The Clash

"Hinata, the two of us need to slow the monster down right now," Fulvius shouts.
We settle into the perfect spot in the corner and begin the spell. Movements of the enormous plant, which weren't exactly quick before, are now incredibly slow. Casting this spell comes naturally to me.

"Superb work. Just keep going," Fulvius praises me.

I smile, and the fact that he acknowledged me only makes me want to work harder. While we are doing our part, Emiko and Hideki take the stakes out from their rucksacks. To our surprise, Emiko takes the lead and moves first. She approaches the beast with confidence and shouts "How dare you, you shithead. You will pay for what you did."

After approaching her quickly, Hideki positions himself in front of her. We literally freeze the plant monster's movements, and then I yell, "Now!"

Hideki slashes the stake through a few of the monster's front-facing eyes. When Emiko notices this, she does the same on the other side. She doesn't stop there; she does it again and again.

Her acts are bringing both pent-up anger and despair to the surface. She eliminates all of the creature's eyes from that petal. The petal is soaked in green liquid now.

"Great job guys, try to destroy each and every one of its eyes, and then we'll go on to the spell that will suck its lifeforce," Fulvius announces before returning his attention to freezing the monster.

Unexpectedly, the creature is becoming less susceptible to our magic. It actually broke free from it for a brief moment and kicked Emiko away.

Emiko moans loudly, and her cheek is bleeding. There were branches on the ground that tore it. Hideki is still standing and injuring the monster's eyes. For the time being, he manages to dodge the enraged beast's attempts to smash him, but if we don't find a means to slow the plant down, he won't last long.

"It's not going to work, Hinata. No matter how much effort we put in, the freezing spell is fading away. You keep doing it on your own. I'm counting on you," Fulvius says.
"What are you going to do, Fulvius?" I ask.

Fulvius opens his rucksack and takes his own stake from it. He then says, "I will go and help Hideki-kun. We must blind the beast." I'm not quite satisfied with Fulvius going on the terrain, but that only fuels my determination to succeed in completing the spell. I have to keep them safe.

My ability grows alongside my sudden surge in willpower. I notice that the plant has become absolutely motionless once more. I don't say anything because they are all so focused. Even Emiko gets up from the ground to assist them. They all get their clothes dirty from the green liquid that spouts everywhere.

The beast lets out a loud screech the moment my spell is broken. It tries to expand the petals wide so that its energy, which resembles a tornado, can be released. But it can't. I recast the same spell, and the creature is rendered entirely powerless.

"Great Hinata! We are almost done," Fulvius shouts as he angrily pounds the stake in the monster’s final pair of eyeballs.

Everything would be perfect since the monster is now entirely blind, if only I didn't start to feel drowsy. All of a sudden, I have a hard time staying awake. I'm exhausted and weak. By the time Fulvius gets close to me, my vision is rather blurry. My consciousness quickly fades, and I start to collapse landing on Fulvius' arms.

"Hinata, Hinata," Fulvius' voice calls to me as I slip into a trance-like state. I spot a lump of greenish flesh that is pulsating quickly. Following that, the environment begins to fill with the monster's blood, and it directly asks me, "Why make me only to kill me?"

I'm stunned. The plant monster asked me a question even though I was unable to hear a word.

It appears right in front of me. It is covered in holes, and since the green lump which is placed in the centre can be seen through the holes, I believe that it is the heart of the creature. The holes are also leaking liquid. This entire scene makes me nauseous.
"Why do you want to kill me?" it inquires once more.

I have no intention to respond. I decide to stand up after recognizing that I am laying on the ground. At this point, I remember the spell and despite the fact that this all may be an illusion, my brain playing tricks on me, I cast it.

The monster stops moving and I notice liquid spurting out of one of the holes in the same way that water would from a punctured balloon.
Outside voices get through to me. "Hinata, get up." Along with them, there is a loud shriek and the sound of something thumping on the ground.

Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to break out of this state and properly assist them. There is something like an electrical glass barrier preventing me from leaving this place. I begin to doubt if the voices are really genuine and have concerns about the actual situation they are in. I desperately want to save them, so I concentrate on the magic. The least I can do is try to help them, even if it doesn't work.

To my surprise, I see the same repulsive green lump explode through all of the perforations. When that happens, I manage to break through the glass barrier and I see the bright white light.