W— what just happened? I’m— bleeding out on the ground? I was stabbed. There’s a hole in my stomach and blood was gushing out of it. Oh lord, I need to stop it or I’m going to bleed to death. I need my healing gel. Where— is my pouch? What happened to it?
I turned my head to the left and found my hip pouch a few metres away from me. That stab must had pierced through the strap. My hand reached out towards the pouch but I can barely move. It felt my body was stuck to the ground. I am losing too much blood despite putting pressure on the wound. I've only realised how severe it was as I tried to sit up; the stab had pierced through my body. Shit, things are not looking good. Am I going to die? Nobody is around to save me. Rose, I guess I really will be passing before you. Daisy— I am so sorry, I couldn’t keep my promise.
My vision was starting to fade with each passing seconds. Once again, I face death with a smile. Rose, Daisy— Lily— I love you.
***
One hour earlier
“Take point, I’ll cover you,” I stood at her side.
“I know you will, Zen,” she smiled at me as she got herself ready for battle.
Sparks of frozen lightning streaked from her gauntlets as she slammed them together. I inspected Tengu-kaze and the icy wind was still gathered around the blade. Seems like Byakko is getting better at maintaining this power instead of only being a single use. The pack leader was wary of us now. Not only did my Tengu-kaze nullified the blood flame that he tossed, Lily made physical contact with him but was unscathed by his body's blood flame. We have the advantage over him and he knows it.
Lily charged ahead while I stood behind, finding attack angles or potential attacks she that she couldn’t dodge. The pack leader struck first, delivering a swipe with his claws but Lily dashed forward closer to his face. The beast decided to slam his fist other fist on Lily but was sent upwards as Lily countered it with a punch of her own. Seemingly exposed, Lily jammed her fist into the beast’s mouth and ripped out his tongue. The beast shrieked in pain at the sudden visceral attack and started attacking erratically.
Lily dodged skilfully, harnessing her elven heritage of being light-footed. I was so entranced by her moves that I had to slap myself; reminding myself that we are in the middle of combat. The beast sunk his claws into his ribs and coated it with his blood, resulting him in having claws with bloody flames. This certainly made Lily more cautious but she still pushed on, dodging or avoiding his attacks despite the never ending combos.
The beast was tiring himself with the constant blood usage and attacks, giving Lily an opportunity to counter attack now. Hang on, I was deeply mistaken. Lily had been using her frozen aura all this time without me realising as our surroundings were still draped in darkness. The dome was overshadowed by the beast’s flaming body.
A flurry of punches made the beast bled even more. He was slowly down to a crawl as I noticed his body was getting frosted up. It shrieked once again and I predicted what his move was. Two spectral beasts appeared and attacked her from the front. I wrapped my arm around her stomach from behind and shoved her to the side, blocking the incoming attacks with my legendary weapons.
"Go! I'll hold them off!" I shouted to her.
She nodded and pushed ahead. I thought of using Kirin and Byakko to deal with these two again but Rose will end up fighting alone in the cave. I can't have that so I'll deal with these two personally.
Without warning, a nail biting shriek shook the entire ground, causing me to instinctively shut my ears. What the fuck just happened? Did the pack leader went insane?
Even the spectral beasts in front of me were clasping their ears, fading in between existence due to the ear rupturing shriek. What about Lily? Oh no, she is sitting on the ground clasping her ears and I can see blood flowing at the side of her face. It must be worse for her as her hearing is better than a human. I need to save her!
W— wait a minute. The shriek was not from the pack leader? The skin that was dangling on his body and face acted as a ear muffle for him. Shit— he can move freely while we are pinned down!
The shrieking stopped but my ears and body was still in absolute pain. My visions were blurry and my whole body and hands were shaking uncontrollably. It was only then did I noticed a hint of red at both my palms. It would appear that my eardrums had ruptured.
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The pack leader was approaching closer to Lily; I need to act fast. Lily is in no position to defend herself when she is in a foetal position, still clutching her ears. It must had been agonising experience for her.
I tried lifting my right hand but my entire body was numbed. Even lifting a finger is excruciatingly hard to perform. It took every effort to lift my right arm and called a bolt of lightning to power it. But I am not going to make it. The beast is already attempting to swing at Lily and I still can't move my arm properly. Damn it, I hope he misses!
Something white leapt and blocked the swipe with its body. Is that— Inu? Oh no, why did he do that? Is he even going to survive by such a hit? I roared as hard as I could and released Lightning Strike on the leader. The two spectral beasts in front of me vanishes as the beast was electrocuted by my spell.
The leader snapped out of my spell and began approaching me. I certainly gained his attention. Now to force my body to move so I can kill this bastard once and for all.
***
It— hurts. My ears are ringing horribly and I can't even open my eyes as I gritted my teeth against the horrible deafening shriek. All I could do is curl myself on the floor, despite knowing that I am completely vulnerable to any attacks. Is Zen able to help me? I am sure even he is struggling to move an inch with this shriek.
The deadly shriek stopped but I was still feeling the effects from it. Warm fluids were streaking down my ears and I knew my eardrums had ruptured. My body was shivering as though I was in a seizure. I felt something landed on my body which snapped me out of my shivers. Oh no— please don't be Zen. Oh please— oh please, don't be him. I will hate myself for doing nothing to help him.
I mustered enough strength to open my eyes and turned my head. Something white and bloodied was on my shoulder. Wait— can it be? But— why? Why would it protect me?
I pushed myself to sit up; feeling more blood leaking out of my ear. This was more agonising than training with Peter when he was teaching me about acupoints. At least that doesn't give you concussion or rupture your eardrums. Inu was bleeding profusely as I struggled to hold him. His body was getting colder by the seconds and all I could do was stroke his fur. I could barely hear anything as everything sounded muffled. I asked him "Why would you do that? Just— why?"; yet all it did was lick my hand. Eventually, he stopped moving. I continued stroking his body even though I knew— I knew.
An animal that I hated sacrificed himself for me. You are a fool, Lily. Such a fool. Inu meant well when he wanted to protect me. But why? I just don't understand why was he attracted to me? Is it because I am an elf? I understand that elves naturally have good affinity with animals but Inu— felt different. But it's too late now. He literally sacrificed himself for me yet I doubted him. Did Zen knew he would be saving me? Why didn't he tell me earlier then? He was so sure Inu had a role in something.
The leader was heading closer to Zen who was still struggling to stand. I need to help him. I can't afford to see him die, never again will I allow that to happen. C'mon, Lily. Push through it; push yourself further! Otherwise the only man you loved might die again!
I placed Inu at my side gently, you can rest now, Inu; may you rest in peace. I will perform a proper burial for you when this is over. My arms was the first to regained some strength which I used to balance myself. I slapped my thighs in an attempt to wake it up quicker. Listen to me you stupid limbs; I am the master, you are the host, listen to my every command!
A potion rolled towards me from the front. I quickly reached out to grab it and poured its contents into my mouth. I knew what it was and it was exactly what I needed. I felt my strength returning to my body, but I know full well it will only last for a couple of minutes. More than enough time to kill this stupid beast. Adrenaline is just a temporary buff to mask my sense of pain and symptoms.
Zen had already started fighting the beast, despite knowing that he might get burned by the blood flame. C'mon, Lily. You can do this. At least avenge Inu who protected you with his life.
***
You would think my red dragonhide would at least negate some of the flames but that was far from my assumption. This blood flame is not normal at all; completely defies all logics and only burned me through my clothes. But to hell with it, a little burn is not going to kill me. I am wounding him as much as he is burning me. Let's see who falls first!
I swung Tengu-kaze with the frozen lightning wind and more blood started spraying from where it struck. Does it not feel pain, like at all? I noticed that his eyes were glowing red now and seems to be attacking in a berserk-like state. Did that shriek changed his behaviour?
Spikes of ice pierced through the beast's side but he completely ignored it, seemingly feeling no pain whatsoever. Then I guess it is time for us to end this fight for good.
Noticing Lily was about to call her bolt of frozen lightning, I started gathering more wind powers around Tengu-kaze; possibly too much as I noticed that it started shaking erratically. The beast retaliated with his own, seemingly releasing a huge pool of blood in all directions. How much blood does this skinny beast have?!
I gave a roar of defiant as I used all of my strength to swing Tengu-kaze which was ridiculously heavy. The adrenaline potion that I took earlier must be starting to wear off. A huge wave of frost flew towards the beast, freezing the most of the blood from his blood flame projectiles but it was stopped by the jaw of the beast. Do you really think you can stop such an attack with your jaw?
Lily was gripping onto her frozen lightning and was taking aim. The frost wave vanished and the beast stood still. What a fool; his insides must be freezing over by now. Lily won’t be be missing her aim when the beast can barely even move now. Lily’s lightning slammed on the beast which spreads throughout the beast’s body. Literally getting frozen inside and out, a fitting end to this beast. Your blood flame will not save you now.
In a swift movement, the beast extended one of it’s claw and decapitated itself; catching us off guard completely. I rushed towards the head, feeling my strength fading with every step I took but I pushed on. I thought of delivering the coup de grâce but fortunately, it was not needed. The head was dead as it had no pulse. An odd attempt to save itself; thinking it was able to regenerate from his head like a demon.
Making sure no regeneration occurred, I limped my way towards Lily who was, once again, lying flat on the floor. That frozen lightning spell of hers must be exhausting her strength whenever she uses it.
“We.. did it,” I smiled at her.
“Y.. yeah, we certainly did,” she waved a little.
“Hey, sit-up. There’s blood everywhere. Wouldn’t want to ruin your silver hair,” I reached to pull her up.
“Ehe, you’re the only man who ever compliment me about my hair colour. Oh no.. Zen, your skin is burned. We need to get that treated,” she inspected my hand and forearm.
“I’m— good. We need to help Rose. I’m worried about her fighting alone. C’mon, let’s go,” I nudged my head towards the direction of the cave.
We finally killed the pack leader. But— why do I feel.. restless? Like my guts is telling me something; something that I had missed. It was then did I realised a mistake; a mistake that caused me my death once again.