The evening sun hung low in the far horizon, the red disk on the western shore bathed the sky in hues of red and orange. Clouds blocked the evening light in contorting patterns, blotting over large chunks of the sky and continued their slow journeys, unaware of the chaos unfolding under them.
Blood.
Crimson blood splashed around as the sound of chains rang high in the air. Something large and heavy moved.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
The morningstar crushed the wolgrams like a child crushes clay.
Rem moved through the forest like a living natural disaster; darting through the sea of wood and leaves with a speed not meant for man to travel.
"Mabeast! Mabeast!" She yelled incessantly. Upon her forehead was a glowing object.
A horn, encased in purple light. Strength continued to rush into her body as the horn absorbed the ambient mana to supply her.
The morningstar turned in the air, smashing straight into a group of mabeasts that had pounced on her.
"Mabeast!" A wide smile hung on her face, one all too demonic to be related to the gentle maid of Roswaal estate. Her dress was bathed in crimson and the wolgrams continued to gather around her.
Boom!
The ground split apart, throwing out dust and dirt and debris, blocking the sight. Rem rushed through the dust, punching a wolgram on it's head, caving in it's skull and kicking away another. She swung her arm, bringing the flailing ball of pointed metal around only to slam into witch beast flesh.
"Die!"
Glee.
Rem felt true glee as she continued to mow down the hundreds of dogs. The matter of protecting the villagers had long escaped her. Her senses, strength and animalistic desire to hunt, to kill and to destroy had all been amplified by the horn!
She did not know at what point she had needed to use her horn. Perhaps it was when she realized that the witch beasts were pouring into the village in waves and she could no longer keep them at bay without it.
"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" She showcased her wide teeth. The morningstar destroyed everything around her indiscriminately.
A wolgram slammed it's body into her. Instantly, she opened her mouth and bit into it's soft throat and ripped out it's wind pipe!
Spurt!
More blood spurted onto her face. Even her hair had been dyed in blood.
Taking the short opportunity, more wolgrams were upon her! Like a tide of flesh, the dogs with their canine teeth rushed at her; each from a different angle. She blocked one with her chain, another with a punch. Yet one bit into her shoulder.
Kuh!
She groaned as she pushed the beast away, squashing it with her morningstar not a moment later. More were upon her again. One bit into her arm, another aimed at her neck!
Bam!
With a tremendous effort, she pushed off the unending avalanche of enemies off of her and screamed!
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
Sounds of crushing of meat and splashing of blood continued to echo in the forest. Far ahead, she could also hear various explosions but she did not care.
"DIE!" She yelled, throwing around the morningstar again. This time, though, it bounced back.
Her eyes widened as she looked upon the perpetrator. It was a gigantic mass of muscle and miasma. A large wolgram, 6 meters in height and unlike any other.
And right atop it stood a small girl.
She had purple hair and rounded face and wore normal clothing. Her gaze, though, was anything but welcoming.
"Tch! Kill her!" She screamed to the wolgrams.
Rem smiled. Her blood soaked features made her appear all the more threatening.
Overhead, she heard the croaking of ravens - she ignored it all.
Her focus was right on the wolgram before her, and the child mounted atop it.
The horn's light began to intensify, filling her muscles with waves of mana. Her gleeful breaths turned ragged as her lungs demanded more and more oxygen.
And then, something crashed.
Boom!
Rattle!
And something broke.
Shaaaa!
Duuu!
Clanking!
Rem slammed the morningstar unto the beast, it's speed too fast to be caught by any normal eye.
Her body, she found, was suddenly flung into the air, high above the canopy. A sliver of clarity returned to her mind as the cold wind splashed across her cheeks.
The beast had countered her morningstar with it's claws and stomped upon the ground. It had made something like a lever, pushing the ground below her and throwing her up!
"El Huma!" Rem yelled. Icicles appeared around her and shot down at the speed of sound!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roaaar!
The wolgram roared as the icicle scraped it's back.
Rem descended like the wrath of God, bringing destruction alongside her.
She met the wolgram mid air, the dog's jaws widening around her.
"Huma!"
The transparent shield blocked the creature's jaws and the morningstar swung with full force, right into it's mouth!
Bam!
Roaar!
Blood flew all around.
Rem landed cleanly on the ground, her crazed eyes seeming almost feral.
It was difficult to tell which was the beast among them.
"Overwhelm her!" The little girl yelled, her anger growing by the minute.
The large wolgram stood it's ground while the others began running at full speeds. The ground began to tremble from their collective running.
Boom!
It didn't take long for Rem to get overwhelmed.
Feral as she was, she could not defend herself from every angle. Some bites were bound to take place. Some damage was bound to be dealt.
And in just a few minutes, she had begun to lose her intensity.
Meili smiled as she looked upon the oni. She patted the wolgram under her, prompting it to move.
At first, she did not know why her employer had suggested she brought a Guiltylowe with her. But she was thankful she had listened. If both the people she was targeting had the same level of strength, she would have lost even with the absurd number of wolgrams.
However, just when she thought she had the maid cornered-
Something crashed.
And the sky fell down.
Shiiiii!
Boundless light, unlike anything she has ever seen before rushed at her, enveloping her whole and illuminating the entire forest!
The clouds above and the orange hued sky seemed to have melted into the ground, raining down molten gold onto the forest.
No... her eyes widened in horror as she realized what she was seeing.
A man had jumped into the air, emblazoned in the light of a thousand suns. And as he fell she saw something she never thought she would ever see...
Spirits.
Thousands of spirits rushed over instantly, covering the landscape like grains of sand on a beach!
She screamed.
At least she thought she did. It was hard to hear her own voice in the deafening roar that followed.
Each wolgram in a twenty meter radius was burnt alive!
As the light died down, she had trouble focusing her eyes.
"Ah! Kill them! Kill anyone who's here!" She yelled to the mabeasts, hoping they would win.
Simultaneously, she issued a command. A wolgram leaped up and swept her off the big one.
Whoosh!
They vanished between the trees as voices reached her ears.
The voices of rending flesh and the agonizing cries of the beasts...
Along with the sound the chains. So many chains...
...
"I cannot permit you to move to the village." Ram's voice rang clear in the main hall. She stood sternly before the door, arms crossed beneath her respectable chest.
"Why?!" Emilia exclaimed in confusion. On her head stood a single black bird, the raven - staring at Ram with it's empty red eyes. Puck had already gone to sleep and as night descended, it was only going to get that much more dangerous for the village!
Ram shook her head, looking at her with a stern gaze. "Your security is the main priority in any case. I cannot base my decisions on the news of a mabeast attack and permit you to step into danger. You have been sponsored by Lord Roswaal; it will only be damaging to his reputation if I allow harm to be done to you."
"But won't it damage his reputation if the villagers under his domain were killed!" Emilia reasoned.
Ram's face underwent no changes. She shook her head. "Regardless for that fact, I cannot allow you to exit."
Emilia stood with a confused expression. She was unsure what to do now.
Ram sighed inwardly. This was the woman vying to become queen? She could not even make her own decisions, much less understand the situation clearly.
"Please try to understand, Lady Emilia." She said.
Outside, the moon had already begun to rise and deep in the forest, right beside the village, a separate sun had risen.
Slash! Slash! Spurt!
Hedin swung his cleaver and ducked under a pounce. His eyes shone and instantly, light erupted like a volcano from his body, swallowing the wolgram above him!
Everything seemed to calm down for a moment as he stood still. He eyed the beasts around him with wary eyes; glowing ominously in the dark. Just then, he felt gooseflesh trigger on his back and neck. He felt the temperature drop by several degrees and felt something touch the back of his neck.
A cold whisper, the whisper of chains.
"My own sister, Rem is also out there."
He ducked, feeling something touching the tip of the hair on his head. He heard chains and a wet splat!
His eyes shot back, only to find a certain bloodied maid standing there on the ground, chains held taut in her hands.
"Rem?" He called out. The maid's eyes locked onto him, red with bloodlust and a large horn atop her head.
"If the mabeasts are indeed attacking the village, she is also in danger."
"hehehehahahHAHAHAHA!" She laughed a deranged laugh. It rang in the forest and washed over Hedin like a cold shower. Just then, she pulled onto the chains and Hedin sensed danger!
Boom!
"Rem!" He yelled, narrowly dodging the spiked ball of destruction as it swung around in the air. The maid swung it around, throwing it at anything that moved.
"But I choose to place my trust in them. I do not doubt the fact that those two, Hedin and my sister will be able to take care of everything."
Hedin landed on the canopy, looking down with his light filled eyes.
He clicked his tongue.
"What now?" He muttered to himself, observing the maid who was mindlessly combating the mabeasts in a frenzy. "She seems to have lost it. It's a state of forced aggression, possibly a protection mechanic... Hmm. A primal instinct. Is it the horn? Its sucking in mana and empowering her. How should I bring her out of this state?"
He jumped off the tree, just before the morningstar slammed into it with full force!
The wood splintered against his back as he landed on the ground. Mabeasts pounced over him, making him retaliate in kind.
"And so, I think you should also place your trust in them. Given Hedin's mindfulness, he might have theorized the obvious. This might be a ploy to draw you into danger and take care of you prematurely."
"May the twilight burn these souls forever in dusk." Hedin slammed his sword into the ground, imbedding it two feet under and genuflected. He closed his eyes and offered a silent prayer.
"Kill every being I've marked with the light of twilight." He called out. "Al Jiwald."
A whisper.
Everything died around him.
"You should trust them, lady Emilia. Trust them, and let them handle it. Because I believe they will."
Hedin could not use the spell, Al Jiwald. And so, why had it suddenly become possible? He had used the power he had cradled with glory, using it to manipulate his own mana to directly manifest the magic into reality; skipping the process of learning the correct mana circulation.
The result was a magic that selectively shot down everything he deemed as a target in a 20 meter radius!
He exhaled.
"Hooo~ That will stall them for a bi-" He sidestepped and a ball of spiked metal slammed into the ground, unearthing his sword which he grabbed in mid air.
He tilted his head as he met the eyes of the murderous maid. Behind her, multiple eyes glowed in the darkness still.
"And how do I deal with you?" He sighed again. Maybe I really should have taken Reinhard's offer. He shook his head as he jested. But then... He thought back to the villagers. Maybe fighting these beasts isn't so bad after all...
He held out his hand in an exaggerated fashion and offered a charming smile.
"May I interest you in a dance?"
...
Alternative title: The Sound of Chains.
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(Image Here)
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A/N: Read upto 10 advanced chapters on my patreon: patreon . c o m/Yesnth Just remove the spaces from between.
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