❖ MONSTER HUNTER WORLD ❖ (10Y/Johann/Shane/Amalie)

I will never ask for nothing that I won't give in return
You will never have to question the value of my words
Amalie

Slowly and carefully Amalie would tread through the desolated house, the hilt of Goldbrand gripped tightly between both hands, ready to fire if necessary. As usual, she was sporting her Dies Irae uniform; the red and white jacket , decorated with gold embellishments. Her lower half sporting the red pleated skirt, white thigh socks and classic cherry red heels. Amalie had received intel regarding who would be his next target, and despite the orders of the Magic Council, she hadn’t been able to keep herself away. The council had placed a security detail on the young girl’s home, but Amalie knew that this wasn’t enough. This killer wasn’t a fool, he would find a way around it and it just so happened that he had. Girls had a tendency to be foolish, naive even, especially when they were young and in love. Amalie had looked into the target, and discovered that she had been talking to someone through her kindling app - A teenage boy who used to go to her school before moving away a year ago, an individual she was known to be smitten with. The council had written this off as harmless, but Amalie’s hunch had told her differently. After looking into the mysterious amour, she’d learned that his kindling account had only popped up in the last few months and had reached out to the target in question. It just seemed a little too coincidental.

Getting someone to hack into their private messages had been easy enough and as she monitored their ongoing exchange she had witnessed something alarming. Whilst complaining about being trapped in her home, the ‘boy’ convinced her to sneak out. Telling her that he had popped back for a surprise visit and that they should see each other. And foolishly, driving by obviously romantic ideals of time with a potential beau, she had agreed. Amalie tracked the girl to a house a few blocks away from her own, it was ideal for the killer. Currently for sale and unused by the previous owners, something else that aligned with his modus operandi.

The delay between Amalie’s and the girl’s proved problematic, meaning the killer would have several minutes alone with the girl before she got to the property. And after she entered the unlocked home, she found it to be disturbingly quiet. She had pulled her gun from her belt, stalking through the dark hallway of the pristine family home. The Commander stepped into the kitchen, eying the contents of the room. A single empty glass on the counter, residue of water still clinging to its edges, telling Amalie that someone had drank from it recently.

A distinct creak from the ceiling caused her to glance up sharply, confirming not only that someone was in the house, but that they were upstairs. Spinning on her heels, she charged out of the kitchen, running back into the hallway. Grabbing the banister, she used to to spin herself up the stairs, leaping over each step as fast as she could. Moving in the general direction of the noise, she found her way to a green door, thrusting it open at full force. Her ice-blue eyes fell on the sight of the young female, staring ahead at the sky with lifeless eyes, puddles of red stretched around her body.Her blood percolating into the carpet as it poured from the ragged gashes that plagued her exposed torso. And above her was her very own grim reaper, crouching over his prize, his blade working its way through the dead girl's stomach. He was dressed entirely in black, and his face was covered by a creepy halloween-type mask in the style of a ghoul. Without hesitation, she brought her gun up, firing off two shots with the intention to kill. He jumped back, dodging one bullet, whilst the second tore through his arm. He let out a roar in pain, pulling out his bloodied blade, he sent it flying in her direction. She sidestepped the throw, raising her gun again to fire only to witness the sudden appearance of a portal stretching out behind him. He would reach down, picking up the girl before jumping through the whirlpool of magic. Wasting no time, Amalie sprinted forward, leaping through the portal after him. There was a moment of disorientation as she found the world around her shift entirely, until she was spat out of the portals exit.

She landed steadily, raising her gun, she spun pointing it as she prepared to fire as soon as she spotted him. Except she didn’t spot him, he wasn’t there. He and the girl had vanished, and instead she was surrounded by a different group of people, in an entirely different environment. It was significantly colder, an environment she had not dressed for. Some of which she recognised, some of which she didn’t. As her eyes fell on Johann, she stared at him bewildered, twisting away to inspect the scene around her. As she eyed the frozen land, blankets of snow and dead wolf-like beasts, she realised that she hadn’t managed to follow the killer. But instead, he had used his magic to divert her completely, sending her, quite coincidentally to where Johann was. Whether this was intentional or not, she didn’t know, but she knew one thing. She had lost his trail, there was no way of tracking him now, not until she learned of his next target. And as for the girl, where unless her eyes had deceived her, she was most certainly dead.

“Fuck.” She uttered softly under her breath, feelings of frustration and anger washing over the woman. Again. Once again he had escaped her, and because she hadn’t been fast enough, the abominable stain upon humanity had claimed the life of another innocent. Amalie placed her hands on her hips, turning her gaze back to her significant other. There wasn’t any point in returning at this point, and from the looks of her, there seemed to be something particularly important going on here. “He got away from me again.” She said simply, figuring he would know what she meant. Often she had divulged her need to hunt down the vile murderer that had found himself on her radar. She glanced at the others, looking at a familiar Rune Knight she had once fought alongside some time again. She offered him a nod, “Well if it isn’t Shane Stern, been a while.” She greeted, her tone filled with a rare respect she didn’t offer out often. But she had seen Shane in war, and together that had somehow salvaged River Village from a brutal reckoning at the hand of the Bandit Army. She glanced at the other two, another Rune Knight, and someone she felt was familiar but couldn’t quite recall.

“So, Does someone want to fill me in? Please tell me it’s a fight, I really need to burn some rage right now.”

---

Despite being in a barren, cold wasteland, it wouldn't have been much of a monster-hunting job if there weren't any monsters to hunt. In the near distance, a choir of voracious howls filled the air with a booming crescendo. When Doppo looked over to see what had been stalking them, his baby blue eyes fell onto a large pack of something he could only describe as ice wolves, which would make sense since ordinary wolves would most likely perish in these unforgiving conditions. But regardless of their visible elements, it wasn't their numbers that stood out. Among them was a single, massive beast with flesh the color of snow and claws as thick as ice. Its eyes were small but its mouth was riddled with skin-tearing teeth and a jaw that could chomp through buildings like a potato chip. It was obvious that it was the leader of this pack, and needless to say, it was the strongest foe.

The Everwinter Hound—as Sheldon coined it, everyone watching its enormous, dangerous feet crush into the icy earth beneath them with every step. At the Hound's command, the wolves wasted no time in advancing to their prey, covering such a large distance at impressive speeds that it would be no time at all before their inevitable collision, and Doppo was already rushing to the cruiser with the keys in hand.

“Doppo, get the car somewhere safe and start fighting,” Sheldon commanded.

"On it." the redhead responded briskly, slamming the car door shut and speeding away as soon as the engine rumbled to a start, leaving a cloud of snow behind as the tires rubbed against the ground. As he zoomed away, the Major General looked in his rearview mirror with his weary eyes, staring at the impending threat rushing at them from behind. Twenty, thirty wolves maybe? It was nothing this squad couldn't handle, but what about the Everwinter Hound? Well, there was no use in pondering over it. Doppo parked the car behind an icy mound, hidden from sight, and hopefully protected by the icy feature. After that, he tucked the car keys into his coat pocket and made his way back to the group, which took no time at all for a wizard of his power.

Between the small battalion of wolves, they had scattered into smaller groups and began to pursue one person between the four of them. Sheldon could undoubtfully hold his own, and so could the Ambassador. However, there was another woman between the three of them that seemed just as confused to see them as Doppo was to see her. Well, maybe she wasn't that perplexed by it all, and while the redhead wasn't expecting to see this stranger, he cared more about the battle than her name right now, unfortunately.

Finally having the distance closed between him and his colleagues, the Major General was greeted with a group of five wolves, all ravenous and ready to pounce to kill. Looking around, he could think of a multitude of ways to deal with these beasts, but he seemed particularly indecisive of which to pick. Which would allow him to save the most energy? Which would require the least amount of effort? He began to unglove his hands while in deep thought, hardly even paying attention to the beasts that were cautiously closing in on him. But the suspense was too great, and in unison, two of the five wolves lunged at him with drooling snarls. One had gone low, aiming for his leg, and the other had leaped to bite his arm.

Their teeth sank into his flesh as they hung on him, moving their mouth to and fro and trying to rip away at the skin and tissue. One might've thought they were successful, but instead of blood running down his arm and dripping onto the snow, it was something.... black and gooey? The moment their fangs sunk into his flesh, they were greeted with the black, sticky slime that lived within the pores of his skin. It was a thick, viscous substance with incredible defensive properties, and rendered their basic attacks ineffective.

Despite having just been attacked, Doppo looked about as indifferent and lackadaisical as ever. He kicked the wolf on his leg away, sending it flying at another one at incredible speeds, and throwing the one on his arm with his other hand. The remaining two seemed provoked and worked together to lunge at him on each of his sides, but were easily thwarted by the Major General. Abruptly, just before their fangs to even graze his skin, Doppo grabbed both of their muzzles and smashed then deep into the icy terrain below, leaving cracks beneath their heads and they lied there, lifeless.

The wolves were less of a trial and more of a warm-up for what impending danger was about to fall upon the group. The Everwinter Hound whipped its claws through the air, sending four blades of ice their way. Sheldon had managed to deal with one of them, leaving the rest of them to deal with the other three.

The redhead rolled up his sleeves, revealing the thick, oozing coating of black slime covering his arms and dripping off of them like honey. After milliseconds of time passing, a thick, slimy wall of the sludge formed in front of him, protecting whoever was behind it from the incoming blade. As it slammed against the wall, it the black slime absorbed it without much trouble, sending a gust of chilling wind against Doppo from the sheer impact. The slime didn't just absorb the blast, but it began to eat away at the blade, swallowing it as if the slime itself was satiating a hunger. The redhead excelled in both close-quartered combat and defense, and so felt incredibly comfortable with the projectiles being swung at him. However, when it came to his offense, Doppo experienced... a change in character, so to speak.

"AHH!! THAT WAS FUCKING COLD!" Doppo exclaimed in a vulgar rage, his expression visibly angered compared to the indifferent, fatigued one from before. "Sick of this shit! Kill the fucking thing already, Sheldon!"

Insatiable Hunger—a magic that allowed Doppo to take all of the energy he's stored away from his constant binge-eating and spend it on raw, magical strength and the ability to transform the properties of his body to reflect the items he's recently eaten to use in combat. It was incredibly unique magic, but it also gave Doppo something like an adrenaline high, which also... amplified his personality a "bit." The quiet man had always had a temper, but with this magic activated, it was an incredibly... impossibly small fuse. With the Major General, he was either at zero or a hundred—never in between.

---

I will never ask for nothing that I won't give in return
You will never have to question the value of my words
Amalie

Amalie glanced over at the redhead as he released a rather aggressive outburst following his handling of some of the wolves. Disregarding this as unimportant before returning her attention to Shane. She nodded at Shane's words, any further explanation wouldn't be necessary, they were here to hunt a giant monster and deal with any small beasts in the meantime. That was all the information she required at this point,and it seemed easy enough. All she cared about was that as long as she, as she had implied earlier got to blow off some steam. "Perfect," She replied to Johann, her eyes skimming the area around her once more. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had come in at a rather awkward point, any and all beasts yet to deal with it seemed were already being handled by the other mages. Which meant she would just have to take what was left of the spoils, if she could find any that was.

She would sigh deeply, the warm mist of her breath appearing before her, it was quite a change from the location she had been in moments ago, but Amalie wasn't too phased by the cold. She put Goldbrand away, for now, decided that she didn't feel like fighting with the gun at this moment. Especially as she was facing monsters, when it came to beasts her own magic was significantly preferable. The magic from within would shift, coaxing it's way from her centre and upward, travelling up through her throat and releasing itself in a series of articulated commands. "Shards. Flight." The two commands would reverberate into the cold air with an echo, the magic bound to them activating immediately. Around the woman broken fragments of glass would manifest, floating in the space around her, they would hover waiting for her command. All the while she would rise off the ground slightly, her movement speed amplified by the flight magic, fighting in the snow wasn't ideal for speed. She figured that pre-emptive enhancement was an suitable means to get the best out of this situation.

Amalie, there are more beasts approaching from the East. Anima's words ringing through her mind like music to her ears, alerting the woman of her own chance at a little fun. He had likely sensed her desire to fight and used his own abilities to seek out something for her to kill. A punching bag for her pent up frustrations over the escape of her serial killer. Changing direction, she would move toward the East, staying within sight of the group, but ensuring that she would be the first to meet this onslaught of new toys to play with. Moments would pass before the arrival of the newest pack of creatures, not like anything she had seen before. This was a species unknown to her; approaching on all fours, their bodies had the appearance of mountainous terrain with sharp rock-like points protruding from their crowns and travelling all the way down their spines in various size increments. Their claw like-feet bearing talons that measured at two-thirds of a foot in length. They were like oversized lizards, but much more threatening in appearance. They were only a metre and a half in height but this did not mean that they were too be underestimated. At least, not from what Amalie could tell, they were here on a hunt of their own. Their snouts pressed towards the ground, sniffing away hungrily, likely drawn here by the scent of the wolfs blood.

Amalie would swing her arm outwards, following which her shards would dart forth, like insects they swarmed on the beasts. Her shards were powerful, much stronger than normal glass, enhanced by her own magic that reinforced them. Thus meaning they could carve through most substances, even metal. But their hardened shell of the beasts made this work even more difficult for the woman, the glass hacked away at the beasts, but working away at the thick flesh of the creatures alerted them to the impending danger that was the blue-haired human. The trio of beasts charged her, belting thunderous roars as they attempted to ram her. She darted upwards out of their reach, narrowly avoiding behind crushed between them. Two of the creatures would engage with each other, animalistic rage of getting in one another's way distracting them from their prey. The third one, however, would raise it's gaze to her, looking upwards at its attacker, it would stretch open its maw wide. Suddenly a gush of frost would pour from the mouth of the beast, spraying the woman would a thick icy mist. She flitted higher, trying to get out of range, but not before some of it would coat her calves, ankles and feet. As soon as it touched her the frost would stick to her, thickening suddenly until heavy chunks of ice surrounded the bottom half of her legs. The ice was blisteringly cold and weighted, no doubt a technique designed to immobilise their prey. She would feel its weight dragging her down, growing heavier which each passing second as the ice continued to thicken at unnatural speed.

"Burn. Heal." She commanded, fire erupting at her fingers, she would point her hands towards her calves, attempting to melt away the ice before it could travel any further up her body. All the while her healing magic would attempt to counter the damage the ice was doing to her legs. Whilst this was happening she would move through the air, trying to stay of range of the claws of the beast. The monsters had changed tactics, pushing themselves onto their hind legs and swiping away at her. The immediate issue with this scenario was the multitasking required in her range of focus; concentrating on flying, healing herself, melting the ice and dodging attacks wasn't an easy task. She quickly concluded that if she didn't focus on getting out of the way of this monsters, one of their strikes would hit and she didn't fancy being torn through by their lethal talons. Allowing her fire to ease for a moment, she whipped her head around, her ice-blue gaze finding the sight of a nearby branch thick enough to bear her weight. She darted over to it, sitting herself down on the tree's arm, she returned her attention to her legs. Taking her thoughts away from staying airborne and instead focusing purely on melting the ice from her legs, and stopping its attempts to travel over her knees. The heat of her flames would stop the rise of frost, but it wasn't enough to get rid of the ice completely. The chunks closer to her flesh a little more stubborn.

SMASH! The flames at her fingers would vanish for a moment as the woman paused in order to grip onto the tree as it shook violently. Glancing down she would see that the monsters were now ramming the tree's trunk in an attempt to shake her down. She scoffed, hungry little beasties weren't they? However watching them slam their bodies into the thick of the trunk did give her an idea. With a light shove, she hopped off the branch, activating her flight once more. She moved about a metre away from the tree, turning in the air, she would bring her ankle against the tree with as much force as she could muster. The ice clinging to her crunching under the force of the blow, several chunks crumbling away and falling off her of her. It worked! Which meant if she could smash enough of the ice off, she would likely be able to melt away the remains. And this was exactly what she did. Spinning in the air, she would boot the tree repeatedly, targetting different points around her leg in order to get the majority of the ice off, piece by piece it would fall off. Leaving onto a few stubborn chunks remaining, pointing her palms at her calves once more, she would use the heat to melt off of the last bit of frost, until finally, her legs were free of the cursed ice.

It was at this point that she would return her attention to the beasts beneath her, now that she knew what to expect from them. She had come to the conclusion that the best form of extermination would come from a distance, fortunately, she had plenty of means to make this happen. Her shards would gather around her once more, more manifesting as they did so, creating an even thicker horde than before. "Torpedo." She would cry, and amongst the shards, missile-shaped formations of light would appear, their tips pointing towards the beast ready to move in at her command. She would wait until they moved into the perfect position, and with the flick of her fingers, she would rain down her spells upon them. Slamming shard and missile into the three beasts, a relentless onslaught of offensive power that would beat away at them until their dying breath.

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