『Guess this makes this Level Three then…
…Let's Start.』
A bullet shot past his vision.
A bullet of rotting grey flesh, bringing with it the sinister snarls and drooling grins of a creature enraptured in pure famine.
That bullet flew past the side of his head as he brought his body down lower—So low that he once again could almost have been thrown down to the ground against the Horror's sheer force…
But clearing his head, Cobalt could only focus on one single thing.
Seeing the creature's weak point exposed in the shape of an emaciated abdomen…
Cobalt sprung his entire body forwards, up against the fear and instincts his standing hairs screamed at him—
Pummeling his twisting fist right into the Wendigo, and sending it springing upwards against its own twisting force.
From beyond the chaos that masked Cobalt's perception of the outside world, he could almost hear a scream echo from beyond the hyperfocus of his senses.
A familiar girl, one which could faintly be heard calling out for a name he was even more familiar with…
But Cobalt's discretely acting parts contradicted themselves so much that Cobalt's own legs bolted into motion long before those sound waves could be interpreted into thought.
A decaying visage embodying that of a corpse rained down from the sky, pelting down on the greying rocks as its lanky limbs scraped against the ground, scratching and clawing at any attempt at leverage as its formerly known prey leapt towards it again.
Back and forth, Cobalt felt his adrenaline-pumped muscles acting scarily independent. They twisted and turned every part of him, emphasizing his abdomen to avoid each decaying slash from all angles. Those appendages seeking to sink into his flesh were vanquished and shot down under even more force. And his arms readied themselves from defensive to offensive, smashing into his foe with all of his might.
He could feel the complex structures of bone shatter under each punch.
He could see grey liquid splashing from an unknown source.
He could also see lanky appendages that sought to filet him lash in and out of his peripherals. But those appendages were crushed by Cobalt's own reflexes, pummeling any and every motion of grey into the ground.
Shifting from up to down, Cobalt slid his feet across dirt and gravel as he retaliated against another limb swinging just centimeters from his face.
But before he could recoup—
His reflexes caught one more movement, one which triggered his foot to act in place of an arm, swinging as far and as high as it was able to. That foot clashed on against that attack, forcing the moving grey harder against the rocks it was compressed against.
His foot hastily repelled an almost lethal last second attack.
But his own rash judgment flung Cobalt away from the scene with his own force, almost cartwheeling away as his center of balance changed drastically by the second.
And within a second, that finale had ended, leaving Cobalt just barely holding on atop unsteady ground, slowly regaining his composure.
He stepped back, sinking his feet into the loose gravel he was almost spilled across.
Cobalt's arms hung low. As did his face, which heaved with each deep breath, and dripped with sweat from each passing second.
Separating that distance from it, he let his mind wander from place to place as his muscles sought to restore him back. To as much as it could before his predator could lunge again. But wiping the sweat off his face, he felt an even wetter substance smear itself across, dripping further from the back of his hand he tried to clean himself off with.
And as that dark colored greyness dripped further…
Only then did Cobalt actually finally process what had happened.
Is this… Seriously me…?
What exactly… Was Cobalt doing?
What had he just done?
Looking down at a dark colorless black dripped from his knuckles, he didn't even know how to reflect and tell himself the answer to those breathless questions…
He used its force against it when he punched it from below…
But when it fell against the rocks…
Had Cobalt done nothing but beat into it with everything he had?
His lips were bleeding—Had he bit them?
His knuckles were coated in blood—Was it his or its?
…How long had that gone on?
Cobalt didn't know a single answer to those questions.
The skin on his knuckles was almost feathered off, replaced with different shades of dark, color fading entirely from his own self—or what was left of it. After all of that, even his own color had abandoned him.
My own color…
Cobalt's mind sparked awake as his pained eyes widened, turning frantically away to remember the distant world beyond his hyperfocus—
And within those peripherals…
A relatively small and yet beautiful figure stood, frantically pulling against a lantern sparkling with light.
Although the structure in the figure's hands was all but entirely grey, the color cascading down her reminded Cobalt that there was still so, so much more beyond his distant and scared mind.
Long orange locks shook from side to side as she fought against the lantern she pulled at.
Her eyes were still damp, but beyond the wetness she was trying to conceal, he could see an infinite number of emotions spilling from those colorful irises, finally reminding him of a beauty he had forgotten existed.
A beauty he was terrified to believe still existed.
A beauty comprised of more colors than there were stars.
Colors spilling over to remind him that there was more beyond this. That there was more on the other side, after Cobalt had finally drained everything he had to protect it.
Even her face lit up in color, with countless freckles dotting them, and a scared and yet resilient blush caking her firm cheeks in rose.
With her dress, there were even more shades of red, culminating in a wardrobe of boundless warm colors. Colors that were comforting. Colors that may have been distant, but felt so close.
Colors that, clashing against the greyness of the world around him, truly stood as the only thing in that underground hellscape riddled with hunger and decay that retained its hue.
Standing up higher to get a better view of those colors, Cobalt stood firm, forgetting about both the hunger and pain that had waged war…
And as those eyes stared back at him…
The presence of death loomed over his shoulder once again, breathing its frosty ire into his ears as the war between both fighting sensations reached a climax…
Splattering the right side of his body in a white hot fire…
Reminding him once again—
So he wouldn't be allowed to forget—
—That pain isn't something you can possibly run away from.
Right before he felt his body fly through the air, spinning that world upside down and away from the colors he wished to escape in.
* * * * * * * *
A lone girl stood, lantern in hand, petrified as the colors around her faded to nothingness.
Her own fingers have lost their luster.
As did her clothes, the stage around her, and the monstrous behemoth looming in from their narrowing distance.
But what didn't lose its luster, what retained its colors even throughout its trek through the chilling cave air—
Was the spinning visage of a boy, almost frozen in time, having been launched from the stage of hunger and pain.
Twisting and twirling from the impact, the defeated boy spun through the air, while the lone girl flinched at the sight of a spinning torrent of red.
Splattering in every direction, the patters of dark red echoed through the hollow cave, even the remaining color draining as every drop which touched the cave turned to a greying black.
Then finally, the twirling and bleeding projectile crumpled into a defeated pile behind the flowstone.
That boy, whose brief war against famine had resulted in a unanimous defeat…
"…"
Standing, petrified in fear, the lone girl no longer had the words to give.
What remained of that scene echoed with fear as a lanking figure stood above the scene, rising, and rising to a height incomparable to the other two defeated characters on the stage.
Rising, up, and up, so it could grin down on that lone girl, the scope of that horror came into view.
It looked like a skyscraper, towering over its success, the same sunken-in and expressionless eyes, and the same rotten-toothed grin.
"W—What…?"
Adrenaline filling her ears, filling her brain, filling her body.
It felt as though the sensation of drowning had filled Arabelle's entire petite frame.
Leaving nothing left to feel.
Nothing left to see.
Nor hear.
"Cobalt…?"
Sensations flushed away from her as the terror she had experienced before returned tenfold.
Was Arabelle stuck in a dream? Was this a nightmare? Was that the same Cobalt that had called Arabelle his friend?
Stepping back against the primal fear of the darkness that had fallen over that stage…
Was her mind playing tricks on her?
Dropping the lantern.
Were her senses lying?
Stepping backwards haphazardly.
Could she wake up from all of this?
Distance closed in an instant.
What did she need to do to wake up?
Frosty breath visible in front of her own.
Every part of Arabelle shook, facing just steps away from an abhorrent creature which had closed the gap in just a few seconds.
Both human and inhuman stood only meters from each other. The final act of a terrifying, inconceivable scene.
Crumbling under that weight, Arabelle's knees nearly gave out as she fell back.
Could she run? Could she fight?
No…
She couldn't even speak…
"—ne else…"
But amidst a cruel silence, there was a voice.
Between the two souls facing off, one dared to breach that silence with a declaration.
And in that moment—
Arabelle wasn't the only one to fall backwards.
"—ne else…"
Crippled under its own weight, the Wendigo stumbled backwards, catching itself on all four of its stretched appendages.
"—"
"Wh—?"
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME?!?!"
Falling back, the Wendigo's back was lunged in an arc.
Lashing and thrashing through the chilly air, two lanky arms flew wildly through the air, hoping to latch onto something.
But then rising from the ashes of its defeat—
The colors of lavender, red, and a pink skin came into view from under that decaying flesh.
The third member of this scene came back into view, slipping over the shoulders of the abhorrent beast to greet the two, not with a smile, nor a grimace, but a hidden face under wet and reddened hair. But as its resaturating body pulled tight against emaciated limbs to lock its enemy in place, its teeth appeared over its shoulder, locked and reddened.
"NO ONE ELSE!!!!!"
With that scream, grey arms were thrashed downwards.
Stepping back, back.
Grasping onto air as its own legs lost the ability to fight.
Back, back.
Step by step, the smaller figure pulled back with every muscle it had to give.
Yanking its flailing arms, stepping on its gaunt calves.
Step, by step, the distance between Arabelle and the Wendigo returned to its former state, as the two were pulled back.
"I WON'T LET ANYONE ELSE SUFFER LIKE THAT!!!"
And as the grey horror lost its balance—
"I WON'T LET ANYONE ELSE SUFFER THE WAY SHE DID!!!!!!"
Both figures thrashed against the rocks, pushed and pulled, twisted and turned as prey latched onto predator with all that it had.