Vivian's body continued to bolt towards the beast, but her mind was stuck replaying the last few moments. She couldn't fathom the pain One Eye would have felt getting his arm ripped off.
His agonised scream replayed in her head in a loop, dulling her focus.
Her mind felt unstable. They both hadn't expected the situation to get this bad. The beast was on its last legs — they had battled till it wore out. And yet, one mistake had made one of them dismembered.
The war grade held the arm high, like a trophy. Its beaten-down body struggled to remain upright. Its breathing was laboured, but its face remained smug. It found a dark glee knowing that, even if it died here and now, the human would have suffered through the agony of losing a limb.
The same agony it had passed through.
One Eye lay on the ground, his hand pressed against the stump in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. The feeling of having his arm ripped off was a pain he wouldn't be able to ever describe with words. It came sharp and merciless — strained tissues snapping under a greater force. But after that, it was slow, agonising torture.
Every pump of blood that passed through his veins felt like a new wave of torment. The fatigue he had held back was getting to him. His vision was slowly growing darker, and his thoughts were getting slow. Every part of him threatened to shut down.
But no! He was determined to see this through. He pushed himself off the ground, raised his head to see Vivian inches away from the beast. But the calculated coldness of her gaze was lost.
Vivian tried to think, tried to focus. But every time a thought passed through, the scream in her head interrupted it, made it irrelevant. Her gaze landed on One Eye. His body struggled to rise from the ground, losing balance just for him to try again. But when he did, she saw it in his eyes.
The resolve to see this through.
He had lost an arm. He had faced the physical brunt of the beast's attack. His body was currently more damaged than hers.
So why was she acting incapacitated?
These were her thoughts when she looked at him. Her rational mind slowly began to gain its former clarity.
She had a blade in hand, so why not use it? Countless abominations had fallen by its sharp edge just for them to get here.
The mist of uncertainty that had clouded her thoughts finally lifted. Her movements became sharper, and her grip on the rapier tighter.
She would see this through.
One Eye kicked off the ground with much effort. Using his body weight and remaining arm, he wrapped himself around the beast.
The war grade turned in a split second, arms soaring through the air to deliver a blow. But in the same fraction of a second, a blade materialised to its right and sliced through its remaining eye.
The beast roared, its attack disrupted by the pain of losing its sight. Darkness clouded its vision, and with it came fear. It wasn't in peak condition. Sensing the mana flow of its enemy could hardly be possible in its weakened state.
Losing its sight was defeat altogether.
It thrashed around in an attempt to attack anything, but its fists phased through air. One Eye had long detached himself from it. All he had wanted was to create an opening for Vivian — a fraction of a second where it was distracted — and he had accomplished it.
Vivian, who had robbed it of its sight, didn't stop in her assault. She moved around it like a ghost, undetected. Each time she passed, a new gash would open. A clean cut would appear. Attacks that had been negligible, when piled up, had suddenly become threatening.
After a minute that had felt like eternity, the beast dropped to its knees. Not dead, yet. But its battered body had taken enough damage and couldn't be compared to a fraction of its former glory.
Vivian appeared behind it, blade in hand and steps unheard. In one swift motion, she slid it under its throat, clean.
Dark blood pooled the ground beneath her as the war grade finally slumped… dead.
They had done it. She rushed towards One Eye. His body lay unconscious, still bleeding out. She had to get him back to the wall before it was too late.
She noticed the shadows around them thicken, and her face darkened. The war grade's presence had cleared out the lesser-ranked beasts from the area, but now that it was dead, they had simply become leftovers.
Countless abominations surrounded them, mouths watering with the desire to taste warm flesh.
Vivian cursed silently, taking a stance that allowed her to see her enemies from various angles. She was tired, very, very tired.
Numerous beasts had fallen for them to get here, and now more had to follow for them to leave.