"Are you sure this is going to work?" Asked the concerned Gnome as she worked with Damien to scatter a pile of fallen leaves onto the tree clearing.
"Absolutely(not)" Damien said confidently. Leaving the later word safely tucked in his mind as he finished planning his route. He'd hate to be the one to tell her that this entire operation hinged on minor personality and intelligence queues from Marionette. Or that he'd gotten very little to go off of from their short interaction. To put it bluntly, he was winging this.
'Marionette Mite is not a mindless monster. It has basic life preservation, so it understand the concept of life and death. It was able to giving orders to the other bugs and they seemed a lot more coordinated than the solo one I faced before...This, along with its choice to try to get the drop on me with a ranged weapon means that it's tactical enough to plan and form a strategy.' Damien began to ponder as he gathered everything he knew so far about the monster they needed to face.
'Aside from this, there's also the matter of how it attacked. It wasn't attacking just for food. If it was, it would have chosen to opt for an easier meal. Nor was it self preservation. Since it could have let us go or made an escape at any time. No, Marionette made a conscious choice to come after me. Regardless of any other factor. Meaning it was acting outside of logic. It's driven by emotion. So an enemy with a tactically capable mind that can hold a grudge. Not much different from a human, but not exactly the kind of traits you want from the three meter tall monster you're going against...' Damien continued to ponder as they made the finishing touches on the leaf pile.
They'd already gathered up some sturdy looking branches cut into projectiles and he was in the process of using his dagger to sharpen the ends of some larger branches to use as makeshift spears. As he did so, he couldn't help but think about everything that could possibly go wrong in this plan. His logical mind was still screaming in his head to stop while he had the chance and just have the Gnome girl guide him to safety. Unfortunately, there was a strangely convincing instinct driving him to do this. He wondered if this was another effect from Unstable Evolution, but he seemed to still have control over his thoughts. So it had to be something more.
With the prep work out of the way, Damien let out a tired sigh before turning back to the Gnome girl who was currently his lookout to make sure Marionette didn't make its way here early. It had been essentially walking in chaotic circles for several minutes now. The disorienting effects of the forest having taken complete hold. Even Damien who was sitting still felt its effect to some degree. He had to cut markers on the trees in a way that wouldn't be obvious to Marionette to make sure he followed the preset path here. Since he'd have no one to guide him once they were in position.
"Alright, so to verify, I should be fine to run in there as long as I have something to train my eyes on, right?" Damien began to question, making sure he covered his basis.
"Right. As long as you're moving relative to your markers or towards me and the monster, You should still be able to move normally; but if you lose sight of all of those, there's no telling where you'll go with no guide." she responded, still keeping a close eye on Marionette. A glint of hatred still visible in her expression.
"Sounds peachy, hope you can bail me out if I start playing roller derby." Damien said trying to lighten the mood a little as he tucked his staff away in some nearby bushes.
"Peechi? Roller derpy?" The Gnome girl asked quizzically, turning back to look at him in confusion.
Damien, realizing his mistake, quickly corrected himself. "Ah, sorry. I mean if you see me look lost, please help get me back safely."
"Um; Yeah, you can count on me!" The girl nodded resolutely. Her expression thankfully a bit softer now.
Nodding back with a gentle smile, Damien thought about the kinds of differences he can expect in this world when compared to his old life. 'I guess there's a good chance no spirits have ever even seen a peach or heard of Roller Derby. Hell, This is a fantasy world. There's a good chance Peaches and Roller Derby don't even exist in the Yu-Gi-Oh verse. I don't even know if I've even seen a kid play with a ball before in the series now that I think about it.'
Shaking his head to clear away the useless thoughts, Damien retrained his sights into the forest. Watching as Marionette Mite slowly got further and further away. It was time to get this over with. Giving the go ahead to the Gnome girl, he quickly reinforced his body and jumped up on top of a sturdy branch. setting the two spears where he could take them later before diving into the forest. Waiting for marionette Mite to circle onto a spot he'd marked before closing in.
As he waited for Marionette to approach, he noted how much worse the effects of the woods were now that he was mobile. He had to keep looking back at one of his markers to make sure he was even still facing the same direction.
'Being aware of it almost makes it worse. It's crazy to think anyone can navigate these woods. Though it would make for an amazing defense if you could somehow live in here.'
Damien pondered silently. Adjusting his position quietly as Marionette circled around. Now walking away from him. Taking up a sharpened branch, Damien steadied his breathing as he began to manipulate his darkness. Solidifying it like he'd practiced before.
Making sure to take careful aim, Damien threw the branch with all his strength. Targeting Marionettes exposed back. As the projectile flew, he made sure to focus all of his concentration on the point it would hit. He needed to be sure he saw blood or any sigh of injury. If he couldn't pierce Marionettes hide with the reinforced branches, He'd have to rethink his approach completely.
As the branch struck the thick hide, It shattered into small pieces. Scattering in every direction around Marionette. It was a horrible sign. Thankfully, however, the point of the branch did manage to pierce its skin and was still lodged in the creatures back!
'Success!' Damien cheered in his head. Making sure to not waste a second in moving away to the next location to avoid being spotted by Marionette. As he reached the next location, He pulled out three more branches. Infusing them with darkness before waiting in place quietly. Once it looked like it would follow the path he predicted, He stabbed the tree next to him with the branches before moving away. Figuring that based on how one branch effected the trees in his tests, this should be enough to topple the tree soon.
As Marionette approached, an issue appeared. Marionette wasn't close enough to the tree. This wasn't good. He wanted to try to weaken it more with the fallen trunk before moving to the next part, but it wasn't looking like that would pan out. Though, not wanting to completely waste the chance, he quietly retrieved another branch. Infusing it before taking careful aim. He needed to make sure it dodged the strike and the right time. If he threw it too early he'd likely be spotted. Too late and the tree would fall before Marionette was in place.
Watching as the tree eroded, He waited till it looked to be past the point of no return before taking the shot. Making sure to aim at the side he wanted him to move away from. Predictably, since Marionette was nearly facing him direction, It managed to dodge away. Just then, however, the tree gave way and began to fall. With this opening made, He didn't wait to see if it struck true. Quickly moving to the final position where the two spears lay in wait.
Taking out a final branch, he quickly reinforced it before throwing it into the clearing of trees in front of the leaf pile. Turning to spot the gnome girl hiding nearby. Nodding to let her know they were ready, She quickly ran into the open area near the branch and began to make a play of finishing a trap. The lure was set. Now to hopefully seal the deal.
'These damn woods made this a lot more complicated than it needed to be. If we knew exactly what direction Marionette was going, I could have skipped all this crap and just waited ahead to plunge down. Unfortunately, the chaotic path they were taking made it basically impossible to be exactly where it was going...' Damien griped as he listened for Marionettes angry charge as it approached them quickly.
'Now comes the gamble...Are you smarter than a 5th grader, Mr Mite? Because if not, you'll charge straight into the leaf pile and I'll have to scrap all this set up to save a Gnome girl...'
Watching in satisfaction as Marionette changed directions and made its way towards him, Damien bent his knees and reinforced himself and the spears. Waiting as Marionette was in place before dropping down. The two sharp ends of the spears aimed for the monsters back.
'Hold R1 to plunge!' Damien shouted to himself to try to calm his racing heart as he drove the two spears down into the monster with all his strength.
The moment the spears made contact, they pieced deeply into the monsters flesh. Damien crashing down behind them onto the monsters back. Gripping tightly to the spears as Marionette Mite thrashed violently at the sudden attack. Its whole body writhing back and forward like a snake who'd just lost its head. Its bladed arms swinging violently as it struck at the ground and nearby trees.
It started to produce a sound similar to its usual rapid clicks, but this time it was mixed with a horridly high pitched screech of agony as it continued to violently shake its body to get Damien off of it.
Not wanting to waste any time, Damien quickly steadied himself as best he could before he started to pour his darkness into the creature. To his surprise, there was instant resistance. A darkness similar to his pushing against him as he tried to corrupt Marionette Mite.
'SHIT! I didn't account for this. It can push back against me?!' Damien began to panic as he griped the spears tightly. Trying to concentrate on forcing back Marionettes darkness. As he did so, he noticed that it was slowly giving way. Like his darkness was encroaching on a new territory and slowly taking the land for its own.
As he held on for dear life, Marionette gathered it bearings. Realizing it couldn't reach me from behind, It opted to close in on the trees. Swiftly turning around and slamming itself into the trees. Crushing Damien between them. Grunting painfully as he continued to hold on, Damien couldn't help but chastise myself for all of this.
'Why did I let myself get into this mess! I could probably be in some guest bed in a village right now if I'd just done the logical thing and let this thing be!' As he screamed at himself in frustration, Marionette Mite re-positioned itself. Slamming him into another tree which gave way under the force of the impact. Forcing out a painful grunt as he felt his back creek under the impact.
'I feel like I'm trying to do an oil change with a hand pump! Only the car still has old oil, is currently running, and is feeling homicidal!!' He continued to scream in his head as Marionette Positioned itself for another attack.
He was starting to make headway in the corruption. He felt about twenty percent of Marionette Mite was consumed by now. The problem was, he wasn't sure if he could hold out until he finished. To make matters worse, he could tell the darkness was eating away at the spears he was using to hold on. The longer this went, the less he felt the spears would hold. Now he had a pretty good idea why most of the charmers went after monsters on the weaker side.
Letting out another painful grunt as another tree was toppled using his body, Damien tried to focus on the encroachment. He wanted desperately to cut his loses and just let go. Retreat and start again, but that persistent feeling didn't want to let him give up.
He'd lost track after the dozenth or so tree, and he was now nearly finished. Unfortunately, in more ways than one. His breathing was weak and his body was numb. He felt like Unstable Evolution had triggered, but he felt no change in strength or even the typical personality shift. Like all the power was being used elsewhere. He cursed silently at how useless it was being at such a critical moment, but he wondered if maybe this was a sign that its effects weren't permanent and had run their course.
He couldn't even see much anymore. Blood and debris had pooled into his eyes taking his sight. The taste of blood in his mouth feeling almost refreshing and the sound of ringing in his ears turned into a sort of lullaby. Trying to sooth him to sleep. As he waited for the finishing blows, he continued to try to encroach on Marionette Mite. Like a strange obsession his body refused to abandon as his mind began to wander.
'I wonder how the Gnome girl is doing...thinking about it, I never got her name...I don't think I ever told her mine either....kinda screwed up that I risked her life without even asking her name...well, she should be long gone by now. Hopefully back to her village. With her parents...yeah, that's where a kid should be. Safe...'
"Keep her safe..." were Damien's last words as sleep finally took hold. A strange warmth spreading thru his body as he felt an oddly familiar energy grow within him. Different from his darkness. Threatening to burst out but somehow holding on.