Upon ending the lives of her goblin opponents, Sia started to breathe heavily, leaning forward and placing her hands on her knees. She was exhausted after that intense burst of strength.
Beads of sweat seeped into the fabric of her sundress, soaking it. Sia's lungs were working overtime to replenish her oxygen reserves as she tasted that faint saltiness she always felt after a race.
'That was… tough…'
As she regained her breathing, "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
"Huh!?"
A shrill screech forced her to turn her head. As her vision focused, a bloody figure came into being. It was the injured goblin preparing to pounce on Sammi and Kai. And Kai…
'Kai's… his arm's bleeding! He got injured? No no no no no, how could… wait no time for that.'
Her boyfriend was hurt, but there was no time to worry about him as the goblin was preparing to attack Sammi and she seemed to be frozen by fear. If she didn't act now, she would probably lose both of them.
Reflexively, Sia grabbed the nearest thing around her. The headless corpse of the goblin she had just killed. Blood still seeping from where its neck used to be.
Ushering in the last bits of force left in her body, she began swinging it by its legs, preparing to throw it at the immediate danger. Sia only had enough strength to swing it a full 2 rotations before releasing it.
As the corpse flew through the air, she flung herself forwards along its momentum, completely losing control of her body. Thus, she met the ground without bracing herself, causing her flawless tan skin to be scratched and torn upon impact.
Every ounce of strength she had left evaporated into thin air. Fortunately, her heightened senses allowed her the ability to be precise. With a sudden surge of hysterical strength, she reached the limits of human ability. She made the impossible possible.
"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
Swoosh!
Smash!
Crack!
Ignoring her injured palms, Sia pushed herself off the ground to yell at Sammi, before collapsing shortly after.
"Sammi! Kill them! Now! Before Kai dies!!!"
Sia's voice somehow awoke something within Sammi. Swelling with burning strength and an emotion that could overwhelm everything. What was this called?
Was it bravery? Courage? The will to fight? To survive?
Well whatever it was called, Sammi didn't care. Her body moved. Yes it finally moved. She was going to fight.
"ARGGHHH!!!"
With a shout, her body shot towards the fallen goblin, bringing forth thundering strength smashing at its head. Blood spewed from its orifices, but before it could even register the pain another blow came down.
Smash! Splurt!
Smash! Splurt!
Smash! Splurt!
"ARGGHHH!!"
'Die. Die! DIE!'
Blow after blow, Sammi was merciless until the end of its wretched life.
Seeing it finally go limp, Sammi bolted towards the other goblin. She had no time to spare on anything else, much less to pity the monster that tried to kill her.
'Next one!'
The crippled goblin looked at the incoming red haired demoness with a mixture of horror and hatred. It feared the sheer strength it wielded, it could not compare. At the same time, it desperately wanted to avenge its fallen kin, to take one of these monsters with it to the grave.
It had given up on survival and chose to fight, to retaliate. The goblin did its best to prepare an attack of its own, but with its now meager strength, it could barely even lift its arm.
To Sammi, this was a futile attempt as she easily swiped it away. With swift unwavering strikes, Sammi sent the final goblin to its grave. Only when Sammi saw the light leave its eyes did she stop.
All of this violence occurred within 30 seconds of Sia's shout.
Like Sia and Kai, Sammi was drained of all her energy. She wasn't in any state to continue fighting. Still worried about her friends, Sammi turned around to look at how they were doing.
Kai had collapsed onto his side while clutching at the left side of his chest where his heart was. Gasping for air, his face was turning a shade of purple. He was suffocating. It seemed like the poison had reached his heart and lungs.
As for Sia, she was lying face first on the ground, unconscious. After completing the herculean feat of hurling the 40-ish lb headless corpse 25 or so feet away, with insane speed, her body shut down. All the fatigue and exhaustion caught up to her.
She was in no less danger than Kai. From what she could see, Sia's chest wasn't moving in the slightest, in other words, she wasn't breathing.
Only now did the red head realize the severity of her actions. She had caused her two friends to risk their lives for her. Her hesitation, her indecision, her impulsiveness, all of it culminated into this. A disaster beyond her imagination. Regrets of her past decisions surfaced in her mind.
"If only… if only I didn't jump in with them… if only I didn't hesitate… if only I was faster… if…"
But, admittedly it was far from expected for her, a normal high school girl to get accustomed to fighting monsters within minutes of facing them for the first time. Much less after being teleported into a completely unknown place.
Disoriented and forced to face a life and death situation, most teenagers would freeze or run away from the goblin, giving into their fear. Her reaction was anything but abnormal.
In fact, what was unexpected was Sia and Kai. They adapted to the situation with such ease. Even if they planned to go into the trials, it was unusual how calm they were in the face of the goblins.
It was simply unnatural, they didn't seem all too fazed by supernatural phenomena occurring before their eyes. If Sammi was calm and analyzed the couple's reaction, she would have also realized how odd it was.
However, regret consumed her as she frantically willed her tired body to their side. Then suddenly something obscured her vision.