Ray of hope || by Elin Moon

Chapter 5: A monster's final breath

I try not to shriek or scream as she suddenly starts barrelling towards me. I try to back up, to run away, as fast as possible, being dragged down by the weight of the chainsaw. I trip over my own feet trying to back away, and panic, trying to lift the chainsaw as cover against whatever she'll attempt to do. It turns out to be a good shout, because she raises up her front legs and tries to cut me with the bladed end. Instead of flesh, the blades make contact with the chainsaw, making a loud clinking sound as metal hits metal. It's sharp, and makes my ears ring, but the horrid sound also makes her back away from me. I pull myself to my feet, whimpering in pain as I support my weight on my left arm, making me collapse. I hear Noo Noo chuckle behind me, which fills me with a sense of anger as I lift myself back up quickly, energy refilled and pain ignored. I look back at her, to see that she seems to be roaming around randomly with no apparent goal. That seems weird, she almost seems less aggressive than in her other forms. But no matter, this means this is going to be a quick fight.

However, I am proven false as I approach closer. As I lifted my chainsaw and tried to speed my way so I could slash her, I noticed something encircling her. It looked like a ring made out of fire, circling her around everywhere. I had no doubt that if I walked in that, I would most likely be burned. I backed away, hoping she didn't notice me so close to her. However, her sharp gaze quickly turns to me, and the next second I see giant balls of molten lava come out of her mouth. I jump when I see them, quickly lifting the chainsaw to block the collision. I hear the metal sizzle slightly as the molten balls make contact with it, and I close my eyes as if my lack of eye sight could protect me. Once I stop feeling the impact, I squint my eyes open and peak over my chainsaw. I see her crawl away again, the ring of fire still around her. She seems to wander around again before removing the shield completely, the fire smouldering to ash before my eyes. I take a deep breath in, preparing myself for my next move.

She spots me again and starts speeding towards me, the blades at the end of her legs leaving small holes behind in the dry ground. My small hands twist around the handle of the chainsaw as I prepare myself and start running towards her too, preparing to swing the chainsaw at her. Suddenly, she lifts her front legs and prepares to crush me. Caught by surprise, I dodge at the last second, moving out of the blade's way a second before it comes in contact with my body. Then, I slash, and slash from the side. I continue, over and over again, the dark blood spilling all over the dry ground and causing her to shriek like hell, unable to defend herself from the speed of the attack. Suddenly, I feel my body burn and I realize that she raised her ring of fire around herself again. And I am within the ring. I quickly jump back, and back away as fast as possible as she starts walking around again. I inspect my own injuries, and find that the lower half of my body seems to have been minorly burned, thankfully not bad enough to cause the fur to turn black. However, the skin under feels dry and stretched whenever I move, and it feels rather uncomfortable. However, I ignore this feeling to look back at her, still wandering around with her ring of fire. I can see that she's still bleeding, the wounds I gave her are grave enough to cause continuous bleeding. It affects her, I can see it in her movement: her walking seems slower and the ring of fire seems less brighter than it was the first time. She seemed to be limping a little, her left front leg most affected by the injuries. This gives me an idea, one to weaken her faster.

Her front legs are the most important part of her. They help her move, and are a way of attacking. If I can get rid of them, or weaken them, then she won't be as powerful anymore making her easier to defeat. I know I have to approach this carefully, because fire seems to be a big part of her powers, and I do not wish to be burned any worse than I already am. I must attack when she least expects it, or at least catch her slightly off guard. Looking back at the thing wandering about, I get the feeling this is going to be slightly harder than I anticipate. However, I take my chance when I see her turn her back on me for a second, the ring of fire being lowered at last. I run, sprint there, ignoring the burning of my soles, and prepare my chainsaw for what is to come. She must hear the sound of the chainsaw, she must have, because she turns around to see me running at her. She tries to shoot more molten lava balls at me, but I narrowly dodge and continue forward, ignoring the sizzling sound behind me, and the ground starting to turn black from the burns. Instead, I start slashing manically, blood spilling everywhere as I continue my swinging. She shrieked, high and inhumane, echoing through the open air and making my ears ring once more. However, I won't stop. I continue, on and on to slash, ignoring the quivering of my feet underneath me and the burning of every limb possible, and the way my head feels like something is inside pounding on my skull with a tree. I don't stop, until a claw-like hand scratches right across my face, making me stumble backwards and cover my eyes. I can't feel the pain, not really, it actually feels rather numb, which may be an issue. But I know it happened, and when I removed my hands, I saw blood coating the yellow fur. I can feel blood dripping into mini waterfalls down my face, and I run my hand over the wound done by the claws. It's rough, and deep, but thankfully it seemed to have missed my eyes completely, so at least I'm not blind.