The Fired Giant

Narrator's Note//: Hey everyone! Been a long time huh? I really I owe an explanation. Basically? I lost a lot of motivation for everything, not just writing, and I became so burnt out on life that I couldn't be bothered to do literally anything. I would write here and there, but nothing major until recently.

Now, unfortunately I'm not 100% really back to where I was, but I'm damn sure not gonna leave it for this long again. I've still been also creating ideas for other stories as well, so hopefully I can get one of those done pretty soon to help with burnout of one story.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I'll see you in the next chapter!

Lava pools in new and old wounds, burning brighter than the rest of the hell-water below. Veins branching from the wounds carry the same lava, glowing through the new abyssal black skin. Eyes glow devilish, as red as the blood that was spilled minutes earlier. Fingers as boney as the mountains they all currently stand in, and seemingly just as long. Bright tears from evil eyes stand still after running halfway down the corrupted skin of the face that stares through the giant in front of her.

The Queen's eyes examines the transformed body in front of her, failing to hide the look of shock on her face.

"So, how about it, your majesty? Or will you attempt to run and die tired like the rest of the people who you lead to certain ****?" The distorted voice warbles.

"Hilfa..." Is all the Queen can let out upon seeing this transformed version.

"Your majesty!" Musha calls out from behind as everyone else looks on at the changed mage.

The being that used to be Hilfa sees Musha rapidly descending the wall along with the other giants. "You have a choice to make right now, Queen. You either let your dogs come and fight this war with you, and end up slaughtered like lambs in a den of werewolves, or you call them off, and only you meet your demise."

A few seconds later, Musha thuds onto the ground before taking off towards the Queen and whatever Hilfa has become, but the advisor stops dead in her tracks as the Queen lifts her hand. "Musha! Don't come any closer!"

"Your majesty!" Musha begins to plead.

"MUSHA! Stand down! That is an order from your Queen!"

Musha stands in shock, those ten words making her feel ill. Stunned. Heartbroken. However, no matter how much Musha wants to run forward and protect the Queen with all her might, she can never disobey the Queen's orders, not out of obligation, but because of what she feels.

"It seems you have made your choice. If it is any consolation, there was no correct choice to make." Hilfa says with the confidence of someone who has already won.

"There's only been one choice to make." The Queen says before she quickly swings, aiming for Hilfa's neck.

Before the Queen can even get the metal close to the skin, Hilfa makes a swift motion, entirely missable if you blinked at the wrong moment, and as Hilfa's hand stops, the Queen's hand that holds the sword falls to the floor, no longer attached to the arm.

The Queen yells in gut-wrenching agony as she grabs at the dismembered end of her arm as blood begins pouring out.

"CHAXAR!" Musha shouts as she runs forward, but Hilfa's manipulation of the volcanic rock around her knocks Musha to the floor with a rocky uppercut.

The others giants quickly begin making their way back down with the others readying themselves for another round.

"Look at that, your highness. Your clan is rushing to their inevitable demise, all for you. Tell me; why do you deserve such a privilege? To have others run towards certain **** just for you. To me, it just looks like another form of power, not unlike mine. I can command the elements of this volcano and use them for whatever I desire, but you? You command those brain-dead fools to sacrifice their own lives just so you can survive another day. It's honestly sickening how long I spent thinking you were a good leader. Now, I truly see you for what you are. You are nothing more than a-."

Hilfa's head rocks back after the Queen's left hand connects with her chin with thunderous ****. "Do you ever shut up?!"

Hilfa begins chuckling. "Marvellous. You just made me bite off a chunk of my tongue. Unfortunately for you, such pain is nothing more than a mere nuisance for me now." Hilfa then spits out the bloody chunk of her tongue at the Queen's chest, leaving a splotch of blood before the chunk of tongue falls to the ground.

The Queen still holding the bleeding nub on the end of her right arm, sees her sword still in the clutches of the dismembered hand, and tries to make a mad dash for it. She takes a few steps, trying to re-arm herself as quickly as possible, but Hilfa used her magic to send a large rock into the Queen's chest, sending her back a few feet.

"What did you expect would happen? You would pick up the sword and vanquish the evil like a storybook hero? You absolute fool. You would bleed out before even marking me with that letter opener." Hilfa then sees that the giants and others have managed to get back down, and are beginning to rush over. "Well, it seems like you have a few more moments to draw breath. I will be sure to grant them a swift, warriors ****. However, for what I will do to you? You may want to let yourself bleed out as quickly as you can."

With those words, Hilfa begins walking towards the incoming combatants, ready to dispatch of them like they were flies, and she holds the swatter.

The group and the giants all see Hilfa walk past the seemingly **** Musha, and continuing towards them with an eerily calm expression on her face.

"Does anyone have a plan?" John asks as they all ready their weapons.

"I do! We kill the bitch!" One giant says before running towards Hilfa with her axe ready to cut the mage down. Unfortunately for the idiotic giant, two spikes shoot from the floor, stabbing through the giant's torso and neck.

"That worked out well." Kira comments.

Before anyone else can say anything, Clarva steps forward. "Listen up! We beat her by overwhelming her before. Let's do it again. Those with me, spread out and make sure she doesn't skewer you!"

Clarva's smashes her shields together before letting out a roar, signalling another charge, but this time, the giants follow her lead.

As Clarva and the giants spread out while running towards Hilfa, John, Kyuala, Amilia, and Kira make their on advance a few seconds later, hoping the giants are enough of a distraction, so they don't become involuntary scarecrows.

Hilfa catches a club being swung at her with ease before her hand glows slightly. Stone rises up from the ground, quickly enveloping her foot before shooting up her leg and body, getting to her arm in a mere second. The stone zooms towards Hilfa's hand before transferring over to the club.

The giant holding the club is barely able to see the stone scurry over the weapon before it makes its way onto her arm. The giant begins to panic, dropping the club before grabbing at the stone which is beginning to harden.

The giant soon realizes she made a mistake as the stone has also made it onto her left arm. Both arms are quickly entirely covered in the stone, and it hardens just as quick as it spreads. The giant quickly drops to her knees due to the weight of the stone on each arm, but it doesn't stop there. The weight actually keeps on getting heavier until the giant's arms begin stretching more and more.

The sound of blood-curdling screams can be heard behind Hilfa as the giant's arms begin tearing off. The giant soon falls back after a long echo of ripping flesh and agonized screams, but with both arms completely ripped off, the giant quickly succumbs to the blood loss.

Another giant is swiftly slapped away with ease by Hilfa, who just looks to be more annoyed by her attackers than anything else. Hilfa follows up by pushing away a few more giants before trying to stop on John and the others. Even the magic from the elves and fairies barely get acknowledgement from the charged up giant.

"Such fantastic coordination." Hilfa says sarcastically. "It astounds me just how weak I was before to be overwhelmed by this hopeless ****. However, I can assure you all that it will not be so easy this time around."

A stone spike shoots out from the wall beside Clarva, but the half-giant is quick to block it with her right shield. Another spike is quickly fired from above, ready to go straight through her skull, but Karray manages to break it with a glowing fist.

"Hey! Nobody hurts Clarva, but me!" The pixie shouts.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but can it wait until after we deal with her?!!" Clarva shouts back to her best friend.
Hilfa doesn't respond to the exchange between the friends as she just kicks Kira, sending the centaur into Kyuala, and taking the two out.

Amilia and John try to rush over to check on the two, but Hilfa sends a decent sized chunk of rock at them. John is quick enough to get a ward up, but it's not strong enough to hold completely as the impact causes John to crash into Amilia.

Giants are knocked down, some with hard-hurting strikes, and others with potentially fatal blows if they're not treated soon. It's not long before only Clarva, Terra, Virra, Lani, and Karray are left standing.

"Hey, C, I don't wanna be the bearer of bad news, but you're kinda the only one left that's around her size!"

"Thank you for the observation, Karray, but I can see that!" Clarva shouts back before clashes her shields together. "Alright, tiny! I'm really sick of your shit!"

"As am I, half-breed. So, let us finish this quick, so I can dispose of you, and your gaudy friends."

Clarva rushes forward, her shields breaking through any stone that Hilfa throws her way. As the half-giant rushes forward, Terra and Virra continue their steps at distracting Hilfa. Terra changes her tactic from using large rocks to make a big impact to throwing smaller rocks, but much faster than before. Virra continues her attempts to take out Hilfa's eyes, but she's quickly running out of arrows as Hilfa keeps snapping them like they're less than twigs.

Hilfa blocks some incoming rocks send by Terra, but the distraction is enough for Clarva to drive her right shield into Hilfa's chest, sending the transformed giant back a few steps. Clarva rushes forward for a second attack, lunging with the left shield this time, but Hilfa catches it.

"If you think this is going to be as simple as just hitting me again, you are sorely mistaken, half-breed."

After those words, Hilfa uses her trick from earlier, and Clarva notices stone shooting towards the shield. Clarva lets the aforementioned shield go, and it dissipates into smoke, but before she can follow up with another strike, Hilfa is quick to literally use her head, as she sends her stone-hardened skull into Clarva's.

Clarva tumbles back a good ten feet, blood immediately rushing down her face from the head-butt she received mere seconds ago. Clarva shakes her head, trying to shake out the cobwebs before rushing forward again.

Clarva's right shield is thrust forward with a leaping strike, but once again, Hilfa catches it, and the changed giant smirks about how easy this is becoming. Clarva uses Hilfa's arrogance against her as she calls upon her other shield, hitting Hilfa with an uppercut as it appears.

Hilfa is the one to stumble back this time as she lets the shield go. A few seconds later, broken shards of teeth and blood falls out of her mouth as she stares a hole through Clarva.

"You know, you look a bit better with less teeth." Clarva jokes before licking the blood that lies on her own lips.

"You are going to look better skewered by a stone spike!" Hilfa roars, spitting even more blood and shards of teeth. She then uses her magic to coat her hands in spiked stone, looking like knuckle dusters that Clarva knows won't be fun to take a hit from.

Another volley of magic, along with a few arrows, fly towards Hilfa, but she blocks both with her arm like its nothing. Hilfa puts up a small dome around Terra, Virra, Lani, and Karray, taking them out of the fight for now before focusing all of her attention on Clarva.

"There's no little friends to help you anymore. I wonder how long you'll last in a fair fight. After all, your mother was a great warrior, shame she died like a bitch!"

Clarva laughs. "If you think insulting my mother is going to make me snap, you really don't know shit."

"No, I suppose not." Hilfa says before grinning. "Your father is the sore spot, isn't he? Poor little man. He ran away from here, just to end up being buried in a rockslide. What a waste of a life."

Although Clarva expected Hilfa to start insulting her father, she can't control the furious look on her face as Hilfa continues. "He sacrificed everything, even that very same wasted life for you, and you're not even a quarter of what your mother was. If I could, I would dig him up, just to see how his darling daughter is about to be slaughtered."

"Don't bother." Clarva growls as a slight tint of red appears in her eyes. "Cause you're about to be tortured by him real fuckin' soon!"

Clarva charges forward, lunging with her shields as she gets close enough. Hilfa tries to grab them again, but Clarva doesn't fancy having a repeat of what almost happened to her a few minutes ago.

Clarva's large boot connects with Hilfa's stomach, causing the full-giant to hunch over just a little, but Clarva quickly follows up by smashing her shields on both sides of Hilfa's head.

The sound is like hearing two wrecking balls collide with a cliff, but while it definitely does some damage, it also pisses Hilfa off a lot more.

Hilfa lets out a huff like a furious bull before saying two simple words. "My turn."

The first strike is fast, and Clarva just manages to block it in time, but the second strike isn't aimed at Clarva. Hilfa's stone-hardened boot connects right in the middle of the shields, forcing Clarva to block again, which is exactly what Hilfa wanted.

A stone spike fires up, trying to spear through Clarva, but the half-giant leaps back, proud at herself for already knowing Hilfa's attacks. Unfortunately, Clarva was lead into another false sense of security as a large stone wall erupts from the ground, separating Clarva from the others, which she quickly realizes as her back hits it.

Hilfa's sinister grin reappears as she gathers more stone to engulf her hand before it begins to burn with magic. Hilfa then throws everything she has into a punch, and Clarva is ready for it once again as she quickly raises her shields.

Hilfa's fist connects with the shields, and the sheer **** sends Clarva flying through the wall behind her, causing stone to fly everywhere as Clarva thuds onto the floor.

Clarva's ears start ringing and her eyes feel heavy as her hands involuntarily relax, causing the shields to dissipate.

Hilfa slowly walks forward, looking at the almost certainly concussed Clarva like a predator would look at some unaware prey. She examines Clarva, almost feeling impressed with the half-breed. The Queen had managed to keep up with Hilfa's old form, but for this one? The Queen barely stood a chance. She thinks about going over and making sure the Queen is dead, but she'll deal with that after finishing off the dazed half-giant that's trying to move just a few feet ahead of her.

"Moving is not a good idea. It'll only just make your condition worse. Your head did take quite the bump after all." Hilfa walks over to Clarva's side, putting her foot on Clarva's shoulder, so she can't move. "I will give you some credit, you did manage to hold out longer than the supposed Queen, so you can count that as an accomplishment."

A stone spike forms in Hilfa's hand, the tip of said spike extending towards Clarva's face. "Now, half-breed, do you have any last words? Or will you depart from this mortal coil with a cowering whimper?"

Heavy and rapid footsteps are heard for a few brief moments before a shoulder is thrust into Hilfa's back, sending her flying forward before tumbling to the ground.

Clarva looks up, and sees her saviour in the form of Musha who extends a hand towards Clarva. "Thank whatever gods you want for her need to talk so damned much."

Clarva takes Musha's hand and gets helped up to her feet before saying, "You've got good timing."

"Well, I wasn't going to let her get away with hurting the Queen without getting a pound of flesh back."

Clarva looks back at the Queen, seeing that she is slowly moving. "Is she alright?"

"She managed to stop the bleeding, and as much as I hate to say it, she's weak right now. So, let's make sure this bitch doesn't get a chance to finish the job."

"We're starting to agree on more things. Should I be worried?" Clarva jokes, and it even makes Musha let out a quick chuff.

"I should have finished you off." Hilfa says. "That was a mistake on my part, but one I will not make again."

"Dibs on being the one to cut her tongue out." Musha says.

"Deal. I'll just take her skull." Clarva responds before the two rush forward, but mere seconds after setting off, Clarva's vision gets blurry, and her legs give way as she falls to her knees.