Headed by a Snake

Decanus Constantina blinked the dust out of her eyes. The explosion had sent her tumbling painfully across the rocky terrain. The surface of her right arm had been torn raw and hundreds of tiny pebbles had been embedded into her skin.

There was a chain of four or five explosions... What... happened?

With one hand, she hung precariously off of the steep cliff edge. She tossed her shortbow up and, clenching her teeth, she pulled herself up.

The cloud of sand and dirt still hung in the air, a blinding curtain of death. Was someone screaming? A high-pitched whine resonated inside of her skull.

What was going on? Did the creature use a skill? Was it magic? It was like the explosions from an alchemist's bombs-- but all of the Rhodok Immunes with alchemy proficiency had been culled.

Constantina grabbed her bow and glanced over at the cover they hid behind. The heavy rocks had been cracked and shattered by an undeniable destructive force. If she and her sisters took the blast directly...

She peered through the clearing dust... seeing Holy Bolter Rena... She was safe... but her back was against a dying tree and her eyes were wide in shock. Not good.

Her hearing began to return... but Constantina almost wished it hadn't. She heard Hestia... hidden somewhere inside that cloud.... the sound of her whimpering and crying, marred by the ugly song of the ringing in her ears.

"ARCHERRRS!!! FIRE!!!" Constantina screamed at the top of her voice, sounding muted in her own head.

She dropped to the kneeling and began quick-firing arrows at the dark shadow in the cloud. The archers were out of position... she was in danger. She still gave the order to fire. Rhodok bolts and arrows sped passed her, some mere inches away from critically injuring her.

With a downward swoop of the massive leonine creature's wings, the dust cloud dissipated.

It was a mountain cat with scaled wings-- but bigger than any lion she'd ever witnessed in a Tyrion arena. One of its furred paws was held in front of its head, over a dozen arrows pricking it like needles. Constantina had burned through the entirety of a quiver, and most of it was blocked.

Dozens of arrows jut out from the creature's hide along its back and sides... But... if it was bleeding, it was barely noticeable. If it was hurt, she couldn't tell.

The creature had pinned Hestia to the ground, placing a heavy paw on her chest. The Ranger held both of her hands in front of her face, sobbing. Her stomach had been lacerated open and it was taking small, quick bites of her insides.

It shook its leonine head, much like a kobold would shake off water, allowing its thick, furry mane to protrude the stench of blood and rot.

"You are QUITE good at WASTING your energy," The creature taunted. Its... voice was... like plucking discordant strings of a harp with a rusty knife.

"Y-you can speak?" Constantina's mind raced.

The creature was intelligent. That meant... everything it had done... it had done on purpose.

There was no instinct in the way it killed her archers... not in the way that it slowly tore Proserpina apart. And the way it was torturing Hestia... there was only cruelty.

In a smooth, steady motion, Constantina began reaching her hand towards her second quiver.

"By ALL MEANS.... Go aHEaD," The creature leaned forward, over a ton of muscle mass crushing Hestia's chest.

"K-kill me, Sister..." The dying Hestia managed to groan.

It would be the last thing she'd say. She tried to gasp for breath, but the pressure on her ribcage and lungs prevented her from doing so. As a futile act of resistance, Hestia struggled to push off the creature's paw.

It was a pathetic joke... but the dying struggled against death, even against reason.

Constantina clenched her teeth. Should she shoot a useless arrow at the creature's face? Or should she place it through her sister's skull and end her suffering?

"Eternal Flame, guide my spear!! ⌈Leap Attack!!⌋"

The Shields had finally emerged from the cave-- one of them desperately charging to attack.

Constantina watched in horror as the lion's spiked-mace tail slammed into the charging Decanus-- the spikes piercing into Decanus' torso and entirely through his neck and head. The dead body was raked across the ground, leaving a bloody streak in the dirt. With lashing motion like a whip, the creature's tail flung the lifeless body past her and down the steep drop.

Constantina made her decision.

"H-heal!! One of my archers needs healing magic!!" She yelled.

She fired a well-aimed shot at the monster. Bolts and arrows and pila from near all directions bounced uselessly off of its sides-- only one in a score of them piercing its hide.

The creature quickly tilted its head, Constantina's arrow bouncing off of its hard skull, and not into its soft eye like she'd hoped, "OHHH!! You have a HEALER!!! You humans are quite prepared. Which one is it? Which ONE??"

"Belay that order!!" Optio Sixtus' voice cut through the din of battle. "Do NOT heal Munifex Hestia. Do NOT give away your position."

"Constantina!" The Centurion yelled, "Magical healing won't heal an injury of that level!!"

Decanus Constantina blinked away the tears she always tried to hide. He was right. They were both right. The Gold-Rank Healer, Fortuna, was capable of miracles. But as a human-engineered miracle, it had its limits.

With Constantina's hearing returned, she noted that the yelling positions of Sixtus and Cyrac meant they were surrounding the creature. They would lose archer support-- but it seemed the only thing Constantina's family was capable of was letting the Rhodoks down.

The creature lifted its paw off of Hestia's chest and smashed it down on her leg.

"Bah. You HUMANS and your uniforms." The creature let out a high-pitched groan, "You all look the SAAAME!!"

"NOOOO!!!" Constantina screeched, straining her voice.

If Hestia survived, she'd never walk again.

Constantina stood, walking towards the creature, firing arrow after arrow, aiming at its eyes-- looking for any possible weak point.

Ignoring the arrows bouncing off of its face, the creature slammed its paw down again, crushing Hestia's hips. Finally, the Ranger was shocked into unconsciousness.

Constantina prayed Hestia wouldn't wake up. She couldn't imagine the pain she'd undergo if she did.