[ The roots cut away easier now as Liem slashes at them, feeling much softer against his blade than they do against his body. Whatever keeps those roots hardened is struggling now clearly, but that revelation might not matter much. What does snake against him hurts as they constrict and stab in equal measure, and roots pry at the joints of the armor as it pulls him deeper. Roots snake up to his neck like he’s sinking into the moving mass of wood, but the glowing mass is within his reach as Hayame quickly closes the distance herself.
The pommel of his blade smashes into the skull and gives way. The thin bone crumbles like it’s old and brittle. The pommel knocks against the mass of Shards with a crack that hurts in the visceral way their own Shards react to, and the roots react in a frenzy as Liem is pulled under and out of sight.
But it’s so focused on Liem that it has no way to defend against Hayame. There’s a moment of strange resistance as the spear’s blade bears down into the core of Shards, but it’s only a moment. It’s a final defense weakly offered, and the spear pushes through.
There’s a flash of memory again, but this one is different. The moment of that crack, it’s like someone desperately grabbing, carrying with it the emotion of hurried importance. It’s a single, sane presence compared to the screams of before, and it only carries a few words: ”I ran to Meridian”. And an image that comes with pain and fear: a person with a strange arm and a strange mask.
The larger, glowing Shard cracks and slips to fly off into the grass where it tumbles to a stop.
Roots shake and writhe up to Hayame to grapple her as well, but the pressure is only momentary. The roots rapidly go soft, no longer able to apply any pressure that hurts, and they go black as they rot rapidly into a thin, black muck. The body of the creature does the same as it wobbles uncertainly for a moment, but melts away.
All that remains of the creature are shards of bone and crystal, and of course, Liem, deposited on the ground with them. ]
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The pommel of his blade smashes into the skull and gives way. The thin bone crumbles like it’s old and brittle. The pommel knocks against the mass of Shards with a crack that hurts in the visceral way their own Shards react to, and the roots react in a frenzy as Liem is pulled under and out of sight.
But it’s so focused on Liem that it has no way to defend against Hayame. There’s a moment of strange resistance as the spear’s blade bears down into the core of Shards, but it’s only a moment. It’s a final defense weakly offered, and the spear pushes through.
There’s a flash of memory again, but this one is different. The moment of that crack, it’s like someone desperately grabbing, carrying with it the emotion of hurried importance. It’s a single, sane presence compared to the screams of before, and it only carries a few words: ”I ran to Meridian”. And an image that comes with pain and fear: a person with a strange arm and a strange mask.
The larger, glowing Shard cracks and slips to fly off into the grass where it tumbles to a stop.
Roots shake and writhe up to Hayame to grapple her as well, but the pressure is only momentary. The roots rapidly go soft, no longer able to apply any pressure that hurts, and they go black as they rot rapidly into a thin, black muck. The body of the creature does the same as it wobbles uncertainly for a moment, but melts away.
All that remains of the creature are shards of bone and crystal, and of course, Liem, deposited on the ground with them. ]