Center of the Deadlands: 936, December 31st, Monday, 8:30 AM.
The clash between Bloodhound and King continued through the morning, now with the interference of Gal and Maulik, whose presence had tipped the scales slightly against the indominable giant. However, despite their fresh spirits, the pair of hybrids struggled to contain the absurd power displayed by their opponent.
They combined their forces in a synchronized assault that proved challenging to even a daemon, locking him into a defensive stance to avoid their most powerful attacks. Assisting their offensive was Claire, the persistent lieutenant of Cerberus with the power of the demons at her disposal. She circled around the battlefield with her motorcycle, showring King with a rain of crimson bullets while creating a blazing ring of energy—trapping all combatants within its restrictions.
“Don’t be too hasty, Gal!” Maulik reproached the young redhead, as her fighting spirits caused her to push aggressively against her foe.
“I got’em!” she shouted, smirking with confidence as she stomped the dirt in front of King—reading herself for a brutal attack.
The girl’s feet began to glow with an azure light, and with no intent to show mercy to the giant, she unleashed a fast flurry of powerful kicks against him. The daemon responded by protecting himself with the giant blade of his sword, however, Gal’s mighty strikes forced him back with every impact, ripping a trail on the dirt the further the man’s slid away.
“Insolent girl…” he furiously growled, proceeding to move into the offensive with a quick push against Gal.
Before one of the redhead’s kicks landed on his sword, King lunged himself forward towards the attack instead of turtling up—flinging the girl’s leg away with a crash. Gal stumbled backwards, struggling to regain her broken balance, and leaving a wide opening for the daemon to begin his offensive.
“Gal!”
Trying to protect his companion, Maulik pushed on the offensive with a forward sprint towards the giant. Unfortunately, despite his great speed as a hybrid, the daemon possessed superior abilities as both a knight and a specter—crushing his attempts to reach Gal in time.
With fear behind her pupils, the girl froze at the intimidating glow of the sword that came down on her with great force. However, before her body could be crushed under the azure steel of the daemon, Claire’s roaring motorcycle smacked her away with a violent tackle that saved her life by an inch. King’s weapon shattered the ground on impact, kicking up a large pile of rocks that bombarded the area like dynamite.
The lieutenant’s spectral bike protected Gal from the projectiles, leading her to safety at the edge of the wide crimson ring. “Oomph!” she was thrown on the ground by the gear, picking herself up immediately while dusting off her clothes with a sigh. “Alright… I’m ready!”
“You don’t listen!” Maulik stepped next to her, gritting her teeth at her with an angry frown.
“Watch it!” Claire’s warning shout snapped the pair back into the fight.
Making use of the opportunity, King caught up with the hybrids in an instant with an aggressive frontal assault—offering his opponents little room to react. The pair flinched at his presence, and with a swift horizontal slash of his weapon, the giant threatened to split them both in half by the waist. His opponents were quick to respond to his attack, with Gal jumping over his blade, and Maulik ducking under it. However, anticipating their reaction, the daemon let go of his sword through the motion, making it disappear into a cluster of particles of light. Now free and with greater mobility than before, King slammed Maulik’s head against the dirt with one of his hands, snatching Gal by the throat in midair with the other—capturing both under his clutches.
“Gurk!”
“Agh!”
In an attempt to prevent him from taking their lives, Claire’s spectral bike roared furiously as it rushed him with a direct tackle from behind. Countering its attack immediately however, King launched Gal’s body into the motorcycle with a powerful throw, putting an abrupt end to its ambush—as both the gear and the girl were catapulted away on collision.
Maulik tried to free himself from the man’s gigantic hand, pulling away and punching his arms with all the strength he could muster. The thought of his head splitting like a watermelon increased the hastiness of his strikes, but no avail, as King’s pressure proved too strong for him to break.
Looking to save the young hybrid, Claire unleashed a barrage of crimson projectiles on the daemon’s back—drawing a few painful groans from his lips. She used one of her guns to spread her shots across his back, while focusing her second one on the man’s open wound. Her continuous and violent onslaught weakened the grip of the giant, enough to allow Maulik a much-needed opportunity to escape.
“Not so fast…” King growled once more, tightening his grip on the hybrid’s head for a second time—preventing his release.
“Argh!” Maulik screamed as the fingers of his opponent began to break through his skin, feeling the unbearable headache crawl down into his entire body.
“Dammit…” realizing the inefficiency of her bullets, the lieutenant pressed the triggers on her pistols, and without easing the pressure on them, she broke into a fast sprint towards the giant.
At the tip of the cannon of both Juno and Jupiter, blades of crimson energy emerged with a fierce glowing light—able to cut through any material with their heat alone. She sprinted bravely towards King, ready to plunge her blades on the man’s back in order to save Maulik’s life. Though already aware of her charge, the daemon implemented the same strategy he utilized to rid of her motorcycle, hurling the hybrid’s body against her once she stepped in close enough.
However, predicting his reaction, the lieutenant threw her body down against the dirt to slide under Maulik’s flying body. Her successful evasion of King’s counter opened up an opportunity for her to strike, releasing her grip on the triggers to propel the pistols’ blades at her opponent’s face.
“Eat this!” she roared.
“…”
In a shocking display of speed from King however, Claire’s attack was easily repelled with a simple swat of his hand—smacking them both away from his face in a single motion. Petrified by the man’s instant reaction, the lieutenant was left with little to no time to react against his counterattack—having failed to blind her opponent as intended.
“You are mine,” calmly stated the daemon. He took a hold of Claire by the wrist, applying enough pressure to dislocate her hand with a single squeeze.
“Argh!” The lieutenant screamed at the popping sound of her bones snapping out of place, her broken focus causing the spectral gear to vanish into crimson particles. “Urk… kh…”
“And now... I break you again.”
“Let go of her this instant,” a feminine voice demanded from behind the giant—her familiar tone taking him by surprise. “Stop this madness at once… father.”
However, with victory at hand, King refused the princess’ request by launching a powerful punch against the captured lieutenant—putting every ounce of his strength behind it. “Urk!” he grunted in pain before his strike could connect with the girl.
“I told you to stop…” Eutychia growled at her wounded father.
The black steel of her sword was lodged in the daemon’s fist, stopping his attack mere inches away from hurting Claire. They both wrestled for control, but neither fighter seemed strong enough to overpower the other—leaving the pair stuck at an impasse. Though arriving into the black knight’s aid, both Gal and Maulik joined fists to strike against King from the side, a successful ambush that hurled him away from the pair.
“Ough!” the daemon was thrown into the edge of flaming ring of crimson energy—burning the skin of his arm at contact. “Ack! Ngh…” he rolled inside the battlefield, struggling to contain his anger. The call of the Deadlands tempted his emotions, offering the solution to his every problem were he to accept its enticing whispers.
Near the eldest princess of Heildin, Claire sat on the ground with a broken wrist, clenching her jaw with agonizing grunts. Drenched in sweat and in the brink of collapse from fatigue, she raised her head to meet the bright azures of the black knight—both frustration and relief overtaking her mind at her presence.
“You should’ve let him kill me…” she groaned.
“Hah!” Eutychia chuckled with a smug grin, offering a hand to the wounded lieutenant to help her stand. “Maybe next time…” she turned her gaze back to King, as he limped back on his feet in the distance—the glow of his crimson eyes complimenting the blazing ring behind him. The princess’ brows furrowed at the sight of a man she once looked up to, shaking her head rapidly to remember who he truly was. “Let’s finish this… I’m sure a broken wrist won’t be an issue for the ace of Cerberus.”
“Hmph… I’ll show you…”
“I’m here too!” Gal stepped in with a raised thumb and a smile—followed by Maulik, who nodded at the pair.
“I’m all set, let’s try to be more careful.”
A new contender now in the ring, the fading daemon’s worries only grew with the day, as the girl he had raised since birth opposed him as well. “Grr…” a low growl escaped him, like a hungry beast in the wild—barely kept alive by its own instincts.
Claire, Eutychia, Gal, and Maulik stood side by side, steeling themselves to face their nearly unstoppable foe at full power. The hybrids waited for the aid of their master, who they believed was the only one capable of dealing with such a threat. Eutychia fought her own demons inside her mind, feeling the guilt of having to slaughter her own father—despite the crimson glow in the eyes of the man that she could barely recognize.
Having endured more punishment than any type of training could offer, Claire’s depleted stamina worsened the nauseous feeling she had fought the entire morning. The aid of her spectral gear proved crucial to fight King however, leaving her with no options left but to continue the battle. She inhaled deeply through her nostrils, releasing the air slowly through pursed lips—all to relax her throbbing heart before the fight.
END OF CHAPTER
