11-19-2017, 06:22 PM
The strength granted to him by the infection was immense. It took all the red heads might and concentration to maintain her footing as her shield reverberated with each strike. A left hook was what finally broke her stance, lifting the warrior off her feet as it sent her flying. She deftly recovered, sending a foot to the front of her vector to absorb the impact.
Though the hoplite was out of the way, Evangeline didn't bother with her Lasgun. The corruption within him gave him unholy regeneration, she would need to strike his eyes or mouth to cause reasonable damage and the wound in her shoulder prevented her from taking accurate shots. The rifle went back over her shoulder and she charged with sword in hand.
Gudrun took the break to collect his axe from the muck. He had seen the sisters charge and listened to the ever loudening sound of splashes as her boots drove into the water. He waited for the opportune moment. When it arrived he grabbed the immense weapon in one hand and swung it at the sister, timing it with the sisters assault perfectly. His powerful motions were obvious however, and Evangeline had ample time to guard with her Rosarius. The holy light of protection flashed as the field of faith came into contact with the crude weapon as the sister pulled her other arm back, ready to skewer the heretic. But the heretic followed through, and much like the legionnaire she was lifted off her feet and thrown.
With the additional force of the axe, the sister went flying further, tumbling in the air until she finally landed in the mire on her stomach behind Pyrrha. The sister quickly got to her feet, the front of her shield robe now soiled by the malodorous, turbid water, and made her way next to the redhead, adopting a defensive stance. All three of them were panting, exhausted from the continued battle. Evangeline didn't want to stop, she wanted the blight plaguing her sight and sinuses to be erased, but she recognised the competence of the woman at her side and knew that if she could explain the urgency with which this heretic must be purged it would happen all the sooner.
"I know not what these Grim are,” She said to the red haired hoplite “but in the beating hearts of men and women lives monsters that cow even the most diabolical daemons of the most horrific realms. To give oneself over to them completely such as this one has is to lose one's humanity and become nothing more than beast." The sister explained "Look at his diseased flesh, smell the necrosis on the wind. Now look at his face."
Pyrrha did as she was bade, somewhat relieved at the break in the fighting as her shoulders rose and fell with her heavy breaths. There was a victorious smile upon Gudrun's face as he listened. Having given himself over to death for the sake of his comrades, the redheads hesitation was icing on the cake as far as he was concerned. In her conflicted features he even saw opportunity to make out alive and back to his brothers, and his smile became twisted and cruel.
"He has embraced his illness, and would use us to spread it further." Her voice then rose louder as the sister addressed the abomination. "Tell me heathen! This illness you have contracted, you mean to spread it, do you not?"
"It's not an illness you narrow minded cretin." The hunter replied with an amused inflection. "It's a gift, a blessing from consuming prime blood. With it we're able to match the creatures of the moore. I mean to spread this to the far ends of this realm. Surrender yourselves; your flesh will fuel our revolution while you are reborn."
The sister didn't bother trying to explain to the heretic what that power had cost him. That now he had lowered himself to the status of the beasts he once sought refuge from. Instead she continued speaking to the hesitant warrior.
"If we were to simply walk away he would live only to corrupt more to be like him. Most of them would die in horrific pain, and those that live would go on to infect more. You may think it be morally courageous to stay your hand and be merciful, but if he lives he will kill and corrupt countless others." Evangeline took a glance at Pyrrha as she readied herself for another charge "We can stop that now, and I have a duty to do so."
"You can't know the future." The Hoplite protested "There might be a cure for his delirium, a cure for his sickness."
A cruel smile to match the abomination’s crossed Evangeline's lips. "I am of a tradition that has been fighting these afflictions for over ten millennia. In that time we have discovered but one cure for this corruption."
The sister did not elaborate further, instead she charged at the heathen, clutching her weapon in both hands, trailing it down near her right leg. When she was close enough the sword swung up in a powerful upper cut, which the brute managed to catch with the blade of his axe, stopping the attack with his superior weight. Evangeline let her blade bounce back, not willing to get into a test of strength she'd undoubtedly lose and rather let the heretic's weight work against him. She took a step back with his momentum, meanwhile her blade came back in a wide arc with her arms crossing over at the apex, redirecting it's point back at the heathen. Putrid blood dripped into the swamp as the blade went through his wrist, cutting sinew and splintering bone as it pried apart his radius and ulna. Even more spilled when the sister reclaimed the weapon by slicing through the rest of his wrist.
Gudrun retaliated by with a guttural cry and his shoulder, driving it forward forward into the sister's face with as much force as he could muster. There was little the slight framed sister could do in response. There was no dodging this rhino who was already so close. Once again she was lifted off her feet and cast back, this time on her back side. While she collected her weapon she had a chance to see the damage she had wrought; the heathens hand flopped limply from the sliver of flesh still connecting it to his arm. With the sickness within him dulling his pain he was almost unfazed. With his still intact hand he gripped the axe at its base and, using his unholy strength, lifted the weapon above his head. Evangeline had more than enough time to roll away, but she would rather counter this last attack and end him.
Still on her back, she gripped her Rosarius and positioned that arm in front of her face. She was certain that the shard of the God Emperor's power she still had a connection too, along with her Sororitas training, would let her deflect his blow and pierce the heretic's heart. Her grip tightened as the heavy weapon came down in an arc at her chest, all the while she maintained eye contact with the man beast.
Suddenly his pupils narrowed and his weapon became limp in his hand. The thing was still none the less dangerous, but had none of the weight of the sinner behind it. The faith powered shield flashed as its terrible edge struck it, and continued its soft comforting glow as it slid across it’s surface. His whole body fell over to one side as Evangeline's eyes took in nothing but the vibrant red and god of the tall, red haired warrior, who had driven her spear into his ribs with all her strength.
Evangeline wasn't done with him however and rolled over, swinging her blade in a wide arc as she flipped to prone in the mucky water. Ascalon sung a resonant tone as it sailed through the air towards the Nurglite's still good arm and severed it clean above the elbow with one cleave.
There was silence as the sister got back to her feet. She was a little unsteady as the adrenaline washed from her system. Pyrrha clutched her chest and breathed a deep breath. For a brief moment the fight seemed over, a moment that just as quickly vanished as the cultist used the arm with his hand still attached through a few tendons to lift his face from the water. He succeeded, though his breath was ragged and wheezy from the pike that pierced through his lungs.
Evangeline resurged and walked towards the downed heathen with a powerful determined stride. When she was close enough she drove her boot into his shoulder with a vengeful might, forcing the behemoth on his back. She stood over him with her blade pointed at his neck.
"Tell me heathen, where are your cohorts? Tell me and I'll absolve all of them of their sins against humanity before I dispatch them." Her tone was forceful but free of malice. "Death in this life is certain, but you all may yet be shown mercy in the next should you repent."
Even with a tooth missing and covered in foul water the sister still had a divine aura around her. If anything her sullied face and clothing only made her green eyes shine brighter. Gudrun collected bloodied saliva onto his corrupted tongue and spat it at the sister as his response, aiming for those bright eyes in an attempt to dull them, even a little. Evangeline moved her head, having been in this situation all too many times before she expected this reaction.
"You will have no advocate and will face the your final judgement with the full weight of your sins." Evangeline replied with disappointment in her voice before she steeled herself into an impassive yet powerful cadence as she pulled her sword away from his neck. "May the Emperor show you your error along with mercy to your eternal soul."
A golden disc came at the sisters weapon and knocked it out of her hand moments before it made contact with flesh. Evangeline would have been impressed at the accuracy with which the shield stuck her weapon in any other situation. In this one she could only send a baleful stare at its origin.
"Stop it!" the red head cried, placing both her hands at her side indignantly. "He is literally disarmed, no threat to anyone. We can take him to the local city and he can face the justice of his community."
"Foolish girl!" the sister bellowed in a stern, aggravated tone "Can you not see the sickness that writhes beneath his skin?" She asked, casting a hand at the face of the Nurglite, who was smiling again. "It will spread wherever we take him, and more will need to die."
"You can't know that!" Pyrrha continued to protest. "There has to be some precautions we can take to prevent the spread of this disease without killing him right?"
"Were he only suffering an affliction of the flesh, yes." Evangeline sated, reigning in her anger "But madness has taken his mind, and he will attempt to escape any-"
The sound of bubbling fat and the pained screeching of the heretic caused Evangeline to stop her tirade. The behemoths body convulsed in pain as the flesh around his wounds seemed to sizzle with a noxious effervescence which released a toxic white steam. It caught the moonlight and glittered with an iridescent sheen. The pair of the women stood back in horror as a new arm erupted from the stump. The bone seemed to protrude from the newly generated flesh, forming a protective carapace along his forearm’s length which ended at his wrists with claw-like protrusions that extended further than his hands. What little flesh they could make out was not covered in skin, but dozens of ulcers that dripped yellow puss. His other hand, still connected by only skin now, erupted in gore coloured tendrils that sought out the rest of the arm and squirmed in between muscle and bone, reconnecting it.
Without her sword Evangeline went for her rifle and pulled the trigger as fast as she could as the regenerated abomination got to his feet. The lasers from her Las only caused the Nurglite to wince, the flesh that was vaporised was instantly replaced by another puss filled ulcer. The cell was quickly depleted by the time he was on his feet, and with a steadfast, vindictive stance the sister reached into her Aquila emblazoned bag for another cell. The bone shielded arm was enough to end that action and the sister was thrown once more.
Gudrun's intentions for the sister had to be postponed as he felt the lance through his lung twist painfully. Pyrrha had lunged forward to grip the weapon with both hands in an attempt to reclaim her weapon. The heathen turned towards the Huntress with a violent twist of his body, prying the weapon from her hands. The additional torn flesh was of no consequence to him at this point. The redhead staggered and was helpless to defend against the push kick that was coming towards her side. Her feet slipped from under her and she went into the mud.
The abomination turned his attention back to the sister. He walked with a powerful, enraged stride towards the platinum blonde, who had recovered and was in the midst of reloading her weapon. His grotesque hand gripped her by the neck and spilled its corrupted fluids over her skin. She clutched her rifle with one hand as she was lifted into the air while the other clawed at the infected flesh enclosed around her gullet with the other.
"I wonder what a prime tastes like while it's still breathing." He said with a malicious inflection.
He drew the sister closer as he opened his mouth while Evangeline managed to lift her weapon up and point it at his stomach. He winced as each Las shot chipped away at his flesh, but he continued to pull her towards his salivating maw.
It was only when Pyrrha's shield struck him in the back did he truly flinch. The red and gold hoplite had thrown the defensive disc, and much like her spear it was now lodged deep within the abomination's flesh. He turned to snarl at the Huntress, his grip tightening around the sister's throat. His folly had become clear and he knew that he’d have to snuff the one in his hands out quickly if he was to survive.
When he turned back to twist the little sisters neck from her shoulders his eye was met with the lens of the rifle. Evangeline hand managed to wrap both arms around his bony guard. With one hand on the trigger and the other one gripping the stock she pushed the device right into his eye, the socket steadying it as she pulled the trigger as fast as she could manage.
The laser burnt through his eye with the first shot, the vitreous fluids boiling explosively as his retina was vaporised. The next shot passed through the optic nerve and into the soft tissue of his brain. The fluids continued to boil, scrambling the grey matter as the beam continued to cut its way to the other side. The back of his skull evaporated into golden embers once the Las's fire had reached it, and it was only then that the heathens grip on the sister's neck loosened.
The creature fell on its back, dead, while Evangeline fell to her hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. The second she was able to, she frantically splashed the putrid water to wash away the abomination's pus and bile from her skin. Pyrrha could only look at the death around her with a shell shocked expression while the sister collected herself.
An eternity seemed to pass before Evangeline snapped her out of it, handing the huntress her spear and shield.
"Come child." The sister said hoarsely, her voice having lost its critical edge was now filled with empathy. "Whether you join me against his cohorts or not, it is not wise to remain in this tained mire. We must leave and return with salt and fuel to purify this site lest the corruption take to the land and our efforts be for naught."
With a rueful expression the red haired warrior looked at the sister as she got to her feet. "I was returning from the town to deliver medicine to a family that lives near the portal." she said, her voice still muted by the terror she had just witnessed.
"This family," Evangeline inquired, her voice regaining its grace with each word "Did they live in a small farmstead? I encountered one where the earth was flattened and freshly scarred, as though great beasts had recently been slain but their blood and bodies had vanished."
Pyrrah nodded "Yes, I dispatched several Grimm after they had attacked the family. The elderly man living there told me his son had been injured. The medicine is for him."
The sister smiled warmly, slightly amused. "Fret not, I am trained in the medical arts. I sought to them while I was passing through."
"Will he be okay?" the huntress asked with concern.
Evangeline's smile diminished somewhat, though her inflection was unchanging. "His wounds were grave and he had lost a lot of blood. I've done all I that I could for him, and he's young and strong. Emperor willing he'll pull though." her expression then turned into one of curiosity. "Would you happen to have the medicine on you still?"
"Uh, yeah. One sec." Pyrrha said, her cadence warming up to its normal tone as she delved into one of her pockets before producing a vial filled with milky liquid. She offered the vial to the sister who took it in one of her ceremite clad hands.
After looking at the concoction for a moment Evangeline looked back at the hoplite. "Would you mind terribly if I kept this?" She asked.
"Not at all, considering you already helped the family."
"Thank you." The Sister replied graciously as she stored the vial in her guardsman's satchel. "I know not when next I shall have access to an Imperial repository and able to replenish my supply of medicine, so I'll need to talk to the local vendors about what flora has medicinal properties." With the latch closed on the bag she looked at the red haired warrior once again. "Come, we mustn't tarry any longer."
"Wait," Pyrrha called out to the sister before she had completely turned. Once the sister was once more facing her, only then did she speak. "I am Pyrrha Nikos." the warrior said with a slight tip of her head.
"Oh my sincerest apologies." Evangeline replied with an apologetic nod of her head. "Sister Almoness Evangeline of the Order of the Eternal Candle." she said with a curtsey of a woman of noble birth and strict tutelage. "I realise that is a bit of a mouthful," She said with a self deprecating smile "So you may call me Eva if you wish."
"Pyrrha is fine by me." The warrior beamed. Suddenly the horrors of this place, lying at her feet seemed so distant.
"Well then come miss Nikos." Evangeline's smile turned slightly teasing one. "Every moment we wait is one in which another might be infected."
In truth, the sister was concerned about their own health, having been exposed to so many of the secretions of the heretics, but she kept that fear to herself. If she was infected she'd see the blight scoured from this land before she turned her rifle upon herself.
Though the hoplite was out of the way, Evangeline didn't bother with her Lasgun. The corruption within him gave him unholy regeneration, she would need to strike his eyes or mouth to cause reasonable damage and the wound in her shoulder prevented her from taking accurate shots. The rifle went back over her shoulder and she charged with sword in hand.
Gudrun took the break to collect his axe from the muck. He had seen the sisters charge and listened to the ever loudening sound of splashes as her boots drove into the water. He waited for the opportune moment. When it arrived he grabbed the immense weapon in one hand and swung it at the sister, timing it with the sisters assault perfectly. His powerful motions were obvious however, and Evangeline had ample time to guard with her Rosarius. The holy light of protection flashed as the field of faith came into contact with the crude weapon as the sister pulled her other arm back, ready to skewer the heretic. But the heretic followed through, and much like the legionnaire she was lifted off her feet and thrown.
With the additional force of the axe, the sister went flying further, tumbling in the air until she finally landed in the mire on her stomach behind Pyrrha. The sister quickly got to her feet, the front of her shield robe now soiled by the malodorous, turbid water, and made her way next to the redhead, adopting a defensive stance. All three of them were panting, exhausted from the continued battle. Evangeline didn't want to stop, she wanted the blight plaguing her sight and sinuses to be erased, but she recognised the competence of the woman at her side and knew that if she could explain the urgency with which this heretic must be purged it would happen all the sooner.
"I know not what these Grim are,” She said to the red haired hoplite “but in the beating hearts of men and women lives monsters that cow even the most diabolical daemons of the most horrific realms. To give oneself over to them completely such as this one has is to lose one's humanity and become nothing more than beast." The sister explained "Look at his diseased flesh, smell the necrosis on the wind. Now look at his face."
Pyrrha did as she was bade, somewhat relieved at the break in the fighting as her shoulders rose and fell with her heavy breaths. There was a victorious smile upon Gudrun's face as he listened. Having given himself over to death for the sake of his comrades, the redheads hesitation was icing on the cake as far as he was concerned. In her conflicted features he even saw opportunity to make out alive and back to his brothers, and his smile became twisted and cruel.
"He has embraced his illness, and would use us to spread it further." Her voice then rose louder as the sister addressed the abomination. "Tell me heathen! This illness you have contracted, you mean to spread it, do you not?"
"It's not an illness you narrow minded cretin." The hunter replied with an amused inflection. "It's a gift, a blessing from consuming prime blood. With it we're able to match the creatures of the moore. I mean to spread this to the far ends of this realm. Surrender yourselves; your flesh will fuel our revolution while you are reborn."
The sister didn't bother trying to explain to the heretic what that power had cost him. That now he had lowered himself to the status of the beasts he once sought refuge from. Instead she continued speaking to the hesitant warrior.
"If we were to simply walk away he would live only to corrupt more to be like him. Most of them would die in horrific pain, and those that live would go on to infect more. You may think it be morally courageous to stay your hand and be merciful, but if he lives he will kill and corrupt countless others." Evangeline took a glance at Pyrrha as she readied herself for another charge "We can stop that now, and I have a duty to do so."
"You can't know the future." The Hoplite protested "There might be a cure for his delirium, a cure for his sickness."
A cruel smile to match the abomination’s crossed Evangeline's lips. "I am of a tradition that has been fighting these afflictions for over ten millennia. In that time we have discovered but one cure for this corruption."
The sister did not elaborate further, instead she charged at the heathen, clutching her weapon in both hands, trailing it down near her right leg. When she was close enough the sword swung up in a powerful upper cut, which the brute managed to catch with the blade of his axe, stopping the attack with his superior weight. Evangeline let her blade bounce back, not willing to get into a test of strength she'd undoubtedly lose and rather let the heretic's weight work against him. She took a step back with his momentum, meanwhile her blade came back in a wide arc with her arms crossing over at the apex, redirecting it's point back at the heathen. Putrid blood dripped into the swamp as the blade went through his wrist, cutting sinew and splintering bone as it pried apart his radius and ulna. Even more spilled when the sister reclaimed the weapon by slicing through the rest of his wrist.
Gudrun retaliated by with a guttural cry and his shoulder, driving it forward forward into the sister's face with as much force as he could muster. There was little the slight framed sister could do in response. There was no dodging this rhino who was already so close. Once again she was lifted off her feet and cast back, this time on her back side. While she collected her weapon she had a chance to see the damage she had wrought; the heathens hand flopped limply from the sliver of flesh still connecting it to his arm. With the sickness within him dulling his pain he was almost unfazed. With his still intact hand he gripped the axe at its base and, using his unholy strength, lifted the weapon above his head. Evangeline had more than enough time to roll away, but she would rather counter this last attack and end him.
Still on her back, she gripped her Rosarius and positioned that arm in front of her face. She was certain that the shard of the God Emperor's power she still had a connection too, along with her Sororitas training, would let her deflect his blow and pierce the heretic's heart. Her grip tightened as the heavy weapon came down in an arc at her chest, all the while she maintained eye contact with the man beast.
Suddenly his pupils narrowed and his weapon became limp in his hand. The thing was still none the less dangerous, but had none of the weight of the sinner behind it. The faith powered shield flashed as its terrible edge struck it, and continued its soft comforting glow as it slid across it’s surface. His whole body fell over to one side as Evangeline's eyes took in nothing but the vibrant red and god of the tall, red haired warrior, who had driven her spear into his ribs with all her strength.
Evangeline wasn't done with him however and rolled over, swinging her blade in a wide arc as she flipped to prone in the mucky water. Ascalon sung a resonant tone as it sailed through the air towards the Nurglite's still good arm and severed it clean above the elbow with one cleave.
There was silence as the sister got back to her feet. She was a little unsteady as the adrenaline washed from her system. Pyrrha clutched her chest and breathed a deep breath. For a brief moment the fight seemed over, a moment that just as quickly vanished as the cultist used the arm with his hand still attached through a few tendons to lift his face from the water. He succeeded, though his breath was ragged and wheezy from the pike that pierced through his lungs.
Evangeline resurged and walked towards the downed heathen with a powerful determined stride. When she was close enough she drove her boot into his shoulder with a vengeful might, forcing the behemoth on his back. She stood over him with her blade pointed at his neck.
"Tell me heathen, where are your cohorts? Tell me and I'll absolve all of them of their sins against humanity before I dispatch them." Her tone was forceful but free of malice. "Death in this life is certain, but you all may yet be shown mercy in the next should you repent."
Even with a tooth missing and covered in foul water the sister still had a divine aura around her. If anything her sullied face and clothing only made her green eyes shine brighter. Gudrun collected bloodied saliva onto his corrupted tongue and spat it at the sister as his response, aiming for those bright eyes in an attempt to dull them, even a little. Evangeline moved her head, having been in this situation all too many times before she expected this reaction.
"You will have no advocate and will face the your final judgement with the full weight of your sins." Evangeline replied with disappointment in her voice before she steeled herself into an impassive yet powerful cadence as she pulled her sword away from his neck. "May the Emperor show you your error along with mercy to your eternal soul."
A golden disc came at the sisters weapon and knocked it out of her hand moments before it made contact with flesh. Evangeline would have been impressed at the accuracy with which the shield stuck her weapon in any other situation. In this one she could only send a baleful stare at its origin.
"Stop it!" the red head cried, placing both her hands at her side indignantly. "He is literally disarmed, no threat to anyone. We can take him to the local city and he can face the justice of his community."
"Foolish girl!" the sister bellowed in a stern, aggravated tone "Can you not see the sickness that writhes beneath his skin?" She asked, casting a hand at the face of the Nurglite, who was smiling again. "It will spread wherever we take him, and more will need to die."
"You can't know that!" Pyrrha continued to protest. "There has to be some precautions we can take to prevent the spread of this disease without killing him right?"
"Were he only suffering an affliction of the flesh, yes." Evangeline sated, reigning in her anger "But madness has taken his mind, and he will attempt to escape any-"
The sound of bubbling fat and the pained screeching of the heretic caused Evangeline to stop her tirade. The behemoths body convulsed in pain as the flesh around his wounds seemed to sizzle with a noxious effervescence which released a toxic white steam. It caught the moonlight and glittered with an iridescent sheen. The pair of the women stood back in horror as a new arm erupted from the stump. The bone seemed to protrude from the newly generated flesh, forming a protective carapace along his forearm’s length which ended at his wrists with claw-like protrusions that extended further than his hands. What little flesh they could make out was not covered in skin, but dozens of ulcers that dripped yellow puss. His other hand, still connected by only skin now, erupted in gore coloured tendrils that sought out the rest of the arm and squirmed in between muscle and bone, reconnecting it.
Without her sword Evangeline went for her rifle and pulled the trigger as fast as she could as the regenerated abomination got to his feet. The lasers from her Las only caused the Nurglite to wince, the flesh that was vaporised was instantly replaced by another puss filled ulcer. The cell was quickly depleted by the time he was on his feet, and with a steadfast, vindictive stance the sister reached into her Aquila emblazoned bag for another cell. The bone shielded arm was enough to end that action and the sister was thrown once more.
Gudrun's intentions for the sister had to be postponed as he felt the lance through his lung twist painfully. Pyrrha had lunged forward to grip the weapon with both hands in an attempt to reclaim her weapon. The heathen turned towards the Huntress with a violent twist of his body, prying the weapon from her hands. The additional torn flesh was of no consequence to him at this point. The redhead staggered and was helpless to defend against the push kick that was coming towards her side. Her feet slipped from under her and she went into the mud.
The abomination turned his attention back to the sister. He walked with a powerful, enraged stride towards the platinum blonde, who had recovered and was in the midst of reloading her weapon. His grotesque hand gripped her by the neck and spilled its corrupted fluids over her skin. She clutched her rifle with one hand as she was lifted into the air while the other clawed at the infected flesh enclosed around her gullet with the other.
"I wonder what a prime tastes like while it's still breathing." He said with a malicious inflection.
He drew the sister closer as he opened his mouth while Evangeline managed to lift her weapon up and point it at his stomach. He winced as each Las shot chipped away at his flesh, but he continued to pull her towards his salivating maw.
It was only when Pyrrha's shield struck him in the back did he truly flinch. The red and gold hoplite had thrown the defensive disc, and much like her spear it was now lodged deep within the abomination's flesh. He turned to snarl at the Huntress, his grip tightening around the sister's throat. His folly had become clear and he knew that he’d have to snuff the one in his hands out quickly if he was to survive.
When he turned back to twist the little sisters neck from her shoulders his eye was met with the lens of the rifle. Evangeline hand managed to wrap both arms around his bony guard. With one hand on the trigger and the other one gripping the stock she pushed the device right into his eye, the socket steadying it as she pulled the trigger as fast as she could manage.
The laser burnt through his eye with the first shot, the vitreous fluids boiling explosively as his retina was vaporised. The next shot passed through the optic nerve and into the soft tissue of his brain. The fluids continued to boil, scrambling the grey matter as the beam continued to cut its way to the other side. The back of his skull evaporated into golden embers once the Las's fire had reached it, and it was only then that the heathens grip on the sister's neck loosened.
The creature fell on its back, dead, while Evangeline fell to her hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. The second she was able to, she frantically splashed the putrid water to wash away the abomination's pus and bile from her skin. Pyrrha could only look at the death around her with a shell shocked expression while the sister collected herself.
An eternity seemed to pass before Evangeline snapped her out of it, handing the huntress her spear and shield.
"Come child." The sister said hoarsely, her voice having lost its critical edge was now filled with empathy. "Whether you join me against his cohorts or not, it is not wise to remain in this tained mire. We must leave and return with salt and fuel to purify this site lest the corruption take to the land and our efforts be for naught."
With a rueful expression the red haired warrior looked at the sister as she got to her feet. "I was returning from the town to deliver medicine to a family that lives near the portal." she said, her voice still muted by the terror she had just witnessed.
"This family," Evangeline inquired, her voice regaining its grace with each word "Did they live in a small farmstead? I encountered one where the earth was flattened and freshly scarred, as though great beasts had recently been slain but their blood and bodies had vanished."
Pyrrah nodded "Yes, I dispatched several Grimm after they had attacked the family. The elderly man living there told me his son had been injured. The medicine is for him."
The sister smiled warmly, slightly amused. "Fret not, I am trained in the medical arts. I sought to them while I was passing through."
"Will he be okay?" the huntress asked with concern.
Evangeline's smile diminished somewhat, though her inflection was unchanging. "His wounds were grave and he had lost a lot of blood. I've done all I that I could for him, and he's young and strong. Emperor willing he'll pull though." her expression then turned into one of curiosity. "Would you happen to have the medicine on you still?"
"Uh, yeah. One sec." Pyrrha said, her cadence warming up to its normal tone as she delved into one of her pockets before producing a vial filled with milky liquid. She offered the vial to the sister who took it in one of her ceremite clad hands.
After looking at the concoction for a moment Evangeline looked back at the hoplite. "Would you mind terribly if I kept this?" She asked.
"Not at all, considering you already helped the family."
"Thank you." The Sister replied graciously as she stored the vial in her guardsman's satchel. "I know not when next I shall have access to an Imperial repository and able to replenish my supply of medicine, so I'll need to talk to the local vendors about what flora has medicinal properties." With the latch closed on the bag she looked at the red haired warrior once again. "Come, we mustn't tarry any longer."
"Wait," Pyrrha called out to the sister before she had completely turned. Once the sister was once more facing her, only then did she speak. "I am Pyrrha Nikos." the warrior said with a slight tip of her head.
"Oh my sincerest apologies." Evangeline replied with an apologetic nod of her head. "Sister Almoness Evangeline of the Order of the Eternal Candle." she said with a curtsey of a woman of noble birth and strict tutelage. "I realise that is a bit of a mouthful," She said with a self deprecating smile "So you may call me Eva if you wish."
"Pyrrha is fine by me." The warrior beamed. Suddenly the horrors of this place, lying at her feet seemed so distant.
"Well then come miss Nikos." Evangeline's smile turned slightly teasing one. "Every moment we wait is one in which another might be infected."
In truth, the sister was concerned about their own health, having been exposed to so many of the secretions of the heretics, but she kept that fear to herself. If she was infected she'd see the blight scoured from this land before she turned her rifle upon herself.