Doomed to Die in 3 Minutes

The Scent of Blood

“Okay. How do I salvage the situation? I should run. Yeah. I should, but how? Just sprint off while the fog is covering me? No, they’d hear me for sure even if I used magic to try and cancel the sound. I can try to slowly but surely make my way over to the sewers? It’d suck but… well I can float to not touch anyway. That seems like a safer bet.” 

Corai’s mind was going miles a minute. He could hear them come closer with the rattling of metal. He cursed internally over and over. He wasn’t sure if he could risk exposing himself or making a break for it. Maybe he could try to silently take down any guards that come near him? 

If it was just one by one… well the normal guards are only D-Ranks. It’d be a struggle but they would be around the same strength as one another. If he could get the drop on them… then there was hope. He’d slowly make his way through the fog towards a manhole and if he met anyone on the way he’d try to scare them off or sucker punch them. Having forged his plan he was now able to muster the courage to execute it.

Slow, he began to shuffle along while hugging the walls of the large workshops around him, trying to make the lightest sounds possible. His ghosts were still making a bit of a racket but again, due to his unique magical properties if someone tried hard to hear or look past the thin veil of spells he covered himself in they’d find him relatively quickly.

He watched his every step. He only took short breaths as he got closer to his objective. Then he stood right on top of it. A manhole. Opening it would take a bit of force. He bent down and began to try to remove it. Unlike the modern ones of Earth, these were a lot flimsier. The moment he placed his palms on the handles he felt hot breath upon his neck and then his ears were filled with a sinister cackling as a drop of saliva rolled down his face.

Corai was frozen like a deer in headlights. “No. Not him. How? Why? Of all…” Corai grit his teeth. He knew. Yarul was simply waiting for Corai to turn his head before assaulting him, all to be able to see a panicked and broken face. Corai gulped. He really didn’t want to give the bastard the satisfaction. “Think. Think you dumb piece of s**t! Think! Is there anything I can do to trick him, catch him off guard, just get a good hit in and book it!? Something… ah, screw it!”

Corai turned to see his pursuer right in the eyes and refused to show the face of fear. “Doom.” 

A crackling sound filled the air. Yarul had slapped Corai’s body with his left clawed hand and sent him flying into a nearby wall. “Gughk…!” Corai was reeling. He felt like his ribs were snapped, bruised at the very least. Yarul just laughed as he walked, slowly with heavy steps towards the fallen man. A message appeared in Corai’s mind. “The target has a sacrifice necklace. The doom spells effects have been diverted. Death will not come to the original target as long as linked sacrifices are available.” 

Corai began to lose it internally. What the f**k was this? He’s never encountered something like this. He racked his brain furiously for an answer. Using videogame logic he tried to piece it together. Was it that simple? An item that absorbs death for you, the classic one up? A second chance so easily used? If so then all he’d have to do is…

“Doom!” He yelled again as his hunter encroached further. A message flared again. “Another sacrifice has been inflicted on a person in the target’s stead.” Corai looked down at his arm. There were two timers ticking down but apparently, they weren’t for Yarul. 

“Death spells are quite powerful. In fact, they are usually extremely hard to cheat, but if you know how, then… it’s not that hard to have backups. Let me tell you, all you have to do is make someone sign a contract. Force them, coerce them, beat them black and blue until they agree. Use the problem materials and you can have a talisman that redirects such magic to the contractee and protect the contractor. Those two people you just condemned? Foolish little children. Weak-willed women. Men with nothing left to lose. Their blood is on you… hahahaheeheheheheeahahaha!” 

The hyena man howled with laughter as he marched forth. He was only a stone’s throw away from Corai now. “s**t. I thought I could just spam Doom until he ran out of decoys but if it’s actual people he forced into taking the fall in his place… I can’t do that to them! f**k. Bad to worse. Frying pan into the fire. Stop. Figure this s**t out. What else do I have? I can do something right? I’m not done yet. I’ve got to-!” 

Yarul slammed his halberd into the ground and snickered. “Rise! Cage of c*****e!” 

The ground around the two began to shift and rise! In mere moments the two were now in a dome made of brick and stone. The faint light of the moon was completely covered. It was an  tall stretching orb of darkness that trapped them together. 

“Oh great. A sadistic berserker that can use magic and knows stupid bullshit.” Corai had to push down the urge to groan. If it was complete darkness for them both, then maybe he could build some time by running around the room. He’d have to rely on hearing alone to catch him. It was the only thing he could do, so he took it.

He throws his body upwards with everything he has and then sprinted to the side and began to move in confusing and almost random patterns. Keep him guessing. Make noise. Make it incredibly difficult to know exactly where he is! It seemed to be working. Yarul made confused yelps as he swung his halberd wildly in the shadows of his own creation and was constantly missing Corai’s position. This went on for a full two minutes. Corai was covered in sweat from his constant dodging. He was able to formulate a plan of attack.

He had to bet it all on fire magic. His bizarre magic could create fire without light. The flames wouldn’t be able to hurt Yarul and wouldn’t give away his position. The fire still, despite being magical would still follow certain laws of the world. The consuming of oxygen is the main property that it still had in this form. Since they were both stuck in this enclosed space… well hopefully the bigger Yarul would fall unconscious first and when that happened Corai could search for the sacrifice necklace and remove it from his person. Cast Doom and… well he’d likely pass out as well, but if he could do those two things before he did, it’d be his win. At least in the short term. There wasn’t a better idea he could think of. 

If he used Float and cancelled it at random moments while moving around, he could move on both an X and Y axis and continue to buy the time he needed for his plan to work.

As long as Yarul didn’t find him or get a particularly lucky hit in then…!

A flat metal face slams into Corai’s left cheek and drops him to the floor.

“Aahahaha…! So silly. It was so fun to watch you run around like a headless chicken!” Yarul had known where he was the entire time… how…?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Corai stared at his palms now that his eyes were adjusting ever so slightly to the darkness.

...He felt so stupid. His nails. They had dug into his skin earlier when he was summoning the ghosts. He did it out of reflex and rage. It was a very easily avoidable occurrence. Had he simply kept his anger in check he wouldn’t have been exposed like this right now.

It was without a doubt, also how Yarul had found him so quickly and accurately despite his stealth approach to escaping. He had simply followed the scent of fresh blood from his hands with his heightened animal nose. 

“Ahahaha… that’s it! Despair! I was told not to kill you, but if you’re missing a few libs, have a few bites, scratches, and holes in you… well, the lord won’t complain. He’s very understanding of me like that... still, you look like you can take quite a bit of punishment. So I’ll work up a rage first and break all your bones!” 

A growling roar bouncing off the walls of the dome. 

Rage. A berserker’s calling card. All their defensive stats would lower and continue to lower with each passing moment but their offensive power, as well as their feral nature, would be amplified to compensate. It’d grow and grow ceaselessly until the user was nothing but destructive force. While it was true they lose all semblance of defence, they have such a good offence it was considered to be well worth it most of the time. 

There would be no need to block if you simply pulverised your opponents to submission or struck them dead in a single blow. Corai grit his teeth again. He had to take back the fight and oddly enough he saw his chance. Rage also reduces magical defence. If he could wait for it… if he could survive until his adversaries magical power was basically non-existent then even he could deal some serious damage with an offensive spell at point-blank range. The best and worst thing about this? Physical contact is a very good conductor of magical power. He’d need to get close to make sure of full effectiveness… still, it was a faint hope… and was still compatible with his previous idea.

“Seven Infernos.” The dome was covered in flames with neither light nor heat. 

This will be their battleground. A colosseum of darkness and lies.