Narrator's POV
The igloo was melting.
The mixture of cold air and the snow now becoming one with the water droplets made the final battle against the first yer monster more intense.
Normally, it would be rare or even impossible for rain AND snow to be together at the same time.
But.
In a world that had magic all around, such things weren't a hundred percent impossible.
The first yer monster, who had simply been attacking on instinct, became something more than just a wild animal that hunted for its prey.
Why the sudden change?
Why did it suddenly smarten up?
Why did it decide to change tactics instead of using the same one over and over again?
Well, the answer was simple.
From the moment Kibishi used his knife to cut open its defense—a cloud of dark smoke—followed by its eye on the right side of its face being torn open and leaving nothing but torn flesh for the world to see, it understood that these mortals shouldn't be underestimated any longer.
The fight it had with Kibishi from there was a bit simir to when it was in its cloud of smoke form, but only then, it was being careful in its own way.
Another reason for its sudden tactic change was that the igloo was melting away, and its only defense was now shattered, thanks to the Grim Reaper Supernatural.
In all its life, no one had ever hurt it. Ever since the downfall of the human race, there hadn't been any human who could even scratch it.
And here it was, being unable to fix its eyes without time being consumed.
After receiving a reality check, the monster used its remaining power to pn things out and kill its enemies.
The brute force of the supernaturals woke it up fully.
A monster that had been sleeping while fighting the supernaturals was now focusing on killing its targets.
Due to its knowledge of the battle thus far, the monster knew that humans could not handle the cold.
The monster slowly lifted up its hand and froze the leaking water that came from the roof of the igloo.
That wouldn't stop it fully, but the cold air wouldn't escape if the igloo was still standing. And since the supernaturals NEEDED to get out of the igloo to stay warm, they would have to come to IT.
Meaning that all the monster had to do was wait for them to take the bait.
The supernaturals slowly walked away from Kibishi. Well, I say 'supernaturals', but Taoreta stayed behind and then blocked the monster's view and bent her knees as she summoned her sword.
There. That's the target I need to kill.
That's what the monster was thinking.
Never in a long time had the monster actually thought of itself.
The fact that it was now doing that made the supernaturals actual threats.
No.
To it, the boy with the red hair was the most dangerous.
The others were probably bait for it as well. So it simply needed to counter and move on.
If they attacked, dodge. If they followed suit, block. If there were more steps to their follow-ups, simply take a step back and let them try again.
Surely, it knew that they would figure that out as well.
Meaning that if that was the case, then when Kibishi came out to give an attack, the monster could kill him.
Yes. That must be it.
The supernaturals themselves were bait. And the boy with the concept of death would use them as walls to shadow his movement.
They'll try to find an opening..., it thought.
Kill them ter. Draw your attention away, and you'll be killed first by that red-haired boy...., it thought as well.
The monster had grown.
It changed its way of thinking thanks to the boy with red hair. If anything the monster had to thank the supernaturals for, it was to thank them for waking it up. When they were gone, perhaps he could go through the old tunnels and find the pce where the humans were being held.
No.
Held isn't the right term, the monster thought. They must be hiding somewhere..., it thought once more.
Kill them and then have a belly full.
Once the human race was executed, then perhaps it would be something extraordinary.
But...
It knew not to overstep itself. For the person behind the shadows would kill it.
Once the monster remembered, a simple expansion shouldn't break any rules that they had set up for the seven yers.
For you see, each monster had to follow a rule. Break it, and they would face the consequences.
But like many others, that's a story for another time.
The only thing it needed to do now was kill off the main pest and then be off with the rest of them. The cold should be good enough to keep them occupied until it figured out Kibishi's pn.
What made it think that Kibishi himself was making a pn? Well, he was the only one to hurt it AND manage to survive longer than the rest. The others technically sted longer than him, but all the monster cared about was the idea of a human with those cold eyes.
Indeed.
Those eyes.
Those scary eyes of his.
The monster knew that the boy was aiming to kill. And kill he would if the monster made any mistake. This meant that the monster would be EXTRA careful than ever before.
Dash! Dash!
As the monster thought, the others besides Kibishi dashed towards it.
Akuma.
Kujira.
David.
And Riley.
Those were the ones who went and tried to do something against the monster.
The monster couldn't really 'see' per se, but its ability to feel the things around it could practically give it a picture. Luckily for the monster, none of the supernaturals knew about this kind of ability.
To the monster, humans could not understand its anatomy.
And since no one knew about it, they would be wasting their energy. And when their energy ran out, it could give the final blow to make them stay down until killing Kibishi.
Whoosh!
Csh!
As expected, the monster knew that the first to attack was the blue-haired girl named Akuma. A veteran of the supernatural. The MOST problematic one of them all. She had been the very SOLE reason it had to create the igloo in the first pce. With her fighting experience, alongside her incredible power, it felt like it was fighting its own. Or perhaps... the very person who had started this whole seven yers....
Akuma let go of her weapon and did a front flip. Once she gently nded, Akuma made her sword appear in her right palm as sparkling particles surrounded the weapon.
Akuma swung forward like a bat and aimed for the neck of the monster.
Of course, the monster thought of this and blocked with its cws. The monster slowly raised its cw high into the sky. But it wasn't aiming the cw at Akuma...
Thrust!
It was using its cw to block a sneak attack from David, who was swinging his stone sword horizontally from the sky. David sweated intensely and backed up his left knee.
Wham!
"Grr!" The monster growled in pain. That kick wasn't enough to hurt it fully, but it gave it a slight headache since it was getting weaker by the second. If it had run away while the others were pnning, then it could have tried to recover to fight another day. But the monster didn't run away. Oh no, it didn't.
There was something about what Kibishi did to it that made it want to kill him even more.
It wasn't just its life that would be in danger, but the other monsters as well. It knew that it wasn't thinking straight since Kibishi was one boy. But after some time, he WOULD get stronger. So, the monster thought, why not end him tonight? Why run away when the solution was simple? Kill the number one problem before it gets worse. By killing Kibishi, it would save everyone the trouble, and it could go back to hunting its prey.
But despite that, the monster had another reason...
Indeed.
The monster... wanted to be even.
"...Grr..." With a low growl, the monster grabbed David's face and slowly lifted him up.
David struggled to break free from the monster's clutches. And before David or even Akuma could do anything-
Wham!
The monster smmed David onto Akuma's body, and they both fell deep underground and into the snowy field. The monster slowly turned around and watched Kibishi's shadow from a distance. Seeing Kibishi's intense aura, the monster slowly walked over towards him. Kibishi's shadow slowly bent his knee and got ready to fight.
The monster slowly growled as it slowly got closer to Kibishi's direction.
Boom!
An explosion was made behind its back. The monster leaned forward and let out a painful growl. Smoke came from the back of the monster. The monster slowly dusted its back and looked in the direction from which the explosion came.
Lo and behold, it was Riley who had a staff that was glowing by the tip.
The monster growled softly and then smashed its cws into the snowy ground.
Crack! Crack!
The ground started to open, and the snow on top of it got swallowed whole. The now cracked ground was heading towards Riley's direction. But Riley remained calm and swiftly twirled her staff in the air and smmed it down.
Boom!
With a loud noise, the cracks were getting filled up with white light and headed back towards the original sender—The monster.
Realizing that Riley was sending back the same attack it gave out, the monster leaped out of the way, and the ground that was cracking ended up hitting the wall of the igloo, and it spread throughout the walls. Luckily enough, it stopped midway and only shook the igloo. Any more and the whole igloo would have fallen.
The monster nded and looked to its right.
Ssh! Ssh!
Akuma and David attacked with their bdes, trying to attack the monster's neck once more. The monster, of course, blocked the attack with its cw. The monster slowly raised its free cw and was about to strike them both.
Boom!
Another explosion hit its back once more. The monster turned its head at Kujira and gave a low growl. Seeing that this might be the same thing over and over again, the monster pushed Akuma and David back, then leaped into the air to gain some distance.
But Akuma and David followed it in the air.
If the monster had known that they would have done this, it would have stuck with distance instead of trying to combat them up close. Having a lot of things on its mind, the monster slowly revealed its left cw, and particles appeared in its palm.
Soon, a giant ball of snow appeared in the monster's palm.
The monster firmly gripped it and pulled its hand back. Once the arm was far enough, the monster threw the ball of snow at its opponents. Surely, it knew that this wouldn't end them so the snowball turned into a giant version of itself and started flying towards the supernaturals like a meteorite that came from outer space.
WHOOSSHH!!!
The speed of the giant snowball was so intense that it was almost like a blur to the supernatural. But it wasn't as fast as the monster itself, so that type of speed shouldn't be any problem for them.
Ssh!
Akuma and David sshed the snow in half as a union and made it turn into tiny pieces of snow. Like winter, the snow gently fell inside the igloo.
That move wasn't enough to kill its prey.
However,
It did give it time to nd and gain some distance. A good solid one at that. The monster slowly turned towards the direction where Kibishi was standing... or, was supposed to be.
The monster growled in shock; it wasn't sensing Kibishi anywhere. This confusion made it turn its head, looking for the red-haired boy. But no matter what, it couldn't find him. It was almost as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth.
No, it can't be...., The monster thought.
It was a trick. It had to be a trick. The monster thought about this while the supernaturals were slowly walking towards it. The supernaturals weren't trying to kill it, they were trying to DISTRACT it.
Driving its attention to them and not the one who should be killed.
And now that Kibishi was out of sight, out of mind, he could pn a sneak attack.
That could also mean that the st attack it did was a good opportunity to hide his presence. It could not see properly if he wasn't in the area. Just like the first time around, when the supernatural arrived in the first yer for the first time.
Having that thought process, the monster had an idea.
Let the supernatural attack while trying to track down Kibishi. That way, as it defended itself, Kibishi would try to strike. And once Kibishi showed his face, the monster could pn accordingly and then kill him. Satisfied, the monster rexed a little and got ready to start its pn-
Leap!
...Or was supposed to.
A presence appeared behind, and the monster growled in satisfaction.
Whoosh!
Ssh!
The monster swung with its left cw at the presence that appeared behind it. There was only one person who was sneaky enough to do this. One person who could harm and even kill it. And that person was no one other than Kibishi.
...Or.... so it thought.
The monster did a low growl, and it realized what it attacked. It wasn't the red-haired boy who would be able to kill it. Oh no, far from it.
How hadn't it realized sooner?
The ONE person. The only person who didn't come to attack and was left behind.
That person who had been by Kibishi's side from the very beginning. The person who blocked its left cw with a smile on HER face. That person was no other than Taoreta herself. Kibishi's orange-haired best friend.
"... Got you!" Taoreta whispered.
Ssh!
Taoreta sshed the left cw clean in half. The monster screamed in pain and agony.
As the blood was spilling on the ground as if paint was coloring it red, the monster had one lingering thought.
Where. Is. Kibishi?
Rumble. Rumble. BREAK!
The ground broke from behind the monster now that it was facing Taoreta. Appearing from the snowy ground, it was Kibishi with his knife in his palm.
Kibishi.
The only person who could possibly kill the monster appeared from behind it.
What was his big pn?
How did he end up underground?
A few solid feet stood between the monster and Kibishi. It wasn't a far distance, but it wasn't near either. What came next would show its victor.
