Chapter 171: Fall, Part 4

The boys would get prepared almost immediately, having them make their way to Raphael to handle the tidal storm coming down. The Marrow would try to stop them by utilizing more spikes to dig into their legs, roaring like mad as it chased them down, but not before being met with another enemy.

KA-POW!!

A Knee. A Knee straight at its hip. The Marrow looked to its side to see the confounded Wendigo fighting back once more. The spriggan-like beast rolled across the scorched earth, trying to focus its attention on the children in the case it can stop such a solution from occurring. It desired absolute calamity above all else, and yet the Wendigo did not let up. She grappled the creature's neck and threw it behind her, chasing after it and trying to slash at the charcoal-esque skin it now has, the brickwork being destroyed and expelling more tar from its wound. The Marrow, realizing it was being hurt, used such tar to blind her, before delivering a stab straight through her stomach, tearing at the skin and muscles and leaving her for dead. The moment it turned around, however..

SHIKK!!

A Stab wound, straight through its heart. The Marrow looked back in anger, witnessing the wound she took healed itself almost instantly, wiping the tar off of her skull's socket, most likely damaging her own eye, yet such an eye came back with no issues whatsoever. Its efforts were being more and more in vain, yet the Wendigo pushed on her assault, turning the beast around and striking at its jaw, matching it with a knee to the stomach and a hook straight across its head, aiming for its mind to make it leak more tar out. When it tried to employ the same tactic again, the Wendigo merely stepped back and grappled its arm, spinning herself over it, twisting the arm and ready to make it pop. She'd close her legs to ensure it wouldn't escape, yet the ashy woodland monstrosity kept going, growing branches to stab into her body, trying to force her to let go and get off. The wendigo, however, simply stared back with no mercy. Small grunts were made as if she was counting down, making the Marrow ready itself.

RRRRRRIP!!

Like a flip of a coin, it was instant. It was simple. It was effective. The arm was ripped clean off its socket, tearing it off like a band-aid, leaving the Marrow to scream a visceral cry, the sludge dribbling down slowly as it pushed itself back, planting the stump at the earth, making the roots still left alive to come to it and repair its arm. Doing so left it vulnerable, allowing the Wendigo to rush in and try to strike at its body. In preparations for it, the bark that acts as the Marrow's skin would create such branches to ensure they don't hit it without being hurt themselves, as well as making the method of dealing such damage harder to even pull off. As it was trying to regenerate it's body, however, it could feel a pulse within the ground. A beat that captures its arms without needing to reach so far. A twitch that felt organic than anything else. The Marrow recognized this as an escape, though most likely, it would run the risk of its life being on the line. It looked back at the hail of spikes, where the children are busy dealing with it, letting Raphael incinerate it all, having the fire spread through the usage of Stolas' stars, guiding them through, while also placing a barrier around the source of such flames, acting as a second defense. It can see Harvard and Zazel set up spells, though it can't quite tell what they were. It can even tell that, as the spikes rained down, none were being made after the first set. Its vision was constantly blocked by the Wendigo's relentless nature, desperately trying to find an opening to deal further harm to it.

It recognized well that it was going to lose. It recognized well it was going to die.

"Aaaaaalright! That's the last of 'em!" Harvard would state, eliminating the darkened spears that nearly clouded the sky. He would have Raphael go back down and see the Marrow again to finish the monster, before noticing that it was doing something else. It was digging, nay, burrowing itself. It made its way down to the ground and split the lands open enough to try and escape, yet as they got closer, they would see something that made their smiles fade. A strand of red, underneath the dirt and soil. The Nuckelavee was here. A snap of his fingers made Raphael go there immediately, soaring down and preparing its shoulders to blast down a monsoon of heat and devastation, only for the land to rip itself apart and create a mass in the shape of arms and hands to grab and tank the attack, the flesh burning itself alive as the Monster tried to get closer. Raphael would even have the flames curve themselves, trailing down from the arm in order to reach the ground closer, yet in response, the Nuckelavee merely detached its arms and moved it in another location, allowing another pair to grow out and prepare to block whatever comes in its way. The Marrow would be facing such an atrocity before their very eyes, watching a horse-like creature emerge and open its mouth whole. The Wendigo, realizing what was going on, would try to get close and pull the spriggan-like atrocity away, yet, because of the roots ingrained in her body, The Marrow would quickly manipulate her body and send her back. It recognized the choice before it.

There was only one option left, if it meant surviving.

Like the coward it was, it slipped away. It dropped itself into the mouth, letting it be consumed and taken somewhere else, the ground slowly repairing itself as the muscle-like tendrils disappeared. They were gone. After Raphael dealt with the arms, allowing the children to see once more, all Harvard could do was groan in anger at the fact such a villain escaped. Zazel placed a hand on his shoulder, silently affirming his goal, ensuring it will happen soon. The boys took one more glance at where the Marrow once was, allowing the Wendigo to be picked up by Raphael and carried over, as they'd disappear from the scene.