Almost Weekly Santa Alter: VIII

The cackle of the man next to him filled the woods as they stood before the latest tree they were due to examine, though in truth he had long since forgotten what sort of tree they were evenly looking for, he'd become more invested in the words of the man beside him and little else.

"Which naturally worked out into something of a disaster for all those involved." Torin finished the story as his laughter started to die away, placing his hands on his hips and turning their head in his direction. "By the time we realised what the problem was, we had already found ourselves the centre of attention for a pack of great wolves and three bears. To make matters worse, we were all but certain that the howling in the distance was actually a Demon which had caught wind of the kill we had made."

Kalameet found himself staring at the human turned Flame-kin with nothing shy of bemusement as to how this story was supposed to have been funny. By the sound of it all, what was supposed to be a hunting trip had somehow turned into a collection of many beings all converging for what they all hoped was food. Not something that sounded all that appealing at the end of the day.

"...I'm not sure I understand why you are laughing."

Torin paused for only a moment before he snorted loudly and waved his hand, pulling the other one up and forming a fist which he held before his face, wheezing loudly and turning away. Kalameet just watched in silence with furrowed brows as the man tried and failed to start a new sentence for a good few seconds before eventually managing to get out a couple of words.

"B-because-because none of them looked as though they were expecting the other." The response eventually came out amidst chuckles, bringing his hands up and making gestures as he rose up once more. "T-the wolves looked like they turned white, the bears stopped and just stared at all of us and th-then Ulf just-he just looks around and then turns back to me and says 'Next time, we're going fishing.'"

His brows furrowed just a touch as he stared at the human for a moment longer, then tilted his head to the side. "Did you ever get the deer?"

That brought Torin short for a moment, a loud exhale and the man placed his hands on his hips and frowned for a moment in thought. "It actually was a full hour before anyone moved. Ice-breaker deer are large enough that they would have made a good meal for any one of us but none wanted to be the first to test the fangs of the other…Then there was the howl of what we thought was a Demon and at that point we all opted to just leave it there."

They did? That sounded rather unfortunate given all the work they had put into it. Especially for Birger, it had been his first hunt and despite catching such a large animal they had all been driven off. Then again, feeling bad about that left a sour taste in his mouth. Listening to the entire story had done that but there was little else to be said about it.

"That seems a shame after all the work."

Torin hummed in agreement. "We all thought the same…though it actually turned out that the Demon in question was just Helga with a carved wooden horn."

Kalameet blinked. "...What?"

Another hum. "Indeed. As it turns out, she had followed us with the expectation that we might have made a mess on the first hunt - as was basically tradition - and she later claimed to have followed the trail of chaos and destruction right to the heart of our mess…at which point she pulled forth the horn and started to blow on it." He brought his right hand up and scratched at his beard. "I had never before been more grateful for one of Ulf's drunken rampages than I was at that moment…though I could have done with him trying to climb the trees like a serpent."

Pausing for only a moment, he posed the first question that came to mind. "Was this before or after he engaged in a glaring match with the stone which looked like a human face to him?"

"It was at least a minute later." Torin replied without missing a beat. "Old-berry juice does terrors upon the minds of even the fiercest warriors and Helga had vowed that she would turn Ulf into a leather strap if young Birger even got so much as a whiff of the drink…Ulf might have been a little brave but none were foolish enough to face Helga when she was wrathful." The shudder that accompanied his words was more than enough proof.

"So then, the deer was retrieved?"

A nod of the head. "Yes, Birger's first hunt went rather well, all things considered. No more or less chaotic than my own…certainly a far sight better for the health of those involved at the time…especially since mine included stumbling upon one of the great cats." Kalameet could hear the silent terror in the voice of the man, it was clear enough even to him that the human had been affected by it. "...It would have been better had it been one of the feral ones, this one was smart and at some point it began hunting us…though it is hardly a story for a cheery time such as this."

Kalameet found himself frowning but eventually nodded his head up and down. "Perhaps another time then?"

"...Yes, perhaps another time." The man resumed walking before eventually coming to a stop and then turning his head, Kalameet similarly stopped walking and stared at the side of his head for a couple of seconds, then watched as the right arm of Torin came up and pointed dead ahead to the tree before them, already walking before he had even uttered a single word.

He followed after the human with the same sense of urgency.

Torin stopped right in front of it, bringing up the flat of his hand and placing it against the trunk of the tree, running his fingers along the surface of the bark. When they spoke, it was in a quiet yet gentle tone of voice, the head of the man hung low as the words whispered out. "Gamall viður. Leyfðu okkur að nota líkama þinn, leyfðu síðasta andardrættinum að vera lotning."

A language he could not comprehend.

Torin removed his hand and then turned to Kalameet, giving a single nod of the head. "This one shall serve us well, it has lived a long life and has little time left…for us to give it this final purpose in the world is reward enough for its service." he stepped closer, bringing up a hand and placing it hard against his shoulder. "Treat it well, Berserker. This old life giver has earned respect from all who stand beneath its branches."

His eyes turned to the tree and his head inclined, it was certainly as tall as the others but it looked perhaps a little different. The wood was of a slightly darker colouration and a bit more cracked along the surface, green pointy leaves covered its surface in the shape of a spear pointed to the sky. He would take the word of the human and move towards the tree, extending his hands as gently as he could but also aware of how much he lacked subtlety.

Pausing just shy of touching it, then lowering his arms back to his side. "I am not certain I am the one for this sort of thing, Torin…I'm worried I might end up breaking it by mistake."

Silence from behind him, then he heard a noise that was hard to place. "Perhaps you are right, though if you are cautious enough to inform me of this then you have heeded my words well enough. I can accept such a thing." a crunch of snow as Torin came up beside him. "Then perhaps it would be best if I-"

Kalameet tuned out the rest of his words, his head snapped to the left and his eyes narrowed immediately. Whether Torin could hear the noise or not mattered little to him, but he could hear it. The distant rumble of thunder or perhaps of battle, the great booms that came with the clash of life. He could smell it in the air, something cold and steel, something old and rotten. Then there was another scent, of fire and charcoal yet buried underneath that was the final one which brought only a single image to his mind.

Flame-kin…no.

Light-kin.

One of the Gods was here and doing battle with something.

"Return to the camp and warn the others, get them to return and prepare the tree for moving." He spoke to Torin even as he turned his body to the sound and started to move forwards. "There is a battle not far from here, I shall investigate and ensure nothing happens to cross the border, but alert the others that something may approach and keep the camp safe."

He paused for a moment, turning around and looking into the eyes of the man, perhaps expecting something but instead he received a tight frown. The human looked as though they might have argued before their eyes closed and they nodded their head a single time. "Then I shall wish you the luck of the Spirits. May the woodlands guide your hand to victory, I shall see if any can be spared to assist you…do not risk your life when you need not do so."

The concern was welcome but he felt that ugly feeling at having it shown, he knew how they would react otherwise. But they could embrace the joy they felt in this one moment, turning away once more and sprinting as hard as they could. Avoiding the trees, the world becoming a blur of brown, green and white.

Whatever was responsible for the foul stench, whatever being sought to undo the work that he and his family had put into this. He would not let them ruin this for them, he would defend Christmas with every ounce of his soul.

Bursting through the edge of the woods, he could see the distant figures moving about, narrowing his eyes as he beheld them for a moment and strained his sight onto them. Two humanoid looking figures battling what looked like a cloud of pure darkness, even from this distance he could feel the sheer malice that the shadow held, the darkened shape in the centre moved like a mindless beast and yet both the figures were struggling, or so it looked.

The one with crimson hair, they released streams of flames from their body directly onto the shadow, it staggered for only a moment before unleashing a storm of darkness, snuffing the flames and striking the tall figure with enough force to send them flying, he could see the wave and hear the crack of the impact from even his great distance.

He should have moved.

Yet, the moment the figure - bare chested with only a crimson fabric around their waist leading down to their ankles - had unleashed their fires, he could feel it deep within his person. Their scarlet red hair and general aura, it burned bright as their flames. The scent of a Light-kin, not just the Light-kin, but the smell of one stronger.

Fury arose deep within him for a split second and the smell of light and charcoal reached his nose, the urge to fly the distance and just incinerate the God was almost overwhelming. Yet that primal side of his mind was buried deep down, he suppressed it within his gut and held his ground, his arms by his side, fists clenched and trembling.

This was not a time for such things. He was above such things now.

That didn't stop him from glaring, at least until he caught sight of the other figure that was moving around the shadow. Something held in their left hand and pointed towards the shadow and loosened a series of small looking sharp sticks, the distraction earned the attention of the monster as it swung for them.

He could tell this one was human.

Clad in dirtied steel armour, around his head and shoulders was a scrap of red cloth which set him out against the backdrop of snow rather clearly. A head smaller than the God and yet they fought, the human and the God both continued their gruelling offensive against the monster with token success. It was as though they did not have the strength to do much more than irritate it.

He knew what needed to be done, he knew first and foremost what he needed to do and what would happen. Even if they were a God, even if they were of the humans who first met his people in battle all those eons ago. He knew what this holiday was supposed to be about, what all who came here expected. Whether they had been enemies or allies, they were all here for a single common purpose.

Then there was his promise.

He had vowed to make this the grandest Christmas that would ever exist upon this world, he would not let it be spoiled now. Not by his own misgivings and not by some shadow monster who sought to disrupt the good cheer of those who would celebrate the festival.

Moving his arms behind him, he opened up his palms and felt the flow of fire course through his body, his body lowered itself down as he assumed the pace of a sprinter, taking in a deep breath before he charged. Flames shot out from his palms, propelling him forwards and through the air with a shuddering boom, already swinging them forwards as he approached the ground once more.

He charged at full speed, the world focused around him, the wind howled as he broke through it, a thud spread across his body for only a moment and something visibly cracked before him, yet he moved further still and kicked forwards once more, throwing himself completely into the run, eyes narrowed.

Close enough to take effect, his right eye burned as he snapped it onto the figure. The shadow abruptly halted, he felt the strain against his eye of calamity yet powered through the resistance. His right hand swung forwards as the flames rushed into his hand, clenching his fingers tight around the handle which did not yet exist, the moment his fingers clamped shut there was a crack as a shape burst into his palm.

Long and crooked, the head curved outwards into a long pick while the back end was rugged and blunt, a hammer with a spike on the end, rough and dull gold in colouration. He flipped it around so that the hammer was facing outwards and gripped it tight with both hands, drawing it back and tensing himself as he never once broke step.

Briefly he saw the other two attackers pause in their movements and turn towards him, but it mattered little in the end as he already sprinted past them by the time they knew he was there, drawing the hammer back and letting out a roar as he swung it up and forwards into the chest of the creature, the shock of resistance met him immediately, his arms trembled and the weapon shattered immediately into fragments, yet the force remained.

Thunder roared, the world split, the shadow lurched backwards as the hammer struck home and was carried away backwards with a rush of snow blurring right into it, the world howled around him as the shockwave of his sprint eventually caught up with him, like a wave of snow it swept past him and carried the shadow into the distance, his clenched his eye shut and hissed as he fought back the pain of using it so long before wiping it clear of liquid.

He turned left and right to either figure by his side, the human remained rather cautious but otherwise kept their distance and offered a faint nod of the head, though what he noticed was the long grey beard protruding from out of the hood and the lack of visible features shadowed by the scarlet fabric. The old man turned once more, brandishing the flat greatsword and mounting it on their shoulder as they held the other contraption in their left hand and jerked it up and down with a clicking sound.

Turning right, the bare chested God merely regarded him with a narrowed gaze, golden eyes looked him up and down before they sniffed once. When they spoke, it was with veiled annoyance yet not completely, their posture was tense but he could feel as though they were not going to strike at him.

"While you reek of the Dark, I shall stomach your being here under these grave circumstances." They turned from him and looked straight ahead to the direction the shadow had been launched, bringing up their arms as they swirled with fire, brilliant orange flames clung to their fingers as they slammed their fists together and took in a deep breath, flowing crimson hair billowed with the force of the strike. "For if they can endure my flames with such ease, the strength of a God, then they shall not so easily be felled with an Abyss beast and their fragile weapons."

Kalameet frowned openly at the words and turned his head, noting that the shadow beast was pushing itself upwards and staggering for only a moment, shaking it's horned head from side to side before turning and looking towards them, the glowing orbs that it called it's eyes locked onto his own, a deep rumbling noise came from them. A sound like a hundred voices speaking at once as it took a single step forwards and growled menacingly.

"We have no need for violence between us." He spoke to the two at his side, black and yellow flames spread across his hands as he brought them up and clenched them into fists, pulling his lips into a snarl as he prepared himself. "For now, we have a common enemy…One that clearly requires our combined might…And you are not the only one with a grudge, light-kin. Or shall I be the only one to bury my hatred?"

A loud scoff by his side. "I am King of the Gods, I shall not be shown up by some mere brute who flings Abyssal fires." a crunch of snow from his right, a glance showed the God step forwards and roll their shoulders before bringing up their fists and assuming a basic stance. "Besides…I have my own reasons for seeing this beast put down. We have an accord for the time being."

"Hmmm…Indeed." A hoarse voice from the old man as they stepped up on his left. "So long as we stand in agreement. Let us put this creature down before it preys upon the land."

That sounded good enough to him, something he turned his snarl into a grin over. Taking in a deep breath, his eye snapped open with full power once more, the shadow monster locked up for half a second before he swung his arms forwards, unleashing a torrent of flames onto the beast, matched within the same second by the swirling fires of the God.

Kicking to the side, he started to sprint around while keeping the flames upon the beast, the God matched his step and moved across the other side while keeping the fires spewing, in the centre of the blaze he could see the creature snarl and thrash around, swinging wildly as it staggered between the inferno.

It brought its arms above its head and swung down, a blizzard rushed outwards and right into him. He cut the flames and brought up his arms before him as the snow and shadow rushed over him, sweeping his hands to the side and parting the storm before him, only to widen his orbs as the fist of the monster rushed right towards his face, he stepped back as it sailed just past his nose.

Yet as it turned, he saw why it was content with missing him, a long sweeping tail whipped towards him and slammed into his gut, he felt the wind pushed from his lungs as he was jolted backwards, the monster continued the turn and moved on the God, throwing it's fist forwards and catching the guard of the man.

He pushed off the ground, throwing himself into the back of the shadow and barrelling the pair of the over. He rolled over the top and turned, sweeping his leg through the snow and upwards towards the face, it stopped just inches from reaching as the left hand of the monster gripped him by the shin, the world blurred a moment later as he was hurled skywards.

He righted himself in less than a second, the skies were his home.

It had already charged the God, and blocked the next dozen or so blows from the monster rather well, twisting and turning his body as he threw back rapid burning jabs, an explosion going off with each throw of the fist.

"Now!" He roared down to the ground, his eye burned once more and the God understood.

The beast froze for only a second, plenty of time.

With an explosion greater than those before, the God stepped forwards and swung his hands directly into the face of the monster, hurling it backwards with the force of the explosion. Kalameet swung his arms to the sky and unleashed an explosion of his own, shooting his body straight down like a falling star, his feet slamming into the gut of the monster and driving it straight into the ground.

Another burst of fire, he launched himself back into the air for a short distance until he hit the ground.

The shadow was strong, already dragging itself from the snow and whipping its tail around,

The old man jumped forwards, driving his sword into the tail and sticking it to the ground, before the beast even turned to face him he had raised the contraption and pointed it right towards the monster, the second it whirled around to face him it unleashed dozens of small wooden arrows directly into its face, he rolled backwards and released his sword as he did so, hitting the ground and twisting.

Three golden rings of light flew from his now free right hand and buried themselves into the back of the shadow, it howled with fury as it pulled its tail free of the ground. The old man rushed forwards and jumped, gripping the sword and pulling toward, twisting the tail around as he did so and snapping their head onto him in a moment.

The God unleashed fire directly onto the monster as it struggled, bringing its arms up in front of its face against the storm of flames, snarling loudly as it did so and staggering around.

Kalameet moved forwards, bringing his hands up and forming a long black sword in his hands, gripping it tightly and swinging down with all his might into the trapped tail, he smashed it down like a hammer, cleaving right through the shadowy limb and slamming the sword into the ground with a crunch of snow and earth.

His hands dropped the sword and moved onto the tail, gripping the detached limb and ripping it upwards - the sword of the old human being pulled free at the same time - and turning. The severed tail barely skimmed across the surface of the snow before it slammed headlong into the side of the struggling beast, it went rolling over into a pained grunt as black liquid flung from every single point.

"Burn your flames into the ground brute." He was pulled out by the sharp words of the God as they stalked past him. Not even a second later they snapped once more. "Do not make me repeat myself! It is a shame I must resort to even this!"

He fought back a frown but adhered to the words all the same, pointing his arm to the ground and unleashing a steady stream of flames, only to furrow his brow as they twisted away from where he was aiming them and moved towards the God, the expression of the being twisted in pain and disgust as the black and yellow fires roped around their body, licks of orange fires moving to join them before they all converged into a point in front of the God.

Their hand shot forwards, gripping the mixture of flames and drew his arm back as he did so, the fires jetted out from either end until they formed a spear, the God held his posture for barely a moment before he slung the newly made weapon forwards like a javelin, the beast brought itself upwards just in time for the attack to strike home in it's chest, the explosion sent it ragdolling once more and into the snow with a deep booming thud, dirt and ice being catapulted into the air.

Silence.

A howl split the air, as though a hundred voices screamed at once, the snow exploded as the shadow thrashed and growled, spinning on the ground a dozen times. Kalameet felt himself take a half step backwards at the animalistic display, the body twisted and turned, folding in on itself as the horns bent and flaked into the distance, the limbs shorted and pulled up, the stump of tail retracted into the body as the screeching faded away, replaced with heavy breathing.

Each breath was an echo of old metal, the figure pushed up from the ground and onto their feet, gradually turning until they faced them directly. The haze of darkness remained, lingering around and yet the shadows had pulled away from the body entirely, revealing not the figure of a monster but instead of some twisted mockery of life.

Patchwork metal and limbs, each set of armour looked as though it belonged apart from the one beside it, as though they adorned themselves in all the wrong types. The helmet was a mismatch of shapes and turns, smooth on one side and dead straight on the other, melding together with rough burn marks across. One shoulder was thickly armoured while the other was nothing more than chain mail.

Worse was the limbs, uneven and what visible skin he could see was of many different shades, splotches upon the surface.

The right arm, the one heavily armoured, was shorter than the left, with thinner leather straps upon it, dangling with old rusted chains and shards of metal buried in it. Within their long hand was a snapped and broken sword, old and rusted into nothing, in their right hand was an axe, yet it continued on and split with the head further up turning to a spear while the shaft extended down into a crooked and warped sword.

"Not Krampus…" The sound was unbearable, old, young, woman and child they all blurred together in a poor union of voices that sounded like clawing upon his ear, he fought the urge to cover them from the sound, content with staring at this disturbing thing which he could only guess was some poor brother cursed by some cruel fate. "aM Krampus! NaMe is Krampus!"

It was a crazed speech, the armoured figure - Krampus - hobbled towards them with uneven steps, staggering with each one they took with the glow of the eyes behind the helm burning like flames, the breathing continued, like a deep and cracked wheezing, as though every breath was like agony upon them. It was then he realised that the haze around them was smoke, grey and choking, each step they took brought a hiss into the snow as their mismatched shoes dragged them forwards.

"Name…is…Krampus!"

Krampus hesitated for nothing, charging forwards with uneven steps and a howl of a thousand voices, throwing themselves through the air and towards the trio with reckless abandon.

Pushing off the ground, he rushed right towards the monster to meet them head on.

It was utter stupidity for him to let his guard down for even a moment.

Galvatyne clipped into the brace on his back as he threw the door open, hearing the scuffle of paws as Fou raced after him into the snow, his eyes swept across the horizon for only a moment, his head snapped in the direction of the latest thundering boom before a frown spread across his face. The first had halted him and all that came after that had been proof of his foolishness, perhaps the world punishing him for being indolent.

Not that it mattered now.

Turning around, he looked at the door as Jeanne Alter stepped out into the snow after him with her arms folded over her chest, he could guess as to why she was still annoyed. He had proven more adept at the game than she had anticipated, but he could feel no joy in the mounting victories when this was the cost of his success.

He stared at her for only a moment and then turned back around, moving his hand to the communicator on his hip and pulling it free. Holding it up and pressing it open, the face of Romani flashed up and caught sight of him with wide eyes for only a second before it evened out, the clear unease on the face of the man was telling enough as to what the situation was.

"I know it's west of here, tell me how far."

It took Romani only a second to answer him back. "There's a large concentration of magical energy about a mile to the west of you. Fujimaru-kun and the others have heard it and are en-route. Berserker is there at the moment with two other Servants but the readings of this latest individual…"

The hesitation was all the information he needed, whether Ritsuka was approaching or not was immaterial. It had been his own indulgence which led to this encounter, he would not step back just because it was something that could be handled by another. That was not his role here.

That being said, he would prefer that Ritsuka not suspect it was him…but he could work around that problem.

"I understand, I will make my way there immediately." He snapped the communicator off, then attached it back to his belt before pausing for only a moment, aware of the presence of Jeanne Alter still behind him. It would likely end in failure, but he supposed he might as well ask all the same.

Turning to face her once more, she raised an eyebrow at him, perhaps already guessing what he was going to say given the way her face twisted, rolling her eyes at him before she stepped forwards and stretched her arms out, a pale flag atop a black spear fell into her grasp, she sniffed and then planted it down. "...Well? When are we going?"

His brows furrowed, she made another face of irritation at him. "Weren't you going to ask me if I wanted to come?"

"Yes, but I would assume you would have stayed behind."

"Yeah, but I'm pissed off and want to set something on fire now." She retorted without even waiting, striding past him while keeping the annoyed huff in her tone of voice. Clearly still affected by what had happened before. "So, what are we waiting for?"

Turning his eyes down to Fou, the diminutive creature looked up at him and tilted it's head, showing that they didn't have an answer for what was happening either. He didn't understand why she would even invite him to play if there was a chance she could end up losing, that seemed to be an exercise in mental self-harm…but he wasn't an expert and maybe she had just been exceedingly confident in her own abilities.

"We're not really waiting for anything." Pressing his right boot down into the snow, the shadows started to splash forwards and moved to respond, bending around an invisible shape that didn't quite exist and were slowly expanding outwards. He remained silent and stone faced as he reached deep inside and took hold of what he needed, dragging it up and to the surface.

Jeanne Alter turned around and opened her mouth to speak, then abruptly stopped and stared at the ground with furrowed brows, taking a half step back and parting her lips just a touch as she beheld what he was doing.

The blackened shadow on the surface of the snow bubbled for only a moment, a large shape pulled itself free as though rising from the water. Growling and twisting as it reached out, large claw fingers hooked themselves down and pulled, hoisting the remainder of the body out from the ground and up, three toed thick legs crunched into the snow, shoving upwards as pitch black liquid solidified into a shape, the wyvern looking creature with pure crimson eyes pulled it's head back and let out a shuddering roar, turning its head and looking down towards him expectantly.

It was not something he would ever consider doing with the human souls within him, but for whatever reason he held no such guilt towards these manner of souls. A peculiar conundrum but he didn't care all that much for it in the end. Merely that it didn't seem worth it for the most part to go sifting through the few souls that remained and bestowing a portion of his own magical energy unto them to grant them brief bodies when he could just use the energy himself.

He turned his eyes onto Jeanne Alter and gave her a blank stare, inclining his head as he did so and jerking it towards the wyvern. "I was just wondering if you were going to walk the distance. My way is faster."

He would have teleported but this method would work easier for him.

She didn't reply, though for some reason a wide and almost animalistic smile spread across her features as she jogged back towards him, sending a rather triumphant look at the wyvern for a moment before turning her eyes back onto him. "You know how to ride that thing?"

"...No."

Now she was looking at him like he was an idiot all over again, bringing up her free hand and smacking it into the front of her face with an audible slap, dragging her gauntlets down, revealing her flattened features as she did so before letting out an annoyed groan, shaking her head from side to side, she turned to the wyvern and marched towards it. "Figures. You just sit in the back, I'll handle this."

"Hmm." She had experience with wyverns, so he could let her handle it. Closing his eyes, he moved Galvatyne back to its slot on his back. Combing through what he knew and extending his right hand outwards a faint weight settled into the palm of his hand as he opened his eyes once more, staring at the ring that now resided there.

The golden band of metal with faint designs embroidered upon it, taking it into his left hand he slipped it into his ring finger without even hesitating. Feeling a faint tugging sensation as he stumbled for a moment, his hair extended and dropped down to cover his face, a weight settled onto his chest once again as he felt his armour push outwards just a bit.

Exhaling, he swung his head back and threw the lockes of blonde hair over the top of his head and back onto his shoulders, only briefly pausing as Jeanne Alter stared at him with wide and baffled eyes, dancing between his - or rather her - face and her chest before double taking at him, opening and closing her mouth several times and making a series of noises.

Ash rolled her shoulders a couple of times, frowning as she started to get used to her new sense of balance. Bringing her hands up and twitching her fingers around, clenching and unclenching them several times. Pleased that little else had been done save for some cosmetic changes, she lowered her arms back to her side and then turned her head towards Jeanne Alter, raising an eyebrow at the expression now being sported on the face of the woman.

"...What. The. Hell."

She raised an eyebrow "Ritsuka is coming and I would prefer not to have him know I am here just yet." bringing her hand up, she rubbed at her vocal cords and noted that they had similarly changed, becoming slightly higher pitch than normal while smoothing out.

"...So you turn yourself into a woman?" Jeanne Alter still seemed rather set on the issue and quite frankly, Ash was unsure as to why she was just staring at her chest more often than she was looking at her eyes. "Why can you even do that?"

"It seems the best method to disguise myself." A shrug of the shoulders and she walked towards the wyvern, raising an eyebrow at them as she did so. "Best mount up, we have little time to waste and I suspect it will not be long before Ritsuka and the others arrive." pausing for a moment, she turned and looked down at Fou as they similarly stared at her with wide eyes full of shock.

It wasn't that big of a surprise, was it?

"Do you intend to stand there all night, Fou?"

"F-fou…" They moved off the ground and skipped past her, showing little problem in clambering up the wyvern.

They were certainly good at fighting, not the best but not the worst, though he could see the experience in all their movements. But it was difficult for him to describe, he would say the closest he had come to it would be undead who used weapons rather than learn the techniques, as though they were wielding weapons not fit for their body.

In the case of this undead, he would say that it was not fit for its own disjointed and rather shabby looking body. He recognised some of the armour designs through what could only be described as the vomit of historical protection.

The flat of his sword was raised and held firm across his body, the halberd struck home and skated up and above his head, he turned on his heel and twisted himself around while swinging outwards. Krampus hopped back to avoid his slash, but ran straight into the punch to the back of the head courtesy of the crimson haired God.

Light coalesced around his fingers, his left arm swung out and the golden disk struck home into the ribs of the being, burning through the plate armour and hissing as it met flesh. Though Krampus barely showed an ounce of care, they turned like a whip and cracked the God in the chin with a backhand and a hammer of the broken sword's pommel.

It was a rather nasty sounding thud.

The golden disk flew back into his hands and vanished, he charged forwards and slid down beneath the next strike, swinging up and across only to meet the steel of the chipped old sword, the weapon dripped with rust yet he could feel the strength in the deceptively thin limb, he pushed up and stepped forwards, swinging his sword like a lever and hooking the crossguard into the collar of his attacker then driving it up into their chin.

He twisted the sword and slashed across their throat, blood sprayed and their right arm swung back at him, dragging itself through the snow and throwing up a storm of ice into the air as it did so. A quick jerk and he threw himself into a roll away from the slash, a shadow passed overhead as the newly arrived Servant - whose name he knew not - swung a rather absurd looking axe into the halberd, stopping both weapons with a single thundering boom which shook the air.

The crossbow snapped into his hand, already moving and bringing it up and pulling the trigger, the weapon rattled and bolts flew into their dozens, some bounced off the armour but for every two that bounced, the third struck home and buried itself in armour or flesh. The distraction was enough for the Servant to drag the halberd and axe down into the ground, bringing their boots up and stomping down to keep both their.

Hands flew from the axe, clasped together in a fist and crashing into the side of Krampus's head, they staggered with the blow and recovered swiftly. A screech like steel and they pulled upwards, the Servant stumbled as the halberd was yanked out from beneath their feet.

The God - Flann - threw his fist into the side of Krampus head and unleashed an explosion of flames at point blank range. He struck their back with a bolt of sunlight and the jewel like eye of the final Servant glowed brilliantly as a faint whistle echoed through the air, Krampus howled with pain, swinging their body around as a mess of limbs.

"Gah!" Flann staggered backwards, a new slice across his chest from where he had been caught, Krampus flew into the other Servant and tackled them to the ground, bereft of it's weapons and just throwing punch after punch with neither rhyme nor reason. He pushed forwards, leaping through the air and bringing the sword across his body as he did so.

The moment he landed, he swept it out and slashed across the back of the monster, earning a grunt for his efforts and turning his body, bringing his sword up and bracing it with both hands, the sharp edge facing the left side of the monster's body. As expected, it turned and lashed out with the gangly arm, its own strength turned against it when it buried the thin limb down to the bone on his sword.

Stepping forwards, he pushed down with all his might and drove the limb into the snow, earning a hiss of pain from Krampus. At least until it became muffled as the messy blonde and black haired ally slammed their palm into the face of the monster, he felt the heat before he saw the flames, bracing himself as the shockwave ripped through the air and sent both him and the monster flying, though he recovered quickly.

A stream of fire struck the beast in the air, twisting around its body like a snake and then being dragged down, slamming into the ground with a powerful detonation. His crossbow was already trained upon the monster and firing before the God even retracted their lash of flames, the bolts flew true once more though he could hardly see what he was shooting at.

The blonde rushed past him in a single step, throwing their fist forwards and connecting with something, a metallic clang echoed out as the shock of the punch cast the flames aside in a moment. The fist of the Servant was clenched in the centre of the Krampus heavy steel gauntlet, fingers curled down like that of a bear trap.

Krampus snarled and dragged them forwards, swinging their left arm forwards as they did so and driving the limb into the chin of the Servant, flipping them over as they did so. The monster did not stop there, they turned and clamped their fist around the leg of the Servant and pulled down, slamming them hard into the ground before whipping around, hurling the body of the Servant towards them.

He dropped down and let it fly over the top of him before he snapped up, his eyes widened and the flat of his sword came up. His teeth grit themselves as his body trembled for a moment, the fist of the Servant crashed into his guard and shoved the sword back into his body, his feet left the ground with a boom, twisting through the air and catching sight of Krampus unleashing a storm of ember ash directly onto Flann.

The moment he struck the ground, he stabbed his sword down and halted his momentum, snapping himself up and charging forwards, soon outpaced by the blonde young looking Servant once more, Krampus turned on them and swept their arm out, the storm of ash hurled itself onto them.

The blonde didn't even break pace as they charged right into it, a glow of light surrounded their body as they jumped through the storm, he followed after them and heard the sound of the impact before he saw the result. The blonde in the middle of tackling Krampus to the ground, it rolled and flipped the Servant over the top of their head without even pausing, seeing him a moment later and whipping their arm out. Claws burst from the end of the leather glove like hidden blades.

He blocked, hearing the grind of steel as the claws scraped against the surface of the sword with a shower of sparks. Ducking down, their right arm swung across and over the top of his head with a woosh, he stepped forwards and brought the sword up once more, parrying the claws above his head and spinning to avoid the next strike, the armoured fist buried itself in the snow.

"Aside human!"

Not even questioning it, he dropped and rolled, a sudden swell of heat was the herald of the inferno crashing into Krampus, the monster staggered for but a few steps before it caught itself, holding its ground and turning its body side onto the flames, armoured right arm being used as a shield against the torrent of fires.

It staggered as another stream of flames struck it in the back and washed over it. He rushed forwards at that moment and swung upwards, his sword crashed into the front of their face and stumbled them backwards, a creak of steel and a shower of sparks as they recoiled from the blow, the blonde was already behind, striking them in the side of the head as they turned, a drum and reverberation of steel.

Flann moved in close, his knuckles caught their chin with an uppercut and snapped their head back, the blonde struck them in the side and he slashed at their knee. They dropped down as the blonde brought their hands above their head, fires surrounded their clenched fists and they dropped down into the shoulder of Krampus and drove them into the ground like a nail.

Another stream of flames washed into the Servant as they rolled in the ground, combined with his crossbow now firing at full blast into the monster, soon the blonde joined in the offensive, launching their own burst of yellow and black flames into the pile and keeping them their, the shape of Krampus was obscured by the combined offensive, snow hissing and melting from the extreme heat to the point he could see the old grass beneath, it promptly caught fire as well.

He felt the intake.

His instincts warned him.

"Back!" His voice yelled out, already moving himself as he jumped back as far as he could. Fortunately, the two of his companions heeded his words and hurled themselves away, in that moment a veritable storm of ash pulled itself into the sky, the vortex of thick grey smoke twisted into the air and dragged all debris and fire around it, turning into a brilliant luminescent swirl of wind and smog as it continued to move before rushing outwards.

Planting his sword into the ground, he clenched his jaw as the shockwave rolled over his body and snapped his head back up. A blur shot past him with speeds he couldn't react to, turning at the last moment and bringing his left hand up to cover the back of his head, the impact struck with only a whistle as a warning, feeling his hand break with the blow as he was buried deep into the snow, though still very much aware of what was going on.

Throwing himself with the blow and being carried with the force, he twisted as he rolled and dragged his sword up and across. Hearing the grinding of metal as he parried the claws away and leaned his head to the side as a new hooked spear rushed right past his face.

Krampus' form had changed, the armour twisted and became thinner and lighter, only straps of differently coloured fabric and bare chainmail covered their body now, though their head was still covered by the mismatched helm. He ducked before they could even pull the spear back, good as it was dragged back to his side and revealed the mixture of a scythe on the end of it as well.

Ash swirled around the monster as it twisted like the wind, the faint whistle was all he got before he brought the sword up and caught the blade by the head, just stopping the scythe tip from reaching him, thrusting up and catching the shaft with the crossguard and dragging the sword down the length. Krampus rolled and ducked as he moved past them, the slash missing entirely.

They were already moving by the time he had turned around, the blonde Servant their new target as they appeared before them without any warning, a flourish of moment and then the blonde hissed as they slashed right across their jewelled eye. Darting away to avoid being caught in the counter stream, the other hand over the blonde now placed flat against their missing sight and hissing quietly to themselves.

Flann surrounded himself with flames pre-emptively, Krampus stopped just short of reaching them and kicked from the ground, vanishing with a blur of movement and a whistle as dust billowed from behind them like a trail. His eyes narrowed as he followed the moving cloud, tensing himself and breathing in as he brought the sword out before himself.

The cloud turned, he dropped and slashed out.

His sword caught their foot, they tripped and flew over the top of him and into the air, though it was no flame he recognised that caught it. Instead, an orb of darkest black crashed into the top of the body and punted it a great distance from them, striking the ground not far from them and rolling several more times before it vanished amidst a trembling boom and a mushrooming explosion.

Pausing in his movements, Gael turned his eyes to the sky, just in time to see a shape crash into the snow like a rock, thumping into the ground and dropping a wave of snow over them with the impact, bringing up his hand to cover his face, then lowering it down as he stared at the crouched figure, long messy blonde hair, a black cape draped over their body with reflections of steel armour beneath.

The woman rose up and flourished her right arm to the side, a sword that looked as though it was made from molten stone with it's chiselled appearance, though he barely caught a glimpse of it's outline before the weapon burst into flames, the eyes of the blonde remained fixed on the direction of Krampus.

A second blonde dropped down next to her, this one wearing darker coloured armour with fitting steel plates around her abdomen and waist, clenched in her hand was a standard with the flag rolled up around the pointed tip, clearly serving as some manner of spear.

The first blonde stepped forwards, speaking coldly and clearly as she did so.

"The land of Christmas lies beyond." The fires of the sword intensified as she swung the blade wide. "The eclipse of my sword will drown all life before it. Undebtân Galvatyne!"

The blonde swung the burning blade, a river of blackened fire jetted out within the next second and burned across the ground, the heated breath tore the snow asunder with a rolling current which charged right towards Krampus, the figure was obscured by the flames, though in the instant before they would have made contact, he heard the terrible screech of metal and human, the wall of black fire shattered like glass, a single swipe cleaving through it to reveal Krampus stood tall and proud with a mangled steel sword clenched in their hands.

Taking a single step forwards, Krampus paused the second it caught sight of its new attackers and then trembled, steel groaned as the plates of metal rubbed against one another, sparks dropped down from the body as the smoke intensified. "You! Evil! You Santa!"

A blink from the blonde and a tilt of the head, though they did not reply save for brandishing the burning sword once more. The fires banished within a second, light of pure white screeched as the sword turned into a second sun and was then thrust forwards, he brought his hand up to cover his eyes as the blonde stabbed the weapon, a lucent stream rushed towards Krampus in a heartbeat, the monster brought up the flat of the sword at the last second and caught the strike in the guard.

Though the force was much greater, especially since the attacker shunted back with the recoil. Krampus twisted as they were flipped over, being barrelled through the sky and then landing in the ground further from them once more, their body steaming away from the scorch marks travelling up the length of their armour.

The second blonde was less reserved with her commentary. "Think this thing needs its eyes checked. Or it's stupid. Whatever, I don't care. As long as I get to kick something's ass, I really couldn't care less whether it's blind, dumb or deaf."

"I can assure you it is none of those things." He spoke up for the first time, their odd encounter settling in his mind and bringing his full attention to bear on the monster once more. "While its form is cracked and mangled, there is skill amidst the madness. A hollow to be certain, but one with a great deal of danger within…and it may change its form freely."

"Looks like a bad art project." The second blonde grunted with irritation in her voice as she strode forwards, then stopped for a moment as her eyes fell onto him and widened just a touch. Her hand flew in his direction, pointing wildly before she stepped in front of the other blonde and started to call out. "See! See! Why is some English bitch queen playing Santa when you literally have this guy out here! The least you could have done is use him!"

The taller blonde glanced down at her ally for a moment, then turned to him at which point her eyes widened a touch before they settled once more, but he could see the hint of recognition in the orbs for a moment. As though they had met somewhere, but he could not place the face of the woman before him at all.

"...I do not believe Gael would serve as a suitable…actually…" The blonde paused, then brought her hand up and rubbed her chin thoughtfully before shaking her head from side to side. "It is a conversation better suited for another time, when we are not being assailed by an undead abomination. What is the situation, Berserker?"

Ah, so his previously unnamed ally was a Berserker.

Berserker stood up, pulling his hand away from his free eye and revealing the nasty slash across his face. They regarded the blonde with a puzzled expression before they made a noise and nodded their head up and down. "It is not good, Ash."

Gael blinked under his hood, then stared at the taller blonde woman once more with furrowed brows.

"The monster claims itself to be Krampus, though I do not know much of Christmas to tell you what-"

"You're dealing with Krampus? What the-!?" The shorter blonde snapped her head in the direction of the monster before her lip curled downwards. "Tch. Figures that would happen. All of you idiots making merry or something, it probably ended up feeding the damn legend or whatever."

Berserker tilted his head, then looked at Ash and squinted. "Is that possible?"

Ash shrugged her shoulders. "Whether or not it is possible, the fact remains it is a danger and needs dealing with." she started to advance forwards and rolled her arms as she did so. "If it has endured your combined might for this long, then it is a danger that requires yet more arms to be rid of forever."

Before he could even question that, deep thudding stole his attention as he turned to Krampus once more.

Stepping from the snow, both arms now heavily armoured with the proportions being much bigger than before, though it was visibly slower as it unleashed a guttural roar and slammed its arms into the ground one more time, with a snarl it charged right towards them. While still quick, it was now far easier to track as it rushed towards them.

Something rocketed right past his head, Krampus ducked to the side as it hit the snow behind them and exploded in a shower of debris, he didn't care what it was but it was the signal for the group to charge forwards and meet the monster head on.

It was certainly a monster, that much she could say with confidence, but she had meant her words.

Moving as fast as she could, Ash rolled herself to the side and dragged the sword through the snow and right towards the front of Krampus, the monster brought its arms up and blocked the blade, her limbs trembled with the force but she pushed forwards, the ground beneath them cratered only for a moment before she pulled the sword back and twisted around, sweeping in front the other side and aiming lower.

It brought it's foot up, the sword passed right beneath the monster, but it was as she had hoped. Her left hand was already up, releasing a burst of pitch black flames directly into the face of Krampus, waving its hands in front of its face to try and throw her away, drawing the sword back she stepped away and allowed Gael to pepper them with a stream of crossbow bolts.

Her hand slammed down into the snow, pillars of fire rose up a second later all around the monster as it tried to track down the old man, it froze as the chaos fire halted its movements and retreated from it. Snarling openly with a dozen voices at once and making to turn on her.

She grunted as something landed on her back and pushed off, glancing up just as Jeanne Alter finished using her as a jumping point and throwing her flag forwards, the standard pierced through the chest of the monster through the flames. Hitting the ground, the woman rolled and rushed forwards with deep purple fire forming around her fingers as she moved through the fire, cackling all the while as she gripped the standard and ripped it free.

Krampus made to chase her down, stopped when Berserker tore his way through the remnants of Chaos and slammed his fist into the face of the Servant, steel bent with the impact as it staggered away.

Moving past Jeanne, she pushed off the ground and drove her shoulder into it's gut, staggering them and twisting the sword around, thrusting down and driving it into the foot of the monster and all the way through, keeping it locked in the snow. Jeanne moved past her and slammed a burning fist into their side with a laugh as she did so, menacing indigo flames crept across the body as it tried to fight them off.

Flann arrived now, having flanked around the other side and taking hold of the right most limb with both hands, his palms glowing a brilliant orange as he slammed them into the metal and held them around the joints. Krampus howled as it tried to move the limb, the moment Flann pulled away he revealed his intention, the plates of armour now having been welded together to prevent movement.

Tearing her sword free of the foot, she pulled it upwards and slashed across the chest of the Servant, they stumbled backwards once more.

Berserker punched them in the face with another haymaker.

Flann struck them in the side with half a dozen body shots.

Jeanne Alter kicked them in the knee.

Berserker struck them in the back of the head with a hammer fist.

Flann uppercut them.

Gael slashed across their helmet with his greatsword, sparks flew as he opened it up.

She stepped forwards and pierced their gut with the sword, holding them in place as she twisted the weapon and planted her feet down. Then dragged the weapon to the side and out their body, pulling them into an elbow smash from Berserker which flung them directly into Flann, the God grabbed the front of their head and then swung their other hand forwards, the burning fist snapped their head backwards.

Jeanne Alter jumped up and swung her standard down like a hammer.

Gael swung and buried his sword into their thigh.

Both she and Jeanne Alter stepped out of the way, Berserker and Flann moved in front of Krampus and drew their arms backwards, fire coated each of their fists as they swung up and directly into the chest of Krampus, flames rushed forwards as the explosion propelled the monster into the sky.

Berserker grabbed Flann's forearm, the God looked down puzzled for a moment, said puzzle turned to shock as the Berserker started to turn and dragged the God with them, spinning on their heel for a couple seconds before they stopped and hurled the God into the sky after the monster.

Flann righted himself, then fired off a burst of flames to slam his body into Krampus, wrapping his arms around their waist as he did so and turning himself about, fire erupted from the soles of their feet as they rushed back towards the earth, Berserker stepped forwards and swung their arm at the last moment, clotheslining the monster with a thunderous boom as they flipped over the top of Flann and out of his grip.

"Stay out of Christmas you bastard!" Jeanne Alter snarled at the monster, bringing up her standard and thrusting it down through the palm of the beast, Ash stepped up and mirrored the gesture on their other side.

Gael stepped forwards, greatsword held high and then swung across.

With that flourish of movement, Krampus was now a full head shorter.

Ash exhaled, staring at the creature for a few seconds before she loosened her guard, pulling the sword from the ground as Krampus slowly turned to motes of light, despite that she could not help but stare at the fading monster. Whatever it had been, she was certain that it was not Krampus. Though she was unsure as to why she suspected this, something about it was much too out of place.

Why would Krampus have part of the helm of an Astoran knight melted onto their head in the first place?

Bringing her head up, she stared at Jeanne Alter for a moment and then turned her eyes onto the ensemble which she had stumbled upon. Looking between Berserker and Gael for a moment, then landing her eyes onto the one she was more dubious towards, Flann picked himself up from the snow and brushed himself down, turning to face them with a complicated look on his face, though before he opened his mouth, his eyes landed on her and he paused for a fraction of a second and squinted.

Just as quickly as he had done so, he dismissed the notion and shook his head from side to side, stepping forwards and turning his eyes onto Berserker, raising a single finger and pointing towards them. "...Do not ever do something like that again without my express permission first. To lay hands on a King is a crime not many would forgive."

The threat hung in the air until the God brought the hand down. "...Though I shall forget what transpired in light of its effectiveness. The monster lays slain at our feet and though I could picture a far greater choice of allies than whatever rabble was dropped upon my feet…I shall at least be thankful that you proved useful."

A quiet scoff from Jeanne Alter.

Her waist vibrated, she glanced down and pulled the communicator out once more, Romani's face flashed up.

"Ash, Fujimaru-kun is-oh my goodness." The brows of the man climbed up his forehead, leaning back and staring at her with a shocked expression. "H-hello there, umm…i-is Ash around or uhm…wh-who am I speaking with here or…?"

She blinked once.

"It is me, Romani. What did you say about Ritsuka?"

Romani double taked, then leaned forwards with a squint. "Ash!? What are-nevermind, I'll ask later. Fujimaru-kun is nearly right on top of you. I don't know what you intend to do but-"

"Understood." Turning the communicator off, she glanced around at the group before pulling her lips into a frown and then closing her eyes. "Brace yourself for some momentary discomfort."

She accepted no questions, swiftly teleporting them away before any could offer their own thoughts.

It was in the split second that she was about to teleport that she realised that she forgot about Fou, though she was certain Ritsuka could handle that.

AN: Yep.

Fem!Ash.

For point of reference…she's like a shorter looking Barghest and Ash's approach to gender is just "I am Ash." to both of them, there is no difference in personality and they don't care at all. It's sort of like d'Eon.

Anyway!

Krampus…who might not actually be Krampus.

What a mystery.

Surely they shall never return again…right…right?