Zoe’s Lightning Slash sent a line of yellow lightning toward the yacht. It struck the mirrored sides and rebounded in a thousand directions, a brilliant display that blinded all and served as a distraction. Zoe’s lightning form shot toward the boss on the yacht.
She reformed with her fist outstretched and struck the boss. Thunder pealed out from the strike.
Up close she could see the thin line of his lipless mouth. A twisted grey face, weathered, and ancient. Yellow eyes leaking yellow tears.
Her knuckles burned away the tattered robes, but the boss was unphased. Plates of mirrored armor covered his body. They shifted under her fist, and a mirrored force pushed her hand away. Pincers snapped at her. She hummed backward on her wings. The plates weren’t armor; they were crabs with mirrored shells. Dozens crawled over the boss’s body, concealing everything except for his burning gaze.
The boss leaped, spinning, and his foot raced towards Zoe’s chin. She clicked her heels and retreated on a bolt of lightning.
Back out above the lake, with the yacht between her and the island, she floated on a breeze that was not there. Beneath her, the lake offered a reflection of her fluttering buttercup dress and the long tail of hair attached to her scalp like a lamprey. Wings hummed, blurring static, as she judged the distance between herself and the final boss.
That robed figure who stood on the deck of the mirrored yacht. The heavy darkness of his stance echoed the throat of void upon which the yacht floated. He was the thundercloud. Lightning wrapped around his wrists and played across his knuckles. The scorched air stank. Wobbled with fear. A palpable aura emanated from the boss’s burning gaze.
He outstretched a palm, not waiting for Zoe to make another move, and flicked lightning toward her.
He might be the thundercloud, but she was the monsoon.
She clicked her heels. Performed a Lightning Dash and struck a spired roof sticking above the water level. The boss’s lightning blasted the air where she floated before, and she returned the blow with a swish of her wand.
[34 seconds remaining.]
[Skein 10/117]
It cost nothing to use Lightning Dash or Lightning Slash while the charm remained active, but she was running out of time.
When she could move instantaneously, half a minute felt like a long time, but how long could she fight against someone who shrugged off her attacks?
Maybe she couldn’t fight her way out of this problem?
And her heart thumped in her chest. Terror. Was it the aura, or was it real?
She gritted her teeth, clicked her heels, and charged.
###
Bella watched from the rocky island shore. Pink foam lapped at the dark, quartz-studded soil. Chaos engulfed the lake. She did not know how many dead bodies floated beneath the water. How big was the town? How many drowned bodies lay beneath the once smooth surface?
But dead didn’t mean still. Didn’t mean resting. They moved now, and they hunted. Blood of mirrodiles spilled into the lake, stained it pink with gore, that same gore washing up now on the shore. A stink grew like a haze in the air.
She could breathe again now she was free of the boss’s aura, but sweat still clung to her skin. What was that force that pinned her down with long nails of dread?
And how could Zoe fight against such a being?
Lightning flashed in answer to her question. Pale yellow bolts struck cool blue coils of energy. Thunder shattered like a house rolling down a hill. Storm vs storm. The boss hadn’t moved a step, just maintaining their wide stance as they took Zoe’s attacks or cast out their own.
Bella’s eyes burned with the after images of violence. Blue lightning flashed out like hissing snakes. Zoe darted away. Her wings a blur. Her visage fierce. She became lightning, but another blast struck her dash. Thunder roared and Zoe spun through the air. Struck a house and broke through the roof.
Bella held her breath until Zoe rose from the wreckage. Bleeding. Limp. But still ready to fight.
Why didn’t Zoe run?
She should go the long way around and join them on the island. They could regroup. Plan an attack. It was foolish for her to attack the boss on her own.
“She’s going to die,” she whispered to herself.
“Have some faith,” Anton said.
Bella started. She had been so focused on the dazzling combat she hadn’t noticed Anton reach the island. He wrung out his Hawaiian shirt. Lake water dripped and drizzled onto the dark shore.
“Should we help her?” Bella asked.
“Do you think we can?” Anton flicked water from his fingertips. “She’s as strong as the two of us put together and it seems she can’t even scratch the boss. What’s the point of us helping? All of us die? No, thank you.”
“Wow, you really are a self-centered asshole, aren’t you?”
He bowed.
“I’m pragmatic.”
Bella fingered the hilt of her sword. For once, she wished the blade would whisper into her mind. Some kind of guidance. Advice.
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But it remained silent.
Anton watched her expression.
“Look,” he said. “She made sure we got to the island, yeah? So let’s trust her to join us here. If we just go out and attack the boss, then all her work was for nothing. Besides, she’s the fastest while that power-up lasts. She’ll be able to get here as soon as she has an opening.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right. You’ll see, and you’ll thank me.
Lightning flared in the distance, and they both shielded their eyes.
When the blooming light faded, Bella’s heart sank.
###
Zoe flew on borrowed power. The wings hummed like a dragonfly. A steady sound that brought comfort as she zipped away from incoming lightning.
Each bolt swerved toward her. Was it the power of the Monsoon Fairy attracting the bolts? Some law of electricity? She was a doctor, dammit; she didn’t know about flying and fighting with superpowers.
For a fraction of a second, the absurdity of the situation sent her spiraling outside of her body. This was ridiculous. She must be dreaming. It couldn’t be real.
Spears of blue lightning plummeted from the sky.
She clicked her heels and danced through the wriggling lightning. Pushed her Insight to its limit as she swerved and stopped. A pale yellow bolt of power wriggling across the sky. There was no escape from the cage of lightning summoned by the boss.
She wished she put more points into Dexterity.
Wherever she turned, more bolts fell, cutting off all exits. Whatever she tried, she wasn’t fast enough, and a blue bolt zapped down and nullified her efforts. Only one path remained.
And it led straight to the deck of the yacht.
Was this an intentional opening? A trap?
Another spear headed towards her as her mind turned over in a fraction of a second. There was no alternative. No choice.
She blasted toward the boss.
Glorious rage of the monsoon.
A fang of lightning seeking prey.
She struck.
And the boss caught her.
Thunder rang out, and her dress billowed. Her fist caught in his hand. An iron grip she could not escape even with her enhanced Might. She brought up the wand like a dagger. Lightning flailed at the ivory tip as she thrust it toward the boss’s eye.
He stepped to the side, dodging without releasing her hand, and her yellow light flashed out into the sky. Violent, bright, useless.
She pulled at her hand, but the boss’s wrinkled flesh smiled.
“You made me shift my stance,” he said with a voice like grit against glass.
Zoe roared. She used the leverage of his grip to swing her knee up into his stomach. He released her hand and chopped down on her rising knee. Pushed her leg aside and brought a fist into her temple.
The force of his counter knocked her down.
She bounced off the wooden deck. Stunned. Tasting blood. The parasitic hair writhed. Blue lightning struck the boss, wrapped around him, and spat out from his fingers. A fist of lightning hit her body like the hammer of god.
Time stopped. She burned. Became nothing but white pain.
[12 seconds remaining.]
She lay limp on the deck. Brain slurred at her body to move, but nothing responded. Crisp smell like back alley barbeque. Her. The smell was her.
Smoke and steam curled from her flesh.
Coughed blood. Air a thin whistle through her lips. Screamed inside her mind.
The boss walked toward her with his hands tucked behind his back.
“You really have nobody to blame but yourself,” he said. “This is so typical of you rich nobles. You get a powerful item and you think you can punch above your weight class. Look at you. No Body, no Gates, and you think you can solo a dungeon boss,” he chuckled. “Yeah, you have a powerful item. So what?”
He punctuated his question with a kick to her stomach that sent her sliding across the deck. The blow broke her ribs. Difficult breathing became harder. She wished she was dreaming, but nothing is more real than pain. The boss looked at the blood on his shoe with disgust, before he walked over to where she lay twitching.
The mirrored crabs crawled across her body. She could see herself in those dozen reflections. A burned mess. Skin red and raw. Cracked and blackened. Melting. No hair but the parasitic tail.
[8 seconds remaining.]
What good was the power of the Monsoon Fairy if she couldn’t even move?
Vitality.
Her body must be healing.
[4 seconds remaining]
Her brain twitched, and she spent her Skein.
[Skein 1/117]
If she boosted her Vitality, she could heal enough to move. Maybe she could escape. Maybe she could reach the island. Big maybes, but he needed to move first.
She poured her Skein into her Vitality, directed the cold rush of energy toward her fried muscles and —
[Vitality disabled by enemy technique.]
Her eyes widened with horror. That could happen? She scrambled for a backup plan as the boss placed his boot upon her throat.
She wheezed as the boss glared down at her.
“What are you trying to do? Heal with Skein? I didn’t expect such a peasant technique. No potions for the rich girl? No scrolls? Come on,” he bent down and patted her body. “What other items do you have? Don’t tell me you’re a one-trick pony,” he shook his head. “This is incredibly disappointing. You don’t know how bored I’ve been.”
Zoe tried to speak, but her body refused.
The boss leaned down and cupped a hand around his ear.
“Sorry, did you say something?” he leaned down until the small golden earring dangling from his lobe brushed against her lips. “Speak up.”
With the last of her strength, the last of her breath, the last of her rage, Zoe bit his ear. Her teeth sank into the wrinkled grey skin. The dangling golden earring was cold and metallic on her tongue. She bit down, hard, and tasted blood.
Tasted victory.
Pyrrhic, but a victory all the same.
The boss screamed.
He pulled away, and his ear tore. Zoe swallowed the lobe and the earring. Flesh and metal sank down her throat. It could be the Metal essence in her body that made it so easy, but she didn’t care.
She grinned a bloody smile at the wide-eyed boss.
Before he brought his boot down on her face.
Her teeth crunched under his heel.
She choked on blood and dentistry as he lifted her off the ground like a sack of kittens. There was no struggle left in her, only leaking blood. He strode toward the edge of the boat.
“An insult like that deserves a fate worse than death,” he said. “Good thing this is a Black Star Dungeon.”
He held her over the edge of the yacht. Her feet dangled above the black void that surrounded the vessel. Water rushed into the depths. The Charm wore off and — without ceremony — the ponytail detached and fell into the emptiness below.
It vanished in the darkness, but Zoe wasn’t watching.
She glared into the boss’s burning yellow eyes.
“I’ll… kill…”
He smiled at her wrathful expression as blood trickled from his missing lobe.
“No, you won’t,” and he let her fall. “Enjoy eternity.”
He spat after her. The globule fell toward her outstretched hand as she plummeted into the void.