The world seemed to slow down. The monster seemed to float in the air, moving extremely slowly. Serena could see how foam came out of its mouth, how blood dripped from its claws, and how those empty black eyes seemed to want to devour her soul.
Bang!
The familiar sound of a gun firing caused the world to move back to normal speed. The creature's head moved abnormally to one side and the side of the head exploded into a pink and black cloud.
The dead body of the thing hit the ground with a thud. The hole in its head released steam and she could see a small golden light coming out of it.
Her eyes widened in shock and she quickly looked at the source of the shot.
Standing on top of a ruined carriage and wearing a shirt that was covered in dust ruining the previous blue color, with an impossible-to-control brown hair. Blood was dripping from a cut on his forehead and his face was extremely dirty.
Around him were five people, all in a similar state to him. Each of them had either a revolver or a machine gun in their hands.
She was still frozen but she came out of her stupor when someone carefully removed the woman's body from on top of her.
"Can you move?" The man asked as he looked around with a gun in his right hand.
Soft features and blue eyes that conveyed tranquility, Serena only gave a weak nod, and taking the man's hand he easily helped her up.
"East Borough is no longer safe. Go towards Cherwood Borough, to any of the Churches there, you'll be safe there. Do you know how to get there?"
"Y-yes but I don't know any Churches." Serena stammered as she barely managed to find her balance and tried to ignore how warm her legs felt.
The man just nodded, Serena could see the slight disappointment in his eyes but it quickly left him.
"It doesn't matter. If you go to Tumerco Street and take exit 3 you'll just need to keep going straight until you get to Rose Street. The church there is impossible to miss."
Rumble...
They both turned quickly to the sound of moving debris and Serena watched stunned as from the rubble of her building, one of those creatures staggered out, a huge chunk of wood piercing her side but it didn't seem to bother her movement too much.
Serena recognized the shredded dress she was wearing as Veronica's!
The man didn't even take a second as no sooner had the creature emerged he had already raised his gun and pulled the trigger several times.
Bang! Bang!
Veronica's head exploded in a pink and black cloud and her body fell motionless to the ground.
But she was not the only one to emerge from the rubble, some of the creatures that had survived the collapse of some buildings were slowly getting up, horribly wounded and barely able to move but even that would not stop their bloodlust.
"Go!" shouting that order, the man pulled the trigger of his gun several times killing several of those creatures that had rushed towards them.
Serena nodded with tears in her eyes and with staggering but swift steps, she ran towards Tumerco Street.
Looking at the woman Kowalski had helped, Deacon of the Machinery Hivemind Ikanser Bernard, held a smoking revolver with a bitter expression as he reloaded a fresh batch.
"What's going on..." The man muttered as he pulled the trigger again and a modified demon-hunting bullet for added power ripped through the head of another one of those things making it explode.
'Not only an explosion followed by an earthquake, but it also summons something that seems straight out of Emperor Roselle's horror stories...' This day can't get any worse...'
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, the Deacon raised his voice and shouted, drawing the attention of everyone in the ruined street.
"Everyone who can move help the wounded and get them out of here! We'll take care of the monsters!"
Glancing at his team, he expertly stowed the revolver in his holsters on his belt and grabbed the machine gun at his side.
"Permission to use artifacts. Help as many as you can and stay together!"
The entire team nodded and following their captain's orders, they opened fire on the monsters.
While the Hivemind Machinery was firing left and right, the street below was still in chaos.
Some of the people wasted no time in following the orders and helped the wounded people while many others simply fled the scene. Everything remained in chaos, which only hindered the Hivemind Machinery and helped the monsters kill more people.
Similar scenes happened all over East Borough. Teams from the three churches that were originally there to capture the Fire Mage were fighting the monsters while trying to help the survivors.
Wind blades slashed and shredded, nightmares put monsters to sleep who were then finished off, and golden bullets pierced and annihilated the monsters.
East Borough had become an all-out war zone where the main objective was to survive.
...
Forgotten had been the pages she had been writing, the table had been knocked over and the ink fell, staining and ruining several of them, but the writer couldn't care less.
Fors Wall was now writhing in pain in the arms of her best friend who was desperately at a loss as to what to do. A pool of blood was growing around her from the wounds that were appearing on her body.
The writer's brown hair had grown long and almost down to her feet, her veins were visible as they swelled and throbbed like worms under her skin. Blood was dripping from every orifice of her face and her skin was taking on an abnormally pale hue.
"Fors hold on please!" Xio cried as she tightly hugged her friend who could only sob from the pain. Despair was clear on her face as she saw how one of the most important people in her life was transforming into a monster.
Fors sank her head into her friend's chest and sobbed as if she were a little girl, "It hurts Xio! It hurts so much!!!"
With tear-filled eyes, all Xio could do was hug Fors tighter against her.
She didn't understand what was happening!! A second ago it was daytime and now it was night. A night of Blood Moon!
"Grrrrr!" Fors was trying to swallow the pain but she couldn't. She could feel her body breaking and something wanted to come out.
The ravings that were roaring in her ear were the worst she had ever suffered. They had never been so loud, so clear, so close as they were now!
Her mind was sinking and she could feel her sanity slipping.
If this kept up, at any moment she would lose control!
And Xio knew that too as her grip on Fors grew tighter, refusing to let her go.
The Sheriff looked around for anything that could help her but the whole room was in chaos, the natural disorder of the room didn't help but with the disaster of the earthquake it would be impossible for her to find the first aid kit. And if she wanted to find it, she would have to let her friend go.
And it seems that Fors noticed this too because she stopped holding her head and wrapped her arms around her waist. Her fingernails that now looked more like claws scratched her back causing blood to come out but Xio couldn't care less.
"Don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me..." Fors pleaded in a deep voice with tears of blood falling from her eyes that were bloodshot.
"I'm here Fors. I'm here."
Xio could only hug her tighter against her body as she tried to comfort her friend. Her eyes moved to her triangular sword that was on the ground a few feet away from them but as soon as she found it she looked away and returned her attention to her friend.
She didn't want to think about what would happen if Fors lost control and turned into a monster... She didn't know if she would be able to keep her promise to her friend if that happened.
Helplessness filled her and Xio could only curse to herself. This was just like when her father died and she was forced to flee along with her family, how weak she felt on that day when she had to abandon everything, she was feeling it again now.
She could only close her eyes tightly as she held Fors close to her, whose grip was getting weaker and voice lower to the point that her arms dropped, her strength unable to keep them up.
"No no no no NO!" shaking her head in denial, Xio placed her hand against her friend's chest and felt her heartbeat getting slower and slower.
Laying Fors down on the floor, the sheriff placed both hands on her friend's chest and began pumping. She couldn't let the heart stop, she knew that if that happened Fors would undoubtedly lose control!
"1 2 3! 1 2 3!" She counted each beat, her knightly training shining through in this dire situation, as she looked at the pale face of Fors who was staring at the ceiling with lost eyes, her breathing much weaker than before.
Gritting her teeth so hard that veins popped out of her neck, Xio kept up her pace as she prayed with all her might.
'Please Goddess! Don't take her from me too! Not her! Please Goddess!'
No matter how hard she tried, she could feel Fors' heart slowing down and the puddle at her feet beneath her growing larger.
"Stay with me! Fors! Stay with me!"
The only sign that the writer was still conscious was how her blue eyes moved slightly towards her. A huge sadness in them.
The bloody light coming through the window seemed to be taunting her. Telling her that her efforts were futile and that it would all be in vain, that its crimson glow would take her friend and turn her into a monster. She could watch as slowly more of that foul light entered the room and approached them.
Tears almost completely blurred her vision at the realization that at any moment her friend would close her eyes and lose her forever. Everything became irrelevant, all input from her current job.
"1 2 3! 1 2 3!"
The bloody light only seemed to grow and it was already a few steps away from touching them but just before it did a golden light repelled it!
All anxiety in Xio died as the warm light touched her body and she could feel Fors' heart gaining strength rapidly.
Xio watched in astonishment as golden light suddenly illuminated her room and she turned her gaze to the window.
Rising on the horizon and repelling the crimson light with holy light, the sun shone with power, rising high to meet the moon!
Before she could make sense of what was happening, everything was suddenly blanketed in absolute darkness. The crimson light and the golden light disappeared into it. Not a single star could be seen. The sky turned completely black.
It didn't even take a second for the sun to rise before it disappeared back into the darkness. Xio would have thought it was all an illusion or a game of her mind if it weren't for the warm blood on her hands.
She could only watch in disbelief as the only light illuminated Backlund, emerging from the titanic tree that stood deep in the East Borough, long columns of smoke and fire could be seen from where she stood. Her mind was again unable to make sense of what was happening.
"What's going on..." Xio muttered in disbelief and stupefaction.
How had she not seen THAT before?
A sudden movement in her hand made her head spin so fast downwards that it looked like she had broken her neck.
"Grrr..." growling in a weak voice, Fors eyes slowly opened, her hair was still too long but it was slowly returning to normal as were her nails which already looked more like a person's.
Regaining her senses a bit but still feeling like everything was a blur, Fors looked at her friend with teary and teary eyes.
"...Xio?"
The newly mentioned looked at her friend in shock for several seconds, before she wrapped her arms around her, sunking her head into her chest, and sobbed.
Tears of happiness fell from her green eyes. Fors who didn't understand what was happening only gave a weak smile before falling unconscious, Xio wasn't alarmed this time because she could hear her friend's heart beating normally but still, she didn't let go. She continued to sink into her friend's chest and let the soft smell of cigarettes and coffee from her soothe her.
"Help!" "Monster!!"
Crash!!
But Xio couldn't celebrate anymore because a scream in the street and the sound of the window shattering made her raise her head immediately.
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed her triangular sword from the ground with blood-covered hands and stood in front of the lying Fors.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The heavy footsteps of something climbing the stairs caused her grip on her sword to tighten and her eyes to sharpen. She snapped into guard and the majestic aura that always surrounded her grew a little stronger.
"Griiii!"
Barely a second later, a high-pitched shriek sounded in the hallway in front of the room's door confusing Xio immensely.
'What was that-
Thump! Thump! Thump! Crash!!!
The door to the room shattered like wet cardboard but Xio didn't let that scare her but quickly placed her sword in front and blocked the intruder's swing.
Something sharp collided with her sword causing sparks to fly and momentarily illuminate the room allowing the Sherif to get a good look at the intruder in her house.
With a mossy appearance of red muscle with dripping black pus, pitch-black eyes, and razor-sharp teeth. Elongated fingers ending in claws that promised to tear her apart if she let them near, Xio's pupils shrank.
'A Beyonder that lost control?!' Her grip on the handle of her sword became so tight that her knuckles turned white. Any idea of neutralization was thrown out the window.
The only way to deal with a Beyonder that lost control was elimination! So Xio shifted her stance slightly and readied herself.
Quickly raising her guard to the maximum, Xio blocked with her sword again the claws of the thing that seemed to be smiling darkly and sinisterly at her.
Xio let out a slight grunt as she gave a powerful kick to the monster's stomach and pushed it away from her which was immediately followed by a slash with her sword aimed at its neck.
The blade of her sword plunged into the red and porous flesh but contrary to what she expected it only plunged halfway failing to completely decapitate her enemy. Xio tried to continue his slash but the monster would not let himself be killed without first damaging its prey as much as possible.
Letting out a gurgle choked by its dark blood, it launched a thrust with its claws, wanting to impale and scatter the sheriff's organs on the ground. Due to how close she was to the creature, Xio would not be able to get away from the creature in time so taking advantage of the height difference, she swooped down and the lunge missed.
Taking advantage of the inertia, Xio grabbed with her free hand what was left of the creature's clothes and with a hip twist whipped it to the ground while continuing her slash.
With a mighty blow, the monster's body crashed to the floor while its head flew and crashed against the other side of the room. After a few short spasms, the monster's body stopped moving.
Staring at the monster out of control with her bloodied sword firmly clenched in her hand, Xio kept her guard at maximum in case something else happened but after a few seconds of nothing, she finally let out a somewhat agitated sigh and lowered her sword.
'What could have lured an out-of-control Beyonder here?' she thought extremely confused as she looked at the headless body in the middle of her friend's room.
Even though everything was now extremely dark and it was difficult for her to see, she could still make out the monstrous appearance of the poor wretch who lost control. As far as she could tell this was once a man, wearing what appeared to be the remains of a simple suit.
'So this is what a Beyonder looks like when it loses control?' Xio found herself somewhat disturbed, this was the first Beyonder that lost control she had ever seen and dealt with.
She let out a soundless sigh and closed her eyes, taping her chest four times praying to the Goddess for this guy's soul.
When she opened them again her heart stopped.
The figure of the man was changed to that of a woman wearing a simple white sleep dress that was torn and covered in blood, the unknown head was replaced by a familiar face with blue eyes that had tears of blood falling from them.
She blinked again and the body returned to that of a man.
Leaning against the wall, Xio brought a hand to her chest where her heart seemed to want to explode, new tears falling from her face. She could feel herself fading but the screams outside kept her anchored.
Her mind flashed back to that horrible illusion she saw, a terrible reminder of what she would have had to do if Fors lost control.
Emerald orbs moved to the unconscious writer and then moved to the bloody triangular sword in her hands.
Clank!
Dropping the sword with a trembling hand, Xio brought a hand to her face and let out a long, highly charged sigh.
'If it had come to that...'
Her eyes returned to the writer, a grim expression on her face, ' I don't think I would have been able to do it...'
Clenching her fists tightly, Xio could only shake her head. With heavy steps she walked over to Fors and with a little more difficulty than she would like to admit, the sheriff lifted her into her arms, being careful not to let the bloodied sword touch her.
'I won't let you rest here.' She thought as she looked at the blood that seemed to cover the entire room, at the headless body and the shattered door.
Making sure her friend was comfortable, Xio walked out of the room. Reaching her own, she carefully opened it and stepped inside.
Laying her friend down on HER bed not caring in the least that she was covered in blood, Xio reached down and pulled out a first aid kit from under her bed.
She placed it on her bedside table and after doing so, she went out for a few moments. When she returned she was carrying a bucket of warm water along with some towels and a simple blue dress.
Making sure the door was locked and they were safe, she knelt beside the bed, her sword close to her in case anything else happened.
With a somewhat familiar hand thanks to the teachings of her current patient. Xio carefully undressed her friend and began to clean her of all the blood that covered her.
As she moved on to clean her friend's back, Xio was doing her best to ignore the cries for help coming from outside. As much as she wanted to help, she could not.
She had to take care of her best friend.
'Please forgive me...' Xio thought with a heavy heart, a look of deep sadness in her eyes.