods and tries to move her hand to her broken arm, letting loose a barely audible whimper when her dislocated shoulder grinds painfully. Frederica bites her lip before shifting to hold Rem's dislocated arm. Rem realizes what she is about to do and nods weakly. Frederica slowly extends the arm above Rem's head but parallel to the ground. After the agonizingly slow movement, Rem's shoulder pops back into place and most of her mobility returns.
"There was a girl… unconscious in the yard. Rem believes she is the one… commanding the demonbeasts."
Rem's shoulder is sore, but this will do for now. While it is nothing compared to the efficiency of Ferris or Beatrice, Rem understands how to heal bone. The work is slow, but the blue glow is consistent.
Petra and Frederica leave Rem to herself, both are useless in this situation. They found Elsa later in the day, around the time the maids would normally be finished with and serving dinner. Not thirty minutes had passed since Meiss opened the escape passage's door.
The sun is nearly touching the horizon.
Yet light still pours from somewhere like it is the middle of the day. Petra puzzles over the phenomenon while looking out the window. It's almost like the light is coming from the mansion itself. Frederica walks to her room to acquire new clothing. She leaves the oni and small maid in the hallway, the battle is over and nothing will happen to them.
After making it to her room and putting on a new maid outfit, Frederica calmly walks outside the mansion. Her nose morphs for a second, the heightened senses tell her that someone is crawling along the ground near the mansion's fence. Unlike her brother, Frederica can be much more precise with her ancestral return.
Glancing behind her, the maid can see a pillar of light bursting from the mansion. Pieces of wood and stone hover around the base, elucidating that it punched straight through the building. The light curves ever so slightly north-east. Frederica watches the mesmerizing and blinding light for a second before tearing her eyes away.
The leopard stalks over to the blue-haired little girl. The girl is so close to the fence, a minute more and she would be off the mansion's yard. Her leg is bent at an unnatural angle that looks painful and the large yard doesn't help with trying to crawl away either. Frederica steps right in front of the girl.
"Care to join me for some tea, Guest-sama?"
—
…
…
…
They will all leave.
Life may be finite, but that's no reason to spend it dreading the end.
He will leave one day as well.
I prefer to think of it like this: beyond the cascade there is a holiday some people celebrate. Instead of mourning the dead, they celebrate the dead. They are happy they lived rather than sad they died. It's a warming three-day celebration.
…
…
……
……
………
………
Color.
Swirling, rippling, purling.
Vibrant and oversaturated.
Color.
Every color imaginable. Spinning so fast around them that it blends together into white. A torrent of emotions held back for centuries. Blindingly beautiful. It hurts the eyes but it's impossible to look away. Naked and bare for the world to see. Wet eyes and shaky voices. Broken bones betraying cracked hearts.
Cracked hearts, not completely broken. Able to be mended.
Not seeing it with their eyes, instead feeling their destination. Secluded. A box of stone rising from the earth amid a scar in the forest. Their travels take up the better part of ten minutes. Ten minutes feels like ten seconds. One second feels like an hour.
I'm relieved. Nothing's happened yet. Is that Japanese in the stonework on the roof of the tomb? If she hasn't cleared it I can force my way through.
You don't need to force everyone's problems onto yourself I suppose.
…
…
What was in that letter?
Betty will never tell you I suppose.
—
Well. Huh. Yes.
Guest :: I don't really mind. Meiss' authority is a jumbled mess of his desire to protect and tendency to seek revenge. I have tried to find a single thing that would make sense for him to control that encompasses these all, but I can't think of anything.
Acedia (apathy) Lightsaber tentacles.
Stagno (Unchanging) Limited damage immunity in his skin, the thinner it's spread, the less effective it is; Turns off pain receptors in the skin.
Indifferntia (Indifference) Immunity to all reality-altering stimuli. Passive ability.
Dolorem (Resentment) "Hey, It would be fun if acedia was on his arms." -Me to myself one night. Like acedia in both limit and drawbacks; covers one limb.
Dolorem++ "Hey, it would be fun if dolorem made him buff." -Me to myself one night. Besides stronger, exactly like dolorem.
Quiescence (Inactivity) Bubble that holds the properties of stagno and indifference. Basically a shield that protects those inside from outside stimuli.
Tall-Gothic-Guy :: Stress-laughing, sucks when you need to look professional. Also poor Womble, breathing heavy, laughing like a madman, and saying "I'm fine, I'm fine." I'm dead. He seemed scared out of his mind. I feel bad for him and bad for saying this but man it was kinda funny.
I was going to have this seige be one chapter, but realized I probably wouldn't finish it in time so I split it halfway through the week. I will internalize that explosion fact on the off chance I ever experience an explosion that I know is going to happen.
Well, this A/N was pretty long. Bye.