Animi Motus

18: Ira

I come eye to eye with ten waiting malefica outside the door. They hold their maces at the ready. That's cute. I engulf myself in flame, and run full speed through them, setting them ablaze. I hear the legatus behind me finish the job. I scan the battlefield, looking for any of the atrocitas. It only takes seconds for me to spot one of the hulking figures smashing through throngs of secundum about one hundred feet away. I charge at the beast, hitting him in the gut with all my force. Which is by the way, a lot of force. We fly twenty feet through the air, and come crashing down on the hard ground. I hop gracefully to my feet and prepare for a fight. The atrocitas is only dazed for a moment, before it snaps back into focus. We circle each other warily. This isn't an atrocitas I've seen before.

"Ira, what a pleasure. I don't think we've officially met. I'm Quintus," The deep voice makes me go cold inside. But at least it's not Tribus, who can somehow combat every ability I have. I smile.

"I hate to be rude, but it's really not a pleasure to meet you at all so..." I trail off, shrugging at the massive creature before me. Quintus glares.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," He snarls.

"Sort of like I enjoyed watching Duo crumble to ash," I say, feigning nostalgia. Quintus's eyes narrow.

"Impossible," He spits.

"No, it's possible," I contradict. "Might be tough with only four new primus, huh?" Having had enough, Quintus lets out a guttural cry and lunges at me. I dodge to the side, raking my sword across his flank as I do. He howls in pain, but doesn't show any sign of defeat. Not yet. I conjure up a fireball and launch it at him, forcing him to drop to the ground. I rush him, aiming for his neck with my sword, when he catches my sword with his hand, swatting it from my grasp and throwing me off balance. I get up but he's already right on top of me. He grabs me by the feet and sends me flying into one of the guard posts on the surface. Pain lances through my shoulder. As I try to get up, I find that my arm is trapped beneath a beam of wood. It would be easy for me to lift it, but every move I make to free myself send pain rocketing through me. Were I to lift the beam all the way up, I fear it would tear my whole arm off. Seeing that I'm trapped, Quintus frees a metal rod from the wreckage and stalks over to me.

"End of the line, primus." He spits the last word, then raises the rod over his head. I make one last ditch effort to move the beam, but it's to no avail. I relax my muscles and accept my fate. I see Quintus send the rod flying at my chest, but it doesn't hit me. Someone with shinning flesh jumped in front of me. The rod hits their skin, but has no effect whatsoever. Quintus's eyes widen in surprise, and he takes a step back and turns to run. But Asher is there waiting for him. His twin swords pierce Quintus's chest, protruding out of his back. Asher pulls the swords out, and Quintus falls to the ground. The other, who I've gathered must be Legatus Tristitia, walks over to him. She raises her weapon, a silver katana, over her head. Quintus looks up at her helplessly.

"Any last words?" She says sweetly.

"Don't... Please, no... " He says in between rasping breaths.

"Hm, interesting choice," She says, and slices his head clean off. Two down. Asher rushes over to me and shoves something into my mouth.

"It's a sock, bite down on it," He instructs. I do as he says. Together, he and Tristitia lift the beam off of my arm, while I scream into my sock. After the beam is off, Asher makes quick work healing my arm, while Tristitia fights off any malefica who come our way.

"There," Asher says, sighing. I stand up, experimentally moving my shoulder. It's like nothing ever happened.
"Thanks, man," I say gratefully.

"Of course. You had me scared there for a second," He says.

"Hey, if you guys don't mind taking a break from your bromance, I could use some help over here!" Tristitia snaps. I get to my feet and grab the malefica she's tussling with. With one quick movement, I break her neck.