Chapter 18: Chapter 17: Thunder

Chapter 17: Thunder

With her heart beating a mile a minute, Maru was overwhelmed with a distinct sensation. Throughout all of her battles up until this point, the only thing coursing through her body was fear. Things were different this time. Her body was saturated with a sense of deeply rooted courage, and a hint of euphoria. Fear still lingered in the back of her mind, but she was mentally prepared to take on whatever Elafi planned to throw at her. No longer would she run away, cower, and fear for her life like she did against Manho.

Maru gives her injured shoulder a gentle rub. The wound is still bleeding, though not as much as before.

“I can’t just run at her without a plan,” she said to herself, “I need to remain cautious. If she could take out Francis with a solid hit, then she can do the same to me.”

Maru watches as Elafi falls to her knees after slamming into the rocky walls of the cave, dust and debris shrouding the area like an eerie fog. She struggles to get up, biting her lip and holding her hand over the spot where Maru brutally kicked her in the abdomen. Looking up, Maru could see Elafi’s vibrant, cyan eyes piercing through the curtains of her silky white hair. The hunter’s gaze sent chills down Maru’s spine, her body tensing up in response.

Elafi lunges forward, the stone beneath her shattered by the force of her jump. She closes the distance between her and Maru in under a second, flying through the air like a winged beast with her arms raised high. Her sharpened yet jagged claw-like nails would stick out from her fingertips, glistening in the light of the nearby crystal.

Elafi brings her claws down onto Maru, aiming to lodge them into the girl’s shoulders just like she did before. Maru jumps back, narrowly avoiding the attack as Elafi’s claws latch onto the lower half of Maru’s pants, effortlessly tearing off a large strip of the cloth and leaving them tattered.

Not only was Elafi strong, she was incredibly fast too. Even with the enhanced mobility from her new spell, Maru was barely able to avoid the attack through sheer reaction. If anything, she’d need to predict Elafi’s next attack if she wanted to ensure she didn’t get hit.

“I picked a dangerous game to play,” Maru thought to herself, reeling her staff back and bashing it against Elafi’s face like a bat. Then, while the predator isn’t looking, Maru pulls her leg close to her stomach and kicks Elafi in the shoulder. On contact, a surge of lightning and electricity is shot out from the sole of her foot, creating a small explosion that sends Elafi flying backwards into a nearby rock.

The collision isn’t nearly as devastating as Maru’s initial dropkick, and Elafi is barely staggered. Without looking, Elafi wedges her clawed fingers into the rock, using one hand to lift the massive boulder over her head, and firmly confirming her grip with the other, its grandiose size casting a shrouding shadow over her body.

Elafi lunges forward again, covering a much shorter distance due to the weight of the massive stone. She throws it forward, sending it hurling through the air as a hefty projectile towards Maru.

Maru tightens her grip on her staff with one hand, sending Magic Energy surging through the polearm as she thrusts it forward. Its tip lightly taps the incoming boulder, sending an excessive amount of Magic Energy. A dense fissure travels throughout the entire rock, leading to an explosive rupture with an equally powerful flash of blue light, temporarily blinding the both of them.

“That’s new,” Maru thought, “the staff can conduct my Magic Energy just as well as my body can. Maybe I can…”

She grabs the staff with two hands this time, sending a current of Magic Energy into it just like before. A sky blue Magic Circle would appear on either end of the polearm, a similarly colored aura of lightning and Magic Energy then enshrouds the staff, perfectly mimicking its silhouette like a cloak.

While Maru was busy finnicking with her staff, Elafi jumps towards her again, her jaw wide open as she attempts to bite the girl’s arm. Maru pulls her arm back, and Elafi instead catches the staff between her polished teeth. Their gazes meet as Maru tries to tug the staff away from her, but to no avail. Elafi narrows her eyes, growling at the girl like a vicious, untamed beast.

“She really is just a rabid animal.”

Somewhat startled, Maru lets go of the staff and jumps back. She then holds her hand outwards, a small Magic Circle forming in the palm of her hand. Her staff starts to fly towards her like a magnet, dragging Elafi along with it, as she was still attempting to gnaw and chew through it. Once the beast is finally close enough, Maru reels her arm back and hits Elafi with a firm clobber, knocking the staff out of her teeth and into the air.

The staff goes flying into the air above Maru, landing gracefully in her hands as she holds her arm up to catch it.

Elafi takes a few steps back, letting out a low pitched growl while rubbing her nose. Her head suddenly snaps towards Maru, as she rushes at her again with a swift yet hefty punch aimed at her chest. This time, Maru had no time to dodge, and she instead held her staff up in front of her to block the attack. Elafi’s fist clangs against the obsidian polearm, not nearly strong enough to break though. Although her block was successful, the force behind the punch still traveled evenly throughout Maru’s body, reverberating like an echo.

Now dazed, Maru’s grip of the staff loosens, and Elafi continues her assault with a series of bludgeoning punches, each one getting faster and faster.

Maru spots an opening, and weaves around Elafi’s next punch. Shifting to the left, Maru pulls her leg up and kicks the beast in her stomach, diverting their attention while she pivots off of her other foot and punches Elafi in the face. Sparks fly from her knuckle, creating a series of small lightning bolts dangerously close to Elafi’s face. They eat through and char the outermost layer of her skin before Maru jumps back, creating distance between them again.

“Man, you’re handy,” Maru muttered, looking down at her staff. For a while now, she’s been underestimating just how much it could do, thinking it was just a staff with a couple of exotic decorations. It’s done so much for her, from awakening her Magic to holding up against attacks that would’ve normally ended her life.

“I should give you a name. How about-”

“Name?” Elafi spoke for the first time. Her voice was gentle, honeyed, and motherly, a tone you wouldn’t expect to come from a girl with attacks as vicious as hers.

Elafi looks at Maru with a much softer gaze, her eyes filled with curiosity with her slit pupils returning to normal. She brushes her hand against the shallow burns on her cheek, her mouth agape as she starts to breathe heavily.

“You… speak Arcanian?” Maru asked rhetorically. She returns the soft gaze, looking at the deer-girl differently now. Up until this point, Maru saw her as some sort of vicious beast given humanoid form, but it seemed to be the other way around.

“What’s your name?”

“Name…” Elafi mutters again, her thoughts trailing off as the gentle caressing of her skin slowly turns into a bloody scratching, her sharp nails tearing into her skin, leaving paint like streaks of blood on her face. Her round pupils immediately constrict, a reflection of her sudden shift into insanity.

“...Name, name, name…” She chants the word like a mantra, her voice getting progressively louder with each repetition. Her clawing becomes frantic and frenzied, her skin peeling away with each and every swipe as blood continues to pour down the sides of her cheeks like running water. The horns on her head began to peel as if they were carved from rotten wood, their insides turning a grotesque black. Although they seemed to be decaying, they became larger in size with increased length and width. A black and white aura of energy would envelop them, swirling clockwise around the antlers as they turned vantablack.

Maru stares at Elafi, wanting to extend a helping hand to her, but she wasn’t sure how. This wasn’t a situation she dealt with before, and this woman was trying to kill her mere seconds ago. Still, Maru wanted to help her.

She takes a few cautious steps forward, lowering her staff and extending a hand out as a friendly gesture.

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“...My name. My name – I CAN’T REMEMBER MY NAME!!” Elafi stops scratching at her face and covers her eyes with her hands. Her nails became coating in the same black energy that covered her horns, and it soon extended to her hands and wrists.

“...What’s wrong?” Maru whispered, slowly inching closer to Elafi while keeping her hand out. “You can talk to me. I can help you.”

“What am I?” Elafi whispered, falling to her knees and looking down at her hands while her sclera turned a solid black, her pupils shifting to a deep shade of crimson red. “What are you? Who are you?!” She suddenly swipes her enhanced claws in Maru’s direction. They leave crisp and clean lacerations across her cheek, blood running down the sides of her neck afterwards.

Maru jumps back, holding her staff with two hands again as she gets ready for another round of combat. At the moment, Elafi seems to have retained some of her humanity, but Maru wasn’t sure if she would be able to talk her out of her current state of insanity. Maybe she’d have to knock her out first, and try to talk to her later. Tianyu might know something about whatever is going on with her, especially if it had to do with that black stuff that seemed to be taking over her body.

“Some kind of Magic?” Maru thought, “infectious maybe? If so, is she the user, or just a victim of it? Better yet, could I even try to talk her out of it?”

Plenty of questions, with equally as many dots to connect, but Maru had no way of connecting them. This girl could be related to Manho, or something else entirely. Does Reoh know anything about her? Is she a villager that went missing, or someone that got lost on the island?

“I’m Maru, and I’m not here to hurt you – I’m here to help you. Just breathe and collect your thoughts. Then we can-”

“Maru… What did you do to me..?!” Elafi’s breathing still runs rampant. She lightly scratches at her own sharpened canines with her claw-like hands, a low pitched snarl escaping her as she keeps her eyes interlocked with Maru’s. Although she had no idea what happened to her body, she was incredibly well-versed at using it, like it was a primal instinct instilled into her body.

Maru manages to get a bit closer, getting down on one knee in front of Elafi, trying to reach out and touch her shoulder gently. The lightning and energy around her starts to slowly fade away.

Elafi's voice becomes fragile and shaky, tears slowly forming in the corners of her eyes as she continues to stare at Maru one last time.

“...You sound like the voices in my head.”

“You – you have voices in your head?”

A fist suddenly comes flying at Maru’s head, and she barely has any time to bring her staff up to block the attack. Elafi’s fists push valiantly against the obsidian staff, pushing it back into Maru’s face. The forces behind the punch were strong enough to send Maru flying off of the ground, tumbling backwards through the air for dozens of feet.

Flipping through the air, she then lands on both feet while holding the staff with one hand, sliding across the ground before coming to a stop. A surge of Magic Energy envelopes Maru’s body again, albeit more potent this time around. She watches as Elafi leaps up into the air, nearly touching the ceiling before coming back down upon Maru from above with her fist reeling back.

She jumps back, avoiding the attack as Elafi’s fist collides with the cold stone instead. A large crater is left in the spot where Elafi lands, a mysterious and mist-like black substance sprouting upwards from the ground like the roots of a tree. They briefly travel up into the air, seemingly feeling the area around them before they all rush towards Maru simultaneously.

Jumping back again, Maru creates distance between her and the incoming branches as she holds her arm out, a larger Magic Circle appearing in the palm of her hand. From it, a massive bolt of lightning shoots out with a nigh-blinding flash, splitting off into a series of smaller bolts that collide with every branch. Upon contact, they immediately explode into a thick black mist that rushes to cover Maru and the area surrounding her, greatly limiting her vision to only a few feet in every direction. She immediately starts coughing, covering her mouth while dashing to the side to try to get out of it.

“The hell is that stuff..?”

From the darkness in front of her, Elafi suddenly appears while lunging forward, getting close enough to firmly grasp Maru by the neck and lift her up into the air. Elafi then slams her repeatedly into the ground, the ground beneath them cracking with each and every one. Maru could feel the wind being knocked out of her, her breath and stamina being sapped every time her back banged against the cold stone.

Elafi slams her into the ground one final time, lifting her foot up above Maru and attempting to stomp her head into the ground. Maru brings her staff up, using it to keep Elafi’s leg at bay.

Maru’s ears were ringing, her vision was blurry, and everything going on in her head was foggy. Just as she had anticipated, a singular solid hit from Elafi would be enough to take her out of the fight. Right now, she knew that the adrenaline running through her veins was the only thing keeping her conscious in the moment. Part of her felt like Elafi was holding back, like the humanity inside her was keeping the girl from viciously ripping Maru apart. Maru couldn’t hear nor see her very well, but it looked like Elafi was laughing maniacally, an eerie smile on her face with tears running down the sides of her face. Maru couldn’t tell if she was enjoying the fight, or if the tears were a subtle cry for help, like she was trapped in a body she didn’t want to be part of. Maru wanted to try and help here, because she was clearly suffering, but she had to first get out of this battle alive.

“How long is Tianyu going to take?”

Maru wanted to finish this battle all on her own, but part of her worried she wouldn’t be able to win right now. The clock was ticking, and it would only be a matter of time before her adrenaline runs dry and she’s knocked out for good.

“I can’t rely on him, not right now. Everything is on me.” With only a few moments left before she collapses, she knew she had to make the most of it right now.

Using most of the strength left within her, Maru desperately pushes back against Elafi’s foot with the staff with just enough strength to cause the girl to stumble back. Maru jams one end of the staff into the ground, using it to push her body up as she lands on her feet. She grasps the other end of the staff firmly with both hands, swinging it towards Elafi’s face twice.

Elafi gets hit by the first swing, using the back of her forearm to block the second one and knock the staff out of Maru’s hands. It goes flying through the air, spinning before it hits the nearby wall and falls to the ground. Elafi takes a step forward, throwing a devastating right hook to try and knock Maru’s head off.

Maru ducks under it, reeling her arm back and firmly punching Elafi in her abdomen, sparks of electricity left behind in the wake of her strike, producing heat strong enough to burn through Elafi’s clothes and leave dense scorch marks on her skin. Using her other fist, Maru strikes her again in the same spot, staggering Elafi long enough for her to raise her leg and firmly kick the deer-girl away.

Elafi takes a few steps back while staggered. She covers her stomach with one hand, holding her other hand out as a score of black tendrils erupt from the palm of her hand. They rush towards Maru in unison, their form stiffening to mimic that of a spear with a focused, pointed edge. Maru narrowly sidesteps the tendrils, their sharpened edges cutting through a few strands of her hair while she rushes towards Elafi.

There’s a brief blue flash of lightning surrounding Maru’s body, her Magic granting her nearly instantaneous momentum as she jumps into the air, her body shifting into a horizontal position while she pulls her legs back. Elafi brings her free hand up to block her face, thinking Maru was going to attack her there. Instead, Maru firmly kicks the woman in her stomach with both legs, a surge of electricity traveling through her legs and feet, leaving even more vicious burns on Elafi’s stomach. There is another flash, followed by a heat-induced expansion of air strong enough to send Elafi flying back.

She collides with a rock, traveling with enough force to completely shatter it before she tumbles along the ground. Elafi is clearly weakened, though she is not out of the fight entirely. She gets back up, that crazed smile on her face long gone. Her body was struggling now, signified by her difficulty to simply stand up straight. Her breathing was no longer rampant, but rather slow and delicate. The black aura surrounding her horns began to flicker, as if the power was leaving her body.

Maru, ready to succumb to her own injuries, knew she had to bring the fight to a definitive end. Elafi clearly had more stamina than her. If she were to pass out now, who knows what that girl could do to finish her off while she’s out cold.

Maru firmly grips the staff with her hand in the middle of it, closer to one end. She holds it into the air close to her head, moving her shoulder back and bending her knees slightly. She takes on the stance of a javelin thrower, coating the polearm in an aura of blue lightning that begins to change shape. The lightning starts to shift its form around the staff, turning into the silhouette of a spear with a pointed tip. Maru lifts one foot up into the air, pulling her body back slightly before taking a step forward and throwing the staff.

It cuts through the air like an arrow, flying towards Elafi as a blur. It lodges itself grotesquely into her stomach, blood starting to ooze from the blocked wound. Elafi reaches down and pulls the staff out of her body, watching as the blood pours out of her now open wound like a river.

With her body decrepit and brittle, she starts to walk toward the lightning Mage with her vision equally blurry and her mind just as foggy. She manages to take only a couple of steps before her body succumbs to the blood loss and accumulating shock. After taking one final step, she falls to the ground.

Maru watches from afar, a little disturbed at the sight of blood, but more than content with her own success. With her consciousness limited, she tries her best to take a seat against a nearby barrel, only to collapse onto her side. A feeble smile comes across her face, followed by equally fragile laughter.

“I finally did it, all on my own… I won.”