Tatiana Skybrooke
"GOD DAMMIT! KEEP THE LESSER'S AWAY FROM US GUYS!" Tatinia screamed at the men behind her while holding back the maw of an abyss creature of the normal classification. Her hammer seemingly was stronger than its large disgusting teeth, but anyone close could hear the heavily forged weapon creaking and straining under the pressure. 'You think I'll let you crush my precious hammer?' I thought, a small vindictive grin creeping onto my face. The monster that was currently trying to treat my Warhammer as a chew toy was a behemoth when compared to me, im sure at its full height it would be no less than four meters tall, and its hulking weight was overwhelming.
Its beady black eyes radiated with something I could only compare to a hatred similar to my own when our gazes crossed each other. Keeping a tight hold of my weapon handle, I wrenched my body to the right with so much force I thought I'd rip my body in two, then I felt it. The teeth had given way from the sudden pressure my move had exerted on them causing a cacophony of snaps and cracks to flow around me as they broke apart, the broken pieces flew unabated like shrapnel from the weapons of old.
Facing the beast, I showed my own perfectly intact smile, "See, this is what happens when you bite off something your teeth can't chew!" My tone came across as scolding and motherly as if trying to mock the poor creature. I don't think it appreciated my well-meaning Advice.
Quickly moving to the right to dodge the now furious creature as it brought its front paw down with unhindered strength directly beside me, however, my dodge wasn't effective as the force of the blow had still knocked me back into something solid. Looking around to ascertain my current surroundings after being knocked back, I noticed a few of mine and grams men staring at me with awestruck eyes and their mouths agape.
"What?" I said. I couldn't see what could make battle-hardened men such as these have those kinds of expressions.
"A-are...are you ok commander?" One man said with concern and shock written on his face.
Confused, I looked around with an inquisitive glance. It wasn't until I looked behind me that I understood their expressions, crushed against the ground by my own body was a lesser creature. Its once smooth dark fur now covered in its own life's blood, the pained expression on its now dead face showcasing the horror it must've felt when my body was thrown into it.
"Huh...would you look at that...looks like I did your job for ya boys!" I said with a humorous smile, giggling at my joke. I stood up swiftly.
"Well, seeing as how this one is now dead, take your squad and clear the creatures to the left. I have a friend to finish off before I can join Commander Gram."
"Yes ma'am!" They responded before rushing off.
Turning back to face the abomination that was throwing its weight around in a tantrum, I couldn't help but smile in joy at the sight of its bruised and battered body. The clear imprints on its body match my hammer perfectly, filling me with pride. It may seem ridiculous or downright insane to others who could see me right now, I probably looked like a battle-crazed moron who thrived off blood and death. However, they would be wrong. It's not that I thrive on it, I just enjoy a damn good challenge, and this monster has kept me busy for longer than five minutes!
"Hey, buddy! There's no need to stomp and cry. I'm right here!" Yelling out that final jab, I smiled wickedly.
The beast hearing my taunt snapped its head in my direction a look of anger and indignation on its bestial face, the snarl it sent in my direction would have been intimidating...if the poor thing had any teeth left that is. Noticing my lack of fear, it appeared to get more angry and charged directly at me with nothing but murderous rage.
"Tsk."
I raised my hammer above my head in response and widened my stance, bracing my lower body for the swing that I hoped would be the final blow. As it drew closer to me, its speed picking up rapidly, I calmed my breathing and focused all of my essence into the handle and giant head of my hammer. Then, I waited for the poor thing to be within striking range.
"Crack!!"
After the resounding crack from the skull of the beast shattered, a loud squelching noise could be heard as I removed my hammer from its innards. 'Not the cleanest kill I've ever done, but hey, it worked.' I thought tiredly, I wasn't completely spent, but I was nearing complete exhaustion. We've only been fighting for about two hours, and yet it feels like it's been days. What's worse is no one has seen the great abyss creature yet. It's hiding itself in the pack for some reason, but whatever the reason may be, it can't be good.
I made my way deeper into the chaos of battle, ignoring all the lesser creatures around me, as I knew the men under mine and grams divisions were more than capable of killing them. After what seemed like a long-distance sprint, I finally saw the purple tinge of light that indicated grams fight. Arriving just in time to see him bring down his sword which was shaped like a massive cleaver directly onto the neck of a normal creature, effortlessly slicing its head from its shoulders. The beast didn't bleed though, it's wound had already been cauterized by the purple-flamed aura surrounding his blade.
It was a horrifying sight. The lack of blood made the corpse appear more doll-like rather than a murderous creature hellbent on wiping us out.
"I see you are having your fair share of fun gram!" I said to him with a chipper tone, looking at him with a carefree smile. He turned his head slowly to look at me, his face as stiff as stone.
"Oh, it's only you, tatiana. I presume you handle your battle just as easily as I did then?" His response was dry, almost void of any emotion. At least, that's how I would've taken it if I couldn't see the judgment hidden behind his eyes.
"Yeah! It was quite glorious, to be honest. The creature had a lot of fight to it, considering it was only normal rank. It's a shame you weren't there to watch." I replied, shaking my head while feigning disappointment.
"Yes, I'm sure it was "glorious, " but I also think you need to look up that word before using it to describe your battles. I've seen you fight, and it's always barbaric tatiana."
"Hey! That's not a very nice thing to say to a woman, gram, you know that, right?"
"Whatever. Moving on, have you spotted the actual threat, or are you here just to annoy me?" His words came out condescending and cold. 'I guess he doesn't appreciate lovely banter between colleagues as the princess does.' I thought to myself, a smile appearing on my face.
"No, I can't say I have!" My innocent smile must have turned his mood sour because his face had twisted into a look of utter frustration.
"Then why are you here?"
"Oh, simple, I'm going to stay beside you until we do find that abomination. It's smarter to be together when we face it rather than alone, right?"
"I suppose you have a point....very well let's be on our way then." Without even a glance back, he began sprinting forward, leaving me behind instantly. With a small pout, I begrudgingly began running as well. 'So much running...I thought the goal of prolonged fights was to conserve energy?' The thought left my mind quickly as I narrowed my focus, keeping my eyes fixed on the man's back which was honestly hard to do considering it was dark outside the walls and he was also far smaller than me, appearing like a small purple dot in my field of vision.
We ran not stopping once to give the weaker creatures even a small fraction of our time or energy. Remaining as vigilant and on edge as one could while at a full sprint, we circled the battlefield for what felt like the fifth time. As soon as we began the sixth pass however something was noticeably different, the numbers of the lesser creatures had drastically been reduced with only a few remaining, and even those were on the verge of being defeated.
Yet, now that the battlefield had grown more quiet and had far fewer obstructions, we still couldn't find the one thing we were all sent here to kill. 'Did it fucking vanish or what? The damn thing couldn't have though it's almost twelve meters tall...that's pretty fucking hard to hide.' I thought with an exhausted and frustrated mind.
"Stop." Gram ordered while immediately halting his sprint.
"What is it?" I asked while grinding my body to a halt as well, a task made much more difficult thanks to my size and height.
"I don't know...something just doesn't feel right about this situation." He said cautiously.
"You feel the same way then? It is odd how something so huge could hide away, and we both know it wouldn't just turn tail and leave." I replied, my tone was serious as I had abandoned all pretense of joy and playfulness that I usually portrayed. He didn't say anything back to my observation however, instead, he started to expand his aura outward trying to create a dome. The purple flames danced around us excitedly as they moved across the barren soil looking for anything they could potentially feast on.
The range of his aura far exceeded my own but at the cost of losing a majority of their power, the trade-off was worth it however, because they became an extension of his senses allowing him to feel anything within their radius. When his flames surrounded his body and blade though, they were a force to be reckoned with like a flaming suit of armor that would burn away anything that dared to touch him.
It was something I wouldn't personally want to contend with as it would only be a pain in the ass for me. I wasn't blessed like the other division commanders when it came to auras or aura manipulation, mine was based on Earth and its usability in a fight of auras was sorely lacking. Although defensively when I wrapped the armor around my body and hardened it I was almost impossible to damage. That wouldn't stop gram from roasting me out of my shell though. Getting lost in these thoughts I didn't hear gram's warning until It was too late.
"Tatiana dodge!"
Moving almost on instinct rather than rational thought after sensing something attacking me from my right. I tried to roll left in a desperate attempt to evade whatever was sweeping down on me, it was successful but it came at a cost. Feeling a warm and wet sensation flowing down my right side I was scared to look, but after seeing Gram's expression, one that was usually stuck in a sickeningly charming smile or a stone-faced emotionless void turned into something of pure horror, my curiosity won out over the fear.
Turning my head to the right I looked down and saw...nothing.
Nothing remained of my right arm, it was butchered off at my shoulder with brutal and sharp efficiency. The blood flowed like a river breaking free of a dam, but the extent of the damage hadn't stopped there.
Inspecting my horrid wound further I saw that a second gash had claimed the right side of my stomach and chest as well, slicing me open like a macabre science project. My organs were threatening to spill out from the gruesome wound, but I wouldn't have to worry about that seeing as how the thing that attacked me wasn't finished.
Prying my horrified eyes away from myself I looked toward the direction of my attacker, the crater left behind from the strike catching my gaze first. Standing behind said crater was something that made what little color I had left in my face immediately drain away. Shimmering into being was the abyss creature of great purity, its body had only half-formed out of the darkness around us revealing one of its scarlet eyes, and that eye was fixated on the prey it had just failed to kill in one strike. That wasn't the most frightening thing about the monster, however.
'It has an aura...' I thought to myself, feeling my hope and pride die out like the flame of a candle. "TATIANA RUN AWAY!!" Gram was screaming behind me, pleading for me to move, but I couldn't the muscles in my legs seemed frozen stiff, but I also just felt so....weak. The creature noticing my lack of movement immediately began to capitalize on it moving the half of its body I could see with such speed I couldn't even perceive it, and like that, I closed my eyes waiting for the final blow to strike.
"Clang!!!!!"
A deafening sound assaulted my ears, but it was the sound of claws on flesh. It was the sound of those same razor-sharp claws that had pierced my enhanced skin so easily, hitting something metal and solid. Opening my eyes with a bit of reservation I was too stunned to even speak. In front of me was..princess, his blade glowing brightly illuminating everything around us and above it was a paw the size of a house. Attached to that paw were claws longer than I was tall and sharper than anything I'd ever seen, the edges looked so sharp I felt like they'd cut me again just by looking at them.
"C-can you guys stop fucking staring and move! Gram cauterize taitiana's wounds quickly! Then regroup with me I'll hold this thing off for as long as possible!" His voice was strained and the desperation could be heard clear as day. Looking at him one last time before Gram began to pull my half-beaten body away I only had one thought.
'Don't you dare get hurt princess...this time I bet for your safety...'