Death Dealer

Berserk

Gath rose slowly from his makeshift bed. His eyes darted around his den wildly, taking in everything. The winged girl still was curled up in a few furs where he left her, his gear was where he had left it. But he could feel something was off. Picking up the large axe he favored, Gath made his way to the hatch that was his door and opened it slowly. Peering out through the crack he could see a woman with greenish blue hair wearing a tattered robe that clung to her shapely body. Despite the darkness of night in the forest Gath could even make out the chitinous creatures that surrounded her, sniffing about seemingly at her order. Gath curled his top lip in a silent snarl at the witch.

Chrysalis looked around, her changelings had brought her here, sniffing out the scent of the Horned Helmet's bearer. Though she knew her magic would not be of much use, she could not trust the mindless minions to turn every stone in search of her prey. The witch turned around about to give up on this section of the forest when something made her jump slightly. A pair of glowing red eyes were peering at her from a hidden hatch on the forest floor. It took Chrysalis only a second to hiss the order for her changelings to attack. As the chitinous minions charged where she pointed the hatch flung open and the large warrior jumped out, his axe arcing through the first two changelings, but embedding in the third's chest.

Gath tried to wrench his axe free, but the creature's plates were holding his axe tightly. A few more circled around behind him and in a final attempt to free his weapon, he kicked the creature in its chest while wrenching back on his axe. The blade flew free, the blunt end meeting with and cracking an armored face as it flew back. Gath regained his balance and continued to cleave through the monsters, making sure to only go for one to two in a swing, so as to not get his blade stuck again.

Gath swung and swung, until he was finally parried by a black blade from a creature that had some gilding on his chitin armor. Gath then took in its stance and apparent skill, concluding this was a captain of the creatures. The creature hissed its challenge at Gath, who roared in response and charged with reckless fervor, axe sailing in a wide arc, shattering the black blade and burying itself in the thick skull of his enemy.

Panting and now feeling the beginning of exhaustion setting in, Gath watched the last of the creatures closely. He was going to need to fight for a lot longer, and he needed to conserve strength. Especially if more of the 'captains' were present among the horde of creatures.

A changeling was felled by a dagger that sailed through the air, whistling as it whizzed past Gath. Gath followed the direction the dagger came from and saw Gilda fly over next to him and stand back to back with him, daggers at the ready in a low stance with her wings flared.

"Thank you for the backup, and watch out for the ones with gilded plates, they are a lot tougher." Gath said over his shoulder as he readied his axe in both hands to cleave a changeling that was approaching him from the front like a fool.

Gath was readying himself to swing when he felt an icy pain slide into his back, barely missing his heart. The large man grunted in pain and surprise as he looked over his shoulder to see the form of Gilda holding the dagger in his back smiling viciously. Gath spun, landing an elbow in her face breaking her neck like a twig. As her lifeless form hit the ground it morphed into the black form of a changeling.

Gath's eyes widened in realization of his mistake. Grinding his teeth in anger and pain Gath yanked the dagger out of his back, blood running freely from the wound. Gath's eyes seemed to glow with new vigor as he felt the adrenaline begin to pump. This fight had to end soon.

With one newly empowered cleave, Gath decimated five changelings in one wide horizontal arc. Only seven remained now, and Gath was not giving them time to regroup. Fear was now sewn on the once leering chitinous faces. Gath felled another changeling with a gauntleted fist that carried enough force to punch through its chest and rip out its heart. The last six dove in, in a last ditch effort to stop the bleeding berserker. Gath took three out on the right with a diagonal arc, pulling his arm back up and felling two on the left with another diagonal arc, leaving one in the middle that was thrusting a spear at him.

Gath grabbed the spear behind its head, and snapped the wood like a twig in his empowered grasp. The changeling lunged at him with claws outstretched, but its razor sharp hands did not make it past Gath's blade as he sidestepped and cleaved both of the changelings forearms off at the elbow. Gath then grabbed the changelings skull and increased the pressure of his grip. The changelings head exploded in a spray of green blood with a sickening crack.

Gath heaved in and out heavy breaths, blood beginning to drip out of the corner of his mouth. Gath spat, his saliva filled with blood. He looked around and noticed no other changelings, just a sea of green blood and gore that stained the forest floor and hung in pieces in the trees.

Chrysalis peeked from around a tree, her form invisible to the naked eye. Chrysalis focused intently on the man who bore the horned helmet. She reached out a tendril of magic to attempt to touch him, testing the helmets powers. The moment her magic touched the helmet it dissipated. Chrysalis furrowed her brow and tried something different. She clutched in her hand the dagger that had pierced his back. Licking the blade and tasting the blood she viewed into the man's heart that once beat the blood through his body. Chrysalis saw a few faces from his past, but one stuck out from the others. A red headed girl wearing simple clothes. The girl had a kind smile, and embraced Gath.

Chrysalis smiled as she morphed her form to match the girl. Chrysalis did a quick check to make sure the illusion held, and then she strode out with a dagger behind her back. Once she was given the opening, she would not miss his heart.

Gath tensed as he saw something striding out of the shadows, he readied his axe, But it fell to the ground as his fingers went limp. Gath could not believe his eyes, His lover from ages past stood before him, she looked the same as she was the last time he saw her.

"Robin..." Gath said, his voice barely a whisper as a hand lifted towards her.

The girl smiled brightly at him, the same smile she always had for him, only for him.

Gath felt a single tear run along his face under the helmet, because he knew it was a trick, and he wished he could fall for it. Gath's shoulders slumped and he hit the ground with both of his knees.

Chrysalis approached the kneeling barbarian, dagger at the ready behind her back as she reached out a hand and tilted his face up gently to look at her as she killed him.

As Gath looked up, he knew he should be seeing the face of his long deceased lover. But all the man saw was red. The world was nothing but shades of red, and he saw only the outline of the woman before him. Gath launched himself forward and back onto his feet, the helmet headbutting the woman, the spike on the top piercing her stomach and sending her into a tree.

"You Dare?!" Gath roared as he charged wand wound back a fist to split the skull of the one impersonating Robin Lakehair. The form slid down at the last moment, and Gath's fist connected only with the thick tree that shattered from the impact as if a bolt of lightning had torn through it. Gath in his mindless fury raised both fists above his head, clasping them together as he prepared to obliterate the whimpering form beneath him. Before the blow struck another form winked under him, and winked out once again with the woman he was aiming at.

The blow met the solid ground at his feet, and split the earth with its force. Gath panted heavily, knowing his prey had gotten away from him. The red in his vision slowly receded to only being in the edges of his vision. Gath began to see the destruction he had caused in the last few moments. The tree was destroyed, and the ground was demolished. He had not felt fury like that in a long time.

Gath began to stumble off aimlessly. He was losing a lot of blood from his back. A wound that serious would not be healed by the helmets minor healing. Gath hated to admit it but he needed someone to patch him up. Painful memories of Robin tending to his wounds were brought back to him from ages past. Only the fury made his body move as the wound continued to weep his life onto the forest floor.

Gath managed to clear the forests edge, and he was quickly approached by the forms of several of the girls as he entered the town.

"Gath, there you are we looked all over for you... Yesterday..." Twilight said, noticing now the blood Gath was trailing behind him. She then noticed the green stains on his arms and armor, that looked like crusted on blood had it not been for the color.

Gath did not respond, he merely collapsed onto the ground in front of the librarian. With his back facing up, Twilight and her friends could see the wound on his back as it bled upon the ground.

"Oh no! We have to get him to the princess. Hopefully she can heal him!" Twilight said urgently to her friends.

The last thing Gath remembered before blacking out was the sensation of being lifted off the ground by several sets of small hands.