The Red Hand

"Oh, you've got to be-" Camilla didn't even have a moment to retort before the Orochi's eight heads fired a barrage of energy at her; the Lich barely managing to avoid a direct hit.

*BOOM*

The blasts vaporized a huge chunk of both the monsters and Dwarven soldiers that had ventured out of the Highway tunnel, even scorching the Lich despite her having taken no strikes head on.

"Where in the Hells did this monster come from?!?" Camilla yelled as she quickly sat up after tumbling, narrowly avoiding a blast of lightning from the sixth head as she leaped out of the way.

{I thought I heard a voice not long after it appeared. It's just as I suspected, there IS some intelligence leading these things. But just what manner of beast is this?!? I've never seen something that looks like the combination of a Hydra and a Dragon! And why is it deep underground with those wings?!?} (Camilla)

"Whatever, I guess I'll have to kill this thing and find out exactly what's going on." Camilla smirked, her nonexistent blood on fire from the thought of fighting such a powerful creature. "This should be easy. If it works like I think all I gotta do is take its heads off." She said as the Orochi landed not that far away from her, its form towering over her as its heads turned toward the Highway entrance. "Ignoring me?" She clicked her tongue as the Orochi channeled a variety of elemental attacks in its mouths, only then realizing that she wasn't being ignored. "Oh Hells!" She turned to warn the remaining Dwarves to run, but it was too late as a moment later the Orochi unleashed eight different elemental attacks that combined and flowed down the Highway tunnel, vaporizing anyone unlucky enough to be caught in its path before exploding violently and collapsing a huge section of the mountain, trapping Camilla in the Cave and cutting her off from any further reinforcements.

*WOOSH* *BOOM*

"Well, that's not great." Camilla growled as the Orochi seemed to laugh at her frustration. Fleeing was always something on her mind due to the unknown quantity before her, but now she had no way to do so without causing problems. As a Lich, she could dissipate her body and return to her Phylactery, but that would temporarily weaken her and render her unable to return for weeks if not months until she was properly nourished. Naturally, this would mean the end of the Dwarves and a mission failure, which would jeopardize her position in Fhoulun given that failure was not tolerated. "I guess there's nothing else to do but to fucking do it!" She roared before flashing toward the Orochi at lightning speed, swinging her scissors and lopping one of its heads off with a single strike and bringing it to the ground with a large bang.

*THUD*

"Hah! See! You're all big and scary but in the end you're not so tough!" Camilla gloated at her victory as she dodged a tail swing and several other blasts for the remaining heads. "Now to get rid of the other... What?!?" She yelped in surprise as the removed head dissolved into mist that reintegrated back into the Orochi as if it had never been removed. "So you really are some kind of annoying Hydra." She growled as the Orochi, again, laughed at her before tossing several blasts of fire and ice, which proved difficult to dodge due to the sheer quantity of attacks fired.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"How annoying!" Camilla yelled as she ran along the walls of the Cavern, moving as fast as she could to avoid the continuous stream of attacks from the creature.

{At least it seems pretty simple-minded. Shooting blasts over and over again like that is easy to avoid, and I've already proven I can remove its heads with my blades. Now all I need to do is take them all down at the same time just like fighting a Hydra. Yeah, I've got this one in the bag.} (Camilla)

"Stupid monster! Don't think I can't fire back too!" Camilla laughed as she channeled magic into her scissors and sent streaks of black, blade-like blasts toward the Orochi, which were unexpectedly struck down by a smack from its tail. "Oh? Then how about this?!?" She yelled as she jumped off the wall, spinning her blade around her in a circle, which formed a ring of magical electricity. "Chain Lightning!" The ring twisted and crackled with power that surged toward the Orochi in dozens of individual bolts that zig-zagged until reaching their target, striking the Orochi's main body and causing the massive beast to screech in pain.

*GAAAAAOW*

"Hah! Like that?" Camilla laughed as she landed. "See, you're not so-" Her gloating was interrupted by a massive stone spike that shot from the ground, nearly impaling the rabbit and delivering a glancing blow that caused a small amount of dark haze to leak from the wound on her leg. "Bastard!" She cursed the Orochi as she leaped away, only to find herself surrounded by dozens of magical circles containing a variety of different elements. "Shi-"

*BOOM* *FLASH* *CRASH*

In an instant, the Orocho unleashed a torrent of magical attacks that engulfed the Lich in a barrage of spells. Light magic was particularly effective against Camilla, since she was an undead, and was interwoven with just about every single spell cast by the beast. Not expecting such complex casting, Camilla was caught entirely in the open, and while she was a skilled mage in her own right, she couldn't stop all of the Orochi's attacks with her barriers and was pounded into the ground by an unrelenting avalanche of magic.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"You... Bastard..." Camilla huffed as she resurfaced, escaping underground with her magic and reappearing a distance away, visibly damaged. Dark haze poured from the numerous wounds on her body, and her hoodie was in tatters, revealing a thick leather body suit underneath that served as her actual armor. Her anger amused the Orochi, who again seemed to laugh at her as its heads readied another barrage of blasts. The monster was more than willing and able to use its massive frame in close-quarters combat, but that was not what it preferred since its magical prowess was far and away its most potent form of attack. Combine that with the fact that undead creatures like Lichs heavily resisted physical attacks without light magic enhancement, and it was no wonder the creature decided to keep her at range.

{I need to be careful, too many attacks embedded with holy magic will actually kill me, and that thing has more than enough power to use it effectively. Dammit, I'd rather leave right now but that means the Dwarves will die and my ass is as good as dead too. Ugh... I guess I have no choice, I'm going to need to give this fight my all if I hope to win.} (Camilla)

“Okay. Okay. Okay.” Camilla calmed herself down as she separated her scissors into the individual blades and flourished them before taking a low stance. “I just need to take its heads off in rapid succession. Easy enough. Its no different than clipping grass.” She sighed.

{Grass that can vaporize entire mountains...} (Camilla)

Camilla knew that fighting the Orochi head on was going to be difficult if not impossible. Her initial attack that removed its head was likely a success due to its surprise factor and she figured that such a reckless charge wouldn't work again. Thus rather than try and repeat such a straight forward method of attack she figured that changing things up would be for the best.

“Now, let's go.” Camilla said as she took off running, followed closely behind by another barrage of elemental attacks from the Orochi.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

“Keep firing, you stupid lizard. Keep firing.” Camilla said as she stopped dead in her tracks and used one of her blades to absorb an electrical blast while the other smacked a fireball back at the Orochi like a baseball bat. “Take this one too!” She yelled as she spun to dodge another blast and redirected the lightning right back at the head that fired it., destroying the head

*CRACK* *BOOM*

“That's one.” Camilla said as she raced toward the Orochi, digging her blade into the ground and slashing it forward to shoot a barrage of sharp rocks imbued with magic. Seeing this, the Orochi responded with a fire blast to vaporize the rocks, but this was exactly what the Lich had been waiting for. The moment the fireball struck the rocks it created a large blast that obscured the battlefield with dust, and the Lich took advantage of this by burrowing herself under ground, confusing the Orochi who scanned the area, unable to find her.

“Seems like you could stand to work on your detection magic.” Camilla smirked as she erupted from the ground behind the Orochi, catching it off guard as she shot out of the air and sliced three of its heads off in quick flurry of strikes.

*SLICE* *SLICE* *SLICE*

“That's four down, only four to go.” Camilla smirked as she kicked off the Orochi's body just as a series of magic circles formed around her and let loose a barrage of dark magic blades that tried to cut her to ribbons. With half its heads missing the Orochi screamed in pain, rampaging as its remaining heads fired wildly in an attempt to drive the Lich away. “Don't go losing your heads now.” She laughed at her own poor joke before back flipping away to avoid a large ice beam shot from one of the remaining heads.

{Not bad, not bad. It seems like it can't regenerate its heads if I keep up the pressure, so let's do just that.} (Camilla)

Deciding to not give the Orochi a moment's rest Camilla pressed the attack, tossing one of her blades toward the rampaging monster like a spear and impaling one of its eyes.

*GAAAAAAW*

“Don't worry, the pain will be over soon!” Camilla roared as she stomped her foot and channeled her magic into a magic circle above the wounded head, calling down a lightning bolt that directed itself through the blade, frying the head with magic power. “And that's five.” She said before using magic to return the other half of her weapon to her hand. “Just three more.” She said aloud as several dozen magic circles appeared around her. “Still got some fight in you, huh?”

*BLAZZ* *WOOSH* *ZAP*

The Orochi's counter attack was fierce, and from what Camilla could tell the loss of its heads did nothing to diminish its overall magical power. The rapid series of magical attacks was taxing to avoid, and combined with the fact that she'd used quite a bit of magic in rapid succession to destroy most of its heads meant that the Lich was slower than she was previously, which lead to her taking a more blows than she would've liked.

{I need to end this soon. I have a feeling that this thing will win in a war of attrition.} (Camilla)

Putting as much magic as she could into her legs Camilla ran back toward the Orochi while avoiding its unrelenting magical barrage. Jumping, twisting turning and leaping to avoid its attacks as she approached the creature, Camilla movements were like a dance and while still taking a few hits, none powerful enough to stop her. With only three heads left the Orochi seemed to be on its last legs, and Camilla had no desire to extend this battle a moment longer. Channeling magic into her blades they began to glow white hot as they radiated enough heat to combust any poor plant life that happened to be close by before erupting in white flames themselves.

“You were a good opponent, but this ends now!” Camilla roared as she flashed forward, spinning around one of the remaining heads and slicing it to ribbons before shooting into the air, kicking off a magical platform she created and doing the same to the second to last head and landing on the ground directly in front of the Orochi, the great beast only having one head remaining. “You're all alone, buddy. What do you say I send you to be with them?” She laughed as the final head shot a blast of flame toward her, which she leaped into and swam through like a hot river of flame before appearing directly above the final head. “Buh-Bye.” She smirked as she went in for the final blow, certain that this was the end. An unfortunate assumption that others had made when fighting the Orochi; something which cost them their lives.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

As soon as her blade touched the neck of the final head, the other seven regenerated full and swarmed her, blasting the Lich with a barrage of powerful magic which sent her flying into the ceiling. The blast fused together all eight elements at the Orochi's disposal and formed together into a single multi-colored attack that struck the Lich dead on just as she tried to back away.

*WOOSH*

Unbeknownst to Camilla, the Orochi was designed to abuse the assumption that destroying its heads was the way to destroy it. It would show its opponents its regeneration ability early on in a fight and allow them to strategize a way to defeat it, usually by cutting its heads off in quick succession, which would invariably result in them closing in for a final kill after destroying the other seven. At this stage most people would have their guard down, assuming that they'd won. Taking advantage of this the Orochi would unleash its most potent weapon, a combination attack from all eight of its heads channeling the most arcane variations of their elements in a single blast that merged together in a rainbow of destruction. Alice had nearly fallen prey to the same fate when she battled the Orochi in FWO, but Alice was smart enough to understand that she was being played by the great beast. She knew understanding that something that intelligent would never allow itself to be harmed so easily or fall into a primal rampage that left it vulnerable to an easy defeat.

Luckily for Camilla, the blast did not do her in. She'd channeled just enough her magic into a shield at the last possible moment, but it could not protect her from all of the damage. Her body was even more damaged than before, with her left arm having been blown clean off; leaving a dark haze trail as it tried to reconstitute itself.

*HA* *HA* *HA*

The Orochi's deep laugh echoed throughout the cave, the sound of its mockery driving the Lich mad as she plummeted to the ground, landing with a hard thud. She could handle losing to an opponent, but having them laugh at her and look down upon her was too much to bear and it only served to infuriate her further.

"Do you think you can get away with this? Mocking me!" Camilla roared as wobbled to her feet as even more black haze exploded from her severely wounded body. "I'll fucking end you, lizard! You ain't shit! I've fought much stronger monsters with both hands tied behind my back!" The Lich screamed as she raised her remaining hand above her head and channeled a large amount of power into a black sphere of energy that crackled with lightning. "NAH, FUCK THAT! BIGGER!" She said as the sphere expanded in size. "BIGGER!" She yelled again as the sphere, which grew further. "BIGGER!" Camilla channeled still more power into the ball, causing it to grow to the point that it was just bout as large as the Orochi itself still as she floated into the air. "Perfect." She smirked before tossing the massive sphere of energy toward the Orochi, who responded by firing the same beam attack that it had just used for a second time to block the sphere.

*BOOM* *BUZZ* *ZOOM*

"Nah! I've got you now, lizard!" Camilla swung her half reformed arm out and channeled another spell, which materialized as beams of black energy around the Orochi, which flew forward and impaled it all along its body. The pain caused by the unexpected attack caused its blasts to weaken, and allowed the Lich's attack to break through the stalemate'd beam struggle. "Now! Fucking die, you bitch!" She screamed as the sphere impacted the Orochi, creating a huge explosion that rocked the cavern to its very core and threatened to collapse the entire mountain on top of them.

*KABOOM*

"See, you weren't so tough." Camilla said triumphantly as she floated to the ground, visibly heaving and wheezing due to exhaustion. "I just had to actually try... Put my back into it..." She said as she began limping toward the Highway entrance on the opposite side of the cave, deciding to escape through there and double back on the surface. That attack had taken almost her entire magical reserves, and as a being made of magic getting that low was dangerous since it could easily force her back to her phylactery. That was why she'd refrained from using such a flash attack until now since if it didn't work she'd be guaranteeing her own death.

{Dammit... That thing... Just what the hell was that anyway? And where in the Hells did it come from? It took me literally pouring everything into that blast to kill it! Just you wait, Monster Queen, when I find you...} (Camilla)

"Whatever... I'll deal with that whole problem later. At leas this proves that there's something more than just mindless monsters." Camilla said as she continued walking, kicked up dust from the explosion making it hard to see. "That voice, that stupid monster... There's definitely something more going on here, and I-"

*FWICK*

"Gack!" Camilla yelped in pain as a large, silver blade ran her through from the back. She hadn't sensed anything and was completely caught off guard as the sword skewered her. "W-What? What the Hells is..."

"I should commend you for actually defeating the Orochi." Alice said as she slowly approached the Lich from behind, still transformed in her Miko appearance. "I thought that its power would be more than enough, but it looks like I misjudged you again." She said as she blew away the dust around them with her fans, revealing that the Lich was surrounded by Black Company and completing her encirclement. "To make up for that mistake, I' believe that I'll finish you off, personally." Alice said as she snapped her fan shut and pointed it at Camilla, who, for the first time in a very long time, began to fear for her life.

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