Burning Spirits [Veigue/Brynhildr]

[Deleted]

[Set two months before present day; before power suppression]

Just passing by a burning village. Certainly something you see every day.

Not really. The thick fumes from afar darkened the skies worse than a starless night, signifying turmoil and chaos below. The one unfortunate enough to watch the air become tainted more with darkness stood upon the edge of a cliff within the mountain trail as he crossed his arms, wondering if what caused the fire was what he assumed. While a human himself, the master of the blade found himself disgusted at his own kind's retardation to where he wished he was a dog or something.

Well, maybe he was.

To get involved or not; the options weighed on him, but the discomfort continued to nag at him with every passing second and each new burst of smoke fogging the skies. He's seen enough destruction to where the the possibility of his intervention having any kind of strong impact on a change was low — the reality did not fail to dawn on him. Save a burning village, then two more will get burned to the ground in the future. The destructive nature of living beings was so predictable, it hurt him a good deal to think about it — the concealed scars masked by his attire burned at the thought.

How long had it been? Ten years? Growing from a timid, fledgling little boy to the man that stood tall with cold, steeled eyes that betrayed any kind of joy left in body, he grew tired of throwing himself into meaningless squabble after squabble. Only thing he's succeeded at was self-preservation, and as far as other lives go, he wasn't so fortunate there. It may have been out of his control, but the guilt of failure would never go away, and the thought of getting himself involved with more people and their tendencies to blow stuff — not to mention other people — up only made him question why he wasted his time while he could be out in the solitude of the forest, meditating and assaulting trees or something.

But what little shred of justice remained in his heart continued to jerk him towards doing the right thing, scoffing at the thought before his body moved on it's own.

"...Fine. Might as well get to stabbing."

And with that, the swordsman bolted off.

[Brynhildr]

Brynhildr staggered backwards, her vision blurring once more through the pain as the reverberations of the last strike echoed through her frame. One step, then two, her left knee nearly buckling just when she thought the worst was over. By the Light, the fire in her veins burned brighter than the sun. It warped her mind and addled her senses, both dull and sharp all at once. She couldn't even move her lower left dorsal wing anymore; from what she had glimpsed it was simply hanging there lifelessly. Her right primary wing was nearly out of commission as well, barely functional but leaking golden light and sound as though it were blood.

She was certainly leaking plenty of that as well from her body, from bruises and cuts. Her left arm was still functional, but the pain inherent to even moving it paled in comparison to what happened when she attempted to block with the shield still held tight in its failing grip. Hm. The rest of her body was mostly functional for now. Injured, bleeding, bruised, and battered - but functional. However, flight was completely out of the question, either for in-combat mobility or escape, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could avoid serious damage. Her flagging reactions and injured shield arm both seriously compromised defenses; her armor was simply part of her body, so it offered only minor additional protection than bare flesh against weapons that could actually injure her - not something she was particularly used to.

...But it wasn't like she had been planning on fleeing anyways.

Struggling to regulate her ragged breath, the celestial brought her greatshield up before her again, ignoring the burning agony that nonetheless drew a strained grit of her teeth as the raw wound in her arm helpfully reminded her of its existence, and gripped her sword with whitened knuckles with her mostly-unharmed hand. She had failed to save most of the people of this village, their broken bodies strewn about the burning hellscape around her, but it was possible some still lived - and she could not forgive or ignore the cruelty of the men who had killed them. Bandits, soldiers, militia, she knew not, only that they were far better organized than she had ever experienced, and while she was more than a match for any one of them in single combat... they were not fools. It was not single combat. And this would not end well.

But - she would not back down.

[Deleted]

Up close, the flames engulfed the village worst than he thought, the swordsman wondering if anyone survived the onslaught. The raging flames overpowered any kind of sound within his vicinity, opting for gaining higher ground. Using his agility to his advantage, he found an alleyway between two buildings that the flames didn't consume yet, climbing his way to the top as waves of heat brushed against him. Definitely a bad idea to keep his coat on during, even if it was light.

Reaching the top, his eyes diverted to some fleeing survivors, though couldn't see any of the attackers. Were they already gone? While he wanted to believe that and just go back on his merry way, most brigands didn't leave a stone unturned — that included innocent lives. Peering ahead further, the swordsman couldn't distinguish between person or thing very well, thanks to the growing, hungry flames engulfing everything in their path. He did manage to spot several figures to the far west, and if he guessed right, it was doubtful that the group was any kind of friendly gathering. He traveled closer to the chaos, until arriving in range enough to confirm.

Way more than he saw from a distance, the apparent brigands were fighting against... someone. Whoever it was, they had to be good to warrant so many foes in one spot. While Veigue could stand there assessing the situation and being impressed, he opted for taking action instead, once more gaining higher ground on a nearby house. Maybe that... wasn't a good idea, considering the one next to it was literally torched, but for what he had in mind, he'd be off before he'd be freshly fried human.

A man with a spear stood below, oblivious to the sword master staring down on him from above like a hawk seeking it's prey. Before he made a move, the swordsman finally saw the person they fought against — certainly not the average warrior. The wings of a celestial being made it clear that he wasn't imagining things, but less on why she was there and more on thinking of a way to get her out of her current bad situation. Didn't appear that she'd last for much longer, and the dishonorable curs that outnumbered her were in no ways fair.

Stance ready; sword arm itching to get to work, check. A quick brandish of steel from the swordsman's sheath sounded off before he dived down quicker than a falling stone. By the time the spearman realized it, the swordmaster already dropped him, felling the man with a piercing thrust to the back and through his heart. He used his opponent's corpse to give himself a safe landing, then blazing off into the fray and through the other standing opponents. He didn't attack them, just made his way to the center of the battle. This didn't stop each brigand from feeling that burst of wind brushing against them before realizing it was a person instead of the weather.

By the time he reached the center, the celestial and her opponent were in sight, pivoting around the both of them as dust trails laid in his path. The celestial's opponent seemed to keep her on guard with her shield still up, so the swordsman took the opportunity to use his speed to latch onto the man's back before he could react, using the focus on the woman he wanted to gut so dearly against him. By the time he realized the swordmaster climbed on his back faster than a monkey, the katana impaled his shoulder and pierced through the rest of his top half like butter before the swordsman released him, dropping to the inevitable demise as his corpse fell like a sack of bricks, giving the celestial warrior room to breathe.

He didn't bother to say anything to her just yet, felling another foe who attempted to sneak him from behind; he struck them down a reactionary swipe of electricity from his weapon.

[Brynhildr]

The valkyrie didn't recognize the incoming threat any faster than her assailants, just as surprised as them by the silver phantom that tore through two opponents as though it was nothing. It didn't totally break her focus, but definitely frayed it quite a bit, confused at first if she had yet another foe. It wasn't until he had finished the second man and casually struck down a third that she got a good look at him, a dour-looking young swordsman in a white greatcoat who was... well, definitely faster than her anyways. Kinda hard to miss that part. He was younger than she had expected as well, one who couldn't be older than his early 20s at most.

"...Thank you, brave warrior," Brynhildr forced herself to say, her words possessed of most of her usual regal tone, but mixed with exhausted weakness and pain that belied her condition. There was no mistaking the sincerity of them though, the female warrior not being particularly good at deceit or hiding her feelings alike. And above all, while she couldn't explain it and Veigue had no way of knowing, it was gratifying to be reminded - to meet - humans who believed in a sort of Justice, much as she did - even if the swordsman did not share her particular ideals, his very presence showed that he had at least some level of respect for what was right, not simply what was easy. If he was here solely to test his own strength, he wouldn't have concerned himself with her, simply attacking the intruders and probably her as well. It wasn't foolproof logic, but to Brynhildr's straight-laced mindset, it was perfectly reasonable.

The men surrounding them were probably less interested in lofty ideals and kindness than she and Veigue, though, given that despite the surprise of Veigue's initial appearance throwing the assault off guard, even those who had been mostly ignoring her as they searched the village were returning and focusing entirely on the fight. When it had been a clearly lost battle, it had simply been a question of bleeding out her endurance before finishing the job; now there was an actual threat, and these men were far too disciplined to ignore it. In the background, she could hear a harsh voice roar out "NOCK!" ...The sign of another volley of arrows. She had simply swept aside the first two earlier, forcing them to pause as the actual combat began, but Brynhildr was all to intimately familiar with what a volley of flaming arrows could do to a human (or humanoid) body by now.

And he didn't have her level of durability, as far as she could tell. If not for the massive shield her wings had provided so many times already, she would already be dead. "-But you should flee while you yet may." It didn't matter if she was throwing away her last chance at winning, at least not to the valkyrie; all she could see was the possibility of another life being wasted unnecessarily. "I have failed this village already. Allow me to spend what remains of this life to spare yours." It shouldn't be hard to at least give him the opportunity to escape, and surely if he understood how futile the battle was, he would be smart enough not to waste his life uselessly when she was already a dead woman walking. The simple fact that he had come to help, reinforcing her belief in the potential of humanity, was enough for her.

[Deleted]

"NOCK!"

...The hell was that?

Well, the assailants around them were spreading out, so Veigue could only assume it was a battle tactic; a signal for an incoming ranged attack, perhaps. Though more importantly...

Just from valkyrie's words following the expressed gratitude, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the battle raged on for longer than it should — her condition spoke for itself. Though when she insisted that he'd flee, it wasn't a request he could take. He went this far to poke his nose into something that had nothing to do with him, so might as well see it to the bitter end. And while their opponents appeared to be a formidable force not to be taken lightly, it was that simple fact which reinforced his reason to fight; challenging foes were not only a threat to those they preyed upon, but more scum of Elibe like them were perfect for him to destroy and test his growth.

They deserved it anyway.

"Enough of that," Veigue said, though in a neutral tone. "A failure isn't a failure unless they deem themselves to be. Villagers still breathe... You haven't failed at your guardianship yet. Raise your sword with the intent to succeed."

Seeing a few fleeing villagers on his way there was proof enough that the celestial had more of a reason to fight, and perhaps needed a bit of a morale boost to battle with everything she had left. The doubt would push her potential back; it was something he found himself all too familiar with, and it almost bordered on hypocrisy that he'd say that. As much as he failed before, he didn't have much of a right to speak. Though acknowledging the shortcomings was better than being a slave to them, and while the celestial was free to do and feel as she pleased, seeing someone else accept failure wasn't something he'd allow.

Though a more pressing matter was the ranged attack. Veigue assumed they were waiting for the field to be clear of their own allies before they unleashed their relentless barrage of... whatever. Ironically, his eyes perceived a flaw in their tactic as he watched their kind flee to their safe positions. He had a plan, though no doubt it won't affect the ranged attack. The swordmaster at least intended on dishing out some damage while they were wide open for punishment, and seemed like he had a small window of opportunity to take advantage of before any arrows or the like began to fall.

"...Stand back." The swordsman warned the valkyrie.

The iris in his eyes lit up as fierce as his katana radiated a fiery red aura — the depths of his magical prowess coming to the surface. His left hand brushed against the blunt end of his weapon in a slow, clean motion while the blade itself heated up bright red; as if a blacksmith's fire went to work. His targets were in sight, moving himself into a combat stance with his knees slightly bent and his sword held up horizontally. The fiery aura emitted a burst of magic, then Veigue gave a strong thrust forth; he unleashed large beam of concentrated flame, tearing through and incinerating the front row of enemies unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast, while the others next to them were merely blown away from the shockwave.

A swipe of the sword to his side signaled the end of his attack. Veigue was aware that the threat of the ranged attack was still imminent, but perhaps his surprise attack slowed them down a bit? Nonetheless, he took an unwavering stance and welcomed whatever came his way. Moving around in a panic wasn't a smart option either way.