“I have to make damn sure that it doesn’t pin me down again.”

With his sword out of the picture, the boy knew it was game over if the dark rat succeeded in knocking him over.

The rat snarls at him, its golden maroon aura flaring dangerously.

“There’s no chance its gonna let me run back and grab the sword is…!”

It lunges at him, its body burning red. The shade of its aura signaling that the rodent was going in for a full body tackle.

Barely reacting in time, the boy sidesteps out of the way of its speeding motion but the rat extends out an arm to try to knock his head over.

He only sees a whirl of black and red as its forepaw rapidly closes in to his face, however, with a powerful flare of his own golden energy he manages to dodge by ducking.

“I dodged its attack!”

He could hardly make out the rat’s fast movements in the beginning when it had attacked but now, he had just dodged two attacks at once.

“I’m adjusting to its movements.”

All was not lost.

Missing its tackle and swipe, the rat bounces off the floor using its two powerful forelimbs, twirling around in the air to face his direction.

Although its attacks had missed it had successfully positioned itself between him and his sword stuck in the wall far behind.

Gathering aura in its three muscular limbs, it prepares to attack again.

The boy stands ready, eager to find any opening he could exploit to reach his sword. He takes note of the swirling mass of aura channeling into the rat’s limbs and jaws.

“Here it comes.”

The rat springs into another lunge, its flaming jaws wide open to bite and latch onto anything they connect with.

He dives right, out of the trajectory of the lunge. Rolling to his feet, he tries to sprint past the rat on its right side, but this time the rodent is ready.

Fixing all three feet on the floor it pushes sideways, bursting into a sideway leap.

Its body’s right shoulder collides with the boy, igniting a brief flare of red and blue and sending him tumbling on his side from the force.

“Can’t…stay…down.”

The dark rat was trying to create an opportunity to pin him, he couldn’t let it succeed.

He quickly rolls over to his feet, the left side of his ribs aching painfully. In front of him the chamber was empty with no sign of the dark rat.

Realizing what was happening, he quickly leaps back and narrowly avoids the rat’s plunging strike.

Its blazing red forepaw slams the floor with a loud thud, blowing a gust of air in all directions, however, that isn’t the end.

Landing right in front of him, the rat immediately swipes at his head with its other muscular forelimb.

Knowing he wasn’t fast enough to dodge this one the boy brings up his arm to brace against the blow.

As the swipe connects with his arms, he feels them buckle under the heavy pressure of the rat’s strength. Pain shoots through his arms and into his shoulders, threatening to pop them out of their joints.

The force of the impact knocks him off his feet and sends him rolling back.

However, this had worked to his advantage.

The swipe had sent him tumbling in the sword’s direction.

“Here comes a chance!”

He immediately rolls onto his feet, turns around, and starts sprinting toward the wall that had his sword stuck inside.

Pain was still coursing through his arms and shoulder but it was tolerable. It might have been because the dark rat had lost a limb or too much blood but he could somehow barely withstand its blows without breaking anything now.

Arriving at the wall he takes a quick peek back to make sure the rat wasn’t flying toward him.

It wasn’t.

The rat was quickly hobbling on its three legs behind him but it was much slower than before.

The boy quickly focuses attention on the wall in front of him, the sword was dozens of feet up in the air but that was no problem for him.

He places a foot on the wall, channeling both red and gold energies together into a dense golden maroon aura around his leg and then pushes off into a straight jump.

He flies straight up parallel along the gray wall’s height, quickly approaching the black grip of his imbedded sword.

“Almost within ha..!”

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His mind turns blank from the strong impact of the dark rat’s tackle, crushing him into the polished wall.

Even though the rat was a bit behind, through its powerful dense aura it had launched itself tens of meters through the air in a wide arching jump and rammed straight into him, cutting off his trajectory.

Blue lights of his suit’s barrier shine around his whole body, particularly his head which rebounds off the solid grey wall.

The boy blackouts for a second from the strong blow to his head as the rat grabs him in the air and whirls him down to the floor with its full strength.

The fast speed and pressure snap him out of his blackout but it is too late.

He plunges to the hard floor with a crushing slam. his body bouncing off the floor like a tennis ball.

His suit’s barrier shines brightly, desperately trying to protect his body from the strong impacts threatening to break him but it can only do so much.

His entire body had grown numb, either from pain, shock, or both.

He struggles to his feet, feeling his vision cloud with red. He wipes his eyes with his hand to steady his vision and feels something wet.

It was blood.

Blood was heavily pouring down his head, seeping into his eyes.

“Wait…where’s…the rat.”

Remembering what had happened, the boy musters all energy and pushes off the floor in a backward leap.

As soon as he moves, the dark rat slams its blazing forepaw onto the floor where his head had just been.

The boy lands on his feet unsteadily, dizzy and disoriented from the strong blows to the head.

“Snap out of,,,it. The fight….is still..on.”

However, the dark rat doesn’t wait. It’s primitive hunting instincts were screaming that now was the time to strike.

Not wasting a second, it uses the momentum behind its plunging strike and springs forward with jaws wide open.

The boy tries to swerve out of the way but his legs refuse to coordinate effectively and he sidesteps unsteadily.

The rat’s jaws shut like a vice around his left forearm and pain sears up his shoulder and into his body. The shock reaches his heart and he feels an aching in his chest from the disturbed blood flow.

Getting a good grip on the boy’s arm with its jaws, the rat starts to shake, pull, and tug viciously.

His feet fly off the floor as his body slams into the ground on the rat’s other side from its aggressive shake but this was only the beginning.

The rat continues shaking its head aggressively from left to right, trying to tear his arm off as vengeance for its own cut off hind limb.

Red and blue colors ignite in a fiery blaze between the boy and the dark rat from the colliding energies.

Feeling his shoulder pop out, the boy tries to stay firm on the floor but fails to counter the rat’s strength.

His body slams on the floor again on the rat’s other side from the its aggressive head shaking.

Using his arm as a leverage the rat repeatedly slams the boy’s body on the hard floor.

The painful impacts and the constant bashing snap something inside the boy as he regains his senses.

“…Enough….is….ENOUGH!!”

When the rat slams him down on its right side, he sets off a loud war cry and delivers a powerful blazing kick where its hindlimb once was.

The dark rat’s head snaps up and it gives out a loud squeal, its jaws opening loosely and freeing his arm.

The boy’s bleeding, beaten, and worn-out body drops to the floor.

He lands unsteadily on his feet and quickly concentrates his aura around his legs before jumping up to the rat’s head.

Just as the dark rat is lowering its head, he unleashes a brutal kick upon its chin using the momentum of his entire body’s aura and muscles.

His leg whirls through the air like a whip and the front of his boot connects with the rat’s chin.

There is bright flare of light as their energies collide. The impact of his red energy reverberates through the rat’s barrier, cracking a few of its fangs and sending its head shooting back.

As the boy lands on the floor, it struggles to stay steady on its single hindlimb.

Forcing through the pain, dizziness, and exhaustion the boy, again, pounces on the rat’s throat, pushing it off balance.

While the rat falls to the floor on its injured side, he grabs on to its pointy black ear and climbs on top of its upper torso.

Clenching his hand into a fist, he carefully aims for its eye and starts punching with all of his strength.

The red aura on his arm burns fiercely, growing denser with each and every blow.

The dark rat thrashes wildly while trying to push him off with its forelimbs. Its claws scrape against his suit’s barrier but the boy stands his ground and doesn’t stop punching.

It tries to sway its head away from his raining strikes but the boy yanks its sensitive ear toward him, holding its head in range.

The blows resonate across the shimmering blue barrier protecting the rat’s head but from the way it was reacting there was no doubt that the hits were passing through.

The dark rat kicks its hindlimb in a determined effort to regain its footing. It gets a grip on the boy’s torso with its forelimbs and tries to brace against his chest, straining with every ounce of strength to create some distance.

It continues to push through his punches, its resilience shining through as it strives to break free from under his hold.

The boy feels his body slowly give way to the rat’s strength. He was losing his stable position on top of the rat.

He whips his fist back, winding it up for one final strike. The aura around his body swells dangerously as the energy concentrates in his arm, turning it scarlet.

As the rat’s body begins to rise up from underneath him, he unleashes the destructive blow toward its eye.

The fist connects with the rat’s head and a bright flare ignites. He feels the rat’s barrier resist against his punch but he pushes back with as much strength as he can muster, yelling out a loud war cry from the sheer effort.

Throughout his exertion he feels the rat’s barrier slowly bend and give way to the force of his flaming punch. With a bright flash of blue the barrier shatters completely and his punch passes through toward its eye.

When his fist connects with its eye there is an explosion of green energy and blood. The dark rat’s eye bursts and its head slams down to the floor. The force of the impact bounces its head off the floor and its limbs stop thrashing.

The boy falls off the rat, dropping to his knees and hands on the floor. Completely tired out from the effort, he takes in big gulps of air, trying to calm his palpitating heart and regain his breath.

All the exhaustion coupled with the lack of food and water were hitting him all at once. He had to push beyond his limits with this attack, mustering more energy than he thought was even possible.

His vision grows blurry and then clear as he continues to pant heavily, trying to get as much air as he can into his lungs.

He could feel his aura recede back into his body as his effort in maintaining it failed.

Once more pushing through the weariness, he musters his energy and reignites the aura over his body.

Without his aura it would be a massacre not a fight.

“*pants* at least….its *pants*…..over right? *pants*”

Slowly and unsteadily, he pushes off the floor, staggering up to his feet. Wheezing painfully, he looks down at the dark rat.

It was lying completely still. Black blood oozed profusely out of the mined mush of meat where its right eye used to be.

“*Pants* Is….it dead.”

As if to answer his misunderstanding the rat’s three limbs start twitching.

“Fuck…how is it still alive.”

Flailing its three limbs weakly, the rat rolls over with a struggle. Slowly rising to its feet, the rat’s now only functioning blood red eye falls on the boy standing before it.

Aura reignites through its body, flaring up with a golden maroon shade as it positions its body for a pounce.

The boy straightens his posture and raises his arms. He too reignites aura throughout his body, getting ready to respond to the rat’s attack. Dense aura flows out of him in waves that are much brighter than before.

Maybe it was because his mind was tiring but he could feel much greater energy coursing inside him than before.

“Bring it, you rat fuck. *pants* I don’t need my sword to beat you down anymore.”