Voracious Eater

They traversed through sloshing thick mud the trudged away from the gaping hole in the earth, but the image wasn't about to leave Gabriel's mind anytime soon. Even if he did have to fight a Voracious Eater.

The sky roared to their approach. Trees shook in the surrounding forest, quivering to the grating call that cut through the air.

"I think I'm going to be ill…" Anita groaned, their footsteps stomped through the muddied ground. The rain thankfully had let up but the moisture was still thick in the air, leaving behind a coat of mist.

The bestial calls grew louder as they advanced passed the ruins of Retre, into an overgrown wheat field. The farmhouse that once watched the field trembled and creaked, there was a cloud of smoke dust and from it, a shadow emerged. An enormous lizard-like head reared up, it's clawed arm tore through the house as though it were a piece of paper.

"Oh, Solas save us…" Anita gasped, the smile that stretched her lips was a nervous one.

"Let's hurry!" The runner urged them forward. Sparks of light twinkled from within the flying dust and debris, the Veracious Eat swatted violently at the ground. Gabriel squinted as he picked up the pace, closing the distance to the unfolding battle. He could see the glimmer of dancing blades now, and the bright blue glow of Sareena's shield. The knight's shouting voices carried throw the wind, like desperate cries of cornered deer.

A loose formation circled the demon, Gabriel could count roughly a dozen men and women, each of them panting heavily either from exhaustion or injuries. Sareena took vanguard, parrying attacks with her sword and shield, trying as she could to make openings for her men to attack.

"Is that all you got!?" Her voice boomed, despite the blood coating her clothes. Gabriel couldn't help but think the Paladin was putting on a brave face. Though, he supposed, she had little other option in this situation.

"Paladin Sareena!" The runner called as they approached the fight.

"Took you long enough!" She laughed, barely dodging the giant claw that came down on her. "So, are you just going to watch me get slaughtered, or what?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Gabriel drew his sword, positioning himself behind the beast. With a burst of lightning surging through his veins he charged forth, cutting the beast into the heel of its giant leg. The damage was negligible at best but it was enough to distract the demon's attention. With a raging roar, it twisted its massive body with surprising speed to barrel into the nuisance behind it.

Gabriel's body became a mere blur, his magic making him too fast for human eyes to discern his movement. But it was only a short burst, Gabriel appeared again, a perfect inch away from the rampaging attack. He called for his assistant, "Anita!"

"You got it, sir!" Anita had her sword in hand but there was no reason for her to engage with the demon directly. Instead, her abilities had other purposes. She raised her blade, calling forth a red glow. Mana gathered and expanded, until Sareena, who stood a few paces forward also began to glow the same reddish hue.

The Paladin whistled, amused, "So this is House Javanis's power!" Her mana pool recovered, allowing her to keep using her abilities a little longer. With the rush of excitement, Sareena dashed forward with her shield. She wasn't nearly as fast as Gabriel but unlike him, she was baiting for a blow. The demon growled, twisting back around to face the charging knight, trying to catch her advance with its enormous paw.

It was just as she hoped. The claw met the edges of her magically reinforced shield. A battle cry wretched her throat as she withstood the force of the demon's brute strength. It was a miracle she wasn't simply knocked off her feet.

"Wow! Paladin Sareena is so cool!" Anita cheered from the side. Again she began to gather her magic, this time, summoning a rain of flame down upon the demon. It growled and cried, rearing from needle-like burns from the shower of fire.

Gabriel sighed dodging of the falling balls of fire, "Focus your aim a little better." He chided before slashing at the enemy once more. The demon was circling angrily, confused at which foe to focus on, and failing to fell any of them. Gabriel's lightning speed was more than enough to keep him away from harm but Gabriel was concerned about one thing, "We can contain it, but how do you reckon we defeat it?"

Sareena raised her sword, pointing at the blackened skin at the demon's palm, where it had met her shield, "There. My shield can freeze and damage flesh, creating a weak point. But you're gonna have to hit it somehow before it heals back up. This thing's hide is damned thick!"

"I see." Gabriel nodded. With another whiz of lightning, Gabriel rushed into danger, fearless as he dodged a thick barbed tail by a hair's width. Only victory was on his mind, he baited the beast into raising its paws, the ugly black scar on its palm already smaller. Still, it was enough for Gabriel. The skin there was tender, and Gabriel's blade slid in, as though slicing butter.

The Voracious Eater howled an ear-piercing sound but the knights gritted their teeth and urged forward. Sareena summoned her power once more, this time targeting a more critical part on the demon's body, the chest. This was only possible by distracting the enemy and leaving him vulnerable. Gabriel drew it's attention and Anita controlled a rain of fire.

Paladin Sareena's men, rallied by the turning tides became more confident in their assist. Arrows came down, and spearheads went flying. Most of them were trained to deal with threats from afar to compliment Sareena's style of fighting. They targeted the black spot on the Voracious Eater's chest, finally piercing through its armor-like flesh.

It cried and reared, eyes glowing the rage. While injured, those weapons were merely like needles jabbing at its chest. With a twirl of its massive body, a heavy tail came to swipe at the group.

"Get back!" Sareena shouted as she anchored her body down to take the blow with her shield after focusing her mana to strengthen her defensive stance. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to completely block the sheer power of the giant tail whip and eventually she was thrown off her feet. But her efforts were enough to slow and lessen the power of the attack, helping her men get out of the way or face a weakened blow.

"Anita! Support me." Gabriel commanded, refusing to allow the demon to simply ignore him.

"At your service!" She said with a peppy tone. The rain of fire stopped and Anita began to channel her magic towards both Paladins, beads of sweat formed at her brow as she steadied the slow of mana. Supporting one person was honestly not too difficult for her ability, but as soon as another person was added to the equation, it suddenly required a lot more concentration and control so she didn't accidentally overload anyone.

With lightning seeming to burst from every one of his pores, Gabriel directed the majority of his power to his blade. Light exploded beneath his feet, thunder roaring loudly, catching the beast's attention as he lept up to its ugly maw. A vertically slit pupil, the size of a basketball glared at him and with another burst of lightning, Gabriel changed the direction of his jump midair, flying with his blade pointed directly at the beast's eye.

He was faster than the eye could see, but not fast enough! The monster had long reacted, muzzle stretching and snapped towards him. But he wasn't done yet! His resonance core reacted, another rush of mana helped him barely twist out of the outstretched jaw. His shoulder caught on an extended fang, but Gabriel ignored the tear of flesh and the guzzle of warm blood that soaked through his clothes and continued flying towards the demon's face.

Not quite able to directly stab into the soft slimy eyeball after his course was redirected, Gabriel could only reach his hand out to catch himself on one of the little horns that protruded from the creature's ugly face. Using it as leverage he swung himself back on course and this time was able to stab the creature straight in the eye and unloaded as much mana as his core and Anita's assistance could provide.

The creature screeched a piercing cry, large hind legs stumbling causing on slippery mud. The edge of a paw caught Gabriel in his side and threw him off of the monster's face, but he had more than enough time to do his job.

"Now!" Sareena ordered as she tossed out her shield, using mana to control its trajectory. It smacked into the beast's massive body before circling back into the Paladin's hand. She charged with a war cry leading her men to charge into the monster like a tidal wave. They weren't many, but with Gabriel splitting its skull with his mana, it was all it took to topple the thing over. They stabbed and carved at it until finally, movements stilled. The Voracious Eater twitched one last time with a wrecked whine escaping its snout and then its body began to crumble into a cloud of black dusty smoke, scattered apart by the rain.

By some miracle, they slew the beast before twilight sank too low for their eyes to see. There were few casualties, so they counted their injuries as blessings. Gabriel shuffled on his feet, feeling the adrenaline still brimming within, his head was still swaying with a drum of excitement. The left shoulder of his knight's uniform was torn to threads, leaving a bloody wound exposed. It wasn't too deep, luckily, and was hardly as bad as the bruise he suffered on his ribs, now sporting a sharp blossoming pain. Privately he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he'd broken a rib but Gabriel did his best to school his expression and keep his ails to himself.

"S-sir allow me to see to that!" One of the priests scurried after him, and Gabriel couldn't tell if the man was nervous about his wound or nervous about talking to him.

The High Paladin responded dismissively, "I am hardly in a critical state. Go see the knights that are in more dire need first." He walked away without giving the healer a chance to respond.

Anita was off somewhere, no doubt running around in hopes of helping the priests with the injured. Sometimes he found her stamina to be difficult to match. He, for one, was ready to retire into solitude and work from the comforts of a secluded office. He'd been hoping to remove himself from the congregation of tents and walk back to the run-down bar when he was stopped in his tracks by Paladin Sareena.

"Don't you just run away." She chuckled, with her arm bound in gauze and slung around her neck. Her shield arm had taken more than a few heavy blows and it'd been a wonder she fought on for as long as she did.

"Did you need me for something?" Gabriel asked frankly.

She raised a brow, "You never really stop being all snappish, do you?" But the edge in her voice that was there previously had softened.

Gabriel shrugged, "What you think of me does not concern me."

"I can see that." She sighed, "Look, I didn't come here to have a pissing contest. Just wanted to say thanks for what you did out there. Many of my knights were saved because of you and that Javanis girl."

"There's no need. We were only doing our jobs."

"You know, I misjudged you. You're still an ass, don't get me wrong. But you're not the worst High Paladin."

Gabriel scoffed, eyes twinkling ever slightly, "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yes." Sareena smirked, "Anyways I won't keep you any farther, go off and get your beauty sleep, High Paladin."

Gabriel gave her a polite nod before he sauntered off.