The Path of Ruin

'Holy-'

Kael twisted his body backwards, away from the claw in front of his eyes. Then he pressed his right hand to the ground and, drawing strength from it, threw himself even further back.

If he made the slightest mistake, he could lose his balance and fall to the ground, making himself an open target... But he didn't fall, he managed to keep his balance and looked at the creature attacking him. What he found in front of him... was a claw again.

This time, he was not as unprepared as before. The dagger in his left hand was at the ready, after all. And he pulled himself to the left side as he swung his dagger swiftly in an upward arc.

He dodged the claw, and not only that, he managed to make a small cut on the creature's wrist. But it had not yet given up!

Kael saw another claw coming from the other side. He was in an awkward position! There was no way he could block it!

He gritted his teeth, pulling the elbow of his left arm down as fast as he could. But it was too late. He felt the creature's claws on his body. At first, it was a slight pain, then it suddenly intensified...

For a moment, the pain shot through his whole body, danger signals lit up in his brain. He clenched his teeth even more, all his muscles contracted... he put everything he had into his elbow. And he succeeded. His elbow met the claw at this very moment.

The first thing he felt... was that the creature's skin was very hard. But then the hardness suddenly dissipated. With the force of his elbow, the creature was forced to withdraw its claw. And it made no further attack, finally retreating.

Kael looked at the retreating creature as he quickly pressed his right hand against his wound. He could finally see exactly what it looked like. And... he was surprised.

The creature in front of him was... 'strange' in every sense of the word. It had reddish skin and no fur. It resembled a... cat, but on two legs. It was quite short, the height of a child around ten. Its claws looked like it was between a hand and a paw and couldn't decide what to be. Its facial expression was like that of a cat, but with squinty eyes, it had a very... different air.

What was in front of his eyes was really... a disgusting creature. A disgusting and strange abomination.

But it was strong. And that was the important thing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he looked at the site of the massacre he had seen a few seconds ago, then at the creature's bloody claws.

'It must be responsible for the massacre...'

From what he had seen so far, he was sure that this... strange creature was not much stronger than him. Yes, it was definitely faster and stronger than him... but the difference was not much.

'So, I can win.'

The only problem... was the wound. Thanks to his quickness, the creature's claw hadn't penetrated his body completely, just a little bit... But even that 'little bit' had caused a wound that kept bleeding and hurting him.

It was much harder to concentrate than usual.

'I can still do it, no... I will!'

He thought of the hours he could gain by killing this creature. He was sure he would not simply gain an hour or two like the wolves. He would get so much more!

And with that thought, he gripped his dagger tightly and narrowed his eyes slightly. All his focus was on the hideous creature in front of him. And that's when it made its move.

Kael's eyes widened slightly. A single thought ran through his mind.

'Fast!'

Yet he remained calm. Because...

'But not so much that I can't react!'

He had a hard time following the creature, he couldn't even see its body... But it was easy to guess where it was going to attack!

'It's aiming for my right side!'

His right hand was still on his wound, his dagger in his left hand. He was attacking his weak right side, just as he had expected!

Kael stopped holding his wound. He clenched his right hand firmly, raised it up, and swung it at the creature. Not only that, he readied his dagger, ready to strike the moment the creature made contact with his right hand! And so it did.

He felt the creature's claw on his right arm. But he had been expecting it all along, his dagger suddenly appeared next to the creature's arm.

'I did it!'

He was sure that his dagger would reach the creature, that he would manage to cut a wound in it!

But it didn't.

'H- huh?!'

The creature stepped on Kael's right arm... In one swift movement, it stood on top of him, placed its feet on his shoulders, and leaped into the air!

Kael could not withstand the enormous weight on his back. He lost the strength in his legs and fell flat on his face. But the creature didn't stop there! Before Kael could hit the ground, it simply did a backflip, its claws slicing deep cuts into Kael's back as it spun in the air!

"A- Aahrg!"

Kael couldn't help but scream. It wasn't enough that he was pinned to the ground extremely hard, his back was burning with unbelievable pain!

But he had no time!

'I must get up!'

It didn't take him a split second to give up on the idea.

'No, I must turn!'

He quickly turned to his left side, on his back. And just as he expected, he found the creature's claws in front of him.

He didn't think about what was going to happen, he just pulled his feet as fast as he could towards his belly. It was so sudden that it hurt him, and as a result, the force he could put into his feet was slightly dissipated... But it still saved his life.

He released his tensed legs only fractions of a second before the creature reached him! His kick passed the claws in front of him and landed directly in the creature's abdomen. With the force of the kick, the creature was thrown backwards with saliva splattering from its mouth. Then the sound of it crashing into a tree echoed through the forest.

Kael did not stay where he was. He tried to get up quickly, but then realized the pain in his legs. He had contracted his muscles so suddenly and so hard that he had really hurt himself. Still, he tried not to care. He had to get up, he couldn't wait on the ground against this creature! So, he forced himself to his feet, even if his legs were shaking, and looked towards where the creature had sprung.

The creature was already on its feet, drool dripping down its chin. Its squinty eyes were slightly reddened and it was holding its belly with one arm. Like Kael, it was trembling slightly, at the same time, baring its teeth in a hostile manner and growling.

Kael realized that his vision was slightly blurred as he looked at the creature. He did not let it show in any way, though. He did not want to show any more signs of weakness than he was already showing. But the situation was bad!

'It is faster than me, stronger as well, but its defenses are almost non-existent. Its bones and body are weak. I can finish it off if I can land just one decent attack... But the same goes for me too.'

He clicked his tongue, never taking his eyes off the creature for a single second. The creature waited in the same way.

Both sides were silent and still, as if... whoever made the first move would lose.

'I need to be faster. Power is irrelevant, I just need to be faster... If I can make it lose its balance just once and attack it in succession, I will win!'

But therein lay the problem.

Kael couldn't get any faster. On the contrary, he could now only be slower. His legs could barely hold him up and his back was in excruciating pain. He could feel the blood oozing from his wounds.

'Still...'

He gritted his teeth, his eyes more determined than ever.

'Even then!'

The fingers clenching the dagger trembled, his arm twitched slightly.

He refused. He didn't want to lose his second chance at this point, to die against such an... abomination of a creature. So, no matter what condition his body was in... he put everything aside, just as he had done until now.

The only thing burning inside him was the will to live.

So what if he was hurting? There wasn't a day in his fifteen years of life that didn't hurt!

What if his eyes were blurred? His target was in front of him, even in the form of a blurry silhouette!

What if his whole body was shaking and convulsing? At worst, he would be crippled at the end of the day!

But he would live, he would kill the creature in front of him! He would not lose his second chance here!

And he poured everything into this one thought. All his desires, his blood and sweat, his pain... everything.

He felt a warmth in his body, a comforting warmth that spread throughout his whole body... The pain disappeared for a moment, he felt a force he couldn't make sense of flowing through his body that was constantly shaking.

He didn't care what it was, he didn't even think about the strangeness of what he was experiencing. He was going to take the opportunity. And he did.

As soon as he felt the pain disappear, he pressed his feet hard into the ground, the muscles in his legs tightened, this time of his own will... and then released!

Kael jumped out of his place in an instant. He was fast, even faster than he normally was... making full use of the tiny force flowing through his body!

For a brief moment, the creature didn't realize what had happened when it saw its prey suddenly speed up. With all the wounds he had received, how could he have sped up instead of slowing down? Its mind, which wasn't much of a mind to begin with, actually, couldn't comprehend it!

But no matter how much Kael sped up, he was not at the point where it could not follow. It could pick out his attack, his body... everything!

This was going to be easy! It was going to make him pay for holding out so long in spite of his weakness!

So, it prepared to dodge the attack. It followed the trajectory of the dagger coming at it and saw that this weak human being was aiming for its shoulder. He was aiming to cut it in two, what a fool he was!

It would duck, simply dodge the dagger, and get underneath him. Then with its two claws, it was going to punch a hole in his stomach!

And he ducked, he did indeed dodge the dagger. Not only that, thanks to its tiny body, it was able to get underneath its prey in one swift movement. It tensed its claws, at the same time, preparing to thrust straight up...

It was over!

But then... suddenly... it froze. Its whole body stiffened. Out of the corner of its squinty eye, it looked back, and saw the face of its prey. And not just the face... it saw the tiny glint, the silvery light in his brown eyes.

Then... a shadow appeared in front of that face, a hand with five fingers... and everything went black.

The last thing it felt was its face being gripped tightly, and then its own body being thrown violently.