[It’s now or never!] Shila focused her magic, which was extremely difficult in the middle of a battlefield, […I only have one chance to cast this spell, so I better give it my all!]

She had not been able to channel all of her magic multiple times now. She had had to dodge attacks left and right, from both the terrestrial and aerial threat that were so close to her. Of course she had tried to run away from them but with no avail, as soon as she tried to look for a peaceful place where she could shelter for a couple of precious seconds she was attacked by one of the monsters.

[Maratrustra, I beg of you! Help me in this precarious time…!] Shila prayed to the all mighty Maratrustra, in hopes of receiving some sort of divine help.

At the same time Shila had been looking for the ideal moment to cast her spell Rick and Benttotopotzki were also struggling in their own ways. Benttotopotzki’s run had not stopped, he could continue for hours, he had done so in the past. Rick on the other hand had been in the middle of physical combat for a while by that time.

Rick had been dodging Turok, and had recognized its patterns, not a difficult task considering Turok’s attacks had been getting slower due to its condition. It was not time for Rick to counterattack, he knew he didn’t have much time left before the boost of [Energizia] disappeared, and once that happened he would be “dead weight”, at least that’s what Shila had told him.

He had checked if there were any new options to his disposal, it wouldn’t hurt just to be extra sure, but there were no new attacks. There was a new option, though, [Eye of God]. Rick didn’t even read what it did, it’s not like he wasn’t fighting with a beast that would kill him in a heartbeat, so with hopes of it being a useful skill, he just activated it. A screen popped up and within was a rendition of the battlefield in some weird graphics which reminded Rick of his previous life, [What the heck is this!? This… This reminds me of old games… 8-bit games…!? How did I remember that…? Why can’t I remember important stuff, like where I am from or…!] Rick continued dodging meanwhile, easy as he had memorized Turok’s patterns by now.

He didn’t have much time to waste in this useless ability which only showed a sky view of the battlefield allowing Rick to see the location of both his allies and enemies, but not very far away. [What good does this do!?] Just with his thoughts he closed the screen promptly and concentrated on the one skill he knew he could count on for damage: [Basic Punch].

He thought it was weird to be using commands for something as mundane as [Basic Punch], [Can’t I just use it without selecting the option…? Maybe I just have to think about it…? Or do I have to yell [Basic Punch]!] Rick was pondering how to make his attack, and after some consideration he just launched himself towards the enemy and punched it right in the face, and as he did he saw the HP of his enemy decreasing, [Will it die once it reaches zero…?], but to Rick’s surprise Turok’s HP didn’t reach zero, it only dropped to 2 HP, and since Rick had left himself open to attack the mauloo tackled him.

[What the heck?! Turok’s HP should have dropped to zero… Unless I am missing something?!] Rick was thinking about what had happened, [Chumina, what happened?]

[It should be obvious, don’t you think…? Didn’t you see the stats of your enemies? Don’t they have a little stat called Defense?]

[Yeah… And…?] Rick wanted more information.

[That’s all I will tell, you should figure this kind of stuff by yourself!] And then Chumina disappeared, as he had done many times before.

Rick didn’t even get angry at Chumina’s disappearance, he knew summoning him would pretty much result in it making some clever remark and then vanishing.

The boy was surprised at his fortitude, though. He saw his stats and his HP had only dropped three points, three points out of twenty eight. The attack hadn’t hurt him nearly as much as he thought it would, [Was this because of the energy boost I got…?] Rick was worried that once the boost finished he would feel the pain of that attack, and the accumulated extra strain he had put in all his muscles. [Or because of Turok’s weakness…?]

It was clear that the one that would survive this battle would end up being Rick. He could continue dodging whatever amount of attacks Turok had left in his diminishing stamina, and after that make a swift counter attack, or however many he needed to make and kill the frail creature front of him. Not his choice, not his will, but his obligation. He had been cornered into this situation.

“…You left me no choice! I didn’t want to kill you, nor your friend or whatever the other mauloo was to you! But you really left me no choice!” He screamed as if Turok would understand him, “I…” Rick felt remorse even at the thought of taking the life of the beast that just minutes ago was within inches of devouring him. And then as he prepared to make what would be the last blow Turok would feel in its life, something happened, something that, weirdly enough, pleased Rick.

Turok, whose crusty skin had been stabbed by the fierce feathers of the Great Socer, whose blood had been dripping heavily result of that wound and whose face had just been hit, that very same Turok could not keep the spirit to fight and then just fainted. It had been unable to continue battling, [Good…] Rick thought, happy he could spare its life.

Rick felt joy, he didn’t know why but the sense of not having to kill brought a smile to him. He had no moral compass to speak of, his memories were vanished, and yet there was something indicating him that killing was wrong, at least that was his perception of it, perhaps he had not ever killed. For a second or two Rick thought of mercy killing it, but he decided not to because he needed to help whomever was in need of him, and because there was also the hope of Turok surviving.

As he ran towards Benttotopotzki who he saw was being chased by the other mauloo he thought of the hypocrisy of his thoughts, after all he had just eaten mauloo meat, and surely that hadn’t been the first time he had eaten meat.

It was during that brooding session that Rick noticed a massive dragon lurking the skies and quickly descending upon them, “What!? A A dragon too!? B-But how!? I didn’t see it before!? How did it appear out of nowhere!?”

Shila ran towards Rick and passed him and yelled, “It’s just a distraction! It’s an illusionary spell I cast!”

Rick understood the message, this was the opportunity to gain distance on the big mauloo yet again. “Benito, let’s go!! Follow me!”

“It’s not Benito… My name is Benttotopotzki! And… Don’t you see that huge thing that appeared out of nowhere?! It’s gonna kill us for sure!” Benttotopotzki, still running in circles, yelled back.

“Don’t worry, it is just an illusion Shila cast! Now c’mon! We have to go!”

The mauloo and Great Socer and had began fighting the illusion, which was not only visible but also had other qualities, even a certain odor could be felt, as if a real dragon was there, but this scent was not strong enough to cover for the smell of the burning tree, something that as of this point had only been noticed by Benttotopotzki.

Shila had received some heavy attacks during her fight and thus could not run. The pochi and the human seemed fine, though, “You seem like you didn’t struggle too much in your fights, huh?” Said Shila while escaping as fast as she could without actually running.

“Well, I think I fought the weakest one.” Rick replied. It was then that Rick felt what he had dreaded, the energy that had been flowing thru his body vanished, and then he just plummeted.

There was a fire near the tree, a fire that if left alone would probably consume the entire thing. There was also the epic battle between the beast and the bird to be worried about. Shila was in bad shape, and the mauloo Benttotopotzki had been fighting would probably end up reaching them fast. In short, Rick could not have fallen at a worse time.