"Do we have to do this? I've never killed before- Do you want to sleep while I take care of it?- No, I'm the Prophet of God, I'm the saintess, I'm a daughter of Gia. . . It's my duty to watch, Even if it's gruesome. I agreed to your contract with knowledge of what you are so, as long as you keep your promise.- I'll never forget it." demonic horns pushed through her hair as the blood drizzled down her temples and as the blood soaked her rob, wings tore their way through the back causing Amelia to nearly double over in pain. "Hey! That was much more painful, I'm bleeding!- I've merged your body with my own, before there were illusions created by the radiation of my power, now it's real." The blind prophet leaped forward as claws ripped through the skin on her fingers, she grabbed the first Templar she saw and ripped straight through his armor and killed him in moments.
"DEMON!!" A priest called out as the templars organized themselves. Asmodeus rose into the air with her wings and gazed down at them with contempt.
"Death, the final judgment, oh you holy few. You're blind greed poisoned the roots and twisted the branches of this great church. Now here death stands to judge you for your crimes. For your persecution of the innocent, for your twistings of the word of God. You're lies to the unfortunate. Hell burns greedily for the souls of those long tainted by abominable sin." she declared before descending on them with an immense bloodthirst. It didn't take long for the screams to start, the blood to flow, and for desperate prayers to be screamed at a God with no mercy. And an innocent girl watched as her body cast judgment on the church. Haa, this will also buy time for the boy, that's why now is the best time. -yes I understand.
Skarlet panted, wincing and gasping. It tasted like a lump of iron was sitting on her tongue, she turned over coughing and spitting as a lump of flesh and blood splattered into the rubble. She gasped as she reached up and felt her fingers slip through her cheek and touch her tongue. A sense of nausea caught her as she chanted a quick spell and healed the injury that was pouring blood down her throat.
Puking up a bit more blood, she stumbled to her knees and looked around. She couldn't see her sword or really any of her weapons. Her belt, sheath, and cloak had been shredded to pieces by her attempt to barely survive the attack. Her clothes were in better shape, but still ragged and torn. She could have used mana to speed up the clothes natural regenerative properties but nothing was showing except a little skin here and there. Not that there was much to look at, she didn't have what one would call a 'pretty figure'. Honestly she considered herself ugly and immature looking. But that wasn't too important, Skarlet brought her eyes around the small space as her mouth chanted a fire spell and added light to the area.
Something silver glinted in the darkness, she scrambled over to it and dragged her sword from the rubble. She pushed Mana into her fire and threw it, taking cover as the fire ball expanded and then exploded.
As the dust and debris rained down, she coughed as the scent of smoke and charred wood flooded her senses. She pulled herself from the rubble and out the hole she made. Tumbling down the side of the once sturdy wall, she landed in a crouch as pain poked at her palm. The large wooden door to the forest hunting spot had been shattered and broken, beneath her hand was the hot, charred, and splintered remains of that door.
Skarlet stood up and removed the splinter from her hand, she could see smoke in the distance. She started running towards it, using her agility and treating the debris littering the street as a forest. Nothing slowed her down, she was nearing Maria's residence when it stood up from the rubble.
Skarlet chanted her wind spell and leaped towards it, the beast wasn't focused on her and let out a roar as it swung it's fist straight at the house before it. Skarlet was gonna attack with a powerful fire arrow, but last minute she noticed that the beast was targeting someone she knew. She faltered, practically pausing midair as she fumbled her incantation trying to switch to something she could use to defend Maria. However she was to late, there wasn't anything she could do at this moment, she resolved herself to avenge as she watched her die.
At least that's what she planned to do, however at the last moment, chains of stone leaped from among the rubble and wrapped around the arm and dragged it down. Maria didn't flinch as the fist was dragged to the side and smashed into the garden in front of her home. Skarlet regained her composure and landed on the second floor, stepping next to Maria she glared softly at the defiant child.
"Skarlet, we need to go. We can't stop this thing, only hold it back. Come on, everyone else has gone, you have to leave with us!" Maria pleaded once more, but this time with confidence, and the sense that she was being ordered was felt.
"You're still here." Skarlet replied, "I will kill it, so you should retreat."
"If we go can you promise that you will leave as soon as the city is empty?" Maria compromised as she approached Skarlet with defiance, "Otherwise I have no reason to leave. I'm the Lord of Aguris and I will not watch my people die!"
Skarlet frowned, opening her mouth to respond when suddenly a loud roar of anger cut her off. Ares snapped the stone chains with what seemed to be relative ease before standing up. More chains started to rise as Skarlet dashed towards the threat, it's foot smashed into the ground and the chains shattered. Skarlet chanted a wind spell and pushed a lot of power into it while also pointing her sword at the beast, a toothpick compared to it's size, but she buffed her needle of a weapon by casting several powerful fire spells along the blade and over charging them with mana.
Skarlet slammed into the chest of Aries with insane force, then a series of explosions went off as the beast stumbled back, but it didn't do much as he grabbed her, digging her limp body from the hole she'd made and flinging her through a building.
The only thing Skarlet felt was the impact as she smashed through a stone wall. It was almost instantaneously the most pain she'd ever felt and she was quite sure most of her bones had just shattered. She began hastily casting healing magic as her consciousness faded before darkness took her for who knows how long.
She woke groggily, pain exploded as her mind tried to tell her that her arm was gone, not just broken it just kinda wasn't there anymore. Her leg was twisted in the wrong direction and a pile of scattered papers, wood, and stone covered her. She glanced up, there was a dent in the stone wall, and as she picked up a paper she saw a request to slay some kobolds.
Stolen story; please report.
Skarlet used heal again on her leg and got to get feet, she checked herself over and realized that the damage sustained from the initial attack and then the smashing through the wall had been mostly healed before she lost consciousness. But from what she could tell she had smashed through a second wall and was now in the armory of the guild. The wall behind her used to hold a board of completed commissions; it seems, as the paper she was holding was marked as done.
Skarlet let the paper flutter through her hand as a sound reached her ears, a crumbling, breaking, and cracking sound. She shielded her eyes as the sun was suddenly shining into them, the roof could be heard crashing into a building as Aries tossed it. He was glaring at her again, seemingly pissed off that she was alive. Fuck, I have like no mana, whatever Maria should be gone by now. I should be the only one still here. If I die it will affect no one. And then, I will be judged for my crimes. Skarlet paused in the middle of her thoughts as she noticed a box which had fallen off a series of collapsed shelves. It was full of bottles of some blue liquid, most had shattered and that blue liquid was spreading, following that liquid led her eyes to a single bottle near her feet. Hmph.
Aries lifted it's hoove and smashed downwards, he planned to fully crush her this time. As Skarlet looked up she realized that even if she had mana, there wasn't a spell she could cast to defend against this. Wind could help her escape but she didn't wanna keep running, she realized that she would have to come up with a spell that could pierce through and she'd need time to prepare the spell and carefully increase it's power through overcharging it's mana. She sighed as she remembered her own mana pool simply wouldn't be enough. Realizing there was just nothing she could do, she simply watched the hoove come down, but at the last moment a hand grabbed her arm and she was yanked backwards. Her eyes widened in surprise as pillars of stone began rising upward and multiplying. Skarlet turned to see another familiar face, Aiko was dragging her out from under the hoove, her two allies were here too. That puppy girl and the old man, Aiko reached the wall of the guild and skidded to slow down as Amethyst caught up and together they smashed through the wall using what seemed to be a martial art skill. Skarlet was thrown to the side as a loud crash could be heard. The stone had crumbled, the four now stood looking up at the creature. It reacted to their escape by roaring and smashing the guild and houses around it, a tantrum, it was throwing a literal tantrum now.
"Skarlet, what are you doing. You need to get out of the city!" Amethyst exclaimed as she shook Skarlet's shoulder, "I can't believe you're actually determined to fight that thing. What is with you and fighting dangerous beasts.
"I need to beat it!" Skarlet replied, shaking the girl off climbing to her feet, it was a struggle with only one arm.
"No one will be comforted by a selfish death." Aiko spoke up, "Amethyst is right, it's time to go." Skarlet paused and looked at the calm cat girl, a sense of anger rose up.
"Comforted!? Selfish!? Who are you to tell me when and how I die. I will kill this fucking thing or die trying." Skarlet exploded as she leaped at Aiko and grabbed her by the throat. "Why are people getting in my way, you're all gonna get yourselves killed! I don't have friends, you think I won't kill you here and now to stop your meddling in my business?"
"Do it." Aiko responded with a raspy voice as she gasped for air. "Aiko!" Amethyst exclaimed as she seemed unsure what to do to protect her friend. The older man had his hands up and seemed like he was trying to negotiate with her. "Ahh, incoming!" Amethyst suddenly shouted, Skarlet almost immediately threw Aiko at her friends as she spun around. Something glinted in her hand as she poured a blue liquid down her throat and began casting.
Skarlet tossed an empty bottle behind her, it shattered on the ground as a fire arrow came into existence, the spell didn't launch immediately as she began pumping mana into it. Though soon enough it fired, piercing straight through the large piece of debris that was thrown at them and embedding itself in the monster's right eye.
Another roar resounded out as Skarlet leaped into the air, another glass bottle smashed against the ground as she bolted towards it with wind magic. A giant spear of stone appeared as she went for his heart, the creature wiped his face and revealed that he was only lightly harmed by the attack. Skarlet never saw it coming, an attack that would kill her instantly, She gasped as something slammed into her and she hit the ground with a painful thud, lights and spots filled her vision.
Skarlet watched as her stone spear exploded, Aries fist smashed through it at a speed she couldn't even see. She curled into a ball and coughed blood, her eyes were blurry as she looked up to see someone standing over her. Damnit, why is everyone getting in my way? She wondered as her consciousness faded, the last thing she heard was "Cody!" And the last thing she thought was Fuck!
~
Maxwell watched with undisguised glee as Skarlet was pummeled, her pain fueled his smile. "My oh my, that's quite the despair you're emitting, huh dear cat." He was mostly talking to himself while watching the fight from a distance.
"Ugh, this is the worst couldn't you have cleared this in seconds. Why must I. . ." A voice spoke up but petered off as Maxwell turned to look at her. Ghost went silent and immediately started clearing more rubble. Maxwell sighed, his mood crushed he then shoved her aside roughly before lifting his hand and creating a black shimmering fire. He then proceeded to smash it into the ground and an explosion rang out as a crater formed. Maxwell jumped through the hole created in the roof of a basement. His coattails fluttered as he landed lightly before walked forward.
Ghost committed down after him, it was to big a drop for her to jump, but she was similarly graceful. Ahead of her, Maxwell approached a large machine. There was a very strong magic aura in this place, a large glass cylinder was connected to the machine. It was filled with a swirling black energy, Maxwell began to laugh chillingly. Not loud just a quiet happy, joyful laugh. Ghost frowned as he crouched down and touched the shadow connected to the cylinder. His laughter quieted as the sound of fighting quieted. It's over, that thing must have killed them. Ghost thought as she watched the black energy being poured into the cylinder slowly come to a stop.
The moment the energy was no longer being collected Maxwell grabbed the shadow beneath the cylinder and it began to tip, no the cylinder began to sink into it's own shadow. It didn't take long, like an open bottle slowly sinking into a pond. When it was gone he picked up the shadow and it morphed into a sphere, he placed that sphere into his pocket.
"This project has been a success, I've obtained a large amount of despair energy. Their fear, their hopelessness, their hatred, their anxiety, these negative, destructive emotions are nothing by themselves but combined and mixed into a single compound they become despair energy. And this energy will be instrumental in the core goal of our group." Maxwell explained as he turned around, he noticed her curiosity.
"Just as long as I get what you promised." Ghost spoke with a shrug as he walked past her.
"Of course, I always keep my promises." He took her hand as he passed and they began to sink into his shadow. "I'll have to make some moves, it seems I need a new vessel." He sighed as that seemed to be the only annoyance. After they disappeared into the shadow it suddenly expanded before exploding in a massive ball of black flames destroying everything including the walls of the basement. Dirt and rubble filled in the basement till it couldn't even be seen anymore.