#hayate only realized just how much blood was on him and what he'd done after he literally punched a hole through 2ft of solid metal vault do

[othersideofthebladecampaign]

Session 31B: Teeth

A group of scared humans, stuck with them in an underground complex, with one of them acting strange? This shit was exhausting. Oriz asked him to watch one of the humans, Paul, who Hayate identified as not truly human. A shapeshifter, but not one he’d compare to himself. He was nothing like that.

And then there was screaming, coming from down a hall, away from where Terrance’s amulet was pointing. Screaming that sounded familiar. Sounded like Wally, Bones, Alar.

A short argument, trying to talk and reason things out, and then Oriz fucking went to Aether, called him over, shoved the staff down his throat and cast fireball. Hayate nearly shouted at him, nearly asked what he was doing, until he saw the pile of ash left behind.

Aether didn’t turn into ash when exposed to fire. Aether didn’t burn. That wasn’t Aether. He put the dots together quickly. Aether had been replaced, someone had shapeshifted into him. When had that happened? No time to think on that.  He was quick enough to realize that if there were two shapeshifters, doppelgangers, there were more. And he was fucking right, with all of the ‘humans’ reverting and readying to attack.

Hastily putting Terrance down, he readied his claws, swinging at the first enemy, who seemed to turn to red mist, and then swinging at the second, who followed shortly. Flicking blood off his fingers, he let out a roar, lightning crackling, facing the remaining nine enemies. “COME ON YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!”

TW Below the cut: Extreme blood/depiction of gore

He was already hurt, but that didn’t fucking matter. They took Aether, and that screaming was connected somehow. He’d told himself he’d get Aether back to Ike, and these bastards were getting in the fucking way.

They seemed to take the challenge, all nine of them lunging, dogpiling the half-shifted oni. But even with the bodies clawing, lunging, slashing, Hayate was able to notice something which sent a new surge of rage and terror through him.

Paul, the fucking bastard. He had Terrance. Had a gun pressed to his head, and was dragging him away.

Everything faded into static, the wounds becoming nothing more then stings, the only thing he recognized was Oriz’s voice, saying he’d help, that he’d get Terrance, and then Hayate’s attention (was it truly his own attention?) focused on the enemies keeping him in place.

He couldn’t swing, couldn’t draw his sword. What did he have to work with...? He’d been told so many times that an Arashi was not an animal, he was not meant to behave like a beast...

But something in his chest, something snarling, growling, baring its teeth just like him, nearly screamed at him to “fuck that.” Terrance was in trouble, Aether was in trouble. They needed him. They needed him and Oriz, and these BASTARDS were trying to stop them.

So what did he have to work with? Teeth.

He barely registered the taste of blood in his mouth, the crunch of bone, the feeling of his jaw unhinging to consume the bodies. One. Two. Three. Four. Lunging, biting, snapping like a beast, one after another disappearing in a spray of blood and crushing of bone. He wasn’t himself, he was something else, something that wanted to tear and rend and consume.

Then there were no more bodies, no more doppelgangers holding him down. But there was still one more.

Still one more, that Oriz had tackled, was ripping the intestines out of, still alive on the ground.

A growl came from his throat, animalistic, aggressive, a sound he didn’t think he could make as he shoved himself to his feet, stalking over to the last one, Paul.

Baring his teeth, he drew back his claws, shoving them down, shoving them into his face, into his eyes, crushing bone with another splatter of blood.

A blur of white. Oriz was on the move. Hayate registered to follow, picking up Terrance and bolting after Oriz. The screaming stopped. They couldn’t be too late. They had to make it there in time... They had to...