Atlas sucked in his teeth as Nyla gritted her own, observing the towering entity in front of her. The Vulture cackled as its bulging eyes locked onto them both, shifting its large three-pronged hands into what could only be described as grotesque lanky skewers. Moving with zero hesitation, Nyla swiftly darted at the Vulture upon seeing it's hands shudder, leaping 14 feet into the air and punching down on the Vulture's head with her momentum. Her punch landed, causing the vulture's neck to compress into itself, bursting a foul odor and a plasma-like substance out of its rolled neck. With the sound of rustic springs contracting, the entity's head shot back up abruptly, sending Nyla back into the air towards the house.
The vulture's calves compressed, causing it to blitz into the air, smacking down on the Nyla. Just then, electricity crackled across Vulture's arm as Atlas blocked the attack with his hatchet. "Atlas!" Nyla shouted, watching him plummet through the roof. Vulture took advantage of her being distracted, expanding its other hand to wrap around Nyla, encasing her with its fingers. Beginning to cackle, the entity grew cocky as its grip grew stronger with qi till it couldn't grow any tighter. "Agh.." Nyla groaned in the cocoon, energizing Atlas enough to pull himself out of the rubble. Atlas spotted the entity inching Nyla closer to its slitted mouth, soon to be devoured, awakening something within him. Boiling deep within his heart, like a cold flame erupting through his veins, he gripped the soles of his shoes, and bolted off the rooftop in a heap of lightning. In nothing short of a flash of light, the Vulture's arm was severed by his hatchet, electrocuting the Entity through the wound but evaporated his shoes due to his qi. He skidded and rolled across the ground, landing on his back and faced the entity trying to stop his head from spinning, suffering from minor motion sickness.
The Entity stood in place, staring at its arm on the ground as it glanced over at the roof, seeing Atlas' shoes, or at least what remained of them. Taking another look over at Atlas on the ground, it begun to smile widely, treading its feet towards him. Nyla pried her way out of the cocoon, breaking the fingers apart, and created a makeshift javelin from the Vulture's mortified pointer finger. She lifted up the gangrenous finger and launched it towards the vulture, piercing through its hunched back. The attack caused its posture to grow upright, tumbling forward but it stomped it's foot into the pavement to prevent it from falling. Turning its neck, a hundred and eighty degrees, it locked onto Nyla and took the initial step to pounce but. Without giving the entity a second moment of thought, Atlas was behind the Vulture with hatchet in hand. In a burst of lightning, he struck the Vulture with a devastating slash through the right cheek. Its flesh sizzled from the heat coming off the high-speed axe head, yet the axe was stuck, like the flesh formed around the blade.
"What the..." He stammered pivoting his feet onto the creature's shoulders, as its flesh sloshed and deformed around his bare feet, trying to pull out his axe while resisting the temptation to throw up. The Vulture caused it's back to ripple violently, causing Atlas to lose his footing and grip. The Vulture absorbed its finger to re-morph it as an organic pillar out of its neck, ramming into Atlas's sternum. This cracked his ribcage, causing him to cough out blood and be sent into the barrier, knocking the wind out of Atlas. The Vulture turned its gaze away from Atlas, being greeted by Nyla's feet as she dropkicked the entity into the barrier under Atlas. Her kick sent the axe flying into the air as she knelt down looking at it, "Atlas, Incoming!" She shouted as Tempest leapt off her back into the air, catching the axe handle with his mouth. Tempest dropped the axe from the air onto Atlas as he landed against the barrier, jumping to Nyla.
Atlas was in a minor daze but snapped out of it from Nyla's words, seeing the axe above him but it was out of arm's reach. Looking down, He saw the creature stunned against the barrier as it started to get up. "No.." he muttered, as he exhaled ionizing the air around him. He held his Karambit as he fell, blitzing it out of his hand straight at the Entity, causing an air shockwave. The force lifted Atlas up the small gap he needed to grab the axe, seeing that the karambit pierced the Vulture's neck. "Use your Qi!" Nyla exclaimed, seeing Atlas slowly become more in tuned with his network. Atlas corkscrew spun in the air to gain momentum, as his axe started to glow red and crackle with electricity. "Ragnarök!" He screamed, slamming his axe down on the Karambit, circulating all of his built-up charge into the Vulture. The entity got electrocuted with a hundred thousand volts, burning its organs till it was snuffed out of its misery, for good. Sadly, The Karambit stuck inside it's neck has been reduced to ash. "Man, my sister got me that knife... At least it was for good use." Atlas chimed as he sighed, hoping that he wakes up from this sick dream and none of this actually happened. Nyla's comforting hand was placed upon Atlas' shoulder, "We did it. Sorry for your sister's knife but yes it was for a good purpose..." She spoke staring at the Entity's body shrivel and shrink into dust in front of them. Tempest walked up next to Atlas on his other side and barked, panting with his tongue out and looked up at Atlas. "Atlas?.." Nyla replied to his silence, looking at Atlas, seeing his eyes have gone soulless. She waved her hand in front of his face, getting no response as she checked his pulse confirming that he was still alive. She chuckled as she realized that he fell asleep where he stood, putting him over her shoulder. The trio went back into the house as the barrier around the property faded, having the damages fade with it. She laid him on the bed, kissing his head and tucked him in.
Tempest cuddled up into Atlas' body, going to sleep while Nyla straightened up the house, sweeping downstairs. She went to the kitchen to throw out the dust, picking up a faint yet vulgar trail of malicious qi coming out of the kitchen window. She walked out the back door into the garden having the scent grow strongly, stinging her nostrils. She pinched her nose, searching around the flower and foliage, not finding anything. The scent was harsh to endure for long, feeling a headache creep in due to the corruptive properties of the energy. She pushed on into the woods that was behind the house, having a handkerchief over her mouth and nose. Treading for what seemed like hours, the scent seemed to stem from an origin point within the depths of the forest. Navigating through the trees, she reached a ledge with a hazy orange light peering from underneath. She drew closer, leaning over the ledge to see where the light was coming from as her curiosity quickly turned into concern and disgust, letting go of her handkerchief, "Oh no..."
To Be Continued....
Stay tuned for more and share with your friends if you enjoy what you read! Sorry for late release, been occupied. Still trying to figure out this whole scheduling thing. (-_-;)
Have a good day and stay frosty! - EsperTouch