Solatium Part 1 - Arxbound

---= SOLATIUM || PART 1 || ARXBOUND =---

Where the hell is it!?

I had swept my vision across the large room I stood in several times now, my focus entirely on my senses of sight and hearing. I had been hunting this witch for several days now, yet it's managed to evade me at every turn. After all, it's the first time that I had to deal with one that could turn invisible at will. At first it baffled me how something so large was so hard to find, but after I had witnessed one of its familiars fade from view it all made sense. It was only a matter of time before I found the 'boss room' after that, this witch had no choice but to face me so long as I was--

The moment my ears caught the rush of air, my shield went up, just in time to meet the impact. I pressed my central weight down and dug my heels into whatever strange material the ground here was made of. In addition, I angled my shield to try to deflect the giant object that just crashed into me, though the fact I couldn't see it made it hard to judge what it was exactly. An intense silver glow had appeared at the point of impact, which quickly dispersed down my body. The moment it reached the ground under my greaves, a spider web of cracks radiated out along the surface, the shockwave kicking up dust and debris. Regardless of what it looked like, it felt like a truck just tried to run me over, and if it wasn't for my magic the damage would likely have resembled that.

Now wasn't the time to worry about these things, though. In the next instant, the weapon in my other hand had thrust up in a counterattack, and the blade at the tip stabbed into something rock hard. That was when I pulled the trigger.

<BANG>

The loud burst vibrated my body to the very core, followed shortly by the monstrous screech of the witch as it had become visible. The witch's arm, which ended in a mace shape, literally hung off of it by a couple of sinews. The witch's form was nothing special, resembling a tall humanoid with no head and a single large eye at chest height. The part that did catch my attention though were the peculiar wings on its back, which looked like they comprised of undulating, papery shadows.

Without skipping a beat, I had drawn back my weapon and swung it downwards, the blade sparked as it struggled to cut through the witch's skin. Once it reached the end of the arc and collided with the ground, I hammered on the trigger as many times as I could, each pull had let loose another loud burst into the legs of the hideous being. Another inhuman shriek pierced my now dulled hearing, as it collapsed down, surely unable to escape at this point. I jumped back out of the way as it had swung at me with its last good limb. My hair blew wildly to the side from the gust of air as the large mace whizzed past me. I distanced myself a bit further with another kick back, and pressed the release lever near the handguard, causing the breach to flip open. The empty shells had subsequently ejected from this action, as they clattered around me and left a heavy scent of gunpowder.

In a movement that I had practiced time and time again, I loaded new shells into the revolver cylinder, and used a downwards swing as momentum to shut it with a loud snap. I had already begun to walk forward, the plates of my armor clanked together with each step. It was time to finish this monster off once and for all.

As I stopped a few paces from the witch, it seemed to just glare at me and let out a low growl. That's fine, it just makes this all the easier then. I crouched down a bit, once again to center my weight, as my thumb flipped up the small lid that covered a red button. I pointed the barrel straight at the witch's eye and pressed the button, which caused the weapon to whir up and emit a loud hum. The cylinder that held all the shells began to turn, and rapidly fed each shell into the long barrel, as a bright orange light seeped from the opening at the end.

The witch suddenly let out a snarl and reeled back, before it flipped like a wheel and slammed it's mace arm down on top of me. I barely managed to move my shield up in time as the impact struck me, several tons of force striking into me from above. The light flared up again where it struck, but it was not as bright as last time. The attack I had been charging draws a lot of magic power from me, after all. The damage was still dissipated around me, the mace arm had been close enough to crack as well, but it hadn't been enough this time.

It was as if a rocket had just ignited in front of me, as the gunlance erupted into a focused beam of fire, which struck the witch right at the core of its body. I struggled with all I had to keep myself in place, my greaves dug grooves into the ground, as the effects of both this and the witch's attack caused my bones to fracture and my organs to rupture. With a final shriek, the witch disintegrated from the intense explosion of energy. I couldn't hold my ground any longer, and was thrown off my feet, the explosion caused my body to skid backwards until a wall quickly stopped me -- forcibly.

There was only darkness as my conciousness faded.

--

After taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled and stretched my arms under the comfortable weight of the armor plating that covered most of them. It had been around a week now since I had been at our home base -- Arx -- one of the most difficult to locate places in this entire country. I wouldn't be so brash as to say the entire world, though. After all, I haven't been /everywhere/ in the world -- a lot of places surely, due to my line of work -- but not even close to everywhere possible. Of course, I would love to continue to explore the world, that was always a big part of my dreams. That being said, my only regret in having become part of a private military company is that I can't choose exactly where my jobs are located.

The Arx on the outside isn't much to look at, as it is almost entirely underground. If anything, it's so plain that you'd probably think it was just a normal house in a rather bad neighbourhood. Despite this though, don't take the security lightly. You'd be sadly mistaken.

With these thoughts swimming in my mind, I grasped the doorknob of the frosted glass door and swung it open. It was always necessary to duck so that the tip of my weapon could safely pass through with the rest of me. The wood trimming at the top of the frame was worn and full of pockmarks, a visible history of those who didn't pass with as much consideration. I think it's about time they got a bigger door.

"Ahh! Pira!" Speak of the devil, there she is now. "Thought I'd never see your tin can of an ass again, must have been quite the job for it to take you so long this time."

My expression twisted into a frown. I'll have you know that my armor is NOT composed of such /paltry/ metal, it is made ENTIRELY of -- ergh, there I go again. I quickly shake my head, my long hair lashed outwards from the motion, locks of fading bright gold caught my eye within the normally silver tresses.

Around the same moment in time, the girl that currently sat on the edge of her desk began to giggle. Her name was Nemi, the leader of Solus, crimson hair and a fiery temper to go along with it. The long braided ponytail tied behind her head was flipped over her shoulder, and hugged the generous curves down the front of her body. She usually kept it like this, which had resulted in me confusing it for a red scarf originally. Beside her, propped against the desk sat a massive weapon, someone's twisted idea of a sword and shield. I mean /really/ twisted, but when I consider the person that designed it, it doesn't come as a surprise. After all, they were the same culprit behind the creation of my very own weaponry -- the gunlance strapped to my back. Nemi's 'charge blade' was huge, at minimum the size of an average person in length, and entirely custom made for her. The large shield part was engraved with Solus's emblem on the surface -- the Ouroborus.

"I see you still have that crazy hair shit going on, not that you've ever properly explained to me what the fuck it is." Her hand gently caressed and fiddled with the end of her ponytail absent mindedly as she continued to look at me. I could only shrug in response. It's not like I had a clue either, if anything I want to know just as much as she does. I turned around and shut the door behind me, before I found a seat in one of the comfy chairs near Nemi's desk. She continued to stare down at me in silence, then let out a brief sigh and gave an exaggerated shrug of her own.

"Pira, a girl of few words as always. I may as well be talking to the fucking wall. At least you follow orders, I can give you that much." After she spat out her idea of a compliment, she twisted around in place and grabbed a fancy crystal glass full of an amber liquid. It was likely full of some sort of whiskey, or whatever sort of booze she decided to down regardless of the time of day. She held out the glass towards me and intended to offer me the contents, but I just shook my head. There are certain vices in this world that I take part in, but alcohol isn't one of them. Another shrug followed -- she tipped the glass back and downed it in one go, the soft lights in the room gleamed off of the beveled surface.

My gaze wandered away, as I glanced around at the contents of the office space, kept nice and tidy. No doubt the work of Nemi's secretary -- poor soul. All of the various paintings and decor that Nemi kept in here were in a pristine condition, and this didn't surprise me in the slightest. She really hated when things were messy, to the point of being OCD about it. Hence the sympathy for the aforementioned secretary.

"Judging from the fact that you're here in front of me, and obviously not some sort of ghost, I take it the job was a success in the end? Well, what 'm I saying, 'course I know it was already. Ah just sorta wish I could geh some goddamn feedback from ya here, you fuckin' silen' type er always ah pain 'n the fuckin' ass when it comes ta' debriefinnn'..." She roughly placed the glass back on the desk, the solid clink emphasized her increasingly inebriated words. It was clear she was getting drunk way too fast, her face had started to blush the same shade of red as her hair. Damn it Nemi, this is why you shouldn't drink booze...

"...Yah...Yah listen ta me, Pi...Pier?" Nemi slipped off the desk in a bit of a staggered motion, before she leaned over in front of me as I remained seated. Her face was flushed so much, I couldn't tell if she was embarassed that her cleavage was now draped in my face or if it was just the alcohol. "J-Jus...you wait, I'll make ya taalllkk eventually, ahh bet youu sound rehhly cute toooo~" As she managed to slur out her statement, she fell into my lap, then promptly passed out on top of me. I wish I could act surprised at this turn of events, I really do, but unfortunately it's a pretty common occurrence. Nemi is an excessively light drinker, yet she always hits the bottle the moment there's something to celebrate. It's then that I start to gently pet the top of her head, as the leather interior of my gauntlets creaked in response. I wonder where my next job will take place? What will it entail? Who will I need to kill?

I came to find out, and all I got was a snoring red-head in my lap. Oh well.