Proving one's self

Vataam wasn't the kind of person any one would expect to be send on a mission to check up on a village that had given no sign of life for a long while, after all, he might not be the heir to the throne but he was a prince, a person of royal heritage.

However, once again contratry to expectations, he had come here of his own will, Vataam had no interest in the throne but he still yearned for his father's attention, he wanted to prove himself as valuable as something other than a safety measure in case his older brother was to pass away prematurely.

Vataam signaled to the soldiers accompanying him to get off their horses as he did so, they had arrived at the destination and instead, the place was deserted, the report didn't say much as the one that had reported hadn't dared to go any further than were Vataam was standing.

"All right, listen up, form groups of three and makes sure to check up on each others regularly as you search the village" he spoke and the soldiers followed his orders.

As a prince, he wasn't supposed to actually fight himself but he was still armed with a longsword, it bothered him that customs were keeping him from being fully geared but it was what it was, he also was not to wear any helm, so as to be recognised immediately, having an armor set that differed would also work but it simply was that way, sometimes utility is less important than customs.

The soldiers, led by the second prince investigated the village and soon found out what had happened to the villagers, nothing was visible from the entrance but once you started checking the houses and deeper into the villagess, the blood splatters became apparent, at least, Vataam could be fairly certain that this was not an attack from a neighboring country, the brutality needed for blood to end up in such places was not something trained soldiers would do and they certainly wouldn't have eaten the corpses, especially raw even if they had been desperate for food they wouldn't have done that, it was a monster for sure.

The remains indicated that it had devoured or taken most of the corpses as no more than five pieces of corpses were found, him and three soldiers tried to enter a house but found out that the door was locked.

"Is someone in there? There is no need to worry, the monster is gone" spoke the prince and after a bit, hesitant and scared footsteps were heard making their way toward the door, stopping a bit before opening it but the sound of the door unlocking was heard and the steps backed off from the door.

Opening it, the second prince saw a young woman looking mortified, her hair and face were drenched in dry blood and her eyes were wide open, the prince was about to go confort her when he noticed that she kept switching what she was looking at, switching between the prince and a corner of the room he could not yet see.

He stopped in his track and looked at the young woman's face and then mouth, she seemed to be trying to say something as she seemingly grew more and more panicked, her gaze toward the corner getting longer, she didn't make a sound but on her lips he was able to read a few words.

"It's right here" was what he read before a loud, piercing screech was heard, the prince leaped forward and managed to save the young woma, from getting beheaded, the soldiers rushed inside and confronted the grotesque beast, it was a tall and slender figure, looking starved, its limbs were long and its skin was pale, its face was devoid of anything.

It turned to the prince, at least, it felt like it did and a voice that was extremely out of place for it, sounded out.

It let out the sounds of a young child crying for help, before the voice was muffled by what seemed like blood filling the throat of the child, this froze everyone in place for a second before its face suddenly opened up, revealing countless teeth as it let out a blood curdling howl.

As the thight interior of the house was restraining due to its large size, it jumped up and smashed right through the roof, the clear sound of it jumping away was heard and the prince rushed outside and yelled with all of his strength.

"THE MONSTER IS HERE, REGROUP IMMEDIATELY!" he yelled, his voice echoing into the distance, everyone should have heard that.

However, the monster seemed to be very fast as the screams of soldiers falling to its assaults were heard, the monster proving to be a brutal killing machine as soldiers were thrown into the air, falling to their death or battered hard enough to mince them alive.

The prince ordered the solders with him to protect the girl as he rushed through the village, the soldiers wanted to protest but found themselves unable to go against the order.

He ran fast but arrived a moment too late, as he shoulder bashed the monster away from a soldier laying on his back, he realised that the soldier was already dead.

Vataam had already unsheated his sword and was ready to fight, however, the monster seemed to be wary of him and did not immediately attack, just now, this monster of unknown origin had just tried to eliminate the soldiers before fighting him, he had somehow managed to learn of their presence almost immediately and been able to quickly decided on a plan, its earlier demonstration at mimicking a voice showed further intelligence and the fact that it had used the young girl as a bait was another proof that it wasn't mindless, however, seeing it in front of him now, the second prince only saw a beast.

The monster stood up on its hinds legs, standing tall and looming over the prince, it spread its arms and showed its sharp close while a mouth appeared on its face.

It was trying to intimidate him, it growled strangely but menacingly as it took a few steps forward and suddenly swinging one of its claws at Vataam which he avoided before slashing at one of the beast's legs, it simply raised it with extreme flexibility and contorted it in the air in impossible ways, the bones rearanging themselves and the feet came toward the prince's face as if it was fist.

He had to reel his body back to avoid having his neck slit open, the attack still left a shallow wound across his throat, the prince had put so much power into the sudden backward dodge that he was carried by the momentum and forced to do a backflip, finding yourselfupside down and into the air in the middle of a fight was pretty much always a shitty idea, the prince focused his mana to try and protect himself.

He felt something smashing into his side and he was sent flying into a house, judging by the loud cracks he had heard, he had broken some bones in that exchange and all were his own.

The prince wasn't even yet on the ground, still in the air, that the monster was already rushing toward him, unconsciously, Vataam realised that he had actually managed to use his mana in a meaningful way, he was certain this strike would have killed him otherwise, his mana gathered in his blade, which he was still strongly grasping on and he slashed at the monster sending a powerful slash of mana, the sound of something something being cleaved through was heard and something meaty fell to the ground and then a second one.

Looking upon the monster, he saw that he had somehow managed to lop its head off with that attack.

A few moments later, the soldiers that had been out of the monster's rampage and this far away arrived, doing their best to treat the prince's injuries.

He closed his eyes as the sun shone light right in his face but opened them yet again as a shadow covered him and in horror, he saw the monster standing tall without its head on its shoulders, instead resting on the ground still, the head was full of holes that seemed to contract, the prince tried to yell but he was too late and the neatly aligned soldiers and prince were sliced through in one go.

The monster picked its head up after making it make some noise and put it back were it belonged, it reatached itself immediately and the monster feasted upon the bodies of his preys, chomping even the metal despite the difficulties it had to do so.

The monster had only left one survivor and she had ran away from the soldiers surveillance at the first occasion, with the stench of blood permeating the air and the distance she had crossed, she would be safe for a while, for some time.