Crimson Ties - 2
Okay, so the first chapter wasn't very eventful. More of a chance to meet the other Claymores, but the gore starts here.
"You're in my way, dark hair."
Kaveri had stopped just a foot away from her, pointedly looking at her hair that still had yet to lose it's natural pigmentation. It wasn't as dark as before she had taken the yoma into her body, but it was still obviously brown. Even so, she was number seventeen. The color of her hair shouldn't be such a deal breaker with the other warriors. She was the second highest rank on this mission. There was no reason for this behavior from a fellow warrior, even if they had been on more hunts than her.
Miria sighed, closing her eyes as she stepped to the side listening for the door opening before stepping forward and spinning quickly on her heel. She struck with her other leg, the bottom of her boot hitting Kaveri square in the back.
Her eyes opened to see the warrior stumble ahead of her. Kaveri didn't go down though, instead she whirled around one hand on the hilt of her claymore. "You-"
A blade was extended toward her, hovering over Miria's shoulder. An obvious threat. "Enough," Eryn snapped. "Save it for the hunt, Kaveri." The blade drew back then and she could hear it slide between a metal slit. She could feel Eryn's gaze on her and glanced back over her shoulder to meet the identical silver eyes. "I expected this, you know. The Organization said you caused trouble before. Just know that this is the only time I will permit it. Any more instances and I will do more than just report your inobedience. The mission is to hunt the Awakened Being, not to pick fights."
When Eryn stepped past her and out the door she didn't fail to notice that the captain hadn't bothered to use her name. So much for team work. "You coming as well or are you going to let them gloat that these hunts only need two members instead of four?"
Zelda finally stepped away from the wall. Her own hair was shorter, though the strands covered most of the left side of her face. Miria could only imagine that it was troublesome in battle, but if she could still fight like that it didn't matter. "I'm coming."
Well, if she didn't the Organization would say she had disobeyed a direct order and had run away from her duties. Zelda didn't have a choice, but then again, none of them did.
An order was an order and they would see that it got fulfilled.
Miria gave her a small nod before passing over the threshold and back into the alley. She pinpointed the other warriors' yoki energy and started in the direction they had gone with Zelda following a few steps behind.
The snow crunched beneath her feet as she walked. The village of Cirvaca was now five miles behind them. If she turned she could still see it down below, dark gray splotches nestled in the valley with snow capped mountains to the north, rolling hills to the south that slowly turned green. It was right on the edge of the northern territory.
"Stop." Her feet slowed, Miria took a few more steps forward to stand just beyond Eryn. She didn't even acknowledge the slanted eyes that landed on her for a second before moving back to the land ahead of them.
The snow had been falling at a steady rate ever since they set out on a deer trail. There wasn't much in the way of paths up north and the being they were hunting had never been seen on the roads. It was hunters and the like that had been going missing from the nearby village. Which made their hunt a pressing matter for Cirvaca. It may be barely in the north itself, but it still relied heavily on the terrain around it for food. Trade didn't come north often enough for them to live through winter without a generous amount of hunting and gathering.
"It's here." The clink of metal filled the air as swords were drawn.
A single skeletal hand broke through the surface of snow, each finger snapped off shortly after, two heading for Eryn, one for the rest of them. Miria stepped to the side quickly to avoid the projectile. If that's all this creature could do she didn't see what the fuss had been about back in the town.
"Hmm," a rumble came from beneath the earth as the ground shook. "You didn't run screaming like the last group." The hunters. "This will be fun."
Miria gripped her sword tighter as the ground rocked beneath her, sending the vibrations up her legs. The ground in front of them split open, an arm following the previous hand, what looked like two curved bones connected the apendage to the body. The body... it was grotesque. More bones, all curved and twisting around eachother, the center was the only part devoid of anything. It's head was split down the middle, eyes rolling in shallow pockets on opposite sides, almost like a fish. The legs if one could call them that had melded together only to split apart at the feet, actual flesh springing up and winding through the air to cover the bottom half of the creature. If not for all the skeleton features it would resemble a squid.
It wasn't the appearance of the creature that practically made her body turn to stone though. It's yoki aura... It was massive. She could feel it in the air, in the very stone beneath her feet.
Her eyes widened. "It's still in the ground!" Miria jumped skyward just as what she could only describe as three tentacles burst from the stone, following her up into the air. She turned quickly, swinging her blade in an arc beneath her.
The cut flesh fell to the ground and she glanced around her. Eryn and Kaveri were untouched, more flesh falling beneath them as they headed straight toward the Awakened Being. Her eyes quickly scanned below to see Zelda still standing on the stone hacking away at any tentacles that burst from the ground. They were multiplying around her as the seconds passed.
She had to do something or eventually the numbers would overwhelm the warrior. The flesh was already arcing above, trying to block the path to the sky. "Zelda, get down!" Without waiting to check if her orders were followed Miria dropped from the sky, slashing her claymore left and right as more of those blasted things sprung from the ground. Repeatedly cutting away flesh until het feet touched down on the layers of flesh and she moved forward, sword cutting straight through the writhing mass that held Zelda within.
Thankfully all the blood that sprayed outward left the snow purple. Zelda stood up from the pile of lost limbs panting heavily. There were tears in her uniform but they were light. It didn't look the creature had been able to get past the first layer of skin and do any real damage. That was a relief. If they had lost a warrior this early into the fight-
"Eyes here!" Kaveri's shout made her turn, blade raising quickly as her eyes swept over the Awakened Being. She was leaping straight toward it's right arm and a mass of those tentacles shot up from around it's body to block the warrior's path. Each one went right past the warrior though and Miria stared as Kaveri stepped on the tentacles themselves as she moved swiftly between the writhing wall. All of her yoki was in her legs, enabling her to be fast enough to dodge around them, slip inbetween before it could cut the path off, and she was moving in a straight line. Her sword arm was angled behind her rather than in front as Kaveri emerged from the mass her yoki moved to that single arm that arced quickly through the air. The blade slammed down on the shoulder never making a sound as it slid through bone until it emerged from the bottom and the right arm fell to the ground with a thud, kicking up snow.
"ARGHHHH!" One side of the head turned in the direction of Kaveri. "I'm going to kill you, you-RAAAAGH!"
"Who were you going to kill?" Eryn was smiling as she was perched on it's last remaining arm, blood leaking down her sword from the blow she had just delivered to it's left eye.
"Get off me!"
The bones of the left arm rattled as it started shaking, the hand twisted back and fingers flew from it towards Eryn who was quick to jump from the body part and land on a branch of a tree. "That better?" The woman's lips were curled up into a sneer, eyes narrowed. "You ugly freak."
There was a roar from the Awakened Being just before it's arm smashed into the tree Eryn was on, toppling it over. Though Miria couldn't see Eryn anywhere near the splintered wood and cracked stone. With another roar it's arm started flailing about, the hand repeatedly launching it's fingers as they were replaced a moment after going in all directions.
"AHHHH!"
Miria spun toward the scream, spotting Zelda lying on her back in the snow beyond the creature. Judging from the cut flesh lying on the ground a few yards ahead of her she must have snuck around it's back to attack from the bottom. The being had to be missing more than half of those damn tentacles now with all the four of them had sliced up.
It's left arm was redirecting back to the sound of the scream now and Miria sprinted forward, ducking beneath the two curved bones to Zelda's side to raise her blade and slice at the hand that was still splintering off it's own fingers. It fell to the ground, the rest of the arm whizzing by harmlessly.
"Zelda-" Miria turned to see the warrior gasping as her hands were wrapped around her right thigh. The leg beneath was gone, those bone fingers sticking out of the ground around pieces of flesh below where her leg should be. Bright red blood was staining the snow below, pooling beneath the jagged cuts made by the flying apendages. Miria dropped to her knees. "Can you regenerate it?" Zelda's eyes were slits and she was breathing quickly, hissing through her teeth, but after a second she nodded. "Concentrate on that. I won't let it hit you again."
She stood up, turning quickly to face the Awakened Being, both hands clasped around the hilt of her sword as she stood there focusing on the massive yoki in front of her.
The remaining lengths of flesh shot toward her and she swung her sword quickly, in short acrs before bringing it back before her and repeating the process as they continued racing at her. She was hacking away at the tentacles, cutting a single one repeatedly to make sure the being couldn't use it again, not letting one get past her sword and to the fallen warrior beyond her.
The massive flow of yoki shifted then, she could feel it coming toward her and slashed her sword up and across her body, cutting through another mass of tentacles before blocking the projectiles with the flat of her blade. How was it doing that anyway? She had cut it's hand off!
Her head turned to see the arm moving toward her, the flat part where it's hand had been was completely black, except for the bone fingers shooting out from it. Pain splintered through her stomach in the next second, blood following soon after. The tentacles had imbedded themselves part way into her, she had cut them enough that they couldn't do much more damage than that, but they were also keeping her in place and those bone fingers were still coming. Damn! "Move, Zeld-Unf," she gasped as the arm hit the flat of her blade, the tentacles slipping from her before she went flying.
She hit a slab of rock hard, the ice splintering outward from her impact, chips falling away around her. The arm was still heading on it's path toward her again and she wrapped her other hand around the hilt of her sword, driving the point into the ice beneath her. The arm connected a second later and her body shook with the effort to keep her sword standing in front of her so she wouldn't be crushed.
"Damn rookie," she heard the curse before she saw Kaveri above the Awakened Being's arm. Her own arms were raised above her head, though Miria could sense her yoki was only in one that was quickly brought down, the other hand releasing the blade after pushing it back in the opposite direction. It cut clean through the arm, the hilt right against the bone, the tip barely showing through the farthest piece of bone.
As the piece of bone fell Miria could see the absolute darkness left in it's place. "Get out of there!" Even as she yelled the fingers shot out from the darkness, piercing through flesh and bone alike.
"An eye for an eye, you bitch."
Kaveri let out a scream as she stepped back, blood dribbling down the stump of her upper left arm. Her right leg came up quickly, kicking at the remaining part of his arm that was still attached to the body and away from the two of them. The warrior dropped forward on her knees soon after, reaching forward to grab at the arm still holding her claymore and tugging it toward her. It had little holes in it everywhere but it was still whole, with some time she could connect it back to her body.
"Bastard! I'll take your head!"
Her eyes quickly found Eryn falling from the sky, the blade ahead of her striking in the center of it's remaining eye. The being roared, swinging it's stump of an arm toward her but the bone couldn't twist, it couldn't launch those frustrating bone fingers at her. The few remains of it's tentacles shot up, covering it's head as the warrior removed the claymore from it's eye.
Eryn's eyes were golden now, veins sticking out from her arms as the muscle grew, compensating for all the yoki energy being focused there. A yell erupted from her as the blade fell again, cutting through the tentacles, half ot it's split head following the flesh to the snow below. The other half, another mass of estranged tentacles fell soon after as the blade was swung again and the body of the Awakened Being fell to the ground with a thump, no longer moving.
"Heh."
Eryn stood up from the skeletal remains, but Miria was more concerned with Zelda beyond her, closest to the deer trail they had come up on. Her leg was just starting to regrow the skin over the new muscle and bone, but her eyes were wide and she was shaking from head to toe. The girl was on her feet, patches of muscle still visible on her skin as she took of running down the trail.
The lids of her eyes shut for a moment and Miria pressed a hand to her wounds, trying to slow the bleeding as she fought to keep conscious, to concentrate her yoki on the wound and close it even as her head pounded.
A sort-of gurgle broke it and she opened her eyes to see several limbs potruding from Eryn's body. These ones weren't naked flesh though, it couldn't possibly be that Awakened Being from before. There was fur on the limbs and at each end they were curved, like claws.
"Eryn!" She could hear Kaveri's shout, see the woman was still holding her arm to her shoulder, the skin reattaching when the lids of her eyes closed once again and all she could see was darkness.
Let me know what you think.