CHPT 79: What it truly means to no longer be Human...

Claude struggled to open his eyes, but once he did he saw complete and utter chaos. Their group was outnumbered by men and women in dark clothing with pasty black and white face paint and horribly crafted weapons. They looked like they'd been disconnected from civilization for....ever.

His ears rung like crazy and all the noise sounded muffled like he was underwater. Even though he was still partially stunned, he was able to make out a conversation between two people beneath the sounds of fighting and yelling.

"Sorry, Rikah. I know you wanted us to use the stun on your leader, but the man in black seemed to have dangerously good senses— even now as we fight he's still stunned." A male voice said, his accent was one Claude never heard before.

"It's fine, he's dangerous anyway." A woman that sounded like Riley responded.

Before Claude could process what was happening, he watched one of the face painted men walk towards him with the rest of his team fighting behind him. The man wore mismatching sizes and shades of dark low quality armor, like everything he wore was stolen. He had a large serrated sword that already dripped with crimson red blood.

Claude quickly sat up and tried to get to his feet, but a pounding headache hit him as his blood rushed up to his head.

"[Claude, you have to move! Your groups been ambushed. These guys seem pretty dangerous as well.]" Arne said while the man continued to walk towards Claude.

"You.....hehe...You almost ruined our ambu—"

Before he could finish talking, an invisible force tackled him to the ground and crushed his neck effortlessly. The man's blood coated the creatures invisible teeth and snout, making its deadly snarl visible to anyone who looked in its direction.

"Thanks Frosty." Claude said as he slowly got up.

Frosty barked and flicked his blood soaked snout in Brenda's direction. Claude looked over and saw her and Chadwick being approached by four men with more serrated blades.

Without thinking, he ran at the four men with Frosty at his side.

Shrip!

CRunch!

Claude shoved his blade through one of the men— killing him instantly, he moved on to the next man and punched him out of the way. Frosty tackled him mid stumble and ripped his throat out brutally.

Before the last two raiders had time to react, Claude stabbed one and Frosty finished off the last one. The overwhelming smell of blood and fear excited the darker side of himself to no end. Green sparks danced and flared behind his eyes.

He placed himself in front of Brenda, so he stood shoulder to shoulder with Chadwick. A little off in the distance. They glanced at the mangled raiders bodies on the floor with confusion, wondering how Claude killed four men that fast and inflicted such savage wounds.

Claude looked over to his left and saw Ansel off in the distance fighting three raiders on his own. He looked to be losing, but he didn't back down.

"Riley, what the hell is this?!" Chadwick yelled.

"Her name is Rikah! And you will address her with respect when you speak!" A tall and muscular man next to her said. His voice was the one Claude heard earlier.

"Can't you tell pretty boy?" Riley replied in a completely different sounding voice. She no longer sounded like the quirky and energetic girl she used to be. Her voice was rough and accented just like the man that stood next to her.

Claude slowly came back to his senses during the brief moment of calm, he looked at his sword and noticed how it glistened red under the moonlight. He killed someone, a human at that. He suddenly felt deeply sick, but he couldn't throw up because another part of him reveled in the dark and toxic mixture of blood and fear. All he could do was stand in shock while he looked at his blood soaked sword.

Rikah walked over the dead bodies of her comrades as if they were merely obstacles in her way. She approached Oliver's body and looked down at him for a few moments.

"I always wanted to see the arrogant facial expression wiped from this old bastards face." She said before reaching down and sticking her finger in his wound.

Squelch!

The row of stone faced raiders behind her had no reaction to the gruesome act she was committing.

Claude could hear Brenda silently crying behind him as she watched in horror.

Rikah used Oliver's blood to paint her face so she looked more like her true comrades. She slid it across her pale skin like paint on a canvas while she glared at them all.

Claude's eyes flared and his canines lengthened to a deadly degree. Even though he didn't know Oliver well, seeing him disgraced in death in such a way made him want to do something he didn't like doing at all. It made him want to kill all the humans in front of him.

"[Listen very closely. You have to restrain yourself, she's trying to get one of you to run at her so her men can kill you easier, it's a tactic used quite often in situations like these. I'd say you could try to use your Element to root them all, but there's too many.]" Arne said.

"What the fuck are we supposed to do then!? We're sitting ducks here!" Claude replied.

"[Just relax, raiders usually aren't murderers unless they have to be.]" Arne said.

"You.....you killed her didn't you?" Chadwick asked.

Claude was confused by the question until he remembered why he was even on their squad.

"What? Oh no....he did." Rikah replied while pointing her blood coated finger to the large and imposing man who stood closely behind her. He had to be at least 6'6 and had large veiny arms cluttered with tribal markings and poorly healed scars.

He smiled psychotically and revealed a row of brown and green cracked teeth. "She died like a dog!"

Claude's nose was filled with a strong burning smell, like the whole field behind him was up in flames.

"Rage." The word popped into his mind immediately.

Suddenly, Brenda made a break for Rikah with a wild look in her eyes. Claude quickly put his arm out to block her from going any further.

"YOU BITCH!!!! ILL KILL YOU!" Brenda roared as tears poured from her eyes.

"I seriously doubt that. But I think we'd like to see you try..." Rikah responded before adding the final touches to her face paint, she licked the blood off her fingers and stood back up.

The group of battle hardened men and women behind her hooted and hollered in unison. Frosty snarled back causing some of them to look around in confusion.

"Brenda, I know it's hard....but you have to calm down. She's looking for a reason to kill one of us." Claude whispered to her.

She slowly stopped trying to break through Claude's arms and simply held one while she cried silently.

He looked over and saw Ansel still fighting off a couple raiders.

"We have to settle this fast!" He thought while he strained to control himself and put the thought of committing murder at the back of his mind.

"Ok what do you want?" Chadwick asked.

"I want your weapons." Rikah said flatly.

"Will you tell your men to stand down if we comply?" Chadwick asked.

Rikah side eyed him and sneered wickedly, "Do you still think your the leader in this scenario? Do I have to remind you who's in charge now?" She said. Her voice casually rose and veins bulged in her neck and face in response. She no longer looked pretty or young, in that very moment, she looked just as crazy and untamed as the men and women behind her.

They all seemed to enjoy seeing her lose control to a sickening degree. They leaned in closely with pure excitement twinkling behind their eyes.

"Because I will remind you, IM IN CHARGE NOW!! I'll make an example out of that big bodied bastard before another tear drops from that bitches face if i desire it!" She roared while pointing her red stained fingers at Brenda.

The group stayed silent. They watched Rikah fidget and shake like she was ridding herself of a ghost. Her face suddenly resembled her old self again, she even batted her blood soaked eyelashes at Chadwick. The weird action made Claude think she was fighting to appear as the old "Riley", like it still mattered.

"Anyway, your so not in charge anymore. So, weapons please." She said— her real accent was almost completely gone from her voice.

"She's crazy." Brenda whispered.

Claude and Chadwick tossed their swords off to the side, Ansel did the same.

"Oh Carter, your leaving out the best part." Rikah said.

He snarled quietly and unsheathed Bane of the Undead. It stood out in the night and caught the eyes of everyone on the field. He looked at it one more time before tossing it. An intense look of greed lit up their painted faces.

"Alright, Ril— Rikah. Is that all?" Chadwick asked.

Claude could smell the man's fear wafting off of him.

Rikah twirled her hair around her fingers and looked up, the gesture didn't match her look at all anymore. It could've been considered cute before, but now it was just downright chilling.

"No, that isn't all...." she said.

"What else would you like?" Chadwick asked desperately.

She looked at him and bit the tip of her thumb, like she was really thinking about what else she wanted.

"What else would I like?.....hmmmm...oh! I'd like to see you all dead." She said in a cheery tone.

"CHADWICK!" Ansel yelled and threw his shield to him.

After he threw it, the men that surrounded him hacked and slashed him until he hit the floor in a bloody and lifeless heap. His final heroic act wasn't able to be appreciated due to the onset chaos of battle.

Before Claude could react, the sound of an arrow cutting through the air sounded from somewhere to the side of him. He felt it whiz past his lower back and brushed against his cloak before it hit its fleshy target.

"Ugh!"

Claude spun around and saw Brenda standing in place, looking stunned while she held something in her stomach.

"B-Brenda?" Claude said. The coppery smell of blood hung thickly on the air.

She didn't respond. The blood from her wound bled through her clothes and surrounded the arrow that stuck out of her stomach. Her knees weakened and she fell to the floor.

"NOO!" Claude yelled as he rushed to catch her and ease her fall.

"Carter! Get the archer!! I'll deal with Rikah and her men." Chadwick yelled before charging into battle with Ansel's oversized shield. Claude could smell his intense sorrow, he was baffled by how well the knight was performing.

"Frosty, protect Brenda." He ordered before taking off toward the archer standing atop a hill to the right of them.

He zigzagged through the field as he ran toward the archer in an attempt to make himself harder to hit.

Arrows whizzed past his face and stabbed into the ground near his feet. He used his skill, (Beast Assistance) to distract the archer even more.

Birds began to leave their nests and spots atop tree branches to attack the archer Claude was approaching.

"Ah! Back off!!" He yelled as 8 birds dive bombed and clawed at his face madly.

He swatted and covered his face defensively. All he saw was dark feathers and reflective beaks until they quickly parted to let Claude pounce on him like an animal.

He fought to pull the bow out of the raiders hands for a few seconds before shoving it into his face and knocking his front teeth out.

"Hahahah!!!" The face painted man laughed and spit up blood.

"You bastard! You have the audacity to laugh after what you did?" He thought angrily before unleashing a chaotic barrage of blows to the man's face.

Blood sprayed and splattered on his mask and skin after every punch until the man's face looked like it was dipped in red paint.

He was on the brink of losing control before he stopped himself. "I don't want to kill youuu..." he groaned.

The man was unresponsive so Claude looked over at the battlefield to see what was happening.

Chadwick sent off bright bolts of lightning and shoulder charged into anyone he could as the raiders surrounded him.

"He needs help." Claude thought.

Right when he was about to get up, cold steel cut through the skin of his cheek and the top of his nose. The overwhelming smell of blood and pain from being cut, caused him to lose control for a fraction of a second. His vision flashed red and he moved like lightning.

"RAGH!!"

Shrip!

His vision cleared and he realized he was looking down at the raider again. Except now, his throat was ripped open and dark red blood leaked freely from it.

He was frozen in the moment until he felt the impulse to look at his claws, blood and flesh caked under them. A wave of sickness came crashing down into the pit of his stomach. What made it even worse was what came after.

[+3 EXP]

Claude watched the numbers fade from his vision in horror, he must've missed it before due to the chaos of battle. But now, while he stood on the hill all alone, he had no choice but to notice. He was now rewarded for killing humans...