A cold dead silence reverberated from Cillian and Tatiana's front. The inquisitor dared not to speak, even as the carnage began. Occasionally, she would hear Cillian call to her or bark orders to others. She wasn't listening. Not really. She could notice some of the conscripts shooting weary-eyed gazes of disbelief and panic as they witnessed her. She was stagnant— unmoving, save for a moment spared to augment her abilities with her spare ether vials. Tatiana had barely even fired a shot from her rifle held at rest. She was an alright shot. Certainly better than some of the conscripts, but even as the demons came forth, the young Tatiana stood like stone. Time went on and on as the alien beasts closed their distance towards the trench. The panic in her brigade was palpable at that point, but perhaps its cause was something a bit less obvious.

It was looming in the air— that impending sense of dread. It hung over everyone around the summoner as if an aura of pure hatred had been conjured in the air. The most worried soldiers might look back to the paralyzed inquisitor to find the source of their fear. Tatiana held a clenched fist, twitching and shaking at its own will. Around her appendage, swathes of black smoke emanated. The source of pestilential smog only amplified as the mass of demons charged the trench. Elisheva wouldn't be able to stop them all and Tatiana knew that. 

[i]"Whatever you do, don't let those things near you,"[/i] Cillian's words finally seemed to click in Tatiana's mind as if the catatonia that had seemingly overtaken her had briefly fell. A smile broached her stony expression.

"Funny... I had the exact opposite plan." The words came under Tatiana's breath, lost in the harsh wailing of the icy winds. Her eyes traced the scenario before, rapidly shifting left and right to take in the sights before her. The cacophony of thrums echoing from the beating of glacial wings only grew louder. The other demons were closing in, but Tatiana held herself from acting. Why? She didn't know herself. Perhaps it was that final sight of the creatures as they closed the distance. She could see the eyes of her adversaries. Pain emanated from within them. Tatiana couldn't help but reminisce on the day where she had witnessed the same sight in the eyes of another creature: her own partner.

Tatiana faltered if just for a moment. The viscous black smoke fizzled out from her grip. She had lost her preparation, and so close to the moment she would clash with her enemy... The word echoed in her mind: [i]enemy...[/i] These weren't her enemies. No. Tatiana briefly stumbled back, sure that the charging demons would slash straight through her form as they buzzed towards her. Did she accept her fate? She wasn't sure. After just a moment, she focused back upon her foes. They had been stopped? Cillian's trap had sprung. He had acted when she would not. He had stepped up to protect their group. That thought would haunt her, but not now. She didn't have time for that. The brambles weren't going to hold them forever. The shadowy grasp of smoke surrounded her hand once again, flaring up to a much greater volume than before. Tatiana shifted her gaze to look towards her savior. He met her gaze.

[i]"Their wings are sharp, it will not hold them back forever, but it will give us time. We must pick off the trapped demons while we can, but when they break through... It will fall to you to protect us, Tatiana."[/i] He was right. Soon, the demons would be upon them again, and their tiny squadron was by no means ready to take care of them. Finally it had come. It was her time. It was [i]their[/i] time...

"Terviclops!" Tatiana threw her hand skyward, allowing the emanating smoke trails to fire up into the freezing air where it would amass itself into a monolithic orb. As if calling back to Tatiana's summon, an infernal roar emanated from the sphere of smoke. The cacophonous sound shot out, echoing off of the Black Glacier for all to hear. Then, as if all that dread hanging in the air had been sucked up and compacted into its rawest form, the massive ragged beast fell from the smoke. The Terviclops demon writhed in agony as it smashed down into the snow on its feet. The creature appeared easily over double the size of a Tatiana with torn flesh and patchwork fur. It held a wicked spear appearing so makeshift that it may have better suited the creature as a blunt weapon. No matter what happened, it seemed the demon was restless, constantly jumping and flailing around.

Tatiana readied herself as her companion came to. She clutched her rifle in one hand as though a club, the bayonet at its end poised to strike just the same as the combat knife in her offhand. Tatiana sent one final glance towards Cillian. Her solemn gaze had been replaced with something new— something almost inexplicable. She felt the carnage coursing through the massive beast at her side and it fueled her. She was excited. She spoke up one final word in a calm voice, but her energy was palpable in her utterance. "Set.." The Terviclops demon finally halted in its rage, falling dead silent. It swiveled its body through the air to aim itself at its brethren. It was as if it was setting itself like an angered ram. In its motions, Tatiana made her own movements, jumping towards the tail of her demon. As swiftly as one might climb stairs, the squadron of conscripts alongside Cillian would witness Tatiana scaling the back of her companion, grabbing at patches of dead and knotted fur. Once she had hunkered against its back, gripping Terviclops as if her life depended it, one more word broached her lips. This one seemed to finally release that pent up potential energy in both her and her stalwart beast: "Charge..."[hr]

Terviclops shot forward with reckless abandon. The behemoth beelined right towards the first few winged demons to free themselves from Cillian's trap. Huddled against the creature was its summoner. Tatiana couldn't see anything before her or where her demon intended to strike. It was that trust that linked them. Their two resonant minds had to work together— or at least that was how Tatiana justified it. Her enemies were poised to shred straight through her own demon with their rapidly beating wings, but Terviclops had other plans. Distance closed and soon enough, the two primal forces were just meters from one another. With one swift motion, the stone spear held in the hands of Terviclops barreled forward. With both claws wrapped around its armament, the Terviclops demon smashed its weapon into the marauding demon, clobbering it aside into the snow. Two more winged demons still flew to flank the duo on either side, though. It was finally time for Tatiana to act.

The looming beasts were mere seconds from cutting into Tatiana and her demon, and she knew that. In one swift motion, Tatiana released her grip from Terviclops. In her fall, she allowed herself to kick off of the back of the now stationary behemoth. Arcing her firearm through the air still held in one hand, she let rip the trigger, sending a projectile right at one of the demons. Her precarious positioning left aiming as something to be further developed, though. The bullet ripped through the air only to smash into a portion of the beast's wing. While she did succeed in offsetting one of the attackers from striking at Terviclops, the same attacker followed up by flying towards Tatiana instead, and as she fell onto her back in the snow, her position left much to be desired.

Tatiana aimed her weapon once more, but there was no time to fire. As the demon sliced its wings perpendicular the ground, Tatiana prepared only one maneuver to rescue herself, relinquishing her weapon from her hands. Just as the icy wings carved into the rift of snow before her, Tatiana shot one shoulder up, rolling herself away from the bisecting slash of the demon. As it flew on and started to turn around, Tatiana made for her weapon. She fired once, twice, three times. It was then that the desolate [i]click click click[/i] sounded as she pressed the trigger. Her weapon was empty. Still, the demon flew, albeit slowed and with fragmented armor. As it came in for a second flyby, Tatiana knew she needed to rethink her strategy. For less than a second, Tatiana glanced back towards her companion. Terviclops was going toe-to-toe with the third aerial demon. That stone spear it wielded proved deadly against any demons closing in. Tatiana felt the wooden stock of her firearm. Her grip tightened. Her vision honed in on the speeding demon. Tatiana didn't see an enemy before her, no. Instead, she honed her focus on watching the creature as a projectile ready to impact and eviscerate her in just milliseconds.

Another sidestep forced itself through her body. All the while, Tatiana let crack her bayoneted weapon in effort to impact it sharp edge against the wings of the charging figure. She let out a cry of frustration as the weapon was macerated in the beating of the glacial wings, being ripped from her hands in the process. Tatiana may have lost her only firearm, but she got what she wanted in return. The demon skidded across the icy ground, one of its wings cracked and faltering. Tatiana could see the creature trying hopelessly to rise back into the air on its shattered wing. Finally, the inquisitor had a moment to gather her breath. Another look to her Terviclops revealed the raging demon just finishing off the third enemy with a gruesome smashing of its spear into the fallen creature. For a moment, Tatiana could have sworn a sense of sorrow welled up within her. [i]What was she doing?[/i]

No. She didn't have time for thoughts of remorse. She was in her element. "Terviclops..." Tatiana looked to her massive companion, determination welling up in her weary eyes. "Advance." With the same demonic reckless abandon as before, Tatiana and her demon rushed forward, further and further from Cillian and his firing squad. She knew what they would meet if they pushed on. It fueled her. No fear was present in the young inquisitor's mind. Only fury manifested within her. She was lost in a primal state. Chaos was all she sought. Tatiana was headed straight for the center of the glacier.