Thatch crashed into the monster like a cannonball. Latching onto the veiny neck of the monster, Thatch drove the knife into the crook between the neck and shoulder and twisted. The monster let out it’s bone-chilling shriek and rolled on the ground to shake off its attacker. The impact left Thatch sprawled on the ground, but he rolled away as the monster tried to crush his head under its foot. Before it could retract, he slashed the knife across the monster’s heel making it jump back which it immediately regretted as it stumbled to the side.
Thatch stared in blank anger at the demon before it, rolling his shoulder. It wouldn’t do to have it dislocated against such a savage enemy. Not moving his head, he took in the sight of the half minute battle. Three men were dead, one was injured and the rest had either fled or were too afraid to act. Cowardice was one thing, but this creature literally preyed upon fear, amplifying it to a degree that all rational thought disappeared.
The demon roared at the rusty headed man as he brandished his knife at it. Thatch prepared as he watched it lower itself into a crouch. As the demon pounced towards Thatch, its dirty claws reaching out to rip him apart, he jumped backwards, kicking his legs out. One claw missed by a hair. Not giving the damnable thing a minute to rest, Thatch bolted forward and stabbed through the monster’s wrist as it tried desperately to knock off his head with its claw. Punching the massive bicep made the whole arm go numb, Thatch stomped his foot down on the monster’s knee. No matter how big you were, certain things weren’t meant to bend certain ways. Like a branch snapping, the monster’s knee shattered, leaving the beast writhing on the ground, half its body broken and useless.
The shorter man approached the giant monster, but to anyone who looked upon them, the antlered one would seem the hapless victim. Despite the almost comical difference in size, the demon’s whimpering left no illusion as to how much Thatch had hurt it. Using its barely more functional limbs to try crawling away, Edwin was suddenly struck by a revelation.
‘Desperation. Powering your entire being is the lowly motivation of desperation’, Edwin thought. The monster tried crawling away even faster as it saw him raise his hand in its direction once more, ‘Let your Desperation be reduced to Nothing.’
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Just as he was about to clench his fist the demon’s other leg lashed out and knocked the wind out of Thatch, sending him flying. The rusty headed man couldn’t breathe and he wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of oxygen, the surprise or from the definitely broken rib he was suffering from. Through the lightheadedness, he glanced down and saw his kukri was lying an even distance between himself and the demon. The demon noticed his gaze and a crazed smile of realization cracked across its face. Simultaneously, both of them charged forward. Thatch dove forward, his arm stretched out, grabbing his kukri while bending his hand to roll over one shoulder.
Despite the expertly executed acrobatics, being batted like an annoying fly left Thatch lightheaded from the roll. The demon swept its arm and knocked the short man on his back. Despite pinning Thatch to the ground, its limbs were so long and spindly, that even if it wasn’t holding him by his neck and weapons hand, the demon would still be too high up to get a proper slash. It clearly wanted to take its time with him for all the pain he’d caused it. The short human was no longer merely prey, he was a trophy, one it wouldn’t let die so easily.
Thatch’s vision was growing more bleary and no amount of herculean strength would make up for a lack of oxygen as his knife hand couldn’t make the demon’s arm budge. Gritting his teeth and growling, he tried using his free hand to hit the demon’s other arm but he didn’t have enough posture. On the edge of blacking out, he felt the demon’s claws let off his throat and its face get closer. Half a second later, the demon’s face hitting his own and rolling away as a decapitated head saw Thatch taking a desperate breath as he dragged himself far away from the now lifeless, spider-like hand attached to a headless body of the homicidal demon.
For a moment, Edwin simply lay on his back, taking sweet breath into his hurting lungs. Gingerly, he sat up trying to not upset his very damaged midriff. Taking stock of his surroundings, Edwin noted that the demon’s head had rolled a few feet away, there were at least three dead men, and what remained of the angry mob was in various states of uprightness, too afraid to move a muscle. Looking back at the headless demon, Edwin began wondering what happened and what could possibly have made such a clean cut through such a large enemy’s neck. Clenching his fist, he noticed that his kukri was missing.
“I can see why you were summoned”, a voice cut into his thoughts.
