1.33 — Ruckus With A Rakshas v2.0

Or it would have if I was properly trained for this situation and didn’t lose my balance or aim.

Yes, embarrassing, I know. Would’ve been cool though if it had worked in one-shot or something.

The attack did manage to take a small slice out of its long neck so that was something. It wasn’t enough, sure but still. I’d say that was good for just my second encounter.

Problem was, now my surprise was blown over.

On the bright side, my plan on getting it distracted from the ghosts worked. On a not bright…dark?...whatever side, my plan on getting it to focus on me worked too.

This is why I saw its spiked tail making its way towards my pretty face.

Either a fail in the beast’s depth judgement or my lucky instincts, I don’t know, I somehow managed to save my face. Not my body though. And let me tell you, that blow on the chest hurt like a motherlover.

I’m pretty sure I fractured a few of my ribs or something and I definitely could taste my blood trying to flood my mouth.

That’s when it really hit me. Oh god, I am going to die. Again!

Before I could have a moment by myself drown in my fear and self-pity, the beast started making its way towards me again. And obviously, with that menacing creature running towards me with annoyance, I ran too.

And let me tell you, I ran fast. I ran faster than I had ever run before. Almost as if I had some nitro boosters installed at my feet or something.

I ran in zig-zag patterns, around the pillars and such. Hoping the beast would slam itself on one of them. And it did slam itself on two of them. Problem was, the pillars weren’t strong enough to hold it down.

I’d say the blame goes to the construction crew for now making sturdy pillars. Lazy work, I tell ya!

I kept trying to shoot the light gauntlets at the Rakshas but with all this running, I kept missing my shots. And the ones that did connect lacked power for some reason.

Interestingly though, as time went on, my pain started to subside and little by little my energy started to pick back up. First I thought it was the Ruh around me but then from the corner of my eyes, I saw Reizumi flying outside with her floating book and her hand stretched in my direction, while her other free hand shot a red bullet of light towards the Rakshas.

Surprised by another attacker, the Rakshas stopped in its tracks.

Taking it as a sign, I halted and face the Rakshas once again and tried to take another shot at it, hoping this time things would be more stable. And as hoped, my attack connected fully well on its giant body and did put a nice little hole on it but honestly, I was kinda aiming for the face.

I know, I know, cruel. But hey, that’s a giant monster about to kill us. My cruelty is justified. We’ll ignore that it was I who attacked it first. Afterall, history is written by winners.

Still, would’ve been great if I managed to hit it in one shot.

I hate to have bad aim. This is why I was never good with basketball too. None of my shots made it inside the hoop, except a few lucky ones.

I could really use one of those lucky shots right now.

“You’re rushing it,” Reizumi said, now hovering beside me. She really looked like some magician right now. “Be calm, breathe and then let your attack lose.”

“You can’t be serious about being calm in this situation!” I shot once again but by a hair’s breadth. Atleast we managed to stop it in its tracks instead of having it charge at us like some enraged bull.

“Proper power and proper control on that power only comes through a stable mind,” she said in her sage-like voice. “Don’t let the fear cloud your judgement.”

“Again, that’s a little hard to do.” Oh, that one hit a little closer to my actual target.

“You’re depending too much on the power,” She said, this time firing a shot of golden flames at the beast. A loud high-pitched scream reverberated throughout the construction site. If not for Reizumi’s magic, I’m pretty sure my eardrums would’ve popped already. “The Ruh will empower you, strengthen you. They will be your power but only if you guide them properly. You are the master of them. You are the master of your power.”

Well, that’s some solid pep talk-y advice. Not sure how to use it.

“You’ll heal in another minute,” she said, flying away towards the Rakshas, “till then I’ll keep it busy. Use that time to rest your mind and picture how you want this to end. Do not depend on the power, depend on yourself, on your own mind.” was all the sagely advice she gave before firing a barrage of red bullets at the monster, leaving columns of smoke coming from the demon’s green skin.

Guess she was telling the truth. The spells weren’t really working on it except pissing it off more. Atleast it’s not focused on me anymore.

I assumed the healing part was through her curtsey too. Her contributions to the mission.

Can’t let that go to waste.

Okay. Calm down. Take a deep breath. And another. And another.

‘Don’t depend on the power, depend on yourself’

But how? Is that just some pep talk mantra or was that some hint towards something else?

Do not depend on the power, do not depend on the power…could that be something about me not having the luxury of having multiple shots? I mean, yesterday I couldn’t do…magic, for lack of better terms, more than twice. After that, it just kept on failing.

So maybe even with the pill, I was running on a limited number of tries? So my body is the limit?

Okay, so I can’t trust the power to work always but what then? Do I give it my all in one shot? Trust my abilities completely?

That’s a tall ask…but…I also can’t back out now. I can’t leave without dying and I really don’t wanna be dying.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I can do this.

Focus. Focus.

Visualise, is what she said right?

I closed my eyes and let the noise in the background dilute itself to a muteness. Amid the darkness in my mind, I visualised the Ruh gathering around my arm, visualised the golden light hardening and covering me, visualised them listening to me and helping me.

I opened my eyes and the once chaotic flow of golden light now looked controlled and calm around me. Awaiting my command. Awaiting my guidance.

My breath felt stable, my energy filled to the brim and waiting to be realised. And best of all, probably the first time in my life, my mind felt calm.

Raising my arm towards the beast, I yelled, probably in a volume higher than required, “Reizumi!”

Without hesitation, as if this was all part of her plan, she moved out of the way and brought forth the golden ropes of light out from the ground to bound the overgrown winged lizard.

And in complete sync, I shot the light shaped fist straight towards the beast.

The attack went past me, past Reizumi at blinding speed. And then it went past the monster too. I missed.

No.

Guide it.

I pulled my arm back and, as if the gauntlet was tied to some rope attack to my arm, it changed its direction and rounded towards the Rakshas to hit its head devastatingly.

The attack ripped the head from its body and exploded before it could hit the ground.

And so, with that, there laid in front of me was a giant monster with its head entirely blown off along with half of its long neck.

For a few seconds, the head-less body writhed in pain and silent anguish but soon, even that, came to a stop.

In a single moment, after multiple tries, I finally did it.

I finally made my hit.

I…I had won the battle.