Grima
Level 4
1/40 EXP
Location: Esaka - Mid Tier
Wordcount: 1438 (+3 EXP)The morning, despite the general entertainment of the night, came roughly for Grima. For all her efforts, sleep never came easily to this vessel, and because of that Grima woke rather irritable, though the took the time to stop by a relatively quaint cafe near to her temporary home: A small place held an outdoor dining area and was quiet enough that Grima did not despise being there. Either way, Grima did not actually care: The focus of her visit was simply to get a cup of tea to jolt her body into awareness.
After all, today was the day the brackets would be revealed to her and every worm that infested this city.
The idea ran through Grima’s mind as she took a slow drink of her beverage. This tournament was her main reason for being in this wretched city in the first place, though she had to wonder who she would encounter as her opponents. Fools she expected to see by the dozen, but perhaps she could also find a few… Like minded individuals in the roster that she could recruit to her cause. The resurrection for her true self was a road that would be long and hard, and establishing a following would be vital to seeing her plans through.
A distinct rumbling tore Grima from her musings, the vessel lifting her head as the crowd around her looked around in confusion… Only for a massive, clawed foot to crash upon the ground at the end of the street, sending people dispersing in a panic. The foot’s owner belonged to that of a
massive, dinosaur-like dragon, ignoring the dispersing crowd and locking its maddened red eyes with hers. A few tense seconds pass between the two as the street clears of onlookers, most simply civilians trying to get out of the way of the dragon that had appeared. But Grima stood her ground, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as she stood from her chair, calmly making her way out of the cafe,
“Ah… A beast that sees beyond the veil. That is rather… Disappointing” the vessel states, letting out an annoyed sigh as she draws her sword, a gleaming iron blade,
“I knew something would eventually find me… But it’s rather insulting that a mindless creature was the one to do so first.”The dragon, Hauzer, simply roared in rage before it began to charge forward, the ground shaking with each step. Grima herself simply raised her other hand, a dark aura surrounding her before firing out a series of dark magical spheres. Only a few missed, the rest directly colliding with Hauzer’s form, but the dragon simply continued, focused on its one goal. The sight caused Grima to frown, but she lowered her arm, taking a step forward and twirling her sword in her hand. Soon enough, Hauzer closed the distance, lifting its foot to slam down upon Grima’s form, only to miss completely as the vessel twirls to the side, slashing out with their blade into Hauzer’s flesh.
The stinging pain only served to enrage the dragon further, the beast turning to swipe at Grima with its smaller front claws, its tail smashing into buildings on the opposing side of the street. Grima simply stepped back, parrying the swipes and clenching her fist, magic pooling around her hand right before a series of shadowy tendrils shot up from the ground, several stabbing into Hauzer’s torso and a few attempting to bind their mouth shut. Unfortunately, Hauzer simply thrashed its head, tearing the tendrils from the ground before abruptly firing a fireball from its mouth, the sheer speed of it managing to catch Grima off guard, the vessel barely managing to brace herself before being sent flying tumbling back, wisps of flames catching on her cloak before being smothered by wisps of darkness.
With this, Hauzer’s offensive started in full, the beast thrashing, clawing, biting, and stomping as it tried to catch Grima, and though the vessel was capable of dodging, the sheer ferocity left her no real opening to utilize, forcing her to continue retreating and barely dodging the dragon’s onslaught.
Eventually however, a viscous headbutt that couldn’t be dodged sent Grima skidding back, gritting her teeth as she held her guard… For all of a few seconds before Hauzer swung its head up, shattering the vessel’s guard and sending their sword flying through the air and impaling into the ground several meters away. Grima herself staggered back, her eyes widened at being disarmed… Right before Hauzer’s foot was raised and smashed onto Grima’s body, crushing her underneath his weight and cratering the street underneath. While the claws on the foot did not touch Grima, the sheer weight was enough to do the job, the Fell Dragon’s vessel struggling underneath with only one hand free, the other pinned under the dragon’s claw. Unfortunately, her struggles quickly ceased as her red eyes snapped up, seeing embers gather around Hauzer’s mouth and forcing her to quickly erect a dark barrier in front of her with her one hand.
A mere moment later, Hauzer breathed a jet of pure flame down at his own foot, warping around the dark barrier that Grima had put up and scorching the ground around her. From an outsider’s perspective, the Fell Dragon’s vessel was completely engulfed in flames… Before the breath of fire intensified in several stages, as if the dragon was trying to strictly purify Grima’s presence from this world and ensure nothing remained by blackened ashes. For a few moments, it seemed as if it was succeeding.
At least until a flash of purple light emerged from the flames, a cloud of shadows bursting forth and sending Hauzer flying into the air, launched by a sheer concussive force. The shadows did not rest however, and a large black mass shot out from the mist, one of a building sized wyrm with large wings and six blazing red eyes. It flew into the air, crashing into Hauzer once more before quickly wrapping its body around the maddened dragon, constricting it to a point where even they couldn’t struggle free,
“YOU… DARE TO HARM ME? TO PURIFY ME WITH YOUR PALTRY FLAMES? I AM BEYOND YOU, SAVAGE BEAST” the entity spoke, its words more like a telepathic announcement towards everything nearby, including Hauzer, whose attempt to gather flame into its mouth was met by their body constricting even tighter, “I AM THE WINGS OF RUIN… I AM MORE THAN PETTY, MINDLESS ANIMALS. I AM-”
Suddenly their words cease, the massive head snapping to the side as cracks of light began to travel across the street, quickly snaking their way to the battlefield where both Hauzer and Grima’s vessel fought. The shadowy form seemed to let out a grunt of annoyance, before quickly dispersing, letting Hauzer fall from the sky and crash into the street below. Their vessel lies in the crater that Hauzer created by stomping onto her, slowly pushing themselves over and letting out a series of hacking coughs, spitting a bit of blood onto the floor. With an agonizing level of effort, they rise to their feet, clutching and arm around their chest as the lights along the ground flashed and burst forth from the ground,
revealing a trio of machines who resembled walking torii gates, bearing massive batons for one of their arms. The machines step forward, their silent intent clear for Grima, up to the lead one’s baton glowing with light as it approached. Grima grit her teeth, knowing that with her wounds, a fight with these ‘enforcers’ would simply end up poorly for her.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to.
The attention of the machines were quickly shifted as the dust settled around Hauzer, the dragon rising to their feet to glare at Grima. With a mighty roar, they rushed forward, clearly intending to finish what they started… Only to be intercepted by the first machine, bashing the dragon upside the head with their baton. Hauzer simply shifted its focus, ignoring the pain of the blow and instead bashing the machine with its head, sending it flying back as the other two stepped forward, clearly having chosen to prioritize the rampaging beast instead of the wounded culprit.
Grima simply watched the sight for a second, her face falling to one of cold calculation as she slowly walked backwards, making her way to her sword and wrenching it from the ground with one clean motion. Then, as Hauzer continued to thrash against the city’s defenses, Grima walked into the shadows of a nearby alleyway, vanishing into the darkness.
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