Walking Disasters and Me

A few moments earlier

Hanging screens around me continue to show orders followed to the combined letter of the Mistress as well as myself, their views encompassing all the gates along the wall and the battlements above. Soldiers and guards resuming posts that were manned so recently with dutiful precision and watchful eyes. In a way, the recent conflict was needed. Too long have our forces been idle, the allure and safety of peace threatening to dull the sense of battle and guidance of instinct. To say nothing of the slowing of cultivation among our ranks.

Were it not for the tragedy of a century prior, myself, Gerra, and Jun Li would all already be at the half-step. However, we collectively agreed and informed the Mistress of our desire to wait until the threat of rival factions springing up and hoisting false prophecy onto us to well and truly be passed before we ascended. That reasoning does not excuse the idleness of others though. The Branch leaders, save for a few, have all been locked in their studies for the past hundred years. Seeing to their craft or the mundane function of their work.

Although even that seems to have been left to rot judging by the sheer amount of clerical duties the Mistress had to oversee once some of those members departed on mission. In turn, the juniors below them see the lack of ambition and think it well to also stagnate. To take leisure and time to advance instead of driven pride and purpose. Of course, too much of the latter is also an issue, but the needle pointed heavily toward the other end as things stood.

Thankfully, the assault on the Village was a wakeup call to many of those juniors, and even some leaders. The vast majority of them now know that they only have their lives because of the actions of the strong and the knowledge of our healers, and it has re-ignited some desire to shine. To not be seen as a burden as they were previously. Whether that mentality holds as years progress is another matter. One that I shall bring forth to the newly re-titled Acting Sect Leader upon her return~.

The little smile that comes to my face is precluded by the flash of pride and respect toward the beautiful kitsune whom I love dearly. A being who is both wise and wary, a survivor of tragic events most would have withered and wasted away from. A person who is so full of warmth even after those malicious forces sought to rip such feelings from her heart. Who is equally filled with strength and potential that only Amelia can truly hold a flame to now.

Sadly though, those wounds on her heart have only just now begun to properly heal with the inclusion of the little pup into our group. I would be lying if I said I did not harbor jealousy toward her, at first, along with a more understandable mistrust given events of the past. However, that all was quickly dispelled through both her actions and words as well as the obvious visible comfort she brings to the Mistress. And while it may sting in a sense that neither I nor the other two could have truly given her that comfort, I am glad she is experiencing it all the same.

The ringing indicator of someone at the shuttered doors brings me out of my musings with a curious tilt of my eyebrow. It seems that said little pup is already awakened and is seeking entry after only a half day of cultivating. Which seems utterly ridiculous, even for her.

I meander my way on the stone floor past the assorted tables and chairs, the hanging glass that shows the outside world dangling above each little enclave of wooden furniture by cables and struts to help organize and respond to changing situations. Were it fully staffed, of course. As I cross the room, I activate the symbols for releasing the door's lock and activating the opening procedure, something that takes some time intentionally in case it was done by mistake.

After a minute or so, the doors have finally cracked just enough so that the crimson red hair and curvaceous body of Amelia can dart into the room like a woman possessed, the familiar hum of spirit Ios' drone followed shortly behind her. I quickly reach out and hold the frazzled woman in an embrace, her reckless momentum a threat to the assorted desks and screens as her teal eyes hold a wild gleam.

"Amelia? I had assumed you to be deep in cultivation for longer. What is the matter?" I ask out with concern, her eyes panickily darting left and right around the room before it seems that she realizes I have hold of her which makes my own worry begin to bubble forth. The fact that her heart is beating like a drum inside of her chest also does not help matters.

"Sam!" She responds as she latches onto my shoulders with her hands and pulling back, her pleading eyes shifting between terror, relief, anger, and a myriad of other emotions that start to raise the hairs on my arms in alarm. "What's going on with Akiko? Has she said anything since she's been gone?"

As I go to ease her worries, to inform her that the Mistress has yet to send word back as of this moment, the growing instinctual danger that I had begun sensing comes to full fruition. Amelia's teal eyes become awash in red rivaling her hair as an outline of the same color surrounds her. An animalistic scream that should come from some wounded beast instead of this young woman ripples through the air. In the same feral cry, I feel the weight of an Intent press upon me, washing the room in a familiar color of blood.

Every scrap of presence that wafts from Amelia holds nothing but unabashed want for battle. For destruction and death. The sheer ferocity just from her aura nearly enough to spike fear into my core. She continues to scream and thrash in my embrace as I try to turn and ask spirit Ios what in the Heavens is going on before the doors slam shut once more. An event that seems to give a brief moment of clarity to the enraged wolf I now hold in my hands.

With another sneering snarl, she pulls her feet toward her chest in a jump and then lashes out in a monstrously strong kick that I can do little to avoid. Before the breath is pressed out of me from the impact, I utter the only thing I can think of on instinct: "Shit."

I fly halfway across the room - our position at the doors being near the center of the space - crashing through desk, chair, and screen before impacting on the fortified and enchanted stone wall in a cloud of dust. Breath once more forcefully escapes my lips, the scent and taste of iron in my mouth. As I take less than a second to recover, my eyes widen as a fist fitted with four silvery bladed metal claws pushes past the smoke aiming directly for my face. Piercing, red eyes peer at me through the obscured air behind them with the elation of a beast pouncing on its prey.

Moving my head just enough to dodge the attack, I scream out as I feel something hot and sharp pierce my stomach. Pain burns its way through my veins, sweat forming on my brow as I look down. There, the suddenly savage woman has inserted her other similarly clawed hand to the knuckles, the four large blades now imbedded deep into my torso. While using the attack at my head as a feint, she clearly achieved her true purpose.

With rising glee at my cry of pain, the feral smile widens across her face as she leans ever closer to mine with a growl of pleasure that shakes my chest. As we are nearly nose to nose, her eyes dance with madness before she leans back and eagerly opens her mouth.

Memories of her engorging herself on the Heaven's facsimile rise to mind, shaking away the growing fear at this rapidly escalating turn of events. With all of my strength, I reach down and rip the invading hand from my stomach, a heavy squelch of my own ichor splattering wetly on the ground before my shield materializes on my other hand. I strike out with the rim of the metal toward the beast's lowering mouth, a ringing *CRACK* of steel on bone clapping out into the room as her body gets sent flying to the wall to my right.

I wince as my hand holds over the furrowed punctures on my middle, my own natural healing slowly stitching the skin back together before I look back to Amelia and my blood turns to ice. I knew I had hit her quite hard in a panic, not expecting her to be this strong or fast even with her Intent active. However, all of that seems for naught as she calmly sways her hips forward through her own dust cloud with nary a mark on her person.

Her smile grows from ear to ear as those ruby red eyes bear down on me while she slowly advances, regarding me as prey to be conquered. With sadistic glee, she raises the claw that had pierced me, my red liquid still coating its blades as she runs her tongue along the surface. In barely restrained bliss, eyes shut in rapture, she laps up all of my blood before bearing that manic smile back to me, licking her lips in satisfaction and dismissing the weapons.

My instincts, which I have trusted all my life, tell me to run. "Enough! Come back to yourself, Amelia!" I scream out partially due to the growing terror, "[Sun Forged Iron Carapace]!"

The entirety of my skin begins forming to metal, but before the transformation is complete those murderous red eyes are at my face. The fear only grows as I realize I couldn't even see her move that time. I raise the shield on reaction, but her hand simply grabs the metal as it rises, her strength locking my arm into place in yet another vastly worrying sign. A peal of laughter erupts from her lips as she rears back and flings her head squarely onto mine before the protection of steel can cover me there.

My vision goes blinding white from the pain as the metal shell finally completes, losing reference to where my body is momentarily before I feel myself be picked up and thrown by the ankle. The ground meets me in a violent crash, leaving me once more bereft of wind in my lungs. As I bounce against the surface, a forceful impact of metal on metal on my head mixes with the unhinged delight of the being above me.

"Guh." I moan out from the blow, my brain rattling inside my skull as I open my eyes to see the fully lost in pleasure face of Amelia raising a silver maul overhead for another strike, eyes wide and brimming with terrifying joy. Seeing no other option, I summon my sword and lash out towards her armpit, aiming at the vital point there. Even though I do not want to truly hurt her, I am increasingly running out of options.

The act is thankfully enough to make her retreat, her hair fluttering as she backflips away a few paces before that feral grin returns. I stand quickly, her feet already flying back to re-engage with me as I say with metallic echo, "Please, Amelia. [Steel Tyrant's Strength]."

Power surges through me as my muscles bulge, the strength of metal bolstering and empowering my physical body. It will be the first time I have used my new body technique in actual combat, though already I can tell that my defenses as well as attack power have increased greatly. Sensing the change of energy, Amelia's grin falters for the first time as she changes her weapon to that infamous forte of hers: a scythe.

We both dash the final distance between each other, my sword and shield flashing in tandem with the wicked metal of her scythe in blistering speeds. To my shock, she is nearly keeping up with me in terms of strength, and she continues to outpace me in speed so long as the black and silver energies rapidly course around her body framed by red. My own battle intuition the only thing saving me from certain hits and poor positioning. Lightning-fast strikes come from both of us as the situation deteriorates, sound exploding from every clash although it seems that neither of us can find a suitable opening to exploit.

On and on we fight, crossing the room backwards and forwards as the chaos of battle rends itself to the environment with the crashes and clangs of metal. A parry of the scythe aimed at my leg only to be followed with the shaft swinging at my head. My sword being caught and lifted to the side in the nook of her blade before she spins the weapon and throws me off balance. My shield being scraped and prodded at every opportunity, always in a way that offers me little to no chance to counterattack while showers of sparks surround us.

This goes on for longer than I am comfortable with before something finally gives. And not in my favor.

With a twirl that would be beautiful if it were not so dangerous, she spins and whips the curved metal blade directly for my throat, the wind singing on its edges as faint runes begin to glow on its surface. I don't have time to see what nasty trick she has brought to table as I pitch the shield upward to deflect the attack.

As soon as the metals connect, a thunderous explosion tears out across the room, destroying any remaining artefacts or furniture left unscathed by our exchanges thus far as we both are sent flying to opposite ends of the space. Crazed woman!! Even in her addled state, she would use those monstrous explosive runes like that while she was still in the blast radius?!

Thankfully, my reinforced body suffers only minor pains between both techniques I have ongoing. Said comfort is short lived, however. My instincts trigger again while I recover, and I reflexively shout out:

"[Adamantine Bulwark]!"

A thick wall of metal forms all around me, its surface 15 feet wide as well as tall comprised of shining green and nearly impenetrable material that reaches the ceiling. The wall completes just in time to shield me from a loosed arrow that impacts its surface with another world-shattering explosion. The impact nearly breaks the barrier, but thankfully it holds true and begins to reform. Dust falls from the ceiling, the ground rumbling in protest against such forces before I look up and see something that yet again returns ice to my veins.

Through the darkness imposed by the sealing of myself, I look up to see a fragile, small crack has formed on the roof. Without time to even process such a catastrophic level of power that I just avoided, one that may well have left me maimed if my hasty defense had not held, I hear the wicked and distorted voice of Amelia on the other side of my barrier.

"Hiding? Come back. To play~. [Aegis of the Void]." She says in broken speech, like the act of uttering words is almost something foreign to her mind at this moment. Sweat begins to pour from me, dropping as small balls of metal that plink to the ground from my transformed brow as I wonder why she would use a technique that sounds defensive in nature right against my own in kind. It is then that I truly feel what fear is.

My metallic bulwark shudders and quakes as I feel the technique wane. With halting steps and a tremoring heart, I retreat until I am pressed against the wall. I shakily raise my shield in front of me to witness a sight that may well haunt me for the rest of my days. There, just in front of me under the cover of artificial night, the inside of the protective wall ripples and then fades from existence. Its matter being sucked into a pulsing and eerily whining pure black void in the form of a flared shield that painfully stabs my mind to behold.

The shield moves further inward, its carrier casually walking through one of my strongest defenses as if taking a midafternoon stroll. Like a demon bent on nothing but destruction, she passes through the tunnel she has carved humming a soft yet haunting foreign tune. Her steps finally take her past the inner threshold of the barrier, their resounding pattern chillingly calm as the shield tilts downward. It is then that those merciless red eyes are revealed, their burning light piercing through the darkness and straight into my quivering soul. Lower the shield goes, exposing the cruel smile of the crazed woman masquerading as Amelia hiding behind its reality fracturing form.

"Found. You~." Her voice creeps and crawls out from gleaming white teeth as the shield fractures and fades with sound of shattering glass, shivers arcing down my spine as she merrily stares at me. With my heart beating hammering in my chest for the first time since I had to stare down the Mistress a century ago, realizing I have effectively trapped myself in with this monster.

I do my best to still my nerves, preparing my stance once more to the cheery delight of my attacker. She crouches low before lunging at me in a feral cry, her arms outstretched and seeking to rip and tear into me as she fluctuates between reason and mindless macabre want.

"Stop this, Amelia!" I cry in return, lashing my sword out to her exposed side. The blade whistles through the air from my enhanced strength, before it makes contact. My eyes go wide as instead of striking her torso, she moved her hand in the path of the swing. The biting edge of the metal sinking into her palm as she slides it down the ever slickening with her own blood metallic surface.

She shows no signs of pain - only feral delight - as her hand reaches the hilt, her fingers latching around mine as they begin to *CRUSH* with a nearly unbearable strength in savage glee.

A wordless and pained scream pulls from me, the sound of metal forcibly being bent and dented underneath her grip filling the small alcove in its horrid screeching as she bears down more and more. In desperation, I try once again to impact her with my shield before that too is caught in the unyielding grip of her other hand.

"Ugh! [Blossoming Su- AAH!!" I fail to finish the incantation as my hand is finally crushed under her grip, my sword clattering uselessly to the ground. With blurring speed, she uses the now free appendage to wrest the shield out of my other hand as well before kicking me against the wall. I feel a few ribs shatter, whether from the lashing of her foot or the impact with stone, my hazy mind cannot tell.

As my head lolls to the side, that vice grip of a hand comes to clamp around my neck as my metallic skin begins to fade back to normal. I gasp as air becomes stilted inside of me, my own hands coming to desperately try and release her hold before I feel myself get pushed down to the ground. A pressure lands on my waist, stilling my struggling legs as her fingers relax just enough to offer me a shuddered breath.

"You play nice~. Now. Am hungry. For somethingelse~." Her broken speech whispers into my ear as her legs cinch around my waist, her eyes flashing momentarily with some kind of light. With ferocious movement, she rips off her lower undergarment beneath her dress, a small puddle of wetness beginning to dribble onto my muscled stomach after she resumes her seated position on top of me. Oh Heavens...

"N-no, Amelia sto- Mhmf!" I barely breathe out, my meek protest silenced by a feral snarl that breaks against my lips. Its aggressive, primal. Her tongue moving invading my mouth with a force that makes me shudder despite the throbbing pain in my chest and hand. As she coaxes pleasure from my confused and rapidly aroused mind, she shifts her position so that she straddles on a thigh. Her own coming to rest between my legs.

A hand slides down from my neck, nails easily raking through the cloth of my blouse and leaving bloodied trails of pain and pleasure until she firmly grasps and kneads my breast. I moan into the kiss unbiddenly, my back arching in response as she continues further down my body until landing on my rear, smiling against my lips. With a forceful grip, my heart fluttering at the sheer dominance on display, she raises my waist against her thigh as she begins to rock along mine.

What surprises me most is how quickly I find myself lost in lust and arousal, despite surely experiencing more extreme situations than this. To say nothing of the pitched battle and near-death experience I thought I was trapped in. Amelia breaks her forceful kiss, letting me catch a glimpse of her eyes which are no longer red, but fully pink with red outlines. Before I can try to ascertain what that means, she grabs the hem of my blouse with her teeth.

The sound of ripping cloth mixes with both of our moans as she shreds what remains of the top garment ferally, those same wicked white pearls quickly latching onto my now exposed nipple as I cry out in ecstasy. My hand is healed enough that I unconsciously go to hold the back of her head to my chest in encouragement, an action which stills her movement and brings both her hands to latch against my wrists.

"No." She says with absolute control, the silver metal of her weapon transforming into a chain that she locks around my wrists after lowering them behind me. Her quarry secured, she goes back to resting her hand on my neck, slamming me against the wall and pushing me against her thigh as we rock in tandem. Her wet and velvety lips both suckling at my teat and sliding against my leg as heady moans resume to fill the space around us.

Between the restraints, her violent ministrations, the curiously altered headspace, and the lingering danger, I feel myself shudder against her thigh as a climax begins to rise inside of me. As I get closer to the peak, the Berserker form of Amelia releases my neck and shreds my lower garments enough so that my core is exposed. Another shift of placement sees her straddling atop me, our centers pressed together as her standing form looms from above and holds the thigh slick with her juices in her hands. The heel of her foot comes to rest against my neck, taking the place of the choking hand left vacant as my eyes begin to roll back in my head from unrestrained bliss.

Violent and wild thrusts of our crying flowers against each other rush the waves of pleasure through me alongside blissful screams of release. Liquid bursts from both of us as we shudder in tandem, raining down and drenching my dominated form as my tongue flops out of my mouth, eyes glazed over as the lust consumes me.

My discarded waist flops to the ground with a muted *thud*, my body weary and weak from one of the best orgasms I have ever experienced as the weight of Amelia plops onto my still sore stomach.

"Fun~. More." She demands, her own lust dripping off her voice as it weaves into my ear and tickles my mind. All I can do is whimper out a pitiful sound of agreement before I feel teeth sink into my shoulder with the perfect balance of pain and pleasure. The kind that draws drops of blood from my skin and leaves a bruising mark for days~. Another heady moan pushes past my lips as she bites and drinks. Her warm and strong tongue playing with the liquid against my skin and in her mouth as I shudder beneath her until I hear a totally different noise escape her lips.

A gag, then a confused gasp of alarm as the pressure, pleasure, and pain of the bite fades from my skin. I blearily open my eyes to see vibrant teal ones staring back at me in utter dismay and horror. My mind slowly clearing itself of the lust I was drowned in as the shaking and tear-stricken form of Amelia looks down at me in absolute terror, bloodied hands covering her mouth.