Chapter 12 – Cursed Trial

Rain peeks around the corner, setting his sights on the Curse once more. Today is the day...his Trial is coming to an end. He's not sure how long it's been exactly – there's no day-night cycle in the Labyrinth, and he's even lost track of how many times he's slept. But he's pretty sure that it's been somewhere between three and four weeks. Now, he's going to make a last ditch effort to lure away the nigh-indestructible Fel that blocks his path, so that he can sneak past it and leave here alive. 

Rain takes a deep breath, then quietly moves back down the corridor, around the previous corner. Then, he summons the Glorious Pebble into his hand and hurls it as far as he can down the corridor he just traversed, aiming for it to slide into the Curse's corridor. As soon as the pebble leaves his hand, he steps around the corner to hide from view, then silently observes by peeking back around it. 

After the pebble clatters on the ground at its destination, Rain quickly dismisses it and begins listening intently. There's a brief silence, then he hears heavy, scraping footsteps echoing through the corridors. When he sees the Curse rounding the corner near where the pebble landed, he immediately turns around and bolts down the next preceding corridor. As he does, he re-summons the pebble and tosses it behind him to the corner he was just hiding behind. Shortly thereafter, he hears the Curse's heavy footsteps again. 

Rain allows himself a small smile. 

'Shit...I can't believe this is actually going to work. Take that you miserable Labyrinth!'

As the Curse makes it to the next corner, Rain continues his methodical toss and run strategy, slowly leading the Fel closer to the last branch point. Eventually, miraculously...he makes it back to the branch point as the Fel slowly approaches the previous corner. His arrival here is none to soon, either, because the Curse's footsteps have been growing progressively quicker, as though it's agitated with the elusive pebble. Rain's barely managed to stay ahead of the Fel. 

He quickly makes a left into the branch point and tosses the pebble behind him – he can hear the Curse rounding the previous corner. As the pebble clatters on the ground, Rain dismisses it and sprints behind the first corner down the left path of the branch point. Then, he peeks back around and waits for the Curse to appear at the center of the branch point. This will be the most dangerous step of his ploy. 

Unlike all the previous pebble tosses, this time Rain will have to toss the pebble past the Curse and down the opposite corridor. If he doesn't throw it far enough, if he accidentally hits the Curse, or if the Curse sees him in its periphery...he's as good as dead. 

Before long, but still a span that feels like an eternity to the trembling Rain, the massive, onyx Fel appears in the center of the branch point. As it slowly sweeps its cold eyes back and forth, he doesn't dare to move, or even to breath. He just keeps peeking around the corner, the top of his head barely visible. Eventually, the Curse turns its head to look down the corridor opposite Rain, and his heart soars. 

'Now's my chance!'

Without hesitating another second, he steps out from behind the corner, takes the already summoned pebble, and hurls it as hard as he can towards the Curse – aiming for the spot just above and to the right of it. He watches as the pebble arcs through the air, carrying his fate, as his heart hammers in his chest. To his immense relief, the pebble soars perfectly through the spot in the air that he was aiming for, sailing past the Curse and down the corridor in front of it. 

The throw is so heart-wrenchingly beautiful to Rain that he almost wants to scream in triumph. However, before the pebble can hit the ground, the Curse's head seems to shift slightly, as if watching the pebble's path through the air. Then, it turns around and locks its cold, heartless eyes onto Rain.

"Fuck..."

He barely has time to feel despair before the Fel lets out a thunderous roar that shakes the walls of the Labyrinth. In the split second that gives him to think, Rain already knows what he has to do. There's nothing but a dead end behind him...there's no running away, only charging forward. 

As the Curse prepares to launch itself at Rain, he grips his makeshift javelin and hoists it over his shoulder. The minute he thinks the Curse is about to lunge, he throws his javelin toward it as he breaks into a sprint behind his weapon. Less than a second later, the Curse bursts towards him at a speed so inhuman that Rain's mind can barely register its approach. All he can do is throw himself towards the wall of the Labyrinth. 

He feels something graze past him so fast that the blowback from the air physically pushes him to the side, and his shoulder is mercilessly slammed into the wall. He thinks he hears bone crack as his body slides to the floor, but he just grits his teeth and ignores it – he's already pushing himself forward to run towards the Temple's path. At the same time, he feels the Labyrinth shake as the Curse slams into the wall past him. 

Not even bothering to look back, or perhaps afraid to, he just sprints as quickly as he can with his aching shoulder towards the branch point. As he passes through it, he leans down and grabs the javelin that he tossed as a distraction to aid his evasion. Then, he turns and heads deeper into the Labyrinth, towards where he's sure the Temple awaits. As he rounds the first corner along the path, he hears thundering footsteps behind him and spares a glance over his shoulder. 

The Curse is behind him, gaining speed at a frightening pace...at this rate, it'll close the gap in a few seconds. There's no way he'll make it anywhere close to the Temple before then. It'll catch him in the corridor around the next corner for sure. He mutters a string of especially provocative curses under his breath. 

'No choice, huh...'

As he rounds the corner into the next corridor, leaving the Curse's line of sight, Rain suddenly pivots to face the path behind him. He raises his javelin in front of his body and widens his stance, and his eyes shine with grim resolve. 

'Alright then ugly...we'll finish this here...'

The Curse finally catches up with him, crashing into the wall again as it tries to round the corner at superhuman speeds. The instant that he sees it appear, he sprints forward with a defiant yell as the walls shake around him from the Fel's collision. Gathering all the strength he has left, he simultaneously leaps as high as he can into the air and thrusts his javelin upward, trying to reach the towering Curse's face during its temporary loss of balance. 

As the Curse rights itself, his weapon is only inches from its face. Rain watches in glee as the tip of his weapon closes the remaining distance and slams forcefully into the Curse's head, right between its eyes. 

Then, the sharp edge glances harmlessly of the creature's onyx brow. 

Rain only has time to widen his eyes in confusion, then clench his jaw in anger, before a bus slams into his chest. The Curse's mighty blow is so overwhelming that Rain feels the Ideal Protection collapse inward as his chest caves under it. 

He's thrown backward by the residual force so hard that he rag-dolls all the way to the end of the corridor and slams into the wall of the Labyrinth. As he crumples onto the ground against the wall, he feels something hot and sticky dripping into his eyes. 

'Blood...that's my blood...'

Trying to rise to his feet, he finds that one of them is bent at an unnatural angle, completely useless. 

'Funny...I can't feel it yet...is that really my leg....?'

His functioning leg gives out under the extra strain, and he once again crumples to the floor. As he tries to catch his breath for another attempt, he realizes that there's a gurgling sound in his own throat, and he's unable to pull much air in. The effort to take a deep breath results in a fit of bloody coughing from him, which only causes more chest pain, and he feels his vision blur. 

At that moment, Rain faintly registers a large, dark shadow looming over his body. Before he can process the danger, a massive hand grabs him by his chest armor. A violent jolt of inertia assaults his senses as he's rapidly picked up and slammed into the Labyrinth wall. He yells out in pain at the sudden shock to his already mangled chest, or at least he tries to, but it only gets cut off by another round of bloody coughing. 

As Rain struggles to focus his vision on the scene in front of him, he realizes that the Curse has pinned him against the wall, eye level with it. It's face is so close to his that he can feel its rotten breath washing over him, and see the bloodlust in its eyes. In the next moment, one of the appendages on the creature's back flashes forward. It's sharp, blade-like edge slashes across Rain's body, gutting him just above the groin, and a searing pain more intense than anything he's every experienced in his life ravages his already fracturing mind. 

Rain lets out an inhuman scream that somehow manages to bubble through the blood blocking his throat, and he almost swears that he can see the Curse smile at the sound. Suddenly, something in Rain snaps, as the pain of his wound sharpens his mind, and everything except a singular thought washes away from his existence...

'It needs to suffer...'

Unbridled, murderous fury ignites in Rain's soul, and he summons the Ideal Protection away from his chest and onto his right arm. Screaming with a level of defiance that couldn't be called sane, he throws his already injured right arm right at the face of the Curse. The Demigod armor-enforced blow crashes into its face, causing a slight cracking sound, and blood pours out of the creature's shattered nose. 

As the creature lets out an enraged wail, Rain flashes it a wide, blood-stained grin. At the same time, the creatures grip on his chest loosens just enough that his previously pinned left arm wiggles free. Not satisfied, he immediately pulls his reinforced right arm back again to deliver another blow to the Curse's nose. However, the creature's free hand flashes forward before he can, grabbing his right arm in its iron grip. 

Then, it slams his arm back towards the wall, shattering his bones. He lets out a fresh scream of agony, and as if in response, the Curse blasts a triumphant roar directly into Rain's face, making him feel like his eardrums are going to burst. Gritting his teeth between sobs of pain, Rain levels his gaze at the creature's face once again, cold resolve still alight in his eyes. 

'Now you're all out of arms...there's nothing to lose...'

Dark mist begins to swirl in the open palm of Rain's left hand. But before it can even solidify, he thrusts his left hand towards the Curse's chest with all the strength he has left. As his hand careens towards the creature, a menacing black dagger with a white, bone handle takes form in his grasp. Right as the blade is about to pierce the creature's flesh, another appendage flashes out from behind its back, impaling Rain through his left wrist and stopping the dagger in its tracks. The muscles in his forearms severed, the Fate Shard slips from his grasp and clatters to the floor. 

Rain opens his mouth to scream, but instead begins laughing maniacally. As more blood trickles from the corners of his mouth, he turns his attention to the Fel's chest...where a tiny cut glistens on its onyx skin. Then, he levels his gaze at the Curse, triumph shining in his eyes. 

"G-...gotcha...asshole..."