SoloAI - The Nightside - Episode 2

 Crimson Battle

The battle between me and the three Crimson Guards began. I raised my shield and they raised their pistols, but instead of shooting at me, the first Crimson Guard shot the gas lamp post behind me, destroying it and submerging the entire battlefield in deep darkness.

The second Crimson Guard used his weapon, a whip, to try to make me drop my shield, while the third, the most aggressive, began firing a hail of bullets at me. Luckily, I was stronger than both of them, and managed to pull up my shield and take cover to avoid the shots.

However, the battle was not benefiting me, not one bit.

With the noise of gunfire and fighting, it didn't take long for more people to arrive on the scene, attracted by the noise. To my alarm, it was more Crimson Guards, as well as more patrons from the Frontier Hotel. Some of them carried guns as well as knives or whips, and they began to surround me.

I was still on my knees, with my shield raised over my body, blocking the shots and the whiplash. For a normal person, this situation would be hopeless, but I am no ordinary person.

With magic flowing through my veins, I suddenly stood up, using my shield to propel me backwards towards the first Crismon Guard who had shot at me with his pistol, knocking him off balance. I ducked under the swinging whip of the second one, and as he tried to bring it around to strike me again, I punched him hard in the stomach.

I threw my shield at the two men, who were struggling to get their weapons back, and it hit them both in the face simultaneously, knocking them out cold for a few moments as they fell to the ground, their weapons clattering and rolling away from them. This turn of events made the other Crimson Guards to back off, including the last one from the three.

"Kill him!" The last Crimson Guard shouted, running into the crowd. I tried to follow him, but the Crimson Guards around me started shooting at me, forcing me to flee the scene by climbing over the facade of a building and running across its rooftops.

I jumped up onto the nearest wall, and began to scale it quickly, getting to the rooftop in the next few seconds while the bullets continued to fly over my head and strike into the nearby buildings below. I reached the roof, moving faster than most humans could imagine.
I soon found myself far from danger, but I felt frustrated. I was close to finding out more about Sarah's whereabouts, however, I had lost my target. Wherever she had run to, I couldn't reach her now. I had failed at my duty to find Jeremiah's sister.
But I wasn't going to give up. Not yet.

No Rest for Bermann

The Abandoned Church - Made with Centipede Diffusion

The roofs of the Nightside are steep and treacherous, especially when you're running at full speed with a shield raised over you. But I'm used to this place, and as I leapt from one roof to another, I was able to maintain my balance and even keep my feet. 

  I knew where I was headed. I had a friend in the police force who would help me find more about the Crimson Guard. I heard that he was working near an orphanage that had recently closed its doors.

However, while I was leaping through the rooftops, something in the streets caught my attention. There were several Crimson Guards lying on the ground, injured, with their guns lying next to them. I wondered if they had been attacked and taken down by someone else, or maybe even something else.

I searched for the culprit for that massacre, but found no one. I looked for survivors, and luckily, there was a woman still alive among the dead, but badly injured. She was frightened to see me, she knew that I had conflicts with the Crimson Guard, but I assured her that I would do nothing and only wanted to help. Whatever had done this, it could be a threat to innocent people as well.

"A monstrous creature, a hybrid between a dragon and a lion. It killed everyone! It was here! It was here!"

"Wait... wait just a minute." I said. "A dragon and a lion? A hybrid? You mean a Red Knight?" 

 Here I decided to generate a description for the Red Knight with the AI, after ensuring with a Fate roll that I knew what kind of creature it was.

The Red Knight is a horrible beast that wanders through the skies of Nightside. It is said to be a half-lion half-dragon hybrid with wings and horns. Its body is covered in red scales, while its head resembles that of a lion. The Red Knight has razor sharp claws and fangs, and it can breathe fire. It is larger than a regular lion, being about four feet tall at the shoulder.

 I asked where the beast had gone, and the Crimson Guard pointed in the direction of an abandoned church, just as a noise of screaming and things breaking sounded inside. I wondered for a moment if I should face the beast before continuing my journey or if I should ignore it, but decided that my Bermann's sense of protecting the weakest would scream louder.

Inside the Church - made with Dalle-Flow

 

I went to the church and opened the door cautiously, then entered. Inside, everything was black, with only a single candle burning at the end of the aisle, which seemed to be the center of the room. As I approached, the candle flickered, casting shadows of the pews on the walls, but not revealing much more than that. The church looked abandoned and decrepit.

I moved through the church carefully, taking my time to look at everything, from the statues on the wall to the stained glass windows and the altar at the far end of the chapel, lit by the flickering light of the solitary candle.

I saw no creature, no monster, nothing that could have caused such a massacre as had occurred outside.

And as if in response to my search, a large paw slammed into my back in a powerful blow. My shield deflected it easily enough, but I stumbled forward and fell down on my knees. 

The beast was enormous and covered in bright red scales, with wings like those of a bat, a tail long as a horse, and long razor-sharp claws extending from each hand. Its head resembled that of a lion with a long golden tongue flicking out and licking its chops.

To Be Continued...