"Are you lost?" He asked. He was around the same height as Astrid. Wearing a helmet, a bulletproof vest and three black stripes over his face, he looked no different than all the other ones. Except for the fact that he was speaking English fluently. "The commander says a posh girl like you is supposed to be outside the city. I can have someone escort you outside the danger zone."
"No-" She spoke and took a step forward. The others suddenly shuddered, but the commander shook his head, allowing her to get close to the man. "-you don't understand. You have to let me touch the Frontier entrance. All hell will break loose if you are not prepared until they arrive."
He scoffed and then licked his lips. "Listen to me while I am still being nice." He spoke and took a confident step forward. "You don't want these guys to capture you as a criminal and put you in barracks. You'd rather wish to die than stay alive. It's clear you are lost, separated from your parents…" as he talked, a jolt of pain went down Astrid's chest at the mention of her parents. "...and you do sound kind of delusional as well. If you had such capability, we'd know." He continued and then placed his hand on her shoulder.
And then his vision changed. Everything turned upside down. Grabbing him by his wrist, she had turned and twisted it, throwing him over her shoulder. The smirks on everyone's faces were still there and the situation had barely registered to them.
Except the commander.
*bam!*
Pressing the trigger, he shot at Astrid. Tilting her head to the side, the bullet whistled past her ear, severing a few strands of her hair before eventually following back and hitting the commander's own subordinate in the neck. The man fell down and flailed his arms and legs, like a fish out of water. His hands clutched at his neck for a few seconds as everyone watched with a petrified interlude.
As the gushing pool of blood slowly reached their feet and the man stopped moving with his eyes wide open and staring at his comrades as if he had seen a ghost, only then was when the whole situation registered to them.
Astrid's inner euphoria transitioned from 'I am so freaking cool!' to a chilling wave of pure, frigid horror as the man drowned in a pool of his own life blood. Placing a hand over her mouth, she gagged before throwing her guts out, the acidic bile burning her throat and blurring her vision as the sight of a dead body was too much for her.
The commander rushed forward and while she was still on all fours, spilling out, he kicked her in the gut. She rolled to her side, clutching her abdomen.
The heavy rumble of a snarl filled the air. Barking orders to his men, he made them focus at the entrance while he himself placed his knee at Astrid's back before cuffing her hands behind her back. Arcanum spilled like a tidal wave from her primary node and the shackles on her arms exploded as she broke free. Twisting her body she immediately stood up, the sudden action throwing the commander—who had mounted her—a few yards away.
A split second later, the familiar snarl was followed by a green-ish blur that whisked the commander away.
Before his half-formed gasp could fully escape his lips, Astrid's eyes widened with an unbridled fear as she watched the quadrupedal creature—its jaw laced with shark-like teeth closing like a hydraulic press—tear through the commander's body with an unrestrained savageness, rending him in half with a sickening crunch of bones and odious squelch of flesh ripping and punctured organs spilling down.
Before it even fully landed, the lower half of the commander's body was already swallowed.
As soon as it landed, its long snout probed for the commander's middle section. As she took in a deep, trembling breath and fought back the urge to look away, a shout cut through the air.
"OPEN FIRE!" The man who was talking to Astrid screamed atop his lungs. The soldiers—monetarily rattled—ignored Astrid altogether and opened fire at it.
The soldiers' faces were etched with grim determination and morbid fear at the same time as they heeded the call without hesitation.
The rifles recoiled back in tandem, the muzzle flashing lighting up the entire area. In that light, Astrid saw it. The hollow sockets, misplaced eyes and the three tattoo like scars on their forehead.
The air became acrid with the stench of gunpowder as the soldiers unleashed a barrage of firepower on the quadrupedal monster. The tanks began to move around, aiming at the monster that was still tearing the commander to bits and pieces while taking the full brunt of the rifles from the foot soldiers and machine guns from the stationed personnel at a higher vantage point.
Astrid instinctively covered her ears. She crouched down, hugging her knees to her chest and pressing her palms against the ears, trying her best to shield herself from the ear numbing cacophony of shots. Each gunshot felt like a hammer blow to her senses, reverberating through her skull with bone-jarring intensity.
Arcanum surrounded her body in a thick veil of multiple protective layers.
However, the Arcanum layering did little to dampen the rapid, staccato rhythm of the deafening shots fired by multiple arms. She was still in training. She could barely augment her body enough in places where there were nodes. Augmenting an area that had no node was practically impossible for her.
The metallic clang of spent shell casings hitting the ground only added to the discordant battle.
The bullets flew through the air with a sharp whizzing sound, hitting the monster's tough skin with a heavy thud.
"RELOAD!!! SNIPERSSSS!!!!! COVERRRR!" The same man shouted once again as the foot soldiers and stationed machine gun users started to quickly reload their guns while reverberating shots started to assault the creature. The metallic clinks of ammunition being loaded into guns rumbled through the air.
While they were reloading, Astrid stood up, her eyes glowing in an azure shade. "Oh hell no…" She mumbled as she turned her head towards the man who had talked to her before. Without a second thought, she jumped at him and pushed him away as the wide maw of the creature jumped in from the rising smoke, seemingly completely unharmed.
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The gaping maw of the monster closed in on her shoulder and dug into the dense layer of Arcanum, stopping just an inch before gnashing into her flesh.
"Urgh—eek…" Astrid tried to push it away however the Wujin pinned her feet down with its long limbs. "GAHH!" She let out a pained gasp, the immense weight of the creature taking its toll on her body. The long snout and the dentition clobbered heavily against the shield of Arcanum, being the only thing that kept the monstrosity from ripping her face apart.
Astrid glanced over in the man's direction who had halted the fire. He had a conflicted expression over his face. Despite the small scuffle, she was still a human. As his emotions became more and more visible over his features, Astrid gulped audibly. However, it fell on dull ears due to the adrenaline coursing through her body.
She looked in his direction, giving him a knowing nod once. The shield of Arcanum started to flicker away, as a tear ran through her eye. I'm sorry, Arthur…
The man ordered and the tank with HEAT shells pointed at Astrid. She closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the inevitable fate. The propellant lit up, generating a high-pressure gas that propelled the HEAT shell out of the barrel at high velocity, making the whole tank recoil that left a dent into the road
As the aerodynamic bullet spun through the air and made its way towards Astrid and the Wujin atop her, who was still mindlessly trying to rip her apart, she saw it in slow motion. The slowly approaching death. She gulped and let out a loud moan. "Eeerrggghhh!" She willed the last bits of her remaining strength into her limbs and tried to hold the Wujin by its lower body and stood up, redirecting it directly towards the incoming HEAT shell.
The entire world seemed to fall into slow motion. Her tears were suspended in the air as her life flashed before her eyes. I failed him…
A thin spark of lightning flashed in her azure eyes and a small dagger dug into the Wujin's eye. It's hold over Astrid's body loosened up. With the sudden change in force, she lost control of her body and fell back.
A person flashed right in front of her. His long white hair was loose and it blew like a flag. Scooping her up at a blinding speed, he immediately got her away from the blast radius. At the same time, the nose of the HEAT shell made contact with the Wujin's body.
Simultaneously, the shell's fuze was activated, triggering the explosive charge, detonating and creating a focused jet of superheated metal. A plasma jet was created as a result and before the Wujin could even screech in pain, it melted its body.
Its huge form twitched as the scalding plasma jet found its mark, engulfing the creature in a seething inferno prison of molten metal.
The air was suddenly filled with the acrid stench of burning flesh and charred bone as the creature's skin began to blister and bubble. The heat intensified, searing through layers of flesh and sinew. Its body that had endured an onslaught of one of the best rifles and machine guns without a scratch withered and blackened, tendrils of smoke curling upwards.
As the flames consumed its outer shell, the creature's bones began to warp and twist, their metal-natured composition failing against the heat that burnt the soldiers' breath.
The skeletal frame began to buckle and deform, crimson rivulets of molten metal cascading down its twisted form as they began to liquefy, getting reduced to a glistening pool of crimson-red liquid.
After a few seconds, all that remained was a charred, smouldering crater.
However, this victory was not without collateral. Dozens of soldiers were lying in the mess as well, not faring any better than the monstrosity. Reduced down to mere ashes.
Michael looked down at Astrid who was tightly clutching his sweater, her face hidden and her entire body trembling. A huge cloak of pure Arcanum covered them. Despite the explosives used in this particular HEAT shell not being potent enough, it had still managed to destroy and obliterate everything in its path. Amidst the 40 metres blast radius of molten asphalt and many other things, Arthur's form was the only unharmed thing.
He was staring down at the Wujin, his eyes glowing.
"Alright, scaredy cat, it's done now." Michael groaned, flicking the backside of Astrid's head. As she looked up and saw Michael looking down at her, his hair dishevelled all over his face, she immediately pardoned herself. With a blush over her face, she looked down.
"Sorry."
"Hah?!" He was about to talk in his usual tone, however, looking at how Astrid was still trembling from the whole turn of events, he shut his mouth. "It's alright." He spoke.
He's not as bad as I thought he would be…
"But please, fuck off now."
Or maybe not… but he still saved my life.
"Thanks for saving m—" Her sentence was cut midway as Michael shook his hand, as if shooing her away.
Normally she would've taken offence to this kind of behaviour. However, she wasn't in a sane headspace at that moment. All her mind kept thinking of was the gnarly form of the monster hungrily trying to devour her and the incoming tank shell which would've obliterated. Blown her to pieces.
She took a step back and collided into something. Turning around, she saw Arthur, looking straight into her eyes. "You seem a little roughed up." He spoke before tucking the stray locks of her hair behind her ear. Looking at the torn piece of fabric over her shoulder and then at the shoe mark on her middle section, he sighed. "But now won't be the good time to go shopping for a replacemen—"
As he was talking, she let her body weight lean forward, letting her head rest on Arthur's chest. Coming to a still and standing firmly, he supported her weight. For a few moments they stayed silent. However, just as Astrid sniffled, Arthur patted her head. "It's alright now." He reassured, correcting the frayed ends of her hair. Her crying only intensified as she wrapped her hands around him.
"I was so scared." She hiccupped, speaking between tears. "I thought I was going to die."
"Well… you were."
"I thought…" She sniffled once again, "...about how disappointed you would be. In me. After everything you did for me, I ended up not being able to return anything."
Arthur stood silent for a while, patting her head consolingly. Michael looked away and walked towards the clamouring soldiers who were marching near the blast radius.
"It was a miscalculation on my part." Arthur replied after a moment of silence. "I shouldn't have let you go. Not when I knew you had not manifested any offensive property of your Arcane Art." He continued and then removed her head from his chest, cupping her face into his palms. "You don't have to feel that way. I am not disappointed. I can't be. It's not your fault."
Despite holding her face in a way that she would meet his eyes directly, she kept her eyes low, not looking him in the eye. "Mhmm…" she hummed. Letting her go, he took off his overshirt and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Stand there. I will be right back." Lightly ruffling her hair, he walked away.
She hobbled slightly to the side, the rushed events that happened—from her almost getting imprisoned, first time seeing someone die right in front of her eyes, in such a grotesque way at that, the fear of the Wujin almost biting her face. The fear of death and not even having a body intact for a proper send off later on. But most of all, the fear of disappointing the one person she had vowed to give everything that belonged with her to him—making her dizzy.
She walked behind Arthur for a few steps and then turned around, slumping over a huge piece of stone. Letting out a long breath, she placed her face into her palms and hiccupped once again, breathing a sigh of relief.
Michael was talking to the soldiers. Or rather arguing.
As Arthur approached them, he stood by Michael's side and glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "Something wrong?"
With a scowl, he replied, without turning his head towards Arthur. "The bastards are saying that if we are really here for help, what's the fucking code name." He spoke with a disbelieving voice. "What fucking code? And why do 'I' of all people have to prove it? I can just smack their faces in—"
As he was talking, Arthur turned towards them. "Os Poucos."
Hearing that the soldiers started talking to each other before nodding. They relaxed and flung the strap attached to their rifles around their shoulders.
As if struck by lightning, Michael cringed. "What a shit name that is. Os Poucos? For fuck's sake. And—"
"Maria was the one who came up with it. Not me. She referred to herself but apparently all of us are Os Poucos now."
Grumbling, he looked away. "It isn't that bad then, I guess."
With something that could only be discerned as a scoff, Arthur mumbled under his breath. "Sure it isn't now."