She could breathe fire, so bringing her hadn’t totally been for her ability to fly.
As the dust began to settle, Master Aki walked out of it holding two heads, one for each sentry. I knew this was a life or death moment, but I couldn’t help but remark at how badass my mentor was.
“Hopefully we’ve gotten her attention,” I declared to Master Aki, surveying the rubble that was the entrance to her cave. If she was in there, she was buried alive. The grenade was a smart idea; we might not even have to kill her. We could starve her out and keep her trapped in there.
Flicking my gaze over my shoulder, I made sure Dawn was watching my back, which she was, and then I turned back to the collapsed cave entrance.
The rocks… were shaking. Like each one contained a battery and was set on high, they were all vibrating.
“Get back!” Master Aki screamed, his arm coming out to push me behind him just as every rock barring the cave entrance exploded outward in our direction.
I barely had time to flinch, never mind take cover, but Master Aki had thrown himself over me. We were knocked back, with him landing halfway on top of me. With a groan, he rolled off me holding his stomach.
“Master Aki!” I scrambled to my feet and checked him over. His lip was bleeding but his head looked okay. I was about to check his stomach when a shrill cackle came from the mouth of the cave.
“Kit Steele comes to challenge me at last,” a raspy, feminine yet primal voice called out.
I swiveled and lay my sights on the mother of all ghouls. Looking at her, it all became clear to me. She had the colored, ropy hair like the giants and the build of a sentry with the skin of a grunt. On her back were four tentacles like the skids had, all serrated. She was like a freaking mutant of all of them. Except the Galadrias. I didn’t spy anything of them in her and I wondered if they even originated here.
“You make them all,” I said with wonder.
She grinned, showcasing serrated, shark-like teeth. “I am the mother of everything you see.” She opened her arms wide, “and I will also be your end.”
I’d somehow been so enamored with what she looked like that I’d forgotten I came here to kill her. Her tentacles shot out for me, but Master Aki lurched forward and cut the tips off of two of them, while I was able to dodge the other two.
I stepped forward to run at her, but it felt like I was walking through cement. My legs were slow and shaky.
“She’s controlling you! Use your power!” my mentor shouted.
Mental combat was not my strong suit, but I cleared my mind and tried to connect with the force pushing in on me.
Holy Mother, she was strong.
I felt her in my mind, weighing on me like a ton of bricks, pushing at the edges and trying to break me.
Pain.I pushed out at her and she grinned.
“That’s cute,” she huffed, still not having moved from her place at the entrance of her cave.
A searing hot pain like I was being lit on fire exploded up my back and I screamed.
Everything happened so fast. Master Aki threw another grenade, and at the same time I heard bullets snap from his gun. Dawn lurched forward, breathing a stream of fire so that the queen breeder couldn’t move away from the grenade, and I just writhed on the ground with the pain she’d stuck me in.
The bomb went off, throwing me back a few feet, and suddenly Master Aki was in my face. “That’s all I got, the rest is up to you, Kit. Go deep, don’t be afraid of that power. You’re not a little girl anymore, you can handle it now.”
The pain had subsided when the bomb went off. I’d hoped it was because she was dead, but I knew better. This bitch would be hard to kill. It would take all three of us, no doubt.
Standing, I waited for the rubble to settle and went within myself. Deep inside the recesses of my mind was a great power. It felt like an earthquake, and if I were to let it loose, it might erupt and I’d lose my sanity.
Maybe going insane would be worth it if it meant defeating this monster and ending the Dream Wars. Either way, I couldn’t afford to just sit idly anymore. With a shaky breath, I pulled the zipper on my mental power, letting it flow fully.
“Yes!” Master Aki shouted as the hairs on my arms stood up. It felt like I’d just swallowed lightning; everything in my body was alive.
A blur to my right had me spinning just in time to see the breeder lunging for me, two shiny blades in her hands.
Without panicking, I raised my katanas and felt for the air around her body. There was space there, but the space was not empty; it was filled with matter, energy. I froze that energy with my mind somehow, by instinct, and she stopped her advance like she’d run into a brick wall.
The shock on her face caused me to grin.
