Previously in NWC-
Reno and CeCe quickly find themselves running into a shade. Reno engages in battle, quickly coming to the realization that his sword won't work against the shade's body. He diligently defends himself from it's attacks, but quickly finds himself becoming exhausted. CeCe, after swallowing her fear, tells Reno the trick to doing damage; magic. As a result to CeCe's interjection, the shade pulls her in the room and goes to attack her. Reno, in a moment of panic fires off his first magic attack, defending CeCe. Meanwhile, in Medusa's fight...
Meanwhile, in the makeshift arena, Medusa watches as a sword made of human remains narrows in on her at high speeds. Her memories begin flashing as she searches for any hope of survival. Her memories of Reno plays, giving her inspiration for her next attack. She replays Reno slightly changing the pressure of his magic, causing his water to shoot further. {"Hey, Medusa, are you watching?"} She closes her mouth, leaving a slight opening that she uses to create a beam of her purple fluid. The fluid, shooting off at dangerous speeds, hits multiple smaller eyes, causing the combined eye to close in pain. The amalgamation halts it's attack, scratching it's eye as its grip on Medusa loosens. Medusa uses her vines to force open the hand, slipping away and sliding away. She hunches over, exhausted and gasping for air as she barely manages to remain conscious.
Outside of the room, Luna continues to shout, her efforts to communicate with Medusa proving fruitless. "Medusa, please! You have to run away!" Luna begins to slip further and further into her state of panic. As she does, the pink flower that had bloomed on the end of Medusa's vine begins to slowly release it's spores, floating over to Luna. "What is this?" Luna, although confused, actually finds herself beginning to calm down. Despite her worries persisting, her heart rate reduces significantly as well as her breathing calming. Her emotions feel slightly numbed, almost as if they belonged to someone else. As a result, Luna begins to calm down. "Medusa… please get out of there."
Medusa is able to stop herself from passing out, hardening her resolve. She quickly spears the monster again, immediately following her attack up by evading the amalgamation's sight by using her vines. She continues to fly around the room, attacking the monster from every direction and staying just out of it's line of sight. The monster angrily searches around, turning to find the source of each attack just to be met with an empty room. Its anger boiling over, it once again screeches. Medusa prepares herself, her eyes not leaving the monster for even a second. The sigil once again lights up, but this time it expands, covering the entire floor. Medusa looks at the ground underneath her as arms begins sprouting form the ground and grab her. The floor was now a sea of severed arms poking out of the ground, grasping the air, looking for something on to which to grab. Medusa's eyes widen as she looks back up to see the sword once again making it's way for her, this time a slash from the right. She prepares to spit in its eye again but notices the monster has it closed. Unable to come up with any other ideas, she uses one of her larger vines, sticking it in the ground and focusing her mana in it. The vine grows to the size of a tree and serves as her personal shield, stopping the sword just in time. The bone sword manages to make it more than halfway through before stopping, causing Medusa to cry with pain. She's able to break free from the hands just as the amalgamation doubles down, forcing the sword the rest of the way through Medusa's vine. The vine falls to the ground, shriveling into almost nothing. Medusa withdraws the now cut vine and looks down to see it leaking her fluid. The monster and Medusa make direct eye contact, both knowing that the end to this fight was soon to be decided. The monster lets out one more scream and the glowing sigil expands to encompass the entire room. Arms begin sprouting from every wall and even the ceiling. Medusa quickly uses the vines she uses for walking to pierce multiple surfaces, roots shooting out to stop the advances of the many hands. She hoists herself, effectively turning herself into a living gyroscope. The monster turns to face her, pointing its sword at her. They stare at each other before both letting out a battle cry. The room glows bright red from the sigil as the monster's arm is reinforced by many more arms, increasing the strength of its already monstrous attack. The vines making up Medusa's hair twist into each other, growing in size as she focuses an influx of mana into them. Each individual vine grows to the size of a tree root as they swirl, creating a towering spear that Medusa begins thrusting as she hangs in the air. The two continue to release their battle cry as their final attacks narrow in on the other, racing to see who makes contact first. The monster, due to sheer strength alone, closes in first, but it's futile. Medusa, using her vines, switches her position, pulling and pushing herself further into the air. Multiple vines she used to pierce the ground are cut, causing her an immense amount of pain. However, despite being in more pain than she's ever experienced, she doesn't back down. Medusa continues to deliver her final blow, the monster having no choice but to take it. The monster tries to reinforce itself with more limbs, but it's ultimately useless. Medusa's vine spear rips through countless layers of rotting flesh and bone, hitting the monster with enough force to pull out the limbs that had been serving as an anchor. The monster lets out a cry as it's life comes to an end. Medusa's spear creates a devastating hole with a 6-foot circumference in the monster. The wall behind the monster is splattered, the entire wall being covered in a dark red. The smell of rotted blood permeates the room almost instantly as the body slumps to the ground, leaking the remaining fluid into a massive red pool. With the death of the monster, the sigil begins fading, the limbs disappearing with it. Medusa's vines lose their strength, causing her anchors in the roof to fail her. She falls to the floor and lays in the red pool, breathing frantically. Finally, after minutes, she slowly pushes herself up. Her eyes illuminate the monster's motionless body as she watches it closely. Finally, her vine that created an impassable wall retracts. She sits against the far wall, trying to calm her breathing.
Luna immediately rushes into the room, flying down the stairs frantically. "Medusa!" She turns the corner to see the monster with its large hole. Her stomach turns violently as she's assaulted with multiple sense. The deafening silence, the rotted blood, the sight of the defeated monster, and even the feeling of dread after not immediately spotting Medusa cause Luna to be assaulted with a feeling of nausea. Finally, after scanning the room, she spots Medusa on the other side, her eyes narrow and her breathing ragged. "Medusa!" Luna flies over, fearing the worst. Her heart calms a bit after seeing her body still moving. "Medusa, sweetie!" Luna is once again met with a feeling of uselessness. She becomes angry with her situation, unable to offer any sort of physical support to Medusa. She holds back tears as she speaks, her heart screaming for the safety of Medusa. "Medusa, sweetie, can you stand?"
Medusa weakly nods her head, slowly rising and standing on her vines. "Muh…" She does her best to sound cheerful, but her voice is shaky and weak. The vines that had been cut slowly drip with her fluid, slowly repairing themselves.
"Come, sweetie. We need to go back. Can you walk?" Medusa slowly nods her head and begins sliding across the floor at a snail's pace. Luna watches, her frustration growing by the second as she watches Medusa struggle to move. They arrive at the stairs and Medusa slowly pulls herself each one, nor giving up despite her screaming desire to do so. "Reno… CeCe… please, we need you." Luna makes a prayer to the universe, her heart wanting nothing more than to help Medusa. It takes them a long time, but after slowly following Medusa's trail vine, they make it back to the large open prayer room. Every second feels like an hour as Luna helps guide Medusa to the stairs. "Sit here, sweetie. You need to rest." Luna helps Medusa over to the stairs, having her sit next to them and take a break. She looks into the room, sighing. "If something like that is here… I wonder what else there is? Reno, CeCe, please be safe." Luna turns her attention back to comforting Medusa. "You did such a great job, sweetie. Your daddy will be so proud of you after you start feeling better. Take a nap if you need to, I just know your daddy will be back soon."
Medusa continues to breath heavily, closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep. "Re…no… da." Medusa falls asleep, her body quickly relaxing.
TO BE CONTINUED...