บท 31: Salter-chan and the Labyrinth
The Minotaur joined his hands together in a motion that looked like some form of wicked prayer. He then opened up his arms and stretched them out as all around him, suddenly, the landscape started changing. It started reverting. Reverting back to his home.
The only place that could hold a beast like him for an entire life. Designed by the greatest architect of Ancient Greece for the sole purpose of being innavigable. The inescapable maze.
DEDALUS LABYRINTHOS
"What... the hell... is this?" Salter uttered as, despite trying her best to avoid it, she was ensnared by the weirdest structure she had ever seen in her life.
All around her, walls made out of green stuff appeared, all several metres high and all with a very robust look. She couldn't understand the materials the blocks that composed the walls were composed of, they looked like some kind of futuristic nanotechnology, with an ever-changing texture and shade of green. At a close distance, she could hear the noises emitted by the Minotaur, and tried to move away from them.
Just then, the labyrinth changed. It would be incorrect to say that the blocks simply shifted position, instead the discorporated, leaving no trace behind them, before reappearing as they occupied a completely different space. Then it happened again. And again. Each time with the horrible, dreadful sound of some kind of fluid-like solid metal falling down, like a thousand nails hitting the ground at the same time.
And so, just in front of Salter's eyes, new pathways opened and closed in the span of a few seconds, leaving her completely unsure of what to do. Where could she run? Where could she hide? How could she even fight him like that?
"I'll clear this maze with my Noble Phantasm." That's what Salter decided for herself. However, before she could unleash Excalibur Morgan and tear down the entire labyrinth, a block of green 'stuff' flew right against her, causing her to crash into a nearby wall which disappeared shortly thereafter. The blocks could shift position, after all.
The noises became closer and closer. Salter was unsure of how to respond to this threat, as she was too busy trying to dodge all the forever-moving blocks that came her way. She just couldn't quite adapt to this new fighting ground.
"It's OK, I'll be fine. I'll get used to it. I just need to focus on getting the hang of it. I'll climb up one of these walls, to see where that monster is hiding, and wipe him out of the place of this world."
She resolved to do this, however, the Minotaur had no intention of letting her get the hang of it. He would break her before she ever got the chance to get used to it, just like it had done with every person during its life.
Just as Salter stepped on top of one of the labyrinth's walls, the wall disappeared and she started falling down, directly where the Minotaur was now, as it pulled back its fist, ready to strike down the enemy using all force necessary.
And so Salter got the shit punched out of her in one hit and was sent flying right into a wall, as the Minotaur was in hot pursuit and added insult to injury by knocking her back even more with a powerful drop kick just when the wall that Salter had been basically splattered on vanished, sending her crashing into another, and another, and another. Then all the walls crashed into her, squeezing her internal organs so much she felt like she was breathing from her kidneys.
All of a sudden, they dissipated, and she was grabbed from behind, and slammed against a new set of futuristic blocks by the Minotaur, who made sure to roll her face all over the new wall and launched Salter pretty hard in an open space, only for a newly-formed wall to kill her momentum.
Salter tried breathing, but could only gasp and cough up blood, still unable to fully comprehend the entire onslaught of attacks she had been subjected to. And the Minotaur seemed completely focused on not letting her think even for a second, as he appeared behind her from a new opening, feigning a punch, only for a wall behind her to hit her at top speed and make her basically fly against the monster's arms, who extended them to inflict her with the most damage ever done by a clothesline.
She felt her back impacting against another wall, making her vomit out some more blood, and realising she couldn't dodge the next attack, she prepared herself to get once again launched once the wall behind her disappeared. Instead, the Minotaur pushed its knee so hard in her stomach that the wall cracked and shattered and she was sent straight through it, cutting herself in the process. The Minotaur cried out in fury but also in some kind of primal satisfaction of its desires.
It was time for the finishing move. Before Salter could even land on the ground, the Minotaur moved its upper body forward and slightly bent its knees, lowering its head. Then, the monster fired off like a bullet.
KRITIKOS TAVROS
Half of the labyrinth ignited as the walls were completely disintegrated and new ones were formed in an attempt to stop an unstoppable rush, just to add more and more damage, until finally, in the greatest act of mercy a creature like that could give, it stopped, letting the human it had hit fly off for a few more metres before breaking the final wall.
Finally, the labyrinth disappeared once more, and the uncharted land became known once more by man. The beast moved forward, admiring its work with a twisted sense of pride.
On the ground laid Salter, bleeding profusely, with numerous internal hemorrhages, shattered bones and spine, a collapsed lung and a chest cavity that had been nearly cracked open like a nut through a nutcracker.
Her entire body was on fire. Or at least, that's what it felt to her. It was probably the only way her brain could comprehend being in so much pain everywhere, every single cell in your body screaming out at once, demanding help, demanding peace, demanding no more suffering... as the pain continued to grow.
The Minotaur knew about pain all too well, as it stepped on what was left of Salter's chest and pressed on it with its strong foot. Salter found out that her vocal chords still somewhat worked as she could hear her own screams of agony, before starting to gargle on her own blood and her vision started getting more and more blurry.
"N-No... it can't end like this... not yet... not yet... I still need to see him... my impressions... my emotions... my feelings... I have to tell them... to confess them all... it can't end like... this... not yet... King of Heroes... please... help me... anyone... please..."
Her mouth kept on moving, but she wasn't saying anything anymore. She entered shock soon after, destined to die in just a few minutes. A hand was already around her neck, ready to snap it.
Salter VS Minotaur
Winner: The Minotaur
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