5 Failed Challenge

The creature that had been behind me was of the demon-type.

If it were of the plant type, I'd have been screwed. Plant-type monsters absorbed water through their skin.

The creature was humanoid, standing nearly ten feet tall, and covered in a yellow-orange smog that obscured most of its figure, save for the obsidian-black and faceless head.

'Wait...If it doesn't have a face, where does it breathe from?' I paused to think before I made the decision to turn and run.

I had too little information about it, and fighting it now would be suicide.

I burst through the shrubs and sprinted through the forest, hoping to escape the hellish creature that set its sights on me.

I wound through the trees, slowed by the dense shrubbery and uneven footing.

The demon-type magic beast chased me, uprooting any tree in its path, and rapidly gaining on me.

I had to do something to stop it from reaching me, and I needed to do it quickly.

If I had the power to control fire at that moment, I'd send a fireball to explode beneath my feet to send myself far, far away. However, I couldn't use any fire magic.

I thought hard, desperately coming up with a method to at least distract it.

'I have zero hope of immobilizing it...Wait. Immobilizing...' A plan rapidly formed in my head.

I summoned a water ball and began manipulating it.

It rapidly elongated until it resembled a large clear rope coiled around my arm.

To test if my idea could work, I changed the structure of a part of the water and watched it instantly crystallize into ice, releasing a cracking noise that was quite satisfying to hear.

I threw it behind me and manipulated it to move like a snake between the monster's legs before it flash-froze.

The monster stumbled slightly, but easily shed the magical shackles and began running faster.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, nearly running into a tree when I wasn't looking ahead of me.

I cast two water balls and formed them into liquid ropes once more, this time casting them towards two trees ahead of me.

After I passed them, I had them connect and freeze, tripping the behemoth out for my blood.

With the time it took for the beast to regain its footing, I had already vanished from its line of sight and hidden behind a convenient rocky outcropping nearly ten feet to my right.

The forest was eerily still.

I heard no movement, no birds, not even a breeze breathed through the trees to rustle their leaves. Everything was still and silent.

I held my breath, listening intently for even the slightest noise.

My heart beat at a rapid pace as I continued to hear nothing but silence.

Suddenly, a boom sounded from the rocks I was hiding behind. A split second later, they exploded, carrying me into the air with the sharp shards of rock and bits of soil.

I hit the ground back first, my breath wheezing from my chest. The rocks followed soon after, stabbing into my front and causing my grey blood to leak out from the multitudes of cuts and punctures.

I wheezed, my eyes watering as I sought the enemy that attacked me, only to find the blurry figure of the monster I had been running from.

'Am I going to die here?' I wondered briefly before rejecting my acceptance. 'If I'm going to die it won't be while I'm laying down and waiting for it! Everything or nothing!'

I summoned another water ball, but this time combined everything I knew with regards to water magic for one final and desperate attack.

The water ball flew to the creature's neck, wrapping around it. It ignored it, deeming the attack unworthy of its attention.

Good. I was going to use that to my advantage.

I forced the water into a triangular shape and flash-froze it.

With repeated cracking noises, the ice expanded, but only had one way to expand. Into the creature's throat.

By the time it figured out what I was doing, it was too late for it to live.

I had put all of my remaining mana into this attack, hardening the ice, and manipulating its expansion to behead the beast.

With a final cracking sound, the ice stopped expanding.

The figure of the monster was standing there, unmoving until it began pitching forward and hit the ground with an earth-shaking boom.

On impact, its head popped off with a sickening "schlick" and landed in my lap.

The weight of the creature's skull brought me back to my senses causing me to laugh maniacally as I lay immobile and bleeding on that forest floor.

I stared up at the dark green canopy as I relished the moments of silence after the fight.

I took in the unpolluted and clear air of the forest and lightheadedly searched the leaves for nothing.

Midway through my pointless search my eyes fell upon a familiar, yet alien figure in the trees. I would recognize that figure anywhere.

"Aurora?" I asked, thinking I was seeing things.

She leaped down from the tall trees, falling nearly one hundred feet before landing nearly silently on the forest floor.

Once I got a clear look at her, I understood why her figure seemed slightly alien. She was a Neko. Her head had sprouted the large black ears of a Neko tipped with white. From her rear, a long and bushy tail had sprouted that was also tipped in white.

I noticed she was wearing a similar garment to the nightgown she had worn the previous night, except it was blue, and covered everything from her neck to her calves.

"I didn't think you'd notice me." Aurora said, walking over. "How was your first night?"

I couldn't help but think she was extraordinarily hot in that moment, but I quickly quashed the thought and responded.

"Hellish, but I think I might be able to last the week."

"Like hell you can." She laughed. "You're going to pass out any second and you think you can take out another Demon Guardian?"

I didn't respond, but it was clear my thoughts were more than enough of an answer.

She picked me up in a princess carry, still laughing as a white light surrounded us while she prepared a teleport.

"I love you." I couldn't stop myself from saying as the white light illuminated her from all sides, causing her pale skin to glow with an ethereal light as a formless wind gently stirred her hair.

I couldn't help but think that she looked like an angel.

My sight faded as I passed out from the added stress of the teleport, but I still caught the blush that suffused her face.