One Named Lu vs Many Unnamed Beasts.
Awesome. I thought.
The whole premise behind a towering giant landing superhero style on solid asphalt- turning into a crater on impact, was very amusing to me. Aggro mechanic and blonde stress source aside in my heart of hearts I was still very much a teenage boy who dreamed of alien robots that could turn into cars.
If I ever survived the day, I would have to market the idea and turn it into a franchise. Why? Because it's about giant alien robots that can turn into cars. What more do you want? Therapy? Wrong tree.
We're losing focus. Right.
I had to snap myself out of the daydream. Now was not the time to be drafting a screenplay for Automotive Aliens: Revenge of the Gearbox. I had a bleeding civilian behind a car, a level-one Aeon who was currently a "particular look" away from a mental breakdown, and a seven-foot-tall purple-haired titan about to go 1v1 with a nightmare dog.
"Lu! Keep your center of gravity low! The impact velocity is increasing!" the intern shrieked from the giant's back, his glasses sliding down to the very tip of his nose. He looked like he was one sharp turn away from being launched into the stratosphere.
The giant—Lu—didn't respond with words. He let out a low, guttural grunt that sounded like two tectonic plates grinding together.
The Black Shuck didn't care about the power scaling. It saw a bigger target and pivoted, its single red eye flashing with a blinding, murderous light. It let out a howl that felt like a physical weight pressing against my eardrums and lunged, its shadowy body extending into a jagged spear of darkness.
Lu moved with a grace that absolutely defied his massive frame. He didn't just swing the halberd; he danced with it. As the Shuck blurred through the air, Lu stepped into the strike, the heavy blade of his weapon whistling with such force it created a localized vacuum.
CRACK.
The halberd caught the Shuck mid-air, the flat of the blade slamming into the creature's ribs and sending it careening into a brick storefront. Glass shattered like rain, and the entire building seemed to groan under the impact.
"Target is staggered! Finish it before the regenerative field kicks in!" the intern yelled, white-knuckling the giant's shoulder guards.
The Shuck scrambled out of the wreckage, its shadowy form flickering and hissing, but Lu was already there. He raised the halberd high, the purple of his hair catching the violet light from the rift above. For a split second, he looked like a statue of a forgotten god.
Then, the god struck.
With a roar that shook the very foundation of the street, Lu brought the halberd down in a vertical executioner's arc. The blade didn't just hit the Shuck; it ignored the laws of biological resistance. There was a sickening, wet thwack as the heavy steel sliced through the creature's skull, splitting the shadow-hound perfectly down the middle.
The Shuck didn't even have time to whimper. Its body dissolved instantly, turning into a foul-smelling black mist that evaporated before it could touch the ground.
Silence returned to Sector 4.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, my shoulders sagging with a relief so intense I felt lightheaded. Beside me, Althea lowered her sword, her gaze still fixed on the giant.
"See?" I wheezed, wiping sweat from my forehead. "The professionals are here. We can just… we can just go home now. Let the guys with the ten-foot axes handle the—"
"Adjutant," Althea interrupted, her voice dropping into that terrifying, flat tone.
"What now?" I groaned, looking up at the sky.
The rift hadn't closed. In fact, the violet light was pulsing faster now, like a heartbeat. The black fog didn't dissipate; it thickened, swirling into two distinct, violent whirlpools right in the center of the street, not twenty feet from where Lu stood.
Two more pairs of glowing red eyes ignited within the smoke. Two more low, guttural snarls echoed through the alleyway, vibrating with twice the hunger of the first.
The first one was just the scout. The pack had arrived.
The relief I'd felt seconds ago evaporated, replaced by a cold, leaden weight in my stomach. The two new Shucks didn't waste time with dramatic entrances. They hit the ground running, their shadowy forms elongating into blurs of jagged teeth and claws.
"Lu! Pincer maneuver! Twelve o'clock and four o'clock!" the intern screamed, his voice cracking as he gripped the giant's neck for dear life.
Lu didn't flinch. He planted his lead foot, the concrete beneath his boot pulverizing into dust, and swung the massive halberd in a horizontal gale. The air itself seemed to scream as the blade cut through the space, meeting the first Shuck mid-leap.
The impact was visceral. There was no graceful parry—just raw, overwhelming violence. The halberd caught the beast in its midsection, the force of the blow literally folding the shadow-hound in half before it exploded into a spray of viscous, black ichor that hissed like acid where it touched the ground.
"One down!" I yelled, though my voice was nearly drowned out by the second beast's roar.
The second Shuck was smarter. It didn't charge head-on. It used the spray of its fallen comrade as cover, staying low and weaving through the shadows of the abandoned cars. It was a flickering ghost of malice, a predator that understood that the giant had a blind spot—specifically, the trembling human strapped to his back.
Lu pivoted, his golden eyes scanning the shifting smoke. He slammed the butt of his halberd into the ground, sending a shockwave of purple energy rippling outward to flush the beast out.
"There!" the intern pointed, but he was too slow.
The Shuck didn't come from the ground. It had used the momentum of Lu's own shockwave to launch itself off a nearby brick wall, soaring high into the air. It descended like a falling star of teeth and hate, aimed directly at the intern's exposed head.
"LU! ABOVE YOU!"
The giant reacted with terrifying speed, dropping his shoulder and swinging the halberd upward in a desperate arc. The blade caught the Shuck's underbelly, ripping through the shadowy mass with a sound like wet leather tearing. Black mist erupted everywhere, a cloud of blinding, foul-smelling carnage that obscured everything.
Lu grunted, his feet skidding back as the weight of the massive beast forced him to overextend. He had the beast pinned, but his weapon was lodged deep in its ribcage, and his posture was completely broken.
That was when the third set of eyes opened in the darkness of a nearby alley.
It hadn't come from the rift. It had been lurking in the shadows all along, waiting for the giant to commit. It moved like a lightning strike—a third Black Shuck, larger and faster than the others. It bypassed Lu's front entirely, leaping onto the giant's massive back.
"ARGH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" the intern shrieked.
The Shuck's massive, drooling jaws opened wide, its single red eye gleaming with triumph. It ignored the giant's armor, its neck extending forward to clamp down on the intern's shoulder. The kid's glasses flew off his face, his eyes wide with the realization that he was about to be the first casualty of the day.
Lu roared in frustration, trying to reach behind him, but his arms were still locked in the struggle with the second beast's dying carcass. The intern's life was measured in seconds.
SH-TNG.
A streak of brilliant, piercing gold light cut through the black mist.
Before the Shuck could close its jaws, Althea appeared as if she'd been edited into the frame. She didn't use a skill. She didn't use a burst. She simply used pure, unadulterated kinetic force.
Her golden broadsword caught the Shuck square in its snout, the flat of the blade hitting with the force of a high-speed train. The beast's head snapped back, its entire body being ripped off Lu's back and launched across the street like a discarded toy.
Althea landed softly on the balls of her feet, her sword humming a low, steady note of defiance. She didn't look back at the stunned intern or the panting giant. She just kept her eyes on the beast she'd just sent flying.
"Adjutant," she said, her voice a calm anchor in the middle of the carnage. "I believe the distraction has concluded. May I finish this now?"
Quite literally you're the only distraction I'm seeing here. I mean look at you- you blonde beautiful idiot. I told you let's get out of here, but no, let's kill the Shuck because I need it's core to level up. We killed one of them- well, "Lu" did, but we helped keep it distracted so it doesn't hurt anyone….else. Besides the lady in my arms but that's not important right now!
"It…." She groaned. Her face losing it's color. "It hurts so much."
Can't even monologue in peace without someone crying about their needs instead of mine. The pain of being Timothy.