Shining: Nearl?
The kuranta's ears, which had been lying on top of her head before, perked up as she heard her friend's voice, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Nearl: What's wrong?
Shining: He's going to be fine. Stay focused on the mission...
The sarkaz's call to order was necessary, as Shining saw the worry behind the famous mask of the radiant knight of Kazimierz. it wasn't primarily the fact that she was now in charge that was distracting her, but the fact that Sebastian was taking over a stronghold of Reunion alone, and of course she was still worried. There was no doubt that the doctor's abilities were far from a joke, but if he attracted the attention of the reunion leaders then he would have something to worry about.
Nearl: Thank you...
Shining: Don't worry. He's powerful, so it's up to us to do our part without him.
Nearl: You seem to know more about him than any of us...
The sarkaz laughed very lightly.
Shining: I'll tell you how I knew him.
Nearl: Really? But it was-
Shining: I know it was in Kazdel. But this time I'm willing to talk about it
Shining had always made a rule never to talk about her past to Kazdel, protecting too many secrets. So to see her willing to break that rule was quite surprising.
Nearl: Thank you.
Shining: You want to be reassured?
she asked, raising an eyebrow with a smile on her face.
Shining: Mrs. W? If the doctor ran into a leader of the reunion what would happen?
W: Depends on who, how many, and his mood I would say. But considering the foul mood he's in, he could beat most of them one on one. The only ones I'm not sure about are if he runs into Talulah or Patriot.
Shining: What about the others?
W: He'd rip their heads off.
As she answered the questions without thinking, a smile came over her face.
W: Why? Are you worried about your lover~?
She asked with the sole purpose of getting a little more upset the others but contrary to what she expected the other sarkaz froze as her cheeks started to redden.
Shining: N-no, I was just asking about for Nearl, I don't see it that way... We only met this morning after his amnesia...
The Rhodes Island operators looked towards her as Shining continued to mutter things, looking down in embarrassment.
W: And she doesn't even try to hide it...
Zima: Hey!
The kuranta turned to face the student who had broken away from the group of her classmates.
Nearl: Is there anything I can do?
Zima: Wouldn't it be better to be more discreet? There are hundreds of us walking in the middle of the street. We're going to get lit up.
Nearl: With the number of people we are, we can't take a shorter or more discreet route.
Zima: Your doctor has already caused quite a ruckus at the academy if they see we're gone we'll soon run into resistance. There are too many of us and not enough fighters if we encount-
Nearl: We haven't run into anyone yet?
The knight cut off the student, making her frown at the rudeness and bad temper.
Zima: Indeed.
Nearl: So the distraction the doctor is giving us is working well. Now the only thing we have to do is trust what he's doing and get out of here.
Zima: Trusting someone who throws himself in the middle of a reunion stronghold... You're all a bunch of freaks...
The kuranta gritted her teeth as she heard the end of Zima's sentence, the young ursus thought she had whispered it in a low enough voice not to be heard but had obviously failed miserably because W, Nightingale, Shining, Nearl and Rosa could hear it. The white-haired ursus did not fail to look at her comrade badly.
Rosa: Zima! This man was generous enough to save us and take our infected with us and heal our wounded!
Zima: If we all get wiped out because we weren't careful enough to get out, then he was more of a problem than anything else!
Nearl: 'If you say something like that again I'll hit you so hard you'll know the taste of your own teeth.'
The kuranta was on edge, Sebastian decided to get into a mess, to take risks for this students and she thought he was crazy. But all of a sudden the rage that was rising inside her calmed down because of the responsibilities when she heard Gravel's voice on the other end of the radio. The anaty was scouting for the rest of the group.
Gravel: Nearl I have a contact on my side at the crossroads 1 kilometer east.
Nearl: Hostile?
Gravel: That's right, the soldiers from reunion are fighting with another faction. But it's weird, there are only a few fighters and the rest seem to be patients from a hospital or clinic. There are even some on stretchers. They're doing a good job but they're going to get overwhelmed.
Shining: Nearl what do we do?
The young woman thinks for a second or two, wondering what Sebastian would do and what she should do.
Nearl: Gravel do they look like civilians?
Gravel: Except for their fighters yes they are all civilians.
Nearl: So we help them. Gravel looks for casters nests or snipers of reunion and destroy them.
Gravel: I was sure you'd say that so I already started~...
Nearl: I'm getting predictable... Everybody move!
Zima: What's going on?
Nearl: There is another group of refugees on the way and we are going to help them.
Zima: I think we're taking enough risks as it is.
Nearl: You are not the center of the world, there are other people here to help. Good luck on your side Seb...
On the other side of the block the tension was unbearable. The instincts of the soldiers without them knowing why the guerrillas had their instincts screaming at them of danger. They were all experienced fighters, their senses and instincts had been honed by hundreds of battles.
And now their instincts were screaming at them to run.
Barely five seconds had passed since the doctor had spoken, he had barely moved, just like the other people on the battlefield. What surprised the guerrillas most, other than the courage or folly of the fighter in front of them, was that Patriot had barely moved, or even spoken. One would think he was paralyzed. But in fact the wendigo was thinking at full speed. The slightest misstep, the slightest wrong word from him or his men and they were all dead. The doctor's mercy was given to everyone, but it was easy to lose it. And without mercy the doctor was perhaps the worst thing in the world to be against. Patriot knew that Sebastian had amnesia and that begging for mercy because they knew each other years ago was no longer an option. Revealing that Mephisto was responsible for the massacre at the academy was not an option either. Sure he hated Mephisto, but he hated the idea of betraying the reunon even more. So he prayed, he prayed inside his mind that the soul of the man he had known would remain inside Sebastian. Then as a mad gesture what his life was all about he took a step forward.
Patriot: A duel. I win. You go. You win. I'm telling you.
The soldiers around the wendigo were shocked by the ex-general's request not only for a duel, but also by the fact that this request was far more advantageous to the doctor than to Patriot. But if he accepted it was a golden opportunity, he could determine if he had been weakened or if he had become stronger.
Sebastian: I accept.
If he could smile, Patriot would do so now, and in his eyes and gestures he could see that Sebastian's soul had survived. The warrior side of his soul, that part of him that puts honor above all else.
Patriot: Do not interfere.
His guerrillas were even more surprised by the fact that Sebastian had agreed to a duel with the legendary wendigo. In their eyes, Patriot had just offered to kill himself, and he had accepted. But none of them dared to laugh or even say anything because they still felt the danger like a black, toxic cloud lining the ground.
Patriot took a step and then two and raised his shield, preparing for battle.
Sebastian drew his sword slowly, the red lightning flashing through it intensifying.
Then, as soon as his sword was drawn, the doctor found himself in front of the wendigo, his sword descending towards the colossus. Such speed and force that the concrete below for dozens of meters exploded completely leaving a cloud of dust and that the hundred meters covered by the doctor was in less than half a second. The edge of the blade went down so fast that almost none of the guerrillas saw it.
But Patriot was not a fighter born from the last snow.
The wendigo dodged with a step back the blow that Sebastian was going to try to land on him, because in most of his fights he would start with the same attack when he faced an unfamiliar enemy. The doctor's sword almost touched the ground and that's when the true danger of the giant's attack was revealed, so soon Sebastian's blow redirected itself upwards in the opposite direction of his first blow at an even greater speed. Impossible to dodge. And the doctor's strength meant that anyone else couldn't block it either.
Once again Patriot was not just anyone, he decided to parry the return of Sebastian's blade with his spear, something he had been used to doing in the past. The doctor's sword came into contact with the wendigo's weapon and the latter was surprised by the force as his arm that held his weapon was thrown backwards, its guard broken by the brute force of the giant in front of him. He was stronger than when they met, at least ten times stronger. And that thought froze the wendigo to his very soul.
His other arm still being valid he raised his shield when he saw that Sebastian was preparing his fist to strike and managed to block it at the last moment. But taking a punch from the giant came at a price. The wendigo was thrown back several feet as the shockwave from the attack was so powerful that it shattered the windows of the buildings around them like an explosion. And when the guerrillas realized that Patriot, whose weight was in the tons, was thrown like a rag doll as he protected himself with his shield, when they realized that the unshakable fortress that had withstood the onslaught of several emperor's blades at the same time had just found an opponent more powerful than he was, the guerrillas were scared to death. The doctor's brute strength shook their souls.
Patriot stood up, but did not give up the fight. He charged towards his opponent, concentrating all his strength in his legs, running across the battlefield at an absurd speed, his spear already ready to pierce his enemy. But this attack was futile against the doctor who deflected Patriot's spear with his two-handed sword and prevented him from attacking, blocking the spear with the tip of the sword. Taking advantage of the position of his weapon, he followed up with a pommel blow to the face of the wendigo, destabilizing him and causing a spray of blood to be thrown from the force.
The colossus, far from letting himself be knocked down, gave a blow with his shield to Sebastian who had made the mistake of getting too close, but when the metal of the shield made contact with the giant, Patriot was terrified. In the past, such an attack would have been enough to break Sebastian's bones, but now the wendigo felt as if he was hitting a diamond wall a mile thick, not a single crack, not a scratch on his skin, and he hadn't moved an inch.
Sebastian completely ignored the usually fatal attack and used the tip of his sword to push Patriot's weapon aside, taking advantage of the momentum he had to redirect the sharp side of his weapon towards the wendigo's head. The wendigo turned his upper body to dodge the sword strike, but it was a mistake that he realized too late, falling into the doctor's trap. Using the advantage of the immense speed he had compared to his opponent, Sebastian kicked Patriot in the back who was left exposed to an attack from dodging the sword strike. Sebastian's shin made contact with the back of Patriot's skull sending him tumbling several feet away again with no hope of retaliating to the attack that was too fast for him.
Patriot's weapon slipped out of his hand as he lay on the ground. And contrary to what some expected, Sebastian did not attack even as the wendigo began to rise, preferring instead to circle him like a predator around its prey. This is where Patriot inwardly thanked his gods, Sebastian was still committed to honor and would not attack an unarmed opponent in a duel. The wendigo was relieved, for he knew that Sebastian would also not kill in a duel.
Finally, maybe fearing for the lives of his men today was a mistake-
*cling*
The sound of clashing metal echoed in the air. Patriot looked up, puzzled because he hadn't even finished taking his weapon in hand, and the sight before him terrified him. Someone had just attacked the doctor in the back, and she thought she was helping Patriot, but what she didn't know when she charged at the giant with one of her daggers was that she had just broken the rules of the duel.
This woman who had just attacked Sebastian was none other than Yeti Princess, the wintery death or
Frostnova...
A/N: You are a pathetic doctor and it's because of you and your shitty choices that she died :)
She had just tried to stab him with one of her daggers, using her speed to take him by surprise but the cautus' eyes widened when she could see that he had just blocked the attack without the slightest difficulty.
And by seeing his face, one could notice that he was even more angry than when he had arrived.
Immediately after blocking the attack, Sebastian went on giving a headbutt to Frostnova who was thrown several dozens of meters away because of the force of the impact, hitting the ground heavily right in front of her soldiers. The doctor himself was surprised that the cautus was not dead on the spot, her body was covered with red lightning making her unable to move for a while.
But the arrival of Frostnova and the Yeti squads was not the most important thing, but the fact that the duel had been interrupted.
And if the duel had been interrupted that meant that Sebastian would not hesitate to kill now. And having experienced the doctor's power during the rest of their duel, only one thought crossed Patriot's mind.
They were all doomed.
A thought that froze him to the core. He had had the crazy hope that no one would die today because of his duel idea. But it was in vain. Now he knew that both he and his adopted daughter would die.
The doctor dropped his sword to the ground, the sound of metal against concrete echoing in the air as he began to look down at his hand, his body trembling with rage. On the battlefield right now there was one emotion running through everyone. Fear. Fear of dying, yetis, guerrillas, Frostnova, Patriot, there after battles against the ursus army, against the emperor's blade, against Chernobog's guard it was today and now that they were afraid for their lives without being able to explain it or rationalize it.
Sebastian: So this is your duels...?
The tone of his voice was cold enough to give one nightmares. The sky was covered with black clouds for miles around the battlefield, the light was getting dimmer and dimmer until it looked like it was night. Red flashes of lightning also began to streak across the clouds, bathing the sky and ground in a red glow from time to time that contrasted with the darkness. Some people could even believe that a catastrophe was about to happen when they saw the sky.
Sebastian: Reunion is even more pathetic than I thought...
The sparks of red electricity that had subsided during the duel began to fly through Sebastian's body again, growing in size to the point where the lightning bolts that escaped from his body were meters long, melting everything they hit.
Sebastian: But in a way it's better like this...
The concrete around him began to melt, Frostnova couldn't feel it but the heat was rising to unimaginable levels reminiscent of the effects of the arts of a certain Draco, the weaker ones were beginning to choke on the air that had become unbreathable, or more exactly it was as if the air was disappearing.
Sebastian: Because like this i won't have to show you any mercy.
Like a veil of black smoke, a strange darkness began to cover Sebastian's body, starting with his chest and slowly spreading to other parts of his body, making his clothes and skin invisible as they were drawn into the void.
Sebastian was mad with rage, his heart was beating faster than anything possible for a living being, violence and anger being the only things fuelling his mind.
Hit, kill, destroy...
Hit, kill, destroy...
Hit, kill, destroy...
Hit, kill, destroy
Devour...
PRTS: Warning, the doctor's sanity has reached zero, the operation area must be evacuated immediately. Communications will be cut off.
No one understood why or how, but the man in the middle of the battlefield was completely transformed. A man? No, that wasn't the right word to use. Nothing of his skin or his clothes was visible anymore, instead he was replaced by a gas like tar sticking to his skin which absorbed the light, giving this impression and this color of void.
His eyes had become those of a mythological beast, becoming like two blood red flames on what was once his face.
His teeth were the only thing that were not completely black, instead they were white like ivory, sharp and pointed like sharks.
And the final highlight of the show was that on his forehead, were forming two horns with the appearance of black crystal, pointed to the front of his skull as if to skewer in a headbutt.
That's right, calling him human was no longer relevant.
He was now a monster of pure violence.
Gravity itself started to go highwire, some pieces of buildings or soldiers started to fly up in the air, while others were crushed on the ground.
Lightning began to fall all over the battlefield, red lightning like the one that ran through the beast. The monster in the middle of the battlefield went down on all fours on the ground like a ferocious animal.
The only two who weren't scared enough to move were Frostnova and Patriot, but even they were scared to death. Their instincts were screaming at them over and over again like an inaudible voice inside their minds, "attack! attack or you will die!" that was what that voice was saying.
Succumbing to their instincts, Patriot began to run towards the monster while Frostnova threw a mountain of ice dozens of meters wide at the beast via her arts.
The monster inhaled, then opened its mouth to scream. A demonic howl.
A scream so loud that it was unbearable, that the buildings around them were swept away like houses of cards for miles around, sweeping away the attack of the two leaders of Reunion. So loud that any soul in all of Chernobog could hear it.
But the thing that took the souls of those who heard it and turned them to dust was what that howl instinctively revealed.
That howl warned of the trillions of years of madness and rage that had been unleashed.
That howl warned that the gates of the worst hell had been opened.
His breath heavy, his old body beginning to tire from the fight, he raised his sword once more, ready to face the horde of soldiers of reunion with his few comrades in arms at his side. Three defense crushers started to walk towards him slowly because of the weight of their armor. He gripped his sword firmly in his hands and took a step forward, at phenomenal speed slashing the throat of the first enemy and then blocking the blow of the second as the hammer descended towards him with the speed increased by the rockets on the back of the weapon. Then using his speed and his extraordinary reflexes, the old man freed himself from the attack of the defense crusher and cut at the level of one of the weaknesses of the armor making the enemy collapse. But as soon as his attack was over, the hammer of the last defense crusher came down on him and he was in the best position to know that he would not be able to dodge it.
He prepared himself to receive the blow already clenching his teeth, but to his surprise the attack did not come crashing against him, suddenly while the attack was coming down it was blocked by a blonde kuranta who raised her shield and blocked the blow as if it was nothing, the shock creating powerful air currents. Then she kicked the enemy in the chest, breaking the heavy armor and bones of the defense crusher.
He didn't try to understand more than that, this young woman had just helped him in the middle of the battlefield so that was all he needed to know. His wounds closed as he felt the soothing effect of the medical arts on him a sweet gift from the two sarkazs of Rhodes Island. The small fry of the reunion troops were blown up by grenade launchers, the few snipers or casters that were pounding the old man's positions stopped firing, seemingly mysteriously stopped by something.
The help of the mysterious fighters was so effective that after a few minutes all the troops of the reunion had been annihilated. Looking around the old man turned back to those he was supposed to be defending to see the few wounded being treated by the sarkaz. But what intrigued him was that beyond his troops were other people who also seemed to be refugees from Ursus, but more specifically students, making the old man frown. The latter turned to the kuranta who was next to him.
?: Thank you very much for your help Miss?
Nearl: Code name Nearl. And you ?
?: Call me Hellagur.
Nearl: No need to thank us. You seemed to be in trouble so we helped you.
Hellagur: Are you refugees too?
Nearl: No we are members of Rhodes Island, it was our mission to evacuate the students from the academy and other refugees on the way.
Hellagur: Rhodes Island huh? I'm reassured.
She looked away from the patients Hellagur was defending and could see that almost all of them had Oripathy.
Nearl: Infected?
Hellagur: Don't you know Azazel?
Asked the old man pointing to his shoulder pad with the clinic's logo on it.
Nearl: Ah the clinic for the infected ?
Hellagur: See, you seem to know.
Nearl: I only know it by name and rumors. What I don't understand is what you are doing here.
Hellagur: *sigh* We wanted to extract our most seriously ill from Chernobog and try to get supplies and medical equipment.
Nearl: I see. In that case I-
Shining: N-nearl! We have a problem!
The sarkaz's panicked voice along with the sound of thunder made her turn her head in the direction of her friends and when she could see the reason for Shining's concern her eyes widened. Several miles away the sky had clouded over to the point where the clouds were black, supernatural red lightning bolts falling in the distance, giving a terrible gut feeling to those who could see the scene.
Hellagur: Holy mother of Ursus...
He fell to his knees, despair staining his face.
Hellagur: That's him...
Nightingale: Wait, I think that's where the doctor is!
Patient: Oh my God! Something bad is going to happen!
Medic: Sir we have to move and fast! Sir?
PRTS: Warning, the doctor's sanity has reached zero, the operation area must be evacuated immediately. Communications will be cut off.
The members of the followers and Gravel didn't understand the warning in their headsets, but W didn't need to hear the PRTS warning to know what was happening, the thing she feared most was happening less than twenty minutes away.
Nearl: What the hell is going on?
Then suddenly a beastly howl from the depths of the underworld came like an explosion, sending some of Azazel's patients to the ground with the shockwave as the windows of the buildings exploded with the simulated explosion. But that cry from a beast had the ability to inspire unbelievable fear in those who heard it.
W: We have to get out of here and fast!
The transformation was complete, the death knell of the apocalypse had now sounded.
Frostnova managed to get back on her feet after being swept away by the explosion and was only too late to realize that the beast was coming towards her on all fours, the flames in its eyes reflecting the intention to kill. The cautus pushed by its instincts of survival threw pieces of ice right towards the creature with the intention to kill but its pieces burst one after the other against the skin of the monster as if that one was made of a metal resisting to all, whereas it did not remain any more but ten meters between her and the creature, She glanced at her troops wondering why the yetis hadn't also attacked with crossbows and arts, but she realized that they were literally paralyzed with fear, some were shaking and standing still, others had fallen to the ground and were trying miserably to crawl to a place where they could be safe, while the weakest and most impressionable had suffered from heart attacks. The distance grew shorter and shorter between the two enemies and as time seemed to slow down while the beast's arm with sharp claws on its fingers descended on the cautus ready to slice it with a claw, then suddenly the wendigo stood in front of the beast trying to protect his adopted daughter by raising his shield.
Instead of slicing Frostnova, the monster sliced Patriot's shield in half. Clean, like a hot knife through butter. This raised Frostnova's and Patriot's level of panic as the shield had withstood the onslaught of several emperor's blades at the same time, leaving only traces of scratching on the metal. But now, a single claw strike from this monster had sliced it clean through. Survival instincts got the better of the two leaders of reunion, Patriot took advantage of the half second he had to thrust his spear with all his might into the creature's left eye. The creature moved its head slightly to the side because of the impact and started to scream because of the pain, obviously not being dead despite the spear that must have been tickling its brain. Frostnova was terrified at first, but when the beast opened its mouth to scream, she noticed that this part was not black and empty like the rest of the body. So she conjured her arts into an ice spike and threw it straight into the creature's mouth, the spike this time piercing right through the creature's throat, spraying a spray of blackish liquid and throwing the creature a few feet away because of the power of the arts with Patriot's spear still stuck in its skull.
But the beast stood up on its four legs with the ice axe in its mouth melting in no time, what looked like blood flowing from its jaws onto its sharp teeth, but the important thing was that whatever came in contact with the blood that looked as viscous as oil melted, as if what the beast had in its veins was closer to magma than to hemoglobin. If this thing still had veins or blood. The wendigo casted another halberd in his hand thanks to his arts, dropping his shield for the first time on the battlefield in over a hundred years of life, and took his weapon in both hands.
Frostnova: Father, we have to aim for its eyes and the inside of its throat!
Patriot: I know.
at that moment, the beast in front of them stood up on its hind legs, revealing its belly, where in the middle was a point of red light that continued to grow until the energy seemed to almost flow through its body and up to its head, At that moment, the wendigo widened his eyes and pushed his daughter as hard as he could to the side, the beast fell back on its front legs while the inside of its mouth also lit up with this red energy, then suddenly, like a geyser, a torrent of fiery red liquid came out of its mouth directed towards Patriot. The latter, deprived of his shield, dodged the geyser by a hair's breadth and began to run, pursued by the ray that came out of the creature's mouth, the latter moving his head to track the wendigo. Why was he dodging it? After all, the wendigo was strong enough to take a single blow. But the fact is that it wasn't just burning, the ray that the creature was spitting out disintegrated everything it touched like a super-powered laser, the wendigo being just fast enough to be able to outrun the danger by a few centimeters, the ray slicing through the buildings that were still standing around the combat area and making them collapse on themselves. After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, the monster's attack stopped and it began to cough up the black liquid that was its blood.
The beast immediately received a charge from Patriot, this time using his two hands to guide his spear, and was much faster in his attacks, abandoning all defense, when it would have been enough to kill anyone on this planet, he was brought back to reality when the creature dodged one after the other the attacks of the wendigo, being too fast for him. The advantage gradually returned to the side of the monster, which managed to give clawed blows here and there, tiring Patriot more than really hurting him. Beginning to receive attacks of ice crystals in the face the beast opened its mouth wide and began to spit what seemed to be its blood on Patriot's face this one beginning to burn him like a highly corrosive liquid and forcing him to leave the melee against the monster. The creature then turned to Frostnova and stood up on its hind legs and when the cautus saw that he was once again preparing a shot she knew that she would not be able to dodge it not being equipped with the speed of her adoptive father so that's when an idea came to her when she saw the focus of energy on the belly of the beast, seeing this thing as a weak point she concentrated a pillar of ice with her arts and sent it right where the energy was concentrated.
Stopping the attack immediately, the creature seemed destabilized and wounded, convulsing as it stood, then the monster raised its head and began spitting its black blood like a spray across the battlefield, each droplet melting and burning everything it touched as if it were raining acid, some soldiers screaming in pain at this while others took refuge, as did the cautus, also taking refuge inside a building.
Frostnova thought he was vulnerable and started to sing, using her voice as a catalyst to improve her arts abilities. The unbearable heat began to disappear for a milder but still above zero temperature as black ice crystals began to float around the cautus.
But the lullaby sung by the cautus did not go unnoticed by the beast who turned his head towards her and began to run towards her because even with all reason gone from his mind the beast would not let an enemy gently finish it's attack without doing anything. The wendigo finished catching his breath and saw the creature attacking his adopted daughter, and once again he threw himself at it, running as fast as he could and stabbing his weapon in the monster's still intact eye, at the time it may have seemed like a good idea, but in reality it was not.
The monster trying to break free moved its head like a trapped beast and impaled Frostnova on one of its crystal horns, the cautus crying out in pain that could be heard across the battlefield tried to grab where her wound was by reflex but she was quickly freed with a large claw wound on her arm, blood flowing from the gaping hole she had in her torso and down her arm from the inch deep claw wound. Then ripping one of the halberds from one of its eyes the monster lunged at Patriot, throwing itself at the wendigo with both front legs ready to tear it to pieces. Losing his temper Patriot grabbed the creature's forearms, trying to immobilize his hands so he would not have to suffer the onslaught of the claws but it was a terrible idea as the man and the monster were now locked in a clash of sheer strength trying to outdo each other but the monster was of course a step above, the ground of the neighborhood fracturing under their feet for hundreds of meters because of their strength far exceeding the rest of the mortals.
But the beast's strength was far greater than Patriot's, and then the creature began to gain the upper hand, especially when it began to savagely bite what it could, the old wendigo managing to dodge the first few times, but soon the beast began to bite Patriot's antlers, and bite so hard that the beast tore the antlers off the right side of the wendigo's head, The wood was stronger than all the metal on the planet combined but yet it was tore off effortlessly by the creature, causing blood to flow down Patriot's face. But the creature did not stop there, and began to bite the wood on the left side of the wendigo's skull as well, tearing it off with the force of its jaw. The pain was too much for Patriot to bear and he let go of the beast's forearms, which was enough for the beast to free his arms and claw at Patriot's chest, blowing up the fan in his chest and sending a spray of sparks and blood when the claw came into contact with the wendigo's 70% crystalised body. Then the beast grabbed Patriot's ankle and lifted him up with one of his arms to slam him against the ground, repeating the same action over and over again fracturing the ground each time Patriot who was treated like a rag doll was hitting the concrete.
Then after a few seconds of humiliation the monster stopped, leaving Patriot lying on the ground, the latter bleeding to death motionless. The creature abandoned him like a spoiled child already bored with his old toy, turning around to face his new toy, in this case a certain cautus leader of the reunion. The young woman still clinging to the meager string of life that remained, had managed to crawl a few meters to lean against a pile of debris of one of the buildings, while she was also drained of her blood. The creature slowly approached her like predators on their dying prey and slowly raised its arm with the idea of finishing her off with a claw.
She closed her eyes and prepared to die as the claw came straight down on her.
Patriot: It was Mephisto!
She opened her eyes again as she heard her foster father's voice and could see that the creature's arm had stopped in mid-stride and she could also see that the beast was now turning its head towards the wendigo.
Patriot: Mephisto ordered! The attack on the academy!
Frostnova was surprised to hear her father figure speak so loudly even though his sentences continued to be broken, knowing the state of his vocal cords it must have been as painful as having a fingernail pulled out.
Patriot: We all told him no! Before the Chernobog attack! But he did it without telling us!
The beast put the paw it had in the air back on the ground and faced Patriot. Frostnova might have been able to attack it at that moment, but she was sure that if she tried she would be sliced to pieces so she stood still. Terrified.
Sebastian: Didn't any of you know...?
His voice was nightmare-inducing, as if a demon from hell had been given the ability to speak. Cold and sounding like someone whose throat had been slit, his voice alone was enough to make Frostnova tremble with fear.
The wendigo knew that now the beast was listening to his heart for any lie, or in other words Patriot could not lie to the beast who seemed to have regained some reason or he would be cut to pieces he and his daughter.
Patriot: No we didn't know. Kill me, kill us all, but please spare my daughter! She didn't know what she was doing! She just wanted to help me!
It was the first time she had seen the great Patriot like this, on his knees, begging for mercy from his enemy. A second of silence passed over the battlefield.
Sebastian: Well...
The creature turned to Frostnova and so quickly that she had no time to react, it pointed one of its claws at her face, the hellfire that served as its eyes looking into the gray irises of the cautus as if it were looking into her soul.
Sebastian: And you, white donkey, never interrupt a duel again...
He gave a light claw on her nose, light as a paper cut then lowered his paw. Walking slowly out of the battle zone as the lightning calmed down, so did gravity, the falling debris of buildings crashing to the ground, the temperature calmly returning to that of Ursus' winter as the air finally began to be breathable. The beast took his sword from the ground and Patriot's antlers in its mouth like a hunting trophy, one that he deserved after the fight he had given his prey. The creature slowly disappeared into the dark alleys of Chernobog as the clouds overhead began to disperse and return to the usual weather. Then the guerrillas and yetis came out of their trance of terror to help their leaders from dying.
There was no doubt.
Today Frostnova and Patriot had each fought the hardest battle of their lives.
For the time being.
Because this time, fortunately and unfortunately, would not be the only time that the two leaders of the reunion would have to fight against the one from Rhodes Island.
To be continued.
