Laura ducked underneath a swipe of the creature's arms and tried to kick its legs from underneath to knock it over. Instead it jumped high and clung to the ceiling, looking down at her as it spit more of the black liquid in her direction. Laura moved out the way as the liquid hit the ground, a sizzling sound coming from where it made contact with the concrete.
Laura narrowed her eyes as she looked at the creature above her and the spot she was just in. Unfortunately she didn't have one of her void weapons on her so dealing with this thing was more difficult than expected. She cursed herself for leaving her bag behind.
It lunged at her from the ceiling, its mandible opened and ready to snap at her. Laura jumped and landed on its back, slamming it into the ground and crushing its wings. She had reinforced both her physical and void body this time, avoiding injuring herself this time around.
*Screee!*
Laura winced and her ears flattened against her head in pain. She reached down to try and pull its head off, but the head had turned fully around and spit at her once more. Reacting quickly she dodged to the side, but not before it hit her left arm.
"Gah!" She cried out retreating as far away as she could.
The void insect got up and inspected its broken wings. It then let out another ear piercing screech as it looked towards Laura; the void insect didn't have facial features, but even Laura could tell it was pissed.
She on the other hand only glanced at her wound, her hand twitching as she held back the urge to touch it. She wasn't sure what hit her, but she wasn't about to let any other part of her body touch it just in case. The only thing she can say for sure is that it hurts. A lot.
"Bring it!" She growled."
As if responding to her words the insect charged at her in a frenzy. It moved faster than it had before, Laura barely had time to react as it slammed into her and they both crashed into the wall. Its mandibles opened wide as it screeched into her face, one of its claws piercing her abdomen. Laura spit out black blood, while the rest of its four arms weren't piercing her, they were holding her against the wall. That was fine.
"Thanks for getting close you fucker." She said as she grabbed onto the arm pressing against her right shoulder and pulled hard.
*Screeeeeee!!!!!*
Black blood splashed to the ground as the appendage was yanked free from the creature. Laura then turned the arm around in her hand and stabbed it into its eye. Another piercing scream as it stumbled backwards from the pain. Laura didn't stop.
She pulled out the appendaged turned weapon and aimed for the other eye, piercing that one as well. The void creature swiped with its claws, but Laura had stepped back to avoid it, barely being grazed by it. The void insect stumbled as it held its head, stumbling into the walls as it went.
Laura quickly reveled claws on her blacken paw-like hands and tackled the creature. She then dug into the plates of its exoskeleton, prying it open as it thrashed beneath her. She summoned dark tentacles from the darkness and wrapped its arms and legs to keep it still. Several snapped, but she just created more.
She needed to end this quickly or risk running out of energy.
She quickly managed to remove one of the chest segments and the moment it was out of the way, she dug her hand right into its chest. After a moment or two she removed a grey orb with a hazy darkness covering the surface.
She then crushed it in her paw without mercy. The creature stopped moving almost immediately after that.
"Hah, hah." Breathing heavily, and covered in black blood, Laura rolled off the creature and laid down on her back for a few minutes. Once she calmed down, she slowly got up and continued her journey deeper into the compound. This war just became far more dangerous than expected. If the White Ash had access to more Hollowed Ones then things just got far more complicated than expected.
=-=-=-=
Thoroughly annoyed, tired and injured, Laura had very little, if any patience left when she kicked down the door to the White Ash General's office. Her inky black eyes with glowing orange irises glared at the older man with unfiltered anger. The man was lucky he only had one of those things here, because if there was more Laura didn't think she would be calm enough to not kill him.
"Who are you?" The General asked, alarmed as he stood from his chair.
Laura didn't answer and just teleported in front of him. She wrapped her transformed arm around his neck and slammed him against the wall, her fangs bared in anger. She was sure he was the General, but she needed to make sure.
"You are General Visky right?" She growled.
"No." He choked out.
Laura growled, pulled him from the wall and slammed him back into it. She could tell from his soul he was lying.
"Don't lie. You are General Visky. Am I wrong?"
"You have the wro-" She slammed him again. Harder this time which caused him to spit up blood, and for his head to start bleeding.
Laura knew by now he was the man she was looking for, but she needed this outlet. So, if he continued to be her punching bag, then so be it.
"Answer truthfully. Who. Are. You?"
"Just a regu-" This time Laura slammed him into the ground, knocking the breath from his body.
She let go of him and watched as he curled in on himself as he tried, and failed to suck air into his lungs. It was pathetic in her eyes. Eventually he did get oxygen into his body, and his ragged shaky breaths filled the empty and quiet room. Laura then turned him over and pressed down on his chest with her paw.
"Answer."
"Fine." The older man spat, a spray of spit and blood flying out of his mouth making Laura frown in disgust. "I'm the General. Happy you monster."
"You call me a monster but then use Hollowed Ones without hesitation." Laura said. "You have no room to judge me."
She grabbed him by the neck again and teleported back to field command. She appeared in an empty area surrounded by tents, and dragged him back to the main tent. Laura was still covered in black blood, but the void creature was still inside and she could blame the black blood on it.
Soldiers moved out of her way as she marched past, dragging a screaming man by the neck. Once she reached the main tent, she walked in without hesitation, and tossed him onto the ground near Iris and the New Verosos General.
The two of them gawked at Laura and the older man, not expecting Laura to be back so soon and looking so… beat up. While she was still covered in black blood, her clothes at the very least were mended, hiding any wounds that might've been visible before.
"This is General Visky. Get someone to tie him up… I need rest." Laura said as she moved towards one of the chairs sitting next to the large table inside the room. "Oh, and Iris, make sure someone collects the corps of the Hollowed One inside that compound once they surrender."
"I'm assuming we'll use Visky here as a hostage to make them surrender then?"
"That is correct." Laura said then had a thought. "Though if you promise not to kill him we must keep our word."
Iris frowned. They had a policy for killing any and all leaders when possible. There were exceptions and she supposed this was one of them.
"Understood Ma'am."
Laura saw this, and stepped closer to Iris to whisper something, much to the annoyance of the Veroso General. Laura didn't really care, she was tired.
"We'll just have him experience an accident later. So he'll still die. Don't worry, I'll handle that."
"Understood Ma'am. I'll get to announcing our capture of the White Ash General."
Laura nodded, sat down at the chair and laid her head onto the table and promptly fell asleep.
=-=-=-=
Iris watched Laura sleeping for a few seconds before shaking her head. She had work to do. She looked at Kathrin who was standing in the corner, but noticed she had already pulled out some restraints at some point. Without a word the rabbit had restrained Visky before anyone noticed.
"Alright, let's move." Iris said. "The faster we do this the better."
"Wait. Shouldn't we check for injuries on Ms. Underwood?"
"No." Iris said too quickly. She cleared her throat and spoke with a calmer tone. "No, leave her… I'll deal with any injuries she has later."
The Veroso General frowned, but didn't push.
"Alright let's get going." Iris said, watching as Kathrin and the New Veroso General left the tent.