510 Troublesome Call
Brunhilde’s muscles roared in agony as she struggled to control her hammer. The princess had sent her flying twice, making her weight seem like a trivial matter.
Despite her smaller stature, it seemed the large warrior’s size was nothing if not for show. Katie was gracefully throwing her around.
In one ungraceful swing of desperation, Brunhilde had unleashed all her strength in a feat to hit the princess’s attacking form.
‘I know there is a large power gap between us. I’ve always known that… but you won’t just throw me around like a toddler,’ the woman wanted to scream.
What worth were all her years of training if this was all she could do against the princess? It was embarrassing… No, it was a complete outrage and betrayal of all the years she’d spent in training.
It couldn’t have all amounted to this.
Brunhilde let out a loud battle cry, swinging at the blurry image of the fast princess… and for the first time, she hit something.
The collision sent a shockwave through the clearing blowing torrents of wind outwards from the impact of the attack. Flowers were ripped from the ground and dust violently raised from deep underneath the cover of nature.
When the wind and chaos finally died down, the scene left was bizarre. Brunhilde’s hands were trembling against a stationary sledgehammer.
.....
The force she’d used was enough to down a tree, which meant anything that resisted that kind of force was bound to break her fingers.
Against all reason, the large menacing head of the mighty weapon was resting firmly in the princess’s palm.
Katie had stopped the hammer with the bare palm of her hand, “You are strong, Brunhilde. I won’t deny that. Stronger than most of the hunters I’ve met so far.”
The warrior dropped to her knees, letting go of her weapon and bowing low in submission to Katie’s superiority, “I yield.”
Katie effortlessly tossed the hammer to the ground and placed a hand on the warrior’s head, “You’re strong… and I know it couldn’t have been easy attaining the power that you have now.
I hope, after all this, that you won’t be forced to train your body any more than this dark world has forced you to. Now rise, Brunhilde. We have work to do.”
“Yes, my Lady,” Brunhilde replied, rising to her full height and retrieving her hammer. Now that the matter of who was stronger of the two had been resolved, the warrior woman no longer seemed interested in asserting her authority on anyone.
“Brunhilde, I must apologise for my current confusion but… my awakening has left my mind somewhat muddled,” Katie sighed.
“We thought something like that would happen. Perhaps I can be of some assistance. In the last moments that Lady Ashley communicated with us, she mentioned something about the Rogue King’s plans.
She—She said it was imperative that you visited the packs across the whole world. I don’t know what good that was meant to do but it’s what she said.”
Katie rubbed her temples, straining her brain, “Huh… So it’s that bad.”
After a moment, she sighed and turned to Samantha, “Samantha, I need your help getting a message to the rest of the hunters.”
“What kind of message?” Samantha asked, “And who is this woman?”
“This is Brunhilde. She’s a hunter from a group known as the Bane of Cirrus. They are going to help me end this horrid war,” Katie explained.
“You’ve only returned. Why are you…” Samantha stopped talking when something started vibrating in her pocket.
The woman angrily fished a device out of her pocket and checked the caller:
Director Anthony
She answered it.
“Damn it, Anthony. Your timing is…” the woman froze mid-sentence, her frustrations completely vanishing.
“Where are you, Samantha? We need everyone we can get. It’s a mess… Save anyone you can while you make your way for the Agency,” Anthony yelled over the other side of the phone. His voice was somewhat laboured as he spoke.
Before the hunter could respond, the call disconnected… but not without the sound of a growl making its way through the phone. Samantha stared at the phone in her hand with trembling hands.
“We can still help them,” Katie told her calmly, her eyes flashing a bright blue.
A swirling blue mist covered the princess’s body and in her position stood a slender white wolf, very different from the wolf they had seen moments earlier.
This wolf, whilst looking weaker, bore an equally dangerous aura.
In the next moment, Samantha came to know why it was that she feared the wolf just as much as her normal wolf form. This wolf blurred from sight the moment her transformation was complete, tearing through the forest with incredible speed and agility.
“You… newbie, get this old woman back to the town and make sure she’s safe,” Samantha ordered before blurring from view as well, following Katie’s explosively fast wolf.
Brunhilde stood in place watching the spot the two women had occupied only moments ago, “The nerve on that woman… Calling me a newbie. And you! Forgive my insubordination, but why do you continue to play the fool? Don’t you think you should tell them who you are?”
“No… It’s better this way. I personally stepped down from the position as the leader of the Bane, you know,” the old woman sighed.
“Why did you step down? Katie is not as experienced as you when it comes to leading the Bane,” Brunhilde asked, suddenly curious, “She might be stronger… much stronger but you are wiser.”
“Hmm, let’s see. Katie was the first person in centuries to make my mate feel fear. If that isn’t someone destined to defeat him, I don’t know who he is. I’ve led the Bane for a very long time… centuries. Held back by…” the woman scoffed, laughing humourlessly, “…fear of losing to the Rogue King’s bloodlust.
But Katie… she launched straight in, her determination to protect stronger than his determination to destroy. She stood up against the Rogue King without a shred of fear… and for the first time in centuries, he was the one to show fear. I’ll admit.
Her powers far surpass my own but she doesn’t hide behind them as I did.
I’ve never made a more confident or wiser decision than the day I chose to appoint her the new leader of the Bane of Cirrus,” Fauna sighed.
Brunhilde sighed, staring in the direction Katie had rushed in, “Very well… I trust you will be fine on your own.”
With a nod of approval, the warrior female dashed away from the woman, leaving her in the company of her large loyal bear.
“May the goddess of the moon be with you, Katie Sirius!”