Pain shot through Alexander's arms and the war hound snapped its jaws down. Its teeth were digging in his skin but lacking the force to lock its jaws.
Gritting his teeth to withhold a pain-filled scream, Alexander tightened his grip on his knife.
He quickly moved to stab the beast out of instinct and desperation.
His vision blurred as his knife made contact with the hound's jaw, barely able to keep conscious as his blood pooled with the hound's in the dirt.
Alexander's knife was met with the matted fur of the hound, unable to push past it. "Gah, fuck!" He shouted in frustration as he jabbed his knife into the beast's jaw.
Stab, stab, stab.
But his knife barely made a scratch.
The hound's bite began to loosen due to its fading life force. But as long as it had breath, it refused to let go of Alexander's arm. Its eyes shimmering with a faint echo of satisfaction.
The crowd's cheers dimmed as Alexander continued to stab at the hound.
The glory of bloody combat was now replaced with the desperate grunts of Alexander as he repeatedly stabbed at the hound's jaw
"Die, die, die!" Alexander shouted with each failed stab. His heart was pounding in his ears as his mind raced.
The knife was useless against the hound's thick, matted fur, and he couldn't stab its belly without freeing his arm. "Let me go, you useless dog!" Alexander shouted, at the beast, his expression annoyed and pain-filled.
Alexander knew he needed something to free himself, something powerful, something… final.
And that's when it occurred to him, world energy, specifically using potential energy to push the hounds's jaw open.
That's it!
A desperate grin crossed Alexander's lips as he began to charge his hand with world energy.
A white light emerged from within the hound's maw. "You wanna eat something, eat this!" Alexander shouted with a manic laugh as he pressed his hand down on the hound's tongue, before expelling that energy with a violent blast.
The hound's jaw cracked open with a satisfying crunch as its eyes went wide.
The hound's head fell with a snap, following the trajectory of Alexander's blast.
The beast's head hit the ground, its jaw was broken, and twisted unnaturally.
Alexander pulled his bloodied arm close to his chest, clutching it tightly. His sporadic pants were heavy as he quickly gained distance, one step back followed by a quick second step.
The crowd watched silently as Alexander looked down at his arm, his bloodied, white sleeves covering his torn flesh.
Alexander began pulling at the scraps left of his sleeve, ripping his tunic to reveal his wounds.
Large cavities of missing flesh dotted his arm in the shape of the beast's maw. Blood pooling in them, and spilling over.
Luckily Alexander still had enough world energy to heal his arm, but that didn't stop the fact he had almost lost to a half-dead hound.
Speaking of the hound, Alexander looked up to study the beast, narrowing his golden eyes as he examined its limp body.
It's dead…
Alexander almost couldn't believe, how defiant the war hound proved to be.
Though he won the fight, it was clear he had been lucky.
The war hound was driven by hunger and desperation, which hindered its ability to observe the situation and attack.
Had it been a little less hungry…
Alexander dropped to one knee, his breath growing slow as his adrenaline began to fade. "S-shit–" Alexander muttered under his breath as he gritted his teeth. "Losing strength."
The crowd erupted into a symphony of cheers as the demon chief declared Alexander the victor. Their satisfaction and enthusiasm were palpable in the once-still air.
Their chants of victory were so loud Alexander could feel their reverberations in the pit. And though he didn't know what they were saying, he had an idea.
He had won, all of his hard work had paid off, and victory was achieved.
Yet… he didn't feel victorious, he simply felt… tired.
His vision began to blur one more, as his knees and arms began shaking under his weight.
He soon slumped to the ground, his knife slipping out of his hand as he ate a face full of dirt. The cheers of the crowd began growing distant, muffled as if he were floating away.
His consciousness quickly began to slip, as the smell of dirt and metallic blood filled his nostrils. Each breath he took was slower than the last.
The last thing he remembered was the sound of someone sliding into the pit. "Alexander!" They were shouting in panic, "Alexander get up!"
I can't…
Alexander's body then fell into the embrace of unconscious, his sight fading to black as he let out one last breath.
— — —
There was quiet humming of a tone Alexander had never heard before. An angelic sound that caressed his ears like gentle hands. "Hmmm, mhmm, mmmmh."
W-what is that melody?
As Alexander began to stir awake, he could feel something soft beneath him, and heavy above him. It was like a weighted blanket, but heavier if that made sense…
His face felt warm and fuzzy like the sun was shining down directly upon it. Attempting to open his eyes, Alexander began to blink rapidly.
While he did so, the humming immediately stopped as something soft reached for his cheek. "Alexander?" A feminine voice whispered worriedly, coated in a smooth accent.
Alexander groaned audibly as his eyes fluttered open. His vision was blurry, but he could make out a small silhouette standing over him.
"Oh, he's finally awake." Another voice chimed in, a deep gruffly voice that sounded from a distance.
Alexander attempted to rise, but the weighted blanket forced him down.
Restricting his movements.
Narrowing his eyes as his vision began to clear, Alexander was greeted by the presence of not a demon, but a Hakshi woman.
She was clothed in a black suit littered with pockets and pouches.
A pistol strapped across her chest, another around her waist, and finally a rifle on her back.
Her neck was covered with a black mask that could double as a mask, and her eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. She had long purple hair that was tied on a ponytail, and one earring on her left ear.
Who the fuc–
Alexander's expression immediately scrunched up in confusion as he quickly attempted to rise.
The woman simply chuckled softly, as she quickly moved her hand to firmly press against Alexander's chest. "Don't move, you're just waking up."