Those words echoed across the crater. A mass of muscle collided with the steel abomination with so much force, it was thrown to the ground.
Standing on top of its chest this time was the glowing figure, Coal. This time, his crown was accentuated by two horns bursting from his forehead. He had grown 2 feet more and his already imposing frame was bursting at the seams. It looked like his body was growing into something else.
Not wasting a second, his hands clasped into a solid rock of muscle he slammed them down. This time there was a loud crack, as the armor of the Tyrant finally gave into the pressure of both Coal and the Drake's onslaught.
The golem had hit the ground weirdly. Two of its arms were pinned under its own weight. Every attempt to move was thwarted by the impacts from the meteor-like blows raining down from the fiery human.
It's one free hand swung at the glowing demon-like man, but the Drake caught it. Biting down and holding its arm in place. It looked as if the two had finally done it.But Coal's flames, as fierce as they are, were dying out quickly. His horns were shrinking fast. Will assumed when they went away Coal would be finished in this fight, one way or another.
Will rushed forward with his Sort-of-Sharp knife as another deafening blow was followed by a harrowing crack and the metal beast let out a groan. Coal initially didn't notice, but steam began to leak from the cracks in the Golem's chest as the internal heat was escaping.
Once he does, he shoves his hands in the cracks. His muscles bulge, straining to rip up the outer shell of the metal beast. The steam was already rapidly leaving the cracks but gaining intensity, whistling louder as more cracks continue forming.
"KILLL!" Coal seemed to lose his mind in whatever form he was in. Hana had said his powers made him angry but I guess he can't control himself past a point, just recklessly attacking his target regardless of his body. As Will finally finds his legs and closes the distance, he could see blood leaking from every orifice on Coal's face as he strained to tear the abomination apart.
"RELEASE ME!" The tyrant's mechanical voice had a tinge of emotion in it. Was it….was it scared?
For some reason, that thought filled Will with anger. After how ruthless this creature was while keeping so many humans hostage, it had the nerve to feel fear?
Coal was probably thinking the same thing as he finally tore it open with one last burst of energy. In a blast of steam, Coal was thrown from atop the Smith. His horns almost completely gone and his face, body was in tatters, burns everywhere.
Will takes advantage of the opportunity. But for some reason he was out of breath. His body was in pain all over. His heart was racing, he could feel it trying to break out of his chest. He was sprinting to it, ignoring the high temperatures.
The Golem was straining against the Drake, as it still bit down on the Tyrants' arm near the ground. Will, using the head of the Drake as a stepping stool, leaps up and to the opening of the metallic body of the Tyrant.
Still not thinking, he barely feels the blistering heat as he jumps in. Lunging forward with Not-So-Sharp heating up scalding his hands, he suddenly freezes.
Inside the Golem was a man. He looked asleep, his eyes closed and the body of the Golem seemed to have grown in around him. But he recognized this man.
How could he not? He saw him every time he looked into the metal at his reflection.
'Perfect clone' Hana had said. Was this man a clone? Or was this the real body of her deceased husband?
He couldn't think in this damn heat. Before the pebbles could turn, he gets literally shaken up.
The body of the Golem rattles as it is on the verge of freeing its other arm. What was he doing? He needs to kill this thing! Bringing up the knife again, the skin on his feet and face was peeling being so close to the opening.
Will had noticed a red core at the center of the man's chest. He hoped that was a weakness, like some sort of power cell for the Golem body. He stabs at it with all his might.
The knife sunk in with no hilt to stop it.
For a moment there was no response.
Then instead of the voice of the spell, Will heard a different sound.
A beeping that started slow and was rapidly growing faster.
'Shit shit shit shit' Was all he could think. Tumbling off the Golem, Will is not concerned with burns on his back and knees now. Will punched Coal hoping to wake him. The man gripped his throat and was moments from snapping his neck before realizing it was him and dropped him.
"Ughh, RUN!" Will coughed out at the Golem. Coal must've still had something left in his head. Because as Will was already running, Coal caught up to him and picked him up without skipping a beat or slowing down. They didn't get very far away before the Golem exploded the shockwave throwing them to the ground and Coal throwing himself over Will's body.
Will's ears were still ringing like crazy.
[Your memory has been destroyed]
[You have slain awakened tyrant, Rune-Smith Golem Gelt]
…
[You received a…]
…
Where was the notification for the end of a nightmare? He hardly registered that he received something because he was still in his Nightmare. Why?
Will rolled the barely breathing body of Coal off of him with that thought. His ears still ringing and still dizzy he looked back from the direction of the explosion. The cloud of black smoke was tall, reaching the ash of the sky.
"Coal, we did it buddy. We killed that thing" Will turned to help Coal up. It took a lot of effort but the absolute unit still had the strength to stand after everything. Was he really just awakened? What could someone like him become if he was allowed to grow to the higher ranks?
Will, in his stupor, was still stunned by the fact that he had really killed the Golem. There was a flash of movement and Coal threw him to the ground. When Will looked up, Drake was doing it's best to close its mouth on the torso of Coal, who had pushed him out of the way.
The Drake had tried to ambush HIM? After all of this?
"WILL!" Even from where he was, he could see Coal's arms violently shaking, barely able to hold the demon back.
Rushing forward, Will pulled out the only weapon he had. The bone knife Coal had shown him how to make after his first fight with the Rapid Blazetail. Jumping on to the back of the drake he stabbed into it as hard as he could. The blade helplessly glanced off its scales.
Will was thrown off to the side from the force of his swing, staring directly into the eye of the Drake. Something was off. It seemed different. Devoid of its personality, it didn't even seem to recognize him, just trying to eat the two of them.
Shaking that off, he noticed that the scar that was on top of the Drake's head never healed over with new scales. A permanent wound on its head.
Will gripped the knife one last time. Taking only one more moment.
"Thank you. Both of you. For everything." He said in a soft voice.
Even as he was struggling Coal laughed.
"Not dead yet. You WILL be a great Fighter. Finish it and Survive"
These were the last words he heard from the manliest man he ever met. Who's name he never learned.
Will drove the knife with all his remaining strength into the soft flesh of the Drake. Cutting so easily, as if the soft flesh of the lizard wasn't even there the whole knife disappeared into it's skull.
[You have slain awakened demon, Royal Meteor Drake]
[Wake up, Will! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal]