Red Moon
Vicious' fist contained enough force to make Shatter sound's world spin. The werewolf shook her head to brush off the nausea, she trembled as she forced herself to get back up.
"Ellamir, support Shatter sound, we'll take care of these werewolves!" With her sword unsheathed and ready to strike, Yulia commanded.
Ellamir nodded. Shadows erupted from her skin, covering her in armor darker than the night sky.
There was Ellamir, towering before the cowering werewolves in all of her wicked majesty.
As soon as Vicious saw the dark elf's transformation, her stoic face broke into a grin, "Some interesting shit right there."
The sight of Ellamir's drider armor had triggered something inside of Vicious. Her bloodlust. Her limbs and muscled elongated, shredding her clothes as she herself transformed into a 10 feet tall warrior, the largest among their kind.
Vicious' kin were made to protect Gaia and her land, hence the they dubbed their transformation 'Guardian form' But Vicious had long since strayed from the earth mother's creed, forming one of her own. It would be more apt to call her transformation fit for 'War' rather than being a 'Guardian'.
All 8 of Ellamir's legs dashed towards the werewolves to make her way to the backline. Although trembling before the armored spider before them, the werewolves also had a fearsome colossus on their side, and she was their Alpha.
The werewolves rushed the drider en masse, some clung while, some jumped onto her back and tried to bite her shoulder or neck, all of their actions were futile against her impenetrable darkness. Ellamir grabbed the head of the one biting her left shoulder, popping its eye sockets with her thumb and pinky finger, her fingers embedded in its skull for a secure hold. The werewolf whimpered in agony but that wasn't the last of its suffering.
A werewolf jumped in front, about to slash her head with its claws, Ellamir used the one in her hand as a club. The impact was so tremendous that it sent her attacker flying while rendering the one in her hand nothing but a corpse. Ellamir was no necromancer, but she still found a crude use for the corpse, she would desecrate it to mow down the werewolves who would dare block her path.
By the time she approached Vicious, Ellamir was holding only the head, which Ellamir pushed into their Alpha's chest. A simple gesture from Ellamir, telling Vicious that she was an ineffective pack leader by letting Ellamir easily take out 10 of her pack members.
The two colossuses stood face to face, equal in height but while one wondered if they were equal in power, the other one needed no deliberation that the might she held was far greater.
But there was no sign of dread on Vicious' wolf mug, only excitement at the chance to fight the ultimate quarry. Vicious cared not if her mockery of a pack survived, they were made as pure chimeras, cloned from her blood. They possessed no soul and no human form either, they donned their guardian form from the moment they stepped out from Melsa's lab. They were dispensable.
Ellamir was about to draw her sword, until she cracked her knuckles instead. The werewolf fought bare, Ellamir found it in bad taste if she didn't face Vicious in melee. Plus, her fight with her mother left her craving for the sensation of her fist ramming at something. She only hoped that the werewolf could take a beating. Because Ellamir had plenty to dish out.
Meanwhile, Antani and Yulia had each other's back as they were holding their own against the relentless werewolves. They slashed and stabbed to their heart's content while smiling. These werewolves were definitely prime warm-up material. And they hoped they can test their swordsmanship against the strength of the big one if Ellamir doesn't off her first.
"Stefano, down the shield, NOW!"
Gloria on the other hand, was quite pissed that the cleric locked her inside his barrier without her consent. Does he think she's helpless?
"Gloria, I want to help too but these werewolves are just too fast." Stefano had seen their speed, he and Gloria were not hardened physical warriors like the rest of their party members, one misstep and they might just find their necks snapped by powerful jaws.
Gloria was about to protest in anger, when she had thought of a brilliant plan.
"Yeah, we stay here."
Hearing Gloria's satisfied resignation made Stefano gulled. Like always, the mermaid was up to something again. And Stefano didn't want to find out
"For the love of Mithra, I'm begging you Gloria, can you please not pull something when we're in the middle of a…Aaaaah!"
Gloria gored Stefani with her wheelchair, making him sit on his lap once again. The rims of Gloria's wheels glowed blue as the time for unveiling her newly installed upgrade had arrived.
Using the 'Laguz' rune glowing in the center of her wheels, Gloria would part the air flow around the barrier allowing her to reach u unprecedented speed.
Gloria and Stefano blitzed across the battlefield, running over the werewolves with Stefano's barrier.
Antani's sword was about to behead the werewolf, when it suddenly got hit and dragged by a barrier.
The Amazon chuckled as she laid her back against her armored friend, "Look at those two go."
Yulia blocked a claw swipe with her shield, and retaliated with a swift stab to the heart, "Is it just me or are those two starting to get closer recently?"
A claw was about to tear into Antani's neck when she evaded low and countered by cutting its arm, following it up by a kick to the side, "Come to think about, yes. Oh, this is quite the development."
While the two sword fighters babbled as they held their ground, Gloria and Stefani started their rampage. The sight of an orange barrier running over a werewolf might appear comical, but the mangled bodies left in their wake is nothing to laugh at.
Seeing that Vicious's attention was preoccupied with Ellamir, Shatter sound saw it as a perfect opportunity to lunge and claw Vicious' neck from the side.
The veteran warrior that she is, Vicious actually sensed the oncoming danger. Her right was ready to block the little runt, until she felt the Drider's overwhelming grip, keeping her wrist locked in place.
"Be a good mutt and hold still while my companion kills you."
The dark elf's monstrous strength together with her ominous tone failed to inspire fear into Vicious' heart…
Shatter sound lunged and cleanly sliced her jugulars, turning the grey werewolf's neck into a bloody fountain.
…For they would need to reduce Vicious into nothing if they truly wanted to kill her.
Seconds later, her wounded neck closed, retaining her pristine grey fur as if she wasn't wounded in the first place. Vicious' left foot crashed into Ellamir's sternum with enough force to make Ellamir let go of her grip and stumble backwards.
Although Ellamir was unharmed, she found it a bit irksome that the werewolf was trying to compete in terms of strength. Ellamir's lips twisted in sadistic glee. Very well, she would school the werewolf good on what primal might truly meant.
Right as they were about to engage, Shatter sound lunged again. She didn't care if Vicious regenerated, she would strike over and over until whatever the source of the regeneration had run dry. Because it was not in their kin's ability to regenerate, even in her furios zeal, Shatter sound was able to hypothesize that it must be fueled by something. And She would drain it along with Vicious' life.
Unfortunately, Shatter sound maybe faster, but Vicious' vast combat experience allowed her predict her movement and grab Shatter sound by the neck. If a punch won't knock out the raging brat then she would need to be a little rougher, she was sure Melsa would understand if she broke a bone or two…or maybe more.
Vicious choke slammed Shatter sound into the ground with enough force to produce a crater. Shatter sound arched her back in agony for a split second before dipping into unconsciousness. Like a toy that she had finished playing with, Vicious tossed Shatter sound aside.
With Shatter sound out of commission, Ellamir and Vicious clashed to their heart's content.
The two titans exchanged blows, with each of Vicious' claw swipe and punches, Ellamir would be taken aback. But when it was Ellamir who would rain down her fists, it felt like Vicious' soul would leave her body with every hit.
Ellamir punched, but Vicious ducked and countered with an uppercut into Ellamir's armored mug. No effect.
The drider retaliated by grabbing both of Vicious' head and giving her a headbutt so strong it made Vicious' vision blurry for a second.
Ellamir moved behind Vicious.
Before Vicious could recover from her daze, she felt Ellamir's arms coiled around her head and neck with the strength of no ordinary snake, but Jormungandr. It was a legendary chokehold that impressed Vicious.
Vicious snapped out of her admiration of Ellamir's brutish hold when she remembered that she was on the receiving side of it. Vicious' elbows barreled into Ellamir's side with all the might she could muster while being deprived of air, but its hardness felt like trying to knock down a fortress wall with a naught but a stick.
"Look closely, watch as we slaughter your kin one by one."
Amidst her hold, Ellamir taunted, hoping to instill terror into Vicious. With her hazy air deprived vision, Vicious watched as her 'comrades' that started from fifty strong had now been reduced to a single digit. Worthless, all of them. This wasn't their first fuck up, if it wasn't for Vicious' intervention, the scarlet talons would have likely drove them off.
Vicious' snout twisted into something that resembled a grin.
Ah yes, the time to unleash Vicious' Aeon was finally nigh.
A fearsome thaumaturgy swept across the battle field in the form of a mana ripple as Vicious' soul began casting her ultimate trump card, her creed.
The darkness around the party took on a different hue as the moon that hung above had been tainted by the color of blood.
Vicious believed that their role as guardians shackled their potential. Their ferocity was wasted on scaring illegal loggers and driving bandits away from their forests. And so Vicious freed herself from that shackle and embraced the doctrine of superlative might. For she wholeheartedly believed that werewolves are the strongest beings there are.
The red moon was a bounded field that imitates the effect of Gaia's barrier, none would escape its 500 meter radius, any attempt would bring them back to where Vicious was. But the real kicker was the moon's effect on Vicious.
Ellamir gasped in surprise as Vicious slowly started to break away from her chokehold. With all the might Ellamir could exert, she tried to bind Vicious once more, but with every passing second, she found it harder to pin down the werewolf…
…Until Vicious finally broke free. To pay Ellamir back from her beautiful hold, Vicious grabbed Ellamir's arm and threw her into the ground.
Vicious was about to crack open Ellamir's shell but she was forced back by an explosion caused by a hagal rune fired in her direction.
Vicious' pack had been completely wiped out,
she observed the worthy warriors before her. The fight was now 6 against 1, Vicious liked those odds.
The party gathered around Ellamir, they all gazed at the werewolf who howled underneath the red moonlight as she healed from the burn, within seconds.
"Any idea what her Aeon might be?" Yulia asked for the party's input.
"Who fucking cares!? Let's just tear her apart limb from limb until she stops regenerating!" Ellamir stood up, more salty than a pillar of salt as the werewolf bested her in her own playing field.
Antani reached Ellamir's hand.
"Ellamir, calm down. If we don't think hard about this, one of us might die."
Odd enough, Ellamir could feel Antani's soothing touch bypassing her armor.
"It's not regeneration, she had that from the start. My bet is that it's strength." Ellamir said, her tone mild.
"Regeneration and strength, huh. Alright, let me engage her for a bit, while you all observe how her Aeon behaves."
Part of it was Yulia wanting to solo the werewolf, but if her party could derive some insight at how Vicious' Aeon ticked, then it would undoubtedly lead to their victory.
Yulia walked forward.
The words of her covenant rolled from her lips. Bathing her armor in hellfire.
[Let the fallen angel's flame burn all impurities.]
[Ashes to ashes, witness Zariel's pyre]
With wings made from hellfire, Yulia took the sky, her flames shone with more splendor than a star.
"Yaaaaaaah!"
The fiery angel fell from the sky, while the werewolf met her descent head on.