Work Text:
“Mmhh-!! Hahaha!!”
There was clashing of weapons, metal against an otherworldly material that mocked a blade, a yellow sword flashed in the air, glowing against the dark bark of trees in the night. There were loud splashes of mud and water from puddles from a previous midnight rain. It’s not uncommon for two men to be found fighting to the death, stranded alone as the full moon is high above. The reason for the fight? Only the gods knew if not the two of them, it was very likely the one who wielded the alien blade of gold had a bounty placed on the other, and it was his job to fulfill it.
The hunter went by the name Caeli, a very infamous name to many foreigners of the universes and The Void. The other? His name would very well be just as another speck of gravel buried under the mud of the clearing of forest to Caeli. Insignificant pest.
Caeli slid forward, trying to land a clean hit on the victim, he felt like trying a different style of slaughter today. Instead of jumping through hoops of portals, he decided to go fully in. And honestly? He enjoyed it a bit too much. The man let out a grunt of pain as Caeli’s golden blade cut into his arm, Caeli felt his chest tingle with delight. Ah how he loved it. It made his heart race like no other.
The fight continued, swords continued to block each attack, and more and more mud covered the boots of the two as they continued to chase each other and run, it felt never ending. This target was slippery, but not as slippery as Caeli normally would be.
Finally, something happened, Caeli had faltered for a moment to gain a more firm footing, but that was a mistake. The target sliced at him, aiming for his right wrist. Before Caeli could think, there were suddenly sparks that lit up the darkness of the forest, and that didn’t come from his outfit or his weapon. The target had chopped off his hand. Though, despite this, Caeli’s eyes twitched, eyes sparkling with hilarity. He slowly began to laugh, before bursting out into a storm of cackles.
The target stumbled back, holding their sword defensively, Caeli got a glance of look on their face which made him laugh even harder. They were scared, bewildered, it was clear that they weren’t expecting his hand to not be made of flesh and bone. It was a long time ago, they were a bit too late to the party. Now they’re unluckily in the aftermath of it.
“Ohhhh poor thing, thought you had the upper hand huh? Hah!!” Caeli cried, before pointing the gaping hole of his arm towards the victim. If they thought his hand being made of metal was surprising, then they’d have a heart attack at Caeli’s next party trick. In an instant, the target was flown back by rapid gunfire coming from Caeli’s arm, Caeli slowly stalked forward, shooting at the arm they once held their precious sword in. He continued to laugh, his heart rapidly ticking against his rib cage as he continued to fire, their arm had to be only blood and bits of flesh now, it was unsalvageable. Yet the sight of it and their screams was like music to Caeli’s ears.
“Aaaah…~”
Caeli finally held off, lowering his hand as thick clouds of smoke came from the arm. He kneeled down beside his prey, they cried out in agony from his attack, writhing in pain trying to grab his previously chopped off hand as a pathetic way to defend themself.
“Ah ah ah, I’ll be needing that.” Caeli clicked his tongue and shook his head in discouragement, before swiping his hand back from them, they let out another huff of desperation, trying to reach out for it, but it was no use. Caeli examined his hand carefully, giving a disgusted look at the fact that they dared to lay their grimy fingerprints on it. He lowered his gaze back down to them, slowly shaking his head again. Very disappointed.
“You made a mess of my arm here, you cut it off so messily… do you realize how much time I put into making this? I wasn’t wanting to work overtime today.” He mockingly grumbled, as disappointed and scary as he made it sound, he could care less, only new and more experiences for his high held interest in machinery. It was no problem. Actually… Caeli’s ear flicked as a small idea popped into mind, he gave a light chuckle before preparing to stand, though he continued to lay knelt beside them for a moment longer.
“Actually, I have to thank you. This just gives me an excuse to teach my lovely kids back home how to make prosthetics. It’ll be quite handy for when I’m not around some day.” Caeli rasped, before tucking his hand into the pocket inside his coat, he turned to face the still restless prey laid miserably on the ground directly.
“Perhaps I should give a token of gratitude in return, here, let me help…” he started, holding out a welcoming hand. After a long pause of hesitation and Caeli’s patience slowly ticking down, the victim desperately reached out to take his hand.
crack
snap.
Caeli stood with a delayed step back, blood flew into the night sky as he raised his hand, holding something in it. There were screams and howls of pain, horror, peril. And laughs of pleasure, glee, and buzzing adrenaline. Caeli had ripped off his prey’s hand with his own spare hand, it wasn’t clean, messy, extremely messy, his shirt covered in blood as he held the hand triumphantly to the heavens above. Pleased breaths filtered by metal just proved how much he enjoyed it all.
“…myself.” He finished. Finally lowering the hand in front of his face to admire his work. He licked his lips, salivating from the hunt. He stuffed the hand next to his metal one in his pocket, it somehow fit quite snug next to the other. Caeli waltzed back towards the victim, who’d die from bleeding out if Caeli left now. But that wasn’t satisfying enough for Caeli. He held his arm back towards their face, and let guns blaze again. It continued until he ran out of bullets, there was nothing left of them now. Caeli let a chuckle escape from his mouth, before blowing away the smoke, and turning on his heel. The hunt was over, and it was a job well done.