POV: Trigger

It was quite disgusting to hear that thing walking around. Why did it need a clown face in just about every part of it's body? Why did it need a scorpion tail? None of those questions mattered to me or Tiffany.

Because we only saw a target for our anger, Solemn Penitence was aimed straight at the face of the mess of flesh and make-up, blowing up one of it's legs with a single shot.

Tiffany moved after that, I was right behind her, but her Naginata moved in a wide arc, cutting off the tail of the clown which it tried to use to attack her. Dashing ahead of her, Gold Rush was eager for a piece of this thing. A direct punch, that could be compared to a cannonball thrown by a rail gun, landed squarely on it's face that put no resistance whatsoever.

It flew through the air, removed from its main body. Yet it still seemed to be alive, even after that.

Tiffany lowered her weapon so that the blade touched the floor while rearing it back, it moved in a wide downwards arc with a lot of weight put into it. The blade took most of the clown's main body apart, blood flying everywhere.

I rose Gold Rush high in the air, and dropped it down like a hammer, smashing the rest of the clown's body into a meat pie.

…

"That's it?" Asked Tiffany incredulously, I had to agree with her there… just that?

The clown's body twitched and then bursted as if something had come out of it, but there was nothing around, making me and Tiffany glance at each other in confusion, "Underwhelming?" I asked.

She nodded once.

We both turned around to walk away... just to see a small clown there, banging against the door of Yin… I shot him once in the head, he died instantly, "Why does it work like that?" I asked myself, something came out from the scorpion… but not from him? like the little clown teleported out of him or something.

This facility makes no sense sometimes.

"Well… guess it's back to work for us?" Tiffany said with a shrug. We thought it would help a bit more, but we kinda felt… disappointed?

Leaning against a wall and smoking again, I gave the wall next to me a couple taps, Tiffany took the offer and stood next to me.

…

"When you want to really let it all out but can't, am I right?"

I nodded once while letting out a big plume of smoke. It could have at least tried to handle a bit more punishment.

Then, as if hearing our complaints, the universe answered.

"Big and Will be Bad Wolf has breached! Please suppress it before it's too late!"

"Fairy Festival did the same… never thought I'd say those words."

"Schadenfreude has breac- It seems Knight of Despair has taken care of him."

I released a sigh of exasperation, "You have to be fucking kidding me…" I glanced to my left and saw the giant monster with greenish flesh and sharp teeth with twisted claws, it was a pretty sudden breach for that thing, the other two may have been the little clowns... probably more than one came out.

Tiffany huffed, "Should have kept our mouths shut." She kicked off the wall and prepared her Naginata, I didn't even put my weapons away.

The fairy on my shoulder did… why is it sticking its tongue out towards the Queen? This little… girl? Girl needs a name too...

"Well… time to take care of things." I heard the voice of Jeremy from behind me. A blue… beam barreled past me and went through two of the smaller fairy monsters, I also heard two loud shots that took an eye from the Queen. I glanced behind me and saw Amelia with Jeremy at her side.

Guess this is a bad day to be a fairy.

"The Wolf has killed Maria and is moving towards Safety!"

I heard the female voice through the comms, I had only enough time to push Tiffany away before a blur of blue rammed into me. I saw the Wolf's claw reach my face in slow motion, he grabbed me and dragged my face through the floor.

This bastard was ridiculously fast too, it took him nothing to come from Training to Safety.

But I could tell one thing, he was aiming for me.

Before I could even understand the situation fully, I was thrown inside the elevator, my head slamming against a wall. I reflexively rose Gold Rush that blocked a swipe from his sharp claws, but he managed to push down my guard and give him a chance to take a bite at my right shoulder. The shoulder guard of my glove was making a good work of blocking the damage.

The Wolf's claws were digging into my chest, now that was a bit more of a problem.

This gave me a chance to look at him in the eye, he seemed like a predator more than ever before, if only because of the way he was looking back at me. He saw me like a danger to himself, an animal that found a dangerous enemy that could threaten him completely.

The Wolf saw me as another Wolf, and that pissed me off to no end.

My left hand was still gripping Solemn Penitence. I put it under his jaw and opened fire, taking a quarter of his jaw off and one eye along the way.

He growled while flinching back, that gave me room to land a backhand with Gold Rush, pushing him back even more. The door of the elevator was now open, Gold Rush's gem glowed, and I clenched my gauntlet fist.

I threw a straight punch, hitting the head of the Wolf, and saw some of his teeth fly and blow spew. He was thrown out of the elevator while taking some of my flesh with him, his claws had been pretty deep into my chest, my E.G.O suit saved my life there.

Getting up from the floor, I finally managed to get my bearings in check… the whole left side of my view was obscured by my own blood. Don't know how bad it looks, but considering the pain, I may just be missing half of the skin of my face.

Slowly walking out of the elevator, I saw the Wolf growl at me, teeth bared, even if he was missing some of them thanks to my knuckle sandwich, "There is only room for one wolf in the forest…" He all but made his hate for me with those words.

I scoffed, "Can't say I'm one, but you can believe what you want." I made my butterflies switch Solemn Penitence for Logging. The axe should be better on close combat, its weight wasn't much of an issue on my left arm.

The Wolf snarled at me, "The little insects tell a different history… and so do your eyes." He howled and dashed at me, a blur of blue moving down the hallway.

My eyes narrowed, and I prepared myself. Suddenly he darted to my left, on my blind spot.

Reacting quickly, I rose my axe without looking, blocking an attack… most likely his claws, I wasn't sure since I was trusting my Empath senses there.

I fully turned around to see something white close to my good eye. I managed to tilt my head away... was that a tooth!?

Feeling him coming again, I rose Gold Rush with my palm opened, blocking another swipe from his claws… he is really fast. I clenched my fist and held him tightly there, feeling his bones creaking under my hold, and I rose my axe high in the air, ready to cut off his limb.

That's when I turned my eye to see his limp limb, it had bites on it… almost like it was about to fall off. He yanked and ripped his own front leg right when I swung down Logging. What was he do-!?

Suddenly, a claw completely tore open my still functioning eye. For a moment I panicked due to my lack of sight before focusing back on my Empath senses... behind me.

I didn't manage to avoid the swipe and my chest got hit, but my axe lashed out where his face should be. I felt something being cut open, and heard some kind of flesh falling down the floor, yet the Wolf was still kicking.

Judging by the gurgling… I took his lower jaw completely, and I felt my axe arm fall limply. Yeah, that swipe went from my chest to my left shoulder, did it cut something important? Probably, I can't really feel my arm anymore.

I was completely blind, thank god for my supernatural abilities…

Something nudged on my head, and felt some pain in my eyes and face lessen. I think… that's the fairy?

Returning my focus back to the fight, the Wolf was slowly circling me, while I stood there without moving, waiting for him to come… a loud whistling sound passed through the air and I lazily tilted my head away from the projectile, another tooth.

How is he even throwing those?

Growling at this, I decided to end it here and now, "Hey now, a wolf like you shouldn't be so afraid of dealing with prey." Hearing gurgling that would have been growling if he still had a complete mouth was simply satisfactory.

Rather than waiting for him to come, I rose my gauntlet high in the air and slammed the floor with a tremendous punch, a wave of gold cracked the floor underneath and staggered the Wolf.

With my feet, I kicked up Logging in the air, grabbing it with Gold Rush and throwing it as hard as I could while dashing behind the axe. Slowly my sight was restored, don't know how that happened, but I sure as hell like it.

The Wolf was in the middle of getting back up when an axe cleaved through his back. I may have thrown it too hard, since the blade was left stuck inside the Wolf's back while the whole shaft kept rotating through the sky.

I kicked the Wolf's face before it could try to recuperate and got on top of him, tearing off the blade of the axe and throwing it away. Seeing his spine clear for the pickings, I jabbed Gold Rush inside the injury and clenched my hand around his spine while crushing some ribs in the process.

Pulling back, I saw now in my hand what was once a spine turned into a wet noodle under my grip, organs and bones flying through the sky due to how hard I had pulled.

I slammed my foot on his head with a vicious snarl.

The Wolf looked up at me with a snarl, mocking and hateful.

"Once… a wolf… always… a wolf…" And then he stopped moving.

…

Taking a moment to calm down and breathe, I went to a wall and let myself fall down to the floor. My back leaning against said wall, while I tried to wipe away the blood from my somehow working eyes.

I looked at Gold Rush and saw my reflection on the gem… huh, surprising lack of injuries, and I somehow have scars now too, all of them in my face.

How the hell did that… something flew in front of my face, green and holding my smoking pipe... the fairy.

She is capable of healing, just like the rest of her kind… I huffed with a small tired smile. Gently taking the pipe from her small hands, I ruffled her hair with one big finger of Gold Rush, "Thanks little girl… how about I call you Bell?" She nodded at me happily before moving towards my left shoulder.

Bell started pouring out from her hands a green kinda sparkling powder, the pain was slowly leaving and my injuries on my shoulder were slowly closing, hopefully the others can handle this mess or at least hold out enough for me to heal...

I looked once more at the jewel in my glove to see the unnaturally quickly formed scars on my face.

A wolf will always be a wolf.

…

I can't even ignore it anymore.

Guess I was never meant to fit in.