Not-yet-summer resort: VI
He felt as though he should have felt something at least, perhaps even a faint twitch, yet all he felt was calm.
His grip on his sword remained tight, even though the make of the blade eluded him, it should have been a sword he recognised and - while he did - it wasn't the one he had been expecting. For all intents and purposes, he had wanted to pull forth the sword that was bestowed upon him, yet the one he pulled out instead was a simple looking Astoran blade for reasons that eluded him.
Yet when the moment came and he held it in his hands, he found himself unwilling to part with it.
And he…could not be entirely certain why that was.
A feeling deep within him, one of immense sadness and some small joy, but that was a fleeting thing. As though it was a short breath from some distant memory that flickered from his mind.
Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought from his mind and focused instead on what lay before him. That being the first true taste of battle, all those long years of preparation were finally going to come to a head in this coming battle. That which would be the make or break moment of his entire life, this would determine whether it had been a wasted effort or not.
The thought made him clench his grip around his sword just a little tighter.
It had been only a moment but in that time he had thrown his own sword from him, the memory of the fire had been-
A shake of the head, he banished the thought from his mind as suddenly as it had arrived.
He was Gawyn, child of Gwynevere, he would feel no fear.
That had been…a surprise, nothing more.
The sword bursting into flames had caught him off guard.
That was all it was.
Yet why did he find himself unable to cement that thought in his mind for long? The more time he tried to argue the point in his head, the less convincing it became. The doubts were festering, his eyes turned to the sword in his grasp once more as he raised it up, staring down into his muddled reflection, the faint glow of his emerald green eyes stared right back into him.
His reflection hardened.
He would neither fail nor falter, he would use every ounce of his being for the sake of his Master and his duty. There could be no other alternative, so long as he could see that through until the end, so long as there was always a chance for him to demonstrate his resolve, then there would never be any reason to be concerned.
Moving his left hand up, he clasped the plate of his helm and slid it down with a loud clicking noise, his world became a single slit across the front of his face and nothing else. The echo of his breathing within the helm drowned out all other noises, yes, this was how things were supposed to be. This was how he was supposed to be.
This was something he understood, something he could work with.
It was a relief.
No, it was not a relief, it was comfortable to him.
It was the situation where he would be most useful to all those involved, most useful to Master Ritsuka.
Those thoughts ended when a rumble shook through the ground, the chariot that pulled them ground to a halt as he leaned forwards, pressing his free hand flat against the handle and catching himself, the others doing much the same, his eyes darted upwards to the wall and his eyes narrowed, just about making out the shapes of the large warriors moving across the battlements with various weapons.
"Ritsuka!" A voice called down from above, his head snapped towards it and he recognised the man as the one from earlier, who had shown such concern and promised answers and had delivered on that promise, though his own feelings on that were buried for a later date.
The knight waved down to them and then gestured towards his spot. "If you're here to help then the sun has blessed me this day!"
Master Ritsuka stepped up, cupping his hands and shouting back up to the man. "We heard something about a scuffle! What is happening over there!?"
The knight made to answer, though never got the chance, a flash of brilliant light and then a deep roll of black smog consumed the battlement he stood upon, a crack of thunder rippled out as the explosion tore through the wall, sending fragments of charred debris soaring through the skies above them, already he could see them plummeting down in their direction.
"Senpai!" Squire Kyrielight was dutiful as she was swift in her response, bringing her shield up with ghostly image of a wall forming above their heads, the rubble clattered off the aegis and rolled down onto the ground around them, even as their origin point billowed with thick obsidian smoke.
His eyes were transfixed by the sight, a tightness gripped him as he his refused to part with the sight, the rumbling blaze and the rising pillar of darkness that found itself spoilt by an occasional sputter of deep orange, a crackling roar as embers flickered down, the world dissolved into muffled shouts, the chariot roared to life and charged forwards, all while his eyes remained fixed on the inferno.
His chest felt tight.
"-ets move to the top!" A shudder as the chariot dissolved around him drew him back into the world with a jolt, his head snapped around until it landed upon Master Ritsuka, his lord already pointing up towards the thick of the inferno. "We can settle the matter of Demons being justified later, right now we're going to go and help Solaire try and fend them off!"
His head bobbed up and down, yet his eyes darted back from his lord and right towards the fire once more, his traitorous legs refused to carry him forwards, as though they could feel the heat from all the way down here. Everything felt warm, his breathing increased, laboured and heavy, it echoed like drums in his helm, everything started to blur-
"Gawyn?" Something touched his side, he turned and came close to drawing his sword, pausing only when he found himself staring into the deep blue eyes of Lady Boudica, the red headed woman gazed right through into his own orbs, something seeping through her vision as a frown fell upon her lips, withdrawing her offending limb from his personal space. "Are you-"
"Fine." The crack in his voice was ignored, more so when he marched past the woman and drew forth his blade, shouldering it upon his right side and forcing his expression to even out, not that she could have seen from behind his helm. His breathing slowed by force, his eyes remained fixed to the ground before him, though the crackle of the fires above howled louder than ever before.
His feet carried him to the stairwell that ascended towards the battlements, moving fast enough that he would have been difficult to track with the eyes of a regular human, but it was the nature of things. The life of his lord was more valuable than his own, thus he could not chance an ambush as he had seen with Solaire moments prior, though he doubted the knight was felled so easily.
Yet the thought of being struck like them gave him pause, banished entirely however when he considered Master Ritsuka being forced into a similar situation.
Reaching the summit, he swung his body around and peered over the battlements, to his shame, he lacked the necessary height to look without rising onto the tip of his toes. Though given who the battlements were made for, that was not as great a slight against him as it could have been, though the knowledge still stung.
His eyes moved over to the pier where they had first arrived.
It felt as though his heart stopped in that one moment.
The ocean was ablaze, towers of fire rose up from the depths and bubbled the sea of blue around them, hissing and spitting as distant swarm of darkness rose up with them, all he could do was stare in mute horror as shapes pulled themselves up from the depths, each one more mangled and distorted than the last, the first were twice his height or had to be at least, though their skins were a matte brown and chipped away, bare chested and muscular with only scraps of cloth to cover themselves.
Yet that was not where the horror lay.
Instead it was the skull of some cattle that adorned their heads, stripped of the skin and flesh, leaving only bleached white bone with piercing red eyes which glared with such hate and fury that he could feel it from where he stood, in each hand the figures carried large clumsy machetes each his own size as though they weighed nothing, charging out of the depths and moving towards the walls with incredible speed.
They were followed by larger monsters, bloated bodies with feeble arms, a skin an ugly green and with lipless grins, the twisted monster with what seemed to be horns jutting from it's body let out a rumbling growl as it charged forwards, wielding a lump of shaped rock as a mace as it did so.
Then his eyes fell upon the one who moved slower than the others, who felt as though they were more…
Body aglow with fire, skin like rock and a face like a skull, the hobbling monstrosity dragged itself through the boiling oceans at a steady but determined pace, using it's weapon like a crutch as it did so, each step eliciting a deep and aggressive hiss of steam upon the surface of the ocean as it drew closer and closer.
Gawyn kept himself silent.
At an impossible distance, the two made eye contact.
Hatred crashed into him like a hammer, a singular fury directed upon him, the fires that surrounded the monster rose to match the fury now levelled towards him, the pillars of flame upon the ocean twisted and climbed, arcing through the sky and swinging down into the demon, the club in its grasp was raised aloft, acting as a guiding beacon for the encroaching flames, they dived upon the weapon and flooded into it without showing sign of ceasing.
It took two steps forwards, then lashed out with the club, wielding it like a whip and swinging the arcs of fire towards him, his eyes parted from the demon onto the attack, yet he did nothing. Unable to do anything more the stare at the wall of flames that was now flying towards him at incredible speeds, he could dodge, he knew he could dodge, yet his body did not answer his demands to move.
Instead he just watched-
The air was knocked from him as something slammed into his side and forced him to ground, a second later heat washed over him and he stared up as the wave of fire flew right above his head, taking with it the section of wall he had been stood before, the stone boiled and burnt, peeling away from the wall and being carried away into the distance by the rush of fire, the howl of the orange sky went on for what felt like eons before it mercifully came to and end.
Only then did he realise that he had stopped breathing when he found he could not hear the drumming of his breath in his helm.
"Are you well?" A sharp question, his eyes darted to the side and revealed the knight from before - Solaire - looming over him with a hand placed firmly on their shoulder, he felt their eyes roam over his body before they exhaled, turning their attention from him and down towards the approaching mass. "Damn, more than there was last time. They grow more aggressive but even this is…no, not time for that now."
The grip on his shoulder tightened and pulled, he was on his feet before he even realised what was happening. "No place for observers, my friend! Stand still too long and they'll burn you quick!"
Their focus shifted from him "Get fires to douse these flames! Find Archer and get her to the walls!" they pointed down towards the field, Gawyn kept staring straight ahead, not turning his eyes to follow their arm. "We need to cull their numbers before it gets to-get down!"
The knight swung upwards, a sound of something tearing and then a wet spat as warmth washed over the front of his armour, jerking him back into the moment and staring down at himself, bringing his hands up and blinking several times as he looked. The once polished silver armour he wore was now slick with crimson red, dripping down from his breastplate and towards the ground.
His head turned to the wet thud.
Another blink, the body was humanoid in shape and yet incredibly thin despite its size. Long emaciated fingers attached to gangly arms. The head was the most distinctive feature, almost as though its brain was exposed to the world with a pair of floppy long ears jutting from either side of it, a long curved nose and sharpened teeth, upon its back were large batlike wings.
He moved his eyes further down, unable to find the legs of the demon where they had been slashed from the body.
Something rang through the air, a chime followed by a crackle of lighting, a flash of gold hurtled towards the sky and struck something if the high pitched wail was any indication, either way, it drew his mind from the body towards the battle once more, ignoring the stench of blood and focusing instead on the demons that hovered in the sky above their heads, perhaps a dozen or more of them, but a limited supply all the same.
Pale skilled and like their dead comrade, the charred body of another already plummeting down from where it had been struck by a miracle.
Drawing his sword up, he clasped it tight with both hands and held himself ready, taking in a deep breath and waiting, his eyes flickering from movement to movement before something else caught his ears, staggering backwards as a shockwave rolled over him, soon followed by a howl of unbridled fury which had him clasp his hands over the side of his head, the noise penetrating through even that and reverberating through his skill.
He found the owner of the cry soon enough, glancing down and seeing the burning Demon - the one he assumed was the leader - glaring up towards him with the same measure of focused hatred, burning eyes fixed onto him as it started to march towards his location, hobbling at a steady but unchanged pace, leaving no doubt in his mind that it was coming for him and him alone.
Something gripped his heart once again and refused to loosen it's hold upon him-
A howl, his head snapped up as one of the demons descended with an elongated piece of sharpened bone in it's grasp, held as though it were a spear. He was not so unfocused however, kicking the ground at the last moment and ducking to the side, slashing up as he did so and carving clean through the neck of the charging demon, frowning at the resistance he felt from the body but eventually cutting all the way through with a single deft motion.
The body fell right past him, shooting over the edge of the wall and plummeting back to the ground, the turn brought his focus to the stairs, just in time to see Master Ritsuka reach the summit of them and join him upon the wall, Squire Mash close behind with a stern frown upon her face, pausing only briefly as she caught a glimpse of him.
"I am uninjured." He stated before they could ask, turning back around and pointing towards the marching demon, flexing his muscles to curb the tremor. "That is the leader, or so I suspect. The strength it holds seems much greater than the lesser demons that swarm above our heads-"
Another chime, a flash of light shot for the heavens and struck down another demon in flight, it spasmed in the air and screeched before going silent and plummeting back towards the earth as a corpse. He spared it barely even a glance before he brought his focus back to Master Ritsuka. "I…believe the Demon is coming this way."
They frowned but said nothing, instead nodding their head once and moving past him, ducking down low and peering over the mangled remains of the battlement, a sizeable chunk having been blasted clean off the wall and leaving a rather large gap in the defences, the dark haired lord remained silent for a few seconds, then let out a small breath and nodded again. "Yeah, I'm inclined to believe you on that part. Not a lot of room to fight down there though and water doesn't seem to be doing anythin-"
He caught their freeze, then they jumped backwards and turned, throwing themselves towards the ground.
Whipping his head, he found himself staring at a large glowing orb in the grasp of the demon being pulled back, with a audible grunt it hurled the orb towards them, arching through the air as it did so with a clear trajectory upon himself and the others, stumbling backwards, he brought his hands up to shield his face, his eyes snapped shut.
Seconds passed.
His right eye opened, revealing Mash stood before him with her shield raised, the last remnants of the flame dissipating off the surface of her defence. She lowered her shield down and turned to him, giving him a once over before a flicker of relief shot through her eyes, then brought her attention towards Master Ritsuka. "Are you unharmed, Senpai?"
"Yeah, just wasn't expecting that." They remarked, clutching a hand over their heart and shaking their head, expression changing from surprise to resolution. "Staying up here is going to mean they just throw stuff at us all day, we're going to have to go down and fight them head on before they breach the walls."
It was a logical suggestion.
It demonstrated an ability to destroy their defence so standing atop here would afford them nothing.
The demon needed to be defeated.
So then why did the thought of going down there…
His hands clenched hard. Turning to the gap in the wall and marching towards it, the world turned to muffled noises as he barely even waited for another command. It had already been given and he knew what it was he had to do, with his sword in hand, he leapt from the walls and plummeted down towards the ground, a second passed before he struck the earth with a mighty thud, bending his knees to lessen the impact.
He stumbled a good measure, there wasn't much of a beachfront as much as it was a sharp rocky descent, not steep enough that he would have slid down but certainly at enough of an angle that he had to catch himself before he flew head over heels, the sword swung down, piercing through solid stone to the very near hilt, holding him in place like an anchor.
Allowing himself a single moment to survey the world around him, the chaotic mess that it was quickly becoming, he locked onto the closest target to him.
In the next moment, he charged forwards and was met with the twin blades of the goat demon, arcing through the air towards his body and neck, he braced his sword over his arm and held it at an angle pointing down, catching the edge of the blades and holding his guard, gritting his teeth from the vibrations which shot through his body with the force of the impact.
He stepped forwards and ducked down, the next slash skimming across the top of his helm, with a twist he reversed his grip on the sword and slashed upwards into the knees of the demon, catching the left one beneath the cap and digging an inch into flesh before yanking to the side, a low growl as the leg swung upwards.
Side stepping, he avoided the kick, pulling his sword free in the process and this time swinging up into the back of the offending knee around the same spot, catching it and holding it up before dragging the sword across and sawing through the limb, it dropped down into a limp, the demon heavily leaning on its left side at this point.
The next swing was frantic, almost desperate.
It flew clean above his head as he charged forwards, grasping his sword with body hands and thrusting up, the body was tough, the blade slowed at first, he shifted the angle and drove it upwards instead, a choked gasp before he swung his right shoulder into the gut of the taller demon and flung it off his blade, it fell backwards and onto the ground, though still very much alive.
He drove his sword through its eye straight to the hilt for good measure.
Pulling the sword free, he pressed down on the head and pushed off, throwing himself down the incline and allowing the momentum to carry him forwards, taking long strides which made it closer to a controlled fall. His eyes narrowed, he leaned forwards and pressed off the ground and into a tackle, slamming his left shoulder into the torso of the next goat demon and sending them both of them in a tangled mess of limbs down the slope.
The sword thrust up, burying into the ribs as his other hand clamped down around the horn and pulled, shifting the body of the goat to ensure that they were forced to take the brunt of each crunching impact, spying over the top of the body he narrowed his eyes, twisting himself around and throwing his legs out to catch himself.
He'd reached the bottom, even terrain but no less difficult with sharp jutting spikes rising up from the stone floor.
Twisting his body, he mounted the body of the goat over his shoulders and turned, with a howl of might he threw the corpse as hard as he could into the next attacker, barely even sparing it a glance before his sword was raised high and swung down into the next, burying into the knee and pulling free with a squelch.
Some part of him knew that his strike should have cleaved right through the leg and dismembered the demon in that one blow.
Yet he failed with that.
He really was weak.
The thought burned in his heart, yet was quickly abandoned.
Master Ritsuka had said he needed him.
Therefore he would bury his doubts, he knew he was needed, he knew his duty would carry him through. That was more than enough for him.
A crash of steel, his guard held as the shower of sparks spilled over his visor, the large machete screeched as it slid over the flat of his sword and soared above his head-
The Demon let out a single grunt before it fell backwards, Gawyn blinked twice and then raised himself to look up at the head, another blink as a chained spike found itself buried into the neck of the demon. He managed to make a half turn to see who was responsible, only for a gust of wind to blast right past his shoulder and slam into the demon, the body vanished in a red mist and caused him to stumble away from it.
A single moment of respite was afforded to him, he watched the blur shift directions and lash out with the same spike, the image froze for only a moment to reveal the purple haired woman with the blindfold, then she shot away like lighting, already slamming her heel clean through the skull of the next demon and shattering it like glass.
A mental curse fluttered through his mind, he was unused to allies and had charged down the slope without them. He hoped that they had not been forced to accommodate his failure in this regard.
A loud growl turned his head, already tensing himself for battle and then pausing for a moment as he beheld the image before him.
It was the green skinned demon from earlier, stumbling backwards from a flash of light which struck it's head, retaliating with a sweep of the club which bounced off the surface of Mash's shield, Boudica darted past the Shielder with her sword aglow once more, with a cry she swung the blade out, light dancing from the tip once more and striking the demon along the side of it's body, enough force in each arrow of light to stagger it.
"Gawyn!" A cry from behind him, he turned-
"Duck!"
He obeyed without question, something jumped over the top of him and he heard the crash of metal and the splatter of blood, whipping around to see Sir Gareth pull her lance from the chest of the demon, revealing the hole that punched clean through the torso, the monster sputtered as it stumbled back, dropping it's weapons to the ground and then falling like a puppet without strings.
The Knight wasted little time in turning on him, he could see the disapproval clean upon her face.
"That was really reckless! You're seriously just like Gawain, you know that? Running right into things!" A moment of silence, then she exhaled and shook her head, cracking a toothy smile as she did so. "But then again! It did work so…meh?"
She…seemed to let the matter go rather easily.
"Solaire said that his Archer would be picking off the stragglers in the air." She continued onwards, composing her voice once more. "The golems will be making their way down the slope and deal with the demons who charged the front gate so we just need to hold this flank until-"
It was only a single flicker, nothing more than a brief glimpse from the corner of his eye.
But he caught it all the same, his instincts carried him through.
His boot slammed into the gut of Gareth, shunting her backwards and using her as a kick off to throw himself aside as well, he saw the confusion through her eyes for only a moment, then her face was obscured by the orb of fire which moved between the two of them, burning like the morning sun and forcing his eyes shut to block out the light.
He slammed down hard into the ground, the ground made it difficult to control the roll and he found himself crashing into something else when he tried to rise up, opening his eyes once again and turning around to face the-
A burning mass of rock consumed his vision, hurtling towards him.
He just needed to dodge.
He needed to dodge.
Dodge.
Dodge.
Do-
His body didn't even try to move.
It slammed hard into his face and shoved him backwards, whatever resistance was behind him gave way in an instance, a roar filled his ears, whether from his attacker or from the outcrop he had just been flung through didn't truly matter to him, all that mattered was that he couldn't breathe, desperately trying to draw air into his lungs as he soared through the sky, finding himself staring up for only a second until he struck the ground.
Twice.
Then a third time where his back slammed into something that would not give, but was still broken enough that it kept him upright, trapping him in the face of the jagged wall of stone, a weak hissing noise filled his head.
It took him a moment to realise it was coming from him.
His eyes followed the trench of devastation, landing on his attacker.
The same burning demon from before, drawing its hammer back and slamming it into the ground triumphantly, a growl like a furnace blasted out from it's lipless face, either it was without skin or the skin was so thin that it had clung tightly to the shape of the skull, the tangled mess of horns which jutted from the side of it's head looked more like the branches of a dead tree than any living thing.
It's head reared back, he heard the intake of breath.
Then it swung down, jaw open and unleashing a torrent of orange from it's throat, the tsunami of flames rushed right towards him, rolling over the bodies and turning them to husks in mere moments of contact, a herald of the fate that awaited him.
He still couldn't move.
He just stared down at the flames that would kill him.
Why couldn't he-?
"Lord Chaldeas!" A resolute cry, a snowflake shadow dropped before him and a flash of sapphire blue light, the wall formed and the flames parted around them, lapping away on every side but never piercing the defence, even through the grunts of exertion from the defender. It felt like years and he found his eyes fixed on the sight before him, his hands tightened and his eyes snapped shut, his breath left him in whimpering pants.
He didn't want to be near the fire anymore.
He didn't want to be near the fire, it made him feel…weak.
It would kill him.
He had to get away from it, he had to-
His eyes snapped open with a gasp, air flooded his lungs with greedy gulps, head whirling around and seeing Master Ritsuka looming over him, the fading light around his outstretched hand as he looked him over.
"First aid should deal with the worst of your injuries." They informed him, then turned around and stared towards the direction of the demon.
Gawyn followed their gaze, against his better judgement, and watched the burning demon stumble backwards as Medusa landed a two footed kick into its lower jaw, appearing for only long enough to perform the kick before blurring right past the monster, it stumbled away from her as she vanished in a streak of purple.
Two lights struck from the other side, both thinner and more emerald, and earned a low snarl from the monster, it's head snapped towards the direction of an attack-
A mistake as two more lights buried themselves into the eyes of the demon, this time it jerked backwards and stumbled, throwing open its mouth and unleashing an ear splitting howl of pure agony and hatred, it's feeble limbs coming up to claw away at the arrows now buried in its eyes and ignoring the fact it was getting surrounded.
Gareth's lance slammed into the left knee, then exploded in a brilliant flash of blue, the demon collapsed down onto it's other knee, swinging out an arm and catching the shield of the Lancer, she used the blow to get some distance from the demon, landing a few metres away and cocking the lance back with an audible click.
"Medusa, keep harassing it," Ritsuka's commands filtered through his mind. "Boudica, stop others from trying to get close. Mash, keep it from launching any counters and Gareth, keep laying down blows like that."
He awaited his orders.
…
Nothing.
"W-what about me?"
He hated how small he sounded, but the words jerked Ritsuka around to face him, grimacing just a little before he exhaled. "Same as Boudica, keep them from trying to group up. We want this guy separated."
He knew why he was being moved away.
It was because he froze up.
He wanted desperately to argue that it wasn't the case but found his words die in his throat, he would not have believed them anyway, to say nothing of lying to Master Ritsuka in the first place. With a single nod, he pulled himself free of the rock face he had been buried inside of and rushed away from the battle, sending a fleeting glance over his shoulder as the demon slammed the hammer into the shield of Mash, her knees buckled beneath the blow-
The weight was lifted when Medusa slammed into its back once again, vanishing a moment later.
Blood spilled where she slashed open the gut of the strange goat monster, Boudica would admit that it was like a disturbing mockery of Asterios but that meant little right now, especially as they were trying to fight her at the moment.
She turned, bringing up her shield and catching a slash against her along the rim, she grit her teeth from the blow and then pushed back, letting out a yell as she did so, ducking down over the second slash and thrusting down, her sword pierced through the top of the left foot, it made a small grunt and tried to retreat, she reversed the sword in her grip and yanked upwards, splitting the leg vertical from the ankle to the knee.
The weight fell away, the demon cried as they tumbled backwards-
Steel burst through its throat, she paused as she watched the tip of a sword get yanked back with the corpse toppling to the side, Ash - or rather, Gawyn - turned to face her with his helm still down, giving her a single nod of the head as he wiped the sword clean with his gauntlet, then turned and brandished it once more.
She caught where he was looking, narrowing her gaze and turning as well.
The green monster from earlier, now missing a few teeth from a rather heft shield back, was marching towards them with clear intentions.
She readied herself to-
A blur shot towards the demon from above, it caught the scent and turned a second too late.
Chris slammed down hard into the head, catching herself on its right horn and sweeping her sword across its stubby throat in a single motion, opening it up.
The Demon gasped, or made the attempt to, dropping the club in its hands and moving them up to it's attacker.
Chris drove her sword to the hilt between the eyes and twisted it, the orbs rolled upwards and the jaw hung low.
Not satisfied, she flipped over and grabbed the other horn of the demon, handstanding briefly and then spinning herself around, the neck made a muffled crunching sound as as Boudica now found herself staring at the back of the head rather than the front of it, Chris dropped down and drove her knees into the broken neck as the body fell, clambering up and pulling the sword free before throwing herself forwards.
Right into the fray of another group of Demons.
To call what Gawyn and Boudica witnessed a fight was a complete understatement.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
Chris landed in the middle of the group of Demons, the stone cracking beneath her. Her free hand lashed out as soon as she did so, seizing a Demon by the throat. With a simple twist of her wrist, the Demon's neck broke and blood gushed from the wound. Its fellows gaped, and did nothing.
That was their last moment of life.
Chris tossed the head aside and slashed out with her blade. The steel bit into the neck of another Demon, severing it completely in one smooth motion. Turning on her heel, with an almost-bored expression, she kicked a Demon in the knee, with enough force to dislocate the limb entirely.
As the Demon screamed in anguish, it fell silent as a series of slashes reduced it to a pile of blood and flesh. One of the Demons sent a punch towards the still Chris, who merely wiped the blood from her sword, uncaring of the attack surging at her.
Boudica saw it first, she was sure Gawyn saw it next, he stepped forwards and brought up a hand, she imagined that under his helm he opened his mouth to shout a warning-
Which was totally useless.
The Demon's fist, with enough force it could have pulverised Ritsuka with no issue, stopped as it neared Chris. Not for any reason as silly as it losing strength or dying, but a far more horrifying one.
Without turning, Chris' hand had stretched out. The Demon's fist had crashed into it- and refused to move. No matter how much the beast struggled, its veins popping with prominence, it could not make Chris' hand move even an inch.
"Hmph…" Chris muttered, looking at the Demon with a blank, uncaring stare from the corner of her eye, "...pathetic, as always."
Deliberately slow, her hand clenched and dug into the fist. Golden shimmers ran down her hand- obscured by her sleeve- as blood spurted from the puncture marks her fingers made. The Demon howled, but could do nothing else as Chris herself pushed forward… and the Demon moved back.
As it bent down to one knee from the pain she was inflicting on it, Chris' hand flicked out, with as little effort and contemptuous ease as she could muster.
The Demon's head flew off its shoulders, into the air, and crashed down beside Chris' foot with a squelch.
Chris didn't look at it as she stomped down on it with her boot, sending gore and brain matter flying and caking her clothes. Despite the extravagance of her garments, ruining them utterly, no emotion crossed Chris' face- only the look of deep, unsatisfied, boredom.
She looked towards the two Chaldea Servants, and without a sound, disappeared in a blur of black and purple.
It had been mere seconds, perhaps more or perhaps less, she blinked and the slowness of the world hastened into the chaotic mess once more, though quieter now that the slaughter was over. Yet as the moment faded for her, she shot a glance to her companion and felt displeasure cross onto her features.
He stood perfectly still, almost as though he was in a trance, looking across the bloody smears and corpses littering the ground, seemingly still experiencing the moment even now, caught up in it.
The displeased expression crossed that crossed Boudica's face only deepened at the reverie that Gawyn was showing, his head slowly turning in the direction of the womans retreat and even then, she saw they had not let up, darting between demon after demon without even a moment spared between her arrival and their body falling to the earth, spilling red across the rocks.
Whoever 'Chris' was, her fighting style could only be summed up as this: brutally efficient, with no care for anything resembling honour or fairness. No slaving to duty, or to a higher purpose.
She meant to kill. That was all fighting was to her- a means to an end.
"...well," Boudica muttered low enough only Gawyn could hear, "she's certainly as fast as Medusa, at least."
He offered only a slow nod of the head in response to her words, saying nothing. Yet she heard the faint sound of something being squeezed, the creaking of leather. Her eyes moved to the sound and found it quickly, the grip on Gawyn's sword had tightened to the point where it was almost as though he was trying to crush the blade.
Ritsuka had to hand it to whomever their Archer ally was, they were definitely becoming a boon for them with each of their many shots raining down on the demon, whatever was allowing it to heal quickly was having a hard time keeping up with being frequently blinded.
Another streak of light hit home, the freshly healed eye was pierced once more, the demon staggered backwards and dragged the hammer across the stone, the heat turned the earth to molten orange and spilled it out like a wave, flinging bubbles of glowing lava towards them in a frantic effort to bat them away.
Caught in the midst of the attack by the tackle of Medusa once more, the blur struck like a sledge hammer and he heard something crack before giving, the leftmost horn on the side of the head shattered like porcelain, the blur carried on without even stopping as fragments scattered across the ground by the feat of the creature.
Mash stepped before him, shield raised, the flakes of molten rock splashed against her shield and rolled down, not even coming so close enough for him to feel the heat, though he'd skipped back just enough to avoid that entirely. Ducking around and narrowing his eyes upon the demon once more.
Even with all this damage, it was still fighting strong.
Ritsuka could see the irony in it, the demon looked like rock and was definitely built like a boulder, all that damage seemed to do little more than stagger it, even if it showed the harm over time, spilling glowing ichor upon the ground yet losing none of it's strength.
Even the loss of the antler did little to deter it from bringing it's fist back and throwing it forwards in a punch strong enough to rival a thunderclap, the knuckles struck home and shattered the torso of a charging golem, fragments shot back and tore up the ground behind it as the body fell down.
This was definitely getting into something else.
Perhaps they could try and restrain it instead?
Or at least find a way to stop it from-
A shadow struck the ground next to him, the dust of the impact bubbled up and split open, revealing Solaire covered head to toe in a layer of blood, the knight stumbled for a moment to find his footing, then straightened out, turning to him slightly before shooting off his words. "We've secured the wall and dealt with the last of the fliers, the flanks are secure, all that remains is the ringleader."
A moment passed, then Solaire's posture tightened a little "And…I have received orders from the Manager. She wants them taken alive."
Ritsuka had a hard time containing his surprise, though it quickly gave way to shock and incredulity. "Alive? We've got a hard enough time trying to actually kill it right now!" he waved a hand to the demon, still fighting strong as it ripped apart another golem with a sweep of its tail.
"But-" His words caught in his throat, he nodded his head up and down. "I'll see what I can do on that front."
Solaire visibly relaxed, nodding his head once. "A demanding request, I know, but we should have some assistance arriving soon from my other comrades. Though I doubt Lancer will do much beyond watch…" a quiet grumble and a shake of the head, they sounded exasperated at the notion.
Ritsuka could say he wasn't surprised, he could easily imagine the Lancer just lazing around and staring at them fighting. If he wasn't doing that at the moment, anyway.
Solaire flicked his sword, throwing the traces of blood off the blade before he charged forwards, not even offering any more words as he moved towards the demon without any visible hesitation, it caught him by surprise for only a moment but he quickly dismissed it, focusing on the battle once more.
Maybe the answer was…
If they kept doing it like this, then he was sure that the Demon would eventually run out of magical energy, or at least become lowered to a point where capturing it was easier. Though he was rather puzzled as to why they wanted the demon captured in the first place.
He could figure it out later, however.
"Request from the Goddess, she wants the demon captured." He warned them through the link, he felt their mixture of shock and annoyance shoot right back towards him, clearly feeling as he did the first time he heard it. "I'm surprised as well but if we keep this up, we'll probably end up draining them of their ability to fight. But…I'll go for a big finisher, try and end this quickly. Medusa, be ready."
He needed something strong, someone strong.
His hand fluttered out, his mind made the choice. "Berserker!"
A flash of light-
"Aaaaaaarrrrrrttttthhhhuuuurrrrr!"
And a howl of a name, in the next second Lancelot when charging down the slope of the hill on all fours like an animal, scrambling past him with a rush of wind as they roared, the noise caught the attention of the demon, turning towards the knight and throwing itself forwards, bringing the club above it's head and swinging down-
Lancelot righted himself, clawed gauntlets swung up and caught the hammer by the head, buckling his knees and snarling back at the monster, ignoring the licking of flames against his armour as he struggled with the monster for a few moments.
Ritsuka's hunch paid off.
Dozens of arrows slammed into the side of the demon in that once instant, punching through it's exposed side and drawing a hiss from it, with the distraction open, Lancelot capitalised and yanked forwards, ripping the hammer right from the grasp of the demon and flipping it around.
The demon stumbled with the loss of the weapon, a flash of blue rippled across its back as Gareth unleashed another point blank explosion, he briefly caught a glimpse of shards being sent flying through the air.
A chime like a bell, Solaire pulled an arm back with glowing light forming between his fingers, the golden lightning danced across his palm before shooting out on either side, he drew the lance of light back before he hurled it forwards.
It speared right through the foot of the demon, the weight went off balance at the same time as Gareth's strike, the distraction more than enough for the grip on the hammer to loosen.
Lancelot howled, span on his heel, and swung up into the bearded chin of the demon with it's own weapon, something crunched at the moment of impact, the beard shattered like glass and the jaw split, the head snapped backwards as the hammer continued onwards, the feet of the burning monster were lifted right off the ground as it sailed through the air.
"Now!"
It was the chance he gave, the blur of purple shot across the sky like a shooting star, aimed right for the demon.
Medusa came to a halt right above the burning creature, throwing her spikes down into the ground on either side, wrapping her hands around the handles and then yanking with all her might, shooting herself down like an arrow with her boots driving right into the chest of the demon, cracking the body inwards with the power of the blow.
They vanished in a glowing cloud of smoke as the body hammered into the ground, Ritsuka raised his hands, the host dust rushed across him, he coughed out a lungful of burning smoke and pushed himself away, waving his hands from side to side.
The dust rushed past him, the air cleared rapidly to allow him to see what had happened, immediately locking onto the sight of the demon buried a good metre in solid rock with Medusa standing atop its chest, the woman remained stationary for only a moment before snapping her arms up, tearing the spikes from the ground and drawing them back to her sides once more.
With a single graceful step, she hopped down from the top of the body and onto the earth once more, striding away for a few feet before she stopped.
Ritsuka tore his eyes from her and onto the demon once more, narrowing his gaze a little before bringing his communicator up. Though he couldn't see any signs of the thing starting to vanish, after a beating like that he wasn't all that certain it was still alive to begin with. "Roman?"
"Weak but alive." The reply came quickly, he didn't tear his eyes from the body, hearing the laboured growls which served as breaths for it. "Not sure how it's actually still going after all that though, but…scans from around you show that the rest of the demons have been cleaned up, I think…hard to tell with how everything is around there."
His eyes darted from the body and swept either side, the heavy footfalls of the marching golems bounced around in his head as dozens of them dropped down from the walls and closed in on the demon with weapons ready, he would accuse them of being wary if they were anything like a regular Servant, but compared with the way they had charged the demon beforehand.
He would say they were just waiting for someone else first.
A flicker of a movement from the side, he caught Solaire lowering his head for a moment as though he'd just heard someone speak behind him. A few moments went by, then they nodded their head up and down before turning his way. "I have spoken with the Manager. She will be sending someone along shortly to collect the demon now that they have been subdued…she said it will not be long."
He grunted in acknowledgement.
Mash approached him with a conflicted look on her face, lowering her voice as she closed in. "We didn't get the chance to ask them anything, Senpai."
"They didn't seem in a talkative mood." He grumbled back, though he understood where she was coming from. "I doubt they would have much to say anyway, especially since they saw us being friendly with their enemies…they might have jumped to a conclusion."
She frowned but said nothing, instead she moved her eyes from the demon and onto Lancelot, then blinked twice before the frown deepened. Her initial reaction caught him off guard, then he slowly turned his head to the Berserker and found himself blinking in stupefaction at the sight.
Utterly bewildered as to how he had failed to notice it the first time around.
The only piece of armour Lancelot was actually wearing was his helmet and gauntlets, everything else was a simple butler suit. Complete with bow tie, though now with a few embers burning away on the outer jacket and some heavy tears through it where he had pulled too far.
Turning their way, the Berserker let out only a single low groan which sounded almost abashed before their helm shifted so it wasn't pointed right at them.
"Thanks for the help, Berserker." Waving a hand to them as he did so and allowing the connection to snap back to where they had come from. He had no idea what they had been doing but it looked interesting to say the least.
"Aaaaarrrr…" Releasing another quiet growl, Lancelot dissipated to where he had come from once again.
He waited for a moment, then turned to Mash. "Well, that was definitely a thing."
"...Yes." She answered after a moment, an odd note in her words that sounded a mix between irritated and confused. Her features pinched, bringing a hand up to rub at her temples. "I was just a little surprised by that, Senpai…why would he even wear something like that into battle? It just seems a little careless…"
He shrugged. "Probably didn't even realise it, I did sort of pull him right out of what he was doing in the first place." that made it mostly his fault, though he didn't see how he was supposed to predict something like that.
Then again, Gwyndolin had been wearing a swimsuit.
So actually, he really should have known better.
Rapidly approaching footsteps drew his and Mash's attention, Gareth was bounding towards them while rapidly darting her head between the general location where Lancelot had been and them, raising an eyebrow as she skidded to a halt. "Was that Sir Lancelot just now? Did I miss him?"
He nodded his head. "Yeah."
A dissatisfied frown crossed her features. "Really? That's a shame…also was he wearing something strange? I only saw him for a second but he wasn't surrounded by the big cloud so…I don't think his armour was that thin in the past." she raised a hand, scratching at her cheek almost awkwardly. "...Not that I'm saying he was big or anything but…"
"...He was dressed like a butler."
Gareth froze for a second, the hand on her cheek dropped down to her side, she gave a single blink which lasted several seconds, then she took in a short breath before throwing her head forwards and yelling at the ground. "I missed that!?"
He felt his lip twitch upwards at her almost heartbroken reaction, barely catching the sigh from Mash and raising an eyebrow at her reaction. She seemed unusually tired around Lancelot for some reason, rather odd.
"Right, aside from the odd choices of fashion from Lancelot, we're just waiting for everyone else to catch up and then we can-"
A metallic groan from behind him, he turned around as the gate started to rise up once again, then double taked as a figure walked through while being flanked by a dozen or so of the golems once again as though they were the leader of them.
Right up until they stepped into the light and then froze on the spot, making eye contact with him.
"Oh…" Pharros made a small coughing sound, bringing up a hand and waving to them. "Well…talk about awkward."
Not-yet-summer resort: Interlude I
Another grunt and the feeling of his weight flying out from beneath him was the only indication of warning he got before his face splashed down into the water and he was swept away in the fast moving current, spinning several times before his body thudded into the safety mat and kept him affixed there for a few seconds.
With a grunt, he pushed himself to his feet and all but ignored the current as he flicked the water out of his eyes, staring flatly towards the small audience that now watched him in his latest failure.
Though one of them looked more thoughtful than anything else, rubbing their chin with one hand while the other dragged along the armoured ridges of their companions head.
Gordin found himself rather bemused by the tamed wyvern, but he wasn't all that shocked by it. Given that it was something that their own patron God had been said to achieve and, while it wasn't a dragon, that did not detract from the achievement itself.
And he was still General Lothian.
Clearing his throat, Gordin marched forwards and clambered out of the false rapids and back to the side, sweeping his arms up and down to shake the thicker portions of water off from his body, but there was no denying that he had been thoroughly soaked.
"And people do this for fun?" He questioned aloud, raising a brow and looking towards the others and seeking any sort of confirmation.
He got a helpless shrug from Lothian while the person who would have actually known was seemingly content to just fold her arms over her chest and remain silent. Keeping her gaze fixed on the rapids with something akin to intent, yet she was still visibly restraining herself for whatever reason.
The woman, Martha, eventually seemed to realise he had asked her a question and jerked her head in his direction. Blinking twice before she offered a thin smile and a nod of the head. "So I have heard, yes. Though it is normally something better enjoyed by those who display some degree of skill with it."
"I cannot imagine many would find joy in falling flat on their face." He answered with a snort and a shake of the head, turning his gaze back towards it and pinching his brows together. "But I am becoming invested in this surfing…It is proving itself a challenge to be mounted and I will not step away from this obstacle."
"A fine battle cry."
A hefty strike on the back nearly sent him stumbling back into the water had he not been able to catch himself, turning around to see Lothian pulling their arm back with an approving smile on their face, likely from having patted him on the back.
Gordin found himself a touch curious as to how strong the blow would have been if they had actually intended to hit him.
The thought was quickly banished from his mind as he turned back towards Martha and raised a brow; it was rather odd that during the time she had been here, the woman had not actually made an effort to do much of anything beyond sit at the table with some sort of thick cold drink and say nothing.
Just watching them.
"Eager as I am to try my hand once more…" He trailed off, in the corner of his eye he saw Lothian shift their focus towards Martha as well, the same brand of inquisitiveness entered their gaze. "Perhaps it would be more fitting if I allowed another of our small group to try their hand at it?"
Martha froze up as she went for another sip of her drink, eyes darting between the two of them for a few moments before they went flat. Drawing herself back, her arms remained rather fixed in their folded position. "I am not going to make the attempt at something like that."
Lothian frowned. "Why not? If you fear mockery, neither myself nor my companion here would ever dare to insult you over it." they snorted and rolled their eyes. "Not when we have eaten enough of the ground to fill the bellies of a dozen men."
Martha sputtered for a moment, then shook her head. "It is not about me falling off onto the ground. It is just something that I don't have an interest in!"
She seemed rather passionate about not participating.
"What sort of Saint would be seen surfing in the first place?" She asked further, raising an incredulous brow at the pair of them. Then waving a hand dismissively, but not so unkindly. "I'm far more content with remaining on the sidelines and watching for injuries or troublemakers. If there are any, that is what I am better suited for in the first place."
Gordin and Lothian shared a glance with one another, then back to the woman.
"If you say so…" He replied slowly to her, nodding his head up and down. "But it seemed to me like you also wanted to have a go at it as well. So I was content to step aside and grant you a chance."
Martha's brows shot up. "I-I did not look eager for it."
"On the contrary." Lothian folded their arms, carrying on from where he left off. "If he had been upright for any longer, I was concerned you might fling him from the board yourself just so that you could have a chance." a chuckle. "Why, you even looked relieved when he fell from the board."
Martha's face burned bright red, though it was difficult to tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. More than likely, it was a mixture of both of them. Soon followed by the woman shooting up to her feet and glaring at them now. "That is-that right there is slander. There is no earthly way I would have done something like that! Just because I thought it looked a little fun-"
Her jaw clamped shut, but the damage had already been done.
Gordin raised a knowing brow at her.
Martha's shoulders slumped in defeat, barely helped by the mount of General Lothian nudged away at her side to try and usher her towards the direction of the rapids. The woman sent a small look at the wyvern which cowed it almost instantly.
With a deep breath, Martha brought her head back up to face them.
"...Once. I will do it. Once."
Gordin neglected to tell her that she could do it however many times she was so pleased.
She had the heart of a warrior, he could tell that upon a glance. Whether that was his own instincts or those of Tyr, he knew not but he figured it would not have mattered either way.
Pulling one of the spare surfboards from the rack, she flung it into the water and lept onto it within the same breath.
It wasn't even two minutes later that Gordin and Lothian were asking her for tips and tricks for how to ride as well as she did.