No. Don't think about it – don't think about magic, or healing, or anything else – just get out of here, and THEN we can figure this out, ok? Good.

I took a deep breath to try to calm myself down. It didn't work. The low hissing noise that I heard somewhere behind me didn't help matters either. Slowly, I turned around, my hand reaching for my dagger as I did so.

It was a mist monster. A big one… a really big one. At least, I think it was a mist monster… The point is it was big and wanted to kill me. It looked like a giant serpent with a bunch of taloned legs – some kind of dragon, as far as I could tell. Its body was sheeted in burning red scales – it's legs covered in black – its claws a muddy reddish brown. In the center of its head it had a single yellow eye, rolling around madly… Its teeth were like needles, the mouth stretching around most of its head. It was about 15 feet long… but it looked a lot longer when it reared up and let louse of horrific screeching noise. My first thought?

"Well… fuck."

Then it lunged. I leapt back to avoid it, immediately thinking about how to beat this thing.

Okay… I probably can't run away from it – at least not now… It doesn't look like it has enough of a brain to allow me to trick it into allowing me a back attack on it… There's no point in causing trouble to it… Sacrifice would be suicidal and pointless… So that leaves normal fighting, Soul Blade, Lucky Seven, and Thievery.

I leapt to the side as it raked a clawed arm through where I had just been standing.

"Soul Blade!"

The black mist shot out of my dagger, but when it came in contact with the monster, it just evaporated. The damn thing was immune to being blinded! And there was no way I could get close enough to and any hits without getting made into a shiskabob. So that left…

I raised my dagger straight up as I jumped, the coin appearing from nowhere. The monster's eye followed it up, as it turned into a large chest, and then fell to the ground… exploding on contact.

Heh… fall for it every time…

The blast was huge, knocking the monster onto it's back. I took that as my cue to run.

I got maybe 10 feet when it let lose the highest-pitched shrieking noise I had ever heard – a sonic attack that was so strong it actually made the cavern vibrate and me fall flat on my face. The ringing in my ears was insane – I couldn't hear jack shit… I could, however, smell the creature as it rushed up to me, it's jaws gaping. I tried to roll out of the way, but I wasn't fast enough. I screamed as I felt the claws rake into me, the three deep cuts left on my back excruciating… and then I felt them start to burn.

Shit… it…. Acid?

It let out another screeching roar as it opened its jaws wide, moving forward like a striking serpent. I flung my hand out in front of me, my dagger held with a death grip. I got of lucky. It had struck, alright… but I had also taken out its eye. At the moment however, I was more concerned with the unbelievable pain of having my flesh sliced through by hundreds of needle teeth. I felt the bones in my arm crack as the jaws tightened around it, despite the yellow-red blood oozing from the monster's eye. I almost passed out from the pain right there – I've fought hundreds of monsters during my life, I've fought semi omni-potent beings… So why was I doing so badly against this one?

The answer was simple, really. I was in horrible condition to begin with, mentally and emotionally speaking. I couldn't focus, I couldn't think straight – my mind was a chaotic mess. And as I felt the jaws actually crush my arm… I got really, really pissed. I had had enough. Everything that had happened… Gaia, the Mist, Terra, Garland, Kuja… waking up from the dead… So much pain and confusion… Everything was jumbled and warped, and nothing made sense. I couldn't take it. I snapped. The familiar light of trance appeared around me, but it was different then usual – this time, it spiked out erratically, flashes of burning crimson mixed in with the familiar pink. I screamed in rage, and actually yanked my mostly destroyed arm out of its mouth, socking it in the face and ripping my dagger out of its ruined eye. It roared again, and I felt my eardrums rupture, blood pouring out of my ears. I ignored it – rational thought had left me at this point, leaving me running on pure rage and adrenaline. I fell to the ground with a sickening crunch, but somehow forced myself up.

"GRAND LEATHAL!"

The familiar brilliant light exploded out of me – but far stronger than ever before. The Iifa tree actually shock from the explosion, the monster burning from the energy. Barely a second passed between my finishing the attack and my lunging forward, stabbing the monster in the head and dragging the blade down it's front, ripping it open. It gave out a final screeching roar as it writhed… and then it collapsed to the ground, twitching in its death throws. I stood there for a moment, my arm hanging useless at my side, my back torn open and pouring blood… then the pink glow faded, and I collapsed onto the ground, unconscious before I so much as hit it.

Again.