POV Narrator
Chryssia was sent flying several meters, and when she landed, she didn't stop—she rolled several times through the sand.
Her mouth was open, trying to breathe, but without success.
The Diablos had hit her with the flat side of one of its horns, not the tip.
Even so, the blow was strong enough to crush her lungs, knocking the air out of her and leaving her unable to breathe.
The monster showed no mercy upon seeing its opponent vulnerable.
It charged at full speed, and once within reach, it spun on its own axis and struck her with its tail.
Chryssia, who was still on her back on the ground trying to breathe, was sent flying again by the tail whip.
Just like before, she flew until she hit the ground and rolled along it, but instead of lung damage, she ended up with her left arm destroyed.
Her shoulder was dislocated, her humerus was split in half, and several fragments of her radius and ulna were sticking out through the skin.
The Diablos ran again, this time trying to stomp on Chryssia, but even with a clouded mind, she managed to roll away and avoid being trampled.
The Diablos slid across the ground trying to stop, but inertia kept it from halting immediately.
Chryssia barely managed to stand. Thanks to [Enhanced Healing Factor], her lungs started working again, although they weren't fully healed.
At that moment, every breath was a challenge on its own, and the lack of oxygen made her suffer a hallucination.
...
POV Chryssia
Everything hurts. I can feel my arm is destroyed, and my chest burns. I hadn't noticed it before, but the sun is unbearable. I feel my skin burning and my eyes drying out.
This just reminds me that I'm no longer on the Earth I once knew. So I ask myself a question… a simple question.
Why the hell is she here?!
That black hair, lips covered in red lipstick, chin held high, and those brown eyes… those damn eyes that won't stop looking at me with contempt and disappointment.
—Why are you here?!
I scream and get no answer. The bitch just keeps staring at me.
—I put up with you for a whole damn life! I don't have to do it again!— I leap, kicking up sand all around, and land a spinning kick on the bitch.
My kick hits something, but instead of 'her' being sent flying, I knock down the Diablos who was trying to impale me.
I look where 'she' was standing and realize she's gone. There's no trace of her.
—… It was a hallucination. She was never here. —I keep staring at the spot, and I would've stayed longer if not for the Diablos's roar.
I look at the monster glaring at me with hatred and can only think one thing:
I'm genuinely glad she isn't here. Instead, I've got a twenty-meter-long monster trying to impale me.
I dodge another attack from the Diablos and focus on the fight.
...
POV Narrator
Taking advantage of the monster turning its back, Chryssia jumped onto its back.
Using her right hand and activating [Empowerment], her arm glowed red, and she delivered a hammer blow.
The shell on the Diablos's back cracked under the hit and began to splinter from the force. The monster groaned in pain but didn't collapse.
But it did crumble under the force of a second blow, combined with the power of [Thunder Core].
Pieces of shell, flesh, and blood flew out, sizzling.
The Diablos let out a scream of agony greater than when its wing was dislocated.
Instead of continuing to strike, Chryssia drove her right hand into the open wound and didn't move until the Diablos began to bury itself into the ground.
Without hesitation, she leaped off the monster's back and started running, knowing what was coming.
Just like before, the Diablos burst from the sand, trying to ram Chryssia, but this time it missed, as she jumped to avoid it.
It tried to hit her with a quick head movement, but Chryssia jumped again, dodging the strike and counterattacked with a right-leg kick that made the monster smash its head against the ground.
That stunned the monster for a few seconds—something Chryssia noticed. Driven either by rage from the previous blows or by memories from the hallucination, she acted.
With her only good arm, she grabbed one of the Diablos's horns, placed both feet on its snout, and used [Empowerment] again—this time in both her arm and legs.
With all her strength, she started to pull.
The Diablos, sensing danger, came to its senses and tried to shake Chryssia off, thrashing with all its might.
But in response, Chryssia's feet claws only dug in tighter, and she put even more force into her whole body.
The Diablos roared in a mix of pain and desperation as it realized what she was trying to do.
It slammed its own head into the ground, forgetting its own safety.
It tried to bury itself in the sand, but a powerful red flash disoriented it, preventing the escape.
It could only keep roaring in agony while desperately trying to shake her off.
But everything stopped when the sound of flesh tearing echoed in the air.
Chryssia had ripped one of the Diablos's horns off.
The momentum made her fall on her back in the sand, still holding the horn.
The Diablos froze in place, as if processing what had just happened.
And as if to confirm it to itself, it let out a roar—not like before. No, this one made the desert tremble and was heard from end to end of the Needle Wastes.
The roar was a mix of the purest rage and the most desperate pain.
Chryssia could only cover her ears, feeling like they were going to explode—and she wasn't wrong, since they had started to bleed.
The monster looked at her with nothing but hatred in its eyes, the area where the horn had been torn glowing red-hot.
The Diablos didn't run—it leapt, and in less than a second, was right above Chryssia, who had to throw herself to the ground to avoid it.
The attack missed, but the Diablos, like a fox in the snow, burrowed into the sand using only the sheer force of its jump.
With a speed that shouldn't have been possible with only one horn, and ignoring the pain from the sand rubbing against its exposed flesh, it began to dig.
Faster than before, it leaped out of the sand and managed to graze Chryssia with its dislocated wing, sending her flying with a cry of pain.
Chryssia didn't have time to recover—she could only keep running, because the Diablos, in the same jump, had burrowed again and was now chasing her.
For the next three most tense minutes of her new life, Chryssia had to run to avoid the Diablos's underground charges.
When her stamina was running low, the Phageris noticed the charges had stopped.
She looked at the Diablos and saw it trying to move with all its might, only to collapse into the sand, exhausted.
—Pant I was starting to wonder how long the venom would take to kick in.
Back when Chryssia was on the Diablos's back and broke its shell, the reason she didn't keep attacking was because she didn't know how many more hits it would take to deal significant damage.
Instead, she dug her claws into the exposed flesh and injected as much venom as she could in that short time.
—My venom is strong, but even so, something your size takes a few minutes to feel the effects. —She spoke to the monster as she approached. In response, all she got was a blood-injected eye full of hate.
—… —Seeing that look, she found no reason to drag it out, so she drove her claws into the Diablos's neck and began pumping it full of venom.
Within a few minutes, all movement from the Diablos stopped.
The tyrant of the desert was dead.
...
Tell me what you thought of the fight. What felt unnecessary or what would you have changed?