Leta’s scream was a raw, primal sound of pain as the monster’s teeth sank into her shoulder, the creature’s head thrashing with savage abandon, as if trying to tear her limb from its socket. With a desperate cry, she shoved her hand toward its face, but only a tiny spark flickered into existence, a pathetic flicker compared to the lightning storm she needed. The world began to swim before her eyes, black spots encroaching on her vision, but she refused to give in, focusing her will with fierce determination.
The smallest clap of thunder vibrated the room as the blue-white electricity connected. She could feel the relay of lightning as it channeled through the creature and back into her, where its teeth and claws were sunk in, making her hair stand on end as she gritted her teeth in determination.
The blast caused the monster’s muscles to lock, so it couldn’t even let go. Its rough green skin began to blister and burn, filling the room with the smell of smoke and blood.
The dots swimming in her vision had increased to the point she nearly passed out, and Leta released the charge before going boneless on the cold floor.
Burned and smoking, the monster’s jaw went slack as pain-filled base tones accompanied its clicks.
Leta grunted as she pushed the creature’s body off of her, taking a few heavy breaths to keep the dots from her vision again before weakly getting to her knees.
[Nanites rerouted for healing.]
[Major bleeding effect has been downgraded to bleeding.]
[Stamina, power, and constitution levels remain compromised.]
[Emergency repairs to Subclavian Artery in progress. Healing will be complete in five minutes and eight seconds. It is recommended that the Host staunch bleeding to speed up the healing process.]
The thing’s once moss-green skin was nearly black with scorch marks and much of its hair had been singed off on the side where she’d hit it. Its body twitched as its head lolled to fix one mangled eye in her direction before trying to roll toward the window.
“How’s this thing still alive…” She heaved out before looking around the room to find a suitable weapon. She was reaching for the IV pole when a screech of metal had her looking back to see the beast had managed to use its limp claws to unlock the window latch. As the glass swung forward, the wind picked up and blew cool rain into the room and over the creature.
Leta watched in mounting horror as the black marks on its body began to heal rapidly.
Puss-soaked muscle rolling across its face and centering on its vacant socket until a yellow eye formed where once an empty socket was.
“Oh shi-” Her scream was cut off as black-tipped claws on a green skin hand lunged for her face with impossible speed.
With a squeal, she raised the IV pole as if it were a quarterstaff in time to block it from permanently blinding her as they fell to the floor.
She hit the ground hard enough she thought her head might have cracked open but managed to keep her grip on to the pole, the only thing keeping the monster at bay.
With its full weight pressing down on her, its head darted forward like a striking serpent, each attempt to bite bringing it closer and closer to taking a chunk out of her.
Leta grunted as she strained to keep the pole between her and the razor sharp teeth, her arms trembling with exhaustion.
[Stamina and power levels decreased.]
[Emergency repair of Subclavian Artery compromised.]
Hissing, she jerked her head away just as the creature snapped its jaws, narrowly missing her nose. A cold sweat drenched her body as she struggled to hold it back, but she new it was a losing battle.
The burning rage that had driven her was quickly fading, replaced by a chilling wave of terror at the agonizing pain the creature’s teeth promised.
Gritting her teeth, a single tear traced her cheek—her only outward sign of struggle as she fought to live just a second longer.
A blur of black cloth and leather flashed before her eyes, and then, just as suddenly, the suffocating weight on her chest was gone.
Leta gasped, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath before rolling onto her side. The monster had been thrown against the wall, landing with a wet thud in the puddle rapidly expanding beneath the open window.
A figure in full tactical gear—black from head to toe, from the tactical pants and combat boots to the long-sleeved jacket and matte black vambraces into her view. A shaved head and intense hazel eyes were visible above a black face mask that hid his mouth and nose. Only the blade of the short sword in his hand seemed to catch any light, giving him the unsettling appearance of someone who had simply materialized from the darkness.
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“Can you stand?” His voice was deep and even, his English accent almost startling in a situation like this.
The base-toned clicks of the monster slowly getting to its feet as it surveyed the intruder had her scuttling into a stand, “Uh, yeah.”
“Good. We need to cut the Nixie off from water sources. It gives them strength.”
[Emergency repairs to Subclavian Artery resumed. Complete recovery in two minutes, forty-eight seconds.]
Baleful eyes snapped between Leta and the man in black. The Nixie creature seemed to be sizing up its two opponents and chances before deciding it wouldn’t win this battle.
It twisted around in an attempt to jump through the window but stumbled with a shriek as a long dagger appeared on its back and crashed into the wall with a thud.
Leta jolted in surprise at the stranger’s impossible speed. He’d moved with such blinding swiftness that she hadn’t even registered the motion of his arm drawing back before the weapon was already hurtling through the air with deadly precision.
The stranger lunged forward, his hazel eyes fixed on his target and attacked without hesitation. he grabbed its hair and yanked it back, hefting and throwing it aside with a strength that rivaled a professional wrestler.
It’s cat-like reflexes kept it from ending up a tangled mess of limbs as it crouched on all fours with growl, trying to duck around the man in black without success.
“We need to remove its head.” The stranger shouted towards her as he pulled a punch dagger from somewhere in the folds of his jacket and brandished it in it his empty hand. “If it touches water, it’ll heal itself no matter what you do to it.”
The Nixie, single-minded in its pursuit of freedom, tried to dart past the stranger. Leta, seizing the opportunity, swung the pole with a ferocious swing, putting her entire body into the blow. The pole connected with a sickening thud against the creature’s back, impacting just below the hilt of the still-embedded dagger.
The creature gasped for air, its body momentarily stunned by the impact, creating an opening the stranger immediately exploited. It tried to scuttle back, its movements sluggish and uncoordinated, but it was too late to avoid the next blow.
The Nixie’s scream, a high-pitched shriek that could have shattered glass, echoed through the room as the sword sliced through its calf, severing its foot in a spray of dark maroon blood that stained the sheets an almost purple color. The creature’s body convulsed violently,as stumbled in a grotesque dance toward the hospital door, but Leta was ready. She seized the IV pole and jabbed the creature with the rack, the prongs catching its throat. Using all the strength she had left in her, she pressed down hard, refusing to let go.
One clawed hand flailed at the rack while the other tried pulling itself along the floor and couldn’t break her hold.
The anger and disgust she had felt earlier resurfaced, intensifying until Leta’s vision narrowed, the world around her fading into insignificance until it was just here and the monster in front of her. Her blue eyes seemed to glow with lightning just below the surface as they locked onto the Nixie’s reptilian yellow pupils, burning with a contempt so intense it felt like a physical force.
Her lungs expanded with air and power as she gathered her intent before she let loose her rage with a scream that ripped through her throat with the force of a falling planet.
A primal force, drawn from the darkest depths of her soul, surged through Leta and caused her fingers to glow with an intense blue-white light. All at once the power exploded out of her in a devastating blast of lightning, the IV pole acting as a perfect conductor, channeling the energy directly into the monster with overwhelming force.
The stranger threw up a hand to shield his eyes, instinctively recoiling from the sudden, blinding light and the wave of heat that washed over him. He hissed with a mixture of awe and shock as as energy created a pocket of superheated air so bright and scorching he could see the bones and blood vessels in his hand as if he were looking at an x-ray.
Leta’s vision remained clear despite the intense light, her eyes locked on the Nixie as its skin began to char, the once vibrant flesh becoming brittle and black like burnt wood. Its mouth opened in a silent scream of agony, its sharp teeth turning to black ash as its tongue crumbled into dust in its mouth.
Yellow eyes bursting in their sockets and its bloody tears evaporated as cracks began to open like fault lines in an earthquake, blood spraying the air but quickly evaporating in the fire of Leta’s rage.
With a deafening thunderclap, the light vanished as quickly as it came, leaving behind green dots floating in the stranger’s vision and a ringing in his ears.
The man in black blinked a few times, trying to get control of his vision before coming around the bed to gaze down at a huddled mass that had once been the Nixie but now looked more like several-week-old roadkill.
Leta huffed out a breath, her chest heaving as the adrenaline subsided and her numb fingers tried to loosen their grip on the IV pole.
Even after being hit with the force of a small star, the body twitched with spasms but only managed to hurt itself further as its skin fell off it like a wet curtain.
“Oh, that’s gross.” Leta gagged as the smell of burnt flesh assaulted her.
The stranger came around to her side and looked at the state of the Nixie before raising his sword and severing its head without a second thought.
Its muscles clenched before relaxing, slipping away into the painless embrace of death. A heartbeat after it exhaled its last, what remained of the body began to disintegrate like a sandcastle in a rainstorm until all that was left was a pile of muddy green ash.
For a moment, all was still and quiet save for Leta’s heavy breathing, the ‘shh’ of a body turning into dust, and the distant bleep of medical equipment.
Leta finally turned to the stranger and got a good look at him.
The young man, no older than his mid-twenties, possessed an aura unlike the creature they had just fought. While the Nixie’s presence felt heavy and oppressive, almost suffocating, his was light and refreshing, like a breath of fresh air after a stifling storm.
The stranger looked back at her before she saw his eyes crinkle with a smile behind his face mask.
“What a way to awaken your powers.” He chuckled as he bent down to pick up the dagger that had been lodged in the Nixie’s back. Her lightning had conducted through the metal, leaving it bubbled and warped. The stranger hissed as the weapon’s grip crumbled, the searing heat of the steel burning his fingers.
Leta’s mouth went suddenly dry, her heart plummeting at his casual words.
“What did you just say?”
The stranger dusted his hands off his pants before giving her a raised eyebrow. “Your powers, of course. You’re an Arisen, like me.”