The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 225 - 219: Safehold - The Huntress

"Two of them?"

Ben nodded somberly in reply to Tess's question. "And they're bigger too. These ones must be three stories tall - 30 feet if they're an inch."

Tess looked over at Madison who confirmed Ben's guestimate with a nod.

"We're going to need all hands on deck." Leon spun to gather the people of Safehold. "This will take everyone."

"No." Tess stopped him in his tracks.

"Okay," he said with hesitation. "The Vanguard then. I think with all of us we can take them, especially with…" he nodded to Luna's Scythe form.

"I have weapons left, but no big finishers. I used all of them in the last fight and the ones I have left are better suited for small creatures and skirmishes."

Tess was still getting used to the commanding, authoritative tone from her sweet little girl.

Weeble stepped closer to the screen and pointed. "We can take the one on the left. We have striking power and are fast. We used up our finishers too, but that doesn't mean we're useless. We don't usually rely on them anyway - they're our show-stoppers if we really want to sell the performance. Give us Takeshi and the sisters, you take Cass and Luna. Oh wait, Cass disappeared. Maybe you can take Lady Tutu? She seems pretty indestructible. Madison, if you have any big, secret guns you've been saving now is the time to show them."

Tess gently pushed Weeble back with the rest of the Vanguard. "I said no. I'll take these ones out. You all did great today - you gave it your all, but your tanks are running on empty. I'm betting these are the last two, so I'll finish them off by myself."

Mouths hung open as they all stared at her.

"Tess," Ed said softly. "That's impossible. These things are massive and probably have powers we haven't seen yet. I know you're strong, but you can't take them alone. We might not even be able to take them together."

She smiled gently at him. At them all. "Most of you haven't seen me fight - I can do this, don't worry about me. I'll go take care of them real quick and get back here in case any more show up."

"Real quick?" Weeble choked out.

"Any more?" Ben hissed. "If there are any more after this we're all dead."

Tess shrugged indifferently. They didn't have any other options, and they'd have to deal with whatever The System threw at them in any case. No sense in holding back 'just in case.' "Those are my orders. Have the people get ready just in case there are any after this. Some of my abilities will put me in a weakened state after, so it'll take a little recovery time for me to be at full strength - but you should be able to hold any new ones off until then. But I don't think there will be more. These are the last."

"How could you possibly know that?"

She looked at Weeble. His question made sense, but Tess felt it in her bones. These were the final boss monsters of this challenge. "The others came at two-hour intervals, as steady as clockwork. These two showed up immediately, which leads me to think that they're the final ones."

"But Tess,"

She slashed her hand through the air, cutting off Weeble's objections. "You have your orders. There's no more need to discuss it. Do what I said and we'll debrief after."

No one looked happy about it but there were no more arguments.

"Oh!" Madison jumped up. "Do you think you can spike one for me? We should have been doing it this whole time, but these ones are the best samples yet. Do you think you'll be able to get one of them without risking yourself."

"Sure," Tess shrugged. "Get it to me quick, though, they're coming pretty quickly and I want to get ready."

Madison was off at a flash and Tess left the group behind to make her way to the wall. She stepped off the edge, landing lightly on the other side.

"Did she say 'real quick?'" She ignored Weeble's question as she leapt.

"Fara, what are our odds and what is our strategy?"

"I've been analyzing every fight and, although these may have special powers we haven't seen, they should be pretty predictable. I've studied the Vanguards' attacks and tuned the most successful ones into your muscle memory already."

"Thank you. I don't want to give them a chance to activate any boss powers they have, so we will need to end this quickly. I'm going to go full-out from the beginning."

"It's a risky strategy, Mother, but I agree with your assessment. Do I have permission?"

Fara had finally revealed that one of her abilities allowed her to permanently increase Tess's stats by infusing System energy directly into her bones and muscles. Tess was level 19 now and, with the aid of Chloe Bouchard's stat increasing potions, her strength and agility were both in the low 30's. There was no way to know exactly how much Fara's empowerment had increased Tess's stats, but just by the feel of it she guessed she was approaching 40 in both - mid-30's in her Endurance. Fara also had the ability to temporarily boost Tess's stats with the use of BioSync Integration's Emergency Enhancement skill. Fara had kept the exact method by which she did that a secret - she didn't want Tess to know that her body was flooded with her particles. Fara had the ability to increase her own nanite-sized population by adding a little more each day. It was a part of her long-term plan just in case she ever had to completely take Tess's body over, and it would risk that plan if Tess found out the exact mechanics. Instead, she just alluded to the fact that she could temporarily empower Tess with additional energy, spiking her stats by significant degrees. Tess only allowed that in times of great emergency or when given explicit permission.

"You have permission, but wait until the last second. I don't want to trigger it too early and waste it." She could feel Fara's excitement.

"That's exciting, Mother! I have transferred knowledge of their weak spots and expected attacks into your subconscious so you should be able to respond easily. What is your plan of attack?"

Tess smiled, a predatory and terrifying thing, and Fara wiggled inside of her with savage glee at the feeling. "I'm going to go hard and take them down quickly. That's the whole plan."

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"What is she doing?" Weeble's question was unnecessary since the watchers on the wall were all wondering the same thing. "Is she taking her clothes off?"

Tess undressed calmly, looking as casual as if she was getting ready for bed. First came the ever-present tactical vest, then her shirt and bra. Her boots came next, then her black jeans and even her panties. She folded the last of her clothes into a neat pile and set her pistols on top of it. She even pulled her weapons out of her dimensional space, resting Goliath gently on the ground next to the pile.

"Not that I don't like the show, but is she crazy?" Ben's voice was a mix of awe and confusion.

"Is this weird for you?" Madison whispered to Luna. The girl was watching her mother with interest.

"It would be weird for me if I wasn't wearing The Scythe, but in this form I'm mostly just fascinated by the display of power." She was staring intently, red eyes taking in the scene with fascination. "I've always known my mother was strong, but I've never seen her like this. She mostly hunted alone and never really told us what she did when she was hunting. We knew she killed some big things, but she's very tight-lipped about it all - like it's just another everyday activity. It never really occurred to me to question it until now."

The two giants cleared the treeline and stopped at the clearing, both staring down at the woman that was barely visible in the darkness. Intelligence shone in their gazes and they ignored the wall for now. They both felt it - she was the true danger here. They smiled in anticipation of a glorious battle.

"Tess, catch!" A long, silver spike the size of a baseball bat flew through the air. Tess reached behind her and snapped it out of the air without looking. She rolled her shoulder, flexing her neck as she bent her head to one side then the other.

"Are you ready, Fara?"

"Always, Mother! But are you sure you don't want your weapons?"

"Nothing that isn't me, Fara. We don't need them."

No more words were needed. Tess closed her eyes and dismissed Tess. When she opened them The Huntress began loping forward. She grinned savagely when she heard Announcer start the song she had chosen.

'Sweet Dreams' by Marilyn Manson carried to her and added wings to her feet.

She crossed the distance, picking up speed as she went. She began activating skills as she ran.

She pulled out the power set for Indomitable. Unbreakable Resolve made her immune to fear and mind attacks and boosted her power. Imposing Will massively increased her fighting spirit when fighting overwhelming odds and creatures of greater strength than her, reducing their attack speed and accuracy by 15% for the first 30 seconds of battle. Overwhelming Force came next, increasing her strength by another 20% for the first 60 seconds of battle. This had to be timed carefully since it had a weakening effect after it expired.

She pulled from Weapons Mastery next and her body took on a silvery sheen as Living Weapon made every part of her a blade more deadly than any she could carry into battle. Her final trump card would have to wait until she reached them.

She was a silvery blur in the night, not quite as fast as Cass, but fast enough for everyone watching to see nothing more than her ethereal glow. She reached the pair and their eyes opened in shock, unprepared for her to crossed the space so quickly. Tess climbed the first, not even bothering to grab onto handholds as she did. Her feet and hands were spiked blades that punctured through the tough flesh like paper and she practically ran up its body. She was at its head before the first wound had started bleeding and she vaulted herself into the air. For a split second she was suspended in the air high above the first Abominable Snowman, lean body arched and spike held high in both hands. Gravity reasserted its hold on her and she fell like a comet, adding her skill All Weapons are Edged Weapons to it to give the spike even more penetrating power. She landed on its head and slammed the spike down through the skull and into its brain, the power of the strike was so strong that it was like a tungsten rod falling from the heavens. The spike disappeared into its head and the creature's eyes exploded from its skull with the pressure. Blood and brains fountained from the top in a 10-foot spray that should have coated every inch of her, if she'd still been there.

Tess had dismissed Living Weapon to hide its telltale glow. She knew she would be invisible in the light if the other snowman wasn't watching her closely. Fortunately for her, its eyes were firmly fixed on the fountain of gore spraying from the skull of its partner. Its distraction sealed its fate.

The glow reappeared directly in front of its face as Tess reactivated the skill. She struck the monster's face hard enough to rock its head back, the added mass of Fara's imbuements adding density and strength to her bones. Tess would have been surprised if she could even break a bone anymore.

The instant she landed on its face she activated her last skill. Bladestorm rushed to her, its predatory nature hungry for carnage and blood. She activated its Whirlwind Strike, doubling her speed and giving each attack a 25% chance to cause critical damage. The base of 25% was enhanced by her Agility stat, which was, quite frankly, pretty insane at the moment.

From the walls all anyone could see was the second giant's head rock back, then a glowing ball of electricity erupted in front of it and began to descend slowly down its body. There was no impression of a person inside that glow, just a sphere of power and silver light that lit the monster in terrible relief. Despite the darkness and distance, everywhere the glow passed it carved deep channels through the body, exposing blood and organs for all to see. The glow reached the legs and dropped to the ground and suddenly Tess was visible again, resplendent with terrifying beauty as she walked calmly away from the monster without looking back.

There was a loud gurgling sound that reached them even there, and the giant's hands waived aimlessly over its ruined body. It looked like someone had scooped a wide trench down the front of its body, the wound so deep and wide that they could see the spine even from the front. It let out a plaintive wail and fell forward, shaking the ground as it hit.

Tess reached her clothing and sent it all to her dimensional space. She didn't want to get them dirty by putting them on now. Her song was still playing as she hopped to the top of the wall, landing silently on the balls of her feet. The expressions that greeted her were shocked to inscrutability, but The Huntress paid them no mind. Their opinions of her were unimportant. She walked to the inner wall, the crowd parting before her as she did.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she spun, hands out and glowing, muscles stretched taught under her skin.

Weeble jumped back, hands in the air. "Tess, relax! It's me!"

She sighed and pulled The Huntress back. She could sleep now, her job was done. She took a moment to collect herself before responding.

"Yes?"

"Tess, that was… I mean…"

Tess moved her hand in a circular motion to tell him to hurry up.

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to ask - why do you even need us?"

She contemplated that, studying the faces of the Vanguard behind him and seeing the same question in their eyes. Cass and Luna had been the powerhouses of the evening, yet Tess had destroyed two creatures that should have spelled death for their entire community - and she'd done it alone and in under one song. She fixed him with a steady eye, not proud, not boasting - no emotion at all.

"I don't," she said. She looked over her shoulder to the residents of Safehold, their faces upturned and watching her like they were witnessing an angel of death walking amongst them. She turned back to him. "But they do."

She felt the weakness coming on and she used the last of her boosted stats to disappear before their eyes. She was back inside her house before anyone realized she was gone. She heard her song come to an end and she began to run herself a bath, grateful that Jason had kept the water flowing.

She slid into the steaming water with a contended sigh.

"Fara?"

"Yes, Mother?"

"Let's watch it."

Fara radiated glee and the battle began to play across her vision. She closed her eyes and sunk to her chin in the water, reveling in the savage beauty of utterly dominating stronger prey.

"Again, Fara."