Born From A Divine Gamble

With no one unfortunate enough to trip again, the humans ran past them and shortly after, the cats followed. With them too busy following their prey, they did not see the unmoving Emp on the roadside. When they were about to pa.s.s them, the two Emps jumped out of the bushes and ran straight at them.

Hearing the foliage, the cats turned to look and the copy got the sword named Ray out at the same time. The unlucky cats got instantly blinded by the brightness of the sword which slowed down their reaction to the ambush. Emp reached the first cat and hit it in the head with an horizontal swipe of the hammer. There was a thud and the monster was batted away like a straw doll.

The first impression of Emp in that exchange was that the cats were weak. They had no weight in them and seeing as the one he hit didn"t move again, they were also brittle.

The second Emp had a similar experience with the first cat he reached and the magic blade easily cut through the creature, sending it"s blood flying. Everywhere the blood fell, be it the road or other cats, it started sizzling and smoking. Seeing the reaction of the cats who got splashed by that blood, it was painful. It would be best to not touch it.

Ray was now covered in said blood but did not seem that affected aside from dimming the light it emitted a little and changing its hue into something darker.

Now that he was close to them and had some light to help him, he could see the monster clearly. Emp had not seen many cat in his life, at most he had seen two or three roaming in the streets of Red-water, but those in front of him were the ugliest cats he had ever seen and he was almost sure of this, the ugliest he would ever see afterward. They had no redeeming traits whatsoever.

Emp did not think he would feel bad at all if they all died and disappeared from the world, this was how ugly they were. More importantly, what was dripping from the drooping pieces of meat he a.s.sumed to be their lips and from their fuming throats was indeed their own blood. It was such a powerful substance it ate at their own flesh from the inside.

While he was thinking that, the kids screamed once more, this time of astonishment when they saw the two Emps rus.h.i.+ng at the cats. The man leading them looked behind to see what was happening in time to witness the two kill another pair of cats. He yelled something at the pair before he pushed the kids further onward. It was best to gain more ground while their two helpers gained them some time.this was probably what he was thinking.

By the time the two Emps had killed that second pair, the b.e.s.t.i.a.l cats had long managed to adjust to the powerful light s.h.i.+ning in front of them and a.s.saulted the pesky duo that had interrupted their hunt and killed almost half of their gang.

The six remaining wrinkled creature all launched a spit attack at the same time. Thanks to the light provided by the sword, it was easy for Emp to tell when they were about to spit and since their aim wasn"t the best, Emp was confident he would be able to dodge them all with the s.p.a.ce walk. He went left and right to dodge the incoming attack and the globs of blood were harmlessly thrown into the woods.

His weapons were raised once more and two more felines died. The remaining creatures tried to back off to spit at them from a safer distance and did so surprisingly quickly compared to their earlier pursuit but, Emp was faster. The whole battle ended up to be much more easy than he had antic.i.p.ated and the remaining four were swiftly eliminated. The only hard part was to make sure not to crush them with the hammer as the resulting mess would probably splatter him with that dangerous blood.

Emp was about to collect the corpses like he usually did but was interrupted by the man. He asked the children to stay near the woman with serious gestures and ran back to Emp from where he had fled.

The man seemed to have the muscles of someone who worked hard and was taller than Emp. He had a head of light brown hair and dark brown eyes that expressed his nervousness.

When he got close to Emp he talked to him as fast as he could which was way too fast for the poor Emp who was barely able to read some common words of his language. All the while he was making desperate gestures towards the road ahead, the cats and the kids behind him.

Emp understood he was in a hurry and trying to tell him what was happening but with only the gestures, he couldn"t catch on to the whole story.

"Slow down please, I do not understand what you are saying." Said Emp after removing his helmet.

Seeing the expression of Emp, the man quickly understood that the two warriors in armor in front of him did not get what he was saying at all. Still, he seemed determined to get something out of them as he tried once again with more eloquent gestures and a slower speech. Of the whole explanation, Emp understood two words, attack and village.

From the gestures, he guessed that the guy was saying the cats attacked the village. Was there still more cats around?

Emp placed the hammer on the ground at his side and pointed the cats around him. He then made a ten with his raised fingers and pointed at the road behind him like a question. By some miracle the man understood what he meant and started flas.h.i.+ng his hands open over and over again. Emp quickly lost the count but understood that there was many times more left in Dark-glint than here.

He still did not know what the man wanted from him but he knew what he himself wanted to do. He put his helmet back on, gripped the thunder-chew hammer and rushed towards the town with his copy. Now that he had already decided to help and concluded that the cats weren"t that dangerous for him, there was no way he would turn back or wait for it to end.

The man yelled something at their back but since Emp could not understand and did not want to waste time, he did not turn back to look. Whether he was trying to stop him or cheering him on, he had no idea. He wasn"t sure he would be able to help but he at least wanted to try.

The dark glint of the red tinted light emanating from his blade blade led his way to the village, it was just a little further like he had first thought. He quickly started hearing yells, screams and all sorts of strange noises like things breaking, hisses, meows and things scratching on dirt and gravel.

Next, it was the smell that struck him, a smell like burnt meat and iron. Then, the trees parted to reveal the small sized fields around the wooden walls of the village. The gates on this side were wide open and no one was there to stand guard. Inside, the glow of many torches was visible.

He ran through the field and stepped inside the village. Everything was well lit by torches placed in a hurry, the houses were ordinary and made out of wood like those he usually saw until now. There was no one in sight, all doors were barred and none dared step outside. Although no human stood outside, there were still some cats. Only less than ten walked lazily around the gate but with no one there to stop them, they could do whatever they pleased. They were strolling around the houses, scratching at door trying to find their way in. The most clever one had even started spitting at one of the doors to melt it open. Screams came from inside when holes started appearing in the door.

Where were the guards? The answer wasn"t obvious at a glance and Emp did not have the time to search for it, he had to chase the cats away first. He did not waste any time and ran straight at them. He took the houses on the right while his copy went for the left.

The cats heard them running despite the loud clamor of the surroundings and this time, they had much more s.p.a.ce to launch their deadly attacks. The nearest one to Emp was the one who had started melting the door. He suddenly thought that the people inside were very lucky that it did not start burning, this blood was like liquid fire. The cat did not care about his silly thought and its throat swelled with blood as it readied itself to spit.

Emp was prepared to dodge but he didn"t need to. Just when the cat started to move its head to spit, the door at its side opened violently and slammed against its head. The unexpected attack messed up its attack and it just barfed a mouthful of blood on the road in front of it instead of spitting it at Emp.

By the time it looked up again, Emp was right in front of it and slammed his hammer with ten times the power of the door that had just stunned it. The creature spun in the air and rolled for a couple of meters before stopping, dead.

Emp shot a look behind the door and saw a woman who gave him a thankful nod of approval. He smiled in his helmet, nodded once as well and ran to the next monster. Even while afraid, she knew when a good opportunity presented itself.

The next cat proved to be harder to defeat because of the lack of support. In the time it took Emp to reach it, it shot two globs of blood at him, one completely missed him and the other he sidestepped. Then, when he arrived, he thought this encounter was over but the cat surprised him by jumping straight at him with all its claws out. Because of the previous cats, he had thought that they would rather retreat than fight in close quarter but not this one.

Since its weight was almost nil for its size, the impact barely forced him to take a step back. Also, since its claws were weak, they slid harmlessly on his armor as well but, its drool was another story entirely. When the cat impacted him, some droplets of blood flew out of its mouth and peppered his chest plate. Emp knocked the fiend away with the haft of his hammer before swiping at it with the other end of the weapon. The cat was dead but his precious armor was badly damaged as well.

Thanks to the high quality of the giant scales covering his chest and the minuscule amount of blood dropped on it, it did not manage to melt through its entirety but still riddled it with holes reaching its inner layers. He had to be much more careful from here on, even a simple collision could spell his death.

For the next cat, he was prepared and didn"t let it jump on him. Like that, he cleared the village entrance he went around the rest of it, killing monstrous cats throughout the streets. A few houses had their door melted open but since he couldn"t see any corpses inside, he felt that those living there either escaped or weren"t home to begin with.

Running around the small streets of Dark-glint, Emp came across some more villagers doing their best to get rid of the monsters. A group of three kids jumped out from behind the corner of a house and drove kitchen knives into the neck of one of the cats before running away once again without their melting weapons.

A man stood against the doorframe of a house with a dead cat at his only remaining feet and a second one slowly moving towards him. Emp number two came and cut off the head of the cat. The man expressed his thanks and fell backward into his house, unconscious from exhaustion or dead, Emp did not know.

There were many cats around but overall, not many villagers died because of their slow paced prowling. Once past the bridge occupying the center of the village though, the scene was completely different.

There were a lot of armed men guarding this only pathway across the river to stop the cats from attacking Emp"s side of the village but since the river was calm, many of the creature just swam to the other side.

Hunters armed with bow and arrows were lining the side of it, shooting at them as they were getting across. They were really effective and killed a substantial amount both in the river and on the other side of it. But Emp could see that a few of them had died from a projectile that came from the other side as retaliation or by the rare cat that managed to get across.

While the men tried to hold the bridge and the hunters guarded as much of the river as they possibly could, the true soldiers were marching around the streets of the east side, killing monsters left and right with efficiency. In fact, the only reason the villagers were able to hold the bridge was that the guards intercepted most of the enemy before they reached the river.

Even with their armor, They should not have been able to resist the attacks of the cats but, the blood projected their way all bounced off harmlessly. It probably had to do with the man strangely clothed in the middle of their formation.

He had a giant burning red mushroom in his left hand. His right was extended palm first in front of him and every time a cat spat their way, he would turn his entire arm its way to repel the attack, reciting things the whole time. The mushroom was already half burnt and Emp guessed that once it would be entirely consumed, the spell of the middle man would be over. Then, the soldiers would be in the same bad position as the villagers guarding the bridge.

Emp should also have been in a terrible situation like every melee fighter here but, the blessing of s.p.a.ce was truly perfect for this fight. Whoever received an attack here would be instantly defeated. It did not matter if you were experienced in fighting monster, a proud soldier or just a farmer, one hit was enough to put you down.

So, of course, the only solution was to not get hit but, to defend the bridge meant that no one was allowed to move or the cats would break through. The bridge was the worst possible place to be but also, the only reasonable place to be if you knew your family was hidden just on the other side of it.

Then, there were the guards who were holding on because of the magic. If the spell was cut, their armor and organized formation would make it difficult for them to dodge.

Emp however, was fighting alone and had the blessing to help him dodge easily and get to the cats more quickly. With his lack of experience and overall strength, he would have been a burden in almost any other kind of battle. Here though, the army of creature swarming the village were a perfect match for him or rather, his few good points were a perfect counter to them.

Compared to the east side, the west side of the river only had a few cats because of the good job of the defenders but even a few could cause enormous damage. It took Emp a while to beat up every single one of those that had spread in the village"s west side but if he had not done it, he felt that many would have died.

When he finally ran out of cats to bat away with his hammer, he went to the river side to help killing those that were crossing the river. after so much practice with s.p.a.ce blessing, he almost got confused as to why the cats took so long to cross that single-step wide river. It wasn"t in fact a single-step wide river or there would be no need to build a bridge over it, it was just his perception of it that was warped.

The village, even if it was bigger than Starfall, was still just a village and thus, did not have such a large section of the river inside its walls. The two Emps with their unnatural speed where more than enough to stop any more of those cats from climbing out of their side of the river.

The fight on the riverside was easy, the cats all came one at a time since most of them were getting shot down by the hunters. The real battle was happening on the other side but Emp knew it would be a bad idea to go into the heart of that swarm alone. He could deal with a small group of those monsters alone but of course, with too many of them, the consequences could be terrible.

At least the hunters seemed glad of his arrival. Every time they would miss one, Emp would come to beat it back down into the river. In front of so many creature, it wasn"t that much but at least, it was something less they had to worry about.

On the other side of the river, the spell protecting the soldiers ran out. The moment the mushroom started burning the fingers of the man holding it, he threw it down at his feet and the surrounding soldiers started dying. The man searched in one of his dozens of pockets as quickly as he could while the screams of pain of the soldiers around him spread through the battlefield. It only took him a moment to cast his spell anew but in the mist of this mess, that moment took the life of more than ten of his comrades.

Emp believed he had indeed made the right choice about not crossing the river. The soldiers fixed their formation under the renewed protection of the magic s.h.i.+eld and pressed on towards were the highest amount of creature prowled, intent on putting an end to this battle.

With the soldiers further away from them, the pressure on the bridge increased. The villagers stood their ground anyway. Around them, mountains of s.h.i.+elds were piled up. They would block an attack, look at the s.h.i.+eld they were holding melt down in their hands and pick another one. Meanwhile, the most confident of them would charge at the incoming enemy and kill as many as they could before retreating back to the bridge or die trying.

Their biggest problem was that the cats were either lazy or very clever. They stood at a distance and destroyed s.h.i.+eld after s.h.i.+eld, never even attempting to step on the bridge. Emp was astounded that the bridge itself hadn"t melted yet under the amount of blood that had been thrown its way. The villagers were doing an incredible job at keeping it safe, even at their own expense.

With this many attacks, injuries were bound to happen. Sometimes because they failed to intercept the attack with their s.h.i.+eld, sometimes because they failed to get another s.h.i.+eld in time. When one of them fell screaming, a group of women standing nearby would pick the defender up and drag him on the safe side with the other wounded. Slowly but surely, the number of defenders was dwindling while the amount of injured and dead was swelling. They could only hope that the soldiers would rout the cats in time before they were overwhelmed.

Emp did not watch how the bridge held as he focused on his own task, as long as he did this, at least the west side of the village would be kept safe. A cat climbed out of the river near one of the hunters and prepared itself to attack him. Emp got to it in time and drove down the hammer on its back. With the crunch of its ribs collapsing, the cat vomited a large amount of blood and died.

Satisfied, Emp started searching for his next target when a hand clasped around his shoulder. He looked behind him to see the archer he had just helped. He told him something and pointed at the bridge.

Emp looked that way again and saw that there wasn"t a lot of defenders left. Only a handful of men and a tall woman holding a sword even longer than herself where still holding on. The hunter at his side said something else but Emp did not need to understand his words to figure out what he wanted. The bridge needed more people.

He looked towards his destination and made a long step towards it, finding himself standing beside the tall woman. She was about the same height as Chinui but it was enough to let her tower above most of the remaining farmers around her. She seemed strong but not quite as strong as the wife of Tiberius. She was dressed with an impressive smooth charcoal colored armor and her short hair did not leave the border of her helmet.

Aside from that, he could not see anything else about her but he guessed that with the length of her sword, she could kill many cats in a single swing. She had probably done so too if you were to believe all the cat corpses cleaved in half further on the road. She was probably one of those who charged out of the bridge the most to gain time for the rest.

When the other Emp saw the original step on the bridge, he did the same from his side and found himself standing with her as well. There was a giant hole in the upper part of his s.h.i.+eld, Emp would have to buy a new one but at least, he didn"t seem injured.

The other defenders jumped in surprise when the two Emps arrived right in front of them but not the woman. With the both of them appearing at her side out of nowhere, she still managed to react calmly and asked them something that they, of course, could not understand.

"I am sorry, I do not get it."

She laughed and said something else ending with "n.o.ble" before focusing once more on what was happening. A projectile landed on the half melted s.h.i.+eld of his copy and he didn"t have any choice left but to discard it like the villagers often did. Because of the situation they were in, Emp chose to exchange his hammer for the sword Flame and picked up a random s.h.i.+eld from the pile like his copy. The hammer would not be useful here on the bridge.

The woman eyed their two swords and spoke again. She knocked on their breastplates and pointed them the left and right side of the bridge where cats were gathering. Then, she knocked on her own and pointed directly in front were the most of them were.

It was enough for the two Emps to understand, they pointed their swords towards their respective sides and prepared themselves to lunge forward as an answer. Why was he listening to her, he had no idea. There were possibly way too many cats to win but still, he wanted to help.

She took a stance as well and after a sudden shout, she ran forward. Emp felt she was a good example of what Chinui had told him to do when he had met him. She led by example and wasn"t afraid to rush into the largest amount of enemy possible. The two Emps did the same and stepped into their own groups of cats well before she reached hers.

Because they were suddenly so close to them, most of the monsters around him opted to use their claws instead of their spit. Emp stepped left as he slashed right towards one of them, then stepped right and bashed his s.h.i.+eld in the face of a cat jumping from straight in front of him.

Very quickly, he felt like he was once again battling the snakes, there were just too many. He was so busy keeping track of all the cats around him that he had almost no time to slash in return. Most of the cats that died were killed by the close range spit of their brethren instead of him.

Emp did not know many sword tricks. More precisely, he did not know any on how to keep so many cats at bay. At least, he was very good at slas.h.i.+ng things on his right side since Chinui had scolded him so many time in order to fix how he stood and did that one motion.

Most of the fight could be shortened into step left, slash, turn and repeat. In between those, there were only dodges and desperate blocking with the s.h.i.+eld.

Even though he wasn"t that effective against such a large number of creatures, at least he was able to keep them busy. With the two Emps and the woman blocking the cats further away from the bridge, the few defenders still standing were able to take a breather. Some even cheered them on, raising their fists and swords towards the two dancing spots of light protecting them.

The fight on the other side of the bridge had been easy and not very tiring for him, he just needed to walk from one place to the other like he did everyday and hit once with his weapon to end it. Here though, it was something else entirely. Sweat was dripping all over his face, both from the stress of being alone in the middle of more than twenty of those dangerous cats and the effort he had to make to dodge them all at every moment. Soon, he felt like his lungs were burning under the acrid smell of their sizzling blood.

Once, he made a step backward to dodge an attack and his foot landed into pool of their blood with a loud hiss. He removed it from there fast but he was pretty sure by the way his boot felt from then on that there was barely anything left of the sole. Now, he regretted not having bought a new pair of them while he was in town.

His copy was in a similar position, barely keeping up with the cats, but the woman was faring much better. Every time she swung her disproportionate sword, Emp could hear the air split and see an entire group of cats torn apart. That sword, combined with her incredible strength, was able to easily cut through them all in a single swing. She was just walking forward, cutting down groups after groups of cats, completely ignoring their blood as it landed on her armor. Against them, she was invincible.

Emp was far from being as strong as her and hoped he wouldn"t have to keep this up for much longer. He was almost out of breath and his equipment was starting to feel really heavy. If this continued for longer, it would feel as if he had used the great overburdening hammer. At least, when he managed to hit them, the swords easily pa.s.sed through their thin skin and brittle bones.

The battle went on and on but the soldiers weren"t coming back and the woman wasn"t backing out either so he had no choice but to keep his ground. He ended up having to give up on any counterattack entirely, only focusing on defense.

Finally, when he thought he had no other choice but to leave and go back to the bridge before he collapsed of exhaustion, a powerful screeching howl echoed in the village. The cats all around the village raised their ugly heads, stopped whatever they were doing and ran. The cats suddenly decided to give up and they fled the village in droves.

Many parts of the wall had been melted and broken down by their attacks and the cats used all those openings as escape routes. They left using the gate, the fallen walls or even by jumping from a roof and over the few sections of the wall that were still standing. They did not forget to bring back as many corpses as they could with them. Carrying their spoils of war with them, back into the woods.

Loud cheers erupted from all over the safe half of the village as the news of the victory spread. The fight was finally over. Emp just wanted to lie down right where he stood but he feared he would land in some more of that acid blood.

He first searched for a clear spot, recalled his copy and collapsed in the middle of the road. The combined fatigue of the two was unbearable. He could not move at all anymore. Every part of his body felt swollen and burnt.

***

The blood-spitters are a race of ugly felidae. They are fur-less and usually so thin they seem starved. To go straight to the point, the only thing that makes them different from any other feline aside from their unusual ugliness is their blood.

Every blood-spitters have a highly acidic blood running through their veins. That blood is powerful enough to melt through wood, stone and even steel. Because of it, they are ignored by most predators and even death seekers try to avoid them to keep their swords whole.

Not only this, it is widely known that the blood-spitters, fitting with their name, use that blood as a weapon to attack preys from a distance. They would be feared everywhere if not for a ma.s.sive problem. They themselves aren"t resistant to this corrosive blood. Their veins and heart can contain it with the help of constant regeneration focused on them but, when the blood leaves those veins, the chances of them dying from it is high.

To attack with it, a blood-spitter must fill a special muscular pouch kept in its throat with their own blood and with a powerful contraction of its throat muscles, expel it to its target. This could be devastating but many points make it less useful of a mechanism than it would seem. First, such an attack isn"t precise and misses happen often at long distances. Second, the amount of blood required for such an attack is quite substantial and a blood-spitter relying too much on it could faint from anemia. Finally, the muscle pouch used to hold and acc.u.mulate the blood necessary, isn"t resistant enough to its effect and like its mouth, gets badly damaged by such an attack. This is why almost all blood-spitters look like their throat and mouths are melting away, they actually are.

The more a blood-spitter use it"s acid as a mean of attack, the more it weakens and hurts itself, giving them the t.i.tle of shortest lived feline of all the lands on top of their already impressive t.i.tle of most ugly feline of all the lands.

Their fur and skin, nay, every part of their body are always degenerating and sacrificing their energy to their veins and heart in order to keep the beast alive and protect it against its own blood. This explain why all of them looks diseased and on the brink of death.

Those creatures do not often hunt like most of the other felidae, instead, they are more of a scavenger, stealing the food of other creatures unwilling to pick a fight with them. The blood-spitters are a solitary creature but unlike most species, its individuals do not keep a clear territory to themselves. This is explained by their short lifespan, they are always on the lookout for a potential mate and can reproduce at an incredible pace.

With all their problems, they would be nothing more than a curiosity in our forest if not for an extremely rare existence among them. Sometimes, around once in fifty thousand birth, an individual is born with an immunity to its own acidic blood. We call them the kings and queens of the blood-spitters, sizzle leaders (1). When observing one, we can witness the true form of their specie. Lean and tall with a powerful musculature and a snow white mane of silky fur. A sharply chiseled head with a cunning look and proud demeanor. It"s lifespan is more than three times that of its usual kin, truly the perfected form of their race.

When one is born, every other blood-spitters naturally gather around it and follow its command, forming a sizzle. Because of their rarity and power, not much is known as to why such a sizzle comes into existence. Are they gathering for a chance to mate with the true blood-spitter? Are they naturally inclined toward serving the king or queen of their race? Do they feel that its existence will bring bountiful nourishment for them all or do they simply recognize that the sizzle leader is more intelligent than them and the only thing to do is kneel in front of it?

Whatever the case, a sizzle leader, with its superior size, speed and threat, leads the rest of its race into large scale hunts and attacks that would never happen without them. They target villages, herds of keradons and deer, whatever enters its ma.s.sive territory.

The only way to really stop a sizzle is to kill its leader, the second it dies, the rest knows and disperses back into their usual solitary ways.

When forced to face a blood-spitter some things are best to keep in mind. It is more than recommended to engage them from a distance with weapons or ammunition you do not fear losing to its acid. Like always, magic would be a valuable help but a bow and arrow can kill one in a single hit if your aim is true. Anything short of an armor reinforced with magic will be useless against its acid and their attacks should be avoided at all cost instead. Alternatively, with their weakened state, making them spit enough blood would knock them out, even just running for long enough would tire them after a while and they should quickly give up on their pursuit.

I heard their blood have some uses if you have something to contain it with but honestly, I would be afraid to lose my fingers in the endeavor so you, dear reader, and I, should leave such scavenging feat to professionals instead.

-- Common Steelwood Bestiary entry on the Blood-spitter. (2)

(1) A group of blood-spitter is a sizzle. Don"t look at me like that, I wasn"t the one who decided to give all animal groups a unique name for the English language. A group of jaguars is a shadow apparently and a group of leopards is a leap. A sizzle isn"t that bad of a name considering the others.

(2) I like blood-spitters, even though they are so badly design in an evolutionary standpoint.

Speaking of standpoint, any authors would say that I should have cut the chapter at the charge from the bridge as a cliffhanger but, I did not want/need to stretch that fight further.

The only real disappointment is that Emp wasn"t the one who killed the sizzle leader but to be honest, I think he would have died if he had fought it.