At once, I dive from the white phoenix’s back. While airborne, I desperately cast my spell not knowing whether or not I’ll make it in time. The pink beam comes within two feet of Nathan. Just before it reaches him, my Boulder spell springs out of the rocky ground right in front of Nathan’s face. The pink beam hits my boulder changing it from its natural rocky brown to a dank gray.

Flipping, I land on my feet and charge at the Golden Cockatrice while triple casting the Comet spell. All three comets land consecutive hits buying me enough time to close the distance. I leap up at the monster and swing my staff for its head. Somehow, it catches my blow in its beak and tosses me aside as if I were nothing. I land to my feet thinking. Most monsters have a weakness. Usually it’s a certain element or one of the magic disciplines: Illusion, Status, or Sound Magic. The problem is that I have no idea what weakness an immortal monster would have. My best bet is to just keep trying anything until something eventually works.

Flashing its eyes, the Golden Cockatrice fires its pink beam at me. I roll to the side and return fire with the Ice Volley spell. Tragically, my ice spikes shatter against its scaly serpent-like body dealing it no significant damage. I can rule ice magic out.

While I think of my next spell, I get caught off guard by the Golden Cockatrice’s green spit. Some of it splashes on my face, casting the Rancid Venom curse on me. Right away, the blood in my veins turns into fire. I wince and grit my teeth, but I don’t take my eyes off of the cockatrice lest I get hit by the petrification curse. Predictably, the cockatrice’s next move is to cast the curse. Once more, I roll out of the way despite the poison burning inside of me.

In need of some backup, I check on Nathan’s status. “Nathan are you okay?” I shout.

“I’m just dandy.”

“I was poisoned by the Rancid Venom curse. I could use some help.”

“On it.”

Nathan opens his script bag and shuffles through the pages. While I wait for him to find a curative spell, the cockatrice attacks me again. This time it screeches at me casting the Vibrato spell. Not realizing that it can also use Sound Magic, I catch the full force of its percussion wave head on. As a result I get blasted into a backwards summersault and land on the rocky surface in a painful belly flop. Just as soon as I hit the ground, Nathan uses his script to cast the Purge spell on me. The entire front side of my body is in a world of hurt, but I’m no longer poisoned at least.

I push off of the ground with my arms. Then I cast the Lightning Strike spell quick-draw style. The lightning bolt catches the cockatrice in the chest but does no visible damage. It’s as if its scales are impenetrable.

“What are you doing?” Nathan shouts at me. “Attack its feet!”

Despite its large size, its rooster feet are relatively thin. Maybe one solid hit to either foot would be enough to topple it. The only problem is aiming a spell powerful enough and precise enough to catch it in the foot.

My first attempt is with the Boulder spell. I cast it in the correct spot, but the cockatrice steps a little to the right causing my spell to hit it in the base of its serpent body instead. Before I can get another shot, it lowers its head and charges at me like a bull. Once again, I’m caught by surprise. Thankfully before I’m run down, Nathan casts the Omnipotence spell on me. With all of my magical power converted into physical strength, I simply jump over the cockatrice to avoid its charging headbutt.

I flip while twisting twice in the air. I then land on the beast’s back facing towards its head. I waste no time giving its head a good smack just to see how it will respond. It answers my question with the same summersault tail whip maneuver that it pulled on Nathan. And even though I get lashed by its tail, I’m not all that hurt thanks to my uncanny physical strength. Rather, I land to my feet and immediately dash back at the cockatrice. Yet still unused to being this physically strong, I accidentally crash straight into the cockatrice with a single stride. My unintentional collision catches us both off guard. Reacting quickly, I throw out my right hand and yank a feather from its wing.

Incredulous, I allow myself to get distracted by the golden feather in my hand. Before I can refocus, the cockatrice batters me with a powerful tail whip. I sail through the air and crash at Nathan’s feet. Wheezing, I crawl up to my feet holding up my prize. “Look Nathan. I got one.”

“Good. Now go get two more just to be safe.”

I roll my eyes at him. Easy for him to say. But I didn’t come this far just to later find out that one feather isn’t enough. I approach the cockatrice for another go. As I come close to it, it stomps the ground with its left foot. Suddenly, a large boulder springs up out of the ground. The cockatrice swiftly kicks the boulder launching it at me. I don’t have time to dodge it, so I cover my face and try to absorb some of the impact with my shoulder. It does me little good. The large rock explodes against me knocking me more than a little loopy. I hit the floor flat on my back as dizzy as a goldfish in a whirlpool.

The cockatrice casts the petrification curse at me without my realizing it. Before it hits me Nathan springs at me, catching me up into his ungraceful roll. I still have no idea what’s going on until he places a script on my chest and cast the Miracle Heal spell. My head finally stops spinning enough for me to remember my own name. I quickly get up off of my butt and start reassessing my game plan. “Well that didn’t work,” I say, pointing out the obvious.

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“Maybe if I pull it to the left, you can hit its leg from the right,” Nathan suggests.

I nod and start to shimmy right in a wide circular angle. Nathan does the same to the left. The cockatrice looks at us both trying to figure out whom it would rather kill first. Unsurprisingly, it chooses me. I brace for another skirmish as it comes roaring at me. It pecks and kicks at me. I dodge, duck, juke, and weave; skirting its fury by mere inches. While I elude its attacks, I notice Nathan concentrating his mana into the tip of his right index finger. “Hold it still Soul!” he shouts.

I don’t know what he thinks I can do, but in the spirit of cooperation I take one for the team and don’t evade its next attack. It bashes me sideways with its rooster head, but in doing so it remains in the same position. Right away, Nathan cries out, “Divine Mana Gun!”

Projecting his mana directly from his index finger, he fires out a brilliant globe of blue mana energy. Never in all of my years have I ever seen a mage project pure mana before. I cross my fingers hoping that his attack is as powerful as it looks.

Sensing his projectile behind its back, the cockatrice turns around. I don’t know whether or not monsters can feel fear, but I do know that the instant it sees Nathan’s mana barreling at it, its eyes grow wide. I’d like to think they grow wide in fear.

The projectile reaches its target. I lose sight of the Golden Cockatrice in a gigantic spherical explosion of blue magical energy. For all the rumors about it being immortal, I’d be deeply surprised to see it come out of this one alive. As the pressure wave from the attack reaches me, I get blown backwards, yet I keep my eyes fixed in the cockatrice’s general direction. Before long, the energy dies down revealing the cockatrice on the ground lying on its side. It doesn’t move, but I’m too cautious to carelessly presume it’s dead.

Nathan and I exchange understanding nods. Carefully, we step towards it keeping out a close eye for the smallest sign of life. We don’t see any. I think that Nathan just seriously killed the Earth Ruling Golden Cockatrice. I don’t know what sort of long-term ramifications will result from its death, but at the very least, we can get its feathers now.

Nathan and I freely pluck at its wings and fill two satchels with golden feathers. “So much for attacking its legs,” I joke to Nathan.

“I guess I don’t know my own magical strength. That’s literally the first time that I’ve ever used that spell in battle.”

“Really? Speaking of which, what the heck was that?”

“It’s one of the offensive Grandmaster Script Magic spells. Unlike the other magic disciplines, the offensive Script Magic spells attack with raw mana. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but in a sense it’s the most effective way to attack with mana.”

“No kidding. You sure gave this guy a wallop.”

I kneel over the cockatrice’s head and examine its face. Holding my hand over its beak, I can clearly feel air coming out of its nostrils. “Uhh, Nathan,” I start to say.

All of a sudden, its golden body glows even more golden.

“I think we should leave. Fast!”

Just as soon as we can start running, the Golden Cockatrice springs up to its feet enraged. It chases after us flapping its wings madly. I remember the frozen poses of the people we saw coming up the trail. They were all turned to stone while running. Even though everyone knows that you’re not supposed to look back when fleeing for your life, I break the rule. Surely enough, the pink beam of the petrification curse chases right at my backside. I hop to the side evading it and keep running. If you know that the petrification curse is coming, then it’s not all that hard to dodge. In fact, we would be home free were it not for the fact that we’re running in the direction of the cliff rather than the trail.

“Metanoia!” Nathan hollers as we approach the cliff’s edge.

The white phoenix answers the call swooping towards us. Unfortunately, the cockatrice is a lot closer to us than his familiar. When we reach the edge of the cliff, we have no choice but to jump. Closing my eyes, I leap. I feel myself falling for an eerily long time before I crash into soft feathers. Nathan too lands safely on the phoenix. “Go!” he orders.

The phoenix’s wings ignite and we fly off faster than a Steampunk locomotive. My heart starts beating again. Despite the stress of yet another near death experience, I can’t help but laugh like a fool. I’m so relieved to have survived a battle with an immortal monster.

Nathan hears my laughter and joins in. Before long he stops and comments, “I guess you’re as surprised as I am that we actually pulled it off. We make a pretty good team Soul.”

“Yeah, except that I ended up taking most of the hits.”

“That’s true. But I gotta say Soul, you’re an expert hit taker.”

“I’ve had a lot of experience.”

Nathan and I laugh some more and enjoy a leisurely cruise back to Dr. Sterblich’s cabin.