Seifer's Sacrifice Chapter 4

Calling forth the power she drew for this moment, the young cadet sent a soothing melody towards the large dinosaur. Immediately, the beast fell asleep, giving Seifer the sign to attack. The young cadet was only tall enough to swing his gunblade to the monster’s shin. With all his strength, Seifer slashed out and when his gun was in line, he fired a round at the monster.

The T-Rexaur awoke from the attack, though only suffering a little scratch and bruise from the gunblade. The monster roared its outrage and with a swipe of its tail, the beast sent Seifer flying thirty feet away from where he was previously standing. Coming around, the great beast came down, expecting to make a meal of the second small creature. Its mouth stopped short a few feet and its jaw hung open and slacked from a second wave of music.

Lightly pressing her feet along the T-Rexaur’s back, the young cadet laid a gentle hand on the back of the beast’s head. The weak point of this monster was the brainstem and a clear shot could put it down quickly. Leveling her hand crossbow, she fired the quarrel pointblank at the beast’s neck. The quarrel bounced off the scales. With a snap of its neck, the beast threw the annoying creature off of it and for good measure, stomped on her with one of its eight foot long claws.

The beast turned around to finish the foolish creature but its eyes closed and the beast was soon in a deep slumber. Seifer wanted to destroy the beast but he was no fool. Their weapons couldn’t do anything to it and his friend wasn’t moving. The T-Rexaur awoke a few moments later but this time, it was alone to enjoy its meal in peace.

A sudden grab literally pulled Seifer out of his reverie, as Raijin dragged him away from the T-Rexaur. As the ex-mercenary bobbed on Raijin’s shoulder, Fujin thrust her hand out and let loose another wave of Sleep at the dinosaur for good measures, making sure it remained in its drowsy state.

The sight of the beast infuriated Seifer. Pushing off Raijin, the ex-mercenary stalked over to the creature; determine that this encounter will be different than the battle with Balamb Garden’s T-Rexaur. Searching through his powers, Seifer let himself fall into a cold void. The power began to build and get colder and colder until the ex-mercenary couldn’t contain it. Out of his palm came a sudden blast of frost and cold that covered the monster in snow and some of the desert. The beast’s breathing became shallower from the blanket of snow.

Raijin and Fujin joined their friend and began searching for their own Blizzaga spells but the ex-mercenary stop them with an upraised hand. No, Seifer wanted to do this battle on his own and strangely enough, he wanted to finish the beast without magic. With a feral growl, Seifer charged, slashing his blade across the beast’s thigh. His growl sounded like a pitiful thing compared to the T-Rexaur’s roar.

The cold brought an ancient, heritable instinct within the beast of a time when the land was covered with the white powder that laid across it today. The roar intensified and the beast moved away from the snow, accidentally kicking Seifer twenty feet away and into the barren sand. Coming up from a roll, the ex-mercenary smiled a cocky smile at the beast. Lifting his gunblade shoulder level, Seifer pointed the gunblade sideways and at the beast while shifting his weight back and forth. The beast seemed unimpressed.

The T-Rexaur charged more quickly than the ex-mercenary anticipated, coming down and ripping into Seifer’s left shoulder, shaking him around in its maw like a ragged doll before spitting him out into the desert floor. Fujin and Raijin were about to jump in there and then but Seifer knew what the two were thinking and he cried out, “No!”

His shoulder bled from the several wounds from the bite and he felt the muscles in his arm begin to weaken. Seifer lowered his gunblade in front of him and with his other hand; he grasped the handle below his other hand. This stance was his rivals Squall’s stance. His old rival always loved power and using two hands on a gunblade would definitely increase one’s power but Seifer preferred swiftness over power. His one handed style did lack strength but in most of Seifer’s battles, he who struck first would strike last. Right now, that statement really didn’t mean much to Seifer or the beast he was fighting.

On the T-Rexaur came with its usual speed and slamming its foot into the ground, pivoting around to swipe with its tail. With a jump, the ex-mercenary landed gently on the beast’s tail and once the T-Rexaur turned around, it seemed its prey just vanished. Up its back Seifer went, slashing with all his might, just below the beast’s skull. The cold may have weakened the beast’s thick scales or perhaps Seifer’s anger gave him the strength he needed to tear into the beast and sever its brainstem. Down came the beast with Seifer riding its back.

The victory was short lived as a larger monster pushed the T-Rexaur off of its back. Raijin and Fujin came to Seifer’s aid as the beast stood up to it towering round form. Green tentacles encircled the large all teeth mouth of the monster and even longer green tentacles appeared as withering limbs that supported the beast. Under his breath, a very disturbed Seifer whispered, “Malboro.”

Fujin managed to throw her Pinwheel before she and her friends were engulfed in a cloud of green fumes that emanated from the Malboro’s mouth. Seifer coughed and gasped as the toxins entered his system, making him feel as if his blood was on fire. A few seconds later, the gas cleared, exposing Seifer and Fujin but Raijin was nowhere in sight.

“Come on, Fujin! We need… to get out… of here,” Seifer coughed, trying to pull his friend along. Fujin didn’t budge and nor did she breathe or blink.

The Malboro crawled slowly, tentacle over tentacle, to snatch up its weakened prey. Again, the ex-mercenary attempted to pull his friend with him but it was futile. Seifer knew that the Malboro’s breath was designed to slow their victim’s down so they could reach them and then devour them. Down came the countless sharp teethed mouth, out slash a gunblade and a shot from the barrel.

Howling in pain, the Malboro recoiled. Not skipping a beat, the ex-mercenary waved his arms out, creating a sweet smelling mist around him and his paralyzed friend. The spell ripped apart their individual ailments, freeing Fujin from her paralysis, straightening Seifer from his poison and growing Raijin from his tiny predicament.

“Yo, Seifer. We gotta get outta here!” yelled Raijin the moment he was at his full height.

Seifer ignored him and pulled his blade out and down, slashing the sand below him and Fujin. A dust of sand inflamed both their lungs a moment later, intercepting the breath weapon that followed. Together, Seifer and Fujin flew from the dust cover, Seifer slashing off a couple of tentacles and Fujin throwing her Pinwheel, which cut through the Malboro’s gums, removing some teeth in the process.

Dancing around the sluggish beast, Seifer grinned, determined to destroy a legendary Malboro. With first hand knowledge of its primary weapon, its breath, the ex-mercenary was confident that he could avoid the breath and the beast was too slow to bite him.

A crack upside the head had him immediately changing his mind as Raijin swung again, catching Seifer in the ribs with his staff. With a sneer, Seifer turned to his friend who seemed lost in thought one second and swinging to take off Seifer’s head the next. Fujin deflected the staff with her projectile, giving Seifer enough time to get under the staff and ram his shoulder into his confused friend. A moment later, Raijin looked questionably at Seifer, rubbing his ribs.

“Why did you do that for?” Raijin asked.

A shriek later drew their attention back at the beast, which the Malboro shrieked again before falling to the ground, cleaved in half. All three looked at each other, lost for words, then turned back to the beast. Behind the carcass, a large barbarian with brown hair, wielding a sword in his left hand since he seemed to be missing his other hand, began mounting the beast like a trophy. Raijin was about to go over to thank him but Seifer stopped him with an outstretched arm. How things been going for him, Seifer doubted this man who just helped them did it just to be of assistance. No, Seifer thought, this was too good to be true, too much of a coincidence.

“Seifer Almasy?” the barbarian asked sternly.

Seifer nodded. Reaching into his pocket, the barbarian produced a bottle of blue liquid and tossed it at the ex-mercenary. Cautiously and leisurely, never taking his eyes off the warrior, Seifer reached down and retrieved the potion.

“Drink up, Seifer. I want you at your fullest potential before we battle,” the barbarian stated, drawing three raised eyebrows towards him.

“You and I…a battle… to the death!”

Chapter 5

All That Glitters Is Cold 4 Fanfic Competition


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