Saviours

As energy culminated around Amelia with twists and turns, Machia found himself surprised. 

'Incredible, guess she's really pumped up.'

With disheartening indifference, Machia watched her charge her attack. The initial enchantment of her performance began to wain on Machia as he sighed sarcastically. 

'So greedy trying to finish me off so soon. There are all kinds of reasons that won't work. For one-"

Interrupting Machia's thoughts, he watched a rampaging large body gallop past him. With desperate, clumsy strides, the giant eagerly rushed towards Amelia, club in hand. Its peculiar oval mouth opened up with a disparaging cry with something that resembled ecstasy, causing Machia to shake his head with a sigh. 

'You should have at least expected this, the giants are battle gluttons. After years of battles won through abrupt surrender, of course, they're going to come after you like this.'

With a condescending glare, he watched Amelia's figure raise her guard and gently lay Perse's body down on the floor. While watching her performance, Machia began to tap his chin pretentiously with his remaining arm. 

"The giants are known for their monstrous vitality; cutting just anything won't do. Plus, there's Perses to watch out for, too. If you stick around him, he'll be crushed."

As the lumbering giant closed the distance, outpacing its allies, it lunged at Amelia with a giddy, eerie cry. Its inconceivable weight threatened to crush both her and Perse's unconscious body. But the instant it reached sword range, its flesh was torn in half. From head to torso, an animalistic grumble was all it could manage as its enormous body split into two even halves. Its immense proportions of intestines and gastric juices spilt out without so much as touching her.

"Good"

Machia felt a movement below him and a desperate gasp. He looked down disinterestedly only to find one of the many, what he had assumed were corpses squirming below him.

"Oh, you survived that, lucky you. Well, if you wanna stay that way, do me a favour and make me a fire." Machia stood and moved himself to sit on a nearby embankment, freeing the poor soldier from his weight. Neglecting his wound entirely, he focused on Amelia before snapping his fingers. 

"Hey, hurry up already! If you don't wanna be crushed I suggest you do what I say."

Machia's nonchalance terrified the man as he sprawled out from the tumble of crushed bodies spluttering for air. Ignoring Machia's words, he turned to see it. 

A stampede of large, inhumane figures that shook the ground dove towards the two of them. Capable of only uttering a woeful cry, the man clambered away from the lunging bodies desperately. On all fours, he frantically crawled away from the beasts, still covered in the blood of his comrades. 

As they tumbled past him in the dozens, he was trampled almost immediately as one particularly large giant crushed his spine and torso. Its foot alone outsized the poor soldier by an incredible margin. The giant's foot continued to leave a bloody footprint on the grassy green plains as it joined the others in charging Amelia. 

"Humans. If he'd stuck close to me and done what I said, he'd have been fine, Emperor's dog or not. Regardless, these giants aren't exactly practical. Guess it's lucky they were never needed until now."

With a disinterested sigh, Machia wandered from his seat as he looked for something to alight. All the while, blood drained from his left stump. He found what he wanted, indifferent to the pain, chaotic panic of soldiers and stampeding giants. He then sat on a new seat just in time for him to watch Amelia combat the next giant. 

'Oh good, so she separated from Perses, that's wise. She can even outrun them and engage when she wishes. Well done. I should hurry up here then.' 

With a gentle hum, Machia raised two sticks, and a pair of shadowy hands rose from the ground and began to rub them together. Despite the giant stragglers that continued to rampage and storm past him, Machia insanely concentrated on making a modest fire. 

"Tcch"

Pausing to look up at the sky for a second, Machia cursed as an enormous rumbling could be felt behind him. Returning back to his work, he ignored the sensation. Behind him, a giant ran, intending to trample Machia, who was in his way below his feet. 

But then it was grabbed. Two black shadowy hands flew up to the creature's head. Grasping either side of its circular skull, its momentum was killed.

"CRUNCH!" 

Its jaw was slammed shut as it was thrown to the ground. Head first, the creature slammed into the ground beside Machia. As blood poured down its face, it looked up at him with dread and malice. Machia simply returned a kind smile as he inexplicably utilized the shadows twiddling the sticks at his feet. 

He cast his gaze back towards Amelia as she ran across the grassy plains. Her feet stepped and leapt with inhumane speed as she dove and duked between the lumbering giants. The closest ones would suddenly tumble to the ground as thick red blood leaked from their ankles. Some were not so lucky. One had all four limbs severed, causing its lone torso to collapse to the floor. Its skull was quickly split open by the silver gleam of Amelia's sword. 

But the giants did not stop. Reinvigorated by the fall of their comrades, they jovially screeched and lumbered after the green figure as if mesmerised and desperate to meet their end.

'Too bad I can't join, I have a job to do, gotta do it right this time.'

As Machia pondered to himself, a modest fire sparked. With a smile, he crouched down, bringing his head towards the fire. Indifferent to the heat, he raised his stumped left arm towards the flame. Plunging it into the fire, he watched it burn thoughtfully as he scanned the battlefield. The shadow still hung over the sun. It had allowed him to keep tabs on Perse's safety without being present. 

Once he was satisfied with the result, he removed himself from the smell of burning flesh. It was a shoddy job. Truthfully, it only needed to sustain him till the King could heal it. Despite the overwhelming burning sensation that continued to assault his arm, he turned a hopeful gaze towards Perse's distant body. 

Obstructed by none, Machia casually strolled across the clustered, carcase-ridden battlefield. As he walked past a couple of giant corpses, he admired the preciseness of the cuts with a genuine smile. Perses remained in a slumber as a result of Machia's ability. As he approached, he found himself disappointed he hadn't played a more active role in the battle. 

'She won't have any choice but to surrender this time so hopefully she will.'

As he pondered such mundane thoughts, his collected smile faltered. Without him noticing, something had approached Perse's body. Its small figure filled Machia with concern as he sped up. Gripping onto Perse's body delicately, the creature turned its head slowly towards him.

'What, where did it come from? I was watching so carefully, impossible!-'

As Machia approached, a tinge of fear coursed through his body. Acting on this impulse, he raised his hands in an attempt to slash it with his shadows. That's when he made eye contact with it. Red ruby eyes locked onto his own as he stumbled on the grassy plains. 

"What."

Staring into those enchanting red spheres, his vision faltered. His world was dyed a deep red as everything started to blur. Rubbing his eyes with his single hand, he felt a wet sensation. Thick, dripping blood poured out of his eyes, trailing down his face. He received one last glance at those intense ruby eyes before his vision was coated in only red. 

Machia fell to his knees as he vomited blood. The sensation felt like nails dragging and ripping their way through his stomach lining and throat. Both his ears and nose bled a familiar red substance. 

But this much was manageable. Machia had long since segregated himself from pain. He no longer detested or fought it, not to mention his sight was not yet lost. Utilizing the sun's shadow that continued to reign over the battlefield, he examined the figure who remained attached to Perse's body.

If he could see it, he could kill it. Raising a single hand, he let out a crazed, determined growl as he threw his arm up. But nothing happened. His shadows, it seemed they had abandoned him. 

Left with no other option, Machia climbed to his feet as his body permeated with blood loss. Without a Blessed's vitality, he would already have died. But he could still feel strength coursing through his veins.

Stumbling towards it, he prepared to throttle the horned creature after closing the distance. But he stopped, as a figure rose from the ground. An familiar outline was all Machia could make out as a fist suddenly launched itself into his nose. His nose was left hanging from his face awkwardly as he stumbled backward. It was still too painful to speak; every aspect of his face was wounded in its own unique way, but his bitter look still shone through the blood. 

He stared intently at Perse's nervous outline with a deep, wretched scowl.