Collapse

The cloaked figure raised its paws and pulled down its cloak, revealing its colorfully furry face. A long snout, black, triangular ears, and bright, golden irises.

Blood momentarily lost the function of his brain. Standing in front of him a bipedal fox removed its hood. The fox had muddied orange fur with accented white around its eyes and mouth.

The fox's ears sprung up as it looked at Blood. It slowly walked forwards, close to Blood. As it walked, its body bobbled up and down from walking on its heavily arched hind legs.

"Wh — what are you?" The words fell from Blood's lips and crashed his perception of what was and what wasn't.

"I'm Milo!" The eager fox stopped a few feet away from Blood and bowed beneath him.

"Okay, Milo, what a — what species are you?" Blood asked hesitantly.

"I'm a red fox! You can tell from the color of my fur," Milo responded excitedly while brushing its fur.

Blood remained vigilant. The blood shards continued to fly around him and his focus was dialed to the max.

"Who are you?" Milo asked.

"I'm…" Blood paused, for the first time in a long time he felt the impulse to use his real name, after all, it's a Fox who's asking, "I'm Blood," but he caved, "and I'm a human."

"Hello, Blood the human!" Milo shouted.

***

Willow stepped forward. She held her arm out and released a torrent of essence.

The essence swirled around her body. First traveling down her torso and between her legs, then around her back and chest and back to her palm.

The essence solidified and took the shape of her equipment: a massive golden hammer appeared next to Willow and pristine golden armor delicately laid itself across her skin.

Gripping the hammer, she spun it around her head to familiarize herself before the fight. Lastly, her helmet solidified.

A polished and reflective piece of gold with two slits for her eyes. The helmet's visor was adorned with slits as well making it look like the jaws of an industrial oven.

She dropped her visor and exploded ahead. Within an instant she arrived before the lone tree and wound her hammer back.

A split second away from swinging, the ground beneath her started to rumble.

Immediately, countless thick roots exploded from the ground and attacked Willow. They swirled around the air and lunged towards her simultaneously, attacking from multiple angles.

Willow halted her swing and jumped into the air. She launched twenty feet high, nearing the center of the ceiling, and looked down at the swarm of roots chasing her.

The roots skyrocketed after her as they all tore through the air in her direction.

Just as she was about to start falling, Willow pulled her hammer beneath her and wrapped her legs around the handle.

Standing on the head of the hammer that was aimed towards the ground, Willow softly mumbled one word:

"Collapse."

And Willow plummeted down like a meteorite. The head of her hammer crushed the approaching roots and splattered them against the ground.

As she impacted, a deep, rich purple color spread from beneath her hammer. Stepping off her hammer, Willow swung it in the air a few times, tossing the blood off of her treasured relic.

But before she could relax, the same incident that happened to Blood happened to Willow; the ground beneath her began to rumble crazily.

The edges sank first, collapsing from the outer ring in until eventually Willow stood in a cloud of mist and snowflakes. When the cloud settled, she was standing in a pit about the same size as Blood's.

Opposite of her, beneath the lone decaying tree, was another cage of wood. The blind creature rushed toward Willow and slammed into the cage, pushing its head and body into the wooden bars encasing it.

The behemoth spider produced a head-shattering screech while it pushed against the cage. It pushed its limbs through the holes and dug its fang-like teeth into the wood.

The beast was crazed and obsessed. Nothing like the monster Blood faced prior.

Finally realizing it can't escape from its cage, the spider roared once more and slammed some of its limbs into the ground.

Feeling the vibrations beneath her, Willow immediately began running across the crater towards the beast.

While she ran, the limbs of the spider erupted from beneath her like spike traps in a dungeon. Once they pierced through the ground and emerged on the surface, they soared into the air and hunted Willow like heat-seeking missiles.

Willow stopped sprinting in front of the cage and quickly spun around. She slid across the ground and pulled her arms back, preparing for a swing.

The moment the torrent of root-like limbs arrived, power surged through Willow's muscles as she swung her hammer.

Her hammer collided with the incoming attack and a shockwave exploded out. Willow was pushed back and slammed into the wooden bars of the cage.

Meanwhile, the ground beneath her cracked and mounds of snow fell from the shockwave. Even Emile and Roy felt the pressure push their bodies back.

Willow rapidly pushed herself off the ground and faced the behemoth beast. The instant she turned around was the same instant the monster's face crashed into the bars once more.

Spit and mucus splattered against Willow's face as the monster squeezed its being through the wood, trying as hard as it could to get a taste of Willow's flesh.

Willow quickly reacted and lunged away from the cage. Before the monster pulled its head back, Willow unleashed a short burst of power and bludgeoned the beast's skull with her hammer.

Momentarily stunned, the beast wobbled backwards and struggled to stand. Wanting to maximize this opportunity, Willow immediately got into position.

She bent her legs and pulled her arms back. She twisted her torso and inhaled a large breath. With her eyes closed, she manipulated the essence within her soul and coated her muscles with it.

Almost instantly, her muscles accepted the foreign substance and fused with the essence. She opened her eyes and released.

An extremely loud bang pierced Emile's ears and the underground passageway shook violently. The crater exploded with snow and mist and before Emile could react, the entire room was reminiscent of a cloud.

Waving his hands through the air, Emile called out Willow's name.

"I'm here!" She responded quickly.

The mist settled and Emile approached the outer ring. He stood on the edge of the crater and gazed down.

Apart from the expected cracks in the crater, the destroyed walls and the uneven floor, Willow stood next to the wooden cage, but a giant hole had been smashed through the bars.

Not only that, the monstrous spider lay opposite of the hole. Its chest was missing. Only a gaping hole was left of the creature's torso.

Blood and guts pooled beneath it. It reached one of its limbs out, it grew and stretched through the air towards Willow.

Willow turned towards it and grabbed it with her hand. Just as she gripped it, she crushed her fingers tight and snapped the spider's limb, severing it completely.

Moments later, the beast's final twitches played out before it faded into essence and soared into Willow's core.