Swelling with the power from the void, the Horror reared back as it dug its claws into the ground. Its mouth steamed as it evaporated the blood and water covering it.

“God damnit! Why did it have to be a specialist,” Skipping backward, Kist’s mind began to race for a solution. “Should I focus on retaking my hold over the void, or try to make a weak spot before it evolves again? Damnit, I should have made one in the beginning when I had the chance!”

While lost in thought, Kist stared with fearful eyes at the Horror as its attack had fully charged. Finally, coming to his senses as the Reflection began to grin.

Kist acted quickly by grabbing hold of a ribbon of aurora light lying a short distance away, allowing him to launch himself into the air, far above the radiant beam that shot from the Horror’s mouth, which destroyed everything in its path.

However, although Kist evaded the initial attack, he was far from safe. Quickly throwing its head toward its target, the Horror began machine-gunning its projectiles toward Kist.

The racing spheres of kinetic energy flew past Kist, who had thrown up his guard after the first attack glanced off his body, nearly sending him into a spiral.

Shifting as much as he could to dodge the attacks that, in all reality, had simply missed, Kist’s panic became audible as, even if for a moment, he screamed out in terror before being struck by a projectile that’d finally met its target.

Feeling his body be nearly torn apart as he was forcibly carried further into the sky, Kist screamed, though this time from pain, until, while clenching his teeth, he managed to gather enough strength to momentarily turn himself into a arcing stream of aurora light, allowing him to throw himself off of the blast.

Laughing through a pain-filled grin, Kist stared nervously through fading eyes at the droplets of his blood floating next to him as he fell through the sky. Before he could form a coherent thought, he felt a massive influx of heat beneath him.

Dropping his head to lower his gaze, Kist watched on as the Horror beneath him pried open its secondary mouth, preparing to consume him whole.

Hissing through his teeth, Kist fought to upright himself before reaching out to grab hold of one of the many ribbons he’d laid throughout the battlefield, only to discover that most, if not all, had faded or lay on the ground far from his reach.

Down on his luck, Kist still managed to smile as he knew he had not run out of options.

Dropping his raised hand, he seized control of the hanging curtains of dancing light which lined the void above before slamming them into the mouth of the Horror, which crumpled underneath the weight.

However, even if he had managed to escape certain death, it had not left him, as he collided next to the Horror, smacking into the ground with a painful thud.

Seized with pain, Kist struggled to recover as he lay gasping for breath.

Raging as he fought to drag himself to his feet, Kist could hear nothing but the sound of his own drumming great, and the rush of blood flowing through his veins.

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However, even if faded, his sight had not abandoned him.

Forced on all fours by his failing strength, Kist watched through the Reflection in the thin sheet of water beneath him as blood poured from his nose and the stars above mocked him.

Seething with a fit of growing anger, Kist watched as the image became distorted by ripples of retreating water moments before being adjoined by the horrific face of the Horror towering above him.

The Horror, resembling the damned form of a wild canine decorated by the corpse of a mutilated goat with twisted horns to match, raised its human-like hand with clear intent to crush the man beneath it.

Unsure of what to do as he’d tired himself past the point of exhaustion long ago, Kist’s body instinctually reacted as the Horror’s hand came crashing down.

Leaping to the side, Kist frantically fought to summon the strength to create a path to guide him away from the crushing attack.

Managing to just barely escaoe without a moment to spare.

Even still, he didn't get far as he could not hold himself within the trail of light and fell to the ground.

“This is just embarrassing!” Hissed Kist, as he braced himself against his arm; starting the arduous task of standing to his feet as he raised his eyes level with the Horror.“You haven’t even fully manifested yet!”

Stumbling back, as the Horror walked toward him, Kist smeared the blood drooling from his nose across his hand, and as his hand moved away from his face, a malicious grin appeared in its place.

“Then, there’s no point avoiding it… hell, what would be lost? This is my final chance, after all!” Gathering energy from the furthest depths of the void he could reach, Kist raised his hands as he swelled with power.

Momentarily eclipsing the sky once again, Kist, in a show of temporary strength, illuminated the void in a dancing color show.

“A star in sheep’s clothing,” Flaring out his hands as he spoke, Kist saturated the tips of his fingers with the colors of aurora. “It’s a good thing you need shearing.”

Closing the distance between it and Kist, the Horror, who left only a few inches to separate them, opened its maw and struck.

However, in the brief moment before its teeth wrapped around him, Kist spun on his heel and smashed his palm into the Horror’s upper jaw, shattering its teeth like fragile porcelain and leaving nothing but a trail of color in his wake.

Lurching back from the pain, the Horror let out a roar. However, it was quickly silenced by a razor-thin sheet of light that flowed through its body, imparting a massive shock of pain as it cut deep within its frame.

Taking full advantage of the opening he’d given himself, Kist, even as he felt himself beginning to lose his grip over the void, began to release a series of sketches on the air that shredded the Horror in every way imaginable.

However, even this would prove ineffective, as the Horror began laughing even as the tissue holding its jaw in place was severed by the last of Kist’s attacks.

Covered in golden blood, the Horror dropped its head as it grabbed ahold of its horn before lengthening the tear between its two halves until it was left dangling by the very last of its sinew, all to grab hold of its spine.

Tired and confused, Kist placed a shaking leg behind him as he motioned away from the Horror.

The confidence he’d brought with him all but dissipated, and through a trembling grin, he watched on in awe.

Ripping the cord of bone and connective tissue from its body, the Horror threw it to the opposite side of where the other head rested, giving it the appearance of having multiple tails before the golden blood covering it began to shimmer.

Collapsing to his knees, sweat beading down his face, Kist stared at the star-filled sky as he and the Horror lost control of their nebulas, revealing the shining tapestry above.

“I guess the main events here then?” Grinning, Kist spoke through blood-soaked teeth as he watched the world dissolve around him.

Cast into incomprehensible darkness as the stars, one by one, began to be snuffed out like candles in the wind, Kist couldn’t distinguish whether his eyes were open or closed until the golden-shimmering blood of the Horror snaked its way across the sky.

Shedding away the golden vail, the Star emerged.