Komoth stood in the middle of the arena and watched his balverine walk toward him with a half dead Ruby on it's back. When the purple creature stood before him, it threw her off it's shoulder and onto the floor before going to the side of it's master. It was getting impossible to force back the tunnel surrounding her eyesight, the strain pumping blood into her head and pressing her brain against her skull. She tried to pull air into her lungs, but even blinking was becoming a futile effort. Ruby was sure the last thing she would see, was Komoth kneeling down in front of her.
She gasped as air filled her lungs and her eyes opened with a jolt. Her back arched as she pulled herself from the floor and onto her feet. Her arms hung from her shoulders, feeling like each one weighed a hundred pounds. Hair fell in front of her face as she lurched forward and steadied herself. Silver eyes shone through the fiber as she looked at him, anger sending signals to her face, twitching the muscles beneath the skin.
"I have healed you once again." Komoth's voice echoed throughout the massive chamber. "I will do so as many times as I need, but in the mean time, I have a proposition for you."
"What is that?" Ruby's voice was thick with venom, rage blocking out the pain that still remained.
"I will give you a chance to escape. I'll even give you your weapon back if that will help." He stared into her eyes, now dull.
"And why would you do that? Your intent is to keep me here, so why would you give me a chance to escape again, when you've nearly killed me so many times already." She stared back at him, eyebrows almost enclosing the bridge of her nose.
"I've made a deal with the people in the city. They give me their knowledge, I give them you. The exchange will happen in a week, and I need to pass the time. So, do you accept?"
"I'll do anything to get away from you, and if you're giving me the chance, I'll take it. Give me Crescent Rose, and let me fight for my freedom." She watched him reach behind his shoulder for his weapon, only for it to change in front of her eyes into her most precious possession. He drew the sniper-scythe from his back and threw it past her.
"As soon as you pick that up, the battle begins. You can use whatever tactics and powers you like, but considering how much stronger I am, I won't use any magic." He once again reached back with his right hand and a giant hammer appeared. "That means he won't be aloud." He swung the hammer and planted it in the balverine's head, smashing it into ethereal dust.
"And what's stopping me from running back into the halls?" She found comfort in the familiar weight of her weapon.
"Before I killed him, I had the Guildmaster translate a book for me. You can try again, but I wouldn't recommend it." He placed the head of the hammer on the floor, it's handle leaning against his body. He reached his hand into his breastplate and pulled out an old and tattered book, it looking very small in his hand. It opened when he flipped it to one side, and he read from it. Strange words seemed to pull themselves from the pages and floated across the air to the doors, closing them off with a red sheet of light. "Now the only option you have is to fight."
"Gladly." Crescent Rose extended behind her, the blade folding all the way back to the war-scythe form. She cocked the rifle, loading a round into the chamber, and pulled the trigger. In an instant, she flew forward at incredible speed and swung her weapon, aiming for the side of his head. Komoth ducked to the ground as soon as she took off and rolled out of the way, picking up his hammer as he did so. He got to his feet and Ruby redirected her momentum towards him with another shot.
He readied his hammer, and when she got within ten feet of him, she swung Crescent Rose down. It would have worked on anybody else, but Komoth swung the hammer as she swung her blade, knocking it aside, spinning around and hitting her in the side. The impact took at least half of her aura and compressed her lungs between the two sides of her body. The force of the strike sent her flying into the stands, the doors there had also been blocked off.
"Looks like a Home Run folks!" Komoth's voice resonated throughout the room as he yelled.
Ruby stood on shaky legs and stared down at him. "How is he so powerful? I thought he was using his magic to amplify his strength. How could it be that he isn't?"
"You want to know? I have been fighting and killing since my early years, things that you can't even fathom. I've easily bested a monster that could swallow this world and everything in it, without magic."
"That isn't possible." Her voice raised three octaves. "There's no way something like that could ever exist!"
"It can, and I can take you to see it if you wish. Now, are you going to continue, or should I come to you?" He took a step in her direction and she fell backward in a panicked attempt to get away. He took another step and launched himself toward her, landing just a few feet to the left of her and sending debris from the smashed seats everywhere. Ruby stood and ran the other direction, turning around midway through a stride and fired an explosive round at his face, the only weak spot she could see.
The bullet collided with his helmet and exploded, actually knocking him down. "Keep that up and you might actually kill me." This sent adrenaline rushing through her veins as she flew backward, sending bullet after bullet at the tank of a man who was now rishing towards her.
Explosion after explosion, dust cloud after dust cloud, the recoil of the high powered rifle sent Ruby flying through the air for that much longer, but he just kept getting closer, knocking away every single bullet coming at him with the large head of his hammer like it was a baseball bat. She shot at him once more, but the magazine was empty, so she hurried to reload and in her panic, fumbled it. This gave Komoth just enough time to get as close as he needed without getting shot again.
He swung the hammer over his head and brought it down as hard as he could into her mid-section. The sudden force drove her body through the stone floor and into the hall below as well as knocking the air from her lungs and shattering what remained of her aura. She saw Komoth jump down the hole after her and the red barrier dropped. "I lied back there," he stated.
Her eyes widened in shock. He didn't even look fazed by the barrage, so it must be true, there would be no way for her to defeat him by herself. She watched as he raised the solid metal hammer above his head, and with one hand, he swung it like a golf club, hitting her in the side and sending her flying. The pain was so sudden and great that it didn't even register in her brain, but what she did feel was the blood being forced out of every opening in her head.
Ruby's vision went red as blood poured into her eyes and her hearing failed as her ears exploded from the influx of liquid. She guessed that she had maybe thirty seconds before her brain shut down. She couldn't breathe at all and tried to get a feel of her body. It felt like her torso had been pulverized almost completely, liquifying all of her internal organs. Her arms were all but gone, the bones nothing but shrapnel imbedded in her muscles.
As soon as Komoth's Master Greathammer made contact, he swung it back up over his shoulder and placed it on his back, simultaneously activating the Slow Time. The familiar sound of the world coming to a standstill comforted him to a degree, and he watched as the empty clock face flooded his peripheral vision. He walked forward into the arena, underneath his captive and all the way to the other side before stopping. Based on the looks of it, she's close to death. That means I'll have to heal her as soon as she lands. Just tell me what I want to know and stop trying to escape already, it only makes it worse.
The young girl struck the ground so hard she bounced and hit the back wall. The darkness in her eyes almost encompassed everything before she could feel a warm sensation permeating her entire body. Is this what death feels like? The feeling came again, and again, until her vision cleared, and she could see the haunting form of Komoth standing over her again. NO!