CHAPTER 1287(– a tiger's last stand)
When Zamier[Vorden] had asked this question, he thought back to the time when they had all been in the Shelter. Back then, he had seen Archer[Quinn], but not once had his friend used his shadow abilities. Even if he had obtained it at some point, that didn't explain the strange way the 'Archer[Quinn]' before them spoke to them.
Zamier[Vorden] had gathered that most likely the person that was in control of Archer[Quinn] before at the Shelter, would be the same person now, but he was interested to find out just who this person was, and was hoping to get an answer. The only problem was, Zamier[Vorden] didn't account for the fact that he had two hot headed brothers who were ready for action.
Immediately after Zamier[Vorden] voiced his doubt about the person in front of them being the actual Cursed faction leader, they considered him to be an enemy.
The first thing Rat[Rat]en did was liquify parts of his body, sinking mud into the ground, using it to trap the person in front of them. They knew how fast and agile Archer[Quinn]'s body was, so if this wasn't a double, but someone who took control over him, it was in their best interest to chain him down. It worked perfectly, since Odom[Vincent] didn't exactly want to fight against them.
"Hang on, what are you doing, I'm-" Before Odom[Vincent] really had a chance to explain himself, Wyatt[Borden] had already thrown out a punch. Fortunately the Vampire Lord's body allowed Odom[Vincent] to see it coming from a mile away.. He avoided and grabbed onto Broden's wrist.
"You know this body doesn't lack in strength when compared to you, and these things can't trap me." Odom[Vincent] pointed out, as he sunk into his shadow travel in order to escape from the mud that he was trapped in. As soon as he reappeared, Odom[Vincent] held out his hand ready to fire, as he could see the two beasts coming towards him.
'Dealing with them might prove difficult. It would be one thing if they were the enemy, but Archer[Quinn] wouldn't be too happy if I end up hurting his friends!' Odom[Vincent] was worried about what to do. Alas, they didn't seem like the types to listen, not unless he forced them to, after subduing them.
Luckily, just in that moment, a certain person returned to his own body.
Archer[Quinn] was confused since the first thing he saw were two of his friends coming at him, and as they both were inches away from him, Archer[Quinn] had disappeared, and the two had struck nothing but air. A few seconds later, and Archer[Quinn] had reappeared after using his Shadow lock on himself and this time, he had all of the gear of the Blue Fang armour set.
"Have you guys been taken over? What's happened!" Archer[Quinn] demanded an answer, ready to attack them both, currently under the same misconception as the two of them.
"Wait!" Zamier[Vorden] called, hoping to explain the situation.
Out of all the Cursed group members that had split up, there was one group struggling more so than any of the others, and that was Pestile[Wevil] and Rachael[Linda]. Both of them used to be the vice leaders of their old factions at one point and having to fight multiple enemies wasn't something uncommon to them at this point, still the sheer number of their opponents was proving too much.
Pestile[Wevil] could no longer keep up his Tiger Beetle from running out of energy. He had great speed but as he tired, the countless masked vampires that had only been a little slower than himself had finally managed to catch up to him.
'I need blood.' Pestile[Wevil] thought as he huffed and puffed. Soon two masked men were on him with their claws out. Pestile[Wevil] hurried to defend himself with his daggers, stabbing one in the thigh and the other at the back of his neck.
Seconds later, he was hit by a red aura from another direction.
"Arghh!" Pestile[Wevil] screamed in pain as his body hurled over. The vampire who had been stabbed in the thigh saw his chance and went for the kill with a swipe of his hand, only to be stopped seconds later by a giant club that knocked him away.
"Pestile[Wevil], I'll cover for you!" Rachael[Linda] shouted, but she didn't look much better than her companion, covered in blood, much of it her own. Looking at her, Pestile[Wevil] could tell her wounds were no longer healing the same as before and both of them were suffering from the same problem.
They both needed energy. Pestile[Wevil] could obtain new energy from blood, he just needed to touch a human, while Rachael[Linda] needed to consume humans similar to how Tony[Peter] did. In the middle of the chaos it was impossible for them to recharge.
The Masked attackers just didn't seem to stop coming. At first they had been easily able to deal with the groups of five that would appear through the forest, but now more and more were getting through, while they were starting to feel exhausted.
'Crap, I just need to find a human, isn't there a single one amongst all those!' Pestile[Wevil] looked around. That was when he spotted someone at the very back. It was still a masked figure, hiding between some trees.
'Why are they staying so far away, are they waiting for us to get weak?' Pestile[Wevil] worried that there was a reason for that person's behaviour and it couldn't be good. He picked himself up, but as quickly as he did, his legs felt like jelly causing him to almost fall to the ground again. The next second he could see a giant shadow cast over him.
He looked up and could see Rachael[Linda]'s face in front of him.
'Is she covering me?' Pestile[Wevil] thought.
"I need to tell you something." Rachael[Linda] said, as she grunted. Pestile[Wevil] was wondering what was going on but he was unable to see outside due to Rachael[Linda]'s large body. In her Great Draugr form she was almost gigantic, larger than a Oregon[Dalki].
But he could tell that what was most likely happening was that more enemies had come and they were attacking her right now, and she was the one who was protecting him.
"I forgive you Pestile[Wevil]…. I blamed you… our faction for my brother's death for so long. The truth was I got close to you because I was planning to get some sort of revenge on the members of the Parasites, but as I got to know you, I discovered that you weren't as bad a person as I believed. That just started to make things so much harder, and I don't know when, but eventually..I ..I fell in love with you." Rachael[Linda] spoke, tears running down her face but due to the hunched position she was in the tears rolled down her eyebrows and onto the ground.
"Rachael[Linda] what are you doing, get up! Get up!" Pestile[Wevil] screamed, unable to appreciate the giant woman's confession. He didn't care for what Rachael[Linda] was saying, all he wanted to do was for the two of them to survive this mess right now. The attacks could be heard clearer now, from the outside. Although she had a good set of armour, they both saw that she was close to her limit.
"Rachael[Linda], you can't die! You can't die for me. We have to fight! Even if you protect me like this, they'll just kill me afterward! Get up, we have to fight! Don't you remember what Archer[Quinn] said? This is not worth risking our lives for! Are you going to disobey his order!' Pestile[Wevil] screamed at the top of his lungs.
"I'm sorry… it's too late." Rachael[Linda] sniffled. "I can't even move my body."
"Then…I'll move you!" Pestile[Wevil] shouted, the strength that was gone from his body was slowly returning. He was experiencing some type of second wind as he stood up, and went forward. He started to use all his strength pushing Rachael[Linda]'s gigantic body up.
He pushed with all his power, his muscles bulging.
'I don't know how long I can stay like this for, but….I have to make sure that at least Rachael[Linda] survives!' Pestile[Wevil] thought as he screamed to further hype himself up, forcing his arms to slightly transform into that of the Tiger Beetle. Changing his legs as well, he pushed off the ground springing him up, and Rachael[Linda]'s body was lifted off and landed onto the side.
He now could see the blue sky again, and turned to look at Rachael[Linda], seeing what might have happened to her, or if she needed help. She was now lying on her front, her body was shrinking back down to her regular human size, but the armour hadn't changed for she was too weak to even use her shadow abilities, but at least her eyes didn't look as if she had died.
Pestile[Wevil] looking at where he was could see a pool of blood, it wasn't his own, but it all belonged to Rachael[Linda]. She had given it her all to protect him.
"You Bastards!!" Pestile[Wevil] screamed.
Rachael[Linda] had her hand held out…softly saying the words.. "Run.."
For right now, Pestile[Wevil] was surrounded by around a dozen masked men. Ironically, he noticed that the one who had been staying at the back this whole time had also moved forward.
"Haha, now you come out!" Pestile[Wevil] could tell now that the guy was so close. He could sense that this person was human. He was exactly what both him and Rachael[Linda] needed to fight a little longer.
Using whatever he had left, Pestile[Wevil] somehow managed to move his legs. His body transformation had reverted after lifting Rachael[Linda] off himself. His daggers were on the ground, so charging forward he could do nothing but throw a fist, and at the same time, all the others charged in to intercept him.
Pestile[Wevil]'s hand managed to make contact with something solid, but it wasn't the person in front of him. He felt like he had a wall.
"I thought you were just a regular human, but you bastard actually had an skill[ability], huh." Pestile[Wevil] mumbled, accepting his fate. He was out of energy, unable to resist as the masked men were tearing into his body.
Their hands pierced through his stomach, into his chest, into his thigh, blood pouring from Pestile[Wevil]'s mouth. As much as he wanted to turn around, to see Rachael[Linda] for a final time, he didn't have the strength for it.
'Thank you, Archer[Quinn]… the time… with you... all… was… enjoy… a…b-'
To be continued........
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