Chapter 25: Goddess of War

Sprinting across the yard all the tension and bloodlust turn into a feeling of euphoria. My lips twist into a sadistic grin as battle instincts take over my entire being.

Within seconds I cross the two-hundred or so meters of the yard and see Felix fighting in the distance. In a single glace I'm able to discern about two dozen assailants that are still on their feet.

Seeing him shoulder tackle the person before him piercing their abdomen with his sword, my bloodthirstiness peaks and my gaze is immediately drawn towards one of the fighters in the back holding a large rifle.

An enormous strength builds up in my legs and in a single leap I fly over Felix and most of the hostile forces. My hands turned into claws somewhere along the way and after extending my nails I swing at the arm holding the rifle.

Upon contact I feel my nails rake through his armor, skin and flesh giving rise to an oddly satisfactory feeling. While the man screams out from pain I land on my left foot, stretch my right leg and hit his hips with all strength I can muster. On impact I feel bones shatter and the resulting force launches the man through the air at such a high speed I'm barely able to follow it myself.

Euphoria fills my mind and I can't help but screech "HAHAHAHA SO GOOD!"

Loudly squealing I drop myself on all fours before leaping towards the next person.

"Leone, take care of those in the back, I'll handle these"

Felix's voice sounds oddly calm and registers with surprising clarity. With a nod, I leap towards my intended target.

The woman appears to have better reflexes than the man as before I reach her, she sidesteps and swings the back of her rifle at the back of my head. Sensing the incoming object, I try to evade it but am unable to move fluently enough to make up for her adjustments.

Feeling the stock hit the back of my head, my vision turns black for a split second and I nearly fall face first onto the pavement.

"Leone stay down!"

Managing to break my fall, I roll sideways while a loud shot echoes, the electric discharge causes my hackles to rise and just a moment later the woman freezes before collapsing onto her knees and face.

Getting up I look around trying to regain my bearings but immediately recognize the sound of footsteps approaching. Wanting to deal with the approaching assailant, my senses scream out danger. A vague monochrome image flashes before my eyes showing the aimed trajectory of three rifle shots.

[FU…]

Unable to even finish the curse word in my mind it's as if a primal force guides me. The little color that was visible in the dark disappears when my entire vision turns monochrome. Instinctively I leap towards the sole rifle bearer behind the approaching militant who slashes a knife towards me.

It's as if time slows down while I pass the man, somehow my body manages to wring itself in such an angle the knife originally aimed at my throat barely scratches my arm. Once past the immediate danger, time seems to speed up once more when my claws clash with the rifle bearer. Feeling my nails penetrate his armor and grip into it, I make a sort of side flip.

Roaring from pain the man is unable to hold his rifle as my nails twist his flesh and armor while I swing over his shoulder. Using all strength I can, I curl my body to add even more momentum to the flip causing the man to be yanked off his feet and launched through the air as I retract my nails.

Completely having forgotten about the other two shooters, I'm startled by my senses screaming of approaching danger. Still stuck in my throwing motion I'm unable to exactly register what's happening behind me but it's clear the shooters cared not for their companion as their projectiles blast through his chest and shoulder.

Just a split second later I feel something rushing past my cheek leaving a slight burn and scratch. My eyes widen and panic almost clouds my mind while I slowly move my hand towards my cheek.

"Leone! Stop dreaming!"

Shaking the panic out of my mind, I leap forwards into the air spreading my arms while my claws form. The two shooters are unable to respond in time and are both subjected to all potential force behind my leap. My claws clash against their armor but fail to penetrate. Despite this the impact was hard enough for them both to gasp for air as they fall over.

Turning around I'm greeted by a knife aimed at my chest. I want to respond by raking their arm but suddenly feel my senses fade which make place for a fuzzy feeling. Gazing at the dark, glistering steel blade coming closer, my mind goes blank. I feel nothing, I hear nothing the only thing that's there is the sight of that knife rapidly closing in on me.

Time seems to slow down as I stand there frozen, unable to respond in time.

"Leone!"

That moment I vaguely hear someone yelling my name before a huge blur smashes into the person before me. The assailant, knife and blur disappear from my sight and time seems to return to normal.

Baffled and shaken I blink rapidly before looking to my left seeing Danny holding a frail looking person in his hand.

"Leone, you okay?!"

Hearing Felix as well I rapidly shake my head before looking at him aiming his rifle at a person on the ground.

"Y-Yeah…"

Softly panting I regain control over my senses and realize I no longer feel any pain.

"LEONE! GET BACK HERE! NOW!"

Hearing Zhloe's extremely angry voice causes a shiver to run down my spine and all remaining euphoria disappears, my tail falls and with it between my legs I run back falling on my knees in front of her. "Sorrrrry!"

That moment I get a hard slap in my face which hurts like hell but before I can do anything she hugs me tight. "Don't do that again you idiot!"

Completely staggered by her reply I tense up and am unable to reply.

"Leone?"

Letting me go she looks into my eyes "Thank god you're okay"

Slowly nodding I look down at my now blood soaked fingers "Now I am…"

Danny softly places his hand on my head "Good thing I was close, what happened there?"

Looking over my shoulder I see Felix disarming and checking all militants "I'm not entirely sure, when they died… it hurt so bad and filled me with an immense thirst for blood."

Having finished his check Felix walks towards us "Yet when you fought it gave you pleasuring energy?"

Somewhat embarrassed I look down and blush "Yes…"

Feeling a hand on my head I look up seeing him smile "Don't be ashamed of it, it's an affect of the Animus. I mean… I turn ice cold while fighting nothing hurts me, startles me… or even scares me."

"I see…"

He chuckles softly "Well almost nothing, I definitely got some goosebumps looking at your immense strength and speed."

With a sigh I hang my head "Yet if it weren't for Danny… I'd have died"

He chuckles "Hurt, yes. Died? Don't think so. Look at your arm, it's completely healed"

Looking down at my arm I still see the cut in my jacket and the blood on my skin yet there's no cut. Slowly wiping my fingers over it causes Zhloe to sigh.

"Well those clothes are beyond repair as you even tore through the seams on the shoulders, but that doesn't matter. We're all safe and sound. Now come let's get what we came for."

With a slow still somewhat baffled nod I stand up only for Felix to grab my side "Turn around for a moment."

Doing as he asks I suddenly feel a sharp pain.

"Hmm interesting, tranquilizer dart. You don't feel drowsy at all?"

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Shaking my head I look at the dart seeing it's empty and thus did its intended job. "No not at all, after all this I feel rather lively even."

Danny reaches towards the dart before smelling it "Hmm, it's black jasmine. It seems they wanted to capture us, or at least one of us. Felix you go with her to find her possessions. While Zhloe guards the entrance I'll do a quick search."

He nods and leads us all towards the building where a pair of doors lead into the ground. "I assume these are what we're looking for?"

Thinking for a moment, I look around "I believe so, although the corridor lies a bit lower."

He nods, rips off the rusty lock and opens the doors before hopping in. A moment later he looks up "Seems to be clear, come"

Hunching down I hop into the corridor only to be overwhelmed by a sense of fear and terror causing me to groan.

"You okay?"

Tense I nod before looking up "I barely remember anything here, but the fear still feels so fresh"

Wearing a compassionate smile he looks into the hallway "It might be five years ago, but for you it was just a few weeks ago. Just let me know if you need to go out"

He then grabs my hand and pulls me along. "I'm with you this time, you'll be alright."

Nodding once more I follow him further into the corridor softly gasping as I can still see clear as day.

"Can see in the dark?"

Nodding makes him smile "So can I"

Softly giggling I smile "What God are you?"

Chuckling he shakes his head "I don't think it's anything as grand as a god, but it seems I share wolf animus. Hmm I think I see something." Pointing ahead he smiles "That yours?"

Following his finger I see a worn red bag and shrug "I honestly don't remember"

Hunching down next to the bag he searches around before holding up a small gray card "Yep, it's yours."

Handing it to me he bursts into laughter as I slice it into pieces with my claw before chewing on a few pieces to make them utterly unrecognizable.

"I could have just shot it you know… but did it taste good?"

Shivering I shake my head "Kind of gross, sandy, salty and plasticy"

Laughing he continues looking through the items and bag before putting a lot of it back into the bag.

Grabbing some of the books laying around I rifle through "Hmm I guess these were my notebooks."

He grabs another and nods "Geography. So I'd assume so, want to take them with you?"

Shaking my head I drop the two I was holding back onto the sand "The data sticks, laptop, phone and digitally sealed envelopes are important. But I want to leave that life behind me. Either way seeing as history is as skewed as it is, I doubt the other subjects were unaltered."

Chuckling he grabs the black and red laptop and the once pink glass phone. "Pink huh, wouldn't expect that of you."

Chuckling softly I take a better look at the near lavender pink color which shines through the shattered glass "I'm definitely not a pinkish person, but it's subtle and I like that"

He nods and puts it in the bag "I can see what you mean there yes"

After searching through the sand one more time he puts yet another stick in the bag before frowning. "Hmm, you may want to keep this though."

He hands me a small key chain in the shape of a black bunny like creature with a rather silly looking fanged mouth which is holding a piece of ore. "It's from an online game, I believe this was the same companion of a famous player. It's called a Spriggan."

Looking at the creature I can't help but feel delighted despite not remembering anything about it or the game it came from. Softly giggling I put it in my pocket.

Smiling he grabs the bag before standing up and patting my head "So I heard you decided to go in again?"

With a nod I follow him towards the end of the corridor "I felt it… even as we fought, at times my senses were pulsing, not to speak of me freezing entirely. I don't want it to cause trouble nor endanger my life, worst case that of others."

Smiling he ruffles my ear "It's quite common for people to go back in again. I spent a total of seven weeks inside, four were the initial acclimatization, while the other three were spread in two sessions afterwards. Happy in turn spent a total of eleven weeks inside."

Awkward I look up with a wry smile "I just hope I don't spend another few years in there"

Chuckling he smiles "Don't worry about that, the secondary treatments are controlled."

A minute later we climb out of the corridor where Zhloe welcomes us back "Found anything?"

He nods "Six data sticks, a laptop and phone with two biometrically sealed digital envelopes. We left all other personal possessions excluding a single game inspired key chain."

With a nod she looks at me "Didn't want any other things?"

Shaking my head I look up with a faint smile "I'm not Naomi anymore, as for my ID, it's gone."

When she frowns Felix once again bursts into laughter "In shreds and… crushed? Yes! Crushed"

Felix's words cause her frown to deepen and in turn Danny to chuckles "Let's leave it at that. Time to return"

She nods "Seeing this city is scheduled to be disassembled and deconstructed in two years it should all be fine."

While we walk back towards the car, I grab the key chain and gaze at the furry black creature which fills me with near irrational joy.

"You sure seem happy"

Looking up at Zhloe I blush "I ehh.. it doesn't really rremind me of anything, but it makes me happy."

She smiles and strokes my ear "Glad to hear, let's get in and go home. As for you, take this. After we depart eat it"

Nodding I get on the backseat and look at the yellow liquid filled pill "Chew?"

When she nods I sniff the pill and nearly retch from the smell "Oh god that's awful"

Softly chuckling she smiles "Just take it okay? I want you to be well rested before you enter the chamber this time"

With a nod I throw the pill in my mouth and chew only to wildly shiver when the liquid explodes in my mouth covering my entire tongue in a bittery sour mush.

That moment Danny drives away but before we've even left the school grounds I've fallen deep asleep.

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