Rat-gicide

Eli collapsed limply over Thea.

She was frozen solid in fear.

"ELI!!!" yelled Arne, his fear, doubts, and worries burning away leaving only a white-hot rage. He put more mana into the wave, careful not to drain himself completely. He made large circles with his arms causing the dirty water to churn further and further, worsening the smell.

He didn't care about the smell anymore.

All he saw was Eli's injured body, Thea frozen in shock, and his enemy.

The Rat King.

"Thea! Move Eli out of the way!" he roared, attempting to shock Thea out of her fear. Sadly, it didn't work.

Thea was sitting still on her knees. She looked down at Eli's fresh blood and could barely breathe. Her hands shook. Her eyes welled up with tears. She couldn't move.

Arne couldn't just send a wave barreling towards Thea and Eli, so he would have to innovate a bit. With no better ideas, he would have to just spend a bit more mana to manipulate the water. He raised his balled fists, and the water rose into a pillar of disgusting sewage.

The water wasn't the only thing that rose though, and the Rat King rose his bladed claws for another strike.

Before he could hit Thea or Eli again Arne shot both of his fists forward, and the pillar of water curled towards its target, and blasted directly towards the Rat King, intercepting its raised claw and blasting him backwards down the sewer tunnel with an intense vortex of pressure.

"WATERFALL!" screamed Arne.

The cloak the creature wore was blasted away, as its heavy body was forced against the wall by the focused beam, the force of the pillar took the air from its lungs and replaced it with blood and sewage. The stone behind it was cracked, and so were the creature's large ribs. Malnutrition made the damage it its ribcage evident, as it was barely beneath the skin.

Arne stumbled. He was lightheaded, and he needed to get to Thea before the Rat King could recover. The deep blue light in his eyes had quickly faded.

"Thea!" he yelled.

She remained frozen. A cold fogginess crept into Arne's mind.

"THEA!!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, as his voice echoed in his mind, his brain began to think more clearly.

She turned to him. Her face was a mess of tears and Eli's blood. She was shivering, was breathing quickly and erratically.

Arne slapped her hard across the face, almost falling over due to the momentum. His body was still quite weak from the quick depletion of mana.

"Get yourself together!" he said, "We can't run from that thing, but if we can kill it, then we can save Eli's life! He's not dead yet, but we all will be if you don't get up! We need your help!"

Thea wiped away some of her tears and took a deep breath.

"What do we need to do?" she asked, her shaking still hadn't calmed yet.

"The place where we hid is right there," he said, pointing, "let's move Eli there for now, and then we have to get help fast. We'll figure something out as we go. I'll grab his arms, you take his legs, lay him on his stomach when we get there."

Arne quickly grabbed Eli's arms, and Thea grabbed his legs. They moved as quickly as they could into the enclave and set Eli's body down.

EAAAAAAH

The Rat King's pained wail echoed down the hallway as it began to stand up, the shrillness and the immense volume made their ears ring. Thea and Arne would have to come up with something quick.

"The trap is set!" said Arne, grabbing a stick from the ground, "Use this to hit him in the ribs if you ever get the chance." He passed the stick to Thea and pulled out his small blade.

"I didn't have time to get the ground wet around the trap, so we will be able to cross it safely, then I can make the ground wet so it will fall for the trap. If I get the chance, I'll slash it with my knife." he said, clenching his teeth and gripping the blade tightly.

The Rat King's heavy steps could be heard as he started to run towards them!

"Let's go then!" said Thea, before taking off in the direction of the trap. Arne followed after pushing every fiber of the muscle in his legs so that he would have enough time to wet the ground. His eyes began to glow.

'Expand, Infuse, Bend' he thought, before hopping over the rope and quickly wetting the ground behind him.

Just in time.

As Arne continued sprinting past the trap he felt the hot breath of the soaked beast behind him as it fell forward, onto the ground yet again. Thea quickly turned around and stopped.

THUD

The rope snapped and the beast collapsed forward, knocking the air out of its lungs yet again. Its face was on the ground an arm's length from Arne.

This was the perfect opportunity.

He stabbed his short blade as deep into the creature's eye socket as it would go. His hand was immediately covered in thick red blood and viscous black fluid which almost made him retch. He quickly pulled his hand back, and sadly, the blade did not come with it.

EEEEAAAAH

The Rat King immediately clutched its eye, blocking Arne from retrieving his blade, and screamed another shrill ear-shattering shriek.

Arne immediately clutched his ears in pain, and they began to ring loudly, making it incredibly difficult to focus. He turned to Thea to signal her to run past the writhing Rat King on the path.

While covering their ears, they both ran past the creature as it rolled off the path into the sewer water. The touch of the water made it quickly refocus its rage as it immediately climbed out of the water, and started to run towards them.

Arne and Thea had not yet reached the enclave where Eli lay, bleeding, when the Rat King caught up to them.

The starved figure of the Rat King loomed over Arne.

In a moment of despair, an idea immediately entered Arne's mind. The creature was wet wasn't he?

Arne's eyes began to glow.

'Expand'

The creature raised its massive claw.

'Infuse'

The claw began to fall.

'Bend'

"Arne!" yelled Thea, facing the giant beast.

The creature's immense hand halted just before touching Arne.

Arne was sweating heavily, and the creature kept applying more pressure. Arne shot his hands up, and the Rat King sprung up into the air, hitting its head heavily on the ceiling.

"THEA NOW!" screamed Arne, as the creature fell out of his control and back onto its feet. It immediately grabbed its head in pain.

Thea saw the perfect opportunity. She ran up to the Rat King and used every ounce of her strength to hit it right in its broken ribs, knocking the wind out of the giant creature yet again. Its remaining eye bulged in pain, as it curled over, clutching its ribcage and lowering its head.

Thea jumped back, and Arne lunged forward! Arne used this opportunity to reclaim his lost knife! He grabbed it with both hands and quickly yanked it from the Rat King's eye socket, retrieving a trophy stuck to the end of the blade. Its punctured eyeball!

EEAAAH

The Rat King once again roared in a painful wrath! His roar stunned Arne heavily, as he was the closest, and the creature punched Arne, sending him flying into the wall where the Rat King was sent flying not so long ago!

Thea was alone.

She held the stick tightly, but as the Rat King slowly approached, she fell backwards and dropped the stick.

Thea's fear would get the better of her! She was now fighting alone! If Arne was out of the fight, she no longer had the confidence to fight this creature alone!

But wait...

Eli needed her help.

Arne needed her help.

If she didn't step up now, who would?

Her eyes began to glow an ardent fiery red.

She held her hands forward as the beast approached, and from her palms produced a single spark. This spark was the culmination of her turbulent emotions from the past few hours. Her anger, her fear, her joy, her resolve. All of this was condensed into a single spark.

A single spark was all they needed.

Since they had destroyed the mana stones lighting the surrounding area, the flammable sewer gas was no longer being burned constantly, and with Arne constantly churning the water, the gas was produced quickly.

BOOM

Luckily magic was directional, so anything behind Thea wasn't harmed, but in front of her?

The Rat King was blasted to ash.