BANG!
Just like so, a small bullet with strange symbols etched onto its surface shot forth, reaching the assumed enemy within less than a second.
The head of Simon's corpse jolted slightly from the bullet's impact, however despite having been hit perfectly between his brows, nothing happened. The body did not cease to move, not even swaying from the impact.
Lara found this sight quite unsettling…
Is… Is that thing even alive?!
The answer should have been obvious upon first sight, and if not, then further upon the sight of the ever increasing decay which the body was experiencing. Whatever the thing before her was, it was clear that it would not remain with the living for long. A smart approach was to simply wait out this inevitable destruction, but the two inspectors were not in the position to do such a thing.
Firstly, they had been sent out to eradicate this issue, not scare it away. Should she allow it to escape successfully, then more people would continue to die. She could never accept such a reality, for if she was someone capable of doing so, then why had she become an Inspector of the NSRA to begin with?
And even beyond that reason, in front of them was an unknown young man, one who was currently being grasped by the eerie monster and having their body decay whilst suffering from some other insidious phenomena.
Lara had no idea who this man was, nor did it matter to her. What mattered was that he was about to die, and she had the ability to prevent that.
Well, they both did…
Immediately upon realizing that her first bullet was ineffective and determining the likely nature of the monster before them, Lara called out.
"Eric!"
"On it!"
From behind her, Eric's swift figure slid past her, then he dashed forward at a superhuman speed. Eric reached the motionless corpse within a second, all while its dead empty eyes followed his movements. Eric heard sudden whispers assault his mind, however his cold focus did not shatter even when exposed to such sudden frenzy.
Leaning his body low, he pulled back his right arm, which was not only clenched in a tight fist but also had blue electricity dancing violently above his skin.
BAM!
His hand shot forward like a harrowing javelin. It impacted the now weakened skull of Simon's corpse with terrible force, completely caving in the corpse's face before the surging electric currents on top of his fists shot forward and further scattered in all directions.
The sound of shattering reverberated, then an electric pulse was heard. Half of the corpse's head had been destroyed, scattered into countless smithereens of charred, shattered, flesh and bone. All that remained was its lower jaw with tongue still writhing like a headless snake.
Eric hoped such an action would be enough to kill this undead monster.
Soon his brows knitted together.
The corpse had staggered back a few steps as a result of the attack, and yet, it failed to fall. It merely regained its balance, and continued to look upon where Eric stood, or at least he thought the monster was attempting to stare upon him.
If nothing else, at least the young man was released from its grip. Eric wanted to check the condition of this unknown person, however he halted at the sight of the corpse moving. It had not attacked, nor did its feet move. All it did was reach out and touch one of the many hanging dismembered body parts. This one of a writhing hand.
That decayed hand was then somehow dissolved into decay which clung onto the rotting corpse and then traveled up to its head. Within just three seconds, a smaller, but upper head side appeared.
"It… Created another head?!"
Eric's confidence wavered, suddenly pensive of fighting this monster when so much hanged flesh was available to it…
He found this enemy eerie, and he felt a deep presence beneath its dead shell.
The corpse then began walking forward, taking more pieces of dismembered body parts which hung throughout the room. It formed a third arm, then grew twice in size.
Step.
Step.
Step.
It walked calmly, its empty eyes locked upon Eric's tall figure.
As it approached him. Eric's frown only deepened. Then with a sudden surge of blue electricity upon his clenched fists he cursed:
"Damn it all, we are too underqualified for this case!"
*****
Upon seeing her partner charge at the enemy monster, Lara did not hesitate to prepare her follow up move. She could determine what action Eric would take, he was quite predictable in regards to battle after all. So much so that their captain had called his technique as:
'The grayest gray there was.'
Lara herself did not consider this trait of his as a bad one. After all, it allowed for such seamless cooperation. She returned her gun to its shoulder holster with her right hand whilst reaching into a hidden pocket in her suit's vest with her left hand.
There she felt a smooth surface and yanked it out, revealing an empty sheet of pure white paper.
BAM!
Just then, the expected attack finally came. Lara saw as the corpse's upper head shattered into pieces, she then dashed forward, doing so fast enough to catch the body of the young man which was suddenly released from the monster's tight grasp.
A powerful, intense aura was consuming his body, rendering him motionless and seemingly within a lot of pain.
Lara was now drenched in that aura. She began hearing voices as well, ones of women, of happy moments, of tearful regrets, of intense hatred, of terrible dread.
It stirred her heart, almost making her fail to do what she had planned. Biting her lips so that blood seeped out and a sharp pain assaulted her, she regained her clarity as her blue eyes stared upon the young man.
His condition was… Not good.
His lower jaw was entirely rotten, with even his jaw bone laid bare for the world to see. That bone also seemed brown, as if from an ancient corpse. His hair had almost completely fallen off, whilst his skin was yellow and covered in deep dark patches of rotten flesh.
And yet, the young man was not only still alive, but seemingly fiercely struggling with the dreadful assault which was ravaging his body.
"Good, don't give up whoever you are! Fight!"
Lara offered sincere words of encouragement, not that he was likely to hear her words amidst his struggle.
She then bit into her finger, drawing blood and using its blood stained tip as a pen to write down a strange symbol on the blank piece of paper which she held. When she was finished, she chanted:
"Oh lord, gracious light, you are the embodiment of purity, a symbol of invincibility and the radiance of the world. Grant me your blessing, protect your follower, grant him your holy grace. On the God Luminous I pray; Repulse!"
The bloodstain on the paper suddenly grew deeper upon the end of her chant before a tangible change occurred as the pure white paper turned into a deep black. Having created the desired effect, Lara then pressed it unto the young man.
The aura which encompassed the young man surged violently, hitting her with tangible force. However soon it could not compete with the power of the pure black paper and slowly, one by one, illusory figures dashed out from the young man's body, only to be disintegrated into nothingness shortly after.
Lara held him as this all unfolded, however her attention was stolen by Eric's sudden tense words.
"Damn it all, we are too underqualified for this case!"
His body was directly before her, blocking her from seeing the current state of the walking undead monster. Whatever it was, she was certain it must not be good since it made the usually calm Eric sound nervous.
You're right though, Inspectors should not be dealing with a monster at this level on our own! Damn it captain, what happened to protocol?! to the rules?!
It was as she lampooned inwardly, her vision elsewhere, that she failed to notice the clarity return to the young man's green eyes, along with lethal sharpness.
"Aack!"
Soon her blue eyes shot open in shock.
The young man which she held had just slashed at her slender neck with a knife, successfully cutting halfway through with frightening ease.