Pushing Through
Jason barely managed to dive to the side as the tiger pounced at him again. His head was spinning, but it seemed Vanya was right. His mana regeneration was as incredible as his massive supply, but because of one stupid decision he was now on the ropes.
He jumped to his feet in time to summon another shield to block the barrage of arrows. He was relying entirely on the mana that he could regenerate through the rest of this fight. If he had just gone about things a little bit more carefully then he could have made it through this eventually.
He had gotten carried away with the near godlike powers that he had gained and now he was on the backfoot. More than that really, he had no idea how much mana the rest of his attacks were using, so how could he judge what he could and couldn't do now? Furthermore, the arrow in his calf wasn't going away anytime soon. He tried pulling it out, but it didn't budge.
Jason had no experience with battles and weapons. In the movies, the hero would just rip it out in some badass way, but he had also read online that arrows were sometimes barbed. If he tried to rip a barbed arrow out then wouldn't it pull the rest of his muscle with it? He couldn't risk that in the situation he was in. If only he'd gotten super healing to go with his magical imagination powers.
He made floating stairs in front of him and leaped up them to avoid a wave of flame that issued from the tiger's mouth. He may have been wrong about the number of attacks that the tiger had, but one thing still gave him a glimmer of hope.
Every attack that the tiger used was ranged. Even it's pounce attack always took it flying way past him. Jason would have imagined that being in close range would be a massive advantage for a giant metal cat, but it clearly didn't think so itself. Assuming it could even think for itself.
Perhaps he had just played one too many video games, but he had a feeling that getting in close might be the key. Maybe there would be some kind of switch that he could activate on it that would turn it off?
He strafed the beast, doing his best to ignore the pain in his calf. He blocked arrows with the shield and dove away from another pounce attack, but he couldn't find an opening. He hadn't noticed at first, but the clearing was substantially smaller than it had been. Had that happened when he had used too much mana or was there a time limit on his illusions?
He needed time to figure out what he could do, but the tiger wasn't going to give him a chance. Jason could feel his mana slowly building back up, but it was nowhere near fast enough. At this rate it might take hours, maybe more for him to be back to full. He wouldn't last that long for certain. He needed to do something now.
The tiger pounced at him again and he swapped his gravity to the right, shoving him out of the way. This method of avoiding the tiger didn't seem to use as much mana as creating solid objects so he stuck to it as much as he could.
Pull left, pull right, occasionally pull him back to avoid flames and shield the arrows. It was working fine for now, but he was going to run out of energy before the tiger and one mistake could mean death. Meanwhile, the arrow in his calf was excruciating.
Still, he watched carefully each time the tiger leapt at him, trying to find a pattern. If he could figure out where it landed then…
The tiger leapt at him and he pulled himself backwards and up instead of to the side. It wasn't quite fast enough, but he managed to block the tiger's claws with his shield. This was his chance. The tiger was beneath him, so if he just pulled himself towards it.
He slammed into the back of the tiger, knocking the wind out of himself and hanging on for dear life. It was sleek and the metal was slick so there weren't many places that he could grab on, but he held on like his life depended on it.
The tiger didn't act at all like he expected. It moved its head around left to right, spun around looking behind it, and even looked up into the sky above it. It did one more rotation, looking for its opponent, before finally, it crouched down onto all fours.
Jason slipped off as the metal beast slowly contracted into itself, growing smaller and smaller, until it was just a tiny ball in his hand. Then, without warning, the ball disappeared into thin air.
Jason grasped for where the ball had been, but gave up almost immediately. He didn't have the energy. He could be happy with just his life. The arrow in his leg made him want to chop his entire leg off and be done with it. He'd never experienced this much pain in his life, let alone had to fight an evil tiger automaton at the same time.
He pulled at it gently again, trying to see if he could pull it loose, but there was no luck. He gritted his teeth in pain, feeling his leg trying to think of how he could get rid of it. He felt something sharp on the other side of his calf.
Was that the arrowhead? His entire leg hurt so badly it was hard to isolate the pain but the more he felt it, the more he realized that it had to be the arrowhead. It was right underneath the skin there. If he could just push it through the rest of the way then…
He pushed a tiny bit, testing the waters and immediately regretted his decision. Even the tiniest movement was pure torture. He grimaced and stood up. He needed to check on Vanya and Nora. Maybe they could even help him…
Jason knew exactly what Vanya would probably do and that terrified him. He could imagine her laughing at his weakness and then ripping it out of his leg. He couldn't let that happen. He felt it again, and it really was almost all the way through. If he could just get it the rest of the way.
He sat down with his wounded leg situated in front of him. Unfortunately, the arrow was pointed away from him so it was at an awkward angle, but he still should be able to push it through. His hands wouldn't move.
He felt so terribly alone. He hadn't realized how accustomed he had gotten to always having someone around. Even when they weren't together, Mina had always been a message away. He missed her so much.
If she were here then he was sure that he could work up the courage to just do it, but she wasn't. He hadn't had ideal companions before. A mind reading sparrow that already had his future planned out for him. A demon who thought he was her people's only hope who still had no expectations of him. A girl who he couldn't decide whether she needed to be protected from the world or the world needed to be protected from her.
They had all judged him in their own way. None of them would probably be with him if they didn't have to, but at least they had been something. He needed Mina. He needed someone who he could lean on and tell all of his problems. Someone who would sacrifice everything to help him fix those problems.
He looked down at his leg again, eyes blurred from tears. Mina was gone, and no matter what he did, she wasn't coming back. He couldn't keep living like this. He needed to move on and be strong by himself, but it was so hard.
He gripped the arrow shaft with both hands. Even if he could summon her here with him, he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't bring her into this hellscape with him. He pushed with all of his strength and the arrow popped out. He screamed in pain as his flesh was ripped open, but it had worked.
He blinked away the tears, snapping off the arrow head with a little effort and pulling the shaft out. It still hurt, but next to the pain he had just felt, it was nothing. He lay back on the grass panting. The clearing he had made had completely disappeared at some point, and he stared up into a thin cover of leaves.