A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 11: Escaping Admits Defeat

No beast's roar signaled the start of this battle. It was most likely because they weren't capable of breathing anymore, but oh well.

     The live beasts from earlier had strayed away, knowing that these were blatant traps and not normal beasts. They weren't going to attempt to attack any one of these for fear of all of them turning on the one. Even all of the live beasts in this forest might stray away after feeling the unnatural blood-thirst being emitted by these newly created killing machines.

     I really thought of Snek Whitford as pitiful for screaming out such a daring battle cry and dying seconds later. I bet he didn't even know he was dead and his horrid spirit was just roaming around here somewhere.

     It's not like I could see the dead, their ghosts just floating around. So I wouldn't know.

     It had been a few minutes since we, or rather Thérèse, started fighting again. She crushed, spun, pierced, sliced, and lopped off anything that was in reach. She used chant-less wind magic to start up a tornado of darkness, her other attribute, and started sucking the life out of anything that came too close. It was just like the life absorption spell from before.

     A claw from a nearby beast, by chance, nicked my arm. Before I knew what had even happened, I cried out in surprise while burying myself farther into the crook of Thérèse's chest again.

     "Fir!"

     Her eyes flashed with rage instantly when she saw a small stream of blood on my elbow, and she yelled out a chant after losing control, "Winds of the blistering deserts, gusts from the raging seas! Appear and batter my enemies like the elements you defy!"

     Dust devils of all shapes and sizes, almost spitting fire or shedding hail with every turn, grabbed anything it could and enacted its worst abilities upon them. The undead beasts were lucky they couldn't feel pain, otherwise they would've been in for the long haul. They screamed only because of rage when an arm or leg got torn off, their skin was burned away and their bones couldn't connect anymore, or they were frozen in place and couldn't come after us anymore. Looks like they could still feel emotion, even if it was very limited to battle use.

     I especially was fearful for the life of the one that scratched me. It was in the form of a standing wolf, one eye missing and the bones of its arms and legs showing through underneath the scraps of flesh and fur that were waving around. After seeing to the others that were coming near us, Thérèse turned on it and took her sweet time cutting off its head by sawing through it with wind magic.

     Her great sword disappeared for a moment and she grabbed its grating, shrieking skull, and smashed it into pieces on her knee cap. Darkness descended on the rest of its body, and like termites there were shredding noises as it worked its way down. In the end, I don't think there was anything left, even though it is a fact of science that nothing can simply cease to exist or be completely destroyed.

     Sorry Takahashi-sensei, I think you were wrong for once. I hope you are doing fine.

     Seeing this, the beasts faltered a bit. They knew they wouldn't feel anything even if they died, nor would they suffer anything even if they got close, but it must've been that former preservation instinct that held them back from attacking. Also, the overwhelming blood-thirst that Thérèse was putting out all around us and spreading with what felt like one of her skills. Jeez, she was good. All of the beasts' bones clacked and clattered as they shivered involuntarily, stepping back when she growled at them, a beast of her own type.

     It was a standstill to all of the beasts within a thirty foot radius that felt even a bit of what she was threatening. The beasts in the back, however, wanted a piece of the action and foolishly charged past the ones standing limply in place.