Dietrich felt the bolt of energy hit him square in the chest. It's blue radiance burst forth as it expelled the energy around him.
However, Dietrich felt no pain with its collision. Just a simple sense that something had touched his chest. The radiant light swirled around him, snaking it's way around his body in an explosion of blue light.
The Thrask ahead of him looked on in confusion, her brow twisting in shock as her desired outcome seemingly did not happen.
Dietrich took one step down the stairs, going slowly even as the blue magic slowly began to dissipate around him.
The Thrask lieutenant charged another bolt of magic energy, this one purple in color. She launched it as Dietrich took another step, and upon its impact between his feet, it released a cloud of gaseous substance.
Even as Dietrich stepped into and breathed deeply, there was no effect that he could discern. He took another step down, coming out of the cloud of purple gas; descending ever so slowly in an unstoppable movement towards his next victim.
Speaking of which, she widened her stance and both of her paws burst with fire. Dietrich paused momentarily as she appeared to strain her body and the fiery magic seemed to grow in her hands.
As Dietrich took another step down, she brought her hands together and he watched as the fire between them grew brightly almost to the point of blinding.
"Grrrragh! Die, you monster!" The Thrask growled in anger as she held her fireball. Dietrich stopped and looked down at her from the stairs. He wanted to test his theory of whether their magic had any effect on them, so he goaded her by keeping silent.
It seemed to work, as she roared in anger and sent the burning bright ball of fire towards him. It hit him square in the chest and exploded, flexing the walls and blowing them out the sides of the building. The ceiling burst with fire, alongside much of the surrounding building as well.
Dietrich turned to see that the entire room that was up the stairs was just not there anymore, and by extension, the brute Thrask that he was saving for later. Both were vaporized by the sheer power of the fireball that this Thrask had thrown at him.
However, much to his surprise, Dietrich was entirely unharmed. He could feel the fires warmth. He could see it's flames and it's light, even as those flames spread all over his body and the remains of the building around him.
"What...what are you?!" Asked the Thrask. Dietrich watched through the fire and smoke of the explosion as Krisch'a's last available lieutenant bent over in pure fatigue. She rested her hands on her knees and huffed.
On his end, however, he was entirely uninjured and unphased by a most powerful and mighty display of the magic power of the Thrask world. However, even as he 'burned' right before his very own eyes and hers as well, Dietrich remembered that he was asked a question just a few seconds ago.
"I am of a far more powerful order than you could ever imagine." Said Dietrich, reminiscing over his ill-fated fatherland. He pictured seeing the Hakenkreuz rise over the rest of Europe as it had years before. They would never understand what it felt like to fight for a dying country. There was no way they could begin to understand the complexities of Earth.
"I walked through the depths of hell to get to here." Dietrich felt joy as his words got their point across. The Thrask in front of him looked up to see him descending the steps unharmed while in complete immolation. He glanced down, seeing that the fire which enveloped him was still burning.
"And so, I have come for you, child. I have come for Krisch'a." He said. By the time he reached the floor, the flames around him had extinguished themselves, leaving Dietrich completely untouched. Simply put, it was as if he was never at the epicenter of a shockingly large explosion.
The Thrask looked up to him, terror evident on her face. She stammered in her reply, clearly seeing for the first time that Dietrich was unlike anything she had ever seen before in her life.
"You...you can't-she's...at Springs Bloom! You'll never get her now, demon!" Exclaimed the Thrask. She appeared to regain her confidence mid speech, and Dietrich truly admired her willpower.
However, he noted that it was feeble in the grand scheme of her life as hers was about to end.
And most likely in a violent way, at that.
Dietrich walked up to her, quickening his pace. He underestimated her ability to recover, however. The Thrask propelled herself away from him and produced a small blade from her cloak, snarling.
"Face me, demon! Taste my blade!" She said. Dietrich stopped, standing to his full height. She lunged at him during this time, springing through the air in an inhuman way.
Dietrich had guessed this was what she would do. He had analyzed her as a sniper normally does to a threat. She was most likely a magic user and was not well versed with a blade, so he would bide his time and wait for an opportunity to present itself for his strike.
He side stepped her at an all too close time interval and she rebounded off a wall, already posed for another attack. She took it in stride, sprinting up to him with a slashing motion from her blade.
Her arms were too short to properly reach him, and she stumbled trying to overextend herself to hurt him. Dietrich saw this and decided that it was his moment to strike.
He grabbed her by the wrist after sidestepping her once more and used her momentum to swing her off the ground. Dietrich then spun around on the heels of his feet and slammed her sideways into the corner of a wall with a sickening crack.
Once she made impact, Dietrich let go and allowed her fall to the ground. He took a step back as she began to gasp. He saw her try to roll over onto her front but it appeared that his strike had done some major damage.
"My...my legs! I can't feel my legs!" Gasped the Thrask. Dietrich stood stock still, not really knowing how to proceed with this situation. He had just paralyzed her from the waist down.
He had not taken the time to truly understand that he was most likely stronger and more physically capable than the Thrask species; He needed to be careful around them or he could cause unwanted damage like he had just done.
The Thrask before him resorted to inching away from him with her arms, dragging herself on the ground. She was heading towards the door, grunting in desperation.
She also seemed to truly understand the weight of her situation. Dietrich theorized she finally understood the fact that she was about to die because she began to whimper and breathe rapidly as she crawled away in a feeble attempt to escape.
"Where are you going?" Asked Dietrich, firmly. He followed her slowly, taking deliberate steps to remain just on the edge of her vision at all times.
The bandit barred her teeth as she pulled herself along towards the open front door. The sound of her coat dragging on wood was familiar to the man even though he had not heard it in quite some time.
"Kasma! Kasma will heal me!" She gasped. Dietrich peered out of the open door, seeing that the fog had not subsided at all since he had entered the building.
"And if he shares the same fate as them?" Asked Dietrich, pointing to the dead behind them. The bandit shook her head and growled.
"You really are a demon if you killed him!" Dietrich narrowed his eyes at her statement, but shrugged it off.
He decided that he did not want to waste any time, so he grabbed one of her ankles and began to drag her out of the building.
She resisted, trying to claw at him while screaming. He quickly got irritated with her ruckus, so he snapped at her and threatened to cut her tongue out. Quickly, she fell silent as she was dragged.
On the way out, Dietrich noticed that there was some rope corded on a nail that was hammered into the wall. He grabbed it and decided that he would hang her from somewhere for the rest of the Thrask world to see.
With his rope and next activity of the day set out for him, he drug the Thrask out into the murky day, only to see that Kasma was standing just outside alongside
"Dietrich! You...I saw the explosion and came running! How did you survive the fireball?" Asked Kasma. Dietrich watched as his feline friend lowered his gaze to the one he was dragging by the ankle.
"What are...Uh, what are you doing with her?" Asked Kasma, quietly. Dietrich recognized that the lowering of his tone meant that he was nervous.
"He may be frightened. It is understandable." Thought Dietrich. He looked his friend in the eye from under his goggles and jerked her leg slightly.
"I broke her back. I was taking her to the noose." Said Dietrich. Kasma seemed to be fairly horrified by his words, yet Dietrich predicted that the felid would have such a reaction. Kasma also looked confused at his words as well.
"The noose? Where...what is the noose?" Asked Kasma. Dietrich cocked his head, wondering if the Thrask didn't know what the action of hanging was.
"She's one of Krisch'a's lieutenants, right? Does she not deserve to hang?" Asked the man. He watched as Kasma furrowed his brow deeper in confusion.
"What does hanging mean?" Asked Kasma, incredulously. Dietrich lifted the rope slightly, shaking it.
"You tie this around a neck and allow it to perform suffocation." He said. Kasma sputtered in disbelief, shaking his head.
"What? I mean...she was just a thief. She never hurt us, but I don't think she deserves that! Why did you break her back?" He asked. Dietrich shrugged.
"It was an accident. I swung her by her wrists into a corner in the building and it must have severed her spine." Said Dietrich. He looked down to see that the female Thrask was looking back up at him.
"I'm standing right here, you know!?" She exclaimed. Dietrich turned to face her, towering above her.
"You are not doing any standing of any kind in the near future. Keep your mouth shut." He ordered. She fell silent and he turned back to face Kasma.
"You had an accident while trying to kill her, so you're going to kill her...slower?" Asked Kasma. Dietrich didn't move, save for bobbing the rope in his hands.
"That was the plan. Yes." Said Dietrich. He had never faced any challenges to his ways and methods during the war. To have it happen now was not a good feeling for the man.
Kasma shook his head, putting his small hands up to the sides of his head.
"I don't get it. This is all wrong!" Exclaimed the felid. He balled his little fists and softly beat them against his head.
"It's all so...wrong. I don't get it! How could she let this happen?" Said Kasma. Dietrich focused on the words, his interest suddenly moving away from the paralyzed Thrask in its entirety.
"Who let what happen, Kasma?" Asked Dietrich. Kasma didn't react; He shook his head some more and looked right back to Dietrich.
"I was taken from my home many moons ago. I prayed to Chirae that she would send her angels to save us from these bandits." He said. Dietrich lifted a brow. He did not know that Thrask had religious aspects to their culture at all.
"Chirae is supposed to watch over us and keep us on the path to light! I don't understand this! I asked heaven for help, but how could she let hell answer my prayers?" Asked Kasma. Dietrich watched as his feline friend looked over to the burning barracks, the screams of their inhabitants having long since fell silent.
"Kasma..." Said Dietrich, pausing. "Does it not make sense that these bandits must be punished for their actions? Did Krisch'a not take you against your will?" Asked Dietrich. He hoped that such a sensitive topic would make Kasma see the logic behind their action, however maddening they were.
"I don't...I don't..." Kasma sputtered, and Dietrich prodded the Thrask below him with a boot.
"You have a heart that is too big for your own good. If it weren't for us, you would still be held captive. Do not concern yourself with our actions." Spoke Dietrich, sternly.
Kasma was about to speak before the other humans canes running up. Katya and Hudson were gulping air as if they had just ran a marathon while Hiroshi didn't even seem fatigued.
"Lord have mercy, Dietrich. Whew! We heard the explosion and came running. It's good to see that you're alright. Who's that?" Asked Hudson. Dietrich shrugged, dropping her leg. He had no quarrel with letting her go because with a paralyzed lower half, she couldn't go far.
"It is one of Krisch'a's underlings. I paralyzed her and was about to hang her somewhere." Explained Dietrich. Kasma mewled and began to silently ramble about demons. Dietrich looked to the faces of Hudson and Hiroshi, who seemed to be entirely unbothered by his words.
However, the one person who's reaction made him falter was Katya. She looked fairly disappointed in his statement and she shook her head as a disappointed mother would; Arms crossed and everything.
"Dietrich...what ever happened to hunters wishing a painless death for their enemy?" She asked. Dietrich stood still and silent; The berating comment cutting into him for unknown reasons.
"Well, it's just that..." Dietrich had not felt embarrassment in years. Yet, he felt his face flush under the ire of Katya, and he felt vulnerable once again.
Dietrich heard a sniffle and he noticed that Kasma was tearing up. The man looked down to the Thrask by his feet and made a decision; One he had not done in the entirety of the war:
He showed mercy.
"Well, this one did tell me where Krisch'a went. Do you think that if we save her, she will have more to tell us?" Asked Dietrich. He looked to Kasma, who had paused his sadness, then to the lieutenant who vigorously nodded her head.
Kasma nodded as well, albeit less aggressively. Dietrich gestured to the lieutenant and at that point Kasma came over and pressed his hands into her back. They began to glow as they had done days before when he healed himself and the lieutenant sighed in relief.
Shakily, she stood up, slowly backing away from Dietrich with Kasma towards the others. While Dietrich didn't like the gesture, he decided that he would let them have it.
"Remember, as easily as he healed you, I can kill you. Do not view my mercy as a weakness." He said, pointing inside the building towards the bodies which lay in there. The lieutenant gulped, nodding uncomfortably.
"Now, let us get back to the others. They must be attended to." Said Dietrich. He stood, watching as the others slowly turned to head back to the rock outcropping.
Yet, the only one who remained was Katya. She put her hands on her hips and continued with her scornful and judging look.
"Consistency needs to be our number one goal because this world is not. Check your magazine pouch, the one you reloaded your rifle with." Said Katya.
Dietrich did so, and opened the leather pouch to see that the bullets he had fired were sitting in the pouch; Loaded and ready.
"Well, this is a new finding. Good for us, but what else can we come to expect?" Pondered Dietrich. He looked up to Katya, and she nodded.
"It is the same for me and the others as well. Our ammunition refills. The American did not run out of fuel for his flamethrower. This is why we must be consistent. If you cannot follow your own rules, then why bother teaching them to me?" Asked Katya.
Dietrich understood where she was coming from. A sense of normalcy was a fair wish for someone to want, and that is why Dietrich did not blame Katya for being as peeved as she was. The new world that they found themselves in was stunning, crazy, and unnatural.
However, Dietrich knew he was very much so set in his ways. If he wanted to amend them, it would take a lot of time and concentration.
"Stress, too." He thought. He wouldn't lie: War is stressful. And he used war as a way to vent, which is partially why he enjoyed killing as much as he did. However, he did not want to expel that piece of information right now for common sense reasoning.
"Stress torments the body and the soul. To relieve that stress absolves the burdens it places on me, Katya. Winning my battles eases tension." He said. For emphasis, he pulled a section of the rope taut between his hands.
He pulled it so hard, in fact, that it actually snapped clean in half. He dropped the material on the ground, much to the shocked expression of Katya.
He walked over to her, motioning for her to walk side by side with him. They were on the path to the rock and they walked through the utterly destroyed outpost, bodies and parts littering the field like a painting of an older generation war.
"The conditions that these bandits forced their hostages to live in was appalling. They deserved much slower deaths than what I gave them." Said Dietrich. He looked into the remnants of the right barracks, smelling the familiar stench of burning fur and flesh.
"And what of the condition your soldiers put mine in? What of Saint Petersburg or Poland? What about the camps?" Asked Katya. Dietrich didn't look away from the burning barracks, even as they walked past.
"I never said those were not appalling, Katya." Whispered Dietrich. He would not lie to his friend about not knowing. He was well aware and complicit. While not biased against any race, he was never blind to what was happening.
"But that is why the snipers life was the one for me. It is solitary." He said. He turned his head to see that Katya was looking right at him, and he guessed that she had been doing so for quite the time.
"I do not hate anyone because of who or where they were born. Even for communists, I only hate the ideology. Remember what I said about propaganda and needing to be careful?" Asked Dietrich.
They were walking further into the forest by now, and were only a few minutes from the outcrop.
"But what of you, Katya? I heard your rifle firing many, many times while I was in the village." Said Dietrich. He was referencing their previous discussions about killing and the emotions behind it.
"Well..." She said. "I observed, inhaled, aligned my crosshair, squeezed my trigger, and then exhaled many times." She said. Her voice was soft as she spoke, and Dietrich guessed that she did not take pride in killing.
She looked down at her hands, and Dietrich saw that there were shaking a considerable amount. However nervous his older counterpart was, she had still performed a commendable job by his standards.
"You did a great job, Katya. You are skilled and it shows. If you are ever kept up at night, just remember the condition that those bandits put Kasma and the others through. Krisch'a was forcing herself upon him, you know." Spoke Dietrich.
Katya looked at him wide eyed, then back to the path. Dietrich saw the others a few hundred meters away.
"I did not know that. It helps a little." She said. Dietrich nodded and the two came ever closer to the camp, seeing that a small fire and cooked food had been set out. Kasma was tending to the others while it seemed that Hiroshi was cleaning his katana. Stretched his back and all seemed well.
Dietrich stopped just beyond earshot of the camp, and Katya did too. He turned to face the Soviet, and softly gripped her arm.
"Thank you for walking with me and talking. I have...missed...being able to do such things with my mother and father." Said Dietrich. His pauses in speech reinforced his sentiment that he was not good at interpersonal skills. Yet, he still felt safe around Katya and the others.
Even though he had an admonition against attachments in war, he felt that this group would be one he could safely grow fond with.
"I always wanted the chance to talk like this with my son one day. It has been hard ever since my family passed." Said Katya. Dietrich gave her a soft smile and tenderly pulled her into a hug before heading to the rest of the group.