By the time they had reached the edges of the fight, it had already begun. Monsters were tearing into soldiers, and soldiers were tearing into monsters.
It was all a free for all fight, every man for themselves. Crystal closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, just the way her father had taught her. Immediately, she felt the calming effects of the technique. It didn't get rid of the nerves, it didn't get rid of the perplexing jittery excitement that took hold of her body, but it did help. Just a little.
Before she could convince herself not to, she ran into the fight. Elias and the others were right on her heels, preparing themselves.
She didn't know if she was going to come out of this alive. The only thing she had going for her was a sense of… familiarity with the sword she wielded. She couldn't explain it, only that it allowed her to fight much more proficiently than she should have been able to.
Directly in front of Crystal, a strange creature was crawling towards her at a shocking pace. She observed it, trying to study it as best she could.
It was like a centipede, but much, much larger than any bug Crystal had ever seen on Earth. The creature was 3 meters long, and just barely came up to her knee in height. On its face, terrifyingly sharp mandibles clacked over and over again, like it was taunting her. Its beady eyes were a black hole of light, but somehow, Crystal could feel its gaze on her. It felt so gross to have that thing staring at her, that a murderous light ignited within her, burning deep within her torso.
The creature had dense plating on its back, like a segmented shell. Crystal had no doubt that she would never be able to break through that plating in a significant way, not while the centipede was trying to kill her.
She gritted her teeth, clenching her jaw. Bracing herself, she waited for the creature to reach her.
When the creature was only a meter away, it suddenly jumped up, lifting all of its weight off its front legs. Now, instead of simply being on the ground, its face, and mandibles, were at chest height.
Crystal stepped back, before sneering in disgust. She lashed out with her sword, catching the underside of the centipede, where there would be no armor to protect its soft insides.
She grinned in victory, waiting for the satisfying feeling of her sword sinking into the disgusting creature.
Except… it didn't come. Instead, her sword bounced off the centipede, throwing sparks into the sand. Her arms felt numb from the aftershock of the strike.
"Hey! Did you forget everything we learned?? Go for the face!"
Elias' voice was panicked, and Crystal snapped her head towards him. He was standing with his sword deep inside of the centipede's face, just above the mandibles. The centipede was dead.
She blushed, turning her head back towards the center of the fight.
"Thanks."
They had a few seconds of respite, but already, more monsters were crawling towards them. Another one of the centipede creatures, and an additional wolf racing ahead of it.
Cole and David stepped in front of Elias and Crystal, allowing them a second more to rest.
The wolf lunged forward, its jaws clamping around David's sword. Before Cole could help him, the centipede launched itself on him, claws extended.
Crystal dashed forward, skirting around the two fighters to the flank of the wolf. Elias took off towards the centipede. She brought her sword back, ready to slam it into the unsuspecting wolf's stomach.
As if it knew she was there, the wolf suddenly pushed off of David, disengaging itself. Crystal stumbled back in surprise, as the wolf snarled at her.
She glanced at David, who was panting from the exertion of holding off the wolf. The wolf was still snarling at the two of them.
Was it worried? The behavior she had seen before showed how little these creatures valued their lives, simply throwing themselves at humans when they could. Now, this one was showing fear in the face of two of them.
Whatever the case, Crystal wasn't about to let this chance go. She rushed towards the wolf, raising her sword above her head. When she did, she… well, she couldn't explain the feeling. It was like she could see exactly where her sword needed to be, and how she could do it. It wasn't precognition, because this only applied to her sword. It was more like something was guiding her movements, leading her into the best path.
Her swing struck true, slamming into the wolf's jaw. It was thrown away, but was still very much alive. It struggled to its feet, before beginning to back away. Before Crystal or David could react, the wolf turned on its feet and sprinted away.
Crystal straightened up, breathing heavily. David walked up beside her, staring at the retreating wolf.
"Do they… normally do that?"
David looked worried. He mumbled something under his breath, but Crystal couldn't catch what he said.
She looked for Elias and Cole, who were standing over a dead centipede. Elias looked up at her, then over towards the main fight.
"We… we're going over there, right?"
Elias sounded nervous. Crystal took a few deep breaths before responding. She didn't want to risk her life in this ridiculous war… but at the same time, some part of her really did want to go. Or maybe that was just part of this stupid situation manipulating her.
"Of course we are."