Blood

A low grumbling sound began to bellow from the Ghoul as it stepped out of the darkness, and with it the stench of death surrounded me. My ankle began to sting so badly I almost considered chopping it off.

"Finally getting serious I see…" I muttered through the pain, barely holding myself up as my skin blackened even more.

It let out a shriek that pierced my ears and its chains suddenly straightened and flew in every direction, hoisting it up into the air and putting holes in the walls and ceiling. One of the chains flew into the wall right next to my head, clipping my hair and scratching my face as I moved out of the way.

A shudder went down my spine. 'Is it actually trying to kill me this time?'

Lightning struck again and the ghoul jerked back a moment. But soon enough the night sky darkened as the moon became covered by a storm cloud. After that flash of light, the darkness began to settle, growing to cover my entire room.

My nerves were starting to come out as I bounced my heal. "Come on! Why won't you fight me already."

As if to answer, it sent a chain flying directly at me. Somehow I managed to deflect it, but the sword rattled in my hands making it hard to hold on. For once, I was glad that Mara never went easy on me.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" it whispered back. I took my eyes off of it for a moment and it vanished, suddenly the windows behind me shut and I was left in the dark again, a void with no feeling.

My breath was short as the air seemingly thinned around me. 'I'm too tense, I need to calm down or there's no way I'll survive. Come on think.'

I froze time. 'WI can still hear my own breath. I can still feel my sword, even if everything is a bit numb. It must have lost too much blood.'

After gathering myself I resumed. Making a quick calculation, or I suppose a guess, on where I thought it was.

It gave off a breathy laugh that sounded like dying crows. "YOU ARE AFRAID!" A chain whipped across my face and my arms scratching me with the barbs as its lifeless body didn't make a move. 

"SO ARE YOU!" I yelled back. I was afraid for sure, it wasn't lying. I didn't care if I died, but this monster was toying with me, it was like it was playing a game. I didn't mind death, but I didn't care much for pain. And I couldn't imagine what this monster was going to do to me all for the sake of its next meal.

All I could do was hold my ground and hope that lightning would keep striking buying me more time. Plan C was a bust due to the storm, but there was another thing Chrysolite was good at besides sound resonance. It was also a pretty good conductor.

"TERROR!" It cried

Without anything else to rely on I firmly gripped my sword and thrust it straight forward as hard as I could. It shook and rattled in my hands so much that I had to let go, the numbness making it impossible to hold on my hands crumpling into the crossguard as my wrists folded.

I tried to speak but no words came out. The chains and shrieks echoed in my head. 'Did I hit it?'

Lightning cracked the ground and suddenly I was back in my room, sucked out of the void as it shrunk again. The ghoul cried in pain as I saw burning cinders on its clothes and a ring of fire on its chest. scorch marks ran down its left arm as lightning circled and sparked around the chains and my greatsword, which was firmly embedded in its shoulder.

'I guess… it's not always a bad thing to let go of your sword in a fight…' I smirked, feeling as though I was about to pass out. 'Take that, Mara.'

I slowly looked back at the chain that had whipped past my face. It had pierced through the wall and thickened into a massive anchor. I felt little sparks float through the air between us as my hair stood on end.

It was still standing, even if it was struggling to move I wasn't going to take any chances. I grabbed the sword but it wouldn't budge. Thankfully, I had 7 more just like it. quickly scurrying across the room I got another one that was lying on the ground and skewerd it again.

It shrieked and screamed but showed no signs of death.

"I'LL TURN YOU INTO A PIN CUSION IF I HAVE TO!" I grabbed a third sword and slashed with all my might, lodging the entire width of the blade cleanly into its massive arm as it protected its neck.

'Thats 3.'

"MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID OF ME!" Adrenaline rushed through me as I felt the tables turning in my favor.

I grabbed the fourth, having to use my whole weight to pull it out from the wall, and then using all the momentum I could get to thrust the blade right into its back, sticking it straight through.

'Thats 4…'

As I picked up the 5th Its chains grabbed my ankle just like before and it whipped me across the room, slamming me into each wall before leaving me back at the window, cracking my ribs against the ledge.

It retreated back into the void. It was injured, no doubt, but the void remained. I didn't dare go in to try and finish it off, and it seemed as though it felt the same about coming out to try and kill me.

It was a standoff.

My internal injuries were already catching up to me though. I wasn't even as tough as the humans around me, much less a demon.

My lungs burned, and my whole body felt like ice as I coughed up blood. 'That's not good…'

I lowered my hand down to my ribs. 'More broken bones…' Once again, the fact I could feel it, only told me just how bad it really was. Of course, if I was coughing blood out of my lungs that told me it wasn't just bad, but probably fatal.

I propped open my window with one of the scabbards and sat down in the, resting my massive sword against my shoulder and wrapping my aching arms over my chest. 

'I guess… all I can do now is wait.'

Breathing felt harder with each inhale. When I finally looked down that was when I realised something was glowing under my shirt. 'The pendant Zu gave me.' I pulled it out to look at it.

It's color twisted, shifting to an ominous grey as my skin slowly turned back to its normal color. I had no idea what was happening, but I couldn't help but feel like it had protected me in some way. 

When my breathing started to become easier and my bones squirmed back into place, I knew it wasn't a coincidence. I wasn't fully healed by any means, but as far as dying went I was pretty sure I was safe.

With each strike of lightning, the void shrank. When the storm finally passed the moon showed so brightly that it completely vanished. Finally, I was alone. The moment I realised it was completely gone I fell asleep on the spot, not even bothering to move to my bed.

'It's over… Yeah right…' The moment the void fully vanished, my heavy eyes fell closed like iron gates.