When Lukas threw the kusarigama's sickle-end towards the ghast, he didn't notice an exposed root and snagged his foot on it. But when he fell he let go of the chain and heard the ghast screech in pain.
He hit it! But he was also face down on the ground. But then something flashed through his mind, it only took him a second to fall, a second to listen for the screech, and a second to think of this plan. 3 seconds, 3 seconds in which he could reverse.
He took a swift and deep breath and said:
"Tor"
As the word was pulled from his lips, he found himself falling forward through the ground. Once again, he saw the strange realm, filled with memories of the last few days. As he fell forward, he found his legs moving on their own, as if he were running.
Or at least, the sensation was present, that of his legs moving. In reality, in this place, it was more like he was an intangible, formless spirit.
However, this time, he heard something. It only occurred to him now, but he never actually heard anything in this strange realm between realms. But this time he did.
It was a strange low rhythmic sound, like a drum. Lukas could barely hear it, due to how low its pitch was. But he knew it was there, from the vibration that seemed to travel through this realm like a wave.
But he could listen to it for very long, as the world reformed around him and he was back to running after the ghast.
'I don't think I'll ever get used to that.'
[1 second passed]
He tried to do the same movements as before, but this time, his attention was drawn to his feet. He made sure that this time, he wouldn't snag his foot on anything.
[2 seconds passed]
He mimicked the motions he did before to the best of his abilities.
[3 seconds passed]
When he saw the exposed root, he threw the sickle out and avoided the root.
[4 seconds passed]
This time he saw the chain fly out in pursuit of the connected sickle. It flowed toward the ghast and wrapped around one of its limbs.
[5 seconds passed]
'Yes!'
He instinctively pulled on his end of the chain, hoping to drag the ghast toward him. But when he did, it severed the limb instead.
'Shit.'
Things just got a little worse. He slowed down to put more force into pulling the chain, so now he lost some ground. However, the ghast was a little slower, so he may be able to catch up if he sprinted after it.
He thought for half a second if such a reckless charge was a good idea. But he reasoned the reward far outweighed the risk. So he forced his body to move up to its limits, pushing into the ground as hard as he could.
He could probably maintain this sprint for a minute before he would naturally slow down or stop from exhaustion. But maybe that would be enough to catch up, the ghast wasn't that far.
For every second that passed, his legs and lungs would burn in pain. But he would make up precious distance. And as he closed in on the gap, he readied his kusarigama. He breathed deeply, pushed himself a little more, got a little closer, and threw the sickle toward the ghast once more.
This time he threw it over him so it would hit the ghast from above, impaling it. He wasn't a fool though, he knew it might get caught in the trees. So he waited until he reached an open straightaway, and acted.
When it pierced the moonlight hide of the ghast, it screeched, and Lukas nearly screamed in excitement. But he could cheer later, right now he needed to slow the thing down.
The blade was deep enough into its flesh that it wouldn't dislodge if Lukas kept running. But Lukas needed to stop this thing. So he did something a little reckless. He slowed down.
As he did, the ghast was forced to slow down or risk the blade digging through more of its flesh. So it had to match Lukas' speed. But only for a bit.
After it slowed down a significant amount, it did something that shocked Lukas. With no sense of self-preservation, it accelerated, driving the sickle straight through the back half of its torso. It was essentially cut in half, spilling its blood and organs everywhere. It shambled onward, with two of its limbs trying desperately to keep its organs inside of its body.
No animal, human or otherwise, would even consider doing that. Lukas was dumbfounded at the thought of anything doing something like that. He wasn't even moving any more, just standing staring at the ghast slowly shambling away.
It took him a second or two to snap out of his surprise and continue chasing the ghast. But just then, Vesa appeared out of nowhere, taking Lukas and the ghast both by surprise. She tackled the ghast and restrained it. One of her fangs in its neck, turning its veins a sickening purple.
"Lukas quick, your sword!"
Her voice was strained, with her effort focusing on restraining the ghast. Lukas barely hesitated as he dropped his kusarigama and drew his sword. Stopping right in front of the ghast as he finished unsheathing it.
"Cut at its heart!"
He didn't have the time to ask why, so he distanced himself to hit the ghast but not Vesa and slashed. He put in as much power as he could but found it much easier to slice through it than he thought.
As his blade got close to its heart, Vesa pushed herself off of the ghast, forcing it further onto the blade. Lukas did not change the blade's path, and let it dig straight through the ghast's chest. When its heart was severed, it went still and fell silent.
The ghast fell to the ground at Lukas' feet, dead. All it took after that chase was one clean cut.
As he looked at the corpse, he wasn't exactly disgusted, he had seen dead animals plenty of times before. But he did turn away, as that thing didn't look like an animal. It unnerved him.