W— what just happened? I'm… bleeding out on the ground? I was stabbed. There's a hole in my stomach, and blood is 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 have pierced through the strap. My hand reached out towards the pouch, but I could barely move. It felt as though my body was stuck to the ground. I was 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'll be passing before you. Daisy— I'm 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 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. It would seem like Byakko was getting better at maintaining this power instead of being single-use. The pack leader was wary of us now. Not only did Tengu-kaze nullify his blood flame that he tossed, but Lily made physical contact with him and was unscathed by his blood flame. We have the advantage over him, and heknows it.
Lily charged ahead while I stood behind, finding attack angles or potential incoming attacks 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 into Lily with his other fist but it was sent upwards as Lily countered it with a punch of her own. Now that the beast was 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 and reminded myself that we were in the middle of combat. The beast sunk its claws into his ribs and coated them with its blood, resulting in him 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 itself with the constant blood usage and attacks, giving Lily an opportunity to finally counterattack. 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 bleed 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 next 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 as she re-adjusted herself.
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 area, causing me to instinctively cover my ears. What the fuck just happened? Did the pack leader go insane?
Even the spectral beasts in front of me were clasping their ears, fading in and out of existence due to the ear rupturing shriek. What about Lily? Oh no, she's crouching on the ground covering 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 humans. I need to save her!
W— wait a minute, the shriek is not coming from the pack leader? The skin that was dangling from his body and face acted as a ear muffle for him. Shit— he can move freely while we're pinned down!
The shrieking stopped, but my ears and body were still in absolute pain. My visions were blurry, and my whole body and hands were shaking uncontrollably. It was only then that I noticed a hint of red at both my palms. Even my eardrums were ruptured; I can only imagine what pain Lily was experiencing right now.
The pack leader was approaching closer to Lily; I need to act fast. Lily is in no position to defend herself when she's in a foetal position, still clutching her ears. It must have been an agonising experience for her.
I tried lifting my right hand, but my entire body was still feeling numbed. Even lifting a finger was excruciatingly hard to perform. It took every effort just to lift my right arm, trying to call a bolt of lightning to power it. But I'm not gonna make it. The beast was already attempting to take a swing at Lily, and I still can't move my arms properly. Damn it, I sure hope he misses!
Something white leapt and blocked the swipe with its body. Is that—Inu? Oh no, why did he do that? Will he even survive 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 vanished 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, I have to force my body to move so I can kill this bastard once and for all.
***
*Lily's Perspective*
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 was curl myself on the floor, despite knowing that I'm completely vulnerable to any attacks. Is Zen able to help me? I'm sure even he is struggling to move around with this bone piercing shriek.
The deadly shriek stopped, but I was still feeling the effects of it. Warm fluids were streaking down my ears, and I knew my eardrums were ruptured. My body was shivering as though I were in a seizure. I felt something land 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 he protect me?
I pushed myself to sit up, feeling more blood leaking from my ear. This was more agonising than training with Peter when he was teaching me about acupoints. At least that doesn't give you a concussion or even ruptured 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 he did was lick my hand. But eventually, he stopped moving and his body slumped. I continued stroking his body even though I knew— I knew. Memories of Zen's death comes flying back to me as though it had just happened seconds ago.
An animal that I hated sacrificed himself to protect me. You are a fool, Lily. Such a fool. Inu meant well when he said he wanted to protect me. But why? I just don't understand why he was attracted to me? Is it because I'm an elf? I understand that elves have a good affinity with animals naturally, but Inu—felt different. But it's too late now. He literally sacrificed himself for me, and I doubted him. Did Zen know he would try to save me? Why didn't he tell me earlier then? He was sosure that Inu had a role to play.
The leader was heading closer to Zen, who was still struggling to stand properly. 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, your future husband might die again! And you haven't even explained those secrets to him yet!
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 were the first to regain 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'm the master, you're 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 knew full well it would onlylast 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.
***
*Zen's Perspective*
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; it completely defies all logic and only burned me through my clothes. But to hell with it, a little burn is not gonna kill me. I'm wounding him as much as he's burning me. Let's see who falls first!
I swung Tengu-kaze with frozen lightning wind, and more blood started spraying from where it struck. Does it not feel pain, like at all? I noticed that its eyes were glowing red now and seemed to be attacking in a berserk-like state. Did that shriek change its behaviour?
Spikes of ice pierced through the beast's side, but he completely ignored it, seemingly feeling no pain whatsoever. Then, I guess it's 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 its own, seemingly releasing a huge pool of blood in all directions. How much blood does this skinny beast have?!
I gave a roar of defiance 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 most of the blood from its blood flame projectiles, but it was stopped by the jaw of the beast. Do you really think you can stop such an attack with just 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; its insides must be freezing over by now. Lily won't be missing her aim when the beast can barely even move now. Lily's lightning slammed into the beast, which spread 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 its claws 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 its head like a demon.
Making sure that 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 compliments 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 still feel… restless? Like my guts are telling me something; something that I had missed. It was then that I realised a mistake; a mistake that caused my death once again.