« A Deviant… » That was what Kenzo was going to face in his very first one-on-one fight against a Void Creature. William was no longer there to help him. No miraculous trick remained to let him win without fighting.
He was alone. Face to face with this wooden creature. And it wanted only one thing: to tear Kenzo's body apart.
– « You've got to be kidding me… »
He had barely spoken the words when the creature charged, violent and fast, a mass of black wood hurtling toward him. Kenzo immediately grabbed his spear and tried to dodge, but he was too slow. The Deviant was already less than a meter away, raising its arms, its sharp claws ready to rip his head off.
– « I don't have a choice… »
So he let his body loosen, let it flow, and allowed [Serpent] to act. His muscles relaxed, his spine twisted, his torso dropped almost to the ground in an instinctive split. Holding his spear firmly, he slid beneath the Deviant's murderous arm, rolled forward, and ended up behind it.
He wanted to seize the opening and thrust, but the creature was already turning around, swift as lightning, ready to strike him down with another lethal blow.
Then began a minute that seemed endless. A minute of pure survival.
The creature attacked without pause. Every movement was deadly: claws tearing through the air, wooden arms snapping like broken branches, animal-like charges, savage trajectories.
Kenzo, on the other hand, did nothing but evade. He did not strike. He could not strike.
Every attempt to attack was immediately canceled: the moment he prepared a movement with his spear, the creature saw the opening and moved to cut him down. He could not afford a single mistake.
He slid, rolled, threw himself sideways, ducked at the last possible moment. [Serpent+] twisted his body as though he no longer possessed human joints. His lower back screamed, his muscles burned, but he kept dodging. Again and again and again.
The creature, meanwhile, howled, struck, tore up the ground, gouged the trunks around them. A torrent of pure violence. During that tiny minute, neither of them had managed to touch the other.
Kenzo was not fast. But [Serpent+] allowed him to escape every fatal strike. On the other hand, his own attacks were too slow, too predictable. The creature read his intentions as if they were written in an open book.
Every strike had to be aborted. Otherwise, he would die.
– « I won't be able to keep this up for long… I'm getting tired, mentally and physically… I'm not even sure I can pierce its bark… »
He was still dodging, but now it was only a matter of time before the inevitable caught up with him.
– « I'm going to try something… »
He suddenly backed away, creating space between himself and the Deviant. Just as he expected, the creature gathered momentum and lunged to mow him down in a murderous charge.
Kenzo lowered himself. The creature reacted, extending its claw-filled arm toward his face.
At the last second, [Serpent] allowed Kenzo to leap, evade the claws, and end up slightly above the creature.
His spear gripped in both hands, he forced his body to swing horizontally, aiming at the small yellow flower on the head of his enemy.
A metallic crash rang through the entire forest.
The tip of his spear had just shattered against that flower, despite its fragile appearance.
– « No… »
He did not even have time to understand what had happened before a clawed hand came flying at him. By instinct—or rather thanks to [Serpent]—he placed the shaft of the spear between himself and the claws.
It worked… but the impact was monstrous.
The blow hurled him ten meters away.
His back slammed violently into the ground. His clothes tore against bark and earth. His skin was scraped raw, burning.
Pain overwhelmed him completely. And the overuse of [Serpent+], once again, made his head spin as though the world itself were collapsing. He nearly felt sick.
Blood ran from his nose and forehead. His back was covered in abrasions. His breathing was chaotic.
But despite all of it, he got back up as quickly as he could. Because in front of him, the enemy had no intention of waiting. The creature wanted him dead.
And now, Kenzo wanted the same.
– « You hurt me… now it's my turn. »
He had strength left for only one offensive.
He rushed forward, broken spear in hand.
– « If the flower and its body are both incredibly resistant… then there's only one place left to target. »
He had finally begun to understand the creature's movements. Even if he still depended on [Serpent+] to dodge, he could now anticipate its charges, its slashes, its bursts of momentum.
– « Will it fall for the same trap twice…? »
He backed away again, repeating the same strategy as before. For a brief instant, Kenzo thought he saw a devilish smile on the black wooden face.
The creature launched itself at him.
Kenzo waited for the sweeping claw strike…
Then lowered himself as if to leap once again. But this time, the creature stopped its blow. It waited, arms spread wide it wanted to catch him in midair.
But nothing came.
Nothing.
Kenzo had not jumped. The creature never realized its mistake. It did not even have time to understand.
Something shot straight into its eye.
The spear.
Kenzo had thrown it. A shrill scream exploded through the whole forest. The creature immediately tried to pull the spear out… but Kenzo did not give it the chance.
He leapt onto it, grabbed the shaft, and drove the broken weapon even deeper.
It screamed. It thrashed.
Until the moment it let go with one hand to grab Kenzo, sinking its claws into his ribs.
This time, it was Kenzo's scream that rang out. A scream of rage, pain, and pure survival.
– « JUST DIIIE ! »
He pushed again and again. Until he finally felt the last plunge.
Everything stopped. The creature collapsed, and Kenzo remained standing over it.
He had won. His first solo fight against a Void Creature had been a success.
But now… another problem imposed itself.
Kenzo's injuries were severe.