Meera and Dirik backed up from the enraged giant, whose veins popped out beneath his muscles, and his skin glowed red. Meera slowly pulled off her level 2 chakram as if he were a wild beast who would attack if she made a sudden move.
"Dirik, we need to hit him together—"
"Hit him?" Dirik whispered. "We need to run and hide and devise a better plan."
"No, wait—"
But he was already gone, leaving her alone to face the monstrosity who had his eyes set on her alone. Meera launched a burst of tiny mirrors all around her. When he moved, he was almost too fast to perceive, like the Guardian Warden. The only thing that saved her was that she moved at the same time he did.
She Stepped back several feet and launched her chakram at him. Her level 2 chakram was much faster than her regular ones. It left behind a silvery streak and looked like it would part the Colossus Warden's head, but the monster caught it in his hand.
Meera's jaw dropped. No one had ever done that before, especially not to her level 2 chakram. She recalled it right away. He frowned, but his grip was iron.
Melas laughed. "This little disc will not do anything to me, even if I let you cut me."
"We'll see about that."
Meera recalled it with all her willpower and pulled on it with Mirror Wing. The pressure was so fierce that his whole form was dragged forward. He frowned and finally let go of the chakram, where it launched back into Meera's hand.
As soon as it returned, Meera used Mirror Step to her farthest mirror, which was on the side of a house and close to the roof. She grabbed the roof and pulled herself up, but the Colossus was right behind her. He appeared a second later, crumbling the roof to bits.
He fell in the house with the rubble, but she stayed in the air, thanks to her new ability to fly. It consumed more Mana than Nimbus, but with this, she could take to the air. She flew down several streets, ending up close to where the other Wardens were watching the fight, on what Meera could best describe as a screen that hung in the air.
"That is an awesome skill," The Guardian squealed in joy as if seeing her favorite pet do a new trick. "There are not many classes that let you fly and teleport. Can you please tell me the names of your classes, at least?"
She was about to fly away when an idea came to her. "I'll tell you my class if you tell me how to defeat that raging hulk of muscles."
"It's simple, cut off his head."
Meera rolled her eyes. "That's how you beat everything. Wait, won't you be a member short if I kill him?"
"You let us worry about that," Stormweaver said. "Besides, your break is over. Here he comes."
Melas had jumped sixty feet in the air and was coming for her, fist extended. Meera got out of his way, but he spun his arm, trying to backhand her, but she was too far away. Even still, she was hit with wind pressure that sent her flying into the side of a building.
She threw her chakram away at the last moment and teleported, thus saving her life. What was that?
She dropped down to street level and sprinted for her life before her enemy saw her. She ducked into a small house with small windows. She huffed with her hands on her knees. Once she caught her breath, she put her back to a wall and listened.
There was a mighty crash, and that's how she knew Melas had returned.
"I know you're not dead," Melas roared. "Show yourself, or are you a coward like your friend who abandoned you in battle."
Meera couldn't fault him there. Dirik had indeed left her when they needed to work together. Then, the shadows shifted in the room, and a dark shape popped out of them. Meera knew it was Dirik, but she still wanted to knock him upside the head.
"You left me!" Meera snapped but in a whisper. "I should leave you to fight him all alone."
"Yes, I know you have a reason to be mad, and I'm sorry, I panicked," Dirik said. "I've never been in an open fight like this."
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"You should've thought that when you came here and dragged me into this mess."
"I'm sorry, I panicked. I thought I had him, but he's just too strong."
"You got overconfident is what happened." Meera breathed out her anger. "We're going to have to kill him."
"What?" His eyes widened.
"Don't tell me you haven't killed before."
"No, I have, but wouldn't they just kill us if we did that."
Meera rubbed her chin. "I don't know, or at least, I don't think so. They didn't think much about it when I said they'd be short a member. So, they either have a way of bringing people back or want to get rid of him. Fact is, we just need to kill him and save our lives."
"Understood."
"I have a plan. So, listen closely."
----------------------------------------
Meera clutched the door handle tightly and closed her eyes. Please, whichever god is listening, for once in my life, let this plan go according to plan.
She quickly checked her stats before stepping out to face the Colossus Warden.
Stats
[Health: 1194/1220]
[Stamina: 981/1220]
[Mana: 1158/1450]
She drew a deep breath, walked out on the street, activated Druvis Power, jumped high into the air, and stayed there, thanks to Mirror Wing. Flying did consume more Mana than making her chakrams fly as their weight was negligible, but she had enough Mana to spare at the moment. She found her target right away. He had just burst out of the top of a building, still glowing red. Maybe even more so now that he had to look for them some more, even if it had been only two minutes.
"There you are."
He jumped for her, fist at the ready. Druvis Power, don't fail me now.
She flew at him full speed, ready with a chakram in each hand—just her regular ones. She roared as they clashed fists. There was a shockwave that traveled outwards from the point of impact. The nearby building's windows shattered, and a few bricks crumbled to bits.
She matched his strength for a moment, but despite Druvis Power, she lost the battle of strengths.
She was launched through the air, with a building fast approaching. She threw her chakram forward and Stepped to it. She threw her second one at Melas, who was falling to the ground. As she expected, he opened his hand to catch it, but she teleported to the chakram and shot him point-blank with a Mirror Shard Barrage, smashing him into the ground.
He was hardly damaged. She knew that. These attacks would only do so much. So, using Mirror Wing, she blazed through the sky and drove her other chakram into his gut.
A massive crater formed as he gasped. Meera pulled out her bloody chakram. It hadn't gone so deep to kill but enough to hurt him some. This was the first time her weapon had only done such a meager amount of damage.
Melas laughed. "That was good…my turn."
Meera flew away from him, but she wasn't fast enough. He kicked her in the knee, shattering it. Her leg bent inward, and she fell forward, where he landed a hook punch in her ribs and sent her rolling into the side of a building.
Even with Vitalize working on her broken bones, Meera couldn't help screaming. I should've used Mirror Step.
Melas jumped to his feet, surveyed his wound, and did not even wince. The man was a monster. Her pain was not going down fast enough, and he was already coming for her. No dash or sprint, but a simple leisurely stroll.
Meera extended a hand to him and shot out Vampiric Chains. He caught them as well, but a few wrapped around his forearm, which was enough to immobilize him and give her healing a considerable boost.
He squeezed the chains, and they broke, but her bones had mended, and she was good to move. She threw her chakram down the street and teleported away from him. He was after her in a flash, but her constant teleporting kept her alive until she ran into a dead end with two multi-story buildings on each side.
"Nowhere to run." He cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward into the shadow of the adjacent building.
"Dirik, now!" she shouted.
The shadows around them darkened until it seemed like they were standing on darkness itself. If not for the light of day, Meera would have thought the city had been transported in that black box again.
Melas jumped to clear the darkness but only made it a few feet before Dirik's shadows gripped him by the legs, smashed him against the ground three times, and tossed him into one of the bigger buildings.
Meera launched her chakram right after the Warden and teleported to him, gripping him with Vampiric Chains and rejuvenating herself on his Health. He tried to fight, so she shot him with a Petrifying Surge, covering him entirely with Bloodstone.
She didn't need to give Dirik the signal that this was the moment. He emerged from the ceiling with a shadow sword in hand. He fell on the petrified Warden's neck.
But Melas would not go down so easy.
His hand shot out of the Bloodstone and stopped the shadow sword. He gripped the blade so tight that he shattered it. Meera frowned. How can strength overpower shadows?
That moment of confusion for Meera was enough for Melas to break the Bloodstone completely. He pulled Dirik towards him by hand and smashed his fist in the lad's masked face.
Dirik's face flattened from the front and flew into the far wall, where his head burst on impact.
Meera barely had time to register his death as the Colossus Warden gripped her Vampiric Chains and pulled. Meera stopped them right away. But he didn't need to pull her in as he moved faster than her eyes could follow. Before she knew it, he was on her.
He punched her in the gut so hard that his fist came out of her back.
Meera gasped as her organs were violently ripped out of her. She tried to breathe but couldn't. She didn't know if her lungs still worked or if they hung in the massive hole Melas had created in her body. She didn't even feel any pain, just shock that someone could be this strong.
He was toying with us the whole time.
Meera fell to her knees. Blood leaked out of her in droves. A strange coldness fell on her body, and she knew this was it. She used Vitalize, but it could not heal her fast enough. Already, her vision was growing hazy.
She had failed. Her death was here. Is the prophecy coming true?
"I-I'm sorry, N-Neel…"
Meera fell and breathed her last.