With a snarl and a howl, the first of the Wulf’n shot itself forward through the air. From the left side of the Illusionist, it took a drive straight for Elise, she who remained as calm as a cucumber. Unmoving, blank expression, eyes drawn back at half mass, pupils following. Her coat flapped ever so slightly as the snarling beast came in, mere inches from her.

SLAM

Zoey hovered in the air just before Elise’s face, her backside no more than a meter up front. However to the front was the Wulf’n, head bent far back, its body twisting. The count of bones crackling, then the thwonk and the crash upon the ground, skidding away as Zoey dropped back down on both feet. She looked on with a smug grin while Elise behind did much of the same.

A slight tapping, the tapping of Zoey’s right foot on the ground, lightly with a patter almost like rain drops dripping, “Might’ve over done it with that.”

“Nah. He’s still breathing, you’re good,” Elise replied.

“Son of a- all of you- all of you!” the Illusionist yelled out, throwing his right arm out with pointer finger stretched to the brim, “The first of you to bring me that dumb blonde’s head will be promoted and receive more money than you know what to do with!”

Zoey turned her head, eyes drifting back, “Dumb blonde? Does he mean you? Or me since I kicked the wolf?”

“Dunno. Neither of us are blondes so.”

“Focus!” Rusty spat.

“Pft, the hell is the point Rusty?” David laughed, all as fur began to ruffle itself around his arms and legs, dying back ever so slightly before his hair became normal once more, “I don’t even feel the need to transform to deal with this.”

“They definitely don’t appear to be worth the effort,” Drake chuckled.

“Get them!” the Illusionist roared.

At once the wolves all began their charge, followed closely by the werewolves. Twelve wolves- now eleven, ten beasts, one humanoid. On the flipside, ten armed with various weapons and their own bodies. Several incapacitated remained below, scattered on the ground around the ten, who now readied themselves as more foes came barreling in.

CRASH

It had begun. Two wolves had been sent flying, three beasts having locked grips with the likes of Rusty-Zoey-Mark. Drake and Scott had quickly begun to swing their four daggers through the air to clip one wolf and run through another. David slammed his right hand straight into the throat of one beast and quickly hoisted them up into the air, bringing them back before angling their arm to the ground.

BAM

Down the beast flew, David’s hand still attached to its throat. Catching it off balance with his own strength and maneuverability, it slammed hard, saliva flying high up into the air with a deathly cough. Following the Zaherian jumped away from his slammed target, quick to begin kicking away another two wolves. Said wolves flew, kicked repeatedly next by Milly and Samantha.

Britt weaved in and out of the swings of a few beasts, countering with his own sword whilst mixing in a few simple kicks and punches. As if it were a dance he went on with so little wasted movement. Then on the flipside was Elise weaving in and out of pouncing wolves and beasts with swinging claws. Her sword not yet drawn, her hands out and moving.

Those hands would avoid the claws of an enemy and take rest upon the side of the closest arm. With but a slight nudge, those arms and strikes were offset and sent flying. A few twirls mixed in and then a full shove from both hands to send a launching wolf crashing off to the side. As the last wolf was parted, a massive thud came just to her left.

A turn of the head and there before her was a three meter beast, claws out and ready, drool dripping. A roar left its opening mouth as its arms flew out. The battle charge had begun as its feet carried it forward right to her. Just another smirk as her left hand quickly grabbed hold of the handle of her katana.

Swing

Slash

Blood sprayed the air though only a little bit. Elise now stood behind the beast, back to back. The blood had come right from the torso of the beast. A yowl of rage left the warrior as it unleashed a swift turn. Claws flew as did the blade, claws slamming against steel, steel to claws and fur. A lock of both sets against the katana, heavy force with ground crunching beneath the paws of the beast- yet she did not fold, a hand upon the handle and one to the back of the blade as support, keeping the beast at bay.

“AROOOOOO- HACK- HIC- Hrrrkszzzz-”

Without warning the fur began to fall loose from the beast, his form beginning to submit and shrink. His features from ears and snout to bulk and height had begun to reverse, shrinking drastically. The fur fell and the wrinkly skin of a dog had begun to turn back into the rough skin of a human. Blood continued to drip from the chest wound as the Zaherian stumbled back, reverted to human form.

Elise simply delivered a quick kick to the gut- a kick that then toppled the man to the ground. His dreadlocks flopped, covering his face as he landed, while she continued onward. The Illusionist backed up, back to a tree, eyes shaken. His arms held at half, hands wide open, sweat dripping down his face.

The sword slammed straight into his side and right through to the tree. A yowl of pain left him, his head thrown back and arms thrown out, “Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Oh chill, I didn’t hit anything vital, it’s just a scratch.”

“You stabbed me you crazy bitch!” he choked.

“I mean you are the enemy. Relax, it’ll just get the knockout drug into your system quicker. See, usually I coat my weapon in poison but today, I just used Wolfsbane and a powerful incapacitating agent derived from a- oh it doesn’t matter.”

“You psycho bitch, you’re just playing with us! GAH- hrrreeeeh, hreeeeeh-”

“What? You’re playing too, right? You’re not just an illusionist. Your name is Raika Delvonte. You’re an illusionist- but you also have command over some forms of elemental magic. Your nickname is the Golem Master, isn’t that right? A cautious snake that never shows his real body.”

“GAHHHH!!!” he roared.

All at once the color of his body faded, turning to a sludgy dull brown. The features of his clothes and body faded way, then the entire form had begun to melt. Sephiroth was quickly pulled out as the mud body slopped and melted to the ground, while Elise turned around quickly, “A mud replacement, as I thought.”

“But did you think of this?!” came the yell of Raika.

The ground beneath Elise shook and cracked, rocks sent tumbling. A blast of dust and rock, one that entirely engulfed her in not more than a second. Up flew a giant face of rock, simple glowing eyes and chiseled features, blocky. The face was split in half, a wide gaping hole positioned right beneath Elise with teeth of stone at the edges. Down she fell, gulped by the mouth which then slammed shut as a massive figure launched out. A large blocky head, a muscular stone body, thick arms and stubby legs.

It truly stood as a stereotypical golem in terms of design at ten and a half meters tall. Standing atop the right shoulder of this golem was another form of Raika, this one seemingly real. His arms crossed, his hair flowing, he gave out a laugh as the golem crashed its way to the surface, standing over the forces against him.

“How’s that little girl?! You’re now a snack for my golem, hahaha!” he cackled.

All eyes turned, attentions cast upon Raika and his golem as he continued to gloat. His eyes big with life, fire, determination, practically glowing. They scanned the area as his arms flew out, “Surrender to me Lightonian Slaves or DIE!”

Silence.

Silence…

“Is he done?” came the voice of Scott.

“Dunno but he’s sure as hell annoying,” Rusty grumbled in response.

Raika blinked, his arms lowering, then another blink, “Heh you- eh, what?”

With the question posed, it began. White light streamed from the cracks of the golem, its eyes looking down as did its head, a low groan coming right from it. More and more light raced out of each crack in the torso, then soon from the mouth and eyes itself. The intensity increased, twice as bright, then four times as bright right after. Cracks began to spread along the torso of the golem allowing more light to rip its way out while the entire structure itself began to rumble.

The shaking quickly reached Raika as it went from mild shaking to a full on quake. Finally a blur of white light pooled out of dozens of appearing cracks in the torso, then a blast. White light ripped its way out and tore the rocky body to pieces, debris flying everywhere while a loud roar left the creature. Arms and legs collapsed to the ground, the head went on a roll, Raika himself toppled over and collapsed with the arm he stationed himself near.

At the epicenter of the light was Elise with her sword still in hand, the light dancing right around her. This was the simple release of her own Light Energy, that which had such force as to destroy the rocky body of the golem. Down she dropped now without a thing to stand on with light fading. Atop a rock she landed as Raika’s head slammed into one as well.

He crashed over, unmoving, while Elise then hopped off the rock and onto the ground. Silence filled the area as small rocks continued to roll and bounce off of the newly created pile. Left arm out away from her, her hand flickered. Sephiroth twirled and was quickly reverse gripped, the tip of the blade being stuck back into the sheathe as she sheathed it entirely.

Arm returned to her side, she looked around. Many Wulf’n lay out of commission with only a few still standing, the zombies remained unmoved without orders, the two leaders lay out cold, and all her comrades remained standing.

“And now if you guys don’t mind, we’ll take your immediate surrender,” Elise concluded, confident, a hand resting now back upon the end of her weapon.

Before her arms went up, half mast, all the way, even just hands up with arms lowered almost entirely. The enemy had begun to revert back to human, fur and claw falling as features became more humanoid.

“Krrrz- Omocha to Lieutenant Bakuuva, come in Bakuuva! What is your status?!” came the chatter of the com.

All she did in response was simply glance towards the area behind with a slight turn of the head. Given a moment of waste, her right hand moved up and again connected with her ear piece, “Enemy captured. The zombies are all in standby mode. We have Raika the Golem Master, and we have the vampire that commanded this group. The mission is a success.”

Relief washed over those present as the warriors dropped to their knees, hands crossed behind their heads. All moved around taking cuffs and applying them to said warriors’ wrists, officially ending this battle. Elise stood by watching as everyone moved, giving a nod towards Britt who looked upon her with a smirk, eyes flickering with joy. All seemed well… for the most part.

At a distance away, perhaps three kilometers, two figures stood atop a tree with the glow of the moon around them. One dressed entirely in black with crossed arms and hanging sleeves, purple eyes glimmering as a wave of red hair passed over with the flow of the breeze. The second stood in mostly white, draped in shadows, masked with a single darkened blue eye showing, mask features covered by darkness.

In the hands of the masked figure was an orb, held out ever so, glowing a dark green glow. The orb itself held a face of its own, the face of none other than Leon Sycamore himself; though soon the orb changed to another face, another of the Hive forces, then another, as if it were a television going from face to face during an interview. Eyes so clearly watching via that orb, staring out just as the two figures were doing, studying what had just transpired out before them.

With flickering light, both red and white vanished, the orb taken along with them with so little trace evidence of their existence left behind. Forces on the move, forces of the unknown, forces standing with the darkness…

‘And so there you have it, one of the latest of battles at that time, the beginning of what was to come in what we would call The Second Sillithian War… though really, it wasn’t just the Sillithians at that point. As I had said earlier, many other forces were at work- allying themselves to one, both, or neither side. Still, we were ready. Elise and her team from Vulfax were not the only ones we had raised up, certainly not.

It had been six months since the Vulfax Valley incident and with our losses over the years, recruiting new blood was certainly our priority to combat the coming darkness. As demonstrated with that battle, it was paying off and one hundred percent worth the effort. Certainly some lines had to be crossed but in the long run, it would stem to give us only benefits… for now, of course, as can really be said of all things.

Isn’t that how it works though? You look for a solution in the short term without thought to the long run, leaving that fix to the next generations to solve. Truly one might say that is how we mortals handle life. We solve and invent new problems to pass on to those who will be there after us… and for right now, this system is certainly fine.

Elise Bakuuva, an ordinary girl by every means, smart and strong sure- but so very normal at the same time unlike some of the rest of us. She was the first success of Project Stingray… and it is with new soldiers like her that we shall win this war. Human weapons might sound barbaric but it’s all in how you treat and use such a weapon. And at the point of the conflict escalating thanks to the likes of Arkaza joining hands with the Hive, it’s all hands on deck with a need for every advantage in the book to save the world.

The next chapter of this story without a doubt starts at this singular point… and how it ends, well… you’ll just have to see for yourselves.’