*
'Tch, I can't defeat it, the sword might break. If I can't even follow the movements of the plume and dodge it manually, then I won't stand a chance in tearing through its hard exterior.' (Harald)
Perhaps it was his humility as a blacksmith at work, or his fear overwhelmed his high, but he retained some rational thought and concluded that he couldn't defeat the absurd lifeform in front of him. Sure enough, the storm of plumes tears through his cover. Piercing his sword into the ground at an angle, it deflects some of the plums, while he protects his head and chest with the scabbard.
"GAGHHHHHHH" (Harald)
The pain and fear overwhelmed him, his body groaned in agony and discomfort. But the discomfort was heavier and seeped into his flesh and then his organs. His stomach churned and his throat convulsed.
"URGHHHH" (Harald)
He hurls the contents of his stomachs, not that there was much left considering the stray plume had gouged out his waist. The rapid loss of blood left a significant impact on an E grade. Despite being more than 50 times stronger than the average human now, compared to the C grade monster before him... There was no point to compare. His left arm gripped at his wound while gripping his sword in his armpit. His free hand grabs the scabbard and faces the monster with it, he then retreats as fast as he could manage.
Turning around another corner, he jumps up and breaks through a wall, crashing into the building. At this moment he was too delirious to verify if someone lived in that apartment or not, his life was an even more urgent matter. His legs leaped with all their strength, he crashes through more walls, hoping that he could find a hiding spot... Just like the first time he encountered an inhuman threat, he would hide once more... This time, the magical girls would come to save him right?
The crane was having none of that. With a single blow, a single swing of its strangely muscular looking metal wind span, the building was blown away. It felt like a hurricane had crashed into it, seperating the concrete wall and fragmenting it as it was sent far into the air, like a child knocking over a sandcastle and recklessly punching sand into the air. Naturally... Everyone in the building was also sent flying along with it.
Debris strikes his abdomen with heavy force, knocking the air out of his lungs. His temples hurt as the blood flow is becoming more erratic and the stress of his body is catching up.
"Guhagh!!!!!!!" (Harald)
'.... I see... No one is coming to help... I have to... Do it myself... And I see how to use its behaviour to my advantage...' (Harald)
The steel crane cranes its head around in search of its prey, but it was nowhere to be found. Did it perhaps die from getting hit by the debris? That's how most fragile humans perish anyway. His lifeless corpse could be anywhere under the debris at that point. It was too impatient to search through every bit of debris one by one, so it employed a more efficient method. Swinging its wing once more, it threw the rocks of broken walls and furniture into the air.
Nothing, he wasn't anywhere around that area. Time to search at another area. Fortunately it could cover a large area at once by throwing all the rocks into the air to reveal what laid underneath. With another swing of its wing... The wing vanished.
"GOT YOU!!! HAHA HAHAHAHH!!!! SO YOU'VE BEEN FEELING THIS MUCH POWER!" (Harald)
His crazed voice rang out ever so clearly, even as a monster it needed some amount of intellect to survive. Even animals were smart enough to maintain their own ways of life. Steel cranes that pretty much hunt magical girls and other monster creatures as large sources of nutritious magical particles had above the average amount of intelligence for monsters. It could predict how humans thought and used that to hunt them.
In other words, if a dumb animal could tell it was disadvantaged after missing a limb, a steel crane would have even more of such awareness that missing a wing is detrimental to its survival. Not to mention... It couldn't understand why its wing is suddenly gone.
"HUHUHU HEHEHE!! SO? ARE YOU GONNA CONTINUE?" (Harald)
The crane decides to act with caution, it jumps back before swinging its remaining wing as hard as it could. Incomprehensibly... Harald jumps forward too, his appearance sending unprecedented amounts of alarm bells in the crane's mind. It couldn't be any more alert, yet it had failed to see the mechanism. It wasn't observing how its wing disappeared the first time, but now it was about to watch how its second wind fell victim.
Harald had activated all the energy inside his sword and sent it into physical enhancements, then he hid under the nearest debris that landed around the crane. He couldn't react to the crane's speed, so he simply needed to position himself in the right place before it actually moved. Pouncing from under the rock and covering the scabbard with the raggard cloth that made up his hood... The first wing was jammed into the scabbard and vanished without a trace.
It acted as an even more efficient way to recharge his magic weapon. At this point since it was a unique magic item, it was a Stick. Like a magical girl's magic stick in those cartoon shows, it was an unparalled weapon, a wand of unrivalled combat power. Then with this new found source of energy... He leaped forward with all his strength while placing the scabbard in front. It absorbed away the crane's second wing...
Immediately, it lost its balance and fell on its back. It was about to flail as hard as it could when it finally understood how the scabbard worked... But now that it had no wings and was on its back, it couldn't see anyway to avoid the scabbard... If it swung its talons now, it would surely lose them.
Taking advantage of this hesitation, Harald ran behind its head, positioning himself far away from its talons... And then he swings the sword at its neck. Unsurprisingly, it was super tough, stronger than a lump of steel. It wiggles around and struggles, but without its wings it had psychologically lost its ability to fly, which was the magic used to maintain the absurd weight of its metallic body.
Given a little more time, the crane would be able to pick itself up. But the unusual human that took away its wings I repeatedly slamming a magic weapon at its throat, how could it stay calm and try to use its magic properly without its wings? Monsters are much more intuitive than humans, so they commonly assign the usage of skills to their body parts, that's why their magic seems more biologically related, when in reality it's possible for them to use magic without those body parts.
"SHRIEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE KKREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" (Crane)
It continues to send high pitch wails and screeches to disorientated Harald's mind, but with the mental fortitude of a seasoned blacksmith, he continues to slam his blade onto its tough neck like a hammer. He crouches in his signature sitting pose, it feels like his partner is back in his hand and time had rewinded to the times when he thought making swords was super cool.
"TING!! TING!!! TING!! TING!!!" (Harald)
The sound of metal against metal collision resounds rhythmically throughout the air. Sweat drenched his torn and filthy shirt as his muscles dance with the tension filling his 'hammer'. Another slam and then another after, he makes a dent in its neck which goes deeper and deeper. Soon enough, the hold was large enough the fit the girth of his sword.
At that moment it regained its control over its own magic, and it begins to recover balance over its own body and posture. Its massive stature starts to levitate and its body wobbles in the air. Its neck swings upwards faster than any known vehicle, aiming to impale Harald with its beak... Then he slams the scabbard into the sword sized dent as it swings its neck up.
It's head vanishes from the neck up as the rest of its body lands on the ground with a heavy thud. It's weight smashes a shallow indent into the ground as dust flew into the air, its leg had a little post death convulsion that slowly fizzled out. Harald stares on in horror as it slowly stopped moving. Just from its exterior, he had expected it to act like a machine that instantly stopped moving the moment it was destroyed...
But the meagre bit of twitching by its leg at the end... Showed that it was more organic than machine... A machine would have no reason to simulate postmortem spasms...
His body was already on the ground as he was slamming his sword onto its neck, so he turned around and began to crawl away. His legs had lost feeling and fear was crawling around his spine. Did he just... Take the life of another? It was easy to reason that his own life was under threat... Yet he couldn't get the image of its final moments out of his head.
The leg lifts into the air, its metallic flesh expands and contracts at various areas resembling veins, expand and contract, expand and contract. It wasn't the whole leg that did so, it was vein like structures under its gleaming skin that seemed like they want to escape and pop out at any moment. They press against its skin and go back in, out and in, out and in. By the time Harald had caught sight of his surroundings, he realised he needed a new cloak.
He places the blade back into its holster, seperate from the scabbard and walks back to where he first met that individual. He had returned to the thief's corpse and collected the stolen item before going back to that street. If the owner was there, he would hold the bag hostage and barter for better conditions. If he wasn't, he would simply sell it himself. He had killed a C grade and gained large amounts of energy. Humans and law were no longer a threat to a D grade being.
He was exhausted and covered with grime, his body longed for a shower but he prioritised his other needs first. Fortunately for the owner, he waited at the right place. They soon caught sight of each other and the owner waited at his spot for Harald to come near.
"... Now give it back and I will hire you." (Owner)
"Did you think I would just hand it over now?" (Harald)
He gives a slight smirk, scoffing at Harald's attempt. His heart jumps a little, having found it.
"I was hoping it would turn out like this. Tell me your goal, it isn't something as lofty as money is it?" (Owner)
"Hmm. Who could tell?" (Harald)
A small smirk reaches the face of Harald as well, 2 strangers who had never met before, yet it felt like an unseen link had just been established. The owner holds out his hand.
"... I want to put my name out there. I'll be the target. Do you accept?" (Harald)
" Revenge I take it? I do. Name's Galadyn" (Galadyn)
"Name's Harald. You've figured my goal, what about yours?" (Harald)
"It's the same." (Galadyn)
Harald grabs his hand, his firm grasp incites the same in response.
***
"My second job? Sure, it's fine to keep playing hero. But you don't want to waste your fund like this, do you?" (Harald)
"You want to get your name out there don't you? The cult would know, so attacking their human branches would do a lot more than you think.
They're still not wary after the first attack, you didn't kill any of them but you've set their place on fire... I won't lie, there will be human casualties soon. It will be a matter of whether it's me or them. So if you want to continue this partnership... You have to guarantee my safety by squashing the remnants. " (Galadyn)
The same old sceneries popped back into Harald's mind. In the alleyway when the thief's corpse lands on the ground with a loud collision, in the building's ruins when the steel crane's legs kept twitching to the end. In the debt collector's ring where had committed arson and cut down their legs of any who escaped. They flashed by his mind in quick succession, as if reminding him that these matters would never go away.
Decrepit voices whisper behind his hear, clawing at his spine in his neck through their incorporeal fingers. His mind wakes up and he faces the future.
"You're right. What's adding a few more voices into my head gonna change?" (Harald)
He whips out his blade, these cult branches had many witches in them. In the first one, he had simply snuck in and set the entire pace ablaze. Most of the cult members there had escaped while some were sliced at their legs and left to bleed out. This time, he would have to face combat with witches since there were multiple this time.