Corrupted Heroine! [Frozenflame/GooGirlClaire]

[frozenflame]

Corrupted Heroine!

The story is split up into sequences:
Canon, as seen in the standard white text, and
Bad Ends, as seen in red text

Skip the red text if you wish to learn solely about everything canon to the story

Vanessa Crowell was a dedicated knight who only served one master: justice. Ever since she was a young girl, the redhead had grown up with strong morals and an urge to protect the weak. The girl herself had adorned the title of a "knightress-in-shining-armor," heralding from the fairy tale stories that she was told as a child. The girl had made a name for herself by slaying countless demons and monsters. She fought alongside the greatest of heroes to free towns, cities, and even kingdoms from their slavery. It seemed like at the tender age of twenty-one, the girl had much to add to her legacy. She had remained humble at all times. Those who had met her felt like they were speaking to someone of royalty by the proper way in which she carried herself. In fact, many had even suggested that she rule over a town or city. The girl had adamently denied such offers, choosing to fulfill her one true goal of fighting on the front lines and protecting those that she loved.

One of the recent bounties called for the head of a demonic queen, one of which had a large army of demons and monsters at her beckoning. This queen had ruled over the Northern portion of Le'thae, which was formally a peaceful farming kingdom. The once lush green grass and vibrant forests were washed with poison, and the sky stained violet. Although many thought of this as a metaphor, it was unbeknownst to most people of the actual condition of Northern Le'thae. Those who came close had never returned, so few dared to see if the land was truly terraformed to fit something more suitable for demons and monsters. With the threat of the demonic queen being the talk of many towns, Vanessa had taken up the job to slay such a horrible being.

The redhead set out towards Northern Le'thae. She had adorned a pure white knightly clothing, some with thin fabric to aid in her mobility, and armor in other places to provide her adequate protection from whatever had come her way. Her weapon of choice were two small pistols. Pistols, or rather, guns, were a new invention that had been brought about from alchemy. A few alchemists from a southern country had learned to create a special powder capable of launching pellets at high speeds. They considered this to be a 'hand-cannon', and was a lethal, yet still experimental weapon.

"Hmm... hello?" Vanessa called out while following a straight dirt path. The path itself was cloaked on both sides by thick folliage. High trees shielded her from any sunlight, and only allowing small specks of light to shine down from between the leaves, producing brilliant, and inviting rays of warmth.​

 

[Goo Girl Claire]

The further and further Vanessa would travel into the Northern Le'thae, the more and more she would dive into the twisting corruption that seemed to seep into every aspect of the ruined land. As the knight continued on her journey, she would find the closer that she came to the encroaching darkness, Villages were left abandoned, rumor and legend enough to see people fleeing from their homes rather then dare to test and see if the rumors were true. Although some of those closer to the blight land showed signs of being broken into. Eventually it would give away to endless forest. Roads not traveled in a long time except by the few adventurers who dared to stand in the way of the spreading corruption, only to have vanished entirely.

Even the light above seemed to start to grow dull and pale in comparison. Those precious few spears of light would start to have their warmth slowly drain away. Becoming pale and lifeless light. The trees were starting to show signs of the demoness's presence. Some of the lesser plant life starting to wilt away, grass and leaves growing shades of yellow or even grey as they wilted and died. Some of the trees had strange growths on them, tendrils spiraling around them as demonic flesh started to consume the life that was here. The demon queen's power was only spreading, the entire land rejecting her very presence in this reality.

Nearby Vanessa some of the vegetation rustled. Catching the attention of Vanessa. After her call, she would be greeted only be silence. However as her voice echoed, several of the tendrils seemed to pulse with activity. After a tense moment, the knight would hear more movement in the undergrowth, now behind her, opposite of where she had first heard the disturbance.

 

[frozenflame]

The small bits of sunlight were Vanessa's only comfort in this now-unfamiliar land. Once, the knight had ventured through Northern Le'thae as a child, but those memories were soon wiped away by the horde of monsters and demons that had rushed into her realm. Keen eyes glanced over at the darkness surounding her. Though a wind had picked up, the girl felt uneasy. Blood rushed to her hands, allowing her to surely pull the trigger of her weapon at a moment's notice, while her feet grew ice cold. She made sure to regulate her breathing so that when she'd shoot, she would always be in the position to exhale, ensuring maximum accuracy. "Disgusting. These demons." Vanessa pointed her gun at one of the tendrils curling around the trees and took a shot at it. A loud, piecing sound could be heard as the bullet would find its mark on the parasitic being.

The redhead had no room for mercy for these evil beings. The Demon Queen was her current target, and one that she was more than happy to take out. Vanessa continued following the path, only to hear the vegetation move. She quickly turned her aim to the plant and quickly fired off a round with deadeye precision. The sound of something moving behind her caused the girl to turn around once more. "Who's there?" Vanessa called out.

 

[Goo Girl Claire]

When the bullet lanced through the parasitic tendril, it would be severed cleanly in a shower of purple gore. Even when on the ground, it would still squirm as it was cut off of it's source of life force. Lashing out at the air blindly, it would eventually start to grow and spread out across the ground, feeding off what morsels it could. This deep into These things were tenacious, and the further that Vanessa had come into the forest the more of them she would see.

More rustles could be heard across Vanessa, now coming from a third and fourth direction. All of them were closer to Vanessa then the first one that had caught her attention. Her challenging cry seemed to have roused the attention of whatever was haunting this forest. Shortly after her shouted challenge and her gunshot. As the black powder weapon had echoed throughout the trees a silence came over the forest. But moments later the rustling once again came from all sides, seemingly at once. Out of the undergrowth tendrils, just like the ones infecting the trees lunged towards Vanessa, their length stretching as they slithered through the air.

 

[frozenflame]

The redheaded knight frowned upon seeing the tendril lash about wildly. Such a being was driven blindly by darkness. From the way it moved to the way it stressed its dissatisfaction for being dislodged from its parasitic prey was all too disgusting for her. Vanessa felt no remorse for when she'd finally burn all these demons down to the ground. It wasn't until she felt a strange presence - one that was hidden - driving towards her. Vanessa quickly turned around frantically. Her eyes darted from one direction to another in hopes of catching this strange sensation in its physical form. It was then that the girl could see the tendrils come to life and stretch out towards her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Vanessa pointed her two pistols at the tentacles and fired with cowboy-like precision, striking an coal-stained pellet into the center of each of the things coming at her. It was almost as if the girl was firing as fast as she saw them, firing not only in rapid succession, but also spinning her pistols and reloading a new round. The tendrils would have to come up with another strategy if they hoped to make Vanessa one of their prey.

 

[Goo Girl Claire]

The pistol ball found it's mark, another tendril severing in a spray of discolored, demonic gore. But just like the first severed one, it didn't whither and die. It only found more to feed from, more to spread and continue to define it. But while Vanessa's speed allowed for her to quickly dispatch individual tendrils. The demonic intelligence behind them was familiar with the firearms that the mortals seemed so fond of. Whatever was controlling these tendrils seemed to be aware of the fact that these tendrils continued to grow, and there were plenty of them nearby as the rustling only picked up in intensity. The demonic corruption that spread was well aware of the fact that there were more tendrils, and she would have to reload sometime.

However, the demonic corruption had increased in it's pace. Vegation overwhelmed by what looked like shapeless demonic flesh that hungrily spread across the ground. All around Vanessa, plants and trees seemed to whither and die in a few short moments. Their life force being drained away for some sinister purpose. Visible to Vanessa would be some of this flesh suddenly swelling. A large orb starting to grow as it pulsed with movement. Something was growing... but the relentless assault of the tendrils wouldn't allow for Vanessa to stop and gawk at the sight.

 

[frozenflame]

Smoke filled the air as bullets flew out of the nose of her gun. Each strike made a direct target onto the tentacles. Vanessa tried her best to ignore the disgusting way that the tentacle waved in the air as it let loose its equivalent of what could only be assumed to be demonic blood. The redhead's eyebrows curled at the sight of more tentacles driving out at her. "D-Damn..." Vanessa began to pick up the pace, making a retreat before the tentacles would become too overwhelming. Her heart began to race, and blood flowed to her veins to help with her trigger finger. "Why are they coming at me now? They... don't normally do this." Was there someone behind the scenes manipulating these tentacles, or were these tentacles simply different from the harmless ones she had encountered before?