Behind My Shadow - Book Three

56. Nobody Comes to Save You Now

"Ah, the Vorpal Armor," the middle head of the Jabberwocky cackles in a voice that sounds like a hundred voices are speaking in unison. "It isss ssso entertaining how thisss keepsss returning for combat."

"When will you little Alicesss learn?" The left head hisses. "We Jabberwockies are eternal."

"We thrive off slaughtering the users of clean magic," the right head growls, leering down at me with strands of saliva dripping from its neon fangs. "You Alices are always brimming with clean magic, just waiting to be infected and killed..."

"You're in for a surprise if you think I'm like all the other Alices!" I call as loudly as I can to be heard. "I don't have just clean magic in my blood, I have dark magic in my veins too! Just like you!"

The Jabberwocky looks shocked for a heartbeat and quickly takes a sharp breath as if to taste the air for clues.

Not willing to let my golden moment of surprise pass me by, I swiftly and forcefully hurl my sword forward as violently as if it's a bolt of lightning. I summon air to make my spiraling sword travel with the speed of a bullet and now it stabs into the middle of the Jabberwocky's abdomen.

The Jabberwocky roars with rage and rips my sword free with one of the small, clawed hands at the tip of its wings. It hisses with fury as it hurls my sword aside, I swiftly notice how when it touches the Vorpal it burns its flesh at the touch.

I summon air to bring my sword back to me just before I have to hurl myself over the edge of the volcano as the Jabberwocky stomps on the ground I was just standing on. I somehow manage to slide down the quaking volcano on the back of my shield, a thunderous rockslide wildly tumbles after me from the Jabberwocky's blow.

I hit the ground on my feet and whip around with my shield in one hand, summoning a massive gust of wind with my other to blast the raining boulders back up into the faces of the Jabberwocky.

The three heads roar with fury and now they swiftly take a sharp breath, all of the oxygen suddenly seems to be stolen from the air as a purple light begins to glow from beneath the scales. I know what that means!

I frantically run for cover and just manage dive behind an outcropping of rocks before the Jabberwocky releases a current of sizzling purple electricity. OMG! This thing doesn't breathe fire?! It breathes lightning?! What the hell?!

The bands of lightning impact with my cover with a deafening crackle, the rocks explode on contact and now my shield braced before me takes the full wrath of the demon's lightning.

The ground around me begins to melt, streams of acid outflank me as the volcanic ground breaks apart beneath my boots. I grimace as I struggle to hold strong against the outrageously powerful current of energy pouring into my shield. I'm slowly being shoved backwards, my left heel hovers over one of the bubbling streams of neon acid.

With a shriek of effort, I swivel around with the shield on my back and lunge to the side for cover. The current of lightning suddenly blasts the ground I was just at and a geyser of acid shoots into the air as the ground explodes. I leap to my feet and frantically summon my Angelus Reprobi in a flourish, launching my animal soul spirit directly into the middle face of the Jabberwocky before I use the Amulet's powers to summon Yvett's Talent.

In a flash of icy blue light, I shapeshift into another Angelus Reprobi and take flight, sailing right into the chest of the tremendous beast fighting my animal soul spirit.

The three heads roar with fury and pain as they are battered between two mythologic powerhouses, our unicorn horns puncture its hide at least a dozen times before the Jabberwocky suddenly clutches me between its claws and drags me high up into the sky with a deafening roar. My animal soul spirit wildly races after us.

The Jabberwocky savagely slams me into the side of a volcano so forcefully, the entire volcano begins to crumble as the enormous demon continues to shove me through the raining acid and falling rocks. I scream with sheer horror as we break entirely through the volcano and now go careening through yet another wall of rock, getting drenched with more acid as we crash through volcano after volcano.

I frantically lash out, pummeling the Dark creature with my hooved back legs and finally I hear the sound of bones breaking under my assault.

The Jabberwocky screeches and its talons slide out of my body as it pulls back. I flop on the ground -sending an earthquake shivering throughout this explosive land- and now lift my head in time to see my animal soul spirit aggressively slam itself into the back of the Jabber's middle head. The beast's middle head slams into the ground hard enough to split the rock beneath it. I leap up to my paws and lunge forward, exhaling a blizzard into the other two heads.

Together, my animal soul spirit and I spring on top of the wounded beast so violently that the ground literally splits the island in half.

The savage ocean sprays up around us and my Angelus Reprobi pounces on the throat of the middle Jabberwocky and holds it underwater while the island slowly separates beneath us.

We're all three suddenly submerged into the black ocean.

In all of the chaos, my connection with Yvett's Talent is abruptly lost and I suddenly shapeshift back into my human girl self and sink beneath the violent waves far below the two dueling creatures.

I watch with disbelief from my vantage spot down here as the Jabberwocky suddenly encloses my Angelus Reprobi's head in one of its jaws while the other two heads leech onto her sides, savagely attempting to rip her wings off.

No!

I frantically summon my animal soul spirit back to me in a flourish of blinding white flares.

The Jabberwocky slowly rightens itself underwater and its wings hover around its body as if it is floating through air... 

The savage water around the enormous monster glows from its neon tattoos and now the colossal creature begins flapping its four wings. A violent current slams into me and drags me farther under as the Jabberwocky flies out of the ocean.

I swiftly summon my command of water and launch myself out of the riptide like a missile. I break free and go sailing through the air towards the Jabberwocky. I throw out my hands as I start to plummet back down and manage to seize one of its scales on its hind foot.

The Jabber doesn't even notice me, I assure myself as I crane my neck to look around the ruins as we fly over the tattered island. It has been completely halved and blinding bright rivers of glowing yellow acid pour into the black ocean and mingles with the savage current like blood pouring from a wound.

"Time for round two," I pant and now summon water again. A thunderous tempest wildly forms beneath the Jabberwocky, it rapidly unfolds into an enormous whirlpool with a dauntingly powerful vacuum.

The Jabber's tail is suddenly seized.

The monster roars and strains to pull away but now, rising out of the whirlpool, I lift a tornado of water from the depths of the ocean. The tornado yanks the Jabberwocky back down as if the beast were no more menacing than a spoon left in a mixing bowl turned on high.

Yeah, I'm kinda making myself dizzy at this point but I don't waste an opportunity and swiftly begin climbing the impossibly huge monster's leg as we're slung around and around. Its scales melt under my Vorpal touch as I climb higher.

I just make it to the demon's back when it savagely wrenches itself free from the vortex.

Damn it! We're getting away from the ocean! I was hoping to drown this thing!

But at leastwise now the Jabber is tired and flaps its heavy wings with low snarls of exhaustion as it carries itself back over dry land. The tempest falls apart without my full dedication, but I don't care now, I keep up my climb as my enemy flies wearily towards one of the battered islands.

We'll finish the fight there.