There were no stars that night, even on the outskirts of the city. Clouds still rolled overhead; the aftermath of the storm that had come through. The water below the bridge raged, the level much higher than it normally was due to the recent rainfall, and Kamacite waited, his arms folded in his sleeves, for his general to meet him. He was there at the rendezvous point next to an old bridge early, not wanting to disappoint the wolf.
His thoughts were off somewhere else, with bright blue eyes and a charming smile and warm hands and -
Kamacite was getting ahead of himself. He was supposed to be focusing on his duty as a negaverse officer. He had a week’s worth of starseeds in a small pouch, prepared to hand over to his General. The energy he’d collected had already been delivered, knowing that it would dissipate quickly if he didn’t.
”I thought you would head this way,” Sessrumnir said as he approached, watching as the corrupted senshi jumped in surprise, his dark eyes wide with, what? Fear? Good. He should be fearful.
“Give them back. The starseeds you took,” Sessrumnir clarified as he watched the senshi take a step back. He was too low of a level to know how to teleport, he knew. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said with a growl, to which the senshi just shook his head and took another step back.
Was he mute? Or just stupid? Sessrumnir hadn’t seen him take the starseeds himself, but he’d run into another panicked page just a short while ago, telling him how a boy with long black hair and orange and navy robes had taken the starseeds of two civilians in the alley. And how when they made an attempt to stop him, they were blinded by a flash of light.
Kamacite felt as though the air left his lungs when the knight approached. How had he not noticed? He was so distracted that he hadn’t even realized there was someone else there? What time was it? It was going to be another five or more minutes before his General was expected to show up. How was he supposed to manage until then?
The knight was making threats, telling him to hand over the starseeds, but… that was something he just couldn’t do. Not when he needed to hand them over to the wolf. Once more, Kamacite shook his head, looking around for a way to escape. If he was able to get to the other side of the bridge and slip into the woods, he might be able to power down long enough to get away. It was risky, but.
“Solar flare!” he called out, a flash of blinding light hopefully stopping the knight in his tracks as Kamacite made to race to the other side, his hand gripping tightly to the bag.
Even though he’d expected it, Sessrumnir still wasn’t prepared for the blinding light, and he hissed and lifted his hands to rub at his eyes, trying to get the spots to go away. “Fenrir,” he growled out, the ghostly wolf coming into being and lunging after the senshi. He didn’t want to have to hurt the kid, but if he wasn’t going to give up so easily, then he would just have to resort to other methods.
The wolf let out a howl, the wind enough to knock a much stronger man down, so the gust easily flattened the senshi, sending him toppling down against the pavement of the bridge, skidding several feet before finally coming to a motionless stop.
“Fetch,” he said to the wolf as he continued to blink the light away, the giant wolf growling and snarling as it obediently padded towards the senshi, obviously intent on bringing him back to her master.
This… definitely wasn’t good. The boom of wind had knocked Kamacite right off his feet, his hands and arms skinned up pretty bad from hitting the pavement. But he still held onto the bag.
He groaned quietly as he tried to push himself up after being blown over, his arms shaking and his head throbbing. He took a moment to twist the strings of the little pouch more securely together, and then tied the strings to the sash of his belt, not wanting to risk losing them after his hard work.
Kamacite could feel the thundering paws of the ghostly wolf as it approached, could hear its growls, and, maybe surprisingly, he didn’t feel as terrified as he probably should. He wouldn’t say he was used to wolves, but he thought his General was much more terrifying than some White Moon beast.
Gritting his teeth, Kamacite forced himself to stand, staggering into guardrail of the bridge to drag himself the rest of the way -
But let out a yelp of pain as teeth clamped down on his leg, and he was half dragged, half carried back to the other side.
“L-let me go!” he cried in panic, not even sure how he was supposed to fight a ghostly form, so instead dug his fingers against the ground, grabbing at anything that might slow him, but nothing seemed to be working, and he was finally released in a crumpled heap at the knight’s feet, his whole body shaking and in pain now.
His vision was finally starting to clear as the senshi was dropped at his feet, his hand reaching up to stroke at the ethereal fur of his direwolf.
“Like I was saying. Hand over the starseeds. I don’t want to hurt you more than I have already,” Sessrumnir frowned, but stealing starseeds was a serious no-no. Kids these days. This one looked pretty pathetic too, other than his magic which was a pain in the a**, but seemed to be fading well enough.
“You don’t really have a choice. I could either kill you here, or you can do what you’re told.” Not that Sessrumnir had any plan on killing the boy, just… scare him a little. He looked the type to be intimidated easily. And he was wounded and used up at least two of who knew how many of his attacks.
From behind Sessrumnir, a ripple of a power signature suddenly burst into life.
Wolfeite stepped out of the shadows, blackness curling like tendrils around his feet and ankles and then sliding away. The mask was not pulled up over his face; instead, it was hanging around his neck, the sharp, white teeth glinting in the darkness as his lips parted, tongue darting out to lick his lips in an indication of nothing but hunger.
Gold eyes narrowed at the knight, lip curling in disdain at the wolf. Wolfeite had been watching his recruit for the last little while; following him under the guise of Archer Wren so that his power signature was hidden, moving himself between shadows and alleyways in order to make sure that he was not seen. Kamacite was new; Wolfeite had wanted to observe how he dealt with things on his own, and now he had.
And now he would step in, before anything else happened.
Wolfeite’s gaze moved to meet the knight’s.
”Leave.”
It was a guttural, growl of a sound. Wolfeite’s ears were flat back against his hair.
Kamacite could hear the growling of the ghostly wolf the same moment he could feel the aura of who could only be his General burning to life close by. He twisted himself around from where he’d been left to writhe in pain to try and catch a glimpse of the wolf. The glowing yellow eyes still terrified him, but also brought an overwhelming rush of relief. Then there was also the feeling of shame and embarrassment for needing to be rescued from such a pathetic situation.
Or, as his relief faded into the reality of everything, what was more likely was that his General was more concerned with retrieving the starseeds, or at least there to collect his investment, rather than actually care about what happened to him.
Which was fine, Kamacite told himself as he shakily pushed himself up to kneel. As long as he got to go home to see his boyfriend, that was all that mattered.
Sessrumnir frowned when he felt the dark aura from behind him, Fenrir already turning to bare her teeth at the other man. Unfortunately, she could only last so long, and while he would have liked to keep her company, there was only so much of his magic he had left.
“I don’t think I want to,” Sessrumnir frowned as he slid his thumb over the fang tied to his belt, the form of his wolf swirling and fading back into the object. “Not until I get what I came for,” he told the wolf-like youma General with a shrug.
“Do you really think you’re a match for me? This time you’re the one with the dead weight to worry about,” he scoffed, taking a step so that he no longer had his back completely turned to the corrupted senshi, not wanting to give the other a chance to attack him from behind, even though he doubted there was much he could do.
He felt somewhat uneasy about the dead weight comment, since he definitely didn’t feel that way about Sailor Fenrir, and she had been severely injured at the time.
“Tell him to give me the starseeds and I’ll be on my way,” he promised, holding up his hands to show that he was unarmed and willing to back off.
Wolfeite’s gaze moved briefly to rest on Kamacite, lying prone on the ground, then back to the knight. He was recognized, of course; Wolfeite had seen him before, back defending that other senshi all those months ago. He remembered as well, the creature beside him, because it had tried to attack him, and Wolfeite was not one to let go of things that had caused him disagreeable outcomes even in the past.
“I thought I said - “ Wolfeite’s rasping, guttural voice was calm, level, even though the ears atop his head spoke a different story, flattening back further against his dark head of wild hair, tossed about messily by the wind, giving him a feral, dangerous sort of look. “ - to leave.”
His lips parted, teeth flashing white, sharp, and then he howled.
It was a terrible, snarling, animalistic thing. Wolfeite let it ring endlessly for a few seconds and then snapped his jaw shut again, teeth grinding together as he lunged forward, claws swinging.
”Take your hands off of what belongs to me.”
Quote:
Wolfeite lets out a resounding howl and the force of it causes a sense of paralyzing fear that is stronger the lower ranked you are. For twenty seconds, the opponent will experience any, some, or all of the side effects of abject and complete terror - paralysis, nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness and a stinging pain in the head. This terror will keep them occupied and sometimes unable to move until the magic breaks. The stronger the target, the less effective it is.
More than anything, Kamacite hated feeling pathetic. And he knew he was. He was not physically strong, he was of average height, his magic only caused distractions instead of causing damage, and he wasn’t much of a runner, or jumper, or anything, really.
Sometimes he wondered if his General was surprised that he was even still alive after all this time. More than once he only managed to get out of situations due to pure dumb luck.
Even now as his General stepped in and told the knight to leave, Kamacite had trouble pushing down the shame he felt for not being able to handle this on his own. Did his General expect this? For him to need rescue and pampering?
Kamacite’s eyes narrowed slightly in determination as he pushed himself to his feet, his legs shaking underneath him. He would be useful. He would be worth being kept alive.
And then the wolf let out a howl, a terrifying, dizzying howl that seemed to sink into Kamacite’s very bones. His hands shot up to cover his ears, but it was too late. It was as though his whole body was seizing up, his heart pounding erratically in his chest, his breathing almost immediately shifting to hyperventilating as he collapsed back onto his knees.
He couldn’t breathe. He felt completely paralyzed with fear, dizzy and nauseous, his vision darkening around the edges. He hadn’t felt quite this terrified to the point where he couldn’t even move in years. Vaguely he wondered if this was magic, or if the wolf really had that effect on him. He was terrified of his General, but not quite like this.
Sessrumnir’s frown deepened as he watched the youma bare his teeth, wincing at the ringing howl that he let out into the air, feeling as though it was washing around him and through him. Magic? It had to be. There was no reason for him to feel the sudden grip of fear and dizziness that seemed to overtake him. He wasn’t afraid of the half-youma General, although he was very conscious of his power.
And this was part of his power, Sessrumnir recognized. He’d wondered if there was something more to this creature, before. Now that he was able to experience the effects for himself, he definitely was going to do whatever it took not to underestimate him.
The youma was lunging forward, claws just as sharp as before. Sessrumnir swiped his thumb over his signet ring and twisted against the magic, the fear that was paralyzing his movements, turning his armored shoulder into the youma’s attack, a crack of thunder sounding with each step he took, each time he would make contact with his fist or shoulder.
“You should take better care of your belongings then,” he pointed out with a growl of his own, his voice booming from the magic of his aspect. It was not lost to him that whatever the youma had done with that howl of his had also affected the senshi much worse than it had affected him, although he couldn’t quite prevent the claws from sinking into his arm or his armor, his movements slowed as his heart pounded from the artificial fear he felt.
Unless he'd meant the starseeds Sessrumnir threatened to take. Well, he couldn't promise he would keep his hands off those.
Quote:
Jupiter Knights have the presence of a titan, trading subtlety for a capacity to overwhelm. While their booming voices and rumbling footsteps make it easy to tell when one is nearby, the miniature thunderclaps that follow every hit they land can be distracting and disorienting when they get up close and personal.
The howl was his specialty, vibrating violently throughout the air, fear and panic and disgust and self-loathing sweeping throughout his victims. Wolfeite knew perfectly well that Kamacite would be affected by it as well, but it hadn’t stopped him; the senshi was young and new, but he was Wolfeite’s recruit; he would be able to withstand it, and he would do well later on.
The knight, on the other hand, was stronger. Wolfeite felt the thunder cracking through him, reverberating up and down his entire spine, his head ringing with the sound of it. He let out a snarl of rage, claws raking through fabric but not flesh, and the sound of the knight’s voice was almost deafening, Wolfeite’s ears flattening further against his hair, trying to block out the cadence of it.
”You filthy sheep.”
Wolfeite’s claws raked forward again, aiming somewhere at the knight’s torso, or maybe his arm, or just somewhere, because all he wanted was blood and all he wanted was this, except for the vibration of this enormous knight an unexpected obstacle.
“KAMACITE,” Wolfeite roared, and lunged, not at the senshi, but again, at the knight, snarling and spitting.
”Get up. As for you - “
Wolfeite’s eyes were gleaming with malice, lips drawn back in a snarl as he surveyed the knight.
”You can die right here and now.”
”Sheep?” Sessrumnir’s voice boomed with a growling bark of a humorless laugh, even with the pain of claws ripped at his tunic. They were sharp enough to puncture through enough of the chainmail to at the very least leave bruises, if not gouges, although most of the damage was lessened by the sheer number of layers he wore. Which was good, because he didn’t want to worry his still recovering husband more than he already would.
“You mindless agents of the negaverse! You know nothing more than to kill and terrorize,” he swung his fist, aiming to at least shove the General back, if not knock him senseless. The man was strong, the vibrations of the howl still echoing in his head, making him dizzy, but he could still fight.
“You collect children to do your dirty work?” he barked, swinging a hand to indicate the corrupt senshi cowering on the ground. He looked close to Caspian’s age, and with hardly as much resolve and spirit. Caspian he at least knew could handle himself, even if he'd almost been killed on more than one occasion, and was still recovering from his most recent encounter. This boy seemed like he was scared of his own shadow.
He felt like he was sinking into the terror that vibrated through him, first from the howl from his General, and then as the knight had thunder crashing with each movement, each word he spoke rumbling and vibrating his very bones. Kamacite kept his hands over his ears, fingers curling into his long hair that pooled, inky black around him, trying to calm himself, trying to refocus, trying to –
The sound of his name being roared out had him practically jumping in surprise, his eyes wide as he watched his General lunge for the knight, telling him to get up –
As though moving unconsciously, Kamacite rose to his feet, his heart still pounding in his chest as he watched the fight, watched as his General clawed at the knight, tearing at fabric. Part of him wondered how painful it was for the wolf, if his hearing was extra sensitive with those big ears of his, if the boom of the thunder made it just as disorienting as it did for him.
He was at a different angle than the wolf, he could see the knight’s movements as he braced himself against the ground, watched as his hand drew back, the thunder dying (maybe temporarily?) and a silver chain appearing like magic in the man’s hand, gripped tight in his fingers.
There was no way his General could see the large, glass vial that was pulled into existence behind the knight as he twisted, as though planning on using it to hit the wolf while he was disoriented from the rumbling thunder. There was no time to yell out in warning, either, and although Kamacite had full faith in his General’s abilities, he feared the worst. And he feared that his own presence was enough to distract the wolf from fully defending himself.
Without another thought for the consequences, Kamacite threw himself forward at his General as the knight spun his weapon into the wolf’s view now, shoving him out of the way –
And feeling as though the air was sucked from his lungs as the glass shattered and metal bent against his back. One moment he was shoving his General away from the swing of the weapon, and the next he felt was the icy splash of the river, having been knocked right over the edge and down the embankment.
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