Aveliene cursed under her breath as the massive stallion reared in the air, pawing at the air with it's savage claws, it's jagged tooth maw open to bellow a scream of rage and hatred. Aveliene was still pulling herself from the plane of shadows, one foot and her left hand still in a realm of nightmares, memories, and things best left forgotten. The Wraith-Killer was still snarling curses under her breath, knowing what the foul equine was going to do, when it lunged into motion at the crowd of people who had gathered in the town square.

A set of claws on the end of one muscular leg tore open a pregnant woman's belly, dumping her entrails and the shredded embryonic sack onto the stones of the square. A swipe with the other clawed foot tore the face off of a small child holding a candle in her two small hands. The horn speared a young boy still in swaddling clothing and a toss of the muscular neck threw the tiny blood spewing body into the crowd as the black unicorn was suddenly among the people of the town who had, only moments before, been lighting candles in a vigil to the God of Justice.

Aveliene kept up a steady stream of profanity as she managed to get her foot loose, but her jackal man fighting dagger was stubbornly refusing to leave the shadow reality where the ore to craft it had been mined. The dirt and bugs on her boot dissolved away into wisps of shadow in the space of a heartbeat, but in that time the black unicorn was within the crowd, its horn coated in blood, its claws covered in blood and worse, and its jaws tearing into unprotected bodies.

One human male, a heavy bodied scar faced specimen, managed to grab the horn, wrenching the beast's head around and preventing its horn from being plunged into the body of a young girl who was standing still in terror and shrieking at the top of her voice. Aveliene gave up on pulling the dagger out, cursing the gods of luck, letting go of the dagger and yanking her hand free as the scar faced man yanked the horn, trying to pull the beast off balance, ignoring how the whorls of the horn were slicing deep into his hands.

The crowd was panicking, shoving and trampling each other in their terror, trying to get away from the creature that had killed over a score of them, mostly women and small children, in the scant heartbeats since it had arrived.

"My mother wants your horn, beast!" Aveliene's clear voice carried above the shrieks of the crowds and the enraged screams of the unicorn as it yanked its horn out of the man's hand, ripping the flesh of his hands off and baring the bones of his hands for a second before blood filled the wound and hid the bones. To his credit, the man didn't scream, but rather threw himself at the unicorn's neck, wrapping heavy arms around its neck and lifting his feet.

The black unicorn went to spin in place, but the weight of the human threw it off, causing it to stagger, and when it lashed out with both rear hooves in an attempt to catch Aveliene with a kick, the weight of the man drug it further down than it intended and Aveliene was able to easily duck beneath the hooves.

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Her hand, fingers curled, struck the outstretched left rear leg, the edge of her hand hammering against the thick muscle. Something gave with a crack, and the unicorn sagged as agony washed through it. It tried to throw off the human, and managed to get its powerful jaws clamped onto the man's legs. The man bellowed in pain as the jaws crunched into his leg, crushing the bone, but still held on tight to the unicorn's neck as Aveliene lashed out again, the hard ridge of her hand snapping the Black Unicorn's leg at the knee, dropping its hindquarter's to the ground.

This time it was the unicorn who screamed, its jaws opening, blood from the severed femoral artery spurting twice before it suddenly slowed to a dribble.

"BLOOD AND STEEL!" the man bellowed, finally managing to lock his hands on his wrists. Aveliene spun to the side, avoiding the collapsing unicorn, and lashed out with a kick, her boot heel slamming into the unicorn's left hindquarters hard enough to not only shatter bone but to cause the monster horse to skid a couple of paces.

The unicorn tried to throw the man off again, but he managed to get his feet under him, and gave a mighty heave, twisting his arms, his face growing red as he wrenched the unicorn's head around. Aveliene drove an elbow into first one rib, then the other, shattering the ribs into flinders and driving the shards deep into the black unicorn's lungs and heart.

With a crackle, the unicorn's neck gave out, and the body jerked, more of a nerve response as the spinal cord was brutally severed, since the massive beast was already dying. As Aveliene watched, folding her arms over her bosom, the man gave another yank, twisting at his thick waist, and the creature's eyes protruded, its tongue lolling out of its fanged mouth, the vertebrae crackling a second time.

"Nicely done." Aveliene congratulated the man, moving up the head, her fingers trailing along the sweat soaked black fur. "How's the hands?"

"They'll be fine." The man grunted, releasing the unicorn's head to crash on the ground. Black blood dribbled from its nostrils as the man held up his hands, showing that thick scar tissue had already formed over where the ridges of the horn had torn away the flesh, degloving his palms. He spit on the head of the unicorn as Aveliene moved up to the head, and flinched back when he saw her.

"Aveliene." He said, stumbling back two steps.

"Legionnaire." She nodded, reaching down and grabbing the horn. She kept her eyes locked on the heavily built man as she wrenched the horn free of its skull roots, tearing it free in a shower of gore. "Iron or Stygian?"

"Stygian, Your Grace." The man rumbled, falling to one knee and bowing his head.

"Your name, Trooper." Aveliene asked, staring at the man's bowed head and the back of his neck. Swirling tattoos were visible on his neck, disappearing beneath the man's rough spun shirt, and Aveliene's eyes gleamed as the shirt and the thick neck reminded her of Fraker.

"Volan Theronius, Lance Commander, 19th Spear." The man said slowly and clearly.

"Return to your family, gather your dead, and take time to mourn." Aveliene told him, turning away, satisfied that the man wouldn't attack her out of misplaced idealism. "Keep watch for some of my Step-Mother's children, they will bear her thanks." She moved to the middle of the dead creature and bent down, sliding her hands beneath the creature's body.

"And then?" Volan asked, still kneeling.

"The future will take care of itself, Lance Commander." Aveliene grunted as her shoulders took the weight of the dead unicorn. "It always does.