He stomped again.
The ground shook with a muffled boom—then he vanished.
My breath caught.
A shadow swallowed the space in front of me, and before my brain even processed it, his hoof was already in motion. The kick hit like a battering ram. My ribs compressed. Air shot from my lungs. I flew backward so fast the world became streaks of metal and gray.
The scaffolding caught me with a screaming crash.
Steel pipes bent around my body like softened plastic. Boards snapped under my weight. I curled my tail tight against my back at the last second, using it as a cushion. Even then, pain burst down my spine, and the wall behind the scaffolding cracked, then began to crumble forward.
Dust rained down. Bricks groaned.
I pushed off the twisted metal and used my tail to vault aside just before the wall collapsed where I'd been lying.
But I didn't even have time to breathe.
He was already there.
A huge fist filled my entire vision. I crossed my arms to block—impact detonated against them, sending vibrations deep into bone. The blow threw me backward into the collapsing rubble. Something sharp scraped across my side—a rebar jutting from the debris. Warm blood seeped down my hip.
I hissed a curse under my breath.
He charged again, hooves cracking stone, breath blasting white steam.
I scooped up a fistful of sand and dust, my claws scraping against the ground. When he got within a few steps, I flung it with everything I had.
The sand burst like a shotgun blast.
He flinched—barely—but it made him shield his eyes. He kept charging blind, roaring as the grit scorched into his face.
It wasn't much, but it was something.
I rolled aside, letting him thunder past, dust exploding around his hooves. I used the moment to widen the gap between us, lungs burning, mind racing. My claws weren't cutting him. My kicks weren't slowing him. Nothing pierced that hide.
But his eyes…
Every creature, no matter how monstrous, had something soft.
I fixed that weak point in my mind.
He straightened, shaking rubble and sand from his fur. The construction lamps flickered over the hulking outline of his frame—broad, steaming, unkillable.
He locked onto me instantly.
I charged. It was reckless, maybe stupid, but distance wouldn't save me. I needed to force openings. I needed to get close enough to aim for his eyes.
He lowered his head as I approached, those jagged horns glinting under the lights. He angled them like spears, daring me to come closer.
I leapt, wrapping my tail around one of the horns, letting the momentum pull me upward. For a heartbeat, his head whipped beneath me, and my claws aligned perfectly with his right eye. I drove my arm down—
His fist rose faster.
I felt the danger before I saw it.
I released his horn, abandoning the strike, and snapped my tail free. As I kicked off his arm, my heel smashed against his knuckles. Sparks burst where metal-like hide met my bone.
The hit launched me backwards. My tail whipped around, trying to stabilize me, but the force was too much—I crashed onto the gravel, skidding hard, shards scraping against my clothes and skin until I finally stopped inches before another column.
I lay there, panting, chest heaving, arms shaking from the impact.
And across the dusty gap, the minotaur straightened—unharmed, amused, towering like a nightmare sculpted from stone and fury.
His red eyes burned in the floodlight haze.
I'd aimed for a weakness.
I'd gotten close.
I went again—not because I was confident, but because stopping meant dying.
My legs burned as I forced them forward. I lowered my stance and rushed him head-on, letting him believe I was desperate enough to repeat the same mistake.
I dipped low, selling the attack to his legs.
He reacted instantly. His fist came down like a falling building, blotting out the light. For a split second I saw my own reflection in his knuckles. At the last possible moment, I drove my tail into the ground and launched myself upward.
I kicked for his face. But his arm rose and took the blow. Pain shot up my leg. I twisted in the air, teeth clenched, and slashed for his eye. Just as I predicted, he tilted his head, horns angling to meet my claws.
I switched.
My tail lashed out instead, a desperate correction mid-motion. We collided awkwardly. Sparks burst. My attack slid, barely missing its mark. I landed hard and retreated, heart hammering so violently.
Then I saw it.
Blood.
Just a thin line, trembling near the corner of his eye—but it was real. Proof that he wasn't untouchable. That he could be hurt.
His hand rose slowly to his face. When he looked at the blood on his fingers, something ugly twisted in his expression.
"You'll pay for that," he said.
I swallowed, forcing my voice steady. "I thought you were invincible."
I attacked again before doubt could creep back in. I aimed high this time, leaping with everything I had left. A kick—fake, yet he bought it. My tail anchored into the ground, muscles screaming as I twisted midair. His counter missed me by inches.
Attempted to back-kick, but my kick missed too.
My eyes widened, couldn't believe what happened next.
His jaws snapped shut around my foot. I felt bone give way like wet wood. No scream came out of me, just a broken gasp as my leg tore free. The shock numbed everything below my waist.
I was falling.
But the opening was there.
I didn't think. I couldn't afford to.
I drove my claw straight into his eye.
The roar that followed was inhuman. The sound tore through the construction site, rattling metal and lights alike. His arm hit me with unstoppable force. The world flipped end over end as I was hurled away, crashing through rubble like a discarded doll.
Something pierced me. Then another.
I couldn't breathe.
I lay there, pinned by twisted rebar, blood pooling beneath me. My vision dimmed at the edges. Every heartbeat felt weaker than the last.
Across the site, he staggered, clutching his ruined face. He spat my severed foot aside like garbage and turned toward me.
That look—pure rage, stripped of thought.
He charged.
I knew I couldn't move. Panic surged, sharp and suffocating. My fingers brushed against cold metal—a broken rebar, short and jagged.
I stopped breathing.
He was too blinded by fury to notice.
When he lunged, I thrust upward with everything left in me.
The rebar drove through his mouth and burst out the back of his neck. His body slammed forward, momentum carrying him one last step before he collapsed. The ground shook as he hit.
Silence followed.
I laughed once—broken, disbelieving—then coughed blood.