445: Nails and Claws
The second that Beatrice saw one of Asuna’s soldiers get blasted by bolts of yellow light that flashed like bullets, she ducked for cover. And not a moment too soon. Accompanied by an increasingly maniacal laughter that bordered on demonic, the yellow flashes zapped over Beatrice’s head like machine-gun fire. At first, guided by the horrified screams of the palace soldiers, the shooting soon became purely random. By that point every single remaining soldier, seven in total, was crucified to a nearby wall. That was the only opportunity to see that the bullets were in fact long, 50d nails.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Asuna playfully sang with a chilling smile while dragging her bloodied claymore behind her.
The princess was completely unfazed by not only any of the damage that Beatrice dealt to her but even the nails that her sister shot out. Two nails shot straight through her stomach, another one - through her thigh. But after absorbing the life force of whole two men, the mixture of black and red aura flew into the gaping wounds and closed them up as easily as plugging a hole in some dough.
This is insane! Beatrice tried to plan a strategy against some kind of a demonic zombie princess who she already killed two times. She’ll just keep healing through everything by leaching their very life force!
The solution was obvious. Kill the poor soldiers that were kindly pinned into place by Annie for Asuna’s convenience. Just as obvious was the fact that Asuna would not let that happen. The only purpose of those seven men and women was now to suffer in agony from wounds inflicted by Annie, and the smoke that slowly choked them to death until their turn came to be used like life points for Asuna, not before suffering more agony in form of impalement.
-5 HP
*Cough* *Cough*
Toxins, huh? The air was not getting any cleaner. And after starting to literally take damage from the fumes that the other princess spread, Beatrice simply did not have the option to wait. The second that the bullet hell finally stopped; Beatrice rose to her feet—
“There you are~!” Asuna already stood above Beatrice with a slasher smile, and her claymore already swung back for the finishing blow.
“Wait!” Beatrice pleaded and raised her hand, pointing two fingers straight at Asuna’s face, and activated [Sharp Claws (+2)], followed by [Extend Claws (+1)].
Like Annie, Beatrice too had nails. Fingernails, to be precise. And she extended those to the maximum, shooting them straight into the undying princess’s eyeballs.
“GHYAAAAAA!!!!” Asuna screeched like a banshee and dropped her claymore.
Knowing that it was only a matter of seconds before Asuna would heal again, Beatrice [Blink]ed behind the screeching princess and unleashed her [Sharp Claws (+2)] on the unfortunate soldiers one by one, finally putting them out of their misery.
“HOW DARE YOU!?” Asuna screamed (her eyes restored but crying tears of blood) and threw her claymore straight into Beatrice’s back just as the succubus reached the last soldier.
Beatrice dodged the claymore, but she was clearly an optional target. With the claymore lodged deep in the unnamed soldier’s chest, Asuna extended her arm, and the life drain commenced once again.
Not this time! Beatrice rushed straight for Asuna before she could fully complete the drain.
-500 HP
“Ghaaah!” Beatrice gasped for air after a sudden, sharp pain that seemingly cut her connection to her own body.
As Beatrice fell to the ground, she saw Asuna’s claymore fly past her—no—through her. Engulfed in a swirling mist of red and black, Asuna caught her returning weapon with a triumphant grin as she watched Beatrice fall to the ground with a giant cut through her right side and chest.
-25 HP
“Khaaah, haaah,” Beatrice gasped for air, but could not seemingly get any into her lungs. Only more pain as her right lung filled up with blood.
“Now, what should we do with this big-tit cow for all the crimes she committed?” Asuna asked herself as she returned to her creepy, joyful self and skipped toward Beatrice. “Crimes against the Church. The assassination of the High Priest, as well as countless devout servants of God. Killing ten palace guards that attempted to stop her. Assaulted two princesses! And then set the palace on fire to hide her crimes!”
After counting off Beatrice’s “crimes”, Asuna jumped on the succubus, turned her over, and climbed on top so that they both could be face to face before pushing the edge of her claymore against Beatrice’s neck.
“Why it’s almost as if she’s possessed by a demon or something!” Asuna laughed and breathed heavily through her mouth, letting out hot, foul air and drooling all over Beatrice’s face, only to lick it all back up, along with Beatrice’s sweat by using her long, purplish, snake-like tongue.