Tempered Fury

A slash of a claw, and its opponent finally stopped struggling for his life. Kneeling on the floor, now he was nothing but a mere lump of flesh, decaying by every second, destined to return to dust-a corpse without a soul to live in.

Her brother-in-arms fallen, Gael was left alone before the terrible beast. Without anyone to turn to, she could only rely on her own skills and war-gears. Even now darkness was seeking to engulf the tech-maiden, tirelessly waiting for her to give in. Yet, the tech-axe she wielded was still shining in greenish, neon hue, pushing away the dark from its wielder. Her spirit, either, did not yet seem to be withered away like a feeblish candlelight. She still had her quest to complete-a quest of ruthless vengeance and utmost violence. She was willing to pursue it, no matter what, until she would see the foe lying dead under her war-boots. Willing to fight on, Gael charged onto the brute with all her strength she could muster.

She gave another swing of her axe into its once-wounded limb. Far from her expectations, however, the blow did not manage to cut off the beast's arm completely. Seemingly, the wound was already restored as if there had been none of it in the first place. This time, the axe got stuck there, not budging even a little. The brute's talon soon followed it, and Gael had no other options but to step back, leaving her war-gear behind.

Her enemy was quite clever indeed, for it pulled out the axe and held it in its third, smaller hand sprout out of the bloated right arm. The beast gave its new axe-stolen from its owner-a few swings. The beast was then armed with yet another vicious claw, made of tech and steel.

The beast rushed to its enemy, now without her primary weapon. At instant, she rolled aside dodging its assault. She then took out her plasma-bolt, shortly after raising herself up. A couple of plasma shots went out from the muzzle, screeching the air sharply. Each of them were hit on the cheek, near its right eye, and the side of its neck. The beast screamed in great agony as the plasma shots scorched its raw hide. Gael rolled to the opposite direction, and fired again her semi-automatic weaponry at its face. This time, the plasma struck directly on its left eye, melting it. Even through her night-vision the beast was, evidently, seen to be in utmost pain possible.

Wavering arms and claws in torment, it stumbled and faltered. Meanwhile, Gael was seeking the right moment to retrieve her heirloom war-gear. Shooting plasma might cause the brute an intolerable pain, yet this would hardly do any actual damage to it; cleaving its flesh and hide was much more better in such sense. She needed her axe. Moving to the right, steadily, she was fixing her eyes upon her weapon held by its tiny hand-a grotesque appendix surely a fruit of uncontrolled mutations it went through.

Its wavering stopped. Now the beast was trying hard to regain focus on its hated foe. However, already in the right position to smite her enemy, Gael was the first to act. In fact, she was still left with a weapon to deal it some real damage-her gauntlet loaded with buck shots. She leaped forward in a great velocity, using her exo-skeleton's functionalities. Reaching her target, she blew off the beast's small hand with her shell-loaded gauntlet. Shrapnel scattered out, and shredded its mutative appendix bits to bits. The tech-axe was dropped; she did not miss her chance to grab it.

Now that she retrieved her favorite weaponry, she was grinning with utmost satisfaction. The tide of combat was turning to her once again, albeit left alone without her siblings-in-arms. This was the high noon, a high-time for her to exact her vengeance. Eventually she shall fulfill her desire to avenge her siblings-in-arms. At the end of their fierce duel, against her terrible foe she shall be victorious. By the end of everything, she shall be the one to take all the glory coming from her successful bounty. The honor was to be hers. The wealth was already promised upon her, without any doubt. All she had to do was to take them. She held her axe tightly, so as not to slip it from her sweaty hands. At three, she would be charging onto her agonized foe. One, two...

By all the sudden-unexpectedly, her reinforcements were pouring out of the chapel's main entrance. Prince Aelthred, along with his 6 men and women of might, finally arrived on the scene.

"All squad, spread out and surround it. Do not let the demon escape our fury." Ordered the Prince.

Power was soon restored. Lights back on, everything within the place was now fully revealed, including the beast itself. To further corner his foe, Aelthred shot out burning flare from his new tech-sword. A weapon brought out of one among the dominion's finest armories, it was exceptionally issued to the Prince-as a token of trust-by the orders of Governor Rothgarr himself. the blade was made of fine steel, sharp enough to cut through almost everything even without electro-magnetic field turned on. On the back of its blade, a flamethrower was attached to it, this time even a better one than that of his battle-brother's, which the Prince had once borrowed from him during the hunt of Glen-gohr.

The Beast was set on fire. As the bane-fire painfully consumed its flesh, it faltered further away from the barbarians, stepping backward. Positioning himself on its left, Aelthred ordered his lieutenant to evacuate.

"Gael, you have done enough. Rothgarr's reinforcements are arriving. Withdraw, and regroup with the others outside."

"My lord, I can handle the brute alone. Pray you leave it to me!" Still overwhelmed by the heat of battle, Gael pleaded.

"Get out of there, I say!" Shouted Aelthred, in his commanding voice.

"But-"

"NOW!"

She could not believe this at all. The very opportunity to renown her name, to further elevate her honor, was right there in front of her; yet, it was fleeting out of her sight. Perplexed, Gael stumbled backward, with her war-gear lowered in dismay. Meanwhile, Aelthred and his squad members were surrounding their giant foe. Determined to finish it off once and for all, they were leaving the brute nowhere to hide. Another burst of fire came out of his war-gear, tormenting the beast further. Now was their chance to complete the quest. Anytime soon, they would engage the target from every directions available, while making it practically impossible to fight back. This holy chapel here, dedicated to 3-Divines only, would be turned into the bloodied slaughterhouse-the tomb for the wretched beast. They were sure of it, and thus approached the target further.

To Aelthred's surprise, however, the brute was still left with power to break through their siege. With a speed of lightning, it turned around and rushed toward one of the warriors on its back. Not willing to fight its opponents any longer, the beast then climbed up through the wall. Then, mustering all the strength left to it, the brute punched through the chapel's ceiling, and escaped the scene through there.

"Ready thy war-bikes immediately, for we shall follow it without wasting our time." Instructed the Prince.

At their lord's command, the rest of the barbarians ran to their bikes, outside the church building. Gael, too, set out for her bike along with other siblings-in-arms. However, the Prince held her back, ordering his sister to stay where she was.

"I clearly remember that you were told to join with our sentinels outside."

Gael turned to him, in great dismay. She then answered back to her superior.

"My liege. I alone could have finished off the brute. All I needed back then, was just a right moment for me to strike the beast. My lord, I could have pulled this for sure; at this moment I should be holding its head and spine as glorious trophies of mine, but-"

"Do you possibly think so? You were beaten up pretty badly at that time, under the terrible fatigue and pressure. With your focus distracted and muscles not fully working to your will, and further without anyone to support you, what would you have possibly done out there, my friend?"

"I wasn't in need of anyone's help, back then. I could have done it even all by myself. In fact-"

She then pointed out to the remains of her fallen comrades. In sorrow, she continued with what she had to say.

"I had a duty-a sacred obligation as a warrior-to avenge my fallen brethren. In that sense, I should have be the one to kill it, to spill its marrow on this floor. My lord, they were all once my beloved brothers and sisters. But why, my prince, would you bar me from carrying out such duty of mine? Why should I be backing away from the duty that is rightfully due to me? Why would you do so to your most trusted lieutenant, your own sister-in-arms?"

The Prince briefly looked into her eyes, dissatisfied and agonized alike. He wanted to say something. He wanted to make it clear that such was not what he truly meant to his sibling-in-arms. Ever since the childhood, he had regarded highly of his lieutenant, and at the same time, had cared much about his best friend. Now was no different, either; she was still his closest friend, a confidante, and his most capable ally ever. He could not possibly dare to lose her, not just yet. However, he was running out of time, indeed; he should be back on his hunt in any minute. And so, he yapped at his sister-in-arms bitterly.

"Time is short. I do not wish to talk over it any further. You go to the sentries, and head back to the base with them. Gather up another squad there, around 7 to 8 more warriors to aid us. Finally, one last thing to tell you."

Aelthred wished his lieutenant to take some break without rushing herself. Thus, he strongly urged her to do so-in a warrior's way of speech.

"Know your place, and do not dare question me any further." The Prince snarled.

He then stormed out of the chapel to join his fellow warriors. Looking at him from behind, Gael dropped her tech-axe on the floor. She did not forget to salute her superior, though. Yet, something was wrong with all this. He should not have told such cruelties to her, who had served him more than decades ever since they were young. By now, he should be acknowledging her capabilities, her own skills as one of the strongest tech-maidens among all Geats. She tried to shrug off such feeling of hers-a strong sense disappointment, but she failed. She knelt down, almost collapsing onto the ground.

Resting on each side, however, her fists were still clenched firmly. There rose an anger, a sentiment of utmost fury within her. She grinded her teeth, while closing her fists even more tightly. Yet, what else she could do about it? She might be his best friend, but she was still his lieutenant, the Prince's subordinate. In the past, she had solemnly sworn to serve him, even to the end of the world, so in what way she could possibly go against his will? Was there truly no other way to recover her sullen heart, her spirit in dismay? Would she be regaining her honor, claiming what was rightfully hers? Would they be ever possible for her?