The roaring of the storm was soon broken. Sounds of combat filled the air, and already, the heavy scents of blood called to him. Somewhere, someone familiar was bleeding. A lot. Far too much. Alive, but faint. But who was this? Not one of those he cared for. So instead, he focused into his fiery trance, reaching out with his senses to feel for the enemies. At the same time, his armor slitted into place around his entire body, the metallic material warm to the touch. Infused with his (someone else?) life blood, it seemed. The effects of Christmas's blood still circled light around his torso, but he hoped he wouldn't need it much with his own regeneration.
Somewhere to his left, Hazel struck at the wall. Packed dirt came crumbling down, and Sander chose that moment to rush in, heading straight toward the unfamiliar scent in front of him. A hunched, hulking shadow collided with his momentum, the impact sending the much smaller of the two masses hurtling to the side. The armor held, but Sander was left winded from the impact as the vaguely humanoid monster shook off the sudden collision. It turned to the blood mageโs sprawled form, as if considering, but the hands that had smashed through the wall were of higher priority so instead it leapt onto the burning wall and then the projected torso, strength enough to tear through the projections as it moved.
A white glow enveloped the demon's leg as Lawrence's power flared to life and the creature clawed at Hazel's projected arm, tearing through the purplish haze while it tumbled down, one leg spasming violently. It hit the ground and tried to realign itself onto the good leg, but the glow switched targets, the seasoned student already expecting that course of action.
Lawrence did not, however, expect the chunk of dirt thrown his way as the black monster found the target hampering its movements.
Letting his rage take the lead, Sander found his footing easily enough. Immediately, the blood mage once again charged at the shadow creature, leaping up at it from behind.
Without warning Hazel shimmered back to solidity, her torso gaping open from the creature's attack, as well as a large gash on her arm. Staggering, she fell flat on her face in a pool of her own blood.
"Wha.."Turning her head sideways, she caught a glimpse of Lawrence's glow, and what the demon was about to do. With the last bit of her strength, and her vision fading, she stretched out a hand towards him, a large purplish limb catching the chunk of dirt, disintegrating it, before fading. When the impact never came, Lawrence had already moved his arm away from his face where he had at least attempted to shield one of his more vital body parts. The fading limb and a bleeding Hazel were his immediate priorities aside from disabling the creature's arms and flailing it about comically. The action wasn't pettiness, though. He needed to keep it off balance and staggered, hoping to buy enough time for
anyone to contest.
His hopes were answered in the form of Sander, leaping onto the shadow monster's back from behind as it wobbled and struggled to dash towards Lawrence. Despite its efforts, Sander clung, the red glow around them both signalling the slow draining effects of his power while Christmas's magic continued boosting his own regenerative powers. Meanwhile, he bit into the creatureโs neck and clawed at its eye with his free hand, only to meet unyielding flesh. It twisted suddenly, intending to crush Sander beneath its body as it fell and even with Lawrence's manipulation forcing it to fall at an awkward angle, there was little a single limb could do against gravity. Its tremendous weight fell upon the blood mage clinging to its back, but with a steady supply of blood coursing into him the battered form was already healing and the creature was now struggling to rise, arms and legs alighting white alternatingly as Lawrence interfered. Pain coursed through his body, but Sander only gritted his teeth and held fast, fighting the creatureโs movement every step of the way, rain and mud scattering madly around them as the two thrashed against the flooded dirt.
Hoping the monster was occupied enough with Sander, Lawrence released the latest hold on its left leg, exertion already trailing fatigue in its wake. If he kept it up any longer, he'd be in no shape to run, let alone fight. Instead he ran to Hazel, wasting no time tearing at the bloodied clothes on her body with his pocket knife and ripping the blouse into thick strips that he used to bind the worst of the gaping injury on her torso. Her waterlogged clothes were heavy now and he doubted he could drag her back to safety without severely aggravating the injury. Lifting her and dashing to the lighthouse was out of the question. He was strong, not superhuman.
Callan grimaced at the sight of Hazel's wound, shifting forward to help out of habit. Before she knew it, however, a writhing mass of black and red was crashing through the mud and rain, quickly drawing her attention. That shadow creature needed to be taken care of... and maybe it wasn't entirely inconvenient that Hazel be out of commission for a short while. Lawrence seemed to have it covered anyway.
The creature's tail stood exposed every so often as the pair rolled across the earth. Her hammer faded and she dashed forward, doing her best to position herself at the rear before grasping the appendage tightly with both hands as she bent her knees and sharply yanked the creature backwards.
Her feet dug into the wet earth and the monster flailed backwards, Sander still clinging tightly to its torso. It fell backwards onto the supergirl now, claws raking through air and dirt as it struggled against the two students. With a concerted force of both its body and arms, the demon flipped itself over and pushed off from the ground, aiming to just jump away from at least one of the inhumanly strong students and landing a short distance away from the winded Callan. Its clawed hand groped for Sander, still clutching at the back of its neck and getting stronger still. Finding purchase on the blood mage, it whipped his form at the bundle of drenched aquamarine hair, sending him smashing into her.
With no time to react, the impact sent Callan falling and sliding through the mud several yards with a loud, "Oof!" She quickly pushed Sander off and scrambled into motion, her foot slipping once before she was back on her feet. The sky thundered overhead just before a bolt of lightning cast a harsh light over the creature, still softly illuminated by Chris's flames a short distance away. In the menacing light of a dismal dawn, it looked all the part of a fairy tale monster--over twice their height and burly, hulking in the way its back hunched over a pair of gangly arms tipped in needlepoint claws that nearly touched the toes of its hind legs. A beast-like snout, digitigrade posture, and a long tail finished the black creature's feral appearance. Despite the ink darkness of its body, however, a slightly more matte pattern was barely discernible on the base of its throat; it was a familiar mark--a black X.
"
Sander!" Callan shouted above the chaos, "
What's the plan?"
Sander didn't even spare her an answer. He quickly straightened up and once again lunged toward the monster, intending to tackle it down.
"
Sander!" Callan shouted after him incredulously.
With its balance back and Sander charging headfirst, the monster was ready. It met the blood mage head-on in a grapple that its bulk and power still won, tossing Sander to the ground once more where it raked a claw across his torso, breaking through the weakened blood armor and slicing into flesh, other arm already coming down for a follow-up blow that pierced clean through Sander's abdomen, skewering him. The demon lifted him briefly with the embedded arm, free hand wrapping around the plates of blood forming over Sander's face and crushing, the armor barely holding against the pressure for the moment.
More pain threatened to overtake his senses, and a sickening crack that reverberated thorough his ribcage clearly indicated that something had gone horribly wrong. What he felt through the blood high was just an echo, but this was a very loud one. He had no choice but to slip further into his rage, consolidating all his remaining power into a decisive burst, the damage outweighing the effects of Christmas's healing. Yet, it only got worse. The creature lifted him, talons buried in his chest and hand threatened to crush his skull, leaving him squirming at its mercy.
Sander was gritting his teeth so hard, for a moment he was worried he might break them all. With an angry snarl, he batted the hand gripping his head away, before grabbing the arm that was embedded in him and pushing off it to slam his head against the monsterโs. It reeled briefly from the blow, but remained upright, hand crushing harder at the armor around Sander's head.
It wasn't too long before Callan ran after Sander, but perhaps it was too late. Her eyes widened in horror as the creature's claw emerged out of Sander's back, piercing through flesh and armor alike. She bit back the panic that momentarily flared in her throat, jumping into a roll as Sander, in spite of his injury, went for the head. Coming to a stop just behind the creature's right heel, she summoned her axe and quickly swung it across the ankles.
The axe severed one ankle and bit deep into the other, the monster turning to look at Callan in disbelief. It fell forward, still holding firmly to Sander's head. As it landed, it swung the occupied arm at Callan, claws tearing into her body enough to leave heavy gashes across her extended arms, but without its full strength in the swing, the attack was far from critical.
The impact of the fall jarred his deep wounds, causing Sander to cry out, his vision blurred dangerously for a few short moments. He recovered soon enough though, maintaining his grip on the creatureโs arms, desperation and rage spurring him on.
Callan immediately lost her grip on the axe, crying out behind clenched teeth. Seering pain raced across her arms, tearing cleanly through the fabric of her sweatshirt to reveal the warm blood quickly pooling into the fresh wounds underneath. The fight, however, was far from over. She staggered sideways but quickly regained her balance and rose trembling arms skyward, summoning the axe again in a position similar to that of an executioner. Her amethyst eyes flared with confidence and anger. The shadow monster bore a small resemblance to another certain creature that she hated. There was no hesitation as the axe snapped into its proper form and she forced the ethereal steel down towards the monster's exposed front, careful to note Sander's position. The blow connected soundly with the demon's chest, cutting deep into its thick torso. Despite the grave wound, it flailed again, the arm skewering Sander slamming the mage against the ground once more as it panicked, the pain evident in its movements despite the lack of blood and discernible expression. Another wild swing caught Callan's legs, slicing through muscle and bone and paying her back in kind for the previous attack, though it failed to sever without the creature's focus.
Lying on his side, the blood mage made another effort of restraining the creature's arms, though his strength was slowly seeping away with his blood from the gaping wound. Yet, it didn't seem like he would give up any time soon.
Callan tried not to lose her grip on her weapon's handle again, but a different kind of sensation sent her falling heavily into the mud before she had a chance to even scream. Her leg's felt... loose. The pain was almost blinding. Rolling away from the creature, she pulled her knees in close, gasping out a strained whimper as her hand brushed against the new injury. Trying to recollect her thoughts and remain calm, she was still for a moment save the occasional shudder.
The skirmish was interrupted by the sudden crashing of what appeared to be the entire lighthouse top against the wall in the distance, the shatter of stone, glass, and wood ringing louder than the storm as several of the trees fell under the massive cement segment. Glass and broken metal beams scattered in the wake of the rubble skidding briefly across the ground as it smashed through the sand and dirt wall and ended its brief travel a dozen meters away on the other side of the steam.
But the continued march of the living wood and the wall's slow reform meant the attack, as shocking as it was, had been only that: a surprise.
Dervish
