My Choice

After giving myself some time to think, I decided to head back toward the village to see what happened myself. And for some reason, Rakki decided to go with me. He clearly wasn’t concerned about the humans, but I can’t say I was either.

Then, without the grace of a cat, a large feline form approached me.

“Have you deceived us?” Its voice was still being projected directly into my head.

“Quite the way to start a conversation. I’m glad to see you too.”

“The humans are gone. We destroyed their village, but it was empty. Abandoned. What did you do?”

“Ha? Don’t blame me for your lack of foresight.” Thinking about it, it probably was right though. After the commotion I caused the night before, and the half eaten horse I left behind, the villagers probably thought it was just time to cut their losses and leave this place behind. “I’m not responsible for those humans.”

“True. And there will be others. Humans are abundant.”

“Not wasting any time, huh?”

“We have been wasting time for centuries. We need only pick a new feeding ground.”

“Have you considered Aizus? I hear the weather is lovely this time of year.” Safe to say I knew nothing about whatever Aizus is, I was just parroting something Rakki brought up.

“Perhaps we shall, but first, we shall search for the one you took. I can still smell her in these woods. Then we will consider hunting the others.”

“Hmm. Well, that sounds like a good plan, but I don’t think I’ll let you. Yeah, you know what? I think I’ll stop you.”

“We understand. You broke the deal for this? So you could try and remove us for good?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at its misunderstanding.

“Do you really think I’m the kind of person who would plan something like that? I’m just acting on a whim. A whim.”

“For what purpose? Would you risk your life for those we hunt?”

“For them? A bunch of people that gave up on worshiping me? Not a chance. Even if I hadn’t broken the deal, in 25 years they wouldn’t have sent a sacrifice. You’d have killed them all anyway. I couldn’t care less about what happens to them. There’s only one person I’ll risk anything for: me.”

“Then why? We have no plans to harm you.”

“Who knows? I don’t really have a reason, let alone a good one. Maybe it’s just because I thought you were annoying from the beginning.”

Despite my words I knew what I was doing, and why I was doing it. I wanted to make a choice, even if it was a bad one. I wanted to show that I was alive. You can’t become the person you were before, and you can’t change who you are now, but you can decide who you’ll be going forward. That’s why I needed to make a choice. It was a choice I would have never made, and one that she certainly wouldn’t have made either. That’s what made an absolutely foolish thing like this the best option I had. I’d show those humans that I could make bad decisions with the worst of them. Some boring spirit of the forest would never do something like this.

Forget being a god. Who cares about gathering devotees and rewarding their worship? I’m going to be the kind of person who does one last favor for the girl she used to like after causing her no shortage of troubles. Does she want my help? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I’m just doing what I want.

“Don’t bother telling me that’s a stupid reason to risk my life, I already know. But it’s my choice, and after all, I don’t have a life to risk. So come on. I don’t have all day to be wasting on you.”

“You would stay in that form?”

“It’s the only one I’ve got!”

I put all the energy I could summon into my legs and charged forward, closing the distance between us faster than I thought possible. After making my declaration I’d planned on catching it off guard. My plan was not successful. By the time I was within range its massive clawed paw was sweeping through the right side of my body. My arm, shoulder, and a large portion of my chest were missing.

Unlike the clean sword wounds from the previous night, my body was rent. The pain should have been unbearable, but what did it matter?

Without hesitating I swung my still attached left arm toward the reaver. I couldn’t generate much force with so much of my body missing, but it was something. As my fist approached the darker than black fur I was aiming for, something started to change. The fur shifted and melted, reforming into a gaping maw filled with rows of jagged teeth. My attempt to pull back was too late. This new mouth latched on to my arm, holding me in place as the reaver brought its right paw back up and backhanded me.

My arm was forcibly ripped to pieces as I was flung through the air, eventually smashing my back into a tree. I stood up and tensed my freshly formed fingers for a moment before looking back at my enemy.

“You know, you’re actually pretty strong. Is it too late to take back my decision? Not that I plan on doing it either way.”

I once again closed the distance between us. This time the reaver swung low. I didn’t bother trying to dodge as my lower body was torn off. My upper half continued with the momentum it had and slammed into the giant cat’s face. I grabbed its fur tight enough to cause my fingers to bleed while headbutting with everything I had. Once my legs reformed I started throwing my fists out in wide arcs, smashing into the reavers head.

After a few hits the reaver used its paws to wipe me off its face, crushing me into the ground. I used what was left of my body to roll back before regenerating enough to stand up.

As I looked at my target I couldn’t find a trace of damage. It would seem even with my enhanced strength my last attack did absolutely nothing.

“Now you see what kind of threat you’re dealing with? Feel like giving up?” I couldn’t laugh at my own joke.

“We will crush the vessel until nothing remains, then we shall continue our hunt.”

This time it charged at me. It was fast enough to make my dash look like a leisurely stroll. As I watched a large paw swinging down at me I readied a punch of my own to intercept it. I didn’t know any kind of martial arts or anything, so I just decided to put everything I had into a normal punch.

The result was unexpected. My fist, and by extension, my arm, were obliterated. That part was expected. The surprising thing was that the oppressive paw raining down on me was destroyed as well.

One of the reaver’s front legs was replaced with a vortex of shadow. As darkness continued to swirl for a moment before taking the form of a new leg.

“Hey! What kind of cheap ability is that? I’m supposed to be the regenerating one!”

The reaver didn’t bother taking the obvious bait. The one time I try to set someone else up to be the straight man they completely ignore me.

Finally recognizing me as a threat, the reaver was done taking things slow. Left arm. Neck. Right arm. Torso. Right arm. Legs. Upper body.

The damage and recovery started coming in too fast for me to keep track of. By the time I realized something was missing it was already back, and something else had already been torn off or smashed to bits.

But it wasn’t completely one sided. For every nine mortal wounds I received I managed to deliver one as well. How? I wasn’t completely sure, and I didn’t have the time or energy to figure it out, but it had to be Rakki. I don’t know a thing about magic, but I could tell I was under the effect of a spell. Every muscle in my body was exploding with an unnatural strength that I couldn’t contain. I was constantly being ripped apart from the inside while constantly being restored. Rakki must have noticed how useless my first few punches were and cast an enchantment on me.

At least, that’s what I thought at first. Rakki later explained that I was the one who caused it to happen. While I could never learn to control magic, as a magical creature myself I had the power to manifest effects like that by using my own life as fuel. Once I accepted that I wasn’t a human the mental block on my abilities was lifted.

Yeah, I didn’t understand what he was talking about either.

Getting back on topic, the pain was horrid, but its presence helped me ignore all the other injuries inflicted upon me.

This incredibly dangerous game of back and forth continued for some time. I think it must have been at least five minutes; my head had been destroyed so many times it was hard to keep track. The only thing that could stop us was a miracle, and that’s what we got. An angel descended.

Eris dropped down from the heavens, the skeptics out there might say she dropped from a tree branch, and landed on the back of the soul reaver. She pulled two arrows from her quiver, stabbing them into the reaver’s eyes before jumping off. She landed on the ground with no time to avoid the reactionary claw swipe aimed in her direction.

Rather than the flesh of a beautiful elf, that claw met with the large shield of Sanson, still missing a few key pieces of armor. Sanson, with Eris pushing on his back, was forced across the ground from the impact, but he was unharmed.

Eris looked over and saw me staring.

“It looks like we got here early.”

“Don’t say that whenever you notice I’m still alive!”

“Haha, glad to see you two still getting along, but we’ve got a bit more work to do.”

Sanson’s eyes never left the reaver as he spoke. Despite his appearance, behavior, and overall character he might actually be pretty good at his job.

“Wait, what are you two doing here anyway? I can imagine why Rakki would help, but there shouldn’t be any reason for you guys to risk your lives with me.” After saying that out loud, I realized that Rakki didn’t have a reason to help me either. And in hindsight, he was the only one who wasn’t helping at all.

“Haha, a foolish question, Rem my friend. We’re adventurers! We don’t need a reason. It’s our job to exterminate dangerous beasts like this.”

“What happened to your responsibilities to other adventurers? You’re going to damage the industry!”

“Don’t worry, in times of need it's normal for adventurers to act without compensation. The government will reward anyone who removes a troublesome monster.”

I was ripped off! I was starting to think he was actually a good guy, but he’s not to be trusted.

“And besides, Rem my friend, you’ve got to come finish our quests! Haha, our work has only just begun!”

I’m being taken advantage of!

“Can we do it? This thing is like me, it keeps regenerating.”

“Like you? No, I won’t have you insulting my work like that.” Rakki spoke for the first time since I started fighting. Or maybe this was just the first time I bothered to listen. “Your body regenerates in the truest fashion. What was lost will return. That big cat is a cheap imitation. It doesn’t regenerate, it reforms itself.”

“Huh? What do the details matter if the result is the same?”

“The same? Listen for once you failed experiment.” The truth came out! “While its body may be inherently formless, it has a limited amount of souls that it can use to create whatever form it chooses.”

“Wait a second, doesn’t that mean I just have to keep punching it?”

“In theory.”

“All right, we can do this.”

“In theory. In reality, you two are on a completely different level. You couldn’t even properly defeat him in your original form. I can’t imagine you ever winning this.”

“Lead with that part! Isn’t this the kind of development where friendship was the key to victory?”

“No, almost certainly not.”

Fair enough. It’s not like I put any effort into foreshadowing that kind of resolution.

“Fine. We’ll move on to the next strategy: let’s run.”

“Huh?”

I’m not sure who said that, probably all three.

“It’s strong, but slow.” Safe to say I made that claim up on the spot. “We’ll need to split up and regroup later. Eris, head south. Sanson, east. Rakki, north. I’ll head west. Okay, let’s go.”

I didn’t bother giving a countdown or starting word, I didn’t even bother considering how we were supposed to meet up later. I just ran. That was enough of a signal.

In those types of situations you should never look back. Nothing I could’ve seen would change the fact that I needed to keep running. Whether the soul reaver was behind me or not, I couldn't stop.

That being said, I turned my head back to take a quick look. Four sets of eyes were staring back.

“Eris! Are you following me? I don’t want to part either, but you were supposed to go south. That’s the safest direction, away from the center of the forest.”

“It isn’t, and did you really think I’d listen to a plan from you? I’m going this direction because as a first resort we can sacrifice you to distract it.”

“Sanson! You were supposed to go east, together we’re a bigger target.”

“I’m not sure I follow, I am heading east.”

“Rakki! I didn’t expect anything from you, so I don’t really care.”

“Great. I wasn’t going to be the only one left out.”

Needless to say, the fourth set of eyes belonged to an unhappy cat.