Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 47

Things happened faster than anyone could believe. The Celestial Bronze bullet seemed to have as much effect on Gina as a mosquito running into a wall would have. She recovered with impossible quickness and continued her assault against Sirona before the goddess could so much as turn around. Ryker ripped the second pistol from its holster and fired at Gina again. She didn't even seem affected by the bullet as it ripped through her collarbone and emerged from the other side. In fact she healed almost instantly from the wound. Sirona turned on the spot, but not quickly enough. Gina was upon her with her formless, shadowy hand going for the goddess's chest. Ryker was there before the attack could be completed. He grabbed Sirona by the wrist and unceremoniously yanked her away by the back of her dress. Using his other hand he met Gina's attack head on, his claws connecting solidly with her weapon. An odd, and fairly unpleasant, sensation ran up his arm the second that the claws touched her and he was sent skidding back. Before he had even stopped moving a horn rang out over the Roman camp, the one that signaled an impending monster attack. "We're being attacked!" Frank shouted, indecision ringing in his voice where authority should have been.

"Leave her to me." Ryker told them roughly. He glanced down at the hand that he had used to attack her and scowled. The claw was crumbling away into dust, the metal rusting at an impossible speed. Even as he watched the remnants of the claw fell off his hand and fell to the ground. He slowly turned his gaze back to Gina even as the others turned away and ran to meet the oncoming monster horde. Only Sirona stayed behind, her eyes filled with shock and betrayal directed at her daughter.

"Who are you?" Sirona demanded angrily. "You are not my daughter."

"Oh, but I am dear mother." Gina grinned at the goddess even as Ryker began to advance on her.

Whatever it is that she has on her hand is dangerous. Ryker thought even as they circled one another. Her eyes were filled with amusement and contempt in equal parts, almost as though she thought him beneath her. Perhaps she did. The declawed arm was beginning to shake slightly, something that worried him immensely. Gina feinted towards him and Ryker took an immediate step backward. She smirked at him and heaved a sigh.

"I had heard that you were quite the fighter." She told him frankly. "And yet here you are, too scared to as much as attack. I guess they were nothing but rumors."

"Kill her." Sirona ordered, her eyes hard. "Whatever that is, it is not my daughter."

"Easier said than done." Ryker snarled back, his eyes darting to the hand that had destroyed one of his claws. The black formless weapon formed and reformed countless times and yet each reformation seemed even deadlier than the last. It was a dark, twisted, unnatural weapon. It scared Ryker.

He blinked and curled his unarmed hand into a fist. Fear? Him? How long had it been since he had felt that emotion? Had he not fought for years to kill off that feeling inside him? Fear was the enemy. Fear was hunger. Fear was cold. Fear was death. And yet there it was. The same cold uncertainty he had felt only briefly in Python's dragon-filled chamber.

He felt something hungry stir inside of him, something he had only felt once before. Some ancient feeling of hunger that Ryker felt begin to overcome his senses, sharpening and enhancing them far beyond their natural limit. The temporary fear that had gripped him was long gone with the emergence of this new power. Gina seemed to see the change in him and took a hesitant step back. Ryker was moving before her foot had even hit the ground. She slashed at him with her formless weapon but Ryker ducked the attack with a low growl. He grabbed her armed hand by the wrist with his declawed arm just as his remaining claw came down on the soft flesh of her forearm. The Gina-imposter did not cry out, but instead put distance between her and Ryker.