A Touch Of Hate

Chapter 14

Verity

Everything happened so fast that I could barely comprehend it. Rushing after my teammates, I had mere moments to evaluate our situation before being thrust into battle.

Eld and Oluo shot forward, right in the titan's face, forcing her to stumble and go for them. She grabbed at Oluo, but he switched directions before her palm closed around him. Eld flew past, yelling something at her. Keeping her attention elsewhere.

"Forward!" Petra commanded, and I didn't have to ask what she meant by that. Grasping my swords, I pressed on the gas, probably wasting more of it than necessary. My cords flew out, shooting for the beast's face. Metal hooks crashed into titan's left cheek, and I saw two more land on the other side of her face. Petra shot past me, nearing titan at an alarmingly fast pace. Following her lead, I readied for a hard landing, straining muscles to turn myself in the air, feet first, when I landed into titan's face. At the last second, I threw my blades out, aiming for her eye. Sharp metal easily pierced the squishy mass, and I cringed at the sensation and the soft splashing sound as I pulled the blades out and jumped off. Pirouetting in the air, I flew around the stumbling titan, noticing Petra do the exact same.

Good. All that training might not have been for nothing.

Monster's arms flew up, and she covered the back of her neck before Oluo shot down with a warrior scream, aiming at her ankles. Eld took on the other leg. All perfectly in sync. Trained to a dance-like perfection. The female titan didn't know who she was trying to fight with. She didn't stand a chance.

Losing support, she went down, falling back to the tree behind her and sliding down. As on cue, Petra and I went for her, targeting her limbs, immobilizing her more and more with each cut. Steam erupted from every scratch we made to her body. My muscles screamed with effort, and titan's blood burned at my skin as we continued to cut, jump away, switch positions with Eld and Oluo, then cut some more.

One of her arms finally fell, muscle and tissue ripped apart by our blades. Soon the second one followed, and Eld yelled: "Now go for the neck!". Following his own order, he flew to her, blades at the ready. I circled in the air, facing the titan again and preparing for my next attack, as commanded when Eld reached her.

The whole world slowed. I could see in slow motion as the titan opened one of her eyes and lunged at Eld with the gaping mouth. He didn't have time to react. Neither had any of us, as she caught him in her mouth and bit down. The crunching sound that followed made all the hairs on my body stand on end. Droplets of blood splattered, and one of Eld's legs wiggled and disconnected, falling to the ground first before titan spit out the rest of his body.

Petra screamed, awkwardly changing her trajectory to move away from the titan, as she yelled: "How? She can see again?! That's impossible! It hasn't even been thirty seconds."

My body moved on its own accord. I was too shocked to properly understand what'd just happened. I switched directions, following Petra, my mind went blank, and all the hard-trained techniques disappeared from my head in a blink of an eye. Titan lunged after us; her heavy footfall following us seemed to make the world shake. My blood ran cold, and my fingers started to numb on the swords.

"Petra, pull yourself together!" Oluo yelled from behind us. I glanced back at him, just to see the titan fast approaching. She was only dozens of meters away. She would reach as any second.

"Petra!" I screamed when the beast jumped forward, lifting her leg as if for a kick.

Not again.

"No!" I yelled, pushing my body right into Petra's way and shoving her into the nearest tree and away from the attack. But I was not fast enough. Before we were securely out of the way, the pain sliced through my right side. My hands slipped from Petra's arm, and I was thrown in the other direction. The world twisted and turned, and the dark stains covered my vision, as the pain rippled through my frame. It only took moments before I hit something hard. The air left me in a whisp as I tried to grab onto the thing I crashed into. Hands slipping, I scratched at the rough tree bark as my body slowly slid down. Before I knew it, I was falling again. The next hit took away my consciousness, with the excruciating pain reverberating through my entire body.