The black leather clung tightly to his form, the clothes underneath packed tightly underneath the dark leathers, only showing through in small patches, the leather studded by light grey metal and detailed with patterns reminiscent of a raging storm. This was the first time he had laid eyes on an armor memory and he could already tell, despite its relatively simple looks, it was a far more complex and powerful artifact when compared to even the armour he wore during his time in the desert.
Jasper felt the surface of the armour, feeling the cool leather which had formed to perfectly fit his body, Damian stared at him, seeming to examine his armour from a distance, he had wished for some more time to get better acquainted with his new armour but at this time the sound of metal could be heard from the foyer as the makeshift barricades of torn alloy and old furniture was broken apart in moments
Damian didn't hesitate to fire the first shot at the incoming horde, a dozen or two creatures of all shapes and sizes had finally decided to break down the relatively flimsy defences in order to devour their prey, but why had it taken them so long to enter he wondered.As the bullet ripped through the head of an incoming beast resembling that of a large decomposing tiger,
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Corroded Devourerer]
Ejecting the case of the first shot he readied himself for the next shot, not sparing a second to stare at his young companion, who was currently as still as a board, seemingly in shock.
Jasper was frozen by the fear tearing away at his insides, he had never been a brave person to begin with, he was a small and meek man who had always done what others had asked of him even if it was against his own wishes. He had barely managed to survive this morning after waking up and it was a miracle that he had managed to survive this long, the nightmare should have been his end.
If it wasn't for Damian he surely would have died before ever finding out anything about the strange and wondrous abilities that he had been gifted, those powers had made him feel strong for the first time in his life and the taste of that power would have been like a deadly poison if he wasn't too weak, too weak to act on his own and take his own needs into his control. Instead he stood back, watching yet another person deal with the issues at hand without thinking for himself.
He watched as Damian fired shot after shot at the horde dealing devastating damage to the creatures which were charging their way through. The lights in the building still worked but were dim so it was hard for him to see what was truly happening but he could hear it. The horde was becoming more frenzied by the second, with the sounds of their steps growing closer and faster with each stride, Jasper didn't know if Damian could take out the entire horde on his own, he doubted he could but with his help surely..
As much as he wanted to help, the feelings of fear and worthlessness piled on making it feel as if he couldn't move at all, he could simply run away, he was much faster than Damian and could likely outrun the creatures as well, but he couldn't, he couldn't find it within himself to abandon the man who had saved his life, the one who had taught him even just the basics of his new way of life, he had to fight but could he?
His only option for attack was to get in close and even then if he hesitated for even a moment, planted his feet as he had been taught or simply tripped over his own foot his life was as good as gone, he hadn't had the chance to learn how to adjust to the new way of fighting he would have to adopt, learning to fight without anchoring himself to a single spot would be a challenge, what was that old saying again? The best way to learn is by doing something along those lines, he would surely have to fight again and again in the future, putting himself on the line each time in order to see the next day.
The echoing of the fired shots rattled around his skull, followed soon by the sounds of tearing flesh, the creatures had broken through the auditorium doors and where moments away from overwhelming them, it was now or never, he had no choice it was either fight or die and he didn't feel like dying today, he had a debt to repay now afterall. With this thought he breathed in a deep breath and began to stride forward, with each step he felt his power return, his body once again brimming with strange strength as the cloak of lighting emanated from his body.
Increasing his speed with every step Jasper suddenly felt unstoppable, his fear no longer holding him back but now fueling his desire to live swelled as the clock hung tightly around his body, if he had no weapon to fight with he would simply become the weapon. He almost seemed like a blur, his speed was unlike anything he had ever experienced and with each second the strength of his body swelled as he reached a full sprint.
Damain was stunned, he had decided to move back in hopes of creating more distance between himself and the enemy and had hoped that Jasper would follow in his wake, but instead the young man had foolishly rushed into the enemy himself. Damian realised he had a choice here, he could escape by vanishing into the air making as if he was never there and leave the young man to his fate or keep trying to hold back the swarm in order to provide an opening for Jasper to accomplish whatever he intended to do.
The choice would have seemed obvious to some, Daimian had a wife and daughter to find, he had to make his way to the shelter as he knew the best way for them to survive was for him to be protecting them, he had the power now and was going to use it in service of his family, but he couldn't just leave the young man to die, to be torn apart by a hungry horde of beasts was a truly gruesome way to die, he had seen it far too many times under the moonlight of the endless war.
In the end he knew what he would do before ever having to posit the question, the feeling of leaving someone to die when he had the chance to save them left a bad taste in his mouth, especially if the person was young and full of potential, who knows he may even become a powerful ally or even a friend in the future. For now he was under his watchful eye and even though he wished he didn't have to, he had to trust that the kids plan, whatever it may be would end up working out, making himself unnoticeable to those around him, he prepared to act as support, providing cover fire from the side.
Jasper cursed at himself realising he had jumped into the battle without the simplest of plans apart from taking down the creatures in front of him, it seemed like a good idea at the time but he was now surely regretting it as he raising his hand to strike, perhaps he did deserve to be deemed a fool in the end.
With his arm raised he continued his sprint as it pushed against the side of a large beetle like creature, he could feel the hard chitin of its skull collide with his fist as if it was pure alloy, but despite its hardness his arms pierced through as if it was paper, the soft flesh underneath becoming scorched and torn as the ripped through the creature before its mandibles had a chance to clamp down on him, in the blink of an eye he found himself on the other side of the creature, surrendering it in half. Small shards of cheating and something akin to glass cut across his skin, his body filling with strange power, similar but distinctly different to what he had felt before as the voice spoke out, its harsh tones grated against his ears.
[You have slain a Dormant Monster, Scavenger Beatle]
He paid little attention to the words as he found himself unable to control his overwhelming speed as he approached another creature, this one like a large lanky humanoid with simple garments like how ancient people must have once worn, it thrust its makeshift spear forward, made from ancient driftwood and a sharpened stone tied together by rudimentary string. Jasper could barely react as he collided with the tip of the spear, expecting to be impaled on its surface, but instead the shaft shattered against his leathers, splintering into one thousand shards, it had slowed him down just enough for him to regain control of his speed as he outstretched his arm, tearing through the torso of the creature, watching as its flesh ripped apart, its bones breaking underneath the force of his strike the creature split in half and folded in on itself.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Defiled Huntsman]
Rushing past the end of the horde he begun digging his heels into the floor to cut his speed, carving groves into the floors, the majority of the horde had already rushed through into the main auditorium, he was preparing to run back in as he heard the noise of tearing allow and scraping stone coming from above.That's when he saw it, a creature that resembled that of a spider, roughly 15 ft tall, using a giant skull of some form of reptile as a makeshift shell crawling its way in through the broken roof, its limbs a ghastly mix of green and blue staring down hungrily at the young human below with dozens of eyes as its mandibles flared, the fear he felt in that moment, was unlike any he had felt before.