The Custodes

Chapter 19 - Zuro Arc Part 3

After a long while of waiting in silence, voices could be heard approaching from afar. Hadi and Charon immediately perked up in hearing it, moving very slightly to try and get a better look at what they were hearing. Far down the path was a group of people, walking in a formation that seemed almost like a square, with a few speaking quietly to one another. As they approached Hadi and Charon managed to make out the armour many of them were wearing, a bright red metal with a strange symbol imprinted in yellow on the chest. They were armed, and it seemed they were on the outside of the group to form a perimeter and serve as protection for whoever was closer in. There was twelve of them that could be seen, and from the looks of it there were two on the inside that were the only ones not wearing armour. Hadi and Charon sat with waited breaths, until the party was opposite the brush they were hiding amongst, before they lunged out simultaneously without so much as uttering a word and darted straight for the guards. In an instant the nearest two lost their heads, the twin's blades slicing straight through their necks in a flash of blood and light. A woman screamed while one of the armoured men shouted an order, prompting the other nine of them to draw their weapons as the twins descended on them. Charon bolted at one, sending a sharp kick to their leg and breaking it instantly, only to cut them down as they fell to their knees. Another man ran at him and swung his blade, but Charon was quick to parry it to the side then spin and plunge his own blade straight through his chest, with enough force to break clean through his armour and pierce his heart. Hadi ran at another, slashing down his chest and ending his life before he could draw his weapon, but the next man he turned on had transformed into their true form. It had taken him by surprised - those in the city were strictly banned from changing form, but then again they were far from the city at that moment in time. The man in front of him was a single-horned yellow skinned, a fairly uncommon colour that were notorious for their speed, which he demonstrated right off the bat by bolting to the side of Hadi, attempting to catch him off guard and stick him in the side with his blade. Hadi had seen it coming however, and unlucky for the man was fast enough to counter. He spun to face him, gripping the tip of the sword and stopping it in its tracks, only to yank it towards him and cause the man to stumble forward - right into Hadi's blade. Hadi turned to see two men converging on him, and four on Charon, all now in their true forms with weapons drawn. Charon rolled under a swing from a blue skinned man who'd flown straight for him, and just as he turned to slice at another he felt something wrap around his foot and suddenly yank him to the ground. Hadi had experienced the same thing - just as he swung his blade at the neck of the beefy green skinned guard in front of him, a red tendril wrapped around the blade of his sword and threw it from his hand with incredible speed and strength. "Stop! Why are you doing this?!" The twins looked up to see the man who the guards had been surrounding, and who obviously was in control of the tendrils, standing in the middle of the path with a woman cowering behind him as he looked between the two. He was tall, and young, with well-kept brown hair amongst which a small crown rested, and red eyes that gave off a friendly yet powerful aura. He was donned in royal garbs, a shining golden robe covering his dark blue overcoat and shirt and reaching all the way down to the ankles of his grey silk trousers. The guards ceased fighting as soon as he took charge of the situation, since he clearly held rank over them, but it soon became clear that this was a mistake. "Now, Hadi!" Charon shouted, which is when his brother threw both arms forward as a bright silver light shone from his hands. Suddenly, a huge wave of silver washed over the ground and large spears and spikes of the same colour began erupting out in all directions in varying shapes and sizes. It looked like a deep metallic material, yet it was harder than steel and formed more like one huge liquid mass that rushed through the guards in front of Hadi and towards the unarmored man and woman. The man stared up at it in shock, only having enough time to push the woman further behind him, however just before it reached him it stopped, freezing entirely in place at Hadi's command. The man froze in confusion for too long an instant, only noticing at the last second that the brother he hadn't been focused on had cut themselves free from the tendril and bolted straight at him. Charon had his blade in his hand, and the instant he was close enough he raised it above his head and brought it clean down to strike the man where he stood. "NO!" The woman's voice rang out through the air and suddenly it was her the blade was coming towards, due to her pushing in front of the man. Her arm was raised, however this didn't do much good as Charon swung the blade clean through it and directly into her shoulder blade, the sheer force of the swing causing the blade to embed so far down her chest it managed to hit her heart, killing her instantly. "INDIRA!" The man screamed in devastation, flinging both hands at Charon as two red beams shot out each hand. One sliced clean across his eye, causing him to yell out in agony as pale purple blood spilled down his face, only for the next to smash into his stomach and send him spiralling backwards away from the man, who instantly dropped to his knees to cradle Indira's cleaved body. Charon lay on the ground, weaponless and bleeding with only one good eye as the four previously armoured men in their true forms converged on him. One blue skinned and two greens ran for him - both greens with single handed swords while the blue held a two handed one - as a black skinned Dohlkai, likely the captain who shouted the order previously, stayed behind holding a double edged axe in one hand and a heavy mace in the second. Charon glanced upwards, just in time to see a blade heading straight for his face and rolling to the side to watch it slam into the dirt. He swung his body and kicked it away, so hard that it spun and sunk clean into one of the dirt spirals at the edge of the path, but the blue skinned who it belonged to was quickly on Charon, his claws digging underneath the opening in his armour plate and tearing it off without much difficultly. Luckily for Charon he didn't exactly need the armour in his form, but as he blearily looked over the blue skins' shoulder and saw the two greens raising their weapons, he quickly realised what a vulnerable position he was in. Thinking quickly he used his wings to throw himself back and to his feet, but as he did the blue skin sunk two handfuls of claws deep into his chest. He cried out in agony, but almost instinctively the pain manifested into anger, his eyes filling with rage as a sudden surge of energy powered through his body. He spun and lunged forward, his wings flapping to give him flight as he shot off away from the other men with the blue skin still attached to his chest. Suddenly, the spiked tips of Charon's wings plunged deep into the man's shoulder blades, causing him to scream out in pain and remove his claws to try and pry himself free. But Charon wasn't done. He dropped to the ground, now further down the path, and forced the blue skin to the floor, immediately plunging his own lengthy claws straight through the man's chest. A horrible noise came from the man and filled the air as purple blood erupted around Charon's fingers, but the noise only lasted a few seconds before the red skinned Dohlkai lunged forward at the man, his sharp set of canine teeth ripping clean into his throat. Charon chomped down, then ripped out more than half of the man's neck with only his teeth before spitting it out on the path, still glaring down at the now very dead Dohlkai. Slowly and deliberately he stood up, purple blood leaking down from both his mangled eye and the numerous claw marks in his chest as he turned to look at the two bulked up green skins, grinning sinisterly as he watched them falter hesitantly.