Yugo, and the woman, who had barely survived the explosion thanks to his barrier, found themselves right in front of the reanimated monster.
'N-No way!'
The monster's four eyes focused on him and Aleone — still unconscious. Without waiting for any reaction from the humans, the creature charged with all its might against the barrier which, unlike their first confrontation, shattered like a pane of glass that had been visited by a stone.
Yugo incanted another as quickly as he could, but yet another blow from the beast shattered his protection.
'Crap, crap, crap... it's even stronger?!'
Trying to stand up, he grabbed Aleone with his good arm, but no sooner had Yugo moved than the Negacion's tail came into his peripheral vision.
With a superhuman reflex, he bent down, letting the creature's appendage fly a few centimetres over his cranium. The energy released by the blow made Yugo's hair twirl, and his long braid unravel as a result of the loose hair.
Without thinking too hard, the reaper conjured up another barrier, and at the same time crawled forward, holding on to the woman's body.
Feeling the barrier explode behind his back, he immediately incanted another, all the while continuing his ridiculous escape. Barrier after barrier broke, but at least they'd managed to reach what had been the entrance to the cathedral just a few minutes before.
He picked up a piece of debris, threw it as far as he could and cast his spell.
They found themselves on the lit up esplanade of the cathedral garden, where magnificent little artificial pools were flowing with calm water — affected only by small waves caused by the tremors that took place with each blow of the monster — on which water lilies floated in the breeze and whose ripples reflected the night sky and the two moons above.
To his surprise, Yugo could see a few cars parked here and there, their engines still running, providing light from their headlights. Inside the vehicles, however, stood emaciated, almost skeletal bodies, all jet-black in colour and with no organs apparently left.
Not willing to dwell further on this sight, however, he continued towards the columns that stood here and there — columns which didn't support anything at all.
Picking up another small piece of rubble, Yugo threw it right next to one of those columns and transposed themselves to it. He repeated his action again and again until he was quite a distance away from the main building of the cathedral, where the Negacion was still located.
Once in a relatively safe place, he placed Aleone's still unconscious body on the ground, and applied a double barrier in order to protect her. However, as soon as he finished incanting the barrier, a dizziness and a sudden drop in energy made him feel his strength leave him. He vomited, and realised how covered in cold sweat he was.
'Shit! I'm running out of internal Kilith!'
Yugo picked up the small, half-empty vial he had drunk earlier during his first confrontation with the monster and emptied the content. He felt a little better, but still not enough to be able to confront the creature, which miraculously had not pursued them.
He got up and ran with what little strength he had towards where the vehicles were. He climbed into one of them, discarding the lifeless body of its occupant, and searched.
Luckily, there was a bottle of water and a box of Kilith supplements.
'Thanks to the monks and their Kilith deficits.'
He took the pills out of the box and swallowed five in one go, downing them as he drank the water. The increase in his energy put a smile back on his face.
'Better not overdo it, or I'll break down. And that would be worse!'
Putting the box down, Yugo got out of the vehicle and headed for another. But no sooner had he set foot on the ground than the monster landed on the esplanade with a deafening thud that signaled an ominous outcome, causing a little quake, its tail sweeping across one of the vehicles as it went — which crashed a little further away and exploded.
Yugo, having recovered some of his energy, took cover from the small earthquake and then ran to face the monster who, as soon as their eyes met, jumped up with a tremor that almost destabilised the young man.
It came down not far from where Yugo, who had already anticipated the event, was no longer standing, running in the opposite direction to where the monster had fallen.
The impact created a small crater and shook once more the cathedral floor.
Yugo rolled forward to avoid falling, and as he got slightly up, held onto one of the columns, gritting his teeth because of his hurting ribs.
'How am I going to face this thing with only one able-bodied arm and broken ribs?'
Enough time to think of an answer couldn't be mustered, however, when the beast's tail brushed above him, destroying the pillar, which collapsed.
So Yugo continued to run along the esplanade while thinking of a plan.
'I don't have enough energy or time to use a major incantation spell, so I'll have to make do with what I've got!'
He stopped not far from the beast, which swung its tail again.
Seeing the blow coming, the young reaper placed a tiny barrier on his sword, circulated his Kilith on his arm to reinforce it, and struck the appendage while dodging.
As the barrier shattered, the blade managed to plunge into the Negacion's slimy tail.
"Flamae"
Scarlet sparks flared up and spread along the length of the monster's tail, taking advantage of the small escapes of gas that were occasionally released. The creature, letting out a shrill scream and sweeping its tail through the air, then plunged it into one of the small pools nearby.
'Crap, he's not supposed to know that!'
Yugo ran towards the monster but began a forced dive when he saw the beast's tongue shoot out at him like an arrow.
The appendage crashed into a nearby column, and without waiting a second Yugo picked up a piece of stone and threw it towards one of the cars.
"Displacium"
Finding himself right next to the car, he automatically took cover.
He used this moment of respite to catch his breath and plan his next move.
'Maybe if I try to do this, I can at least gain some time until I restore enough of my Kilith.'
He pulled out the last knife he had on him - the only one he'd been able to carry before getting embroiled in this affair with the cathedral's inner cult - and huffed.
There were quite a lot of pebbles laying nearby, so Yugo picked up a few of them and came out of hiding, then ran a good distance from the monster. He threw one of the pebbles at the Negacion's face, transposing himself to it, then threw his knife, which plunged into one of the creature's eyes.
As he began his descent and his next strike, the monster's tail flashed into Yugo's peripheral vision.
Without even knowing how, he incanted a barrier that bursted at the same moment, but at least, spared him a blow that could spoil his plan and put him out of the fight... If not straight up kill him
Taking advantage of the momentum and force generated by the blow, which had sent him toppling to the side, he threw another stone in the direction of one of the monster's other eyes.
'Displacium'.
Yugo only thought the spell, and yet he still found himself transposed to the debris. In the same line of action, he thrust his sword into the creature's eyeball, and let himself fall before the monster's tongue could catch him, then in an action worthy of those in the comic books he sometimes read, he twisted in the air and threw his last stone to the ground and thought the spell.
Transposed, and fully down, he ran to hide in what was now the creature's blind spot.
"Let's hope he doesn't regenerate too quickly, before I find a way to purify him."
Without wasting any time, he ran for cover behind another column and checked that Aleone was still safe. Once sure of her safety, he refocused his vision back to the monster, whose mandibles were wildly snapping in the air.
He ran, taking care to stay within the fiend's fault zone, and landed behind the back passenger door of one of the cars. As he quickly infiltrated the vehicle, Yugo grabbed the set of daggers that was conveniently lying on the back seat and got out.
He took cover behind a pillar, and threw yet another stone in the direction of the twitching remaining eyes of the monster, who, itself, tried to attack him.
Yugo dodged the blow by transposing himself to a stone thrown a few centimetres above him, threw in the same momentum another stone towards the mouth of the monster, transposed himself, then repeated his action by swinging the stone with the tip of his thumb, narrowly avoiding the blow from the mandibles which brushed against him just a couple centimetres below, letting them close violently on the void.
Then finding himself right in front of one of the two remaining eyes, he threw a dagger into the eye.
Black blood spurted out and Yugo, determined not to give the monster any breathing space, threw a pebble at the ground, transposed himself to it, went and hid behind a column, drew out Kilith's supplements by swallowing two of them, put the pills in a pocket, the daggers on his belt and the pebbles in another pocket.
He ran towards the monster, sword in hand and ready to finish him off.
The monster suddenly lunged forward, creating an earthquake that threw Yugo off balance and he swung his tail in all directions, letting it destroy everything it struck.
A car was hit and flew straight at the reaper, who in an extraordinary acrobatic move, for someone in his condition, managed to avoid the impact.
However, the blast threw him forward, and by the time he got to his feet, his left side had received a vicious "hook" from the monster's tongue.
Yugo felt his poor bones crack again under the impact — too fast and unpredictable to allow him to incant a small barrier — as he went off to kiss the floor of another part of the esplanade with his face.
He was so stunned by the impact that he couldn't even tell that the monster's tail was on top of him, his head aching horribly, blood flowing from his forehead and entering his eyes, and his ears ringing to burst eardrums.
The creature picked Yugo up like an old rag and threw him violently. Once again, his body tore him apart from the inside.
He felt his leg crack again and his arm, already affected, give way completely under the weight of gravity, which made his fall even worse.
Nevertheless, he managed to roll onto his back and concentrate enough energy to restore himself internally.
...But even that did nothing much, really.
His vision was blurred, obstructed both by the blood pouring from his forehead and by his brain still rattling in his skull. There were splinters of bones piercing his flesh, a puddle of blood flowing from his side, and on some part of his arm the bare flesh could be seen.
He nevertheless tried to stand up, but his whole body hurt like hell.
In fact, he was in so much pain that he threw up, and as contradictory as it might be, the vomiting was what kept him from losing consciousness.
As he gasped for breath, feeling the blood filling his throat and lungs, the monster approached him and lifted him up by his feet.
He tried to struggle but, in his state, it was of no use.
Suddenly, a pebble fell from his pocket.
Following an instinct, Yugo waited just as it hit the ground to incanter.
He suddenly found himself in the place of the object and lay there, on the cold, soothing stone floor of the cathedral's esplanade.
The monster, somewhat irritated — at least from what was perceived by Yugo, if such a creature could even feel emotions like those — jumped, but the young man underneath it was too weak to try and avoid the shockwave, let alone the impact of the descent that followed.
Nevertheless, Yugo's body moved unconsciously, conditioned by his survival instinct, and he threw a stone as far as he could, ignoring the pain that was tormenting him.
He thought the spell, and once more, transposed himself to where the piece of rock had landed, near a column. Trying to lean against it, he attempted to stabilise his internal Kilith.
The monster came down with a cataclysmic crash, worthy of a high-amplitude natural disaster. But Yugo felt strangely calm, as if resolved to welcome an end that would soon come.
The Negacion came towards him and grabbed him, dangling him by the tip of his tongue covered in blackish mucus.
Yugo could hear the mandibles snapping, ready to tear him apart in a few moments if he didn't do something.