A Midsummer Disaster [Shane | Vetis]

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Following the picnic that Gisen, the General of the Rune Knights Combat Corps, had organized for the entire Rune Knights cast, Shane had been taken by the sheer tranquility of Peace Village. True to its name, the village was as if a separate entity from the rest of Fiore or other villages where dark mage attacks seemed to be non-existent. Even highway bandits or mountain bandits would keep themselves away from the place, wanting not to waste their time for low returns rather than being afraid of the village. The mages in the villages were also at an all-time low, the only few in here using their magic for more advanced crafts like ceramic ware, pottery or being the local handyman or repairman.

It was the last day of his weekend getaway, having rented a small cottage in the center of the town from a lovely couple and just allowing himself to soak in the cheery and warm atmosphere of the small village despite the coming winter. Today was the day of the Midsummer Solstice, where their weather would take a turn for the colder, heading towards winter where days grew shorter and night approaching earlier. It was a day of celebration in Peace Village, and despite their population, their preparations for the festivals were grand.

It had started the day before and the moment Shane had exited his cottage on the morning of the Midsummer Solstice, the air was abundant with the festive mood. All of the houses had been decorated with gathered herbs and tied to the doors in bunches. When Shane turned around to look at his cottage’s door, he smiled, pleasantly surprised that someone had decorated it as well. The owner of the cottage, a genial old man in his sixties, walked up to him and gave Shane a great big grin as he put his large hand on Shane’s shoulder.

[color:4212=# cc99ff]“You definitely picked the right time to visit, young man,” the old man known as Ham said. Once known as Hammer as the village blacksmith, it had gradually been shortened and stuck as Ham. Not that the man minded. He found it funny and had laughed it off, encouraging it.

“I definitely did, Ham,” the Rune Knight replied, chuckling.

“Wait till it’s night. It gets better,” Ham said again, and then taking his hand off Shane’s shoulder began to walk off. “I’ll leave you to your business. Just make to return to the village square by evening. We are CELEBRATING!”

The man chortled as he walked off, a few other man joining him as he walked down the street, their laughter coming in spades from an unheard joke.

-----

For the longest day of the year, the evening had arrived relatively quickly. A gigantic pile of wood had been placed in the middle of the village square, resembling an obelisk. And it had been lit, Shane watching the fire bursting out of the base of the obelisk to everyone’s cheering and then snaked upwards to the top, which was when the cheering had reached its crescendo. The ones setting up the wood pile had masterfully used some unknown method to force a ‘path’ for the fire as it licked upwards, allowing the flames to rise up in the form of fairies, getting plenty of oohs and aahs from the crowd. And when the flame had finally reached the top of the obelisk, a shower of sparks ensued.

They had attached fireworks to the top of the wooden obelisk, scattering the evening sky in a myriad of fireworks that threw different colored lights on the watching villagers. Shane couldn’t help grinning at the sight, marveling at their work.
And that was when it had all gone to hell.

As if a beacon, the moment the fireworks ended, an orb of light stayed in the sky just above the peak of the burning woodpile. It pulsated and then began growing at an incredible rate. The villagers thought it was part of the show and were silent with anticipation as they continued watching intently. But Shane had a different opinion. The magical energy coming from the expanding orb of light was off the charts, and he had a feeling that his own magical abilities were being suppressed. When the orb of light finally grew large enough to resemble a miniature sun, hovering over the entire village square, it shattered into small dots of lights that floated in the air, like a million fireflies. It was beautiful.

But what caught Shane’s attention wasn’t the small lights, but the company it had brought along.

“Just my luck,” Shane muttered, shaking his head in resignation. “What are the odds…”

Floating in the air, watching the crowd still affixed to the scene, was a large goat-like creature. Shane knew not what it was, but it towered above them, standing at the height of two full grown men. And its expression was not benevolent. Behind the being were two glowing lights taken on human form, light elementals. They hovered in the air, behind the goat-like monster, now obvious to Shane it was the leader. And having gone unnoticed as they walked out from around the burning woodpile, a female and male mage.

Fire seemed to emanate from their bodies itself, yet the two remained unperturbed. Rather, they looked like they were giddy from excitement.

“Kneel down to the Lord of the Hunt, the Horned God, CERNUNNOS!!” the male and female mage shouted at the same time, their voices ringing together in sync. And their Lord, tilted his head backwards and bellowed loudly, the sound covering at least fifty kilometers all around them. The two of them raised up their hands and began shooting streams of fire into the air at random, and for the moment the sky was lit up by the flames, Shane caught sight of the small fairies circling the group of hovering creatures. Panic began to take the crowd, as the villagers began running away back to their homes, screaming and shouting but Cernunnos was having none of that. A barrier of light appeared out of nowhere, fencing all of the villagers in the village square.

“Find bliss in the knowledge that you will all be sacrificed to Lord Cernunnos, the master of light and fire!!” the male mage shouted again before laughing loudly. And that was enough for Shane. When the whole chaos had started, his Requip weapons had already appeared on his body. His twin guns, Huntsman and Knight, appeared together with their holsters around his thighs, and his shield, Patriot, strapped to his back on a harness that ran across his back in an X and secured by one strap on each shoulder.

The Rune Knight pulled out his weapons and began shooting at the two mages, magic bullets approaching them with rapid succession. But before they could even near them, the bullets seemed to hit an invisible barrier, sizzling into nothing while the two mages smirked.

“We have been empowered by our Lord, so ease off with the party tricks,” the female mage remarked and laughed in a pretentious high tone while the male one merely smirked. Cernunnos who had kept his silence while hovering above them, his arms crossed across his massive chest, finally spoke.

“I will give you a chance, human. If you can complete all of the trials I have prepared, maybe you shall find the salvation you seek. However, if you lose, your lives shall be forfeit. To me!” Cernunnos spoke, his voice akin to thunder as it rumbled through the entire village and its surroundings. “It will be a futile attempt, but gather your allies if you will.”

The moment he finished speaking, the God of the Hunt spread his arms open widely, and various objects began to materialize around the village square. As the Rune Knight watched the appearance of the “trials”, the only thought that was running through his mind was: You’ve got to be kidding. But the man remained unfazed. Still holding his guns but lowering them so that they pointed at the ground, the blonde Rune Knight shouted back.

“I’m Captain Stern of the Rune Knights! I will play by your rules, but until then, you won’t touch a single hair on these villagers,” Shane growled in response and began his attack, charging at the two mages.

[1398  words]
[Solo WC: 1398 / 7000]

What was considered the longest day of the year was really just another average day for Solmar as he went about his business as usual. As of late, he had been traveling between the villages of Fiore, seeking out issues that needed dealing with that most Guilds would overlook because the pay wasn't big enough, because it would not generate enough fame or simply because the pleas of the small folk did not reach them. An example of that problem was the fact that, by the time he had finally managed to kill a risen dire wolf, it had already claimed the lives of well over a dozen of traveling merchants and hunters that followed the main road through Sakuramori. People who had been trying to provide for their families by taking their produce to the larger markets at Cedar and Hosenka had been slaughtered by the risen beast, getting dragged away to a nearby building in the woodlands. There, he had actually encountered another Guild mage who had been sent to deal with the problem, the problem being located in an actual Guild hall of all places.

This hadn't shocked Solmar as much as it probably would have for another person as his own views of Guilds was not nearly as positive as that of the people living in the cities. They were always protected because they had a Guild stationed nearby that powerful mages flocked to, or so he had heard. His temporary stay in the Mountain Village had however shown him another side of this story, this being that the local Guild stationed near the Phoenix Mountains had done little to nothing to aid them in their time of need. For fifty years, they had their children taken out of their homes in the middle of the night, leading people to believe that other villagers had been responsible for it while others made up wild stories of creatures descending from the mountains in order to snatch juicy morsels from their beds. For this problem, the people had been going to the guild for a long time, only for them to turn them away as it wasn't the kind of thing one would hire a mage for. At the same time, the council that was supposedly running the country according to Amalie had also been turning them away, telling them to get better locks and watch their children more closely.

Thanks to Solmar, the people had proof that their children had been taken into a cave in the mountains where they were sacrificed by a demented Wraith who believed she could come back to life if she sacrificed enough young souls. Feeling that they might be able to raise a case against the council with this new evidence, they hosted a small celebration in Solmar's name for eradicating the threat once and for all. Not being the kind of person that enjoyed being in the public eye, he had been having quite a few reservations about showing up, but felt like the people that had lost their children should at least know who ended the machinations of the undead woman. Feeling like everybody needed a hero from time to time, it couldn't hurt to let them believe that he was actually what they believed him to be.

Solmar knew full well that he wasn't a hero, as "Heroes" went around garnering fame, power and wanted to be an example to people far and wide. He was just a wanderer who had managed to lift himself out of wherever he had slept in the morning, sought out something he considered to be wrong or evil, and put a stop to it. That said, he did not make any attempt at covering the fact that he expected some kind of payment at the end of it, whether it be shelter for the night, some good food and drink or simply some coin, showing him that the people he aided at the very least appreciated the fact that he put his own life on the line for them. At the end of the day however, he was not the kind of person who would just walk away once he knew what was going on and that something needed to be done to end suffering. This tied in directly to his trip that had brought him to this seemingly uneventful village, mostly because nothing was ever truly as it seemed in his limited experience. Seeing as how he had only recently departed from the Hunting village in order to let them know that their loved ones would not be returning due to the meddling of a dark mage, just like he had done with the Beanstalk village community, the "Peace" village was up next.

While he luckily had no bad news to share with them, he did go there in hopes of finding some shelter and a bed for the night, some good food and drink in order to replenish his energy and maybe even some odd jobs in this seemingly uneventful village.




Sitting in the local tavern, both Solmar and Fellis were enjoying a plate of ribs while one drank it down with water and the other with a pint of mead. Always enjoying the added touch every place had to their local meads, some enriched the flavor of the alcoholic beverage with honey, while others used grape, apple or pear. During his travels, he had come to find out that many of these villages had their own unique way of brewing the concoction, the one brewed with honey and citrus being his favorite so far. Since he needed very little coin to get around, he could more than afford to eat lots at these smaller establishments, which can in turn really use the money he rather carelessly throws around when food is involved. Just as he was about to raise his hand and ask the owner of the establishment for another plate of ribs, a bright white light came shooting in through the windows, temporarily blinding him before it faded away just as fast as it had appeared. Letting a deep sigh escape his lips, he pushed against the bar, shoving the barstool back and rising to his feet. Turning his attention to Fellis and the other people inside, he shrugged his throat.

"Fellis, stay here and watch over these people until I get back. Everyone else, stay inside, I'm going to take a look outside, so don't panic."

Opening the front door, he looked out to see a large creature floating above the village at a height of roughly four meters, making him barely visible from where Solmar was standing. Since he did not exactly float above the buildings themselves, he had to really position himself if he was to clearly see what was going down. Maneuvering himself ever so slowly throughout the streets and using the buildings and village ornaments as cover, he approached it from behind while his enhanced hearing picked up everything that was being said. Hearing the Cernunnos, which was apparently the name of the floating monstrosity, it made Solmar wonder if he was truly everything he was made out to be. As names such as the horned god, god of the hunt and master of light and fire were being thrown around as if they were supposed to mean something to the people in this village, all it seemed to be was just meaningless posturing, or so he thought.

Being able to see when two additional figures made their appearance, it seemed that the two of them had somehow been receiving power from Cernunnos, or so they claimed. When one of the people up ahead in the crowd started attacking them, a barrier formed which kept them from actually reaching their intended target, though this seemingly disappeared once there was nothing left to defend them against. As these two had been the only ones that were making it clear that they were capable of speaking, Solmar was nearly caught off-guard when the large being spoke in a deep, rumbling tone of voice. Bringing up some sort of trials, it seemed that this Cernunnos seemed to believe in the posturing tossed around by his followers as well. Never having cared much for the whole god complex some people had, the young black haired mage would believe in these kinds of things once he could actually see them with his own eyes. As stopping a few projectiles with a barrier hardly spoke of divine power, the fact that he could make out some of the being's magical power proved that it was at the very least not a pushover. Though it provided him with an opportunity, Solmar refused to attack the being from behind.

No, he had already formulated a better plan for himself, one that would prove itself soon enough. What with this thing being introduced as the master of light and fire, it was as if Solmar's own magic had somehow resonated with the notion, almost as if it wanted to prove the creature and his followers wrong. Knowing that magic had no will of its own and that it was just his own subconscious, a slight grin appeared on his face when he heard the beast boasting as to how failing the trial would mean the souls of all the people would be surrendered to him, and that the man firing the projectiles could go and seek allies if he wanted to. Considering this to be the right time to make his presence known, Solmar dashed in between the two mages that had appeared along with Cernunnos. Clad in an aura of white flame, he brought his fist down against the cheek of the male . With a loud crack, his fist connected as Solmar used his momentum to push onward and smash the mage into a nearby building along with himself. Crashing through the wall, it became clear that this surprise attack had dislocated his target's jaw, keeping it from boasting any longer while at the same time proving that these barriers could only protect from what Cernunnos could see; a good thing to be aware of at least.

Walking back out of the building through the gaping hole in the wall, the aura of white flame died down as Solmar stepped into Cernunnos' field of vision. Extending his hand downward, an oversized slab of metal which he called a blade appeared out of thin air, starting to release barely noticeable shimmers of white fire once Solmar wrapped his fingers around the handle. Locking eyes with the large monstrosity that did not seem to be all that amused with his entry, the young mage could tell that it did not care a whole lot about his follower getting smashed into a building either. Pointing his finger up at the large levitating monster, he hardly cared about how the other guy had begun a charge towards the female follower, thus keeping her occupied for the moment.

"Hey you, Cunnilingus, lord of the hunt and master of light and fire. I'm Solmar, and I'm also somewhat of a practitioner of those things, which is why I'll tell you this once. Take your lackeys and leave this place, or the two of us are going to see just how much more intensely these flames of mine are willing to burn when we introduce you as kindling…"


(1902 // Thread Total: 3300)

What happened next was completely out of Shane’s expectations, but it was a very welcome surprise. As he charged forward towards the two mages who were raring to go, their combined firepower ready to unleash, the Rune Knight saw another charging figure, coming in his direction. Originally perplexed by the development, he was relieved when the newcomer proved himself to be an ally when he attacked the male fire mage with a powerful fist into his cheek, and still continue charging, with the male mage being pushed along with the fist still on his cheek.

“Good one!” Shane shouted back as the two of them crashed into a building, dust and debris clouding the hole where they had literally punched through. And then his attention was back on the female mage. With a smirk, as he observed that the female mage had been shocked by the sudden disappearance of her partner as well, Shane gladly took the opening and launched a front kick right into her abdomen. The female mage doubled over immediately before the Rune Knight swung his right hand upwards in an uppercut, snapping her upright again and into the air. But she never landed.

A voice behind him indicated that the newcomer had returned to the game and was challenging the great goat god to a battle, and as much as he wanted to turn around and look, Shane had to keep his eyes on the female mage before him. Who was now floating in the air. Steadied by two streams of fire blowing out from her hands and feet. The smug look on her face was definitely going to be bashed in, Shane thought to himself, seconds before two streams of fire was directed his way. The Rune Knight leapt back with agility, but as he soared backwards, two small feet bearing immense strength slammed into his back, arresting his leap backwards and sending him into the ground.

The Rune Knight rolled as he hit the ground, avoiding a very embarrassing splat into the ground before jumping to the side, two lances of light spearing into the ground where he had just been a few seconds ago. It was a challenging battle, but nothing he haven’t encountered before. With his right hand, Shane grabbed Patriot and swung his arm, letting the shield fly towards the female fire mage. Like a fly being swatted, she dropped out of the air instantly, her jets of fire from her limbs completely extinguished as the shield struck her squarely in her stomach.

It was a very surprising fighting style, to utilize the shield as a projectile but it was favored by Shane. His opponents had typically underestimated him whenever he brought out the shield, and he had been able to utilize the false sense of security against them. This time was no exception. Before he could take the final hit and put the woman down for good, the two light elementals began their attack.

Shane dived across the ground as several more lances of light slice through the air, stabbing into the soft ground. The things were hell bent on skewering him to death with the light spears. The moment he stopped his roll, his hand pulled on the large pistol holstered to his thigh and he assumed the standard half-kneeling shooting position. With his left hand supporting the bottom of the gun, muzzle fire began to light up from his weapon as Shane pulled shot after shot at the two elementals. Despite their high-pitched shrieks, Shane had no qualms about shooting them down.

And shot them down he did, the two elementals dropping in a crumpled heap. Where the bullet has gone through them were holes of light, which pulsated, slowly increasing in radiance until the two elementals suddenly dispersed into a thousand specks of light. With the two killed, Shane turned around just in time as the grass behind him rustled. The spiraling flames hit him square in the chest, throwing him backwards, but at the same time, three distinct gunshots roared against the whoosh of flames.

The Rune Knight smashed into the wall of a building, back first, causing a groan out of him before he slid down to his butt. The female flame mage, as if in slow motion, her head thrown backwards, slowly collapsed to the ground. Closer inspection would show two bullet holes in her forehead and another in her neck.

“Damn, I killed another person again. The bosses aren’t going to be too happy about this,” Shane said resignedly as he leant back against the wall, turning his head to the right to watch the fight between the newcomer and so-called Lord of the Light.

[782 words]
[Total WC: 4082]

As he slammed the guy across the building, there was one thing that stood out immediately and without question, he was somewhat stronger right now. Not possessing the slightest shimmer of an idea as to why that might be, he could tell that his flames radiated with greater intensity while the flames burned more violently. Withdrawing the flames from the rest of his body, he only retained the small amount that was clinging to his blade, fearing that the empowered flames might otherwise set the buildings around him on fire by accident. And considering how he had not come here to make a bigger mess of things than he had already done so far, he heard the guy who was cheering him on engage into a fight of his own. Having already expected this much out of the gunslinger when Solmar had personally decided to go for the other guy, he might have been in trouble if the guy hadn't done so due to his proximity to the woman.

With the female spell caster being engaged in battle, Solmar saw fit to leap onto the roof of the broken roof and make his way over to where the large goat thing was hovering above the people of the otherwise peaceful village. Figuring that whatever barrier it had put up would keep people from both moving in and out, meaning no one could be taken to safety and no one could be brought in to help them in case the goat proved to be as strong as his weak followers made him out to be. Even with one of his followers out for the count and the other fighting against another mage that seemed to be following his gut in doing what was right, the goat "god" did not seem to think much of any of them. Not even acknowledging Solmar's presence as he approached the being by leaping from roof to roof, it was as if he deemed the black haired mage to be no more than some meddlesome gnat.

When he leaped his way from the last roof and towards the hovering being, he used his sword to propel him forward while he aimed a diagonal strike at it. Figuring that if they could not save the people by bringing them out, the best thing he could do at this point would be to remove the beast from this place. Colliding with the barrier the creature had erected around itself, it kept his gaze on the people below, not believing for one second that Solmar would be capable of penetrating the force field. Perhaps the being was right, though that did not mean that he could not be moved, and that was what the swordsman was placing his bets on. Doing his best to drive his blade deep into the barrier, he activated his fire magic, unleashing a roaring inferno above the heads of the people. Using the outburst of flame that seemed to be a lot more powerful than usual to empower his blow, he managed to launch the barrier and its contents away.

Instantly shifting the flames away and back into the weapon, he figured that some of the civilians might have had their hair singed a bit, though he made sure not to actually hurt anyone in the process of removing a threat. With all the force he could muster, he shot the barrier and the goat monster inside of it into a nearby meadow just outside the village limits and within the dome around the entire place. Shouting at the people to make their way over to the tavern on the other side of town so Solmar could fight without having to worry about them, he kept his eyes on the cloud of dust that had come up when the barrier got slammed into the grass. Once it settled, it showed that the barrier itself had not broken, nor had the blow itself really done anything to harm the goat being inside of it. What had however changed was it had started focusing his gaze on Solmar, which was already a big change since a few moments ago.

Hanging on to his blade, he placed it over his shoulder as he heard the fighting behind him had stopped and someone approached them. Judging by the weight of the steps and the breathing, he could tell that the gunslinger had been the one that had won the fight. That was, unless the female caster had somehow gained a good bit of muscle and a more masculine physique in general. For now, he would do as the goat monster did; Wait.


(773 // Solmar Total: 2675 // Thread Total: 4855)

It was definitely interesting watching the young man’s moves against the Goat God, especially when the latter had never expected to be moved away from the center of the village with the sheer ferociousness of the young mage’s powers. Smirking, Shane stood up straight from the wall he was leaning on and approached the dark-haired mage.

“I’m Shane Stern, Rune Knights,” the blonde mage introduced himself. It didn’t seem right to put out a hand for a handshake in the middle of the battle. “That was an excellent display of power. How about we amp up the pressure for him?”

When he finished speaking, a weapon had already materialized in Shane’s left hand. It was Bloody Mary, the strongest firearm in his arsenal of weapons. It was a grenade launcher, and one of Shane’s favorite weapons when he needed to keep his opponents off their feet. He swung the large firearm into the palm of his right hand with a grin and then ran off towards Cerunnos. Keeping his distance, Shane watched the Goat God as it stared back at them, waiting for them to attack before it retaliated.

Shane wasn’t sure if the monster was confident enough to think that he could turn the tides of the battle alone, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He didn’t know the full capabilities of the monster save for its ability to open portals, and there was no point to drag the battle out. Shane activated two spells at the same time, allowing him to modify the grenades shot out of the weapon at will. And he began his volley of explosions.

With the hollow plunk of the grenade leaving the barrel repeatedly sounding out, Shane had fired off five grenades: two fragmentation grenades, one freezing grenade and two more incendiary grenades. He watched in anticipation as the grenades slammed into the monster’s barrier, the multiple explosions creating a blanket of smoke around it. A loud roar suddenly boomed from the smoke screen, sounding like a mix between a moose and a bear. Shane smirked, sure that the barrier had been broken, and ready for the other mage to bring this battle into a melee one while he kept it in check with his firearms.

[373 words]
[Total WC: 4455 / 1500]

"Solmar… Not a knight."

Not having any idea as to what a Rune Knight was, he figured that the least he could do was give the man his name as he had done so himself. Making it rather clear that he wasn't some kind of knight himself, his attention turned back to the goat. Though he did not really look at the man, as doing so meant taking his eyes off of his adversary that had proved itself to be entirely troublesome, a quick glimpse showed that this Shane character had armed himself with some kind of odd weapon that he had never seen before. Lowering his oversized blade to the ground, he waited patiently as the offensive started for real. With a loud plunk, the weird weapon that turned out to be another projectile type fired a weird object from the long barrel, followed up by several others that all got flung towards the creature that seemingly hid behind his barrier. Reaching their target in little to no time at all, a loud explosion followed as soon as they made contact with a solid surface; a good thing for Solmar to keep in mind when he next encountered someone with a weapon such as this.

Upon exploding, a large amount of dust, black powder and sand got kicked up, followed by a roar that was about as inhuman as the creature which they fought. Whether the beast had actually been injured or not or if it was merely a shout of sheer anger at having the barrier around it broken, Solmar could not wait around a second longer. Dashing off towards the creature in an attempt at making this momentary window count for all that it was worth, he rushed into the cloud of dust with his weapon following behind him as he prepared to attack his target. Capable of locating the large creature with his sense of smell and hearing now that he had to keep his eyes narrowed so as to not get them filled with dust, he made sure not to release his magic up until the very last moment. Knowing that he could not afford to alert the beast to his presence when Solmar had literally no idea what the creature was actually capable of, he raised his right arm, holding the handle of the blade over his shoulder before raising the entire slab of metal above him.

Bringing it down with all the momentum and power he could muster, he activated his white flame magic. As the sudden burst of flame entirely reduced the cloud of dust to nothing, Solmar aimed to bifurcate it in one go. But as his blade was just about to make contact and his sight got restored due to the dust cloud getting pushed away, it turned out that the goat was faster than the young mage had given it credit for. Moving aside just fast enough for the blade to miss his head, the slab of metal made contact with his shoulder and lobbed off his entire arm. Due to the sheer heat of the white flame wrapped around the blade, the wound got cauterized right away. Crashing down on the ground with enough force to crack the earth in a several meter wide radius, the goat used the opening to grit his teeth and move to the side before Solmar got the chance to swing the massive blade horizontally and bisect it down the middle. Though it would not stop Solmar from trying, the beast had already launched his own offensive.

Kicking Solmar in the back with a lot of force, both he and his heavy blade got sent flying away, moving just above the ground before making contact with it and tumbling across it until he eventually came to a stop when he hit the barrier around the village's outer limits. Coughing up a bit of blood, he did not want to risk staying down and becoming an easy target for another attack. Pinning his blade into the ground and using it as a crutch to get back up, he spat a bit of blood unto the floor next to him. Figuring he would just drink a few more in the evening after visiting the local physician, he looked on as the Goat picked up the arm that had been lobbed off. Looking at it angrily, the arm started disappearing, but not like one would expect. It didn't burn or rot or anything, but rather it faded away as if it had never belonged here in the first place. Taking a moment for himself to re-assess the situation, he figured he wouldn't get another shot like this again, at least not unless the Goat turned out to be a complete idiot in battle.


(797 // Solmar Total: 3472 // Thread Total: 6025)

Shane frowned slightly at the sudden display of strength and speed from the beast, especially when it had avoided the fatal slash from Solmar at the last minute. It had sacrificed an arm in the process, but it was still a win for the monster compared to losing his life. The creature was pissed, and in retaliation, send its hoofed foot straight into Solmar’s back, the immense force behind the kick thrown from a stationary position more than enough to send the swordsman flying some distance. That kicked Shane into action, the Rune Knight having thought that the opening created earlier would have been enough for the swordsman to slice the beast in half. They had severely underestimated the Lord of the Hunt, and if he didn’t act now, he wasn’t sure what would happen to Solmar.

Multiple flashes of light appeared around Shane’s body as he ran forward, the weapons he had summoned earlier having been returned to his pocket dimension. The shield, guns and grenade launcher disappeared, causing his speed to suddenly increase with the lack of the weapons’ weight. Unarmed for merely a second, the center of Shane’s right hand began to glow, a hammer appearing his right hand which he clenched down tightly upon.

Tendrils of lightning coursed through his entire right arm, emanated from the hammer he held in his grasp. His speed and strength was considerably beefed up by the hammer he held in his hands, and with a battle cry, Shane leapt up into the air, higher than he would have managed without the additional strength and brought the hammer down on top of the monster’s head. As the hammer slammed down, lightning from the heavens above them struck as well, hitting the same place where the hammer would land, as metal and lightning struck Cernunnos down.

The beast was caught off guard in its moment of rage, and was stunned by the sudden bolt of lightning, dropping to one knee. Even on one knee, the large creature, was still the same as Shane at full height. But it didn’t matter. Shane spun around in place, adding the centrifugal force to his blow as he swung his arm horizontally, smashing the hammer into Cernunnos’ hairy chest. A blast of lightning accompanied the blow, too little to do anything except adding to the drama of the strike, but the force behind the swing, threw the monster off his feet and left him rolling on the ground.

Shane quickly assumed a stance between the monster as it clambered back to its feet, once more nearly shattering all the eardrums of everyone within earshot with its inhuman roar. Fury had blinded the monster, its bestial instinct overriding the rationality that suggested perhaps using magic to deal with the two flies. Face scrunched up as he withstood the assault on the ears, the Rune Knight shouted back to Solmar without turning around, keeping his eyes on the beast as it began to stamp its feet into the ground, alternately kicking back with each hoofed foot as it wound itself up for a charge.

“Are you able to stand?!” Shane’s voice was loud, a result of the ringing in his ears, barely able to control his volume due to the compromised hearing. “I will keep you covered while he charges me! Take him down when I roll out of the way and slice that beast down!”

[568 words]
[Total WC: 5023 / 1500]

Assessing the situation, he was glad that he could keep his own personal demon from surfacing, though it was taking a lot out of him just to get this much done. The last time Vetis had come out, it was because Solmar had nearly every bone in his body broken and some of his organs torn, thus saving him from dying when it utilized its incredibly strength and regenerative abilities. At the time, he no longer possessed the strength of will and body to keep it tucked away, though the blow inflicted upon him by the Goat, while incredibly painful, was not enough to beat down either of those things. Only once he had accepted his death would his will fade, and only once his will faded would his body follow. Until that time came, he would just keep going and coming back to ensure his victory, or at the very least making sure his adversary wouldn't claim be able to claim it for himself.

Pulling his sword out of the ground, he held it by his side, the tip of the blade pointing diagonally at the ground. Focusing his magic into the blade, he kept watching how things in front of him would unfold when Shane made his weapons disappear and charged the monster empty handed. Or so it would seem, for not much later, a hammer-like weapon appeared in his hand as he struck it down upon the beast, accompanied by the crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning clashing down from a seemingly cloudless sky. Likely being some kind of magical weapon or a spell he used with the weapon as a medium, it wasn't all that different from Solmar's own blade. Continuing to push the magical power entrusted to the weapon, at some point, the blade did not just have a fiery glow about it but rather had the entire thing superheated and taking on a bright white hue.

Starting his charge towards the two of them, he looked on as Shane applied pressure with his hammer, allowing Solmar to keep moving onward. Closing the distance he had been knocked away for in very little time, he would not be making the same mistake a second time. Instead of going for an overhead smash, the young mage would come in with a horizontal strike instead. As soon as he noticed the beast getting knocked back by the strike of the hammer, the deafening sound of another roar originated from the beast as it beat down on his eardrums. The closer he got, the more it bothered him, though this just pushed him to want to end the beast that much sooner. Whether it even noticed him coming at all in his own blind rage, by the time Solmar's blade had passed through the creature, it was already far too late for it to do so as part of the shoulder and the head got cut clean off by the massive slab of superheated metal.

With the blood not even getting a chance to cake to the blade due to the searing heat, the body of the Goat monster fell onto its knees before toppling onto the ground completely. With the head still flying, by the time it reached the ground, it had already mostly disappeared just as its arm had done earlier. Whether this meant that the creature was never supposed to be here in the first place or if it had been some kind of magical construct, there was something off about it. Even though the beast had been destroyed, he could still hear it talking inside of his head for some reason. While only a faint whisper, there was no point in ignoring that it was there as it so clearly was. Whispering in an eerie tone that he was but the first wave in the coming tide, his death marked the start of more things coming. Bad things. With the blood being on Solmar's hands, it said that calamity would follow him around until the tide got turned, or Solmar and the rest of the world got reshaped.

When the voice finally disappeared, so too did Solmar make his blade disappear as he would no longer need it. With the death of the creature and his followers defeated, the barrier surrounding the village was gradually dissolving. Met with the sound of cheering villagers that had probably been watching things unfold from the confines of their homes, the black haired swordsman did not much care for it. Turning his attention towards the guy with the hammer before he would need to face the crowd in order to get back to Fellis, there were a few things that still needed to be addressed. After all, he hadn't killed the male follower of the Goat god, meaning he was probably still knocked out in the rubble of the same building. Not liking it when dangerous people like that were left to roam, he figured the "Knight" would probably feel inclined to do something about it.

"I'm gonna go grab a drink to wash down some of the blood, but you should probably look into the other mage. I didn't kill him, that much I know, though I wouldn't like to leave him in this village to continue whatever it was they were planning. Since you called yourself a knight, I imagine you might be the right guy to talk to about that."

With that, he kept moving towards the village as the crowd started cheering more. Not being able to find it within himself to force out a smile, he just nodded at them as he tried getting back to the tavern. He wasn't kidding when he said that he needed to get a drink. Figuring that his wound would probably heal itself before long, if it wouldn’t, he'd just go see the local physician. Walking with a bit of a limp as the pain was still very much present, it wasn't the main thing that was on his mind. Trying to make sense of what it was that the Goat meant when it spoke to him in his head, it probably meant that he wouldn't be able to stay in this place for too long. After all, if calamity was in fact following him around now that he killed the beast, everyone around him would run the risk of getting caught up in it. While there was the possibility that it was just a final boast, Solmar didn't want to take any risks with these kinds of threats.


(1096 // Solmar Total: 4568 // Thread Total: 7689)

The slice was clean, the large blade cleaving through the large beast as it was meant to be used, effectively taking off the monster’s head, neck and part of its shoulder with a single swing. The heatwaves rising from the large weapon told Shane that it was probably blazing hot, also explaining why the large wound was instantly cauterized. Or maybe the creature couldn’t bleed. The flying head never got the chance to touch ground, disappearing in a flash of light like how its arm had vanished earlier.

There was no final roar, no final demonstration of power as the Lord of the Hunt’s headless torso just collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, following its head and arm in a shimmer of light and then fading out. Shane let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding, and he turned around to look at the swordsman with an approving smile.

“You can leave it to me. Good job,” Shane replied, allowing the swordsman to return to the village. However, despite the disappearance of the tension and cheering of the crowd, Shane suddenly frowned as he went into an all-out sprint before leaping up the nearest roof he could find. His actions left the villagers bewildered as he soared above them, not knowing what their benefactor was doing. Landing in a half kneel, the Rune Knight squinted and saw a few flashes of flames, darting around in the air.

“The fire sprites,” Shane mumbled to himself as he counted them. There was a total of five, flying around aimlessly now that their patron was no longer in this realm. With the hammer still in his grasp, the Rune Knight threw it forward with all his strength, the magical weapon flying true to its path and striking down the nearest fire sprite. A flash of lightning erupted as the hammer hit the sprite, and instead of returning to Shane, the hammer veered into course for the next sprite, Shane controlling it mentally.

Five flashes of lightning and flames later, the hammer zoomed towards Shane with the latter grabbing it out of the air as it flew to him. The sudden crash of debris to the ground caught Shane’s attention and when he turned around, he saw below him the male fire mage that Solmar had taken out with a single punch. The fire mage, unaware of the proceedings and too disoriented to know anything else except stumbling around clumsily, was completely unprepared when Shane threw the hammer in his direction, slamming him in the center of the back.

The blow sent the mage flying face first into a brick wall, and put him out for the second time in one night. Smirking, the Rune Knight jumped down from his perch and slowly walked over. A pair of handcuffs was procured from his back pocket, and he snapped them around the male mage’s wrist.

“Guess that ends my vacation,” Shane said wistfully as he heaved the unconscious male mage over his right shoulder and started his return to the Rune Knights HQ.

[513 words]
[Total WC: 8202]