The skeleton arched its single arm over its legs as it scuttled backward, its back colliding against the bronze-colored surface behind it.
Alha clacked her bones together with a snap, forming another fireball. The Husk's eyes revealed a glimmer of confusion upon taking in the entire state of her target, the spheres of spiritual energy bobbing up and down quietly.
There was dust lining its frame and cracks and crevices on all of its remaining limbs. One arm was missing, and the bones were a dull eggshell in color. The skeleton was small, too, only reaching up to 4 ft in height.
An odd feeling crept up in her heart. As a maid appointed to Maara—she felt quite a bit of empathy when she saw it shiver. Although the Maara remaining in Blendpunk Chthonim was naught, but a collection of three conflicting deities, some of her impulses as one of Maara's trusted maids remained.
Shuff, shuff.
She walked forward as forest green flames crackled in her supple palm.
The skeleton felt even more afraid as Alha crept nearer, becoming so spooked that it felt a tingling sensation deep in its collagens. Every fiber of it overflowed with urgency—fight or flight was kicking in full effect.
It struggled as it got back into a progressing crawling position. First, Mortisim funneled out of its bones in a transparent, colorless mist. Then, it wreathed around its whole body, most noticeably within its five fingers.
With movements altered by its experience with 'Agility,' it clung to the gaps in the dark brick walls. Then, before Alha could decide whether or not to lob the fireball that was releasing a springlike breeze, the skeleton left the enflamed site in a bustle.
Then, using its collection of fifteen digits altogether, it clung to the side of the wall like a spider. The sternum was literally clinging to the mottled surface, scraping noises resounding hollowly as it "ran."
Alha traced the skeleton's movements with her eyes, occasionally lobbing fireballs at the skeleton as it went.
Durability and Mortisim ticked away with the speed of a bus hurtling off a cliff. Cracks lined with green singed the skeleton's bones as its joints threatened to disintegrate underneath the heat.
The whole skeleton was buckling, yet it was in complete survival mode. Rolling across the walls in a desperate bid to remove the fire, it succeeded at some times and failed at others.
Only 20% of its 'Limb Stability' remained. Durability was down to a frightening 30.
Yet even this was an act of grace.
The skeleton was thoroughly at Alha's discretion. The only reason it wasn't dead was because of the conflicting feelings the Husk suffered under.
Her once smooth steps became heavy, and she didn't mind the world around her one bit. Fire fumbled out of overturned torch lamps and lit up the ground, burning it as if it were coal.
Once cloaked in intermittent shadow, the room was now alive, with green glares from the flames lining the room. The walls, the floor, even the corners of Alha's robes as she moved amidst the crackles jouncing around her.
Soon, there would be no place left for the skeleton to escape to. Fire streamed up and bit at the bark of the surreal wooden chandelier…
…
—Fine, you win. Can't you see your child is about to die? Does it even have a name?
—Don't go back to-WAIT!
The silhouette visibly sweated as it arched over the immaterial keyboard; the situation drastically changed. Biting a lip with a whinging exclamation, her resounding voice tugged at Loki's "ears."
—This is why I'm here. I'm making an offer. Since this kid has tampered with the art of fortune, a new possibility has arrived.
Mara stopped—her movements entirely still. Then she burst into action, whipping her head around as a shockwave clapped with the force of thunder.
—Get to the point.
Loki tsked and took a seat in the empty space. A leg arching over the other, he rested his chin on his veiled hands.
—I used to be the big G of trickery and chaos. Random Jackpot Algorithm. I can play with the little guy's luck a little and activate it. Just let me drive.
—Drive? What the fuck are you-no way. You're not serious, right? You didn't keep that-
—Look, your skeleton's 'Durability' is at a poor 50 now. Do you want it to ungainly die without even finishing the tutorial? You know there's a consequence-
—Shut up. Just...just hurry up and get it over with. I don't want to see any horrible 'Traits' pop up from your [Descent].
—Kekeke. Hey, a get-out-of-jail-free card is never really free. Ever play Monopoly?
Loki quipped and cracked his knuckles, a mirage of divine light shimmering around him as a portion of his face was revealed.
Blonde locks and piercing serpentine eyes the color of mint.
Snakes slithered in his pupils as he snickered. A bright white grin shone past the translucent fog that covered 99% of his form.
—You better know what you're doing.
—Watch me play, Mara. It'll be just like Ragnarok.
…
A slithering noise resounded as a rumble shook the room. The lights surged and flared as they bent into snakes, and the slight mist around its fingers turned into a fog that billowed against the breeze, causing a gust of mortisim to materialize around it.
The skeleton, driven by a system deprived of its status, arched its jugular bones as it took stock of the surroundings.
Alha was long past throwing fireballs and was instead streaming gouts of verdant flames out of its gaping jaws. The fire surged and turned against her, the little snakes rebelling against the torrent of fire.
The two clashing sides chased each other as they fanned out into tongues of flame. Finally, the Husk's health had started dropping down.
Avoiding the onslaught of incendiary blows, it shuffled back into the center of the room.
The skeleton's inherent smile leaked wicked vapors as the bone seemed to stretch like human skin. Behind the sockets, the mad fallen god was cackling, his uproarious laughter growing even higher as the skeleton dug its toes into a tight crack in the ceiling.
A single finger pointed at the wooden chandelier.
The statues against the wall whirred into action with a crumbling sound, Alha awash in the glare of a stirring tornado.
As the statues struggled to cover the woman with a bovine skull, something changed in the chandelier. The fire charred and severed the furnishing from its connection to the wall, and it fell.
The number 57 appeared on the side of its surface, and the motif of a jaguar's hide squirmed and emerged on its exterior as an insignia of a jaguar formed around the number.
[Baihu's Jackpot Result:…57% increase. 'Jaguar' has been applied!]
The chandelier seemed more than 1.5 times heavier as it hurtled downwards, carried by gravity that seemed more like an assisted propulsion than a natural process.
Fwooooo…
The flames hushed underneath the wooden eclipse, the wind pushing down on it. As Alha looked up, her maddened eyes investigated the noise.
It was then that it happened.
A deafening crash engulfed her as shrapnels of wood chipped off and away from the sheer force of the collision.
With a muffled roar, her health depleted to 1.
The skeleton leaped off the ceiling, curling into a little ball as it spun downwards feet first.
Tak.
Puk, puk.