Hopeless

 [Mihalis's pov]

It's hopeless, I can't land a hit! My feet shuffle across the battlefield, desperately trying to dodge the barrage of attacks. One slip-up and I'm beaten down and tossed aside, only to rise and face it again.

I pant heavily, my feet digging into the grass as I hop and duck, avoiding the monster's furious blows. Each breath is labored, my lungs burning as I try to put distance between us. I pray that this damned screen will recognize the creature in front of me!

She tries to jab at me though she kicked back against the earth hopping a fair distance away, I tried to steady myself and gain my baring before she had a chance to retaliate but she always closes the gap with a single flash step.

My opponent coils her arm and, in an instant, jabs me in the gut. My eyes dilate from the pain as she relentlessly continues, eventually grabbing my head and driving her knee into my stomach. I puke on her thigh, my vision blurring. She drives her other knee into my gut the force lifting me slightly off the ground before she extend her leg kicking me in the chin, sending me flying backward.

"Augh-" I cough, vomit splattering onto the grass. I claw at the earth, my knee digging up the grass as I repeatedly dig my head into the ground, trying to dispel the stinging pain that wells up in my abdomen.

"Come on, get up, you got this!" She clapped in an almost childish manner as she walked towards me, I looked up at her with anger laced within my gaze. Though that doesnt deter her, it was almost like she didn't notice it at all.

She crouched in front of me, her smile growing even bigger as she saw my face, her hand cupping my face, fingers rough against my cheeks as she forced me to look at her.

"Yes, use that hatred to fight!" She raised my head off the ground once more, my pupils shook with rage as I stared up at her through squinted and bruised eyes. 

[System survival protocol, slow regeneration.]

[System adaptive protocol, downloading data.] a smile started to creep up on my lips as I noticed. I still don't fully understand this thing yet- although whatever help i can get i'll take it.

"What're you smiling for?" The woman pondered, her grip tightening around my head.

[Danger, danger, system failed! Files unreadable!]

"Ahhhh, I see now." She said with a grin of her own, watching as my smile soon started to run into a look of despair. "You tried to use it on me just now, didn't you?"

I quickly reached up to grasp her hand, trying as hard as I could to get away from her grip.

"Ngh-"My body was slowly pulled up with the rest of my body which lay almost limp in her grasp, her arm coiled back and shot forward, flinging me with insane amounts of force. My hair fluttered wildly as I flew between the trees, my eyes falling shut, close to passing out.

"I-..can't win this.." I muttered words started to echo in my head as I near the ground.

"I don't know what you used to do when you were alone, but you don't have to do that anymore!" Why was I remembering those words now? Even though I was in his situation, I regretted nothing, I kept my business my own, and no one was dragged into it. What happens from now on was just, meant to–

I crashed into the earth, dirt flying up around the collision, crimson trickled from my head, and my eyes faded into a hazy white. Making it hard to even think, hard to even feel.

"You're quite durable for a human," I manage to make out the words of the monster, a soft ringing filling my ears as I cling to the ledge of consciousness. She looked down at me, her smile swiftly fading into a disappointed scowl. "Ah boo, it appears you're not as strong as I expected, that really puts a damper in my mood you know!"

I chuckled softly, it all barely squeezing out. "Sorry…. to… disappoint." 

She stood there for a moment, her eyes still with disappointment and annoyance. 

"Come on, get up." she urged, "Use that thing again! Aren't you supposed to be strong or something!" 

I took a glance at her and then back up to the sky, a soft sigh escaping my lips. "I'm not, not in the slightest, i've been weak ever since the beginning…"

"Forget this-" she muttered, walking away, my eyes following her slowly, confused as to what she was doing. "This was so underwhelming-"

She stretched lavishly into the sky, her grin breaking out on her face once more as she remembered. "Well, at least this trip won't all be for nothing."

With that she got into the hand of her golem once more, her hand caressing its chin as it took her away.

'Wait.. what's that supposed to mea–" My answer was revealed as explosions echoed throughout the village, and my eyes snapped towards it in horror. 

"I don't know what you used to do when you were alone, but you don't have to do that anymore!" her words appeared in my mind once more, this time it was mocking me, I gritted my teeth and looked at the sky, frustration starting to build up, yet there was nothing I could do.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I cursed, trying to move but it was no use, my body was completely battered and filled with bruises, and the smell of smoke and blood entered my nose, I was helpless...

_____________________________________

[Ayla's pov]

I closed my eyes, accepting my fate as the attack landed, I could hear my ribs shatter under the blow, the force sending me back a considerable amount, my staff falling my the foot of my opponent.

"Ah–" I tried to scream, the wind knocked out of me entirely. My fingers clawed into the dirt below me, gripping the scattered pieces of cement and glass that were mixed into the rubble. Tears streaming down my face as I cried.

The creature walked closer and closer to me, its gaze downcasted on me with a look of disgust in its eyes. I raised up, gritting my teeth and outstretched my arm, tiny fragments of ice flying at the monster, in some hopes of stopping it, but I couldn't do much without my staff.

"Boring–" It sighed before it finally stopped in front of me…

My eyes looked up at it in disbelief, my mouth slightly agape in confusion and anger at its words. "Boring? You think this is a game?!" I cried, the pain I felt starting to take over.

"You talk too much-" It murmured, grabbing onto my head and lifting me off the ground for the last time.

"S-stop! Please! Why are you doing this!?" I cried out, my head looking into the earth, watching tears fall to the ground. "What have this village ever done to you!"

The creature looked down on me with zero signs of empathy, watching as I struggled in its grasp, hoping for some sign of freedom.

It coiled its arm back once more, about to finish me off with a blow to my face, I closed my eyes as I continued to sob...

"God…goddess," I muttered, hoping for a chance of salvation, a chance to get away, anything! But it seemed hopeless and all I could do was accept my fate…

The sound of bones cracking flooded the intense atmosphere, blood gushing all across the battlefield tainting the soil with its velvet hue. 

"I'm sorry Mihalis," muttered as I started to lose consciousness, "I couldn't be of any help to you."

I felt my body slowly fell to the ground as I stopped thinking, 

Sorry...