Felix’s spear pierced through Colin’s chest. His breath turned into a wheeze, and blood mixed to the green liquid poured out of the wound. He groaned and grabbed the shaft, trying to pull it out.

How could this be not enough? He was sure he had pierced his heart. He yanked the spear by pushing his foot against Colin’s body. The blade slashed his throat, and a jet of dark green liquid sprinkled from the deep horizontal gash, staining Felix’s suit.

Small vines sprouted from both sides of the wound, seaming it until they stopped the hemorrhage. He had never seen something like this. Felix made a step back, holding his breath. There must another weak point, and he had to find it if he wanted to live.

Other vines erupted from Colin’s back, interviewing together in wriggling tentacles. Felix speared some of them, crushing them into wooden splinters, but it was useless as another one took quickly his place, and the faster he destroyed them, the faster they grew up again, tiring him at the same time.

The public roared when Colin stood up with a crown of tentacles growing past his height. His

Felix dodged a tentacle slash aimed at his head, but the thorns scraped against his shoulder, tearing through the suit and leaving five parallel gashes on his skin. A barrage of thrusting tentacles made him retreat, shielding himself with his spear. Their sharp tips poked his forearms, making small but painful wounds.

Overdrive mode unavailable…

How could it happen!? He didn’t have even the time to think about why the HUD wasn’t working that an uppercut-hitting tentacle was racing towards him. He harpooned it and ducked to another one, which scraped his left ear.

“What the hell is this!?”, he said, parrying another one aiming at his legs. He wasn’t going to last this way: Colin wasn’t going to stop, and he was already growing tired.

A tentacle wrapped around his leg and lifted him, shoving him into the pit. Felix planted the spear tip on the ground, using it as anchor to slow down his fall. The blade wedged itself between the rocks that formed the edge of the pit, and his legs flapped into the void.

Another barrage of tentacles hit him in the legs, on his back, and neck, making him scream in pain. Tears flowed from his eyes and made his vision blurry. He dangled his legs to reach the edge of the pit, but he was too far away.

Colin’s attacks were hissing around him, but Felix managed to remain attached at the shaft. His hands were getting sweatier, and his muscles were sore and the veins and ligaments were bulging on his burning skin, full of cuts. If he got a cramp, it would be the end. The shaft of the spear was now looking like a bow and when splinters started to stick up, he understood that he had to do something, or the duel will be over soon.

He swung himself to build momentum, and he lurched himself forward as the shaft snapped. His arms slid on the sand until he grabbed the edge of the pit. As he pulled himself up, a tentacle slammed his left hand and he retracted it in pain, making him dangle in the void with only five fingers.

The public gasped when a tentacle whipped his back, making his right thumb slip. Another tentacle came at him from the left side, but Felix parried it with the free hand. One of the thorns pierced through the skin, ligaments and muscles until it came out from the other side. Instead of trying to pull it out, he grabbed the tentacle with the other hand, avoiding the thorns.

Colin’s thrust pushed him out of the pit, and Felix rolled on the sand, until he smacked himself against the wall. Dazed, he grasped for air, feeling his racing heart by keeping a hand on his chest.

The terror screaming of the public made him raise his gaze to the stands. The spectators in the lower seats shielded themselves as the largest tentacle, the size of a full tree, swiped away the new metallic railing, missing their faces from inches. The tentacle rose in the air, and its shadow now loomed and was getting bigger as the spectator ran up the stairs or jumped over the seats.

A blonde woman wearing a white gown ran in the opposite direction of the public and raised her staff just when the tentacle was going to land. It bounced in a shower of sparkles and recoiled as if it had hit an invisible wall. Two rows of soldiers with spears descended from the stairs next to her, and a team of crossbowmen shot their quivers, but the ones which hit the target did no damage.

Felix put a hand against the wall to pull himself up, but his legs were shaking too much, and he fell on the ground again, groaning. The sand around him was red by all the blood he was losing.

Colin’s shriek made Felix’s ears ring. He swiped the main tentacle against the guards, knocking one of them from his feet. One of them slashed the tentacle with his sword, and a spray of green liquid and splinters rained on him. The woman remained on the rear line, keeping her staff high, and when a tentacle tried to go past her it bounced, protecting the civilians that were moving towards the towers again.

The duel was still going on, even if Colin wasn’t thinking about him. It was nearly impossible to win because he didn’t even have his weapon anymore, and neither his over drive mode. What was he going to do against that Monster? Maybe he had to resist until the guards killed him, but he doubted he would get his freedom if things went that way.

A guard wielding a torch hit a tentacle, making it explode. The fire traveled for a short distance, until another tentacle put it down by hitting the burning one upstream. Now he knew what he needed to do. Felix poked one of his lenses from his eyes and ran towards Colin, crouching and skirting against the wall. A tentacle grazed his hair and got stuck deep in to the wall. Gasping, he stopped but then moved faster.

Four large tentacles and many smaller ones anchored Colin’s body to the ground. Felix crouched against one of the roots and started to direct the lens against the sun.

A tentacle slashed his face, making him drop the lens. His jaw made cracking sounds when he tried to close it again, but there wasn’t no time to think about it. He pulled the other one from right his eye and started again, but this time he couldn’t fail anymore.

Another hit on his side made him drop it, but Felix caught it again as it was falling. Aiming the lens at the sun, it lens was leaving a bright circular mark on the tentacle, and whiffs of smoke were starting to rise from its edges.

Colin's bloodshot eyes met his. Vines were crawling out of Colin’s nostrils, between his teeth, and they were even replacing his hair. He was thrashing his tongue, but only growling sounds came out. A tentacle wrapped around his neck, lifting him from the ground.

Felix struggled, but the grip was too strong. He kicked the air, and another tentacle grabbed his ankle and twisted it until it made a cracking sound and his foot hung limp. The shock made him open his mouth to scream but as he was lacking breath no sound came.

Blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth, and when he looked down, he found five tentacles impaling him and slithering inside him, crushing his organs.

There must be a meaning to all of this, about the world, about the enemy, and about death. There was no way he wasn't going to find it, even if he had to die one hundred times.

The lens fell on the ground.

Alert! Multi-organ failure!

SHUTTING DOWN…