Standing afar from Kairi were the two Spirit Beasts. It seemed as though Kairi wasn't the only one alerted—they had already sensed his presence and pinpointed him as their new prey.
With their large, turtle-like feet, they slowly trampled forward, pacing toward Kairi, who was also on high alert, with his daggers drawn and his gaze focused.
The cold air surrounding the open environment had begun to affect him; his hands shivered as he held up his dagger.
In the open space, surrounded by large crystals and cold humidity, where the rays of Eos plunged down majestically through the gaps in the cavern, adding an orange hue to the environment, stood Kairi, followed by his new hunters.
He fixed his gaze upon the two creatures, watching as they slowly but surely trampled their way toward him, moving at a turtle's pace. He didn't take a single step; he didn't move at all.
Should I make the first move? he wondered, sweat trickling down his face as his green, jewel-like eyes squinted. He was caught in indecision, leading to quick but reckless thinking.
In the heat of his uncertainty, Kairi found himself moving toward the Spirit Beasts. What started as small, hesitant steps became a quick sprint. He groaned loudly, like a primal beast, holding his daggers as he raced toward the creatures, who immediately ceased movement in response to Kairi.
As Kairi ran across the wide expanse of sand, he soon noticed their sudden halt. Upon seeing this, he began to slow down.
It was at that moment that the cold humidity of the environment around one of the Spirit Beasts began to encircle the monstrosities in a large whirlpool of cold air. The sand was tossed off the ground, flying into the whirlpool as Kairi's luscious, wavy spirals of lightly colored brown hair were whipped about.
Kairi raised his hands in front of his eyes to shield himself from the flying sand as a tornado of cold air began to form around one of the Spirit Beasts. He observed them closely; something about one of them had changed. Its body glowed with luminous brightness.
What's going on?
In that moment, amidst the summoning of the tornado of cold air, one of the Spirit Beasts simultaneously dropped its snake-like jaw.
Kairi, in a defensive move, threw up both daggers.
This couldn't be—
Before Kairi had even realized it, he found himself being flung through the air, disrupting waves of sand in succession as he was dragged across the ground.
He gasped for air but was unsuccessful. He groaned loudly as there was a heaviness on his chest, and a stabbing feeling in his ribs—something had punctured his breastplate and the body beneath it.
As he finally came to a stop, he looked down at the ground after the trail of sand left by him after being dragged across the stretching fields. There was a large crystal on the ground, identical to the ones in the room—blocky at first, then sharp at the ends. Had he not been wearing his breastplate, it would have punctured his stomach organs, instantly killing him.
He gasped for air once more as everything he had eaten beforehand came out of his mouth, followed by a smear of blood now painted onto the fabric of the sand.
His heartbeat played the rhythm of liberation drums as he gasped for heavy breaths of air. His head felt fuzzy, and his eyesight began to dim. He was hit by a prolonged blackout and a great surge of pain numbing his entire body.
Was that Soul Lapsing?
He immediately lifted himself off the ground, holding his chest, and spun around to face the perpetrators of his current predicament. They were in the same spot as before; the previously luminous Spirit Beast no longer possessed the external body of light around it.
Good… they can't use Soul Lapsing in quick succession, a relief for now.
He then observed the other Spirit Beast, the one that had not used Soul Lapsing, his eyes glinting with focus. I'll have to watch out for that one.
They slowly began to approach Kairi once more. Upon seeing their approach, Kairi smirked. Despite the numbing pain enveloping his entire body, he had a chance; the first Beast couldn't use its strange ability again, making it the perfect opportunity for him to return the favor.
Kairi dashed forward, racing across the waves of sand while holding his daggers once more. He stumbled across the sand, moving faster than the Spirit Beasts.
As he ran forward, closing the gap between them in a matter of moments, the Spirit Beast that had used Soul Lapsing spun around and began swinging its second head—its deformed tail, which was nearly bigger than Kairi's body—at him.
Kairi, with his frail and already weakened body, could not react in time. So at the moment of impact, when its second head swung him across the sand, he plunged his dagger into it, penetrating the scales of its hide.
The creature screeched as green drops of blood trickled down its reptilian-like tail, its second head. It was a small wound, but for Kairi, it was a start. Meanwhile, Kairi had fallen headfirst into the sand after being flung by its second head.
Wiping a trickle of blood from his chin, he scoffed."So it bleeds."
He slowly pulled himself up from the ground, lifting his remaining dagger as he peered at the other Beast. The second Spirit Beast was slowly but surely making its way toward Kairi, who, realizing the danger, felt as though he had no choice but to dive headfirst into a life-endangering risk. There was a chance that this Spirit Beast, which had not used its strange rapid crystal-shooting mechanism or Soul Lapsing, would do so now.
He had lost one of his daggers, and he was injured. With every step, a striking pain shot through his ribs—they were most likely broken—and he was already exhausted from the long journey to the Sworning Caverns.
With a single dagger in one hand, he looked forward as the two Spirit Beasts slowly trampled toward him. With an unsure and shaky grin resting atop his face, a thought entered his mind:
Soul Lapsing.