•resilient•

Chapter 7

Deadeye's trail was easy to find: broken trees littered the Nebulawood, and if you listened closely, you could hear more trees breaking in the distance. The Nebulawood was one place Sice had never been to, and it was a lot spookier than expected. The further they walked, the foggier it got, leaving everyone on edge. Sice could barely see anything in front of her, and after careful thought, she truly didn't know how she would be able to fight in these conditions. After what felt like forever, the fog thinned out, revealed what looked like a small crawl space. Just as Noctis went to crawl through, a loud growl echoed through the crawl space. Gladio instinctively reached out, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back. He quickly inspected the crawl space and deemed it safe enough, going first. Noct went second, then Ignis, then Sice and Prompto. They remained against the wall, using it as cover, when Deadeye finally made his appearance. Like his name suggested, his right eye was useless, and he was missing the horn on his right side again. He's weak on the right, noted. Upon seeing the enemy in question, Sice began to think of ways to take him out. The behemoth in front of them was huge, obviously strong, and she only knew of one weakness. In short: they were at a disadvantage.

"Deadeye. The name says it all." Gladio raised a finger to his right eye, closing his eye and mimicking the scar on Deadeye's face. He turned back towards Deadeye and gave the all clear to continue. Still in a line, they slowly inched through the space as Deadeye ate whatever it is that he was eating. Everything the behemoth did could be heard, and the more she listened, the more Sice felt disgusted. A few seconds passed, and the noises stopped abruptly, replaced with heavy steps as Deadeye turned towards the cramped path. Gladio slid to the other side of the opening right before Deadeye's snout pushed through. Sice pressed her back against the wall, trying to erase her presence as much as possible. Deadeye's deep roar was deafeningly loud, causing Sice's heartbeat to race even faster. Normally, Sice wouldn't be frightened of a behemoth: she had fought them before. But this was a compromising situation. There wasn't a place to run if this went badly. Pulling his snout out of the opening, Deadeye growled and sniffed the air a few more times before finally walking away, leaving the five absolutely rattled. Gladio slowly peeked over the broken wall, ensuring that Deadeye was leaving, before nodding and moving forward again. Sice forced her body to move, trying to shake the fear off.

"That was too close..." Sice whispered under her breath with a slow exhale as they emerged into the forest. Fog surrounded them once more as they walked into the depths of the Nebulawood, following the only path available to them. This seemed to work, as they found themselves coming across a fenced off area--with Deadeye inside--in no time.

"We've got the beast in our sights..."

"But no plan of attack. The behemoth should be heading back to its lair, where we can catch it fully off guard." Ignis' strategy was a solid one, as long as they were careful.

"Yeah, as long as we stay on guard ourselves." Noct replied, moving forward to tail the beast. The other four stayed back, allowing Noct to lead the way as he followed Deadeye. Minutes later, the behemoth entered its lair, giving away its position. After squeezing their way through two rocks, they were in. The ruins were large, with random barrels littering the ground. If Sice had to guess, she would assume that it was a former industrial building, but she wasn't positive in the slightest. Deep growling could be heard in the distance, growing louder as they ran outside of the ruins. Through the fog, Deadeye could be seen on top of a rock overlooking his apparent lair. Sice's hand slowly came to rest on the hilt of her blade as she readied herself, adjusting her stance to keep herself steady. With a deep, guttural roar, Deadeye jumped down from his perch and charged. 

"This is gonna take a while..." Noctis groaned, summoning a sword and warp-striking the behemoth. They attacked in full force, doing a decent amount of damage, but nothing seemed to make Deadeye vulnerable to their attacks. He was strong, and it certainly wouldn't be easy to defeat him. In size alone, Deadeye had an advantage. However, once Sice factored in strength and reach, Deadeye's defeat seemed a little more out of the question. Questioning her own ability--and Noct's, for that matter--wasn't something she was planning on doing, though. But one calculated hit turned the tides of battle in an instant. Gladio was mid-swing, unable to dodge or block, when he was hit with a blow from Deadeye's massive tail. Gladio was officially down for the count until someone could get to him, a feat that would prove difficult what with all of the chaos Deadeye was causing. Sice had to think, and fast. There were four of them left, none of them strong enough to pull and keep Deadeye's attention, like Gladio did. Suddenly, and all at once, notes that Sice made along the way came to her. The weakness on the right side, the barrels scattered along the landscape. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a shot.