The fearsome, chittering monstrosities were everywhere. They shrieked in fury and cackled with wicked amusement in the same beat, as though they all suffered from some kind of multiple personality disorder - all of them evil.
Sage couldn’t help but slip into her thoughts for a moment, freezing with her pistol drawn, no longer providing covering fire for Kazuya, who was already being pushed back by the fiendish creatures.
Oliver had called them demons a few times. Sage considered this, now, her eyes wandering, as though searching for some hidden clue, a link of some sort. Demons. She had shrugged it off when he said it, thinking it was just a turn of phrase. But these... things, with their pointed teeth and their horrible screams... maybe there was more seriousness in Oliver’s words than she knew. Maybe they were demons, but then what did that mean? Had they broken loose from the underworld? Or...
...Or was this horrible game not a game at all? What really happened when she was kidnapped? Was she actually brought here or had they-
“Sage!!” Kazuya roared, taking a knee as the overwhelming hordes ceaselessly pressed against her. The blue haired girl opened fire, shooting wide and hitting a wall. She fired again, catching four of the sinister creatures in the explosion. Another shot felled three more, and the assassin capitalized on the brief confusion, rising up and slashing to pieces those nearest her.
And then Rose... left. Sage stared up at the hole in the ceiling, the hand of disbelief gripping her with icy fingers. She shuddered under the sudden chill, and something beckoned at her. It sounded as though Ashe had screamed, but... she knew she hadn’t heard it.
Still, the chemically dependent girl turned on her heel to see a hideous creature, its huge, fanged mouth opened unnaturally wide, holding its catch overhead, hungrily eyeing the pink haired girl. The thing’s tongue lolled out of its mouth, nearly touching the floor, as a slow waterfall of droll cascaded from it. Demons...
Sage’s coral eyes went wide at the sight. It was going to eat Ashe. The diminutive hybrid trembled again, but not with fear. This was anger. Sage knew anger. She was never allowed to express it; her whole life she’d swallowed herself - her thoughts, her feelings, her wants, her needs, because her self had been stolen from her. Out of obligation to her sister, who had cared for her since then, she had done these things, but, in a sense, she felt she had done it because she no longer had any right to be happy. Even her medical career often felt like a dangerous indulgence.
Sage knew anger. She knew malice and deceit and hatred and fury. These things had been used against her, but they, too, festered within her. Sage wouldn’t - couldn’t - unleash it upon others as it had been unleashed upon her, but this... this thing was about to kill a girl just as helpless as she, was going to eat her for the sake of entertainment. Even Sage could see that Ashe had been reaching out to her.
She took a moment to absorb that. A whole world had shunned her, and with nowhere else to turn, she took refuge with her sister. And yet, here, in this horrid competition, people had reached out to her. Sophia, Juno, even Rose, but especially Ashe... and it made it hard for Sage to maintain her belief that people were inherently cruel creatures.
Well, the unlikely princess gritted her teeth as tears - familiar things, now - stung the edges of her eyes. I’m not just going to let Kai win!
Her eyes narrowed and sharpened, and she suddenly noticed a dial on the side of her weapon. It read ‘Maximum Lethal Force, Precision, and Non-Lethal.’ The dial was turned to maximum. Sage clicked it over to the precision setting, and raised it up at the gluttonous goblin, her head floating upon unfamiliar thoughts.
Sage pulled the trigger, and a furious green orb of energy leapt from the barrel, slamming into the horrid creature’s chin, snapping its head upward. It dropped Ashe, who collapsed, leaving the monstrosity open for the savage barrage that Sage unleashed upon it. Blast after blast of energy crashed into the creature, pushing it backward. Thick, amber blood with the consistency of motor oil poured from its wounds as its flesh became charred and blackened by the high intensity plasma blasts. The girl didn’t care; the shrieks of agony went unheard and unheeded. She kept pulling the trigger, watching with anticipation as the brilliant green balls hurdled into their target.
Finally, the monstrosity succumbed to Sage’s deadly onslaught, keeling over backward. Its head smacked the cold floor with a dull crack, and the blue haired girl rushed to Ashe’s aid, helping her to her feet. Then she turned, and coldly leveled her gun at the dying creature. Three shots rang out, obliterating the flesh on the monsters head, until naught but the skull remained.
Suddenly, her gun arm felt heavy. Sage’s arms fell to her sides, and she stumbled, but the pink haired girl she had just rescued intercepted her. “I got you,” she murmured, her voice distant, preoccupied.
“Get out of here!” Kazuya suddenly shouted. “I’ll handle these things!”
Neither Sage nor Ashe seemed particularly capable of handling the situation at the moment, but the blue haired girl recognized Ashe’s expression. She was lost. Sage herself wore that same expression countless times. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Sage could be lost later. For now, she owed Ashe her attention, and so, her coral hued eyes swept about, falling on an elevator not far away.
With the assassin occupying the goblin hordes, it was easy to slip away, leading Ashe by the arm to the elevator, whose doors, to Sage’s surprise, instantly slid open. No obligatory scene of tension as they waited for it while holding off the monsters. She pulled the pink haired girl inside and palmed the ‘M’ button, hoping to find an exit on the main floor. They were getting out of here.
Sage couldn’t help but slip into her thoughts for a moment, freezing with her pistol drawn, no longer providing covering fire for Kazuya, who was already being pushed back by the fiendish creatures.
Oliver had called them demons a few times. Sage considered this, now, her eyes wandering, as though searching for some hidden clue, a link of some sort. Demons. She had shrugged it off when he said it, thinking it was just a turn of phrase. But these... things, with their pointed teeth and their horrible screams... maybe there was more seriousness in Oliver’s words than she knew. Maybe they were demons, but then what did that mean? Had they broken loose from the underworld? Or...
...Or was this horrible game not a game at all? What really happened when she was kidnapped? Was she actually brought here or had they-
“Sage!!” Kazuya roared, taking a knee as the overwhelming hordes ceaselessly pressed against her. The blue haired girl opened fire, shooting wide and hitting a wall. She fired again, catching four of the sinister creatures in the explosion. Another shot felled three more, and the assassin capitalized on the brief confusion, rising up and slashing to pieces those nearest her.
And then Rose... left. Sage stared up at the hole in the ceiling, the hand of disbelief gripping her with icy fingers. She shuddered under the sudden chill, and something beckoned at her. It sounded as though Ashe had screamed, but... she knew she hadn’t heard it.
Still, the chemically dependent girl turned on her heel to see a hideous creature, its huge, fanged mouth opened unnaturally wide, holding its catch overhead, hungrily eyeing the pink haired girl. The thing’s tongue lolled out of its mouth, nearly touching the floor, as a slow waterfall of droll cascaded from it. Demons...
Sage’s coral eyes went wide at the sight. It was going to eat Ashe. The diminutive hybrid trembled again, but not with fear. This was anger. Sage knew anger. She was never allowed to express it; her whole life she’d swallowed herself - her thoughts, her feelings, her wants, her needs, because her self had been stolen from her. Out of obligation to her sister, who had cared for her since then, she had done these things, but, in a sense, she felt she had done it because she no longer had any right to be happy. Even her medical career often felt like a dangerous indulgence.
Sage knew anger. She knew malice and deceit and hatred and fury. These things had been used against her, but they, too, festered within her. Sage wouldn’t - couldn’t - unleash it upon others as it had been unleashed upon her, but this... this thing was about to kill a girl just as helpless as she, was going to eat her for the sake of entertainment. Even Sage could see that Ashe had been reaching out to her.
She took a moment to absorb that. A whole world had shunned her, and with nowhere else to turn, she took refuge with her sister. And yet, here, in this horrid competition, people had reached out to her. Sophia, Juno, even Rose, but especially Ashe... and it made it hard for Sage to maintain her belief that people were inherently cruel creatures.
Well, the unlikely princess gritted her teeth as tears - familiar things, now - stung the edges of her eyes. I’m not just going to let Kai win!
Her eyes narrowed and sharpened, and she suddenly noticed a dial on the side of her weapon. It read ‘Maximum Lethal Force, Precision, and Non-Lethal.’ The dial was turned to maximum. Sage clicked it over to the precision setting, and raised it up at the gluttonous goblin, her head floating upon unfamiliar thoughts.
Sage pulled the trigger, and a furious green orb of energy leapt from the barrel, slamming into the horrid creature’s chin, snapping its head upward. It dropped Ashe, who collapsed, leaving the monstrosity open for the savage barrage that Sage unleashed upon it. Blast after blast of energy crashed into the creature, pushing it backward. Thick, amber blood with the consistency of motor oil poured from its wounds as its flesh became charred and blackened by the high intensity plasma blasts. The girl didn’t care; the shrieks of agony went unheard and unheeded. She kept pulling the trigger, watching with anticipation as the brilliant green balls hurdled into their target.
Finally, the monstrosity succumbed to Sage’s deadly onslaught, keeling over backward. Its head smacked the cold floor with a dull crack, and the blue haired girl rushed to Ashe’s aid, helping her to her feet. Then she turned, and coldly leveled her gun at the dying creature. Three shots rang out, obliterating the flesh on the monsters head, until naught but the skull remained.
Suddenly, her gun arm felt heavy. Sage’s arms fell to her sides, and she stumbled, but the pink haired girl she had just rescued intercepted her. “I got you,” she murmured, her voice distant, preoccupied.
“Get out of here!” Kazuya suddenly shouted. “I’ll handle these things!”
Neither Sage nor Ashe seemed particularly capable of handling the situation at the moment, but the blue haired girl recognized Ashe’s expression. She was lost. Sage herself wore that same expression countless times. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Sage could be lost later. For now, she owed Ashe her attention, and so, her coral hued eyes swept about, falling on an elevator not far away.
With the assassin occupying the goblin hordes, it was easy to slip away, leading Ashe by the arm to the elevator, whose doors, to Sage’s surprise, instantly slid open. No obligatory scene of tension as they waited for it while holding off the monsters. She pulled the pink haired girl inside and palmed the ‘M’ button, hoping to find an exit on the main floor. They were getting out of here.
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)