“It’s not working…” Claire said through gritted teeth, huffing from her nose with dropped shoulders.
“We can always stop and go for some drinks, maybe food?” Sovereign’s voice suggested through the PA system.
After a swift recovery from a broken arm and injuries caused by her encounter with King, the lieutenant returned to headquarters and continued her rigorous training regimen to gain total control of the spectral gear. Despite having retained her previous skill and knowledge however, Claire was met with a barrier that prevented from her further mastering the power of the demons.
The long hours of training and physical exertion brought the lieutenant to her knees, panting with a face drenched in sweat. Different types of training dummies could be seen around her, spread all over the large arena at the center of the room. Its dark walls of steel were illuminated by the bright lights installed within them, combined with the spotlight in the ceiling that focused on the tired girl under it.
“One more…” she said, lifting herself back up. “I know it will work this time.”
“That, or you’ll just pass out from overexertion.” Sovereign told her. “I’m the boss around here, remember? The training grounds are closed for today.”
“What?”
“But you know what’s not closed? The mixed baths, how about w—” a loud bang that echoed all across the training grounds abruptly interrupted the young man’s suggestion, making him duck his head and raise both brows with surprise. “I mean… it was just a suggestion…”
With an exasperated sigh, Claire let go of her grip from both pistols and vanished them into thin air like a magic trick—leaving a few crimson particles of light floating around before dissipating themselves. Though displeased by her performance, the lieutenant came to back to her senses quickly as forcing her gear to obey would not bring any positive results. She turned towards a one-way mirror installed in the upper half of one of the rooms walls, where Sovereign observed her training from.
“You’ve been there for hours,” she told him. “Shouldn’t you be working on something important?”
“Hah,” the young man chuckled. “What could be more important than this?”
“I made no progress again…”
“You are still thinking about them as if they were a weapon,” Sovereign calmly explained. “Think of them as a sentient being, someone willing to help you and who will always be at your disposal.”
“Hmm…”
“How about this, think of your gear as another member of Bloodhound. Would you treat Scott, Tori, or Eric in the same way you do the gear?”
“That makes no sense…” replied Claire while crossing her arms.
“It does to me…” Sovereign stated. “Sooner or later, you’ll figure it out on your own, but for now you should go take a shower. I’ll go check the mess hall and bring some food to your room… any preferences?”
Northern Region of the Deadlands, 936, December 31st, Monday, 2:00 AM.
“That didn’t help me at all…” Claire whispered with a sad frown while slowly opening her eyes.
She was surrounded by the dark shadows of the Deadlands, enveloped in the thick crimson fog that traveled peacefully through the wind. After her ride back towards Cerberus was interrupted by the fearsome knight of the order, Claire found herself stranded in place as reaching her destination proved a nearly impossible task—circling around the same areas no matter how far she rode.
Her mind could not be taken off the girl that hid inside her spectral gear either, as Loki’s intervention revealed Lucy’s presence within Juno&Jupiter. The lieutenant called out to her many times, claiming not to be angry as the girl never offered a response once returning to the spectral gear.
“Lucy…” she tried to communicate with the girl. “I know I left you in that truck back at headquarters. I have no idea how you… well, do what you do, but I need you to talk to me. I’m worried about you, alright? This isn’t a place for you to be.”
A few seconds of silently passed, only disturbed by the whistling sounds of the wind. “Angry?” the girl finally spoke with a shy question.
“Of course not,” Claire replied with a smile, placing one hand in her hips.
At her calm and pleased response, Lucy’s body materialized with the help of the crimson fog to stand in front of Claire, quickly jumping forward to wrap her arms around her leg with a hug. Just as happy to see her, the lieutenant reciprocated with a tight embrace by lifting the girl off the ground before rubbing Lucy’s nose with hers.
“I told you I wasn’t mad.”
“Escape?”
“Yes, we need to get out of here bef—” the lieutenant’s eyes quickly shifted to the side with an alarmed expression.
From the very corner of her eye, Claire caught the sudden movements of a lurking beast within the crimson fog. The ambushing demon would not wait to perform his first strike, as it suddenly leaped out of the shadows with gleaming black claws—revealing its gaunt humanoid appearance.
In a quick reaction to save her life, the lieutenant jumped out of the creature’s way while pushing Lucy closer to her chest to protect her from the fall. The impact with the grounded lifted a small cloud of dust as Claire’s back hit the dirt, managing to turn her fall into a roll that would aid her in moving further away from the creature—almost instantly landing back on her feet.
“Go back, Lucy.” She commanded the girl while gently lowering her into the ground, a decision she came to regret merely a couple of seconds after.
Before Claire could have time to call for her pistols, the sounds of a second specter approaching from behind instantly caught her attention as a gasp escaped her lips. She turned quickly to look from over her shoulder, settling her startled ambers in the long, open mouth of a reptilian monster.
The powerful beast displayed the intimidating size of an adult person despite its animalistic features, like an overgrown iguana of black armored scales, and a crimson glow that ran through the veins inside its fissured body. Claire’s notably honed reflexes would prove enough to save her from certain death by the hands of the demon, as she allowed her legs to spread on each side to perform a perfect split, causing the specter to fly above her head while smacking its teeth together with an empty bite.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Ack!” Claire grunted as her legs spread completely into a straight angle, forcing herself to stand with a quick jump.
“Aaah!” Lucy screamed from behind the lieutenant, which immediately caught her attention.
“Lucy!” she yelled, noticing a third demon approaching the girl as she tried to escape it—showcasing the exact same features of the previous reptile.
Rushing into action by materializing both pistols in her hands, the lieutenant proceeded to mercilessly bombard her opponent with a barrage of crimson projectiles—each one of them detonating in the monster’s face and body. Staggered by the powerful ignitions of her bullets, the beast stumbled to the side on its four legs before meeting the wheels of a roaring motorcycle—enough to put an end to its assault.
“Get it!” Claire shouted.
In a fast response to its owner’s command, the spectral bike rapidly emerged from within the dark shadows of the Deadlands to put a stop to the reptilian demon. Its black spectral wheels lifted a trail of dust in their way, and the absurd velocity it displayed managed to split the fog in its path like a slashing blade of a sword. The stunned specter found itself incapable of outperforming the might of Claire’s spectral gear, and was put to rest by her motorcycle as both of its wheels crushed it from the back—tearing its body in half.
“Lucy!” the lieutenant rushed towards the girl, who’s spectral powers she forgot through the chaos.
Before she could reach her destination however, the humanoid specter returned to strike a second time, roaring furiously as it reeled its arm backwards. Unlike its failed first attempt, the demon was able to succeed in its second assault by smacking Claire in the face with a powerful blow from the back of its hand—slamming its knuckles in the girl’s chin.
“Ough!”
The lieutenant was propelled away by the sheer force behind her opponent’s attack, hitting the ground at a terrible angle as she nearly dislocated her shoulder on impact with the dirt. Despite the pain caused by her terrible fall, Claire’s eyes immediately directed themselves towards Lucy’s last known position—noticing the tiny particles of crimson light she left behind. The lieutenant ignored the pain and sighed with relief, pulling herself up from the ground with a groan.
Her senses quickly returned to the battle, as the screeching noises of an incoming specter caused her to grit her teeth to its earsplitting roars. She turned her head towards the sound coming straight at her from the front, spotting the four-legged reptilian that charged furiously with an open mouth. The lieutenant quickly rolled to the side across the dirt, and managed to avoid its hungry bite a second time.
“Argh!” a painful scream escaped her once she landed with both hands planted on the dirt, feeling the sharp teeth of the monster sinking deep into her flesh.
Despite successfully avoiding its first attack, the insatiable beast quickly shifted its course to perform a second bite that managed to reach the lieutenant’s leg—gnawing at her ankle through the black leather of her boots. The demon pulled her in closer, dragging Claire’s body through the ground before plunging its black serrated teeth into her thigh—drawing another painful cry from the lieutenant’s lips.
“Stop!” Lucy’s voice pleaded through the spectral gear, to which one of Claire’s pistols would reply by bursting into action with crimson flames—emerging into her hand without being called.
The lieutenant grasped it firmly with her fingers regardless, and aimed its obsidian barrel straight at the reptilian monster that dragged her across the dirt. With steady and continuous shots against it, Claire showered the beast in a rain of crimson bullets that shattered its armored scales like glass—forcing her foe to move its teeth away from her legs.
A second opponent still remained in the battlefield despite the small breathing room she earned however, its fierce growls drawing a gasp from Claire’s lips as she turned to look back from over her shoulder. The humanoid specter had sneaked on her while she remained preoccupied by the reptile gnawing at her thigh, and her startled ambers opened wide at the sight of the demon that stood merely a few feet away from her.
“Go away!” Lucy pleaded a second time, her voice calling upon the spectral bike to deal with the obsidian monster.
Its thunderous roars echoed through the region once again, slamming its own body against the specter with a powerful tackle that hurled the beast away. The aid of the girl managed to save the lieutenant’s life from the ambushing specter, yet to her high misfortune, things only worsened as the lurking crimson eyes of a horde suddenly emerged from behind the fog.
“Guk!” Claire rapidly stood back on her feet, turning repeatedly in every direction as she could not keep an eye on every demon that hungrily stared at her.
The pupils in her amber eyes shrunk with dread, unable to see the end of the crimson ocean that approached her like a devastating tsunami. At that moment in time, her mind was taken back to the thirty first of December from exactly six years, where her eyes met the deadly crimson light of the specters for the first time.
Surrounded and devoid of any hope, that day she ran through the density of a burning forest with the hopes of seeing a new year in the morning. Her mind froze at the sight of so many specters, and while she learned to deal with the trauma over the years, having been taken off guard for a second time brought her back to the burning village that was once her home.
Were it not for the intervention of her father, the man she’s been chasing for over half a decade, the world would’ve never known of Claire Lionheart. The memory of her father’s wide and silly smile crossed her vision in a flash, yet a light distortion quickly caused it to fade and transform into a strange unfamiliar place. Her village was transformed into a burnt landscape of dust and dirt, while Sebastian shifted into a large demonic creature that blended with the shadows. Despite its obvious similarities with the rest however, the warmth she saw in its glowing eyes felt the same as the father that took care of her during her childhood.
Claire became absorbed by the strange vision, and for just a moment believed that her time had already come, mauled by the demons in a similar fashion to every person she once knew in at home—though a familiar azure glow near her hand would remove the thought from her head in an instant. Its pristine and perfect azure light grew brighter by the second, and eventually managed to blind with a light that forced her eyes shut.
“Ah!” the lieutenant snapped back into the battlefield, met by dozens of roaring and growling beasts that jumped out of the shadows to put an end to her journey.
“Stop!” Lucy continued to beg them, unheard by the ferocious specters that sought to end the life of Lionheart, as every cell in their body asked for nothing more than to see it done.
Scrunching her brows with gritted teeth, Claire grasped her pistol tightly before pointing its barrel towards the incoming horde—settling for the first demon that crossed her sights, “Die!”
She roared, and her voice rumble through every corner of the region, refusing to go unheard by the hungry beasts that lurked within the shadows of the Deadlands. Every specter that surrounded the lieutenant became petrified, as her voice crawled into their ears and bounced off the walls inside their skulls, turning the area into a strange exhibition of obsidian statues. Claire failed to make a move herself, and although she did not lack the means to do so, the shock created by the abrupt silence left her speechless in place.
“What… happened.”
She lowered her gun and proceeded to move away from the specters with cautious steps, calling for her spectral bike before checking up on Lucy—who’s positive reply drew a sigh of relief from her lips. She did not wait for the beasts to return to their senses, and rode as far away as she could from the area—taking a few glances back with puzzled eyes from time to time.
“Safe?” the girl asked.
“Yes, Lucy. Thanks for your help.”
“What happened?”
“I’m… I’m not sure myself.” She replied. “We need to get out of here as fast as possible… we can think about this later once we are safe…”
Claire continued to ride her motorcycle away from the area, able to break through the illusions of the now silent Deadlands. She looked at the glowing azure ring in her finger, unable to explain the phenomenon that just transpired. Her heart almost pumped out of her chest with fast palpitations, yet what she felt deep within was devoid of any sort of dread. She was nervous, anxious for a reason she could explain despite knowing its source.
END OF CHAPTER