Ronan runs off.
Calen stays put for a moment, wiping blood from his face. His shoulders burn like fire.
With a groan, he braces himself against a rusted barrel, its contents a mix of rotting trash. The stench makes his stomach twist.
"Up we... go!" He grits his teeth and pushes himself upright.
His eyes snap back to the fight.
Kaitlyn has finally emerged from the debris. This time, instead of aiming for the beast's head, she fires her wire at its legs. She had seen it topple before. Now she knows its weakness.
Lyra is... gone.
"Wait, where is Lyra?" Calen mutters, scanning the battlefield as he limps forward. There's no sign of her.
Ronan only wields his sheath, his sword still buried in the behemoth's forehead. He flings a volatile substance from the sheath onto the creature. The sharp scent of gasoline fills the air.
Calen frantically pats his pockets, searching for a weapon. His fingers sting as they hit something cold and solid. He pulls out a metal ball, feeling its weight. Testing its balance, he tosses it in the air and catches it a few times.
His breathing steadies. The numbness fades.
He puts weight on both legs again.
The battle rages, chaotic and disjointed. No teamwork. Just survival.
"Kaitlyn!" Calen shouts. "Set a wire my way. I'll trip him!"
She nods and fires a string, anchoring it to a concrete building.
Calen tightens his grip on the metal ball, pulls his arm back, and hurls it forward with all his strength.
As it soars through the air, it darkens. The faster it moves, the heavier it feels.
It smashes into the back of the behemoth's skull with a sickening, bone-crunching crack.
A voice echoes in Calen's head, momentarily drowning out the ringing.
"223 pounds achieved."
"223 pounds?" He barely has time to process it.
The beast lets out a primal roar, its entire body trembling with fury.
Then it charges straight for him.
It barrels forward but catches on Kaitlyn's wire, tripping hard. The impact slams Kaitlyn to the ground.
Seizing the moment, Ronan leaps onto the beast. With all his strength, he rips the Ruby-Dragon Sword free from its skull. A spray of dark, pungent blood mists over the battlefield, soaking into the cracked pavement.
"Quite a lot of head trauma," Lyra mutters, stepping beside Calen.
"I think we've all taken quite the beating." His breath is steady, but the fear remains, controlled this time. It keeps him sharp.
"You aren't shitting the bed this time?" She nudges his shoulder.
Calen winces, groaning, "Not the shoulder..." He exhales, then chuckles weakly. "I'm too grown for that."
Lyra smirks then slaps the same shoulder before sprinting off toward the fight.
Calen rubs the pain away.
An hour passes.
The fight drags on in a brutal cycle. Kaitlyn trips the behemoth, and Ronan lands a hit. Lyra rolls the ball back to Calen whenever she can. Calen hurls it with everything he's got.
Each throw comes with a number.
"223 pounds."
"189 pounds."
"241 pounds."
But the beast is learning.
It stomps on the cord, knocking Kaitlyn off balance before she can trip it. It swats the ball away mid-air, and when that fails, it simply grabs it and hurls it across the city.
Calen watches as exhaustion settles over his friends.
Meanwhile, the behemoth remains relentless. Unwavering. Unstoppable.
Dread rises in his chest.
Suddenly, Lyra misses a dodge. Her foot is caught by the beast's stomp, and she screams in agony. Ronan is quick to grab her, pulling her away, and leaving Kaitlyn behind while he tends to her.
Calen sprints over, taking Ronan's place so he can return to the fight.
"Lyra?!" He snaps in her face, trying to keep her conscious. "LYRA!"
The sight is grotesque. Her foot is barely intact, her shoe torn apart. Blood pours from the open veins, and shattered bone pierces through her skin.
Desperation drives Calen. He rips the sleeve off his hoodie and wraps it tightly around her foot, doing his best to stop the bleeding.
"It... hurts..." she gasps, struggling to breathe.
"Don't talk... don't talk..." Calen tries to reassure her, though his voice cracks. "You'll be fine. Just... just stay here." For a moment, the thought of running flashes through his mind, but he pushes it away.
As Calen stands up to assess the situation, Lyra groans softly in pain.
Then, the beast grabs Kaitlyn's wire, tugging it violently while holding its massive arm out. Kaitlyn connects with the beast's arm with tremendous force, her scream echoing as she slides down it.
Calen's breath quickens, his chest tightening as he watches his friends fall one by one.
Lyra weakly turns her head, her voice strained. "Calen... stay calm... please..." But her words fall on deaf ears.
Ronan intercepts the stomp meant to crush Kaitlyn, launching his sword in an explosive arc. It slices the beast's foot in half, and the creature howls in pain, retracting its mangled limb.
Ronan grabs the loose wire Kaitlyn's been holding, but a brutal kick sends him flying. Kaitlyn is dragged with him, and they both crash into a wooden box, breaking it into splinters.
The only one left standing, just barely, is Calen.
He falls to his knees, gasping for air, his vision swimming.
"Breathe... breathe... breathe..." he chants, trying to steady his breath.
The beast sniffs the air, its heavy footsteps thudding as it lumbers toward Calen.
A slow rise of Calen's head makes his mind snap in two. The scent of death fills his nostrils.
"No... not like this..." Tears well in his eyes, but he forces them back.
The ringing in his head grows louder, splitting his mind again, this time into four.
The ringing resonates, relentless.
Now... now is the time to manifest.
It feels as though fire ignites around his entire body. He lets out a howl of agony, his hands desperately clutching at the ash-ridden ground. A hole bursts open in the center of his stomach, a mass of fat pushes outward, and his intestines slip free.
Panicking, he grabs at his innards, trying to push them back inside as blood pours from the wound. The pain is unbearable.
And then... a black handle forces its way out, blood rejecting it, the dark wood slipping past the blood as though it's something alive.
With a scream, he grabs the handle and rips it out. A dark flint-knock appears in his hands, its ebony wood and onyx metal exuding a menacing aura.
And just like that, the pain vanishes. It becomes a distant memory like it was never there at all.
"I... I manifested..." His voice is a whisper of awe as he stares at his new Soul manifestation. It pulses with a dark energy that seems to draw something from within him.
His eyes soften. His fear is divided, devoured by the gun.
The hammer of the weapon cocks back, halting as it finishes feeding on his fear.
With steady hands, Calen takes aim at the behemoth. He exhales slowly, focusing. Then, with a quick, sharp breath, he pulls the trigger.
The bullet whistles through the air, ripping through the beast's left eye socket with brutal precision.
It lets out a soul-chilling scream, reverberating through the air. Clutching its ruined eye, the beast stumbles back, pausing for a moment. Then, with fury, it raises its remaining foot and slams it down, enveloping the area in a cloud of ash. The beast charges forward, leaving a trail of blood as it stumbles down the cracked road.
Calen rises to his feet, still trembling but standing tall. Ronan approaches, now supporting Kaitlyn on his shoulder.
"Great job awakening," Ronan says, a smirk tugging at his lips. "But we weakened it for you." He chuckles.
Calen exhales, a sigh of relief. "We need to get Lyra... she might bleed out."
Ronan releases Kaitlyn, who stands on her own with a bit of effort. "I'll grab her," he replies briefly.
Ronan jogs over to Lyra, who is barely conscious and lifts her into his arms, carrying her back to the group.
"Calen... you drove the beast off... after awakening?" Kaitlyn asks, disbelief in her voice.
Calen nods, a cocky grin spreading across his face. "You betcha!"
"Amazing..." Kaitlyn murmurs, eyes fixed on his new weapon.
With Lyra limping and leaning on Ronan for support, they discuss their next move.
"We need to find a place to rest," Ronan pauses, his eyes flicking over everyone. "And heal..." he adds, glancing at their injuries.
"Agreed," Calen and Kaitlyn respond simultaneously.
They quickly scan the area, and Calen spots a diner with boarded-up windows. They approach it as quickly as they can, trying the door.
"Locked?" Kaitlyn asks, watching Calen yank on the handle.
Silence fills the air for a moment.
"No..." Calen mutters, pushing the door open. "It was a push." His face twists with a mix of embarrassment and frustration.
The inside is a lot roomier than their last hideout, with booths, tables, and a bar.
"Lot more room," Kaitlyn sighs with relief, closing the door behind her. "Thank the lord..." she murmurs, grateful.
"I'll check around, make sure it's safe," Ronan says, setting Lyra down in a booth and propping her leg up on a chair he grabbed from a nearby table.
After Ronan finishes his sweep of the diner, he returns to the main area.
"I think their new album was horrible," Calen scoffs while discussing some modern topic.
"Someone obviously listened to it on mute!" Kaitlyn laughs, slapping the bar.
Ronan clears his throat, and both of them look at him.
"The place is clear," Ronan states. "Now we need to discuss our next steps."