The world spun.
Virelio's chest heaved, his breath ragged, throat raw from the force of the last clash.
His body ached and screamed as each wound felt like a burning ember searing into his nerves. Blood seeped from gashes along his arms, staining the torn remnants of his tunic.
The protective enchantments woven into the fabric had faded, their glow extinguished in the wake of overwhelming force.
He lay sprawled on the cracked earth, his fingers twitching against the cold, dust-laden ground. The scent of scorched stone and acrid iron filled the air, mingling with the distant echoes of battle beyond the veil of his pain.
A guttural screech split the silence.
His vision refocused just in time to see the monster staggering upright, its grotesque form twisting unnaturally as it regenerated. Its chitinous hide cracked apart, revealing a gaping wound in its chest as a hollow cavity where Virelio's Diwa had torn through it, but even that victory was fleeting.
