Kait let out a sigh as a glass of water fell from her table, shattering on the floor. Not going to let this of all things bother her, she simply filled another, and sat at her new table, the only piece of furniture her and her husband had been able to move before their "guests" showed up. Urbanius was a dangerous place for lone women, but on this day, she feared it was much more dangerous for men. She tried not to picture whatever sort of conflict was happening outside of the city. It was unfathomable for something so far away to cause tremors in her home, but as expected, her drink fell once more, adding to a growing pile of wet and shattered glass on her uncarpeted floor.
"One ballista up!" cried Katamar, as he watched a felyne worker finish tightening the last bolt.
"Then man it, for peet's sake!" replied May, who was on the recieving end of a cannonball carrying 'assembly line,' in which she was required to adjust powder and ignite the fuse to produce the most accurate shot. Being that they weren't finished, the cannon's were all but unaimable, being useful only in dire and upclose situations. Unfortunately, this was one of those situations.
Katamar made his way to the ballista, struggling to carry as much ammo as possible, and skirting a loose cannonball that a felyne 'line' worker dropped, likely due to the tremors of the beast's most casual footsteps.
Kerchunk!
The monster winced in pain, but his stride was nearly unbroken, as the first of Katamar's ballista munitions entered its upper torso.
Kerchunk...Kerchunk...Kerchunk...
Katamar continued his firing, causing the monster immense pain, but doing no good in slowing the giant. Eventually, he knew the beast would come close enough, at which point Katamar would let the monster taste 'dragon,' but until then, the artilary was the only hope for him or May to do any good.
Wolfbait and Warren had the luxury of familiarity with this type of battle. The two expert gunners put aside their differences as soon as they saw the threat, and the Unseen Demon, and the angelic gun weilding Warren did what they did best. They blasted the most powerful of munitions into the skull of Lao Shan Lung as often and quickly as possible, all the while being untouchable.
Warren toyed with this concept. He was almost invincible it seemed, but yet this was the most danger he'd ever been in. The confusion and inconsistancy brought a smile to his face, giving him something to think about other than the mountanous version of apocalypse a kilometer away.
Clachik. Another special dose of explosive pain was loaded into the Island of the Gods, as Wolfbait with his insane grin raised it at the beast, with the intention of needing to reload soon. The legendary gun emited three explosions, each of which was echoed by a series of smaller explosions in the direction of the monster. The deafening sounds were followed by the next click of reloading, and the madman began the cycle again.
Allongside these loud booms cried the low whistle of Warren's high-velocity peircing shots, a seemingly enless volley of pain, but still not enough to slow the mountainous threat. Each of these whistles and explosions were dwarfed by the booming cannon. May and her felyne workers tirelessly loaded cannonball after cannonball in yet another unsuccessful attempt to down, or even slow the oncoming monstrocity.
Thud after thud, after heart-sinking thud, the incredible Lao Shan Lung neared the fort. Although his pain was intense, he restrained his flinching reflex and trudged forward into the onslaught of fire. All four of the humans fired away at him, all trembling, but all of them bold. These four were the only obstacle in his way, and the monster almost felt as if it wouldn't be easy. However, this battle was the epitome of what both parties had been created, so Lao Shan Lung continued his unslowing approach, lowering to all fours as he began to draw near the fortress gate.
"He's within range, and better yet, he's on all fours!" yelled Katamar, just running out of amuntion for his now useless ballista. "Permission to drop down?"
"Permission granted. I'm coming with you though!" replied May, also nearing the end of her supply of cannonballs. With that both parties decended the rope ladder to the faraway mud below, as both Warren and Wolfbait upped their rate of fire, in a temporary ploy to distract the monster from the vulmerable blademasters.
Both of the hunters landed safely, thanks to the enraging affects of the volley of explosions the gunners created. Being careful not to be heard until it was too late, both the lancer and swordsman made their timid approach towards the awesome beast. Even on all fours, the monster seemed to tower above them, but his head was still within reach for both blades. The evil yellow eyes focused upward toward the barrage of gunfire, as the two hunters made their way towards them. Only a few meters away, the eyes refocused to the beast's right, as Katamar took a not-to-subtle step into a murky brown puddle of mud.
Before the swordsman could react, the gargantuan red skull lashed out at him, only to be recoiled by an even quicker thinking May's sheild. Although Katamar was spared, the force sent May to her back, a position which was hard to recover from given her over-sized lance and sheild. It was Katamar's turn to react. As the quickly recovering monster turned his head at the downed easy target, Katamar unsheathed his bone katana and rushed the huge red head. The monster's peripheral betrayed him, as just before making his strike at May, the rushing swordsman caught his eye, causing his focus to fade. Katamar took advantage of this short opportunity, raising his blade high above his head, and bringing it down with all the force and weight he could muster. The result was a thing of grim beauty, as blood poured from a clean, albeit somewhat shallow cut to the beast's brow.
The monster yelped, and decided to ignore the gunners, focusing his power at the troublesome blademasters, who were now both on their feet, ready to strike again. Lao Shan Lung decided to use his size to his advantage, lowering his right side down toward the hunters, then pushing with all his strength from the left, the result being a large battering ram, surely fatal to anything in its path. May his behind her oversized shield, sending her unharmed several meters back. Katamar made a last second dive, narrowly avoiding the fast moving legs and landing safely under the high neck.
The mountanous monster easily recovered from its attack, and refocused on Katamar, now at his left. Just before making an almost certainly fatal strike, the great Lao Shan Lung saw, no, he felt his mistake, a painful jab at his jaw coming from his right. The monster grunted out of pain, and at his own lack of foresight as he realized he managed to get himself surrounded. Confused, the monster shook his head violently, trying unsuccessfully to hit one of the agile hunters.
The tides had turned, as both blademasters were able to damage the beast without even being scratched, and the two bowgunners unleashd devistating ammo on his back. But whatever advantage they had seemed minimal, as the mountain still refused to collapse. With the hunters on the upper hand, but still not winning, the battle raged on.
"You might want want to come over here." said the medic, gesturing to Kyle, who stood trembling amist the casualties in the base camp. Kyle followed suit silently, going to a makeshift stretcher that the medic had pointed to. As Kyle approached, he lifted the cover only to see a scrawny tiny man with somewhat long black hair. The man stared through Kyle, oblivious to his surroundings, convinced he was still in battle.
"Who is this?" Kyle asked, confused.
"Oh, that's Frederick." He said, almost amused."But that's the man I wanted you to see!" he added, pointing to a rather bulky figure, sitting on a bench wearing horribly damaged silver, knight-like armor. The large man seemed exhausted, resing his head in his dented gaunlets. He didn't have a helmet with him, or even a weapon, and if Kyle could tell, he had lost his dignity as well.
"Haman?" inquired Kyle, then quickly corrected. "Sir?"
The man didn't say anthing, but instead grunted, as he raised his head. Kyle had never seen his face before. His black hair was thrown in random directions, and in bulky chunks stuck to his face, glued by dried blood. His face seemed to be frozen into a frown, and was bruised from battle, but Kyle could tell he was a handsome man before this mess started.
"Then you wanted to see me?" Kyle prodded, not sure why he was here.
"I... I need to apologize for what I've done to you, and your mentor." sighed Haman, trying to avoid lowering his head again. "I put you both on the front lines to for unchivalrous reasons."
Kyle at first was taken aback, but then he remembered Mike. Anger flooded through him, and curiosity overwhelmed his subordinate mentality. "What are you talking about! You mean that there's no good reason why Mike, if he even survives, will never walk again?!" he shouted.
"I'm sorry... but no. I made a mistake, one that I've learned from, but can't ever take back." he continued.
"What did you do?!" shouted Kyle, all acknowledgement of authority now gone.
"My team was injured by your father and his friend. I was angry, and I let it put you two in danger." he explained.
"Why?" was all that Kyle could muster. He was unsure now on who to be angry at. Surely his own father didn't attack a general. But perhaps there was more to it than that.
"It was my own twisted interpretation of orders, on which I got what I had coming. I kidnapped your father, but he and his friend resisted, and I couldn't take out the damage on them, so I took the chance to take it out on you." finished Haman.
"How could you?!" gasped Kyle. He didn't know what damage was done, or who this friend was, or even his fate, but Kyle was sure his father was innocent now, but he couldn't decide on Haman. "It's over now, but why kidnap Katamar?" he finally asked.
"He was needed for an elite task force to defend the final part of the pass. Of course, no one expected Lao Shan Lung to be this strong,.I doubt they'll be any more successful than us. Looks like I'm responsible for the end of his life, too." grunted Haman. He lowered his head back to his gauntlets. What he did was irredeemable, but he still hoped for forgiveness.
Kyle was unsure. He couldn't just let this go unpunished, but the man had also saved his life, and many others over the course of his life. Kyle just turned his head, trying not to watch Haman torture himself over his deeds. Haman's head shot up quickly, a slight glint of hope accross his face.
"Give me your sword!" he ordered. "It's an order, as well as staying put."
Kyle relunctantly obeyed, but still dared to question it. "What's this about?!"
"I'm going to make this right. I'm going to protect your father, as well as the others that shared his misfortune." he said as he left. Kyle began to go behind him, only to be grabbed by a hunter with a bandage on his forehead, the same one that pulled him out of the battlefeild.
The monster faught to ignore the blades, and lowered himself once again. The blades kept slashing, and the gunners blasting, hoping to stop the monster's move. They were unsuccessful. In a mountanous red flash, the beast threw his weight against the gate. Both blademasters successfully avoided the assault, but the gunners both felt the shock. Warren simply stumbled backwards, misfiring harmlessly into the sky. Wolfbait wasn't as lucky, and was knocked off the forttress to a flat half-way mark on the ladder. Not even flinching from the pain of the broken leg, Wolfbait scooted backwards into a corner, trying to maintain distance, but still stay in firing range.
The monster followed up this success with a devastating tail swipe to May. She quickly raised her huge sheild, but it easily yeilded to the force of the tree-sized tail tip, and May flew into the far canyon wall.
Katamar couldn't tell if she was alive or dead, but he wasted no time in unleashing a devastating combonation of quick slashes with his sharp katana, being assisted by a flurry of gunfire from above. The monster bellowed, actually caught off guard by the hunters' rageful attacks. But as always, the beast recovered, but he was noticably less motivated, seeing the possibility of failure.
Although their effective numbers had halved, the hunter's now fought harder than ever, victory in sight. Warren unleashed his devastating peircing amunition into the skull of the beast, cracking the thick armor-like scales. The beast yelped again, but noticing the feirce Katamar with sword drawn approaching, the beast neglected to attack, and instead rose. Katamar raised his hands in an attempted downswing, but the huge beast proved to agile, raising his body to the air before Katamar could unleash this attack.
The great L:ao Shan Lung stood on his hind legs, keeping his vulnerable head away from the enraged swordsman. Katamar struggled for a target, the only obvious place was the legs, but they were dangerously close to the beast's feircesome tail. He had managed to avoid that huge battering tail for this long, so Katamar, without thinking twice, darted to the beast's knees and began slicing.
Warren began to inch back, trying without much luck to reload his gun while trembling uncontrolably at the beast, which now towered above him. Finally, the shells snapped into place, and the trembling gunner closed raised his gun to the head of the beast. Upon doing this, he noticed the beast had reared his head back, preparing to strike.
Boom! The beast's attack was interupted by a powerful explosion, which trickled into a series of smaller ones that scattered his face. Warren followed the origin of the attack, to a smoking gun in the hands of the legendary unseen demon.
"Unseen Demon, indeed." Warren grinned, then proceded to unload his gun into the head of the staggered beast. The monster canceled his assault on Warren, and instead rammed the wall to his right. Wolfbait was able to dodge the beast, but the force let loose debris from above him, and the Demon was unconscious in seconds.
Katamar also was forced to dodge this attack, but unlike Wolfbait, he had no rubble to deal with, and easily avoided damage. He continued his assault on the beast's legs. Crimson flew in every direction, as bits of scale, and even blood were removed forcefully by the sharp edge of 'dragon'. The monster roared in pain, both from Warren's now more confident assault, and Katamar's wrathful swinging.
In retaliation, the beast whipped his tail around his legs in an attempt to hit the swordsman. The nimble hunter was able to dodge, but he was forced to get a bit too close to the legs. The beast took advantage of this, and attempted to stomp the hunter. Katamar rolled out of the way of the tremendous foot, but the force of the wind pressure created upon its touching the ground was too much, and the hunter flew several meters away. Katamar tried to rejoin the fight, but he was dizzy, and could barely stand.
The great mountanous monster took advantage of the moment, not to attack Katamar, but his feirce gunning ally. Warren's beautiful Profusion was jammed, and he was more than distracted as the mountain began approaching once more.
"Got it!" exclaimed Warren, as he managed to finaly remove a stuck shell from the barrel. He reloaded his gun, and looked up. It was too late. Warren managed to fire one shot into the mouth of the beast. In pain the monster shut his mouth, too soon for Warren to be eaten, but the raw force of the impact from his snout tossed the helpless hunter like a toy into the back wall of the upper fortress.
Warren faught to regain mobility, but his body felt numb. He realized he must have been in shock, but there was nothing he could do. The monster noticed this too, and opened his mouth to finish the downed gunner. Warren looked up in defiance at the beast, and prepared to fire his gun until his dying breath. He didn't have to, as just before the monster's teeth reached the gunner, a pair of dented metalic hands dragged Warren out of reach.
The startled gunner looked behind him, and saw a huge dark-haired man, in tarnished and incomplete knight-like armor.
"You?!" gasped Warren, before passing out, both from the damage, and from utter surprise to be alive.
Haman, lay the hunter gently down, then returned to the center-top of the fortress to examine the battle, and confront the monster. At first he noticed the monster had changed direction. Second, he realized that both Wolfbait, and his commander, May, were laying unconscious, and he could only hope that they lived. Third, he noticed the reason for the beasts direction change.
Katamar had recovered from his first daze, but after trying to attack the knee again, the beast "kicked" him, sending him flying backward again. Haman saw him, struggling to stand. That hit wouldn't have phased a normal hunter, but Haman knew that Katamar refused to spend money on armor, and instead chose to feed his family. Haman knew he had to act quick if he were to save the man, and his own self-worth.
The militiaman knew there was no way to climb down and protect the hunter. Defense was not an option, so Haman decided the only way was to destroy the beast before it reached Katamar. Without thinking, Haman lept from the top of the fortress, onto the beasts upper back. The monster didn't even notice the huge man, who was scaling his back, in an attempt to reach the towering head.
Katamar looked up at his impending demise. The evil red face glared down at him, and his mouth parted in what almost seemed an evil grin. Then Katamar noticed something else. A demolished metalic hand shot up from behing the monsters skull, and grabbed on of his small red thorns. Then, following the the hand, another metalic hand shot up, this one holding a sword, and then stabbed downward into a crack in the scales caused by bowgun fire.
Lao Shan Lung roared in pain, and after trying unsuccessfully to find the source of the pain, began to thrash about wildly. Haman held his ground, and wiggled the blade, causing as much damage as possible. Finally, the beast's pain was too much, and he fell to all fours. The sudden drop was too much for Haman, and he hit the dirt, but the damage was already done.
The monster was shivering in his pain. His vision blurred, and his movements were unsteady. The horrible hunter must have hit the beast's brain, so he decided the only chance of survival was to retreat. He scanned the pass, looking for an unguarded exit. He wouldn't dare go the way he came, those soldiers may actually win in his current state. Luckily, through his distorted vision, he noticed a smaller pass adjacent to the way he entered. He stumbled his way through at the fastest pace possible, taking advantage of the recovering militiaman and katana wielder. With a serious of almost random quakes, the great Lao Shan Lung disappeared into the fog.
Kyle rushed at full pace, hoping to reach the battleground before his persuers caught him, or Haman suffered a terrible fate. The pursuers, the hunters that had tried unsuccessfuly to keep him from Haman, were growing tired, and were only able to follow the boy because they knew his destination. Finaly, after jumping an unconscious gunner, Kyle reached the fortress, which overlooked the mountain pass.
At first, Kyle's heart swelled as he noticed that the fort was indeed there, and the monster was not. Second, he was releived to see at the bottom of the fort, both his father and Haman alive. The latter aproached the former, which was prostrate, but obviously alive. Kyle readied a first-aid kit he stole before his breakout, and prepared to descend.
"Need a hand?" said the bulky, yet handsome man in the tarnished knight-like armor.
Not recognizing the man, confused Katamar let him help. "Thanks, I 'spose I owe you one."
"Not at all, if anything, you have the right to hate me." replied the militiaman.
Katamar readied a confused reply, until he realized who he was speaking to. The hunter's eyes widened in disgust, then narrowed in a fierce glare. He had sworn that this man must die, and he wasn't prepared to make an exception. Almost in response to Katamar's facial expressions, Haman's eyes bulged, and he began gasping.
"Father!" Kyle cried, not able to think of anything else.
Katamar didn't look up, or even hear his son's plea. He removed his dripping red blade from the fading militiaman. Haman dropped to his knees, still gasping for air, as valuable life flowed from his wound like sands in an hourglass. The militiaman's face begged for mercy, but he was too weak to form such words.
At this, the ruthless Katamar gripped his sword in two hands, and raised it back as if it were an axe. The enraged hunter channelled his hate into the blade, as he drew back even farther. Upon the appropriate time for the release of the energy, which should have been a clean decapitating slice, two small hands grabbed Katamar's wrist, and yanked backward with suprising force.
After landing on his back, the startled Katamar looked up to see his son glaring at him. A betrayed expression passed his face, but quickly transformed into a hatred that rivaled his own. Kyle easily removed the blade from his father's hands, and raised it. However the boy was far from prepared to take another man's life, and instead hurled it, and walked away.
Katamar looked up to see the militiaman still kneeling, still bleeding, still gasping, and still dying. Kyle stood next to him, making sure to keep his back to his father.
"I'm.. I'm sorry, Kyle... I didn't mean-" apologized Katamar.
Kyle didn't answer, instead he just walked past the man he once called father, and never bothered to look back. Katamar stood there with the dying militiaman until death finaly answered Haman's plea.
Looking around the battlefield, Katamar was forced to restrain his gag reflex. His superior lay against a rock wall, and both gunners were unconscious. Another superior, Haman, lay dead at his feet, a bleeding 'dragon' sized hole in his chest. The only man standing was Katamar. Sure they had repelled the wyvern's most powerful ally, and possibly sealed victory in this war, but this war was based on one man's prejudice. Could such a thing realy be called victory?
Worse, he had killed another human, and ally in this horrible war. Worse yet, this man had saved him, saved the city, and out of pure rage, Katamar had killed him. Because of this, he was dead to his son. He could only hope for Kyle's success, but he'd never be there to see it. Could he realy be considered a hero?
With his thoughts, his guilt, and his haunting deeds, the once harmless, peaceful explorer left the demolished battlefield. Katamar knew there would be no turning back.
The end...