Mikoto's gaze was icy, her focus razor sharp, as she held the shimmering barrier firm, watching the broken body of the winged fiend sprawled lifeless in the trench. Its violent impact had carved into the putrid earth. Vita approached cautiously, her ever-present smile vanishing as dread twisted her stomach into knots. Memories of losing comrades to vile beasts like this flashed through her mind, feeding her rage. She raised her railgun with steady hands, ready to blast the beast to oblivion if it so much as twitched. The beast didn't stir. She prodded it with her weapon. No movement.
"Is it dead?" Aya asked.
The beast's massive body spanned over twenty feet, tip to tip, a leathery and rugged landscape of dark brown, scarred skin. The old wounds felt stiff with each probe. Though crumpled in death, its wings, were warm to the touch, the fur between them stiff and matted, glimmering with fresh blood. An acrid, rotten stench permeated the air, leaving her tongue with a foul, acidic taste. The beast's dagger-like claws curled tightly. Its skin was pebbled textured, tough as worn leather. With each prod getting more brutal, the beast didn't stir. No heartbeat was detected with her sensitive hearing. No other sound came from the lifeless form. The scars and wounds crisscrossing its body were rough under her fingertips as she bent down and ran her hand over it. The scars are odd, like claws slashing and tearing it apart.
"Something really tore into it…Mistress." She whispered. "This thing has been tortured."
"Be careful," Mikoto whispered back.
Slowly stepping back, her railgun pointed at it. Vita nodded. "For now. But who knows for how long in this cursed place?"
Mikoto closed her eyes, envisioning the mass underground detected by her magnetic pulses. An uneasy feeling still churned within her.
The voice suddenly pierced Mikoto's mind once more. "Please… please help her!" it sobbed brokenly.
Mikoto held the barrier steady, jaw clenched with fierce determination. The voice pierced her mind once more, pleading and desperate.
A low rumble echoed up from the depths. Mikoto tensed, exchanging a wary glance with Vita.
Cracks ran, and split the earth, spewing plumes of dust. Deafening vibrations shook Mikoto's bones. This was no mere tremor.
With an explosive roar, the garden floor ruptured. Massive claws and horns burst forth within the churning rubble.
Her breath caught in her throat as an ominous rumbling. The little ones cried out, their panicked chirping rising as they huddled together at the base of the rocks. Without warning, the ground erupted violently in a deafening blast. She staggered back. Shards of stone and choking clouds of dust flew. Peering through the haze, she saw a nightmarish creature hauling itself from the deep chasm. Flashes of armor and spikes along its misshapen body. Heard the snapping of leathery wings unfurling. Slowly, it raised its head, bone-white eyes gleaming with predatory hunger as they fixed upon the tiny figures. Thick drool dripped from jagged fangs, sizzling as it hit the ground.
She steadied herself, electricity already dancing along her fingertips. This monster was far bigger than the first beast they had faced.
Sudden flashes of images of Bahamut and the other winged beast they battled when she first arrived in this realm, the ones who claimed to be gods. she quickly swore to herself. She had defeated them. She would rip this one apart, too.
"shit!" little misaka shouted, staring into the large monitors. "Houston! We've got problems."
Mikoto the beast clouded in the dust cloud, ears pricked. Among the chaos of earth rendering and choking dust, she heard it. Saw dark shadows in jerking movement coming towards them. Her heart dropped as the shadows took form, hordes of pale flesh running, stumbling towards them. She raised her arms, crackling power ready to meet the onslaught.
But the mass continued spreading wide, like fetid water bursting free from a collapsed dam. The spawn's swollen joints cracked as they charged erratically, their gangly limbs a blur. Needle teeth flashed from their yawning mouths, unintelligible cries like birds being strangled. Pale translucent skin, smoothed by patches of uneven scarring. The bitter promise of decay filled the air as they pushed forward.
Vita, Aya, Nya, and Galluh rushed forward to the edge of the cliffs, yelling commands. As the small army readied themselves for the onslaught. Pale bodies speckled with spikes, thirsty for flesh. They scattered like insects up the cliffs with scared, bony fingers digging deep into the rocks. Quick movements, much like an animal and human. Cries of hunger pierced the air. Large round black eyes, wide mouths filled with needled teeth stretching ear to ear.
Parts of the horde slammed into the barrier, and the frenzied impact sent shock waves rippling through it. Panicked cries followed as the little ones struggled. The horde threw themselves against the shimmering barrier, needle-sharp claws, and gnashing teeth scraping, smearing blood and gore along the barrier. In a fluid motion, they slammed against the wall, the horde became more frenzied. Faces bloodied and broken, they continued their onslaught.
Mikoto, her wings slipping away, stepped forward and held her arms out, palms up, fingers curled. The ground cracked and rose like an island, breaking from the earth and out of the garden onto the barren landscape using electromagnetism. "It's only temporary!" little misaka spoke. Mikoto nodded. "It'll have to do for now.."
Thinking she had given them so much time. Horror clawed at her insides as she watched in dismay, the surging horde using their own bodies as ladders clambering higher and higher up the rock face in a single minded determination. It wouldn't be long before they came over the edge.
Shots rang out, the popping of the railguns quickly following. Spawns dropped, heads and chests exploding. Sending dark blood spraying into the air, showering the horde. Without care, opened their mouths, thick, disgusted tongues catching and licking their faces. And the horde rushed forward.
"Ready yourselves!" Mikoto commanded. Sparks flew wildly as she prepared to strike. Hands outstretched, she advanced on the vile beast.
"Fall back!" Vita screamed. as the horde spilled over the rim of the garden, their blank eyes and gnashing teeth focused only on their prey.
Using modern weapons would be fatal. Vita knew that. And with a knowing smile, she dropped her railgun, and with practiced speed, she unsheathed the rectangular blade, one of two attached to the outside of her thighs. Despite living for eight centuries, time had been very nice to her, and the fact she was a vampire did help a little. Carelessly rushing into battle, damn the scars. She was perfect. She had no wrinkles on her porcelain skin. Full lips and long, dark lashes framed her delicate features, hiding her true nature. Truth be told. She hated modern warfare. Born in an age of beautiful cruelty for the weapons of war. Goddess of death, of chaos, even called Freya during her time in the north. Her lithe figure moved with preternatural grace. Centuries of prowling in the shadows had taught her to strike first and apologize later. If need be. Her eyes, twin pools of crimson burning an insatiable blood lust. She charged, and the horde charged in a frenzied hunger. The anticipation of an easy meal. Vita swung her blade, and another meter of serrated death came out like a switchblade knife. She always enjoyed toying with new things. Two heads separated from their bodies, another cut in half as she twisted and turned, laughing and yelling numbers.
"Five," she cried.
"You're behind!" Nya yelled over the screams and meaty chops of killing, her blade splitting one from nose to groin. Its innards spilling to the ground. She was drenched in blood as she drove her shoulder into another, the tip of her blade punching out of its back and tearing through another. Her long black hair clung wetly as she whirled, her armor smothered and dripping in gore. Her eyes narrowed a black stain across her eyes, a satisfied smirk at the corners of her mouth. A horde lept over the shredded body of a comrade. She quickly snatched it by the throat and squeezed. Slammed it down and stomped on its face.
Nya laughed sharply, her blade finding its mark once more. " can you even count that high, dear Vita?"
"I'll catch up yet, just you wait!" Vita called back. She dropped to one knee, spinning and slashing in a deadly arc. Her blade sheared through skin and sinew, leaving behind a wake of dismembered limbs. She snatched a gun at her waist and shot each in the face. "Four more!" she said.
"Still need more," Nya whispered, her body thirsting for more violence and the blessed simplicity of survival.
"she's gotta be a fucking wolf!" little misaka whispered, watching one of the hanging screens.
Mikoto watched with dread as the batlike horror emerged from the choking gray dust cloud that smothered the land. Its rotten stench invaded her nostrils as it let out another ear-piercing screech. She hardened her nerves, ignoring the bile rising in her throat, as its' blank white eyes focused hungrily on her now. Memories flashed - the surprise attacks from below when they had first arrived. The chaos and bloodshed of those battles. This one was a big one.
The stench of black blood, faint on the wind, filled her nostrils as she inhaled deeply. The smell set her predatory instincts ablaze, hunger uncoiling within her. She fixed the new beast, rising in an unwavering stare. Keen eyes raked over its massive, horrific form. Her hunger building, her blood heating. Her vampiric power simmering within. The batlike horror beat its powerful wings, rising unsteadily into the air, like a wounded bird. It stirred the predator lurking inside Mikoto's blood.
"Not this time," Mikoto growled. Her lips curled, exposing the lengthening points of her fangs. The burning hunger coursed through her veins.
She flicked her fingers, bluish-white sparks scattering. Her electromagnetic power called forth a black stream of iron snaked from the soil. She tensed her fingers, her nails becoming longer and sharper.
With a thunderous boom, massive stone spikes erupted from the rock ground. Thirty meters long, hammered to deadly points.
Mikoto swung her arm across her chest, mimicking a throwing motion. The spikes launched like missiles, exploding from the surface and slamming into the horror's flank.
It screeched in agony as the spikes smashed its armor plating. The kinetic force pushed the monster away, careening over the barren landscape. Once free of the garden, she grinned. Mikoto narrowed her eyes, watching it retreat. But for how long? These beasts kept coming, more horrific than the last.
She wasn't going to wait for the fresh horror to attack again. Sneered as she held out her hand, electromagnetic energy building. Dust and small rocks trembled and hovered, and bits of iron collided and squeezed under the pressure, becoming as large as a basketball. She balled her hand into a fist and slowly spread out her feet, the magnetic waves rolling over her, lifting her hair. She took a breath, holding back her desire to rush towards it, leap onto its back and kill it. Her wings slowly emerged from the slits in her armor. The wings opened slowly, bursting and snapping in gusts as if catching a strong wind. Bluish-white electricity coarse through her veins of the loose membrane of her four wings. Electricity jumped from the throne-like vestiges lining her wings. "Not again!" she gnashed her teeth, fangs throbbing and eyes dark like crimson. She punched the iron basketball as it hovered. A massive explosion followed as she fired her railgun.
The blast slammed into its chest. Massive wings curled forward as the force catapulted it backward. With a burst of explosive energy, the bolt punched through its back and rocketed into the sky. It gasped before finally bursting into flames and tumbling from the sky, leaving behind it in its burning descent bits and pieces of smoldering flesh.
It was like a loose piece of paper flailing wildly in the air, drifting and falling towards the earth. It crashed into the rocky ground with an earth-shaking boom, its broken, burning body carving a terrible furrow as it skidded to a brutal halt. Painful, eerie death rattles, shook its charred body with each ragged breath. An agonized spasm wracked the tattered remains of its wings as life slipped away.
Mikoto Misaka stared with cold satisfaction at the gruesome ruin. She raised her arm, lips twisting in a mocking grin. "oh no, whatever shall I do? She taunted, a small iron ball between her finger and thumb. Magnetic waves rolled around her legs and torso. It lifted her hair like a gentle breeze and ran down her arm to her hand.
The cries of battling friends pierced the air, fueling her rage. The winged beast's pained rasps rose above it all. "poor thing," she muttered with false sympathy, "let me end your suffering
She obliterated it in a massive ball of plasma.
The horde's screams of anguish pierced the sky as they watched what could only be their mother. Seeing the gruesome fate of their mother beast, they collapsed to the ground in despair, bodies bursting into flames.
"Bring her to me," it whispered softly. "Please."