Inspired by this height comparison picture....
where I had remarked that Talim would look much better in a bearhug, I decided to write a short piece.
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Talim did her best to aid the defenders of Ostrheinsburg Castle as best she could, performing minor healing and using distractions to draw enemy attention, then using her tiny stature to nimbly and effectively dodge attacks.
Her luck ran out when she was tending to a fallen soldier, and the golem Astaroth entered the fray.
Stalking up behind her, he grabbed a handful of her hair, causing her to shriek. He lifted her up with one hand, then looked down at the fallen soldier before crushing his skull underfoot.
With the distraction terminated, he turned his attention back to Talim. Talim was flailing, trying to remove herself from his grip. He palmed her throat with his other hand, turning her around, and suspending her in the air by her neck, choking her. Her feet dangled at least three feet off the stone castle floor. She gurgled and kicked ineffectively at the much, much larger Astaroth. He stood almost two feet taller than her.
Balling up his fist, he drew back and then hammered her in the stomach with it. The force of the punch caused her to wheeze hard, and broke a rib. Still caught in his grip, he drew back and buried his fist in her stomach again, more damage being done, causing her to spit up a small blob of blood. Mercy unknown to the heartless beast, he slammed her in the abdomen a third time, causing a more substantial stream of blood to come from her mouth. She dangled limply now, the punches having sapped her strength.
He dropped the priestess, and as she fell, he delivered a right cross to her jaw, breaking it. She ragdolled from the blow, but he caught her again before she could land, then drew her in, wrapping his massive arms around her in a bearhug.
He didn't even have to squeeze hard. Flexing his muscles was all he needed.
"HUACK-" Talim choked out, before she was cut off by the hold. She arched backward, her mouth hanging open as she tried to breathe. Astaroth played around with her a little, relaxing and tightening the hold, making the girl suffer with it until he got down to business, and started squeezing harder.
Talim stiffened as the hold punished her viciously, and then the sound of breaking bones began to come from her body. Talim tried to scream, but her body was so constricted, she couldn't make a sound. The only sounds that came from her were pops, crunches and breaks as Astaroth bucked the submission hold on her, breaking more and more inside her. Blood began to pour from her mouth and nose as cracked bone pierced muscles, damage escalating quickly.
He shook her back and forth violently, whiplashing her. When he stopped, she lay still, resting against his chest as he leaned back, having destroyed the wind priestess, blood dripping onto his shoulder and down.
He swung her around once more and this time, dropped to one knee and delivered a forceful backbreaker, her spine breaking with a wet, sickening sound of finality as she lay across his knee.
He hefted her up by the neck as if she weighted absolutely nothing, and then drilled her into the ground with a chokeslam. She hit the stone and lay motionless, one more defender of the castle out of the way of the onslaught of the attacking force.
