Ch 1.18: Starhound

The fur on the creature rounding the corner was anything but natural, jet black with what could only be described as stars on it, small little points of twinkling light breaking up the darkness. The coat of the four-legged monstrosity resembled the night sky more than it did any animal Elaina had ever seen, but the shape was at least a little familiar, the paws and legs of a wolf supporting the body of a small bear that looked like it would almost lose balance any moment, but it just lumbered forward, yellow eyes sitting atop a bearish canine head with four elongated fangs protruding from a stretched, thin mouth. Its mane was its most disturbing part though, a flow of black, smoky tendrils that fell to the ground, pooling at its front paws and then spreading out.

“Starhound!” Carline said, the same instant as the creature let out another of the howl-growls, a high-pitched, beating whine that stuck Elaina’s legs firmly to the ground.

The creature was bounding at Elaina before she even fully comprehended the situation. She raised her hand, conjuring a shackle around the monster’s back leg, running a chain from it into an open door and locking it in place with an iron bar on the other side of the door frame, the starhound jerking to a stop as it tried to pull the iron bar through the opening.

Thank gods I had that duel, that this isn’t my first fight. Elaina had been somewhat prepared this time, had at least some idea what the adrenaline of a fight felt like. She stared at the immobilized animal. Animal? No, this wasn’t that, not even a beast. It was magic, as unnatural as any Aspect. The stars on its coat seemed to move, dancing about the creature as it lunged in futility and made that terrible, grating sound.

Elaina turned back to Carline, who was still transfixed on the thing in front of them. “Good job,” Carline said, “but what now?”

She had a point. Elaina had successfully restrained the creature, but all that meant was that it wasn’t going anywhere. It was still a problem that needed to be dealt with, and as Elaina turned back to it, she noticed it was an even bigger problem than she had originally thought, as the chains she had manifested were disintegrating, falling to pieces as they were whipped at by the falling smoky tendrils from its mane.

And then the second starhound rounded the corner.

“Shit, run!” Elaina said, turning back and bolting. Carline stared in shock until Elaina grabbed her arm and started pulling her along. This is not good. She’d barely been prepared for one, and with her chains being destroyed by the monster’s falling mane even that was debatable. Two was way too many to deal with.

She ducked into a side entrance, beckoning Carline to follow and looking back to the creatures. The second one was squeezing past the first, but the first itself was just breaking the chain holding it back as Elaina entered the doorway. The room was large, but empty save for one dim light on the ceiling, and they had only a few seconds at most.

“If you keep them out, I can try something!” Carline said, panting.

“Okay,” Elaina said, steeling herself and raising her right hand. She willed the chain that had come with her sad excuse for gear off of her arm, commanding it to form a barrier on the doorway, latching it to the doorway and crisscrossing to make chain-link bars across the entrance. She realized the potential of her weapon as it touched the metal frame, that she could attach it, meld it to the wall it was up against, something she couldn’t do with any other chain she could make. And this chain was made of crystal itself, the most durable material known to humanity, so it had to be sturdy enough, right?

The starhounds arrived to stress test her makeshift blockade, one ramming into it as the other clawed over its partner from behind. Elaina looked back at Carline. The Vitalist was focused, staff pointing towards the entrance. But nothing was happening, nothing Elaina could see anyway, until the monsters backed away for a moment. Maybe Carline’s plan is working?

One of the creatures charged the chains, tendrils from the smoke-mane launching with the force of the impact as the barrier jerked forward. The chains themselves were holding, but the doorway itself was beginning to buckle after just the one charge. That starhound backed away once more, and the other lunged forward, shaking the entrance again. They kept repeating, almost like they were coordinating the assault.

“Carline,” Elaina said, teeth chattering, “whatever you’re planning on doing, we need to hurry.”

“I’m doing it, but it’s slow against these things!” Carline shook her head. “Not enough… Do you trust me?”

They locked eyes. Carline was serious, determined, no hint of the meek girl Elaina had met only earlier that day. “Yes.”

Carline nodded. “When they break through, hold one back, no matter what.” Could Elaina do that? She didn’t have a choice.

The starhounds continued to pound at the gate until one finally broke through, ripping one side of the metal wall off as it pounced towards Elaina. She activated [Personal Restraint], freezing herself and gaining increased control over her crystal chain, which she wrapped around the creature as tight as she could, pinning it to the side of the doorway which hadn’t come clean off. The second one still made it through though, barreling towards the motionless Elaina.

Carline rushed past her, stabbing the thorned end of her staff into the monster’s chest. Once impaled, the creature stepped back, looking more confused than in pain. It circled around the room, a small trickle of black ooze falling from its wound as it walked in front of its restrained companion, staring Carline down as she waved it back with her weapon, Carline herself circling around Elaina, keeping in between her and the starhound.

Black ooze continued to pour from the thing’s chest, the flow increasing as the creature stumbled. It looked down at its own blood, then back at Carline, making another dash, this time trying to run around Carline to get Elaina.

“No you don’t!” Carline jumped in front again, stabbing into monster’s flank before it swatted her away with a paw, sending her flying across the room with a scream, staff still stuck inside the creature. The monster jumped at Elaina, but she threw herself to the ground, ending her hold on [Personal Restraint]. It flew over her, careening into a wall, drops of its mane falling onto her, burning her skin, radiating pleasure through her body. She didn’t have time to think about that.

Reactivating her skill as the other one tried to break free, Elaina froze herself again as she stared at the wounded monstrosity. It struggled to get up, falling down twice. The chest wound was visibly larger now, spewing forth bile like a faucet. Out of the corner of Elaina’s eye, she saw Carline on the opposite wall staring the beast down, hand outstretched as it tried to get up one last time before falling into a pool of its own blood, its smoky mane fading entirely, twinkling stars on its body dying out.

“Elaina! I’m sorry, I’m out of mana,” Carline said, panting and struggling to get up herself. “I’ll do what I can.” There was no time though; Elaina needed to do this herself.

With a lurch, the other horror broke free from the wall. Elaina willed the chains back by force, trying to get them to reattach to something, anything, but the creature struggled forward, not allowing her the time or stillness she needed to replicate what she did earlier.

She’d conserved a lot of mana until now by relying on anchors, but physically restraining the monster was draining her reserves fast, even with her current power being doubled by [Personal Restraint]. She needed [Humiliation Factor] too, but there wasn’t a single ounce of embarrassment in her, only fear. How can I do this myself, how do I kill something with just [Restraint]?

The starhound was inching forward, stronger than the output she was able to make, its floating mane creeping closer and closer as if it was being willed forward the same way Elaina could will her restraints. The tendrils started to fall on Elaina’s legs first, searing her flesh, the minor pleasure she’d received before from [Pain Response] increasing but being overwhelmed nearly entirely by seething pain. She moaned out in both agony and ecstasy, holding [Personal Restraint] despite the sensations. If she let up, she was dead.

Elaina stared at the monster’s mane, the source of the tendrils, as at it crawled forward. That was it, the only way. But she still needed more power; she couldn’t focus on the fear. She looked down at herself, imagining the view up her dress Carline could have, the thoughts Carline would have hearing her moan in pleasure at a time like this. [Humiliation Factor] kicked in, only a little.

And it had to be enough. She moved her chains up along the starhound’s body, forming them around its neck, squeezing them as tight as she could while pulling it back, carrying both it and the burning smoke away. It attempted to cry out, trying to make that guttural howl-growl, managing only a gargled purring sound as the cry literally caught in its throat. Carline was on her feet now, moving behind the creature and spearing its hind leg with her staff.

The cry of pain actually made it out, a high-pitched wheezing at the monsters stopped trying to move forward, instead shaking its hind leg back at Carline, who was already backing away to a corner. Elaina could focus now, not on holding the thing back, only on constricting its throat. It jerked around the room, crashing into walls, no focus on the opponents it had, trying its absolute best only to breathe, no other thought in its head.

The beast slowed, falling the ground and still thrashing about. Elaina ran out of mana as the animal started kicking only its legs, but the tight loop around its neck still held until the writhing stopped and the mane faded from the starhound’s corpse, its stars fading soon after.

Elaina ended the now-useless [Personal Restraint] and pushed herself up, heart pounding. “Is that it?”

“Yeah,” Carline said, panting in the corner. “Are you okay?”

“Uhuh,” Elaina said. “I’m fine,” she continued, the last bits of strength and adrenaline leaving her as pain coursed through her body, her vision faded to black, and her falling head hit the floor.