Servant Of The Banished King

Three. 

Two. 

One. 

Jump. 

Finan leapt from the bike seat right before it made impact with the monster. Rolling on the grass, he straightened up just in time to watch the jet black handles tilt sideways before the front exterior of the motorcycle crumpled into the monster. The shiny, smooth metal creased as rotor parts when flying. The sound of the impact was a screeching, metallic zing that ripped across Finan's ears. The scorched monster toppled back, falling into the pool fire that it had conjured. This time, the laws of nature applied and unlike Jesus, the creature did not tread gracefully upon the water. It created a minute splash, taking most of the bike with it. 

Some metallic remnants lay strewn about on the bank. Finan smelled rotor oil and burner flame. He smiled, standing tall now before bursting into full on laughter. 

"That's right you piece of dogshit I got you! Not today bitch!" he cackled, pointing. He was so amped that he could've done one of those stupid UFC victory celebrations, like Izzy, or Conor, or Pedro. But before he could start swiping at the air with an imaginary katana, the green fire from the pool swirled, swelled, and then erupted upwards like a beacon of light sundering the sky. 

So intense was the heat that its steam began to burn Finan's skin. He dropped and scrambled back, scooting his butt onto the blacktop road away from the grass grounds. 

Then, he gave a sigh. 'Of course it's not that easy.' 

And from the depths of that flame rose the scorched creature, six arms linked with thin fleshy webbing, flapping together and helping it ascend. Butterfly indeed. 

The pillar of flame quieted, dissipating until the pool was no longer the base for a sundering beacon of fire but rather, just an empty dirt bowl, scorched and dried. 

Finan stood and planted his feet at first. Raised his fists, tucked his chin. The scorched creature flew forth and dove down folding its arms back. It landed right in front of Finan, its impact renting the earth with a small crater, shaking Finan's legs, sending dust and dirt spewing out. Blades of grass fluttered. Finan's feet stayed planted. 

When the dust settled, the scorched creature stood, smiling with yellow, shark-like teeth, sharp and stinking of death. Its arms were no longer linked by that fleshy webbing — flight abandoned for mobility. Finan moved against the thing, feining a shitty jab before bringing that lead arm down, using it as momentum to launch himself off his back foot, raising one knee high, other hand grabbing onto the back of the creature's head. 

Flying knee. Masvidal style. 

His kneecap crunched into the creature's face, his hand stabilizing the back of its head for the blow. When he fell, Finan rolled away from the creature, pivoting once he stood to face the shark-toothed monster. 

It worked its mouth. Then, its maw opened wide revealing layers of teeth sifting, grinding in the dark black of its throat. Finan's catastrophic blow had done absolutely nothing to the beast. In fact, it seemed… amped? Giddy. Scorched began flapping its arms across its chest, like an olympic swimmer warming up for a relay. 

Then, Scorched burst forward, feet exploding off the ground, kicking up more grass and earth. Its arms snapped out wide and Finan only had time to put up a high guard before the crush of those appendages took him and Scorched dragged him with it's three right arms wrapped around his body, bony and thick and strong, skidding him off the grass onto the road and, letting go, whipping him forward before Scorched landed another blow, a bare front kick to the solar plex, knocked the wind out of Finan, lifting him from the ground and crashing, tumbling, rolling to stabilize, blood on the pavement, old stitches opened, pain and fog vying for attention in Finan's now bleeding head. A large cut scoured across his right ear or temple. Blood matted. 

But he was laughing. "Oi shithead!" he said, struggling to stand. "Try that again!" 

Scorched obliged by bulling forward, inhuman speed. Finan roll-slipped preemptively, dropping his hips and pivoting out right with his back leg, swinging his front leg 'round, switching stance as the scorched monster swung its left arms at him this time, missing. Finan threw that same uppercut he threw against Black Dam except this time, going for the exposed ribs of the Scorched. He followed through with a slashing elbow before teeping off, kicking the creature back and sliding away. 

With every blow he had landed, he felt the hardness of the thing — he suspected that his flurry of blows somehow hurt himself more than Scorched. He didn't really care. 

'I don't know red clouds and parasites. I know this.' 

Scorched, barely fazed by his last blows, whirred its mouth and a terrifying drilling noise emitted from its throat. Its many rows of sharp teeth began to spin. Finan raised an eyebrow before stepping forward, Thai marching towards the beast. 

Then, teeth spewed from its mouth. 

Like bullets, yellow enamel shot towards him and he dropped low in a panic, wrist covering eyes. A few teeth stabbed into him, riddling his arm and chest. Thankfully they were small and didn't penetrate deep. Still, they hurt like hell. 

More blood. More adrenaline. Finan shot back up and danced around Scorched, weaving as many of those flying teeth as he could. Scorched tracked Finan as he danced around the creature, slowly encroaching upon its range. When Finan elected to shift behind Scorched, unnerved, the creature twisted its head 180 degrees, its neck twisting something awful, eyes rolling to the back of its head. He shifted back to its front and the head kept tracking him, twisting back to normalcy. 

'Closer. Find your range.' Thankfully, the machine gun fire of teeth was slowing, allowing Finan to bounce close to the creature. He raised himself on the balls of his feet before bringing down an ax elbow with a teeth-riddled right arm. His elbow struck Scorched's eye, digging deep into it before skidding off down the beast's face. The impact of the blow sent a shockwave throughout Finan's arm — a wave powerful enough to unstick some teeth from his arm and shoulder. 

Finally, he witnessed Scorched bleed, a trail of violet streaking down its closed eye. The creature grunted, stumbling back and slamming its arms forward. 'This thing doesn't know how to fight,' Finan realized as he bounced back, moving his head well away from Scorched's flapping arms. Not only was the creature's form sloppy but it was overshooting. Despite all that inhuman speed and strength, it didn't even know how to throw a proper strike. Without that technique, it was useless. 

'I can wear you down. I can beat you,' Finan recognized. 

He let free a manic grin.