Chapter XXXIV: The Last Step II

Demonic Wildlands Near the Great Plateau

Month of the Garuda 38, 172 ,328 DE

From the corner of my eye, I see Vorn being pushed back at a slightly faster pace than myself, but the Gnolls keep too much pressure on me for me to pay more attention. To keep the Demonic Gnolls from getting behind us, we can do nothing but give ground. Behind us, the other Gnolls, the ones that are only Chaos corrupted, but not yet Demonic, give ground, as well. Behind the Demonic Gnolls, the rest of the warband follows their pace, keeping us in the open center of a circle of Gnolls.

The common, corrupted Gnolls display looks of glee and blood-thirst, a nasty combination. They appear to be enjoying the spectacle. If we were in the bounds of the Heian Kingdom, I would expect them to be munching on grilled fish and prawns, while sipping saki and guzzling beer.

Crackle.

The seal within my Soul starts break. I sense hairline fractures forming in it, and the intensity of my emotions increases.

Crackle.

The cracks in the seal grow. My frustration at being suppressed by Gnoll bitches, mere Beastmen, becomes more irritating. My anger becomes more wild. A new thread of Trinity flows from my Soul, into my Body. I focus on speed, and the speed of my reactions seems to improve slightly.

As I keep retreating, I push myself harder, trying stop the Demonic Gnolls unrelenting assault. I look for an opening to counterattack.

Crackle.

My body's density increases more. My mass increases by another twenty kilograms. My muscles practically explode with power. My strength comes close to doubling. My reaction speed jumps. For the first time since the start of the battle with the Demonic Gnoll, I feel like I have an edge over them.

I forcefully deflect the Gnoll leaders swing of its spear, and it lurches a step to my left, impeding the Demonic Gnoll on that side. I step to the right, moving inside the swing of that Gnoll. Instead of its sword, its forearm slams into my shoulder.

Crunch.

Wrapped around the hilts of my knife, my fist slams into the Gnoll's elbow. As the bones in the Gnoll's joint break, I slice across the damaged joint with my knife. For the frst time since the Demonic Gnolls joined the fight, it is their blood that flies into the air.

Knives are short-range weapons, and the Demonic Gnoll knows it well. It twists and slams the boss of its small, round shield into me. Using the recoil from the impact, it springs backward, gaining room to swing its sword. Unfortunately for the Gnoll, the damage to its elbow makes its swing awkward.

At the same moment the injured Gnoll attack from the front, the Gnoll leader thrusts its spear at my back. Unfortunately for me, the Gnoll's shield bash took away all my forward momentum. I drop and roll, barely avoiding both attacks, but now I have Gnolls at my front and on my flank.

Crackle.

The fractures in the seal widen, and the acuity of my senses blossoms. The input from them increases several fold, flood my Mind with more information than I can process. My Mind becomes sharper. My awareness expands, combining the information from all my senses into a more cohesive whole. An image of the world around forms. I feel as though I can "see" everything within a dozen meters around me with perfect clarity.

Pulling back its spear, the Gnoll leader, once again, viciously thrusts at my exposed flank. While the injured Gnoll steps in and hacks at me from the front, the third Demonic Gnoll dashes around toward my back. As I feign a lunge toward the injured Gnoll, it pulls it attack short to intercept me, but I leap toward the Demonic Gnolls fighting Vorn.

As the nearest of the Demonic Gnolls fighting Vorn tries to circle around to his back, it leaves its own back exposed to me. I stab both of my knives into its back. They punch through its metal ring reinforced, leather armor, slicing into its kidneys.

"GYAARRRR!" The Demonic Gnolls agonized screams thunders over the noise and battle, and yipping chatter of the common Gnolls.

Crackle.

The seal cracks a bit more, and with a new thread of Trinity, my strength rises more. Using my knives like handles, I raise the impaled Gnoll into the air and hurl it at the middle Gnoll of the other three fighting Vorn. With a shocked expression on its face, the middle turns just barely in time to smash its fellow Demonic Gnoll into the ground.

Not wasting the opportunity, Vorn leaps onto the distracted Gnoll. His sword and axe hack into the Gnoll, and with blank incomprehension in its eyes, it starts to collapse.

"Yaaa! Ya-Ya-Ya-Ya!" As the Gnoll leader yips, it raises its spear over its head, looking like it is trying to stab the sky. An aura of bloody light surrounds its body, and its muscles bulge grotesquely.

As I charge toward the Gnoll leader, it swings its spear horizontally at me, like a club. With the speed of the Gnoll's swing too fast to dodge, I can only try to block it. Holding the blades of both knives tight against my arms, I slam them into the spear's shaft. My arms almost buckle from the impact, and the force of the blow lifts me off my feet, sending me flying toward the surrounding common Gnolls.

Crunch!

I flip over in midair and slam both feet into the chest of a common Gnoll. Its ribs shatter, and it collapses under me.

Crackle.

The seal within my Soul feels about ready to shatter, but it still holds together. More threads of Trinity flood from my Soul, into my Body and Mind, but I do not think the boost in strength matches the Gnoll leaders.

"Yaaa! Ya-Ya-Ya-Ya!" The other Demonic Gnoll, which was fighting me, yips and raises its sword like the Gnoll leader raised its spear. Just like the Gnoll leader, an aura of bloody light surrounds its body. Its muscles bulge, but not as grotesquely as the Gnoll leader. It probably has a lesser mastery over that ability than the Gnoll leader.

One of the Demonic Gnolls fighting Vorn steps back from the battle and raises its spear.

"Yaaa! Ya-Ya-Ya-Ya!" As with the other two Demonic Gnolls, the bloody aura surrounds it and it muscles bulge.

The Demonic Gnoll activating its ability gives Vorn an opportunity, and he does not pass it up. His muscles visibly swell, and he unleashes a flurry of blows on the last Gnoll fighting him. The speed and force of his attacks overwhelm the Gnoll. In a matter of only a few seconds, when the Gnoll uses the shaft of its spear to deflect an overhead chop from Vorn's axe, he buries his sword in the Gnoll's gut. As the Gnoll lowers its spear, and a look of shock paints its face, Vorn half-severs its neck with a horizontal chop from his axe.

Four of the Demonic Gnolls are down, but the remaining three have powered up with their Martial-technique-like ability. A stillness settles on the forest. No one moves. Even the Gnoll peanut gallery quiets down. The three powered up Demonic Gnolls are uninjured, but both Vorn and I have a dozen or more minor injuries.

I look at Vorn. We do not need words to communicate. We both know that we cannot drag out this battle. Vorn's Bear Transformation has a time limit and, while none of our injuries would be fatal, the blood loss will bring us down.

"KILL!"

Crackle.

Flowing with my will and emotions, I draw in a deep breath, and Trinity gathers within my lung. As I shout, Trinity explodes from within, turning my voice into a weapon. Carrying meaning and Power beyond a simple sound, the Name hits the hits Demonic Gnoll leader with visible effect. As it flinches, its hyena-like face scrunches up with pain. If I had used a different name, I could have done more damage. If I had Old Man Jones' strength, I could have killed something like the Demonic Gnoll with a single Name, but I am still too weak.

As I charge toward the Demonic Gnoll, it springs forward to meet me head on. This time, the Gnoll uses it spear properly, but ironically, that makes it easier to deal with. I deflect the Gnoll's thrust with my knife blade protected left forearm and move in close. The Gnoll does not miss a beat and spins the butt of the spear into a strike for my groin. I stop the spear with a shin block and slash at the Gnoll's throat.

Despite its obvious rage, the Demonic Gnoll leader steps to my right side, attempting to give itself room, while disrupting my forward momentum. This Gnoll is way too smart for anyone's good.

Seizing the opportunity, the second Demonic Gnoll attacks from my left side, trying to catch me in a pincer attack. It could be an intelligent choice or just pack instinct. My bet would be on pack instinct, but it does not change the effectiveness of the move. I block the second Gnoll's sword and cannot press my attack on the Gnoll leader. The Gnoll leader gains distance and continues to use its spear like a spear. I circle around the Gnoll leader to get both Gnolls at my front, but am forced into a defensive position. As I look for an opportunity to attack one Gnoll, while staying outside the other's line of attack, my fight settles into a drawn-out affair.

Nearby, Vorn and the last powered-up Gnoll trade blow for blow. Using its sword and shield with surprising skill for a Gnoll, the Gnoll maintains a slight advantage over Vorn. It has forced him into a defensive position. If Vorn does not find a way to shake up the Gnoll, their battle will not end anytime soon.

After a bout of circling and side-stepping that goes on for too long, the two Demonic Gnolls attack at the same time, both from bad angles. As I barely dodge the Gnoll leaders thrust, the Gnoll leader rapidly steps out at an angle, shifting its position to my rear. With not time to dodge the other Gnolls sword, I can only block it. Not wasting the time to withdraw it spear for a thrust, it slams the shaft into my back.

As I lurch forward, the second Demonic Gnoll twists and slams its large shield into me. Caught off-balance, I stagger backward a few steps. The Gnoll leader thrusts its spear at my back. I twist enough to not get hit in the spine, but the spear plunges into the right side of my lower back and out my belly. The second Gnoll drives it sword into the left side of my chest.

"Beast!" Vorn shout seems distant in my ears.

For just a moment, I do not feel any pain. Then the agony hits me, bringing with it a flood of uncontrollable rage. I grab the blade of the sword, and with the Gnoll still hanging onto the hilt, I pull its sword from my chest.

Crackle. Pop!

The seal within my Soul completely shatters. A raging torrent of Trinity bursts from my Soul, flowing through my Body, my Mind, and back through my Soul. I have no control over it, and as the cycle completes, my true nature asserts itself.

My hair, which hangs to the middle of my chest and back, shrinks in length, while coarse, thick fur sprouts from my entire body, other than my palms and the soles of my feet. My fingers retract, and my feet shorten. A tail sprouts from my tailbone, and the bones of my hips crack and realign themselves. My body takes on the shape of a wolf, with the extremely broad chest, thick shoulders, and heavily developed musculature that lesser wolves lack. The change only takes a couple of seconds, but they are the longest, most pain filled seconds imaginable.

My Body explodes in size, knocking the Gnolls away from me. Raising my head, I let loose a rage-filled howl.

"AAAAOOOOOOUUUUU!"