Imps! Imps and gargoyles are invading!" shouted a child, as he defended himself from the swipes of an imp. The gargoyles were smaller than the imps, but they were made of stone and possessed flight, so they were harder to kill and could do more damage.
"They're the one-eyed variety... at least 21 invaders have been confirmed," said Morte. Squad 209 had heard the uproar, worn their gear and rushed out to battle. Only Rei had come with barely any armor as he had no idea how they wore their gear so quickly.
"Vanguard secret," Pierre said smiling. "I'll teach you if you survive this."
As the five began their assault on the imps, Rei noticed that the recruits were sprawled on the floor and realized that they had probably been attacked mentally, as he had been.
"Why aren't they attacking our minds?" he asked May. "Can only do one at a time," she replied, pointing at the imp they were running to.
"You left me to die! Why didn't you take me with you!"
Rei's momentum stopped as the imp gazed at him. He was still traumatised from Cristina's death after all. Then Gars hit his head.
"Focus! I don't care about what makes you suffer! Just keep on going! The end is always worth it!" Gars shouted.
Rei looked up to see Gars crying as he ran towards the imp and beheaded it. Rei got up and prepared to face the threat once more, looking at a new opponent. It was a gargoyle.
The creature flew towards Rei and began to swipe at him, forcing him to evade. Rei had to be extra cautious because of his lack of armour. He slashed at the creature, but his blade only chipped its arm. The creature flew some distance into the air and its eye glowed.
"You can't lift it. Ooh, You actually did?...he fainted...HAHAHA!"
Rei teared up upon hearing Kevin's voice. Then the gargoyle rushed at him and prepared to cut his neck.
He looked at the gargoyle with fire in his eyes, enraged at its abuse of his joy, dodging the attack by twisting and putting full force into his strike. In an instant, the battle was decided.
The gargoyle's head had been cut clean off by Rei's twisting slash. A fury overcame him. He was sick of these monsters using his mind against him.
Roaring with rage as his eyes welled up, he ran towards an imp on its way to kill one of the newbies on the ground, stabbing through its head before it could do the deed. He proceeded to kill three more imps with a furious expression plastered on his face, and tears falling from his eyes, their blood adorning his skin.
"Enemy status: eliminated... Number of injured: 15 minor, no majors. Number of dead...2." Morte said as he looked across the training ground which was covered in imp and gargoyle bodies, and saw the two recruits who had been mauled to death in the initial stages of the fight. "Good job surviving, Dragã."
Just then, a roar was heard from on top of the south wall. An ogre had scaled it.
"Ah, crap... I knew we shoulda killed it," said Pierre, holding his lance in front of him. "Tsk, couldn't stay put in that pit, huh?" said Gars, preparing himself for battle. Morte had seemingly disappeared.
"Draga. That Ogre. Can you hit eye?" May asked, handing Rei a slingshot. "Yeah, I probably can. And it's Dragã." he replied, picking up a stone. "I no good with your language," she muttered.
Rei nodded, then responded. "You can get better. I can teach you. In exchange teach me some fighting techniques."
"Deal," May replied.
The squad, along with squad 205 and 207 ran towards the ogre at full speed. The fat monster jumped down, breaking the ground below it. Now Rei could see it in its full grotesque form. Its face had a single eye, and its teeth were so hideously disfigured to the point where one might ask whether it ate stones. It had a relatively human nose but had batwing-like ears. Its skin was a pale green, orange around its arms. It wore an old rag which was stained with blood. Wielding a tree trunk for a weapon and towering over the children, it was a pure monster.
"It's a wonder why we didn't call it a cyclops?" asked Pierre. "That's because cyclopes aren't monsters," said Gars. "Oh, yeah...can't we just call them demon cyclopes?" Morte asked from seemingly nowhere. "That caused a war, so we just call 'em ogres," Gars answered.
The ogre had been watching this group engage in conversation and took it as an insult. It charged towards Pierre, who jumped out of its way without a second thought.
"I still can't block that..." said the boy, getting up quickly. The ogre had crashed into a building but recovered almost immediately.
"Thick bastard," muttered Gars. "May! Have you given him yet!?!".
"Aye," answered May
"Then let's do this! Hit the eye!" shouted Gars, Rei understanding and releasing the stone and sending it flying towards the huge target that was the ogre's eyeball. The rock hit its nose instead, causing an initial long look of worry, but it rebounded and hit the eye.
"MAY LEFT!" Gars shouted as he ran towards the ogre's right. The two jumped in the air and used their blades to slash the ogre's neck. it caused a slight incision leaving slight bleeding. "Espoir! Now!"
Suddenly, Morte appeared from thin air, before jumping behind the ogre and slashing the back of its neck. The beast was infuriated and used his tree trunk to smack Morte away. Its eye began to glow and it seemed to lose fat, becoming muscle instead. As the creature turned its gaze to Mayln, a spear pierced its glowing red eye. It screamed in pain and fell backwards.
"Go!" Pierre shouted to Rei, who ran towards the ogre and stabbed his short sword into its throat, the area where Gars and May had slashed. It ripped open, ejecting a large amount of blood. Rei jumped away with his sword in the beast's throat. The ogre got up, looked at the four in front of him, and then looked at the one he smacked away, seeing that he was relatively okay. It roared in anger, then it dropped ingloriously, face down into the dirt as its blood flowed ceaselessly.
"Rest in peace, Wilbur," said Pierre, getting on one of his knees and bowing, the others following suit...except for the blood-soaked Rei.
"That hurt though. If I didn't have this magic item," said Morte. "Shadow Ring...seriously, thank you."
"Why don't you just marry that thing?" said Pierre, laughing at Morte as he kissed the black ring on his hand. "Maybe I will!" replied Morte. "Oi, don't joke about that," said Pierre in a surprised tone. Four of the five members of Squad 209 were laughing and talking as they walked towards their outpost while Rei and the others looked on in disbelief.
Did they just casually kill an ogre?