Villain Rises, Hero Falls
Bean ran through the street, five wolf demons behind her. She just had to get to the dorm, but her short legs weren’t fast enough. She looked back, large mouths filled with teeth, sharp claws on paws, and strong bodies resonating with growls. These weren’t the puppies she could charm, these things were here to hurt and kill. She didn’t know why the sniper hadn’t saved her yet, but she felt something was wrong.
In the short glance over her shoulder, her foot caught on a crack in the ground, the little inkling went tumbling, landing in a heap in the street. The demons closed in, growling. They slowed to a creep, seemingly expecting a trap. One gathered its courage and lunged, reaching teeth and claws to rip into the intruder.
A flash of movement and a glint of metal was all the warning any present had before the canine was on the ground. Its head landed a few feet away and a few seconds after. There, standing between the young squid and the remaining creatures stood Jasper. Her goggles back in place and the machete she had gotten from the sports store in one hand. The blade and her shoes were both stained with demon blood. She didn’t look back at Bean as she spoke, “Get to the dorms. Hide. I’ll hold them.”
Bean nodded and ran, getting the attention of one of the wolves, though it didn’t move to follow yet. All remaining combatants stood for a long moment. The wolves wary of the newcomer and the octoling distinctly aware of the precious seconds this stand off was buying her charge. Each time a demon moved the blade in Jasper’s hand shifted to point at it. Finally, they got over their fear.
two of them charged her, claws swinging and teeth gnashing. Jasper sidestepped the swipes and took a shot of her own at the head of one of the beasts. It easily dodged, as she expected. Her simple victory over the one had been mostly due to surprise. She darted at one of the ones that had hung back, slashing at it’s leg and crippling it before it could dodge. She jumped back, avoiding a counterattack. Her blade was raised to block a potentially deadly strike from the final combatant. She sidestepped and jumped to avoid another strike from her first two attackers as she spun to gash the chest of one of the wolves.
Her eyes widened as pain shot through her head. The injured wolf. She had assumed it was out of the fight. A rookie mistake. How could she have been so stupid. Several tentacles from the side of her head landed on the ground. The strap on her goggles had been severed, sending them tumbling as well. She spun, slashing out. The wolf was bisected down the face, truly taken out this time.
The soldier turned, crying out as a demon ripped into her arm. The attack ripped skin from her, sending the limb flying. The two remaining demons seemed to think they had won, but Jasper simply looked at them, eyes furious. She had failed the Octarian Army, but she would not be losing to these things. Not without great cost to them.
Her one remaining arm used the moment of pride from the creatures to slash the throat of the one that had dared take her arm. The other reacted quickly, slashing at her face, ripping parts of it away, but the octarian was more than capable of living from it. At least, she was able to live long enough to drive her blade into the demon’s chest.
As her last opponent fell, the torn and battered octoling dropped to her knees. Ink leaked from her wounds quickly, the pink mixing with the red as it pooled. With her one remaining eye, she looked up at the building she had stayed in this past little while. Half a mouth smiled and tried to speak, but the octoling’s last words were taken from her. The warrior seemed to deflate, like a water balloon with one too many punctures. She watched the window of Bean’s dorm for as long as she could before finally succumbing, melting away into the pool beneath her.
