Sophia heard the horrible shrieks, similar to a Shadow Beast but far worse, far louder, far more piercing.
She felt her heart stop when she saw the form of a massive monster moving towards her direction at an incredible speed. But her will didn't waver, she carefully flew to a higher ground, out of its way, observing from a safe distance.
Or she planned to.
//There's no way.. it can't be!//
She floats back down, almost falling, in shock.
A Legendary Light Chimera!?
//I have to do something!? Oh Goodness!? What will I do-I have to find Mani! Or can I stop it!?//
She didn't get to finish those thoughts, she didn't get to act on them.
For a brief moment she thought the Light Chimera spotted her and somehow launched an attack she couldn't see!?
That's not quite right.
Something..
No.
Someone launched themselves, right into her!
So powerful!
So fast!
She tumbles down onto the dirty ground with a body on top of her. The force was so strong, she's momentarily frozen by the pain.
A few seconds pass.
Now, anyone normal would panic and push the lifeless body off from them!
//What!? WHAT!?//
Before Sophia could run away she hears...
"Help..help..her..."
It seems that it's not a lifeless body after all. Hearing the broken, weak pleadings, she could no longer run away without taking a closer look. Lying there is a young gorgon girl, wearing a tattered school uniform, looking like she's on the verge of death!
Sophia must make a choice and fast!
The horrible shrieks of the Light Chimera are no longer so distant.
The monster is close.
Really close!
Fight or Flight.
With not too much difficulty, Sophia picks up the young gorgon and flies away!
She holds her complaints deep down within her heart and acts only on self preservation.
All she can do is fly away to a safe place!
Perhaps if she was by herself she could fly faster but under no circumstances will she put the girl down.
They both will get out of here alive.
Just fly away!
Her breathing is panicked and heavy but she can only hear the Light Chimera's terrible shrieks. The threat of impending doom won't hinder Sophia's quick thinking and actions. Once she figures out how to hold the girl in a way she won't be in danger of falling out of her arms, she flies higher and faster, making risky twists and turns, she won't make it easy to be followed.
The monster might be a massive force to be reckoned with but Sophia is as well.
Deep down she thanks the Goddess for her wings.
Without them who knows if she could have escaped!
She didn't look behind her the whole time, only looking forward. At some point the shrieks died down and she could no longer feel the vibrations of the ground shaking.
It's peculiar but she won't question it for now.
She sighs in relief.
Temporary relief.
Luckily, she finds a small cave to settle in.
Now, there's a more pressing issue to deal with.
The girl in her arms.
She gently sets her down and looks over the gorgon's injuries. To her surprise she finds that most of the injuries are superficial, only small scratches.
But she is still unconscious.
What's more concerning is that her life force is very weak at the moment.
And what she finds the most bizarre is that the gorgon girl seems to be self-healing?
Not many are able to do that, especially someone so young and someone who's out cold!
What kind of ability is this?
Also, the fact that she was able to sneak up on her, tackle her with such strength only to completely pass out afterwards?
It's all very strange.
Something is off but Sophia can't help feeling that this child... truly needs her help.
No tricks.
Just desperation.
No matter how bizarre the person or the scenario, she will always help those who need it! Sophia makes the judgement that the young girl just needs proper rest, perhaps some medicine to speed up the healing and observation. She should be okay, she should wake up soon and make a full recovery.
A weak life force is better than none at all.
Sophia just wishes she had her potions and other medicines, all she has at the moment is her light staff. She considers leaving with the girl to go find her companion, after all they are the one who she left in charge of the supplies...
But the Light Chimera is still out there!
And Mani...
She's worried!
Of course she worries!
Even if she knows Mani can handle themselves.
Her heart can't help but tremble.
Her body and spirit don't get a chance to rest because suddenly Sophia hears a loud commotion from outside once again!
The horrible and painful shrieks of the Light Chimera with the ferocious roars of something else entirely.
Oh no.
-
At this point, Mani has accepted the fact that their life is an endless cycle of bad luck.
But really?
A Light Chimera?
Of this magnitude?
Here of all places?
Their life is a stale joke.
When they saw it manifest before their eyes their first thought was simply, "Why?"
The next thoughts, "Was that Sophia it was chasing!? Was she carrying someone!??"
And then, Mani chases right after them.
There's a huge problem though.
Mani isn't as fast.
They follow in the destruction the Light Chimera leaves behind but Mani can see them get farther and farther away!
It's no use.
Mani has to do something!
They can't let Sophia get hurt!
Calm on the outside, panicking on the inside but they understand what must be done.
//I have to get its attention!//
Mani continues to run as fast as they can. As they're running they unsheathe their modified sword and with all their strength, fling it in the direction of the Light Chimera. Since it's so massive, Mani aims for the sword to cut underneath of the beast where it's belly would be, if it still had flesh that is. Their sword is far faster, deadlier and does the trick!
The Light Chimera halts its running and howls in immense pain, its shriek is so loud Mani has to cover their ears. Clearly, it didn't expect an attack from behind. Why is it so focused on Sophia? Is it because of the one she's carrying? The Light Chimera looks around in anger and confusion, trying to find the one responsible for the attack but it can't seem to see Mani.
Mani quickly realizes this and while not as loud as the monster's shrieks, their roars are loud enough to get its full attention.
A taunt.
//Attack me instead!
You won't win!//
The monster finally focuses all it's attention on Mani and rushes to attack them!
Mani realizes the monster hasn't noticed their sword to their advantage and manipulates it to attack the Light Chimera once more.
It goes right through its neck.
And then their sword finally lands back into Mani's hand.
Mani's sword is special, if it wasn't obvious already. What makes it more special is not its ability to be controlled without necessarily holding it but the fact that it is forged from Light Magic.
Light Chimeras are, usually, the final form of a Shadow Beast.
Mani has only fought a Light Chimera once in the past.
Even though it's an evolved form of a Shadow Beast, it still can only be defeated by using Light Magic.
Had it been a normal Shadow Beast, those two attacks would have been enough.
Unfortunately, it is not.
Mani just made it angrier instead.
Soon it's right above them showing absolutely no mercy. Mani dodges its attempts to stomp them into a bloody pulp, and they dodge the Light Chimera's enormous mouth and fangs, wanting to swallow them whole.
They fight for a long time. The only thing keeping them together is the fact that this was enough to keep the monster distracted, Sophia should be safe by now...
Mani isn't sure if they will be able to defeat it in all honesty.
This was all a bad idea from the start.
But they won't give into despair just yet!
As long as they're alive, they will keep fighting on!
Like always!
Like always.
Like always...
Death won't come for them.
The Fight continues.
Mani avoids it's attacks as best as they can, trying to damage it in any place they can reach, underneath, the legs and they even manage to jump to its back and land a vicious cut on there.
It's not enough though.
Mani is quickly thrown off!
They land on the ground with a loud crack.
//Ah... I think this time... I really might have broken my arm.//
Severely hurting their left arm was a bigger blow than expected, their movements have become much more slower. Mani knows they won't be able to avoid the fate of this next attack so they brace themselves to defend with their sword.
At least, that was the plan.
A miracle always follows their endless cycle of bad luck.
This time in the form of a fairy.
A huge burst of Light Magic hits the monster right in it's sinister face, it interrupts its actions and falls to the side shaking the entire forest.
Mani stumbles but barely manages to keep standing.
In an instant, Sophia is flying straight towards them.
"Mani! Are you okay!?"
They lie, "Yes."
Her concerned look turns into anger, "Ha! You look absolutely terrible! You are far from okay! Why would you do this!? Fighting this horrid beast by yourself!? You must have a death wish!!"
"I have it under control-"
"No you don't!!"
Mani sighs, "Okay. I don't but I had to stop it from chasing you. I couldn't see well but you were carrying something? Someone?"
"Ah...I see now. I'll explain that later. Right now, we must form a plan to defeat that monstrosity!"
Mani nods then asks, "That attack just now was from your light staff?"
"Yes and no. Surprisingly, there's not enough Light Magic in a Light Staff to defeat a Light Chimera. I magnified it...by using my own natural magic... from within myself. I can only do it a few more times before the staff breaks and I'm drained..."
"We need a lot of Light Magic in order to kill that thing."
"Yes, yes I've read about it. But how will we gather that much amount of magic?"
Then it hits them!
"Ugh, but I left the supplies behind..."
"You mean this? You're so lucky, I was able to find our supplies first before coming here."
Their eyes widen as Sophia holds up their tool bag!
She smiles, "Oh I know that look... you have some sort of contraption that can get us out of this don't you?"
She tosses them the bag.
"I might."
"Meaning, it's either going to work or completely blow up in our faces."
Mani pulls out a familiar "contraption" to Sophia.
"Wait! That thing didn't work last time!"
"I've modified it. The miniature light energy entrapping bomb should work this time."
"Didn't you say it was meant for Shadow Beasts!?"
"Light Chimeras are just evolved versions in theory. It should work. But we need to weaken it more first, we only have one shot!"
The Light Chimera makes another ungodly, ekus-shattering shriek!
It's back up and ready to attack!
Sophia immediately flies back up in the air, shouting, "I'll attack from above you attack from below! Let me know when you set that thing off!"
"Right!"
"Don't you dare let me down!!"
"I won't!"
The miniature light energy entrapping bomb was developed by their former mentor and themselves. It's supposed to latch onto the monster, surround it completely with Light Magic leaving it no opportunity to escape and destroy it completely.
It's just a prototype.
Last time, it didn't work but this time it has to!
The stakes are bigger!
Mani's left arm is currently useless so they attack only with their right. Unfortunately, their sword has limits and even though it can be manipulated to fly in the air, the user must be in top condition and right now Mani isn't. Their attacks aren't as strong as they were before but luckily they aren't alone anymore.
Sophia attacks once again with the light staff, the Light Chimera isn't able to avoid it so easily and takes another vital hit.
Still not enough to destroy it though.
The dragon roars and slashes furiously ignoring their injuries, the fairy fights with all she's got as well.
They fight in synchronization.
Together they might just be able to pull it off.
It feels like ages but it's only been minutes.
All parties have taken significant damage.
Mani is bleeding from various places, but the most severe injury is still their left arm.
Sophia gave it her all in that last burst of energy, she isn't able to fly anymore and now stands next to Mani, breathing heavily.
The Light Chimera doesn't bleed but it's skeleton is cracked in various places and the glow is starting to dim. The blue flames for eyes only slightly flicker.
"Sophia! It must happen now!"
"Will this work? Will it truly work?"
"If it doesn't work..."
//I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.//
"If it doesn't work then we will keep fighting. I'm not going to die here. And I'm not going to let you die here as well!"
//Can we truly keep fighting?//
Mani stares at Sophia, they can see just how tired she is but just how firm her resolve is. She truly believes in the both of them.
"You're right. No matter what happens, I won't let harm come your way."
Even in this situation, Sophia becomes slightly flustered.
"Ack!? What nonsense are you spewing!? What are you waiting for!!? Hurry and do it now!"
Just as the Light Chimera gets up once again, Mani throws the miniature light energy entrapping bomb!
It targets the Light Chimera's entire body!
"Take cover!"
The bomb does what it's meant to do and covers the monster in Light Magic. It's instantaneous, the Light Chimera doesn't get the chance to shriek or to move before completely exploding into flames.
All that is left is a black silhouette of the horrific beast.