Ch. 5
"Zack," I yelled, "Stay 30 yards behind me as we run. I don't want us both caught in a trap like last time."
"Fat chance," he said. "I'd have been fine without you. You stay 30 yards back."
"Fine. Priest, stay here. I'll send a blue flare up if we need back-up."
"Got it. Be careful."
And we were off.
I stayed back as Zack 'nicely' asked me to. I would have argued on most other occasions, but we weren't fighting an opponent that would allow that kind of behavior. We had no time to argue.
So we ran through the forest at double speed, with me pushing off of tree trunks with one foot at a time like an armored ninja. Zack still ran on the ground.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"Do what?" I replied.
"Travel just under the branches."
"Safest spot in a forest. Ground attacks are at a disadvantage, I can jump into the branches if needed, and if someone is already in the branches, they lose the high ground advantage."
"And I'll bet it is fun."
"I don't know. I don't have a good concept of fun anymore."
"What?"
"Well, the last time I remember having anything like fun was when Priest was still in the program. That was over 14 years ago. So I don't think I know what fun is anymore. Now focus. The second we see the enemy, they will try to kill us or worse. Use everything you have."
As I said that, we suddenly appeared into a clearing.
Filled with the enemy.
I had no time to survey my surroundings as I found myself charging into an A.P. Twisting in the air, I slammed feet-first into its chest, which pushed the whole segment out of alignment with the others. While this did leave the giant lumbering away awkwardly, it also made me get whacked by one of its shin segments further into the battlefield. (*Also, I lost track of Zack at this point, but he told me all about his experience after we were free to actually talk)
I crashed into a trunk of a fallen tree, looking up at the face of an Advance Close Combat Scout. These models are fully equipped with their single FTW - Fully Transforming Weapon - Which is capable of turning into anything the Scout deems necessary to complete whatever mission it's been sent on. And it's able to transform into so many things because its body IS most of the weapons.
It swung a hammer for my head, but I rolled out of the way and onto the ground. Changing from hammer to halberd, it then thrashed and slashed at me from on top of the tree trunk. I saw a few more Scouts coming from behind me, leaving me nowhere to retreat to.
Thinking fast, I charged my axe with light and slashed hard upwards to seemingly throw the droid off balance. It moved the weapon to the side, but I reversed my swing quickly and seemingly tried to go for it again. It missed, but my intended target was never the weapon.
It was the tree trunk it was standing on.
Using force light, I had a wave of gold push the newly cut out piece of the old oak that the droid was standing on. As it fell down, I diverted the head of the halberd with my shield and slammed the head of my axe into its chest. At the same time, I placed the helm of my helmet directly where the robot's head was going, obliterating its face.
Shrugging off the limp body, I turned to the approaching Scouts. Swinging my axe in a wide arc, I released the light I had stored in it. This resulted in a white, slashing force cutting through all three of the automatons.
But I was immediately attacked from behind with an explosion of cold that threw me from my feet. Once again spinning in mid-air, I managed to land on the base of an old tree stump, looking in the direction of the newest attacker.
"You troublesome brat," said my opponent.
"Good evening, Miss Shcnee," I said. "Or should I call you Winter?"
She was standing on top of what counted as a shoulder of an A.P. with heavy armor. This woman was the hidden hand of 'The Project.' The one who came up with the combat scenarios for me to complete, the one who watched as I endured torture for the sake of increasing my endurance, the one near the head of everything.
She wore her white hair in the usual bun and had her 'high-class' uniform on, with her cutlass and dagger on her hip. Her light-blue eyes looked at me with disdain.
"Don't you think you can speak to me in that tone, boy."
"Very well. How about 'Icy Bitch?'"
"You would dare to be so vulgar with me?"
"I would dare to show you the disrespect you deserve. Do you really expect me to treat someone at the head of a group that had me brutally beaten regularly, subjects me to fight-for-my-life situations, and treats me like a tool with anything approaching courteously?"
I started walking towards her. She sent another ice missile at me, but I batted it aside, my anger building and giving me power. It hit the A.P. she stood on, forcing her to jump down into the filth and on my level.
"Do you have any idea what it was like to be me? Knowing I shouldn't be living such a life when a bunch of others get to live free. I was always fighting, always surviving, never sure if I would live for a few more days or not. CAN YOU COMPREHEND SUCH A CONCEPT, YOU ICY BITCH!?"
A barrage of fireballs was the next response, but I detonated them by sending a wave of dark red across the area. She looked more frustrated than usual.
"Well, I will admit, your training has made me powerful. But I don't think you know just how so. See, I've been hiding my strength for the past seven years."
A large stone now, but I bashed it aside with a lump of orange like a slow gnat. She looked even more frustrated, actually showing teeth. (*That's a big deal. She never changed her expression except between annoyed and infuriated. This was a new step I hadn't seen before)
"It was infuriating. I felt like I was living in a world of cardboard and was being force to treat it like steel. Always taking care to use a minimum of force. Never allowing myself to cut loose and break something big, something important, someone 'necessary' in your eyes."
She pulled out her parrying dagger from her cutlass and tried to charge me physically. I didn't even attempt to block and allowed her to stab me through the gut with her cutlass and into the chest with her dagger, parting the armor I wore. She humped in dissatisfaction before I delivered the killing line.
"But now I have an opportunity to show you just how powerful I really am."
Finally, a look of concern from her. I now had her scared of me.
Just like I wanted. (*Any fight with a Hunter is hard to win with just good fighting ability. To win a fight against a Hunter, you must make it a battle of the mind as well as a battle of the body. Hunters, by definition, generally hunt Grimm, which respond to negative emotions like fear, misery, and hate. This involves incredible focus to the target, surroundings, and their own abilities not just physically, but emotionally. However, they aren't use to battling emotional battles like I have. Every time I had taken a life, I had always questioned myself deeply about if it was the right move. I was telling the truth about my strength, let me be clear on that right now. But that made it more difficult. In needing to hide my power, I had to hold back my abilities. Meaning I had a limit of how fast I could move, how I can use my Semblance, and other such things. There were many times I could have knocked a person out if I had passed that limit, but because I could never risk it, I had to aim to kill when I couldn't knock them out at the level I was putting out. Those fights especially tormented me)
I put my shield and axe on their sheaths and grabbed her hands, which still held her weapons, in the blink of a human eye. As I spread my arms wide, it dislodged the instruments in my body. It also picked Winter up off the ground and brought her face close to mine.
"Don't die too fast," I growled, slowly healing the wounds I had exacerbated in myself. "I have sooooo many things I want to try, and you need to be strong enough to take it."
She kneed me in the groin, but I waited a full five seconds before dropping her to the ground. This seemingly showed that I took no damage. (*Case in point, I didn't really, as that's the one place that's more armored than anything. But the lack of a reaction after a usually painful attack installs fear into anyone. The amount and kind may differ, but can you seriously not be scared if you kneed someone in the groin and all they did was looked you in the eyes for five full seconds afterwards?) As she fell, I kneed her so hard in the chest, she fell on another tree trunk ten yards away.
"First item on the agenda!" I shouted, adding a little maniac edge to my voice in an attempt to plant more fear. "How fast can I really move?"
"Don't think you can fool me, child!" she yelled. "I already know your strengths and weaknesses. You can't scare me with cheap words!"
A direct challenge! I need to beat it to really start messing with her.
Combining my Aura with the Dust in my blood, everything around me appeared to slow down. Of course, I knew it was me that was speeding up. I ran the distance between us, making sure that I stopped right behind her. Before returning to normal speed, I made sure to lean close to her ear.
"REALLY?" I yelled, instantly going back to super-speed mode as she swung her cutlass at me. I ran to the front of her, then came back to normal speed.
"So you must know my top speed, right?" I ask as she still swung for where I was.
She swung again, and I super-speed dodged it again. I did this for around a minute, giving myself obviously less room to dodge each time I did so. She kept trying to swing faster and faster, growing more frustrated by the minute. I had to use all my willpower trying not to show how completely livid I was. Then I remembered I was wearing a helmet, so I went ahead and did so.
This woman was the lap dog of the very people that thought to raise me in hell while in view of heaven. There is no other way to put it. I saw how families live while in 'The Program.' I saw festivals and holidays. I saw sad days and sick days. I saw love being fostered, marriage processions act out, funeral held for the departed. I saw every major aspect of life that I was denied by them. Because I was their property, their tool. Because they thought to own me. I'm not sure any word in any language could properly sum up the feeling of rage, hate, pain, and misery I was feeling at that moment. Rage for the woman in front of me, hate for 'The Program,' pain at the loss of a normal life.
Misery for all the families, festivals, holidays, sad days, sick days, love fostering, and marriage making days I had ruined. Of all the funerals I had made. Of all the sin I had caused because I could never be strong enough, fast enough, smart enough to escape their control. I can blame 'The Program' for forcing me to do everything I did, but it doesn't change the fact that I did them.
But no more.
I crashed my fist into the side of her skull, hearing the jaw snap from it's joint in dislocation.
No more 'Program.'
I followed with a flurry of punches into her midriff. No real aim in mind, just a releasing of rage.
No more being controlled.
I followed with a heel kick to the sternum as she fell, sending her twenty yards away.
No more needlessly taking lives.
Tendrils of electricity were sparking between my fingers as I walked to where she lay, coughing red and continuously failing to rise.
No more.
Flashes of light played around me, my Semblance losing control in my fury.
NO MORE.
I grabbed her by her hair bun and lifted her off her feet. She flailed, not using her Semblance for some reason.
NO MORE!
I grabbed for my axe, my anger tensing my muscles and causing me to do so slowly. She began to go nuts, but still didn't use her Semblance.
NO MORE!
I lifted my axe, preparing to end her life in one, final, strike.
"NO MORE! I SUBMIT! NO MORE! PLEEEAAASSSEEE DON'T!"
It was Schnee.
I saw her mouth move, but I hadn't realized that she had been saying anything until now. When did she start? Now? As I had picked her up? When I was walking towards her? Even before?
Does it matter?
I have this chance. This rare chance I may never get again. To end it. To end her. The lapdog of pain. I can finally kill her like I had wanted to for so long. So long under the whip. So long on a leash. So long in chains.
Should I take it?
What would this say about me? Wanting to stop killing, but still having to kill to get what I want? Still choosing it? Must I stop a life of sin with a final one?
No.
No more.
I twist my axe so as the flat side of it will hit where I strike instead of the cutting edge and brained her. She falls from my grasp, head bruised but unconscious. Thinking back, she had been talking ever since I had kicked her away. I knew it, but it didn't properly register until now.
This had always been a problem for me. As my nerves gained the greatest effects from the Lightning Dust, I've always had a problem with being 'easily overstimulated,' as it were. My emotions tend to get way far ahead of me at times, leading to moments of losing self-control in emotional tirades. It's a weakness of my power, I guess. While being able to see, hear, and do more than a normal human, I have a tendency to 'feel' more. (*The irony that a creature like me could still have emotions considering the life I've lived while a normal human would probably be dead inside is not lost on me) Anyway, I fought against the Scout again, but after that outburst, I don't remember much of it. I was fried physically, mentally, and aurally, (*My Aura was at its limits) and just going through the motions after that.
However, I do remember how everyone else fought.
Zack was probably the most impressive. Though the fog had finally set in and was causing trouble for the robots to see through, I did get to see a glimpse of him fighting. Not like I had a choice in the matter.
I mean, he was on fire.
Literally.
It was explained later to me that when he gets excited by anger, battle lust, and the like, his Dust gets activated. Like how mine did when the electricity was playing between my fingers. His covers him in super dense flames, actually causing his own pressure system to go where he goes. This meant that he was the only one without the benefit of the fog covering his movements, as the fog would evaporate twenty yards away from him. He was so inflamed that nothing would catch on fire, but would instead instantly turn to ash and charcoal. I have no idea how his armor stayed in shape afterwards.
The robots had the worst of it. They had containment systems to help regulate the Lava Dust in their weapons compartments, but that only regulated the insides of their bodies. The second Zack got within ten feet of an A.P, its systems would fail, causing it to melt both from the inside and the outside. Scouts would become puddles at fifteen feet.
They adapted quickly though, and began attacking him from a distance. Zack was caught dodging for the longest time, and I had to keep fighting to survive myself, so I wasn't able to help. But then Zack found that lumps of burnt tree trunks were easy to grab and started chucking them at any droid that started firing on him.
I saw Cassy and the other Hunters fight together. It was . . . well, interesting. See, I hadn't fought alongside anyone in the longest time. I had only seen teamwork once after Priest 'disappeared,' and that was between two Hunters that were trying to kill me. So seeing them use teamwork was a whole new experience for me altogether. Cassy generally came in first and blinded the opponents with her staff while either Chaz or Haily attacked. Haily was especially dangerous, as whenever she went for a kill, she just jumped on the robots head, let her cloak cover most of it, and after a moment, jump off. But everywhere that the cloak covered was now gone. The marks were smooth, like somebody had simply to an eraser to a three-D picture.
Once Zack had taken out the first car, everything started happening fast. All the robots paused for a moment, which I realize now was that they were receiving orders. Then, as one, all the Scouts and A.P.s that were heading for us turned and started moving towards the Hunter.
"Their trying for a hostage situation," I said, now able to look from the cover of the Nevermore carcass I was recently hiding behind to protect from the cover of fire I was just under. I ran out and aimed to do silent kills until I got to where the others were and protect them.
But before I started my swing for the first automaton, I heard it go k-cik, then a slow his.
I knew what that meant.
It was self-destructing with a near full load of Lava Dust inside of it.
I was a trap.
Not giving myself time to panic, I started focusing all the light I could to form an orb around me. I didn't focus on the color or where it was from, I just needed to make a shield that would protect me. I pulled from everything. There were parts where light didn't seem to exist anymore, I was pulling it in so fast. I kept pulling, my brain seeing things in slow motion as I ran closer to when the thing would explode.
Pull.
Pull!
PULL!
I was still pulling the light when the droid exploded. Luckily, explosions and lava give off a loooots of light, so I was able to form a protective orb just before anything dangerous could touch me. (*By the way, all of this happened in the span of a panicked second) But still, the sheer force of the explosion was strong enough to send me flying over a hundred yards away. (*Not even kidding. Those droids run on some strong stuff. I thought a meteor had hit for a second) At some point in the flight, I must have blacked out, because I don't remember the part of my sudden flight where I shot up.
I only remember a moment of weightlessness, then a slowly increasing falling sensation, then the crash of the landing. Thank the Glow I didn't break something important, or else I would be dead right now. On the ground of my protective bubble, I surveyed my landing site for danger and escape routes. Arms and legs spread around me in a position like a feral animal deciding to fight or flee, nothing showed any sign of immediate threat. I was in my own crater, the bodies of Scouts and dead plant life hiding me nicely from view. I was safe for now.
But there was a problem: I was trapped.
In my attempt to make a light shield that could block the force of the explosion, I had made it too solid. It wasn't fading away when I stopped focusing on it. If it weren't for it, I would be dead, but now I was stuck inside of a shining, see-through bubble that I did not know how to escape from.
At first, I was curious. I had never made anything with my Semblance that stayed around as long as the orb did. I moved to a crouch in my new shell and, after a moment, touched the sides with the palm of my hand. From what I could tell, the light was cool to the touch, but reacted a light in the form of a sudden rainbow discoloration wherever my hand touched, like a paintbrush with an oil that did not know what color to be. But when I tried to push through the orb, the colors would flare and dance like mad on the surface. It felt as if I were trying to push a section of strong glass.
I gave one area I hadn't touched yet a quick and solid punch. The area changed into a kaleidoscope of colors like the other area, but only exactly where I had made contact and stopped changing when I stopped touching it. But it held. I moved my face close to another clear section and breathed heavy on the bubble, to see if it fogged. It didn't, so I tried the newly colored areas. I got results then.
The only idea I had as to why this rushed shield was still holding when all my other assorted hard light creations usually faded in seconds was that it was still being powered somehow. I knew that if I made something red in a red room, it would fade slower than in a room of a different color. So since I had pulled from every strand of light I could mentally hold to make this new shield, it must be pulling from all the light around it to continue functioning. That would explain why it was clear wherever I hadn't directly touched it. The discoloration that I had made everywhere else must be from me mushing the strands of light together, causing them to overlap and mixing their wavelengths to new kinds of color. It would also explain why the coloration would disappear as I thought about this. As new colors, they didn't have anything to pull light like their own and soon vanished.
I tried touching the areas again, and though they still felt firm, I thought the area might now be weaker. I repeated a few more times, and noticed a small but definite change in the strength of the wall in the exact area. But it would not be enough to get me out all that fast. Especially if the walls are airtight. I can hold my breath for a while, but I needed a fresh source after the fighting I've been doing.
I decided to concentrate on the light again and see if I still had control over it. Focusing, I reach out gently and tried to draw a small dot of red on the surface. If I could do it with its own light, I could get out.
At first, the light wouldn't do as I . . . I'm not sure how to phrase this next part. As I commanded? No, that smacks of ego, and I'll have nothing to do with that emotion. Asked? No, because I can't take no for an answer. Persuaded? I guess, but there's more force behind it. Argued? That sounds better, but it sounds crazy to actually say. 'The light wouldn't do as I had argued it to.' Maybe told? That sounds about right. I mean, you can always NOT do what you're told, but you generally do so.
Sorry, lost in thought, I hadn't realized I had still been typing. I'm going to keep it in, though. I think it shows who I am a bit, and I want you to understand who I am. It's kind of vital, as I have big plans that not everyone will think is wise, possible, or even nice if you maliciously twist my words around. Point is, it's there, it's staying, and it's to help you understand me. (*It also helps me feel normal. I never got to relate to anybody, as the second anything like that started, the person would either be killed or get rescued without taking me with them. So I now have this need for being accepted that I didn't even knew I had until I was free. Let me tell you, it is a really weird transition period from instantly thinking 'how do I kill all of them' in a crowd to 'how do I get them to like me?')
So, at first, the light wouldn't do as I told it to. I hadn't had this problem in years, not since when I had first obtained my Semblance. I put more effort into it, and it gave away more, but still not enough for what I wanted. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and started feeling the way the bubble's light was acting, how it behaved. (*I don't have a better analogy for how the light was acting other than the one I'm about to say, and it doesn't even come close to how light actually feels and acts when I use it. However, I'm not that creative, so I'm just going to stick to it and hope for the best) Normal light, when I'm not making it do anything, tends to act like an old carpet: has its details up close, but blends in quickly when you move away from the source it came from. (*All things produce light, but to the eyes of a normal person, a certain amount is required to actually register in our eyes. If the item itself cannot make it, it can reflect the light around it into what most resembles it color. That's why everything turns shades of red from a red light instead of everything being red on red. But with my eyes, I see a much broader spectrum than the norm. And more accurately. I can actually see the waves of light energy as they float and mingle in the air. It was something I was born with, but whenever I think about it, I always think that what I see must be marvelous)
In this instance, a larger than normal amount of light was wrapping themselves in different directions like threads instead of the usual sheets they normally act like. (*Again, bad metaphor, but I got nothing else) I felt around more, astonished at what I had made in a panic. I had always been able to make light fold, curve, and even make multiple waves of color phase into each other to form a solid mass, but I had always had to work with the original shape of the wave. This was the first time I had seen it change size to fit my needs. (*Don't even ask me how I knew they had changed from their original shape without actually seeing or sensing them properly until now. There's no way on Remnant I can make you understand that without a few dozen physics lessons) I wanted to learn more, to see if I could do it again.
But right now, I needed to make it stop.
Pushing the tip of one wave (*Don't ask, you won't get it) through the wall of the bubble, I slowly started making a hole for air to come through. I focus back on my surroundings again before I made a mistake and allowed an A. P. or something to get the drop on me. Nothing around me beside the rusting droids and the dying plant life, so I continued. Just as I had made a hole about the size for me to crawl through, I heard running feet coming from somewhere. I poked my head out briefly to see what the outside of my bubble looked like (*Solid black, as it was pulling in light and not reflecting or shining any itself) and set a mirage that looked as if the orb were just an orb.
A large pack of Beowolves ran from the edge of the forest behind me and over my crater, running in the direction of the greater fight ahead. They must have been attracted by the battle. Grimm always go to where there are negative emotions, so it makes sense that a pack or two would come to the fight.
But then another, clearly separate group of Beowolves came across the clearing. Then some Alpha Ursa lumbered past. Soon, many different kinds of Grimm were jumping, running, slithering, and even rolling past where I had landed. I couldn't understand what I was seeing at first, there were so many. Why were so many running to the fight? The entire forest shouldn't have been THIS full of Grimm naturally. Were they ALL attracted by the battle? But if they came from the entire forest, something must have sent a huge sign telling them to come here. But what? The explosions were loud, but they couldn't reach far enough for these kinds of crowds.
Maybe it was me. In that fight with Schnee, I had let everything I had been holding in just vent through me. All that anger and pain and misery. I had never been so emotional. I mean, I was wreathed in lightning and making patches of darkness when I almost killed her. I didn't even know it was possible to have a Semblance go out of control in anger like mine did. I certainly never had lines of electricity play through my fingers.
In any case, this may be a good thing. With this number of Grimm coming here, I and my allies could escape in the chaos.
But first, I had to get out of here.
Letting the mirage I had made across the hole dissipate, I rolled out onto the indented earth. I made a simple Beowulf disguise with my Semblance and ran with the mass of Grimm, taking care to stay out of touching distance. I couldn't concentrate enough to make the light an actual barrier because my head was just a lump of pain at this point. So I had to make sure they didn't pass through the mirage I had made, or else I would be found out by the entire pack.
As I ran, the only upright Grimm in the entire heard, I tried to think about what I should do next. I couldn't fight for much longer, and I doubt that many of the others could at this point, either. We had to leave now as the area gets swarmed by Grimm. Maybe we could take one of the cars half-way to safety, hoof it the rest of the way, and then plan properly from there. I hope Zack hasn't taken them all out yet.
I get back to the clearing, and it is just absolute chaos. Grimm are swarming like conscious water, A.P.s are switching arms and legs just to stay standing, Scouts are weighing down larger Grimm with their limp bodies, and anything still standing is being torn apart by everything else.
And I had to fight through AAAALLLL of this.
I'm not going to describe what I had to do to get through this, as I have already told you before the fighting started. It was just mayhem. I cannot stress this enough. I fainted for the first time in six years without medication. It was that bad.
So, after the first part of hell on earth, I managed to find Zack. He no longer burned like a part of a sun, so getting to him was relatively easy. I mean, he was as jam packed as everything else was in that battlefield.
"Zack!" I yelled over the roar of everything. "We need to find the others and fall back! Do you know where the others might me!?"
"I saw them ten minutes ago eastwards!" he replied. "Follow me!"
We went through the crowd, every blow needing to kill around three to four things at a time, or else our lives would make up for the deficit. My arms were burning so bad by the time we found them, I was sure that Zack could make invisible flames and was doing so on my arms. The others had made their own small circle to fight on, and I saw that Priest, Clar, and Joseph were there as well. I then realized that the fog wasn't anywhere to be seen.
We kept pushing through, but my body was starting to give out on me. My arms were numb from repeatedly slicing Grimm and blocking attacks. I was getting slower and slow by the second. I couldn't focus on anything but the next thing that was attacking me, as my head was nothing but a cage of agony at that point.
But I pushed on.
I had to.
I learned a lot about fighting with someone I had forgotten about when I use to fight alongside Priest. I learned that if I moved to cover Zack more, He would move to cover me more. Zack was hard to help at first. Not because he made a lot of openings for enemies to attack him, but I had to get use to him almost hitting me in his fighting technique. His basis for fighting was to grab one thing, bash the hell out of anything near him with it, and then grab something else when the first thing was too dented, too small, or too limp to hit with.
(*I made a video version of this account at one point, and Zack described my fighting style at this juncture. I decided to keep it in for the moment, as I think it reflects his way of thinking a little bit while describing me at the same time)
Kuraz was a true combatant himself. Where I would usually obliterate my enemy with my power, he would strike quick and lethal. I had never seen another man lose no momentum when cutting through the sternum of an Ursa, no matter the sharpness of the blade. He did show effort when he used his Semblance, but he never stopped moving or slowed down. I thought, at times, he would be killed when a lucky paw slipped through his defenses or a bullet in a seam of his armor, but he would simply move with the new momentum, add it to his next attack, and heal whatever damage he had taken when given the chance.
But the chances were getting briefer and farther between. The mass of bodies and metal machines were slowing our progress. The only reason we were moving at all is because 'The Programs' battle bots were also fighting the Grimm, and they in term them. The chaos that day could never be understated. But in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
And I had a very dark one to consider.
Should I leave the others and make it out of this place on my own, or should I risk my life for people I don't know or haven't seen in a decade? I was sure I could make it out of their by myself, even in my current state. I just need make a strong light wall/plow around me and run. But I didn't know what to expect when I got out of this field. The Grimm were still coming, but they were easy to deal with. I may lose a hand, maybe an arm, but I could get out of that. Anything else may have trouble with them, but that's not a guarantee of success.
No, if I didn't keep my current allies, then I would be isolated and weak. I need to find the others.
We trudged through the mass, our arms becoming heavier by the second. We were blessed with the benefit of knowing we were going in the right direction by Priests constant use of light. She mainly focused on healing the others as they fought, but the light she shines stilled made it hard for enemies to see and easy for us to follow. Around fifty feet away, Zack tries to yell over the fighting to the others.
Before he goes on, I need to say something real quick. You gotta understand that I am use to hunting, which requires silence above all else. Also, with powers like mine, I am very scary to people. So I'm not use to yelling over noises, because I was raised in a tribe where that could scare away prey and people alike.
So when I was able to boom across the area without a problem, I was the one that scared him for a second.
A costly second.
From his right, a being charged from the Grimm and straight into him. I was shocked, not by the suddenness of the creatures' appearance, but the appearance of the creature itself. It was shaped like a man, bearing heavy, black plated armor as thick as my own. There were symbols etched into the surfaces of the metal, archaic ruins made of blue Dusts that steamed from the surface. The armor itself looked . . . decayed. Not rusted or badly forged, but as if the gear was actually dying, being frayed at the joints and warped in places. The dark steel of the protective gear also seemed to absorb the light as well, causing a permanent shade to cover his being.
But it didn't do anything to hide his deformity.
He was literally made out of dead body parts. I am not making this up. It was easy to tell because his skin showed from under the weird lighting effect of his armor, and it was mismatched. But the really horrifying thing was that it was made with Duster body parts. (*A Dusters skin tone relates to the Dust in their blood. So white Dust makes pale skin, gold Dust a little yellow, red looks tan, etcetera. His skin changed color from body part to body part) It was built around eight feet tall, but stayed hunched over while we fought. It was also lopsided, no side quick equal to the other, making a real embodiment of a macabre appearance.
The thing forced back Zack into the mass of Grimm, but the mass moved aside. Zack was forced deep into the crowd, getting lost from my sight for a moment. But as the thing appeared, the mass gave us a wide birth. Even the Grimm, who love death and negative emotions, could not withstand the sight of the foul creature that had bulldozed Zack away. Soon all of us were given a twenty meter radius of room, with the undead at the center.
"Well," a feminine voice said outside of the circle. "I guess it's just you and me, Paladin."
I turned to my left to see another Duster walking in on the other side of the ring. She was around five foot five, draped in tight, dark clothing, very much like what Clar wore. But everything about her appearance spoke of danger. Skulls of different sizes and animals draped many parts of her as a kind of morbid decoration. Gems of disgusting colors shined from the shade of folds and crevices, making a horrible aura of disgusting green, puss yellow, and bruised purple surround her. The look of evil was greater enhanced by her actual presence, which oozed a lust of blood I had never wanted to feel for anyone. I was instantly back to one hundred percent fighting status, for to be anything else around this woman would be dangerous.
During the lull, I saw the weapons they carried. The amalgamation carried a large, two handed sword, the sides covered with ruins that glowed a deep green, like that of swamp muck. The other held a dark purple orb in one hand and a dagger with an empty rod in the middle of the blade. It probably acted as a Dust Wand. Fill the middle tube with whatever Dust, and your Semblance will act accordingly. But what was strange about the dagger was that the tube was marked at intervals, like a measuring cup.
"Get off me!" shouted Zack, and he threw the beast straight up into the air. I didn't focus on how high it went, as all of my attention was on the female.
"Do I know you?" I asked as Zack got on his feet.
"No, but you will," she said, an air of complete ego tainting her every syllable. "I am designated Warlock 1, head test-maker of 'The Program,' and superior to all of those with Dust for blood. You and your little coup here have caused quite a rebellion here. It's rather charming, really. I especially loved how you made the Schnee woman beg. I honestly would have let you go at that point, but then you had to spare her life. Tsk, tsk, tsk! That just won't do, Pally. The head of 'The Program' and I want you to be a ruthless killing machine. Such a weapon cannot be allowed to show mercy at this late stage of development."
"You know," I said, "I would find your tone threatening if your little goon wasn't recently thrown into orbit."
"I didn't toss him THAT hard," Zack said. (*I know now that he can actually do that, but at that moment, it really confused me. Which might have killed me if the next instant hadn't happened)
Suddenly, the walking dead thing fell from the sky flat on its face/
"See?" Zack said. "Still came down."
"Enough," sighed the woman. "Franklen, would you be so kind as to get up off of that ugly thing you call a face and prepare to fight, that would be lovely."
The ruins he carried flared for a brief second, then thing swung from its place in the dirt and pulled out its humongous sword.
"So I guess you don't want to leave 'The Program,' huh?" I asked.
"Why on Remnant would I want to leave 'The Program?'" she asked.
"Guess that's a no," Zack said.
"How about you, big guy?" I asked.
"Don't bother, light bulb," said the woman. "The thing you're talking to is not much more than a simple shell of better experiments laid to rest. Oh, that reminds me! I never introduced ourselves. I am Lilith Bronwen Daeva, and my pet here is Franklen Than Victor."
I saw the things eyes move toward her as his name was mentioned, but otherwise, he didn't move an inch in his stance.
"Well, I guess I'm -"
"Kuraz, yes, I know. I was watching as you were conversing with that little harlot. What a ridiculous name."
"Well, you forgot to teach adlibbing in your shitty tests."
"I'll be sure to fix that after I add your body parts to my toy."
And that's when we fought.
