Fate of Pandora - Book II

Old Friend

Once Kira crossed the bridge, taking the Pandora's Box with him, the alternate dimension melted away and everyone was back on Mount Mitake. The statues disappeared and the night sky was bathed with moonlight once again, but the two ring bearers barely noticed the changes. They were too busy trying to avoid the giant monster lunging at them.

"Oh, shit!" Coalt plunged away from the monster, but stumbled after moving too fast, and wasn't able to escape the monster's huge skeletal tail.

"Coalt!" Ayame ran to him and helped him stand up. "Can you still fight?"

"Ugh, I can't–" The young man gripped his burning chest, gritting his teeth against the pain. "I don't know. I can't do much."

Seeing how he was limited, Ayame took a breath and stepped in front of him. "It's okay. I'll protect you," she said, determined. She knew that she had to finish the skeleton quickly so they could still catch up to Kira and recover the box. They couldn't let him get away, not this time.

The monster gave a terrible screech as it charged forward, and Ayame also ran at the creature with her moon blades sparking with electricity.

The girl was ready for their collision as the distance between them shortened, but instead, the monster jumped over Ayame and ignored her completely, attempting to smash Coalt again instead. Its reaction startled both, but the brunette managed to escape the grey mass when it landed beside him. He turned around and predicted its attempt to whip him with the tail, so Coalt blocked it with his scythe. The impact made him fall on his knee and he leaned on his scythe, paralyzed for a moment.

The skeleton raised its arm to reach him, but Ayame jumped at its back and carved her charged blades into it. The monster yelped when the electricity ran through its body, giving Coalt enough time to move as far away from them as possible. The creature shook the girl off and growled; Ayame thought it would attack her, but its attention turned back on the running target. She was getting frustrated with this stupid creature; it had a fixed goal and she couldn't make it lose its focus.

Coalt turned around and saw the thing closing the distance between them again. "Fuck off!" Why was this thing so persistent? Coalt used the last of his strength to explode the largest pillar of fire he could create right under the monster. When he saw the skeleton pass through the fire unaffected, he had a weird flashback – it was like the scene from long ago, when he fought the jaded panther to protect his father. But this time, he was the target.

The skeleton slammed into him with force, and he rolled on the ground. Coalt gasped in agony when a big hand held him pinned and he was face-to-face with the monster. Time seemed like it was running slower. He saw the skull open its mouth and show him its sharp teeth, approaching for a final bite. Meanwhile, he kept remembering his father, and wondered about the irony that he was going to face the same fate as his old man.

"Stop ignoring me!"

A powerful, pressurized blast sent the monster flying away. Ayame had reached them. Coalt blinked for a moment; he had been so certain of his own doom that it felt odd to find himself alive.

"Coalt, do you think you can make one last effort?" Ayame asked while she helped him to get to his feet again. The pain was almost too much for him to stand, and leaned on her and on his scythe.

"It depends..." he said in a low, hoarse voice.

"We need to do the same thing we did with the Chimera; do you remember?" Ayame asked as they watched the monster recover and turn to them. "Coalt?!" The monster began sprinting in their direction.