Her once black arm with contours of white quickly turned into a dark arm with green contours lighting the limb. The creature bellowed and screamed as it wrestled with Dorothy’s arm and head as if it were trying to contrast its previous self. Dorothy’s closed fist held the most vibrant parts of the green Astral she crushed, and she readied to execute her attack before the creature could tear her head off.

She opened her palm and as she did, a line of green flames shot out from her palm like a plume of smoke, meeting the ganguly opponent and stopping at the right side of its abdomen. The mangled beast’s screams got more violent, more painful, and more desperate, as the stream of fire failed to cease its assault on its waist, searing the thin skin and beginning to burn a hole through the flesh and bone.

Despite the pain the creature must have felt, it didn’t relent on its intent of killing Dorothy, keeping her grip on her arm tight and its grip on her hair even tighter, as it attempted to pull off her head.

Dorothy felt the skin on the outside of her neck begin to tear, she knew she wouldn't have much time left and began to panic internally. Then, the line of green flame began to intensify, increasing in heat that Dorothy was thankfully immune from, but still aware of as her foe’s wails intensified as a result. The deep green flames quickly found their way through the back of the Ho’som’s abdomen, burning a hole clean through the creature that would eventually cause its legs and torso to collapse in on each other.

A dark green explosion detonated from Dorothy’s arm, ending the stream of flames that came from her hand and knocking the young woman and her opponent away from each other. Dorothy smacked into a nearby tree, with the impact meeting her back. It felt as if her spine must have been damaged severely, but Dorothy was faced with too much adrenaline and risk that she could ignore the pain for now. Thankfully, she was used to taking advantage of adrenaline in fights and quickly got back up to her feet un-swayed.

Despite the burning of the flora and trees visible to her eyes, the only sound she could hear was a subtle droning ringing in her ear, as she looked across at her opponent, masked by the vibrant flames and matching smoke. Did I burst my eardrums? Damnit! No time! The smoke quickly settled around the Ho’som to reveal the tall foe was still alive, though barely. Most of its torso had been completely destroyed, blood flooded the surrounding flora, more than thought possible to be held within such a thin creature, and both its remaining upper body and legs lay on the ground as they made threatening gestures towards Dorothy, yet posing no actual harm to her.

Despite the damage she had done to her own body, Dorothy used the adrenaline coursing through her veins to dash through the forest, making her way to the opening that presented the smoggy factory.

“Dorothy! Over here!” Dorothy ignored Toto’s small yells, unable to hear him from the loss of her hearing, though she did spot him, jumping and prancing on the spot. Quickly running over to the factory entrance, she swiped him up, then swiftly entered through the industrial doors. Dorothy placed Toto down rapidly and with all her remaining might, heaved the metal doors close and slammed down the metal bar that secured the lock. Then, she slumped.

A few minutes passed, and Dorothy was still unable to get up, her back aching too much, twinging with too much pain that would not be sedated by adrenaline when she stressed it. All she could see was the cold and empty corridor of the factory, that, and Toto, who stood in front of her feet. He was presumably asking something of her, but Dorothy’s hearing was practically destroyed after the blast, though, at least she got to keep her head. Dorothy smirked and laughed slightly at that thought, recalling the same words that were given to her by OZ.

Blood dripped slowly from her ear as she slumped further on the stone floor. In spite of this, her face quickly lit up and she reached for the book attached to her waist. OZ definitely mentioned something about this…please don’t tell me I read this wrong. She flipped through the pages as quickly as she could, returning to the page that outlined the uses and effects of coloured Astal.

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Green Astral - Brights: Emits steady green flames that burn hotter than normal fire.

Green Astral - Black Astral: Effects unknown. Testing is too unsafe.

Thanks for the warning you old bastard Dorothy thought Yellow no, red no Dorothy searched through the notes feverishly until she found what she was looking for.

Purple Astral - Brights: Sacrifices another’s blood to heal the user for small injuries.

Purple Astral - Black Astral: Larger blood sacrifice required for mortal injury healing in a short space of time.

It felt like the perfect solution for Dorothy’s situation, though, how she would get that blood would was still a mystery to her. Then her gaze raised back to Toto, still whining visibility by her boots. Here goes nothing. She thought, too pained to even roll her eyes.

“Toto!” Dorothy yelled far too loud that it echoed all the way through the metal corridor. “I need you to drag back that creature I killed! Can you do that?!” She was unsure if she was even speaking, unable to tell if Toto was able to hear her, yet, he nodded. Dorothy’s face turned to one of surprise that her attempt to communicate with no certainty actually worked, but now, she had to face the music as her father would say. The door was still locked, and Toto was nowhere near strong enough to pull the lever open for the door.

Still, Dorothy had her own saying, “If it was just pain, she wouldn’t stop.” She resisted all feedback from her body as she struggled to her feet. The tendons, bones, and muscles all screamed in agony as she sloppily rose to her feet. She couldn't stand up fully, her back was too damaged to even move in that shape, she resembled an old man burdened by age and relying on a cane…but it was enough. She pressed her weight against the rusty lever and released the tightness, allowing the door to open once again. The black-clad woman fell to her feet again, collapsing on the ground. To Dorothy’s dismay, the door still needed to be opened which would require some moderate force.

She dragged herself across the ground, putting all her weight into opening the door and pushing as hard as she could. Even Toto, as small as he was, pushed with his small head, as superfluous as his effort was. With enough struggle, the door eventually opened enough for a small breeze to escape into the factory, with Toto sliding out the first chance he could get and disappearing into the night. Dorothy slumped back down, her face reflecting the pain she felt as breaths became laboured and deep.

Thank god that dog is small, I don’t know if I could push any longer. Dorothy thought as she rested against the cold rusty steel, laying her head against it and taking a small rest.

The young woman smiled, winning a fight felt better than Christmas morning to her. These were exactly the parts of kickboxing that enticed her to the sport in the first place. The risk, the uncertainty, the fear, the adrenaline, oh the adrenaline. Dorothy practically got addicted to that feeling when she competed against stronger, more intimidating foes. Despite the serious risk of death and the fact she had practically made herself paraplegic and deaf, it still felt like Christmas morning to her.

It felt like an eternity to Dorothy, but to her surprise, Toto did return with the creature’s corpse held in its mouth. The dog made slow little tugs that must have taken it all day to haul the large corpse over, tugs he continued to make as he slid the Ho’som through the opening in the door. Dorothy quickly awoke from her daydream and helped as much as she could. The beast's mangled corpse flopped in front of Dorothy, looking as if it bled out and was unable to keep itself alive regardless of its strange morphs. Its ganguly legs lay limp in front of her, barely hanging on to any muscle and showing bone in some areas. Though just the legs were still longer than Dorthy was tall, they would be enough.

Dorothy quickly glanced to her side and dug through the small satchel for a magenta-coloured Astral, the orb gave a loving glow within her pale hand before she quickly shifted it over to her opposite hand. The reflections of light ceased as it brought over to her black hand. Dorothy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, mentally crossing her fingers that OZ wasn’t full of shit.

She crushed the orb quickly in her hand, purple shards flew everywhere and slowly burnt away as they hit the stone floor. As expected, the contours and edges in her arm turned from white to a steady purple. She then opened her palm slowly, still retaining the Astral’s power within her arm. She then thrust her palm down onto the corpse and in turn, a flash of purple light burst from her palm, as the energy transferred from all of her arm into one focal point beneath the center of her palm.

Streams of blood quickly appeared from the corpse and rose into the air elegantly, tuning the Ho’som into nothing more than a frail boned corpse, as it stole the blood vessels from its flesh and bone. The worms of blood hovered for just a moment before shooting into Dorothy, finding their own way into her body and ignoring any of the clothing she wore.

Dorothy’s face was still one of pain and uncertainty, that was, until she heard the small whines of Toto, she slumped back down once again, now with a face of relief.