The Rivertown Incident III

Lucian avoided the Gargoyle's halberd, jumping over it again as the force of its swing sent a shockwave that ripped the ground apart.

He spun towards the monster, swinging his sword right at it's face yet again. But the attack did no damage. 

"Shit...I guess cutting won't do much..." Lucian grunted as he maneuvered himself back to the ground, "This is some shit, huh?" 

He landed on the ground, as the Gargoyle stomped its stony talons right towards him. He jumped back and watched as the stomp hit the ground, dirt exploding everywhere. The Gargoyle let out a serious screech, swinging its halberd down at Lucian who dodged out of the way with ease. 

Lucian then launched himself at it back again and swung his sword. Suddenly, the stone wings of the monster appeared in front of Lucian and blocked the sword; The Gargoyle had used it as a shield. As they made contact, the wings were swung forward, sending Lucian flying back. 

Hitting the ground, Lucian grunted in pain, "Shit..." 

He immediately got up and raised his sword, "Okay. I don't think flames are doing much....i mean the explosions are, but just using flames won't do much...." He thought to himself, "It's made out of stone...explosive damage should work.....also, I think lightning should work...but I don't know if I can dispel this sword and nuke it with lightning with ease. I'm trying to keep my Calamity controlled here.....despite my flames being boosted, they're not doing much." 

The Gargoyle jumped into the air, letting out a shriek as it pointed its halberd at Lucian, rearing it back for a thrust. 

It then descended down towards Lucian as it thrust the halberd down towards it. Lucian didn't risk trying to block it so he jumped away and immediately launched himself at the monster as the halberd hit the ground. 

He reared his silver flame greatsword back for a thrust of his own, reaching the Gargoyle's face and thrusting it forward into its eye. As the sword hit the eye, there was a combustion that jerked the Gargoyle's head back as it shrieked in pain. 

It then let go of the halberd with one hand and in a fast motion, it smacked Lucian out of the air. 

"Shit!" Lucian said as he hit the ground harder than before, "Fuck..." 

Lucian suffered a bit more damage than before, surprised at the power that the monster displayed. His entire body was throbbing, the flames around him flickering. Something was off about the attack and Lucian felt it. He wasn't sure if the problem was himself or something that the Gargoyle did. 

The Gargoyle picked the halberd back up and glared at Lucian, slowly walking towards him as he got back up. 

The monster then swung its halberd at him once again, which Lucian tried to dodge it. But he was too slow to fully avoid the swing. While it didn't directly hit it, the impact of the halberd striking the ground caused a shockwave that hit Lucian hard, flinging him into the air. 

The Gargoyle capitalized on this; launching itself towards him and ramming Lucian with its stone wing held forward as a shield. Lucian's body collided hard with the hard stone, his eyes widening in pain as he was sent crashing into the ground. 

"Agh!" He shouted in pain

The Gargoyle then grabbed its halberd and flung itself in the air with a horrifying screech, swinging the halberd down in an attempt to finish Lucian as he laid on the ground. 

Suddenly, a figure flew past Lucian where he was and a massive shockwave erupted as the Gargoyle's halberd had swung down. The shockwave staggered the monster and caused it to tumble to the ground. 

Lucian looked at this with surprise, "Wha?" 

He watched as a man clad in dark bronze armor landed in front of him, wielding a warhammer in his hands. From the back, Lucian saw him wearing a black cloak with a bronze bull's head sigil on it. He noticed that the man was wearing a bull's helm as well. 

"Hm." the newcomer said as the Gargoyle straightened up, "Isn't this interesting...." 

Lucian got to his knees, holding his sword, "Who are you?" 

"I am Ser Cretan." the man said, "One of the Bronze Bull Captains. I am here to deal with the threat and take you two prisoner." 

Lucian narrowed his eyes, "Is that so?" 

"Stay put, Cursed One." Cretan said as he lunged at the Gargoyle, "This won't take long!" 

Cretan reached the Gargoyle that was making its clanking sound from the mouth, and swung his hammer right at the air in front of him, a powerful shockwave exploding which rattled the entirety of the Gargoyle, reeling it back. 

"Ho!" The Knight said with amusement, "This one is a sturdy stone beast.....Well, I suppose that my Quake Sorcery won't do much unless I make direct contact, huh?" 

Ser Cretan immediately lunged at the Gargoyle once again, this time, he swung his warhammer at the Gargoyle's knee, another shockwave exploding. The stone shattered slightly, causing the Gargoyle to buckle as it shrieked. 

"What the fuck..." Lucian said with surprise

"Ha!" Cretan said, "There you go! And here comes another!" 

He jumped up and swung his hammer at the Gargoyle's face, detonating another fierce shockwave that jerked the monster's head back and caused it to fall to the ground. 

Lucian narrowed his eyes, "This guy is no joke..." He thought to himself, "Can't let him outshine me.." 

Cretan landed on the ground, chuckling, "I figured there'd be a Demon appearing." He said, "Oh well...." 

Back to Brodin, several soldiers had surrounded both him and the Onis, their shields and spears readied. Brodin had been busy dealing with both monsters at the same time, whittling their resistances down with his black powder explosions; swinging his knife at them. 

He was only hit once or twice, but not hard enough that he'd be injured badly. Now, there was a squad of Bronze Bulls that were around them. 

The Old Man narrowed his eyes, "What is this?" He said, "Can't you lot see that these fuckers are here, rampaging about??" 

"Brodin, The Artificer!" one of the soldiers said, "By order of Ser Cretan, you are to be apprehended! Surrender quietly, any resistance will be responded to with force!" 

"You gotta be fucking kidding." Brodin muttered as the Onis let out deep growls, "Now's not the time for this shit!" 

The Green-Mask thrust its lance at Brodin, who was able to doge at the last second, rolling away. Brodin then straightened up and summoned a massive pistol on his left hand, aiming at the Oni, and opened fire, the bullets hitting its chest and causing several explosions that staggered it slightly. 

He then swung his knife, releasing a massive wave of black powder. 

"Black Sparks: Wave" 

The wave of powder engulfed the Oni and detonated, a massive chain of explosions hit the Oni from all directions as it howled in pain. It then collapsed to its knees; panting heavily as its body was scorched and smoking. 

The blue-mask Oni focused its attention to the soldiers and immediately swung its axe, firing off an energy slice that ripped through a couple of them with ease. This caused the soldiers to scatter as they returned fire, shooting magic projectiles from their spears. The projectiles merely bounced off the Oni as it began to charge towards them. 

"You idiots!!" Brodin exclaimed, "Get out of here, all of you are gonna die!" 

As the Oni swung its axe, shredding through the soldiers, a figure flew towards it from the sky, crashing into it with tremendous force and in an instant, its entire body exploded violently with blood and guts. 

Brodin widened his eyes, "What the..." He said as a massive shockwave erupted from where the Oni stood

The Bronze Bulls took a step back as they felt immense pressure from the cloud of dust that replaced the Oni. This happened too fast, in a matter of two seconds. On one, the Oni was about to kill all of them and on the other one, it was dead, a dust cloud in its place as blood had splattered everywhere. 

The green mask Oni straightened up, looking at where the pressure was coming from, frozen in what Brodin recognized as Fear. 

Where Lucian was with the Knight and the Gargoyle, he looked over in that direction, his entire body reacting oddly to this sudden presence. Every fiber in his being was trembling and shaking, he wasn't so sure if it was in fear or excitement, but he knew one thing; The Calamity was responding to this. 

"What is going on....?" Lucian said, "Just bullshit after bullshit..." 

The Gargoyle had gotten up and as it made its clanking sound, it looked towards where the Oni was. Ser Cretan had also stopped and turned to see what was going on; he had heard the screams of his men in a quick span of a few seconds. 

"Well, I'll be damned. We got a troublesome one..." Cretan muttered

Back to Brodin, a loud laugh was heard was heard from the dust cloud as an intense aura was visible, distorting the air and space around them. 

Brodin could only shake in response to this, his eyes widening, nearly recognizing this laugh in an instant. 

"N-No way...." He said, "I haven't seen her in years.....to think she would come here instead of Lunaris...." 

From the dust, the figure of a woman appeared, the silhouette outlining a gown-armor with a massive greatsword leaned against her shoulder as her hair flowed in the air. 

As the dust dispersed from the wind and her aura, Brodin caught a glimpse of white hair, glimmering in the faint sunlight. He also saw red eyes looking directly at him. 

"Shit..." He said, "It's her....The Death Knight..." 

"Astorias!"