Chapter 192

◈ Chapter 192:

Rain could hear Triskian choking on his tongue behind him as his heavy bass voice filled the pit, speaking aloud for the first time.

The centaur gave him a surprised look. Then he smiled, flashing thick gravestone like teeth.

"Ah a talker. I do prefer it when monster's talk, it's a tell all of its own." He paused. "Less so when it's a panthara, those things should never speak. But you don't seem the same. A simpler kind of monster, lacking in cunning, more reliant on brute force."

Rain couldn't deny that he relied on brute force a lot. But that was never the whole picture.

He shrugged.

"Brute force is all that I need for a small pony like you."

Thadeus blinked.

"P-Pony? Pony? I haven't been called that before."

Maybe calling him a pony was a little unfair. He was only around a foot shorter than himself after all.

"You looked like a pony compared to that panthara. It was much larger. And both of you are four legged, so you are the same. Yes you are a pony."

Thadeus stared at him, lips parted, a look of disbelief on his face that his monster opponent was calling him, one of the largest of his kind, a pony.

"A… Panthara is not a Centaur."

"I'm just a simple kind of monster with no cunning describing what I saw. You looked like a pony next to the much larger four legger. Thadeus the pony."

The centaur frowned, his brow furrowing.

"I changed my mind, I prefer it when monsters can't speak to make mockery. You are a resource packet, a meal to help me grow in levels as the gods intended. You do not need to speak, you need only to die."

Rain didn't say anything, but his lips lifted in a wolfish grin, clearly amused by his phrasing.

The centaur did not like the look he was being given. There was something about it that was more than a little unsettling for a plains species like himself. He couldn't help but respond with force. That fanged grin demanded it. It was fight… or flight..

"Enough of this!"

Thadeus charged, hooves hammering the sand giving him immense acceleration as he thundered forward with spite in his eyes. The lance swung down into position, aiming to skewer Rain through the belly. He was fast and it only took a second or so to cross the distance.

The lance was thrust, and Rain twisted his body at the last moment, the tip stabbing past under his arm. He slammed his arm down, pinning the thing to his side as his other paw came up, paw pads slapping home against the metal and digits curling, his claws digging into and then puncturing through the metal. What felt like tiny little needles stabbed into his pads as he gripped the thing. He tried his best to ignore them.

In the same moment his stance shifted lower, feet spreading, paw pads sliding across the sand then dropping down as they found the small half finished holes he'd prepared in advance, dropping his feet down eight inches and giving himself ten times more leverage.

Thadeus slammed into him at full tilt gallop, and Rain's feet were driven back through the sand nearly three full feet, creating great furrows, but then coming to a hard stop.

Of course so much momentum had to go somewhere.

The lance was stopped dead in place and the centaur made a shout of pain as the sheer momentum of his gallop ripped his hands from the hilt of the lance, skin scraping free as his arm was forcibly dragged over the wide rim.

The centaur tried to stop himself but it was too late, he crashed bodily into Rain, tons of horse flesh THUD-thudding into the taller wolf, the momentum of a running horse meeting a furred wall.

Rain braced, leaning into the stunning impact. His breath jarred from his lungs, but otherwise, he held firm, claws digging into the sand as he arrested the centaur's gallop, being pushed back maybe another foot, even more sand piling up behind his feet, but no more.

He had to fight down the urge to just pour predation into the centaur and rip him apart in that short moment of contact. But he couldn't reveal that. Yet.

Instead his paw detached from the lance and in one swift motion he used his real claws, stabbing into the centaur's midriff, four points digging in and then slicing upwards, four red furrows.

Blood sprayed as skin split and Rain snarled as his claws cut, digging his digits into the centaur's flesh, cutting up muscle, then hitting ribs.

A shout of pain and the centaur thrashed, arm striking out, elbow driving into Rain's chest as his back hooves stamped into the sand trying to make space, trying to pull away.

Some Skill or other triggered and Rain found the centaur lurching backwards as though pushed, one arm darting out to catch the hilt of the lance held under Rain's arm.

The motion was halted however when the centaur found that he could not yank the lance free from Rain's grip. He scowled with anger. He was injured, but he wasn't about to give up his weapon to this monster.

His muscles bulged along his arm, rippling with striation. He heaved back.

Nothing happened.

The lance remained completely stationary in Rain's clasp, held under arm and gripped in paw.

Rain watched the centaur struggle. And then he leaned down and opened his mouth. He bit into the hollow lance. The sound of shrieking metal filling the air as his teeth punctured, and then began to crush and cut as his jaws inevitably closed. Just as when he had gripped the thing with his paw he could feel tiny needles stabbing from the holes dotted up the lance's surface, tiny little needles that jabbed at the roof of his mouth and his tongue before they were crushed down with the rest of the metal.

His head swam from what he understood were poison tipped needles, his vision blurring.

The Centaur swore loud and colourful. He pulled hard, jerking the thing violently, desperately trying to drag it from the monster's teeth.

With the sound of tearing metal he managed to free the lance at last, staggering backwards as it suddenly came loose.

His breath caught as he lifted the lance, or rather what remained of it. It had been cut in half, the end half was just gone, a ragged twisted tear where it had been wrenched from Rain's incising teeth.

"You- You—! This was—!! ARGH!!!" The centaur struggled and failed to form words, too outraged to express himself.

Rain got the distinct impression that the centaur did not appreciate having what was clearly a precious and ancient family heirloom destroyed.

Thadeus bellowed wordlessly, face bright red with rage and dove forward, raising the half lance over head to hammer it down. Rain stepped to the side of the swing, dodging the blow, his motions delayed as his head felt thick and slow. Unfortunately he wasn't ready for what had been a bluff.

Thadeus formed a clenched fist, tight, and with a roar of rage drove it into Rain's stomach. Heavyset knuckles thudded home with Skill empowered force, just as they had struck the panthara. Striated musculature coursed down the centaur's trunk like arm as he drove his fist against flesh with the gods knew how many Skills reinforcing it. Except, this time, the fist met resistance, his fist drove in so far and then… stopped. The incredible Skill driven force of his fist met a wall of muscle.

The centaur's fingers weren't strong enough to hold up with so much power put behind them and a wall in front. The centaur's fingers:

Broke.

The fleshy crunch of a crushed hand filled the air, fingers bones popping apart, ligaments and muscles tearing, bones snapping. The centaur's breath choked as pain shot up from his hand.

The wolf barely seemed to notice and a great paw reached out to engulf the arm. Thadeus, seeing what was about to happen, and now wary of what the wolf could do, snatched his arm back, narrowly avoiding the grabbing paw. Fortunate for him that the grab was slowed by Rain's fuzzed head… But already that feeling of fuzziness was starting to fall away, the little touch of poison in him being devoured.

Thadeus swung the broken lance around in the same motion he pulled his arm away and this time he didn't hold back anything. The lance glowed, flashes of blinding chromatic light scattering off the sparkling runes. The thing was broken, but the enchantments together with Skills could still function as a brutal blunt crushing instrument.

The broken lance struck Rain's shoulder with an audible boom, sand shivering outward from the impact vibration. The Skill empowered blow caused Rain's bones to groan under the strain, feeling like his arm was about to pop free, on the edge of dislocation. A pain radiated down his arm and into his shoulder, his whole body and feet shunted a half foot across the ground with the impact. But still, he held his ground.

He could feel the razor needles stabbing from the holes of the lance, poking at his flesh, puncturing his shoulder. More poison, but then, so much less than biting through the damned lance, and the pain of it cut through the fog of his mind like a knife, clearing his thoughts.

With a snarl his paw curled into a massive fist and counter sledgehammered into the centaur's side. Unlike the centaur's attempt at a punch, this actually had an effect.

A hammer blow thump on flesh, and then the crickle-crack sound of multiple breaking ribs filled the air and the centaur gasped as he was batted to the side, nearly tossed off his hooves, having to stagger and stumble, wheezing like a bellows and clutching at his concave chest.  He backed up stumbling, shuddering, bloody spittle flecking his lips.

"This thing… hits… fucking hard." he managed to wetly wheeze out, his voice strained.

The centaur was not doing well. His chest was visibly dented on one side, and his front was sliced open, blood washing down over his hips.

He took shaky steps back, increasing the distance. Rain was stopped in place, looking down at his shoulder. He brushed a paw over it and a few tiny needles fell from his fur.

Thadeus felt at his injured front as he watched.

"Do you still not get it? Hah- haha, stupid wolf. You bit into a poisoned weapon."

Rain frowned. "But you did not stab me with the lance. There's—"

"Who ever said anything about stabbing. A mere brush against the side of my lance is enough to kill a man." He coughed wetly, blood trickling from his lip.

"You… poisoned me… like the panthara?"

"I did precisely that. Even if it cost me my most priceless heirloom and an unfortunate amount of gold. Your death is now mine. I have already won."

"...Which… means I now have only a short time to kill you…"

"I—"

Rain lunged for him. Claws raised. He struck out in a lacerating strike and Thadeus took the broken lance in both hands to deflect the blow, his broken hand only able to grip with thumb and index. The great paw dented the metal and numbed his hands with the ringing impact. A second paw came up, curled into a fist. Body blow. Thadeus slammed down the hilt of the lance, the metal pommel cracking into the monster's wrist and knocking the blow aside. Teeth lunged for him in the presented opening and he triggered a Skill in a moment of desperation. An invisible force redirected the jaws. They snapped closed beside his ear like a bear trap. The sound of those teeth slamming closed made something instinctive and herbivorous within him shiver in fright.

With a bellow of outrage and denial of fear he rammed his shoulder into the monster's throat, making it choke and back up. The lance came around. The end was ragged, but it was still a twist of sharp metal. He stabbed the thing at the monster's eyes, but a paw slammed down onto the broken tip in the same moment. There was so much force! How was there so much force! He grunted as the hilt was rammed back into his hands with enough force to snap his thumb.

He just needed defence. No offence. It would die, the monster would die sooner or later. It had to die. It would die. Patience. Patience. It would die, it would!

The wolf snarled and came on, relentless, not giving him a fraction of a second, it was all he could do to keep it at bay. Grabbing paw batted aside with the broken lance, a fist immediately going over top, aimed for his head. Bad position. Couldn't stop it.

The lance blurred, leaping at impossible speed, near teleporting from his hands in a flash of runic light and whipping at the wolf's head, a transparent godly hand made of motes of gold wrapped around the hilt. The lance missed, but it forced the wolf to flinch back in surprise. The hand lasted merely a second before disintegrating. The lance tumbled.

Before he could catch the lance once more a clawed foot snapped out. Unexpected. He tried to scramble back. But at that exact moment the ground seemed to betray him, his back hooves catching in the untrustworthy sand.

Foot met horse leg and with a grizzly snap Rain stamped through his front leg, snapping the the bone like kindling for a fire, breaking it between Thadeus and and the ground.

Thadeus cried out and started to fall, the broken lance dropping out of reach. A pair of enormous paws reached, grabbing hold of his arms and wrenching them apart. A pair of jaws yawned open and lunged for his face. This time there was no dodging. There was no escape.

The whites of his eyes showed. There was real fear, terrible fear running through him now, given a front row seat to teeth about to slam closed and guillotine through his skull as easily as they had crushed his lance.

But then, he was never in any real danger.

Smoke exploded up around him, a solid marble casing wrapping around the centaur's entire front half, a column of stone that knocked Rain back, but only for a moment. With a rip-snarl he threw himself at the marble, fist smashing into the stone with savage violence, once, twice, creating dozens of fractures, and then turning he dug both sets of claws into the stone and tore at it. The marble crumbled then started coming apart under the force of the claws, sheets of stone fracturing and sloughing away. In that way Rain dug into the stone, smashing and clawing apart the marble until he could see flesh encased within it, an arm, a broken hand.

His teeth snapped closed like a bear trap. Hand gone. Forearm gone. Muffled screaming, and then very audible screaming as the marble broke away under the onslaught revealing the encased centaur's face, confined in stone, pinned and unable to move as the wolf ate his arm, consumed it from his body.

Smoke rings wound around the wolf's wrists, and arms, grabbing, trying to haul him back.

Steel shot up, thick winding curling bars like tree roots, arm thick, darting up amongst the crumbling marble, trying to block the wolf, getting between the last bit of the centaur's arm and the ravenous maw.

A barrier of steel, the centaurs scared eyes seen just behind.

The smoke manacles were nothing to the monster, like they weren't even there, the things disintegrating as he moved. A paw pressed against the steel, digits curled, and in one violent motion the entire metal net was ripped out with a snarl of strength.

The maw dove back in, barely a second taken to remove the obstacle, and then the teeth were eating into a shoulder, muscle parting, pints of blood pouring from the marble tomb like a fountain, washing down the white marble front in waves.

More steel was flowing up, being created from smoke, trying to encase the wolf, but the violent motions of its body as it tore and ripped at the marble digging its way in made it impossible to bind in place, a leg would kick through the smoke before the steel had fully formed, messing up the bind, creating space to climb free, to push further into the marble.

Teeth bit into the centaur's rib cage and he screamed like a trapped animal.

"S-Save me! F-Fucking protect me!"

At that point Quistis abruptly ran the fuck out of patience with trying to wrestle the monster off.

The ground went up.

And with the ground, went Rain.

His muzzle was forcibly ripped out of the centaur's chest, a rib bone coming away with his teeth. One moment he was devouring the centaur and the next the ground was dropping away beneath him, a great stone tower rising from the arena sands, thin and very tall, a windowless column of grey stone block work, a cylinder with a flat platform for a top.

Rain found himself standing far above the arena on the top of a stone tower. He blinked and then swallowed his mouthful, spitting the rib bone aside.

His paws came down on the knotted mess of steel encasing his lower body and with great difficulty he wrenched the thing apart, making enough room so that he could step free and move to the edge of the tower. The knotted steel mess vanished into smoke behind him.

He was very high up, over halfway to the massive cavern's ceiling.

Well. This was certainly one way to seperate them.