Stanley arrived at a training yard, where a woman stood. The moment his eyes landed on her, there was no doubt in his mind that she was Beatrice. She was dressed head to toe in an all-black form fitting armor with red runic linings, complete with a cape. Her exposed face was pale, denoting her undead status, yet her hair was bright golden blonde and done up in a long braid that rested over her shoulder.
Her sharp red eyes narrowed as she said, "you are late."
This made him raise a brow "I didn't realize I was on a timer."
Even as he said this, he regarded her with the utmost caution. He had the Hi-Cappa in hand, which he had not used throughout his rampage in the outer castle.
"You met with Rowena just now, didn't you?"
Stanley wasn't particularly perturbed by this question "and what if I did?"
"If you've made it this far with her, then you've bested Miss X."
"And Moira," he added.
That seemed to give the woman a bit of pause "it would seem your notoriety is well deserved."
"I have notoriety?"
"The emissary warned us that you were a warrior of considerable skill."
'What the hell has Ez been saying about me?'
Outwardly, he shrugged "well, I did just trounce your army."
"Indeed," the Dullahan agreed before reaching behind her to brandish an obsidian death scythe, "which is why I won't be underestimating you."
'She says while brandishing a farming tool against a man with guns.'
Yeah, he knows the weapon is like anime, which subscribes to the rule of cool over practicality, but she really did look a little ridiculous with that thing.
"Prepare yourself"
That was all the warning he got before she lunged at him, and suddenly she didn't look so ridiculous. In a literal flash, he brandished the flashlight and shined a wide cone of holy light in her face. To his shock, the Dullahan didn't stop merely grunted as she was enveloped by the holy light but continued with her attack. With a curse, Stanley flicked off the flashlight and dove to the side. He rolled onto his knees and turned to brandish the flashlight again, only to have the bottom end of the scythe knock his hand off course.
"Ow!"
Unfortunately, he couldn't keep a grip and the flashlight was flung away, causing him to panic. As he scrambled back on all fours, Stanley popped off a few shots with his Hi-Cappa and even in his panicked state, he aimed for the head. To his dismay, however, Beatrice didn't so much as flinch as the pellets pinged off of what seemed to be a forcefield protecting her face. He didn't even have time to think of a curse as the woman did an overhead vertical swing down that had Stanley hop back while spreading his legs.
*Crack* went the scythe blade as it lodged into the stone floor just a few inches from his groin.
'Too close!'
Stanley had scrambled to his feet, glancing to the side at the discarded flashlight. He swapped his pistol for another weapon. Meanwhile, Beatrice pulled the scythe from the floor to continue her assault. The blade inched to his neck only to be met and parried by his knife, which took the Dullahan off guard enough for him to get a front kick in. Despite putting all his strength into the kick, Beatrice only stumbled back a few steps, but that was good enough for him.
Stanley ran to the flashlight, looking back in time to see Beatrice catching up to him and ready to swing. He lunged for the flashlight, incidentally missing the blade of the scythe. He managed to grab the artifact and get to his knees, only to freeze and look down to see the tip of the scythe exit his chest from the back.
What.
The.
"Fuck!?"
Stanley felt a coldness seeping through his chest even as his pulse rose before he was pulled along by the scythe blade and tossed to the other side of the training yard. Stanley lay there for a moment, coming to terms with what just happened. In a state of disbelief, but not enough to ignore the rapid clanking footsteps of the armored woman, Stanley scrambled to his feet and once again shined the light upon her. Once again, Beatrice merely flinched as she aimed her next attack at the offending artifact.
*Clang*
And once again, Stanley parried the blade, taking the opportunity to gain distance as he flicked the light off to recharge. Beatrice did not let up, and Stanley was forced on the back foot. In one hand, he held the enchanted combat knife in a forward grip out front, while in the other, he held the flashlight in a reverse grip. For several minutes, Beatrice continued her unrelenting assault; however, the longer she took, the more Stanley adapted. The previous panic he felt ebbed away; his sloppy moves became more polished, and eventually he slipped back into the gamer zone.
As the tip of the crescent blade once again came for him, Stanley dove under her charge and made sure not to take his eyes off of her. This time, instead of casting a wide cone of holy light, his flashlight cast a concentrated beam directly at her face. This had a twofold effect of not only finally breaking the armor enchantment but also blinding the Dullahan herself. For the first time, Beatrice's stoic façade was broken, if only temporarily, as she let loose a brief scream.
For his part, Stanley's celebration of this small victory was internal and very brief. Admittedly, seeing that blade sticking out of his chest, even if it didn't hurt or did any kind of long-lasting damage beyond draining his stamina a bit, put the fear of God in him. Beatrice has proven herself to be the most dangerous enemy he has faced so far with that one stunt.
Case in point, rather than panic and flail about Beatrice's movements became reserved as she used a gauntlet-clad hand to shield her face while backing away. In response, Stanley switched his knife for the Hi-Cappa but kept the flashlight in a tight reverse grip near his chest.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Three consecutive shots rang out: one pinged off her hand, one hit the top of her head, and the other hit her neck. That last one Stanley felt had the Dullahan react by using the hand protecting her face to quickly grab the hem of her cape and used it to shield herself. It was a play straight out of the Batman's book and one that frustrated him more than he liked to admit.
"Son of a..."
He was cut off when Beatrice abruptly lunged at him with an almost inhumanely fast swing. Luckily, Stanley was wound up enough to be twitchy in his reactions and switched the flashlight for his combat knife.
*Clang*
Hasty as it was, Stanley was able to parry the scythe. The action caused his arm to tremble with effort, but he ignored it to shoot at her head once again, letting off three shots. Beatrice swung at the hand holding the gun, only for Stanley to duck, switch the knife for the flashlight, and shine a wide beam. The Dullahan snarled, swinging for his legs, which he hopped over the blade keeping the light stream steady.
Beatrice transitioned that swing into a sharp turn that saw her cape take a sharp swipe at his face. Stanley had to lean back to avoid the cape swipe; however, in doing so, he completely missed the reverse roundhouse kick until an armored, heeled foot slammed into his chest. Stanley wheezed as his back slammed into the wall. He felt his health drop into the metaphorical red as his body slid down the wall to land on his ass.
He coughed a bit but had no time to properly recover as Beatrice was already charging towards him. With his back aching, his mind racing, and his heart thumping, he couldn't get to his feet. Instead, he waited until she was close before swapping out the knife for the flashlight and shining the holy light upon her. In response, Beatrice covered her eyes with her armored wrist, undeterred.
That worked out well for Stanley because, as she got within scythe swinging distance, he switched to the shotgun and blasted her legs. An unprepared Beatrice found herself tripping on buckshot pellets at a speed and angle that saw her face planting on the wall near Stanley. As for the man himself, he quickly rolled out of the way to a kneeling position and saw that she managed to prevent a somewhat embarrassing face injury by catching herself against the wall.
Unfortunately for her, she left herself wide open for a pissed-off Stanley holding a shotgun to her side at near-point blank range. She didn't even have a chance to realize what was happening before Stanley unloaded six shells into her upper body with a focus on her head.
*Bang* *Ka-click*
*Bang* *Ka-click*
*Bang* *Ka-click*
*Bang* *Ka-click*
*Bang* *Ka-click*
*Bang* *Ka-CLICK*
As the last round was unloaded, Stanley swapped weapons once again and whipped out the flashlight at the Dullahan, who had taken to curling in a fetal position to weather the onslaught, taking care to cover her exposed head. As the light shone upon her, however, she chose to act, taking the scythe in a desperate swing as she rolled to her feet once again, using her cape to once again shield herself from the light.
*Thump*
Beatrice looked down as something rolled past her cape shield to bounce against her planted knee. It was a long cylinder, but octagonal in shape, and made from a black material she'd never seen before. The 'face' had wording imprinted on it that spelled out STORM, with the 'O' taking the shape of a tornado. Despite her confusion, she'd already moved to distance herself the moment she laid eyes on it. Unfortunately for Dullahan, it was far too late for that.
*BOOM*
The world seemingly slowed as Beatrice witnessed the top of the object—no, the weapon—open and began to spew those tiny beads that had been the ammunition for the man's weapons. Unlike before, however, the force was much stronger as the weapon seemingly exploded. As the pellets impacted her, Beatrice could not help but let loose a scream as she felt the things rip into her armor, which had been significantly weakened by the man's onslaught.
The impact also launched the Dullahan away, and as she landed on her back, Beatrice took a moment to get her bearings. Thanks to her training, she didn't let go of her weapon even after that ordeal. She managed to get to her knees when
*Bang*
"…!"
The hand holding her weapon was hit, causing her to drop it, and before she could retrieve it, her neck guard was hit, damaging the metal literally protecting her most debilitating weakness. More heavy and precise shots kept hitting her neck and head area, causing the Dullahan to stop, drop, and roll away. Coincidentally she did so away from her weapon which she only realized belatedly. She only stopped once the shots did, at which point she rolled to her feet, ready to face her opponent, only to find him sprinting towards her with a knife and flashlight in hand.
Once again, she was hit by the holy light, and this time it did elicit a scream of pain from her, however brief it was. Despite this, she gritted her teeth and waited for him to get closer before springing into action. Unfortunately, she underestimated both his relatively small size and speed as the man deftly dove under attempts to grapple to get behind her. Once there, he swung his arm just under her thigh, ignoring his face pressed just above her rear, and proceeded to bodily flip them into a suplex.
"AAH!"
Beatrice flailed and screamed as her world was literally turned upside down. As the back of her head met the hard ground, the damaged neck guard got completely destroyed, causing the sharp impact to loosen the tentative hold of her detachable head, sending it rolling away from her body. As Stanley rolled away from his now headless body, he got to his feet in time to see demon energy explode from an open neck hole like a geyser. Stanley got to his feet, branding his flashlight and Hi-Cappa as he regarded the body; however, it did not move.
Beatrice's voice broke up the silence "it appears you've bested me."
Stanley sharply turned to find Beatrice's head looking at him with a frown.
"It looks like it" he replied keeping one eye on the head even as he maneuvered himself towards Beatrice's discarded weapon.
"You should be proud," the head continued.
He arrived at the weapon and flashed it with a concentrated beam of holy light that made the red sigils etched on the blade tremble before losing their glow. He then kicked it out of reach from her body and head.
This did not please Beatrice at all "that was uncalled for."
"Stop acting like you can't control your body like that."
"Tch"
"Yeah, I ain't no fool."
"Clearly," she sighed before glaring at him, "well, get on with it."
He closed the distance toward her while keeping her body in his peripheral vision.
"Before that, do you mind answering some questions for me?"
"You are the victor here, so I am compelled to do as you wish."
He almost rolled his eyes at that and the only reason why he didn't was because there wasn't a speck of innuendo in her words.
"I heard you collected weapons like this," he said, waving his pistol. "Where are they?"
Beatrice frowned "they were taken by Eileen in exchange for outfitting my subordinates and me with enchanted armor."
'Eileen'
"The Lich?"
"Yes"
His frown became pronounced, 'That could be a problem.'
"What does she want with them?"
"I know not," Beatrice answered. "Eileen has always been fascinated with what she refers to as 'Magitech' and is always studying the craft along with her usual magic."
'That sounds more Gremlin than Lich.'
In which case he could be dealing with a Karl Heisenberg situation from RE:8.
'Fucking cyborg Zombies or some shit.'
"Thanks for the info."
"You are welcome, Sir Stanley."
'That fucking name'
"Though I am not happy with the outcome, it was a splendid battle. I am content."
Stanley nodded and pointed the gun at her forehead.
"GG Beatrice."
*Bang*