NEVER NEVER NEVER

Facing Another Deadly Agrabuamelu

My long sword cuts Musashi's bandana in half. Blood trickles down from his forehead. His eyes pierce into my eyes, not blinking. I see a long oar he swings above my head. My blade hits the sand and turns back to cut his chin from the bottom. But his wooden oar rach my head first and cracks my skull in half. I scream with agony. Blood gushes out from the split wound. 

I open my eyes wide open with fear. My surrounding is pitch dark. My heart is pounding so fast. At first, I think I woke up in Hell.  I feel the warmth coming from near, and a hand extends and touches my face.

"What happened, Kojiro? Are you all right?"

It is the voice of Meretseger. I realize I had a terrible dream, a recurring nightmare.

"I was dreaming. I am fine."

My arm touches the cover I placed at the entrance. The Sunray fills the hole where we lie. When I crawled out of the c***k, the sun is already high above the sky. Meretsger formicate after me.

"Wow, it is sunny."

"I guess we were pretty beat last night."

"I am hungry."

"Let's try to fetch some food before the battle."

We walk around the forest to see if there are any small animals to catch. There are filled with gray rabbits roaming around in the area. I look at one of them and tell Meretseger.

"I will chase the rabbit toward you. Once it passes your way, can you catch it?"

"I have never done it before, but let me try."

A rabbit is sniffing the grass, and I sneak quietly from behind. The rabbit feels my existence, lifts its head high, and freezes. I jump out to scare it. The gray rabbit hops frantically toward Meretseger. She quietly awaits her prey. Ten cobras are frozen like an ice statue. The prey sees Meretseger and diverts the direction to avoid her. At its first jump, Meretseger extends her arms, and one cobra moves with lightning speed. The cobra snaps at its neck and kills it instantly. 

"I guess it is easier than I thought," Meretseger exclaims.

"I have to say you are a quick learner," I affirm.

"At least, we have something to eat. I am starving!" The princess continues.

"Let me remove the skin with my sword," I take a dead rabbit out of the cobra's mouth.

I carve it out and deskin the rabbit. Unfortunately, we don't have the fire to roast it. I dissect it into smaller pieces, so it is easier for us to devour. 

"I am not a gourmet chef, but it is edible now," I hand out some of the chunks to the princess.

She takes one and puts it into her mouth, and throws small chunks in the air. The cobra heads fight at each other to devour flesh meats. It is amazing to see how they move anomalously while Meretseger calmly chews her piece.

I begin to talk about strategy for today's battle.

"We still need to slay one more Aqrabuamelu. She is a pretty tough one."

"I stupidly didn't think about her. I could have kept five daggers instead of using all of them. I am sorry."

"You don't need to say sorry at all. If he is still alive, we wouldn't be here alive. You did the right thing. We need to come up with a new strategy to bring her down. That's all!" I affirm her.

"All we have is your single blade," Meretseger stares at the battle sword and opens her eyes wild.

"I think I got an idea," she smirks.

"What you did yesterday was brilliant. You brought him down by stabbing all the legs. We should continue with the same strategy. Then throw me the sword, and I will somehow shove it in her eye," she waits for my reaction by looking into my eyes.

"I think it is doable. But can cobras handle the weight of the sword?" I pose.

"They got to. Otherwise, we run out of options."

"You are right. I don't see any other way." I nod my head with approval.

We advance toward the Golden Temple. My mind wanders around while we march. I attempt to refocus my attention only on our coming battle. Unfocused mind means sure death during the fight. I have to stay focused and relaxed at the same time. Trust your body to do the work while your mind stays clear from any obstructions. That is the name of the game; a sure survival. 

We are close to our yesterday's battleground. There is no corpse insight. I assume female Aqrabuamelu took and hid his body. Even they are enemies to reckon with; they are also living beings just like us.

Uneasiness surrounds the two of us. Female Agrabuamelu is nowhere in sight. We look around as if she fools us. I pass the giant gate when Agrabuamelu appears behind the Golden Temple.

She suddenly splashes a high voltage beam at me. I jump sideways to avoid her menacing wrath. She continues successively to burn me alive. I duck, roll, and plunge every way I can to stay alive. 

Meretseger comes out from behind the cedar; she jumps in front of me to divert the monster's attention. Now, Agrabuamelu aims at Meretseger with the frightening weapon. She dashes as fast as she can into the forest. Deadly beams chase her after and burn everything along the way.

When the monster's attention is directed at the princess, I seize the moment to crawl under Agrabuamelu's body.  This time, instead of stabbing the joint, I decided to swing the blade precisely at the articulation. If I miss even a half-inch, the sword will bounce back, not harming her at all.

I hold my blade sideways and close my eyes. I use my inner eyes instead of my physical eyes. My inner eyes see the joint where my blade accurately needs to disjoin. I completely trust myself. My powerful arms know when to swing fast. When the perfect moment arrives, my body moves naturally, and my robust arms swing the sword horizontally. The blade snaps out a foot from her leg. Agrabuamelu wails out loud. The foot flies away, and black blood gushes out from the bottom of her leg.

Agrabuamelu tramples hard, trying to squash me like a dead fly. My body is synchronized with her move. The monster moves continuously, and that makes me more difficult to aim for the next target.

The monster suddenly stops. By seizing the moment, I swing the blade with lightning speed. Another foot flies away, and Agrabuamelu's howel shakes the entire forest.

I continue with my assault by chopping off the third foot, the fourth foot, and the fifth foot.  The ground where I stand is tainted in black with her blood. Her body shakes violently, and she can no longer maintain her balance. Agrabuamelu's glistening body crashes onto me.

I miscalculated my timing as I thought the monster can still support her body with only three legs. I jump out sideways and rotate my body on the ground to avoid her deadly pincer. 

The monster is no longer mobile. As we planned, I throw my sword toward the cedar, where Meretseger hiding behind. The sword spears the trunk of the tree. When Meretseger appears and yanks out the blade, my job is done. 

When I unwind a little, Agrabuamelu's large hand grabs my body. She is about to crash me like an eggshell. I scream at Meretseger to hurry up.

Two cobras hold the sword and point at the monster's single eye. When the blade is released, Agrabuamelu intuitively covers her eye with her other hand.

The sword penetrates the back of her hand. The blade misses the eye.

The monster is furious because of the pain the sword caused. She tightens her grip, and I persist with agonizing pain.

When I begin to think my luck is running out, double arrows puncture Meretseger's eye. She roars, and her body falls to the ground, still gripping me in her hand. The ground shakes violently.

Her body no longer moves, and suddenly she is lifeless. I force her fingers to open and crawl out of her large hand. I stare at two long arrows on Agrabuamelu's eye and still don't understand what happened a few seconds ago.

I look at Meretseger, and she is as dumbfounded as I am. I see a figure behind the princess approaching us.  He holds a longbow in one hand, and his face is still covered in the shadow.

When he comes out under the sun, I recognize his face. The crocodile man, who was in the dungeon with me, is smiling at us.