Twenty-Six

Thick, sloughing pale skin rolled off the creature as it came shambling free of the cave, wobbling with every step as its skin dragged across the ground. A bulbous eye sat in the middle of its head, segmented into dozens of glistening pupils that spun around wildly. A curved beak jutted out from its head, pitted and scarred; it was nearly four feet long and only its prodigious height kept it from dragging as it shuffled toward them.

Even as he watched Kon could see bits of skin falling off, frozen solid it clinked to the stony ground and split. More and more of the skin wiggled and twisted as it emerged from the cave.

"Agreed." Diur said as she sent another spray at the beast. A line darkened on the beast, but the thick folds rolled and let go, chunks of skin falling to the ground as it swung its head to stare at her with rage in its eye. It started to shuffle toward her as she backed up, trying to unstrap the now useless tank.

Kon stepped forward and fired his own stream at the beast, trying to attract its attention away from Diur. he had similar results as Diur had, blackening skin sliding off of it as several pupils turned to look at Kon while it started to pick up speed.

"RUN!" Kon shouted as he hurriedly ripped his own tank off his shoulders, pitching it to the side as he grabbed his mace, rushing to close the distance. Diur blurred as her aura sprang to life as the guardian lashed at her with a massive paw, thick talons slicing through the air in front of her. She finally managed to free herself, letting the tank fall to the ground as she drew her sword.

Kon slammed into the creature's flank, slamming home his mace with thundering force as he drew upon his body's reserves to power the strike. Flesh parted and blood sprayed him, but there was no crunch as the creature's body swayed under the blow. A foot kicked straight out, folding Kon in half as it pitched him to the side.

Cursing as he rolled to bleed off the momentum, Kon got back to his feet just to see Diur slash at the monster. A blue wreathed blade sliced apart flesh, a wiggling mass that parted for a moment, showing something beneath all the rolls. Then the flesh roiled like the sea and the dead skin hit the ground with a wet slap as fresh skin pulled together to cover it.

"What is this?" Kon asked as he circled wearily.

"I don't know, but it's getting smaller. I think we just need to whittle it down," Diur said as she readied her blade again. The creature had never taken its focus off of Diur and it was starting to irritate Kon as he slammed his mace down on the back of the beast, where its spine ended.

His enhanced reactions allowed him to dodge the kick that shot backward like a pneumatic press, air swirling past him as he hit the ground and rolled to his feet. Diur attacked while one of its legs was in the air, slashing it across its wide eye.

Skin rolled forward as it the beast awkwardly leapt backward, a thick layer of pallid flesh was sheared off, but the eye remained unaffected. In retaliation the guardian pecked at Diur with its long curved beak. Metal screeched as Diur's breastplate turned the questing appendage as she beat a hasty retreat.

"I don't like being ignored," Kon growled as he came at the beast again while he drew deeper upon his reserves. Energy flooded him as he pulled from the depth, anger focusing him even as his body screamed with power and pain. Something flickered around him but he kept his gaze locked on the monster as he launched himself at it. The beast turned to look at him.

Kon slammed into it as it turned, his mace crushing the shoulder of it as he screamed in exhilaration. Flesh pulped as the mace was driven deep, connecting with something solid under the wriggling mass. Reverberations rattled his wrist, pain jarring him.

The beak slammed into his chest, scraping a ribbon of steel out of it, the force of the blow throwing Kon backward as the air in his lungs was ripped free. He hit the ground in a roll, coming back up in a fighting stance as the beast charged him, beak open and yodelling a high pitched screech that pierced through Kon's helmet.

"It's limping." Kon smiled as his ran to meet the guardian beast. Blue light flashed bright as a star and a blade slammed through the beast's ribs, ripping free in a shower of blood that sent it stumbling drunkenly away.

"Thank you for the distraction," Diur said as she walked calmly toward the heavily bleeding monster. Its head swung side to side as it tried to focus on either one, but neither of them gave the beast time to think.

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Kon attacked with fury, speed, and strength. His mace connected with every blow, pushing through the thick layers of skin to connect to whatever it was beneath. Every time it tried to bite at him, diur's blade was there, striking and diverting claws or beak to the side as she lay thin, deep, gashes across its face.

Each breath was an explosion in the tight confines of his helmet as his heart hammered in wild ecstasy, power filling him with every swing as he felt the world around him connecting to him. A silver-red haze filled his vision, only the beast in front of him visible as it clouded his vision.

Dozens of pupils whirled to lock on Kon as the guardian screeched again, rearing up on its hind legs to tower above them. Claws raked down as it pawed at the air, a weaving defense of lethal, curved, talons. Kon hit the paw closest to him, the shielding skin much thinner.

Bone cracked as long talons fell from the creature's injured limb to land loosely on the ground. Kon's breathing was ragged, desperate, as sweat caked his body. Flutters filled his chest, his heart beginning to skip as he pulled on the dregs of energy he had left.

Silver light bloomed around him as he surged past the last striking paw, rearing back to strike with all his power. The mace hit the guardian's exposed sternum and something shattered in the beast even as the force of the blow tore the mace from his hand. Kon punched instinctively, his free hand slamming into the same spot he had just struck. Blood spattered him as the creature staggered back, yowling in pain, teetering to fall on its back.

"DIE!" Kon screamed, arms pistoning in a blur as blood and bone showered him, the guardian finally tipping back to come crashing to the ground in an explosion of gore as its skin burst apart like over ripe fruit.

The world spun around Kon as he staggered backwards, gasping like a fish out of water as his limbs suddenly felt heavy, dragging him to the ground. Hitting the hard stone felt far away, as if it was happening to someone else.

"Absorb a core," Diur said calmly, her voice distant, an echo in his ear. Sounds of fighting were happening, metal meeting metal in shrill shrieks. Kon's gore covered hand reached toward the bag on his hip, filled with E-Grade ooze cores. Even through the metal of his gloves he could feel the power there, eager and thrashing to be unleashed.

"Tired." Kon's finger grazed a core, a jolt of energy leaping to him. His eyes closed and his metaphysical avatar instantly came to mind, floating above his still form. It was dark, only the barest hints of silver outlining him. All of his bloody runes were dull black, floating in the abyss that he'd become.

Only his heart still had power still in it, a faded star burning on its last embers. More power came through, flaring around his hand and sinking into the dried rivers that formed his body. Light flickered there, coming stronger and stronger as the core vanished to dust. Kon grabbed the next one, more energy filling him till he could reach deeper into the pouch to grab the next one.

Sweet relief poured through his aching body as his avatar grew brighter, lighting the space around it up. Another core turned to ash and the part of Kon's mind that was still active began to worry as he touched the third E-Grade core and began to consume it in his haste.

Runes flared to life, flickering weakly but growing stronger by the moment. The core turned to ash and Kon's fading strength went with it, his breathing much easier now. The supernatural exhaustion that had threatened to drown him morphing into just regular, if extreme, exhaustion.

"Get up. You're not done," Kon said to himself, with the greatest effort of will, opening his eyes and banishing his avatar. His vision was red and for a moment he panicked, thinking he'd gone blind or ruptured something, but then he wiped at his helmet and flickers of reality seeped through.

A groan forced its way between his lips as he managed to sit up, swiping more gore off his helmet as he looked around. Diur was still fighting, a corona of blue aura around her as she battled with a new beast. It was lean, metallic, and fast as it lunged and slashed at the Ulmna woman.

She was more than its match though, weaving between blows to land deep cuts that peeled away chunks of the monster's frame. Black-oil like liquid bubbled from the wounds, steaming in the cool air as it coated the ground around the creature. Diur hardly slowed, her aura framed blade slicing across the creature to send its head rolling across the ground.

Only as the head rolled to a stop, did Kon realize that the bulbous eye in the middle was the guardian's. The slim, metal monster was what had been beneath the levels of skin that they'd fought to reach. He turned his gaze to look at the dead monster and was inordinately pleased to see a deep dent in the center of the beast's sternum.

"Are you feeling well?" Diur asked as she cleaned her blade with a spare rag before resheathing it.

"No. Don't think I'm going to pass out though," Kon said as he struggled to his feet.

"You were much closer to death than passing out. You drew upon enormous reserves of your internal energy to draw forth that aura attack you used. When could you summon your aura and why haven't you told me?" Diur asked, sounding almost hurt.

"Aura?" Kon said, his muddled brain trying to figure out what she meant. Diur sighed and shook her head before staring off into the false sky of the rift.

"I know better than to compare against others, for each journey is one's own. But sometimes, I really do hate you," Diur said, but there was no real heat in her voice.

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