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This article The Monster, is the sole property of Per and as such, no user may edit this article without explicit permission from the aforementioned creator. If you wish to use this article in any way, please ask me first. |
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This article The Monster, is the sole property of CPU Noire and as such, no user may edit this article without explicit permission from the aforementioned creator. If you wish to use this article in any way, please ask me first |
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Open Book[]
"RUN!"
This was the shriek of the people living in the nearby village as they all seemed to scramble through the streets.
"IT'S A MONSTER! IT WILL DEVOUR US ALL!"
True to this claim, a blurred, giant figured raced through the town, utterly ripping into bodies and devouring their innards, drinking the blood that poured out like it was wine, and casting only bones aside. This was the fourth village in just one day.
"I CAN FEEL IT!" The creature's voice boomed throughout the area. "AKATSUKI IS COMING! AND YET...JASON HIMSELF DOES NOT SEE IT FIT TO GRACE ME WITH WITH HIS PRESENCE..." The creature, for what could be seen of it's face as it snaked throughout the city, devouring these pathetic humans, seemed to be angry, even disappointed. Perhaps the insult of being sealed within a human rang true, even in this fragment.
"Can ya feel it?" Alaskiel frowned. "Some pretty strong magical energy just up ahead."
Erza grinned at the feeling. "Alright! Let's do it!" She made a fist-pumping motion. "This should be a walk in the park! Come on guys, get into the goddamn spirit; let's move, move, move!" She began sprinting towards the location where the energy was being exuded.
"Be quiet, Yuriko!" A young boy whispered to a little girl shivering in fear beside him. "The demon can't see us if we hide under the straw. We should be safe here."
"I-I want Mama..." The little girl cried, but she kept this under her breath.
"HM?" The monster turned it's head, and the first full view of it was granted to the prying eyes. A large, white bengal tiger, dwarfing most buildings with it's size, eyes a crazed red, saliva dripping from it's bared fangs, it turned onto a barn, swiping away at the rooftop, and in effective, the hay, revealing the two young children cowering under the beast.
"AH. SO, YOU THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE SAFE IF YOU HID FROM ME UNDER THE STRAW." He projected his thoughts to the area at large, gloating above these children. "AND YOU EVEN CRIED FOR YOUR MAMA AND PAPA TO SAVE YOU. THEY WILL NOT COME FOR YOU, BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY DEVOURED THEM. HERE, LOOK INSIDE MY BELLY AND SEE!" He lunged for them, mouth open wide...only to be slammed in the skull by an oncoming hammer, sending him skyrocketing backwards as Tyrone made his way onto the scene.
"You kids are in the wrong place!" He barked at them. "Get going and get going now!" The children didn't need to be told twice, and quickly stood up and fled.
"OHO? WELCOME, AKATSUKI."
Erza summoned a magical sword into her hands. This wasn't a real blade, but actually, it was manifested via a special type of magic. "...Tch! Damn demon...to hurt a kid...it's the most heinous sin! Prepare to be punished! ...In both ways. First, I'mma beat you down! Second! I'mma let you hear my stand-up lines."
"So feisty as always, Erza." Alaskiel crafted a wakizashi from thin air. "Tho' I suppose that makes any battle alongside ya worth it's price in time." He licked the blade itself, partially opening an eye to look up at the demon. "So, you do have a name?"
"INTRODUCTIONS, HOW FITTING!" The beast chuckled. "I AM BYAKKO, FRAGMENT OF GEHABURN. I ALREADY KNOW WHO EACH OF YOU-" He stopped his telepathy for a moment, raising a paw and slamming it behind him. This, it was revealed, was to slam Ono down into the ground stopping her surprise attack. "-ARE. AND I KNOW EVERY MOVE YOU WILL MAKE."
"Mind readin' !" Alaskiel was genuinely surprised at this. The beast could read their thoughts.
Erza was worried now. How could it read her mind....when there was no mind to read? "....So, it's some ESPer power? I wonder how high that'd count? When'd you get it, off some idiot helmet?
"HAVE YOU GIVEN UP SO SOON?" Byakko cackled. "I SUPPOSE EVEN FOOLS LIKE YOU WOULD SEE THE HELPLESSNESS OF THIS SITUATION."
Erza yelled at the beast, "I don't know the meaning of the words give up!" Nor did she know the meaning of the words 'pacifist', 'subtlety', or 'don't keep hitting children with swords'.
"We're taking far too long!" Tyrone shouted in irritation and launched himself foward, swinging his hammer upsides towards Byakko's face. With his intense speed, the beast vanished, dodging the hammer with ease and swatting Tyrone back towards his own group. "YOU ARE TRULY A FOOL, MONKEY MAN. NONE OF YOU, WITH ALL YOUR WITS AND MAGIC, CAN DEFEAT ME. I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN FINISH MAKING A PLAN."
Erza sighed. "You know how in these books, that the arrogant guys are the ones to die easily? I think we have a case of this here." She summoned a sword into her hand, spinning it around her arm easily. "Eh, we're heroes. These guys go down in ten minutes, tops."
BANG! A dull sound echoed throughout the air as Erza kicking off ten times at an immensely swift pace, almost as if she teleported right towards the demon's face, bringing her blade down in one big, enormously fast movement which left little room for dodging, aiming to split Byakko in half.
Byakko, however, had already moved out of the way. True to his word, he could feel Erza's thoughts, and her intent on attacking, her area of aiming, everything was open to his mental eye. The moment Erza formed her thoughts, Byakko had moved before she could see, and he sent his own paw forward, not even giving her time to react before he sent her flying into the remains of one of the houses.
"Such...speed..." Alaskiel himself was surprised by this, and his eyes were actually opened as he took in the destruction. This beast...
Erza caught herself, looking around to see if anything was damaged with her impact. "...Tch! Damn tiger thingy..." Then again, every zoo became a petting zoo if you were hot-blooded enough. She swung her sword forward, declaring "Bakusaiga!" A green blast of magical energy was released from her blade; of course this had...unusual effects. It was a guaranteed hit. Possibly.
Once again, Byakko was nowhere to be seen, and by this moment, he had taken to the sky, his mouth glowing with light. "GOOD-BYE, ERZA KAZORAEM!" He released a large bullet of light energy from his mouth, heading straight down on Erza...and he himself vanishing as an extended blade shot forward from Alaskiel.
"Oh, he's damn good..." Alaskiel thought, unwillingly impressed by this demon's reflexes and sheer power.
Erza growled admist her gritted teeth. "...Damn thing. Nothin' but a big purdy cat...and it's tearin' us to pieces." She stabbed her sword into the ground, gathering magical energy. 'Alright, idiots! Cover me!"
"You need to learn how to ask favours better, girl!" Tyrone launched himself forward, swinging his mighty hammer.
"Memory Make: Spark of Death!" Alaskiel snapped his fingers, releasing a large blast of flames that shot forward at Byakko.
"YOU FOOLS!" Byakko refused to focus on their own assaults, easily dodging them as he dashed forward towards Erza, releasing a large blast of energy from his mouth towards her, and it shot forward at lightning speeds.
Erza prematurely lifted her sword from the ground, returning the blast back to sender. She decided, no, it wasn't a good idea for her to use that. "...Damn..." She leapt into the air; using Requip to disperse her blade while summoning a phantasmal copy of the sword; not one, but two. Crossing the dual blades, Erza swung around, releasing a volley of green energy blasts towards the giant tiger.
Becoming an absolute blur, Byakko dodged, slamming it's form into Erza's and knocking her back, before turning on Alaskiel and Tyrone, bombarding them with energy spheres that they didn't have the reflexes to block, causing pain to skyrocket through their body as if hit by electrical pulses.
Erza stabbed her blade into the ground; catching herself. "Bakusaiga!" Launching another blast at Byakko when he was left unawares, Erza began to run towards him with increasingly erratic movements that belied her calculating brain.
"FOOLISH WOMAN!" Byakko shot a blast of energy to cancel hers, causing a massive explosion. What Erza was failing to grasp was that her thoughts were an open book to Byakko, and until she got a handle on them, everything she did would be known to him nearly before it was known to her. Byakko charged forward through the smokescreen, his mouth open wide to devour the woman.
Erza was fully consumed by Byakko, falling deep into his stomach. "...Is that a watch?" Really, the only thing she could say...and nobody could hear her.
Slice 'N Dice[]
"She got eaten!" Tyrone shouted the obvious, though it was understandable, such a thing was inconceivable.
"YOUR FRIEND WAS FOOLISH!" Byakko licked his muzzle, pleased with his success. "THE ENTIRE LOT OF YOU REFUSE TO SEE THAT YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MINE, AND THUS, I KNOW EVERYTHING YOU WILL DO! YOU ARE NOTHING MUCH A SCAMPERING MEAL!" He lunged for Tyrone next.
"STORM BRINGER!" Erupting from the forgotten Ono, a tornade began to rise into the air, funneling it's way towards Byakko, sucking in everything in it's path. The tornado began to draw in even Byakko, who put his claws into the ground to keep himself from moving.
"WHAT IS THIS!?"
Ono stood up dusting herself off. "You were so focused on your success in devouring Erza, you completely forgot about the girl you swatted down at the beginning of the battle, and my thoughts were spared from your petty prying.. And now you're going to pay the price."
Byakko was quickly drawn into the tornado, and the wind began to act as blades, hacking at his body. Moving upwards, it seem to lift him up, only further cutting into him as he rose. The tornado then began to stop cease it's flow, and the wind pressure vanished, leaving...nothing.
"He's...the thing's been chopped into pieces so small we can't see!" Tyrone exclaimed in shock.
Alaskiel was busy memorising that spell. "Even if she did destroy it..."
"...Erza...." Ono looked downcast. "He devoured her...and we couldn't do anything. My spell would have left even her in tatters..."
However, their mourning was ruined by three bright lights which collided with the group, causing a massive, highly damaging explosion. Byakko descended, looking, if possible, more feral than usual and he was barely scratched.
"H-how?" Ono was at a loss for words. This cat should be mincemeat by now. She, Tyrone, and Alaskiel were all bleeding and too exhausted to move. The last three hits had nearly done them in.
"YOUR MEAGER POWER ISN'T ENOUGH TO DEFEAT ME!" Byakko boasted. "THE OUTSIDE OF MY BODY, MY FUR, IS TOUGHER THAN IRON! NOTHING CAN PENETRATE IT! WITH MY ABILITY TO HEAR YOUR MIND, AND MY IMPENETRABLE HIDE, I AM INVINCIBLE! I WILL DESTROY YOU HERE, AND GO ON TO ASSIMILATE THE REMAINING FRAGMENTS! I AM THE TRUE GEHABURN!" He raised his head, charging a truly massive sphere of energy.
"D-damn..." Alaskiel tried to move his body, but only succeeded in making his hat fall off.
"Here we go!" Erza planted her blade deep within Byakko's stomach; gathering and converges magical energy through Rebellion's special ability, accelerating it at a single point—the tip of the blade while holding herself down with Gravity Change. After gathering up Byakko's magical energy since she was inside of the beast, Erza disabled Gravity Change and reversed the effect, shouting "Ittō Ryōdan..." Reversing the effect of Gravity Change gave her an enormous boost in speed and jump height, allowing her to leap around inside of Byakko and deliver an enormously destructive overhead slash of unparalleled speed and strength, cleaving straight through the beast with frightening ease while releasing a blast of azure dragon-like lightning, obliterating the beast.
Slicing straight through Byakko, Erza slid down it's corpse which was slowly withering with a grin, sheathing her blade. "...Genmujūryūha."
"S...she's alive!?" The entire trio exclaimed in shock. "And she killed it!?"
Erza dusted herself off, laughing. "Hey, what did you expect? I can kill anything that exists - even if it's a god."
"That...that'll come back to bite ya..." Alaskiel said with exasperation.
"Either way, we need to rest..." Ono groaned, trying to sit up. "We can't go anywhere just yet, even if you managed to kill this one...I suppose we'll leave the next fragment up to Hephaestus?"
Erza nodded. "Naturally! I deserve some rest, like the awesome hero I am."
"Something tells me this girl just triggered her own flag..." Tyrone groaned, irritated at the young woman's ego.
"I agree..." Ono sighed. "But, let's recover. Hephaestus and company will have quite a bit of work to do..."
END