“Ichi... Ichi... Ichi...” Peter impatiently tapped her head.
It didn’t really accomplish much but… one, he didn’t have anything else to do, and two, her being distracted by nonsense was dangerous not only for him, but for everyone involved. The enormous contraption they’ve managed to build from scavenged parts was obviously too heavy for even Ni to fly with and that didn’t account for the power pack restricting wing movements. They had to settle for a rather awkward joint carry instead. Each of them had a rope strapped around their waist, with the other end attached to a leather bag containing their spoils.
The setup was far from perfect, but at least workable – all they had to do was maintain position in an equilateral triangle... While overencumbered... For dozens of hours at a time, day after day. No one was really complaining though – Ni’s pride prevented her from admitting how tiring it was, Kendall suffered in silence, with just a few tears signifying her true discomfort and Ichi... Well, she disregarded his concerns entirely. When asked about the circular abrasion around her hips, and if she didn’t need to slow down, take a day of break, all he got was a gaze of pure determination, mixed with slivers of resignation and acceptance.
Truth be told, it only amplified his regrets about not thinking everything through beforehand – putting together a few leather harnesses would have prevented at least some of their suffering... Dispelling sorrowful thoughts with a headshake, he attempted to focus on things he could influence. Like his girl’s mood.
“ICHI!” he roared, finally startling her out of hateful focus.
“What?” she half-asked, half-scoffed.
“You’re staring again.”
Peter heard a deep inhale between the thunderclaps.
“So what?” She attempted to shrug. “I’m not gonna… do anything. Just looking…”
“Yeah, but I can literally hear murder swirling in your head…” He followed with another head pat. “Anger harms beauty.”
“Good thing I don’t need more beauty,” she responded sourly and rubbed her eyes.
At the very least, the setting sun wasn’t scorching their eyes anymore – this time, that joy was reserved for mornings only.
Struggling to think of anything else, he placed a kiss on her head. There was no chance she could have felt it, or even discerned what it was… But he liked to do it. And really hoped that those small displays of affection were somehow rubbing onto her unconsciously…
He shook his head. It was beyond stupid. Opening his eyes again, he realised Ichi’s gaze was slowly – almost imperceptibly so – returning to the object of her hatred.
“His life is already bad enough,” Peter commented, severely understating Zhou’s condition.
Ni carried the entire family as promised, stuffed in a secure leather bag on her chest, and while Peter was grateful for her careful handling of the elder and the child… She didn’t even attempt to restrain herself from… indulging.
The poor lad spent every waking moment amusing Ni one way or another. Whenever they landed for the evening, she toyed with him, whispered things that never failed to turn him pale, forced him to apply herbal paste on her abrasions, made him eat from her hand and… for whatever reason, demanded foot rubs every night. Peter pitied him, having experienced the joys of massaging dragon feet dozens of times – without the satisfaction of a loving purr and the sense of intimacy, the only thing left was just arduous work… One not helped by the playful, crushing squeezes Ichi’s toes couldn’t help themselves from giving. A trait – regretfully for Zhou – shared by both sisters.
Now though, Ni simply amused herself by… He wasn’t even sure how to describe it. Pinching Zhou between fingers, she used him like a toy plane, or a superhero figurine, ‘flying’ him around, fiddling with his limbs, and otherwise idly maltreating him whenever she got focused on adjusting her path. It continued, sometimes for hours on end, before she would get bored and stuff him away into a separate bag… Just to take him out again fifteen minutes later and repeat the cycle of torment.
It wasn’t really malignant… but at this point, it didn’t make much difference – after nearly a week, he wasn’t even protesting anymore, choosing to silently accept his role of a helpless plaything, letting the blowing wind stretch his cheeks with every gust.
Witnessing it proved weirdly… sobering? No, that wasn’t the right word, but Peter didn’t really know a better one. It simply made him rather acutely aware of something that his time with them slowly obscured – just how helpless he truly was. Thinking longer, it surprised him how quickly he eased into the idea that his new family was oversized, and that the only danger they posed was accidental. The idea that one of them would want to hurt or mistreat him felt weird and borderline unimaginable… Until now.
He scratched his unshaven beard and glanced at his beloved once more. No… she wouldn’t hurt him; he saw it in her eyes whenever their gazes locked. Her recent behaviour, while worrying, wasn’t anything that unusual – after all, he knew better than anyone else how… creative and intense she could get during their alone time. The only difference was that it was, at least in theory, consensual, while her recent restrictive instincts were anything but.
Shaking his head, Peter decided that he had way more pressing issues than worrying about remote ‘what-ifs’, choosing to conclude that he was lucky to get romantically involved with Ichi and not Ni. Glancing at the boy one last time and witnessing the complex trajectory Ni was submitting him to, Peter offered his condolence to Zhou’s face, stomach, and sanity, before retreating into the comfortable depths of his cocoon.
***
The last part of their flight was both the longest and the most difficult – the distance between Hawaii and the dragon island was simply big, and at the same time, devoid of any potential resting spots. He didn’t know how much the wind direction affected creatures as big as them but not having the advantage of the initial trip – simply being rested and ready – didn’t help either. Nevertheless, they did reach their destination.
In the depth of the night, Ni suddenly ordered them to descend. Again surprised by her acute sense of direction, Peter began considering if the dragons had vision better than humans, perceived a wider spectrum, or was it purely just a Ni thing. The schematics of a titanic eye and surrounding calculations of light reception got snuffed out when gravity shifted as the three sisters began their descent, making his stab wounds flare up a little. Gliding in tight circles, they descended in a carousel that was found to be the most efficient way for them to land, even if he was skeptical about the coordination required to pull this off.
Fortunately, it was the third time they’ve tried this, with only minor complications at landing that caused Kendall to trip and slide on her belly for a few… hundred meters, before coming to a stop. Peter got a bit dizzy from the heavy landing that his leather cocoon couldn’t shield him from completely. Still, could have been worse – their cargo looked intact.
“Fuck… finally!” Ni sighed with audible relief and quickly cut the rope, not bothering to preserve it, before beginning to stretch herself.
Her nostrils moved, causing her eyebrows to twitch almost unconsciously. Ichi showed a little more self-restraint by actually undoing the knot, then checked up on the still motionless Kendall – who thankfully was simply done with everything and not actually hurt – and finally pulled Peter from between her own horns.
And placed a small kiss on him, with her lips curling into a smile of pure relief he hadn’t seen since the crisis began. Reciprocating in whatever way he could without getting sucked inside, he lost himself a little in the brief moment of…
“Awww, you’re not even gonna wait for a room?” Ni mocked, absent-mindedly juggling Zhou’s body in a fashion… close to Peter’s heart.
In perfect unison, he and his girl gave her fingers, once again confirming just how well they melded together. Nevertheless, Ichi pulled out and went to check their cargo. Everything seemed fine, though it was difficult to tell exactly in the surrounding darkness.
“Ni, help me pick up the thing and let’s AAAAHHH!” Ichi’s voice transformed into a yelp when an errant step found cavity in place of ground.
The enormous dragon collapsed, nearly launching Peter’s body via sheer centrifugal force, and made a sky-shattering roar of pain… Yet even that howl was unable to completely mask the disgusting sound of flesh getting torn apart.
“FUUUUUUUCK!!!” Ichi cried. “MY LEG!!!”
In a fraction of a second, his brain stopped screaming because of the sudden fall and started screeching about his bones threatening to break from the enormous pressure her hand was subjecting him to. Before he could beg for release, her hands moved on instinct and took a hold of the cause of her suffering… A large, wooden spike protruding from the ground.
Managing to slip-out from her grip by sheer luck, he landed on top of her calf and took a few trembling breaths, trying to calm himself from yet another near-death experience. It might have been experience, or simply numbness at this point, but he recovered basic control in less than ten seconds.
In the darkness, Ichi hadn’t noticed the ditches Ni had made before their departure and had the misfortune of becoming their first victim. The enormous, tree-like spike pierced through her calf and stared at them tauntingly, dripping with blood as Ichi whined, rocking back and forth with gritted teeth.
“Holy shit… Are you alright?” Peter asked, momentarily forgetting about his own fear.
He didn’t get an answer, nor even a glance – instead, his world trembled when Ni stepped into the trench and with a look of immense determination grabbed the spike, before pulling it out in one, swift motion, making Ichi wince and whimper.
“Come ‘ere, girl.” Ni wrapped her arms under Ichi’s knees and shoulders.
“Waitwaitwait! I’m still here!” Peter cried out with renewed fear when his entire world shifted, trying to find anything to latch onto.
Ichi opened her eyes and grabbed him with a shaking hand, before bringing him towards her chest just as Ni lifted her up. With uncanny precision, she maneuvered through and around the network, avoiding any pitfalls.
“It’s all your fucking fault…” Ichi whispered through gritted teeth.
“I know… I’m sorry…” Ni whispered, more than a sliver of regret punching through.
Ni opened the door and brought her inside, down the corridor and through the main room, before laying her down on the bed. Peter instantly squeezed out of Ichi’s grip just to kneel right before her eyes.
“I’m gonna grab the stuff, keep an eye on…” Ni suddenly stopped, glancing down at him.
No, it wasn’t just because she looked down – her nose was working in overdrive, eyes darting around the place. Not exactly anxiously, but not calmly either. “Don’t do stupid shit,” she announced, a bit louder than necessary.
He was left alone with his poor girl, and since he was way too small to tend to her wound, decided to focus on caressing her for a bit of comfort. The old, familiar walls of the cave – combined with the slightly mossy smell he had grown so used to – had a weirdly calming effect… on Ichi as well, judging by her eyes getting a bit… relaxed. Still suffering, but without the overwhelming tension eating away at her ever since that fateful day three weeks ago.
“Poor thing…” he whispered, rubbing against her forehead.
His words forced out a sharp exhale. “Something always has to go wrong, doesn’t it?” she murmured, fighting pain.
“Well… at least we have the… disaster checked off now?” he attempted to joke.
“Sure,” she scoffed, glancing at her open hand. “But maybe that’s for the better…”
Their little exchange was interrupted by exceedingly heavy footsteps making their way down into the cave. Soon, Kendall was nearly herded inside by Ni, who in turn carried the huge leather bag on her back with visible difficulty.
Kendall quickly gathered some basic supplies and kneeled behind Ichi, beginning to clean her wound, to the victim’s visible dismay but thankfully not resistance.
“I-it’s not t-that bad…” Kendall whispered.
Ichi grumbled and covered her eyes, awaiting the inevitable. “Fuck…” she hissed when Kendall tightened the bandage.
“S-sorry,” Kendall whimpered.
Not long after, Ni entered, glanced around, and began anxiously scratching her neck. “How is it?” she asked cautiously.
“W-will b-be gone in… a week or…” Kendall answered.
Ni slowly nodded, eyeing a corner near the ceiling for a good few seconds. “Good. I’ve put that stuff of yours on the table, so nothing gets into it,” she articulated thoroughly, her eyes darting between every corner.
Something in the tone of her voice made him stop petting Ichi and glance curiously at Ni… Just in time to witness her snatching something from the ceiling. Muffled screaming erupted from her fist.
“Hello there.” Ni grinned at the man stuck in her fist, but blocking his mouth in a way Peter was also familiar with. “And where did you come from?”
Peter felt a tiny urge to laugh, imagining how her toothy grin must have looked to the poor guy… And he would have, if he wasn’t concerned why the hell was anyone even in here… And more importantly…
“It’s rude to come uninvited, you know,” Ni informed her new victim. “Why don’t you introduce us to your thirty friends?” She cocked her head, flipping the light switch.
The installation Peter made with her still worked and – thankfully – still had power. The light revealed a bunch of terrified humans in the corner, crowding around a rope-ladder bolted to the wall that led to a peculiar looking box with unfinished camouflage pattern that once finished, would have made the box unrecognizable from the rocks around it.
This content has been misappropriated from NovelPhoenix; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Look what I’ve found! More midgets!” she declared happily squatting right in front of them. The humans erupted into panic.
She reached out to collect more, but then…
“GET. AWAY. FROM. THEM,” a magnified voice from above announced, making her pause and look up.
Everyone glanced at the source, which turned out to be a man with a megaphone, standing on what looked like a catwalk around the box. Two men with drill rockets aimed at Ni flanked him.
“Oh yeah?” Ni stood up, getting nearly to eye-level with him. “Or what? You’re gonna shoot me in my own house?”
“If you won’t let go…” the man retorted stoically.
“That’s a blatant violation of constitutional rights,” Ni countered, crossing her arms.
The response confused the man, who took a few seconds to respond – this time, without the mask of stoicism. “W-what?”
“You’ve trespassed on my… our land. Broken into our house. Erected…” she glanced at the box. “… some bullshit without my approval. And now, you’re threatening to shoot me? I could kill you for just trespassing in some states!”
The sheer absurdity managed to break through the fear present on all human faces. The panic-induced silence was replaced by awkward, incredulous murmurs. On his part, Peter silently swore to put a parental lock on the computer.
“… Okay mister dragon…” her interlocutor replied slowly. “Let my man go and… we will talk it out. Okay?”
“Hah! And why would I give away my…”
“Ni, please…” Ichi whimpered. “I can’t handle more bullshit today. Just do as they ask.”
Grumbling unhappily, Ni pinched the captured human by one leg and set him down on the catwalk, but not before ostentatiously dangling him in front of them to make a point.
***
With the initial terror and hostilities dispelled, Ni and Kendall prepared a proper place around their usual dining spot, before helping Ichi take place alongside them.
The people invading their home were mostly construction workers, some research personnel, and five grunts with one lieutenant – the man Ni negotiated with in their bedroom.
The human delegation sat before the three dragons with understandable anxiety, yet holding their ground admirably in comparison to the last time anyone tried interacting with a dragon.
“Can you explain who you are and what are you doing in our house?” Ichi asked, adjusting her wounded leg.
“We’re…” the scientist began, before getting quickly silenced by the lieutenant’s hand gesture.
“My name is Frederick Glaff, and I’m a Lieutenant of the United States army – the commanding officer of the expedition.” The man stood up and slightly bowed. “This is Doctor Michael Krasny, leader of the expedition’s science team.” He pointed at the round faced, surprisingly tall, thin man in a lab coat. “And Mister Leopold Jun, the expedition’s construction engineer.” He finished, pointing at a slightly obese Asian man to his left.
“Let’s say it’s nice to meet you.” Ichi nodded. “I am Ichi and those are my sisters, Ni and Kendall.” She pointed at them respectively, before presenting the last person on her palm. “And this is…”
“Peter Smith. We know,” Michael interrupted, to lieutenant’s dismay.
Just before the thought about the IRS fielding an expedition just for his sake, he remembered about the videos he made all those months ago. Despite… literally everyone ever calling them ‘blatantly fake because of amateurish reflections and oversaturated colours’, they definitely reached their intended target, which was the military command structure.
And as incompetent as the government could be, they definitely wouldn’t have sent anyone who didn’t know who he was.
“Sure. Now the second answer. What is this expedition? What are you doing here?” Peter asked, seizing initiative.
The lieutenant’s gaze hardened. “I am not really allowed to talk about…”
“Kaijus, what else, really?” Michael interrupted, earning an angry gaze, but surprisingly returning one of his own. “What, are you going to pretend that secrecy matters at this point? It’s over anyways.”
“That’s not a reason to break protocol,” Frederick scoffed, trying to reassert himself.
“Then you don’t have to speak. I will. And if you want, you can snitch on me afterwards.”
Frederick grumbled, clearly displeased, but didn’t push his point further.
“Kaijus? You already took the blackscale’s skin, what else could you possibly want from this island that you couldn’t get in the country?” Peter asked, drilling the scientist with his eyes.
“We are not here to study the kaijus themselves.” Michael raised his hands.
“You meant to say – we WEREN’T,” Leopold interrupted.
“And what difference does that make?” the scientist scoffed. “Anyways… The government wants to restart the Gateway program.”
Peter’s eyebrows rose. The Gateway attempted to close the rifts or destroy… whatever was on the other side. After failure, the Doorkeeper program replaced, sharing its fate after just a few years.
“Okay... Why the secrecy then? It’s just an old, failed project, what could possibly happen if it leaked?” Peter shrugged.
“Yes. Failed project.” Leopold nodded. “Who tries a thing that failed?”
It took a few seconds for the implication to sink in. And once it did, a stream of cold sweat flowed through his back. “They’re desperate, aren’t they?” Peter whispered. “How… how bad are things?”
“You mean after the two blackscale waves?” the lieutenant finally joined in. “New exclusion zones were declared – everything east of Detroit and everything west of Vegas.”
Peter stared at him, desperately hoping the man would laugh and dispel the looming dread, but… it never came. “Christ…”
“He has not helped yet,” the lieutenant stated bluntly.
“So yes, we were sent in hopes that something will work this time…” Michael sighed but then clenched his fists. “Because why learn from mistakes? Why have good and efficient solutions, when the council of fools can spend money on moronic giant robots or… bullcrap like this,” he scoffed, letting his frustration seep through.
“We can’t change that, and you know it.” Leopold chimed in, not hiding his own displeasure.
Michael spent a few seconds rubbing his temples before Ni cleared her throat. “The robots are very cool though.”
As soon as those words left her throat, Michael turned away and began quietly sobbing into his palms, with Kendall barely restraining herself from trying to comfort him.
“Okay, so…” Peter rubbed his hands, restoring circulation from clenching them too hard. “You’re trying to close the rifts; you use this island as a… convenient operating base I presume… Doesn’t answer why you’re in our house.”
“Your ho…” the lieutenant cleared his throat. “We set up on the coast. Began construction…” he hesitated and closed his eyes. “But on the fifth day…”
“CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!” a terrified grunt screamed, running through the room as fast as legs could take him.
Which was hilariously slow, courtesy of the immense size of the titan’s home.
“The captain’s dead, when will you finally remember that?!” Frederick scoffed, turning to face the approaching man. “What is it?”
“IT’S…” The man coughed from exhaustion. “IT FOUND US!”
The lieutenant slowly inhaled… and nodded sorrowly, without saying a single word.
“What found you? What is happening?” Ichi asked sharply, glancing at the corridor.
“The Kaiju that ripped apart our outpost.” Leopold shrugged with the nonchalance of a dead man walking. “It must have heard the noise you’ve made.”
“THERE ARE KAIJUS ON THE ISLAND?!” Ichi roared, slamming her hands around the humans, causing two of them to fall over. “AND YOU’RE MENTIONING IT NOW?!”
As the last one standing, but still unable to stop shaking, the lieutenant raised his eyes to her.
“W-what would be-e t-the point?” he spread out his arms. “It’s a b-blackscale, even if j-just a smaller one… We c-can’t kill it… It was o-over the moment y-you landed…”
Hanging over them as if she wanted to crush them with not only her stare, taking deep, heavy breaths, Ichi’s nostrils let out clouds of smoke.
“Blackscale…” she whispered. “I need my spear… Give me my spear!”
“Like hell you do! With that leg?” Ni scoffed, standing up. “I will handle it; you stay here and…”
Before she could finish, Ichi stood up and tried to take a step towards her weapons stash, collapsing to the floor after the very first step, roaring from sheer frustration.
“Love, please!” Peter ran up to her and put his hands on her snout as she seethed on the ground. “You won’t help anyone like that.”
Ichi clenched her fists and slammed the ground. “Why did this happen now?! Why now?!” she growled through gritted teeth. “Why now when we can deal with it... I must be useless...”
“Five kilometers, Sir! Not coming at us directly yet, but…” the soldier reported to the lieutenant.
Ni approached and lifted Ichi off the ground by pulling under the shoulder, then escorted her to her previous resting place. “Don’t worry, sis. I’ve got this,” she reassured, patting her back.
With that said and done, Ni collected Peter from the ground and carried him to his workshop on the cupboard. Not because they needed anything from there, but because it was far easier to oversee her putting on the enormous contraption. First, she put on the battery pack on her back, squishing her wings to the point where flight would have been impossible even without the crushing weight of it.
As he worked on checking the grid’s integrity, he noticed three pairs of eyes staring at him from his own bed. Glancing in their direction, he discovered the family they’ve saved from Taiwan resting in relative comfort for the first time in a week… or more likely, in decades. A thing struck him though – one pair of eyes clearly belonged to a child… which meant that…
“Ni… w-where’s Zhou?”
Hearing that, Ni’s movements slowed down until she froze completely. Then, with borderline glacial speed, she reached down for the leather bag hanging around her hips and pulled out something from it…
“Oh… Guess I was sitting on you, huh? Oops,” she shrugged with the slightest sliver of guilt, before placing the tiny body right next to Peter’s vantage point.
The poor lad looked miserable to the point of absurdity – there were corpses livelier than him. The boy shot him a half-empty, half-accusatory glance that transcended linguistic and cultural bounds, but was otherwise too weak to move, let alone take revenge on anyone… so Peter just forced himself to turn away.
“Don’t worry… You’ll get used to it…” he sighed, returning to checking the batteries.
Everything held together, even if some bits just by thoughts and prayers. Nevertheless, he gave her a green light to put on the ‘gauntlet’ and connect the wires. His phone instantly pinged, informing him that the electronics inside worked properly. The last thing to do was to take off the safety lock.
“Do you remember what to do?” he asked, his voice cracking from stress.
“I… think?” she hesitated. “I pull the strings inside to close the fist…” she demonstrated the movement, though the only visible thing were the mechanical fingers balling. “And now I hit the button inside… wait a bit and fuck shit up.”
“Yes… Jut remember that…”
“I have three punches, four if I’m lucky,” she cut him off. “Yeah, I remember. Let’s do this.”
Saying that, she squared up, hit her chest with a free hand, and marched towards the exit.
***
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
Why was this happening? What did she do to deserve it? Everyone depended on her… No, literally put their lives in her hands, which was far worse. She hated it. Hated responsibility, hated their hopeful gazes, hated that... it was all in her hands.
And that it could fail if she faltered.
Fuck, what were you doing, stupid bitch, just get your shit together! Put those muscles to good use at least once, damn it! Just… push forward one step at a time…
Door materialised before her in an instant, even though the trip took her longer than eternity. Now where was the handle? Her hand couldn’t find it… Stupid door, what did it think it was? She kicked it in frustration, swinging it wide open and revealing the darkness on the other side.
Not believing she got herself into this situation willingly, Ni peeked outside… and darted across to lean against the dirt wall of her construction. Her back hurt from the obscenely heavy backpack she was forced to wear, the thing smashing into her spine with the sudden deceleration. Fucking perfect, exactly what she needed right now… Midget must have done it on purpose, just to fuck with her. She would show him, ohhh, she would sho…
A very particular smell assaulted her senses. She knew that smell all too well… It invaded her dreams every night, pushed its way into her skull ever time she was alone. The sickly, sourly sweet stench of the sea, just magnified hundreds of times… And with a dose of something downright alien and unknown – rocky, almost tingly, yet nearly indescribable. That last note was what haunted her – that tiny bit her sisters couldn’t even smell.
Ni peeked over the trench… and saw it. So black it was visible as a dark outline even at night, with moonlight somehow refusing to reflect off of it properly. A walking void… That wanted to devour everyone she loved for no other reason than because it could.
She shook her head. No… It couldn’t. Because she was here. He wouldn’t allow it.
“Hey! Fuckface, over here!” Ni yelled out before thinking her plan through.
Its head snapped towards her, all six eyes locking onto its target nigh instantly. Great… She just had to go for an open duel, instead of even attempting an ambush.
Before she could properly scold herself, the monster charged straight at her and… instantly fell into one of the fortifications she had prepared exactly for this purpose. A shadow of a smirk vanished from her face when the Kaiju climbed out of it unharmed, and continued the charge – this time, a little more carefully.
Ni used that slowdown well – carefully hiding her right hand behind her back, she activated the insane contraption, not only hearing, but literally feeling the immense power flowing through it. An impossibly hot sphere formed at the very end of the metal fit. It probably made the whole attempt at stealth and hiding her intentions utterly meaningless, but…
The monster’s arms unraveled in familiarly unfamiliar fashion, producing two elongated, black, organic blades from the forearms. It leapt at her; swords aimed at vital organs.
Ni found herself in something resembling a slowed-down time, being able to observe the monster’s glacially slow descent in excruciating detail. The memories of her first attempt burned like a searing chain wrapped around her brain – how her weapons shattered on the giant croco-turtle thing, how its massive claws tore through her own chest… And the wild, desperate escape through the forest. But this time… This time would be different. She had the midget-thingy now… And hoped to hell that it worked. If it didn’t… she would have to kill him for making her go through this bullshit for nothing.
Deciding to stop wasting the moment of her enhanced cognition, she settled on a move that probably wasn’t perfect, but…
Ni dodged to the right, avoiding the two blades attempting to impale her, and with the added rotational momentum of her hips, smashed her gauntlet into the thing’s elbow.
A piercing, unholy screech that followed stunned her for a second, preventing her from seizing the initiative further. The Kaiju came to a halt and slowly turned to face her, its left forearm hanging limply on nothing but a piece of black skin. A maniacal grin appeared on Ni’s face. The thing worked.
Unwilling to commit again, they began slowly circling each other looking for an opening. Ni growled at it, trying to make it flinch or lose focus for an instant, but it didn’t…
The kaiju suddenly stepped forward and turning its torso thrust at her from a distance, with Ni barely avoiding getting stabbed in the chest. The blade went through her bicep, cleanly cutting through scales and bits of muscle.
With a hiss of pain, Ni jumped away, suddenly very aware about the reach advantage it had over her – the metal fist was barely longer than her own arm, while the black sword easily doubled the kaiju’s. Fantastic. She cursed her lack of foresight – she could have taken an extra weapon or shield for her left arm. If Ni tried to approach, she would certainly get impaled. Her only option was to wait for the thing to commit, dodge or block it and then rush to…
She suddenly realised they weren’t making circles around each other – the Kaiju consistently pressed forward as well, forcing her to withdraw further and further back. Against the dirt wall that increasingly restricted her movement with each passing moment. A quick glance confirmed that she would be pushed into a corner in less than five seconds.
In what looked like – but was absolutely not, since no one could prove it – an act of desperation, she moved forward with the metal arm in front of her, deciding to take the gamble now.
The blindingly fast thrust came just a fraction of a second later than she expected, throwing off her deflection and causing the blade to pierce through the steel plates on the underside of the ‘gauntlet’, thankfully stopping short of damaging anything important. Having avoided the weapon, she quickly wrapped her left arm around the kaiju’s right one, trying to prevent it from effectively using it again, and delivered a mighty punch straight to its face.
The kaiju slightly staggered… and then looked at her, just slightly less confused than she was at the lack of damage. And then, it her. She forgot to activate the plasma…
Suddenly finding herself trying to wrestle a monster a head taller than herself, Ni tried to rectify her mistake, but before the punch was ready, the kaiju braced itself, trying to free its weapon. She held onto it by the slightest of margins and began aiming the punch.
The kaiju’s blade ravaged her wing membranes with wild jerks. Its jaw fell onto her left shoulder, fangs piercing all the way to the bone. Ni roared from pain, feeling her flesh getting ripped apart and smashed the monster on instinct, the plasma creating a sizeable hole in its chest. It stumbled and withdrew its jaw, taking pieces of Ni’s flesh with it, leaving her limping from pain. A quick headbutt sent her to the ground.
Before she could gather herself, the kaiju kicked her, making her fall on her side. She tried to crawl away; to at least try to recover… Flash of searing pain killed all sound in her throat when the obsidian blade impaled her abdomen.
So… This is how it ends… With everything ultimately amounting to nothing… Ni closed her eyes, squishing out tears of pain and regret.
“I’m sorry… For everything…” she whispered, breath hitching, seeing blood pouring from her shoulder. Maybe they would forgive her in the next life.
Maybe this time, she wouldn’t waste it.
The blade withdrew, preparing to behead her.
“Fire!” a small, distant voice commanded.
A series of explosions erupted right above her, making her executioner hiss and growl. Tiny humans tried to save her by firing their inefficient weapons at it. Admirable, but ultimately pointless…
Or maybe not? She hadn’t realised it at first, but at least one rocket hit the opening she made, tearing a sizeable chunk of flesh from the inside. Maybe that was…
“Reload! Faster! FASTER!”
The blackscale stepped over her, arriving to the same conclusion – that in its current state, humans were a threat, however small.
Hold up… Did it really take them for a bigger threat than her? Just because she lied on the ground, nearly dead? That was… insulting.
Managing to make herself angry with that, she overpowered the pain and pushed herself up, no longer caring about the mixture of fluids rapidly leaving her body.
She activated the contraption and stumbling over herself from pain and exhaustion, ran after the kaiju. It realised its mistake a second too late, right as the punch connected with the center of its back, severing its spinal cord and sending it to the ground when its legs suddenly gave way.
Ni landed on top of it and without thinking reached deep into herself, releasing the hottest fire of her life straight into the new opening. The kaiju screeched when the blue flames ate away at its insides, scorching everything on their path and turning them to ash. She upheld the stream for five seconds before running out of fuel, coughing out fumes and smoke.
Ni stared at the bag of ash below her… before collapsing from exhaustion and blood loss.
***