One step, two steps, three steps back; Silas shut off his Aura Sensing Art and the window returned to darkness. Whatever it was in there was powerful, albeit seemingly unaware of its surroundings. If he had just walked in, he could imagine a quick death.
He kept his eyes trained on the window and the Apothecary door, making sure it didn’t suddenly start moving around inside. If it did, he’d run as fast as he could in any direction. Silas couldn’t see its figure at all through the dark, just its blinding aura.
Another step back and Silas drew the Noble Eye. His other hand grabbed one of his new throwing knives as he continued backing up slowly into the middle of the street. For a moment he became keenly aware of everything- the weak sunlight struggling to pierce through the fog, the salty taste in the air and the faint sound of waves crashing against the cliff beneath Ironside.
His right hand twitched. He felt its presence before he saw it- his gaze snapped upwards towards a roof, locking eyes with a Screecher. Its long tongue hung off of the rooftop whilst its stomach visibly churned; he saw it moving through its transparent abdomen.
Silas wasn’t fast enough. The creature’s mouth opened up a full one hundred and eighty degrees and let out a terrible scream just before Silas threw his knife. Powered by blood energy, the knife pierced straight through its neck and left only dangling pieces of flesh that barely kept it from being decapitated as it fell over, dead.
Overpowering his shades of blue, purple light filled his eyes as he turned back towards the Apothecary. A deep, heavy growl resonated from within the store, then stopped. Silas’ eyes narrowed, levelling the Noble Eye with his chest.
Stillness.
For only a few seconds. Then the bestial roars echoed out as the patrolling mutants heard the screech. Silas didn’t even register that though; he watched the door shatter into pieces as something charged through it. Splinters flew past him, one of which sliced his right temple right above the frame of his glasses.
The creature followed, no slower than the splinters as it rushed straight for the Nightweaver. In a brilliant flash of violet, the fear energy burst from his eyes with a shout. “Stop!”
He felt the energy dissipate from his eyes alongside a significant portion of his reserves, just for an instant of opportunity. The world practically slowed to his perception and the Noble Eye cried out for its wielder. A blaze escaped the barrel followed by a crack like thunder.
Silas heard the dull thud of the bullet's impact before the creature collided with him, sending him flying back into the building on the other side of the street and similarly through its door.
Thankful for the fact he forced the creature to stop and thus slow down, Silas coughed up blood as he rolled over on the floor. If that thing’s momentum hadn’t been slowed down, he’d likely be red mist.
Every single fucking thing in his body ached as Silas slowly stood up, rapidly mobilizing his blood energy to heal what it could as soon as it could. Through the empty doorway, he saw it steadily walking towards him.
It must have been nearly five feet tall at the withers. Short grey fur covered its entire body with long, sharp claws that dug into the stone as it moved and head sized paws. As it growled, it exposed sharp jagged teeth and a long swaying tail behind it. Whereas Silas could describe the rest of its body as wolf-like, the ears and snout reminded him of a golden retriever. Its verdant green eyes stared him down like he was prey.
Silas once again aimed the Noble Eye at it, sensing a hint of confusion in the creature’s eyes with a small tilt of its head. Five shots rang out and deafened Silas as they echoed off the walls. Four bullets smashed their way through the canine’s thick skin and black blood poured out. The fifth shot its left ear off clean.
Then he holstered the revolver and weakly drew the Black Iron Blade from its rag. Silas met its gaze and noticed the same hint of confusion still in its expression. When fear energy coursed through his eyes once more, turning them purple, he saw the beast tense up.
It’s confused? Silas’ musings were interrupted by the screams coming from the street, a silver tide of flesh suddenly ramming into the mutant wolfdog. The Voiceless had heard the Screechers call and they arrived in a dozen.
With a swipe of its paws the wolfdog crushed a Voiceless’ head, staining its fur black. It took a large step forward and opened its mouth wide, predicting where another Voiceless would run and catching it mid-sprint within its teeth. The mutant’s head popped like a cherry within the wolfdog’s mouth, leaking grey matter and blood.
Even so, the beast’s gaze remained stuck on him. Every step it took was to get closer to Silas. It snapped its teeth into a Voiceless’ chest and shook its head, furiously ripping its spine from its body alongside chunks of its arm.
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But the Voiceless were fast and many. When one brutally fell, three more sped past whilst their nails drew long gouges across the wolfdog’s skin. They attacked the existing wounds over and over, aiming for its weak spots with reckless abandon. Silas paled at the idea that the Voiceless were growing stronger, not recalling any intelligence shown by them prior.
They were learning how to hunt.
And yet there were simply not enough of them. Wounds accumulated on the beast’s body and blood formed a trail in its wake but it did not slow down. Silas had long pulled the Noble Eye back out and reloaded it.
Six more shots out the doorway. Latching onto another Voiceless with its mouth, the wolfdog blocked a couple of the bullets and staggered back as the other four once again lodged themselves deep within its body. It howled, forced to swipe out another paw at a Voiceless that nearly ripped its eye out.
Silas didn’t care about saving ammo or the noise, he simply continued loading the Noble Eye and firing aimlessly into the group of mutants. His ears were ringing in pain and the blood energy did its best to fix his ribs back into place.
He had to weaken it as much as possible before it reached him. Silas couldn’t run, he was confident it was faster. His confidence lied only in his reaction speed. Another six bullets were loaded and another six fired.
The wolfdog howled and smacked another Voiceless to the ground just as all six bullets hit it head on. Nearly twenty holes in its form bled as numerous cuts and slashes dug deep, some exposing its bones. The force sent it stumbling back, giving the Voiceless just enough time to swing its arm around and drag its nails through the wolfdog’s eye.
With a whimper and then a snarl the wolfdog brought its massive paw down and crushed the Voiceless’ skull. Only then did Silas finally holster the Noble Eye again, this time for good. No Voiceless were left, and the other mutants would take too long to catch up. It could be minutes before they did.
Its eye closed, the beast limped forward towards Silas. The Nightweaver had to do his best not panic, the Nightmare Seed depriving him of his fear as best it could. Its hide was too strong for even the bullets to adequately harm it. The Voiceless hurt it, but only by capitalising on existing wounds. He didn’t have their speed, but he had more power.
He also had no idea how to use a saber. Lifting up the Black Iron Blade, he stood in a simple horse stance with his left foot in front of the other. The wolfdog’s one eye narrowed before its hulking figure rushed at Silas. As it squeezed through the doorway, Silas dropped and rolled to the side, barely avoiding its massive paw that destroyed the hardwood floor.
Silas had to get it against one of the walls somehow before it did the same to him. He stood, brought his torso low and swung the blade upwards with a step forward and the beast stepped back to avoid it.
Gnashing its teeth, the wolfdog moved towards him and opened wide for another bite. Silas’ hand shifted and for a second time, the purple light drained from his eyes. “Stop!”
The beast froze in place with its mouth open and in that moment, however brief, Silas’ spare hand grabbed a throwing knife and flicked. The small piercing blade flew into the creature’s gaping maw, stabbing into the top of its mouth. Once the command wore off, the bite resumed and forced the knife even deeper as its mouth shut hard.
Howling in pain, it threw another paw at Silas with utmost fury and he had to roll back to avoid getting his bones turned to powder. He had enough reserves now for one more Order. That’s it. He needed it to open up a chance for a killing blow.
It’s bite was out of commission until it got the knife out somehow, now it was just the paws. If he could either get it’s eyes or at one if it’s wounds, he could maybe kill it. Silas leapt backwards again to avoid its rampaging paws.
Silas wasn’t sure what to do. The beast was wary of him already. It was too obvious when he used his Order, it was constantly on guard. He could simply not fill his eyes first, but then it would consume so much energy he wouldn't have been able to do it again.
As the fear energy accumulated in his eyes, Silas’ expression turned grim. He needed to force an opportunity. The space was small. Its attacks were so fierce that it couldn’t pull them back easily. He needed to move right as its palm fell downward..
Then he slipped on the debris. A single broken plank caused his ankle to roll as he stepped back. He lost balance as a massive paw came sweeping at him from his left, sending him flying into the brick wall. His blood energy instantly failed to keep several of his ribs from breaking, his left shoulder dislocated.
He gasped for breath on the floor, his eyes trained on the beast while it approached him. Silas narrowly dodged its overhead paw swing as he stood up, his eyes locking with its own. The purple light drained for the final time as he made the last command. “Stop!”
Just before its paw hit the ground, the beast froze in place for just a second or two. Even so, this provided Silas the chance to step forward, next to its neck. Just as he raised the Black Iron Blade high over his head, the beast broke free and its paw landed on the ground. His arm shined bright red, veins bulging as blood energy filled it with strength.
As the beast pulled its body away, Silas stepped forward. It lifted its paw to step away but he had already brought the blade down towards its neck. The blade didn’t shine, slicing through the air before it cut into the creature’s flesh, spraying Silas with black blood.
It roared out in pain, struggling to turn its neck to snap at him with the blade embedded into its nape. He stepped back to avoid a bite, coughing up blood as he did so. With a grunt that stifled even more blood, he leapt up onto the wolfdog’s back and held his legs tight to its sides. With every one of its movements his body shook, the pain from his ribs like a searing light in his mind.
He clenched his fist and slammed his hand down against the dull edge of the blade, punching down over and over. With every strike the saber was driven deeper and deeper into this creature’s neck until finally it hit something solid. The flesh began to part around the blade, keeping the dull edge exposed for Silas to hammer away.
Then the solid gave way and the saber was driven through the beast's spine. It fell haphazardly to the ground beneath him as its head lost control of its body. His hand was fucked, badly mangled and practically torn to shreds. His knuckles were practically shattered yet he willed them to move anyways.
Silas slid off of the creature’s back and onto his feet, listlessly stumbling towards the side of its head. Not in front of it, knowing it could still snap its teeth at him. He stood next to its eye, bringing out a throwing knife. Silas gripped it tight as his spirit cried out in pain. With a forceful push, the knife went straight through its eye and dug into the brain.