Fear of Mantodea (Yandere Mantis x Reader)

The woods that surround us part 2: Wyrm

(I kept thinking of this song when making this part)

Death lay upon her skin like a pale and sickly ghost as she convulsed back and forth. An oily sheen of sweat and mucus poured from every orifice in her body, spewing, gushing, bleeding out upon the ground. It caused the very grasses around her body to turn a sickly russet color. No animal would lay upon it or go near the poor mantis in fear of what lay inside of her. The girl fell over in a messy heep, her bones to brittle to hold her up. Ranen was pitiless in front of her wracked body.

"Get up demon..." He muttered quietly. "Get up so that I may slay you."

Greenish vomit hurdled out of the girl's mouth in response, spewing upon his cold and sharp steel toed boots. It smelled like filth and feces all at once. A bombarding smell that invaded Ranen's nose with a putrid stench. A dagger was strapped to his side; one that he had used many times before and would not hesitate to use again. Grabbing it would be quick and easy, like putting on a pair of pants after a bath.

Ranen's gloved hand reached for it slowly. The grip felt natural, right, as if his hand was made for the blade itself. With a raised hand the priest nearly plunged the dagger into the girl's throat, however, before it could even make its target a rapidly decaying arm reached out and grabbed the priest's own. Her mouth cracked open opened and closed revealing the rotted teeth from inside and bleeding lips that dropped with liquid rust.

"Help me..." She spoke desperately.

"Help me!"

The girl's breathing was heavy, loud pants exited her mouth with an unexpected watery rattle. The tears that slid down her face were clouded with crusted slime that cut her eyes resulting in the blood that flowed down her cheeks. Bones became brittle, skin torn and taut, a loud hissing was now apparent as it echoed from inside her. Ranen tore his arm from the girl's as she was split apart from the thing that had plagued her this whole time.

A black wyrm, rough looking and scaled, writhed and twisted in multiple ways before finally facing Ranen. The girl must have accidentally swallowed it when they had stopped earlier on. The question was though, how did it find it's ways to these woods? The beetles woods should have been protected from these things due to Mantodea's barrier. The thought reeled inside Ranen's mind over and over as he and the thing locked eyes. Well, not really eyes but more of eyes and scale.

The beastly thing screeched in Ranen's direction before lunging at him at a startling pace. It's teeth were out, not too unlike the blood worms that fishermen would use to snag a bite. To someone new to the church this might've been startling enough to quit; however, Ranen was perfectly trained in this kind of combat. Bringing out the claws that he had practiced with from a young age the priest deflected the worm with great accuracy resulting in the wyrm flying backwards. It's teeth, that were meant for Ranen's throat, lodged themself into a tree nearby. A scowl spread on the priest's face as he watched it wiggle and writhe.

Bringing out the dagger once again he leisurely flipped it up and down in the air before making his way towards the Wyrm. Before the thing had revealed itself the woods had been light, calm, and even happy. Now, it fell deathly quiet. It was as if this thing's presence was a scorching burn that wouldn't go away. Light itself would not dare to touch the panes of its clawed face as it finally unlodged itself from the tree. Ranen pinned it with his gloved hand as it tried to bite him.

"You're a nasty little demon aren't you?" He whispered with a lethal stillness.

The creature hissed and spat at him in response.

"Don't worry...soon this world will be rid of your presence."

Cold steel raised and plunged into the wyrms body before it could even spit out another growl. It's oily black figure had been pinned to the tree. The sun that had had shied away from the creature now lit up Ranen with a light, warm and vast. God's hand, demon killer, and purple eyed beast. Ranen was the light that shone and protected the people from the dark demons that plagued the woods. The priest turned his heel and went over to retrieve Briar, who had been waiting for him diligently back in a different clearing. She rubbed her head lightly against Ranens armored body in affection as she lazily ate at the grass beneath her.