Humongous in size, sporting dark red fur with just four of its original 10 legs, the separation between its chest and abdominal formed an L shape. It now had arms, almost purely comprised of muscle as it protruded outward almost as much as the beast's tail, 30 feet in length.
Holding back the desire to drop my jaw, I became enamored with the primordial's new form, realization hitting as I recalled how much I'd struggled just to put a scratch on the primordial's normal form.
"Sadly, you picked the wrong crowd to hunt," Tristan slyly cracked, a smirk edging on his lips as he began to let out soul energy.
Seeing this fight would definitely serve to provide me more insight into the nature of combat in this world.
As the soul energy leaking from Tristan and mother began to grow in intensity, so too did the soul energy exuding from the primordial, continuing to increase in volume until the surrounding oxygen had been hauled, leaving me to scrape for oxygen as I began to suffocate.
With such intense energy levels, I could only watch in awe at how abundant my parents had been, not really knowing how powerful they were.
If they're this strong, imagine everyone else in this world...
Then, instantaneously, both parties disappeared as the clash rang out, intercepting each other in the center of their original positions as a loud hammering wallop could be heard, reverberating across the entire forest as rippling shockwaves spread out, blowing down trees as a result.
Enforcing myself in the legs with soul energy, I almost lost my footing before the ringing eventually stopped, instead being replaced by one loud thud.
Mother and Tristan, both in the air, had their right and left fists respectively extended outwards, the shockwave from their punch reaching me.
Their attack, instead of sending him flying, only staggered him a little bit as the fist he'd used to attack had been deflected, leaving him in a defenseless position as he struggled to maintain balance.
My parents seizing this opportunity rushed in again, this time more viciously.
Right as they'd almost made contact, a looming darkness overwhelmed the primordial as he grunted out a "ghrrrrrr," gritting his teeth as a unique soul energy began to flow through his body.
"A great effort from you, but all the while vain in the face of archaic forces, far too mosaic to be understood, but still a force to be reckoned with!"
Noticing that he had clear speech now, I took note of an almost visible wave of darkness forming, overshadowing the area as if the sea itself had been spawned.
Heeding danger, I shrouded myself with soul energy, hoping that whatever it was wouldn't kill me.
However, as the wave of darkness grew closer, I could feel its sharp presence almost deafeningly overpower my own, leaving me with a feeling of imminent death regardless of what action I took.
Mother, aware of the danger, rushed over to me, hugging me tightly as a green overhead shield spawned in, surrounding us as the green energies dispersed to form a sphere.
"Tristan, do something about this!" She called out with every inch of her soul, fear staggering her voice as she began to quiver.
Unaware of what could be so strong as to have them be this shaken, I only closed my eyes in anticipation as I'd been swallowed up, surrounded with nothingness as the only perceivable sense was the embrace of my mother as she'd held on to me tight.
Just like this, my mother and I remained in this state for 30 seconds or so, tightly clinging on to each other as we could do nothing but sit idly by.
Feeling the spikes in soul energy, I was sure Tristan was fighting the beast, shockingly so as the darkness had enough energy infused within it to instantly kill those enshrouded, myself included.
It was then that the shield started to give off a 'krrrkk' sound, white cracks forming as the energy began to erode from the mist constantly clawing away, churning the very essence of the shield as the foundations weakened.
A groaning, struggled look formed on mother's face, tension building as she clenched even harder to maintain the barrier.
As the first barrier began to decay, she created a second, holding the first barrier before eventually letting go to ease some of the mental strain of maintaining two at the same time.
The second barrier, smaller and thinner in structure decayed even faster, losing its integrity in perhaps half the time.
Creating a third, mother kept this loop going, creating barrier after barrier with no rest as the space inside kept decreasing, constraining both of us as we begun to hug the walls.
"Tristan..." Mother strained, her voice too damaged after all the grunting symbolizing her mental stress.
Feeling an inevitable doom looming, I closed my eyes as I felt a much too early end drawing near.
.
.
Tristan's POV
Swatting away yet another bullet of darkness, I come face to face with the beast.
Looking back with enhanced vision to see past the mist, I look at Nash and Natalia, both struggling inside a barrier, space separating themselves between it far too confining.
Natalia seemed to be creating more condensed barriers to better hold a grip against the clawing primordial magic, this one's being strong in particular.
Facing back to the primordial, I saw an overhead blur as he began his attack on me.
Feeling the urge to block, I planned up something far more conniving.
Dodging the fist swiftly, I quickly maneuvered myself to his left, dashing towards his legs as he backed away.
Moving faster than he could react, I dug into his leg using the sword latched onto my back, using the sword as leverage to quickly propel myself upwards.
Like scaling a mountain, I continued digging into his leg until he eventually moved his body, trying to shake me off.
"AGGGHHHHH!" Gripping on tight, I let out a battle cry as black blood thickened on my face and clothing, almost bathing myself in the viscous liquid as I continued to make my way up despite his resistance.
Eventually reaching his torso, I latched my sword once again onto the left side of his chest, using the sword as footing to find my ground.
Fhwooom!
Feeling the intense breeze generated from his fist looming over me in a relaxed, open state, I dash past as it barely misses me, leaving a large red mark on his already hardly-visible skin.
Moving towards his neck, I move around in a zigzag pattern as I narrowly dodge his repeated attempts to swat me, uncomfortable with my presence on his back.
Finally reaching his head, I proclaim loudly.
"Undo this, or I'll be forced to cleave your head cleanly in half.
Sensing agitation from the beast's expression, it denied me, attempting to shake me off again.
The sudden movement from the primordial's head made me lose my grip, and I slowly fell off as my sword moved opposite from me.
Kablam!
Slamming into the ground, I rub my forehead as the impact rumbled my brain, leaving me with all kinds of disorientation.
To have to hold back so much against such a beast...
Remembering my family, I turned again, noticing that they were now in a compactified, almost-too-small space, and remembrance of just how little time I had brought back my attention.
They're really going to die at this rate!
Panic urging me to struggle in a fit of rage, I remembered that if I killed the primordial, nothing would be able to lift the darkness mist, swallowing the entire forest at this point of time.
Not only would the entire forest forever be plagued with an ever-intensifying killing mist, but I would have no way of protecting my family like I could myself.
"Just lift your arm like so, chant 'Light!' with all your being, and it'll do all the work for you."
A memory flashed through my head. A memory of painful regret, but still a memory.
To think that such a meaningless conversation would hold fruitful here in this situation...
Remembering the spell, I raised my left fist, pointing out my index finger as all others were curled in. Speaking to my soul directly, I yell out "light!" in hopes that it'll work.
At first, no response...
To be expected. In the end, it wasn't my affinity.
Then, suddenly, a bright light formed. So bright that the eye couldn't deal with the pure luminosity, burning with even the slightest of contact.
With my eyes fortified to withstand the light, I saw as the mist began to dissipate, leaving only my family and the primordial left, no dirty tricks.
"Hey, I'm pretty good at this!" I called, achievement dominating all other feeling at that moment.
"No... no way. To have dismissed my death mist with a basic dispel charm..." the primordial fearfully added, backing away as it saw its full power mist be dispelled.
"Don't get hurt, I get that reaction a lot."