Chapter 12 – Part 1: Breakthrough
The door exploded inward in a burst of rotten wood and splinters.
My heart didn't skip a beat. It couldn't afford to.
The Maw stood in the wreckage. Hunched, low to the ground, its shoulders rippling like taut cables, that leech-slick head swaying as its non-existent eyes swept the room. There was no screech, no roar. Just breathing. Wet. Measured.
It looked at me.
I looked back.
"Come on, then," I muttered, my voice dry but firm as I spread my legs into a stance, raising my fists.
It charged. Not a warning. No posture. Just pure instinctual violence.
My legs were shaking. My brain still felt like soup. The fatigue from the visions, the black void, the Seed—every piece of me was fraying.
Even my powers felt like they were balancing on a needle.
I couldn't win this by overwhelming it. Not this time.
I had to out-think it.
I let my hand rise—not to launch it back, not to crush it against the wall. No. Just enough to lay a thin net of pressure across its body.
It wouldn't even feel it.
But I would.
And I did.
The moment that invisible field wrapped around it, I could feel it in my mind like I'd wrapped it in gauze. Every limb. Every muscle twitch. I could feel it start to rear one arm back before I even saw it move. I was already dodging before my eyes caught up.
Whssh! The claw swept past me, inches from my nose.
I ducked left, slid right, vaulted over a shattered chair, my body screeching each time in protest but was promptly ignored.
Every time it lunged, I felt it coming in my mind first—like I was seeing the future in microseconds.
I slipped a diagonal slash, jolted back from claws aimed at my throat and damn near combat rolled away from a bear hug.
But despite my evasion so far, I knew I couldn't hold this for long. My breath was growing uneven and my heartbeat was an unsteady drum.
I needed to finish this soon. Before I gassed myself out. Before this place was crawling with the hive.
So I stopped retreating. Instead, upon slipping one of its attacks, I stepped in.
My fist clenched, and I gathered a burst of force—not too much. Not like before. I had to control it.
BOOM—! My punch landed in its gut.
It took one step back…but I took three.
'Shit!'
Agony ripped through my shoulder as if my entire arm had been yanked out of place. I stumbled, catching myself with a grunt.
"Damn it," I hissed. "That... hurt me more than it hurt him." I thought. Me from a while ago would have been proud at making that thing stagger from a punch of mine.
However, not me now. No, this wasn't good enough.
I clutched my shoulder, grimacing. If I kept this up, I'd tear myself apart before I ever wore the thing down.
But I couldn't stop.
Not because I didn't have options—I did. But they'd cost too much. Bigger moves meant more strain. The kind of strain I was already too close to collapsing under.
My mind was already in overtime and was overheating, anymore and I'd feel like it would literally melt.
No, I needed this to work.
This punch. This method…all for my plan.
Because my real weapon wasn't the hit. It was what came after.
I looked at my fists, then down at the Maw. My telekinetic field was still draped faintly over it. I could feel its feet shuffling. It was winding up for another lunge.
Good.
"Alright," I muttered. "Let's try again."
I stepped forward as it charged. This time, I braced. Not just my arm. My whole body.
I imagined my legs locking into the floor, my ribs compressed inward, my back like a steel rod. I cast my telekinetic field inward, focusing it around my own joints so that they weren't blown into chaos like before.
Anchor.
I swung.
CRACK! The Maw staggered back two full steps. My feet skidded, but I didn't fly this time.
"It worked…but I can do better!"
Sweat exploded off my face like mist from a wave. My muscles screamed—but they held. My shoulder ached—but it didn't dislocate.
I grinned.
BOOM. Another punch.
This time, I shifted my stance, pushing the kinetic energy downward, letting it bleed through my legs, into the floorboards. The old wood cracked beneath me.
Again, I felt improvement, like my weak body of a 12 year old boy wasn't barely being held together.
"Come on," I said through gritted teeth. "Let's see how far this goes."
The Maw lunged.
I ducked under its claw, let it pass over me, twisted, and slammed my fist into its side.
BOOM.
More sweat. More cracks in the floor. More blood trickling from my nose as the sleeve on my arm tore from the dispersed force.
But my body held.
I could feel it now—the perfect rhythm. Brace, strike, distribute. The telekinetic force wasn't just in my punch. It was behind it. With it.
Every strike, every movement—I refined it. I learned.
When I punched too fast? My wrist buckled. When I didn't brace my knees? My thigh almost tore. I had to correct on the fly.
But I was adapting. Faster than ever.
And this was the result…an immovable object delivering an unstoppable force.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The Maw started retreating almost as if it knew.
'And I want it to…'
A part of me had forgotten for a second why I was doing everything.
A part of me delivered these blows continuously, staring the Maw done as I physically overpowered it, beating it at its own game as if to mock him.
I didn't give it time to breathe. I pressed forward, strike after strike. Each punch more stable. Each swing more efficient.
In a moment of respite, it was able to raise arm and desperately swing.
However, I didn't fret.
My eyes wide, blood now coating my upper lip and seeping from both nostrils, I stared down the incoming attack.
I caught its claw mid-air and blocked, unaffected as my fingers wrapped around its arm, the scene looking as though the creature attempted to strike a brick wall.
Without wasting a second, I yanked its arm, simultaneously connecting my fist into its chest with a devastating BOOM, a gut wrenching CRACK following this time too.
I was breathing hard now. Every exhale came out like steam. My eyes burned. My vision blurred with heat.
But I didn't stop.
I punched again. And again.
BOOM.
The floor around us had become cratered. Dust floated in the air like ash. My sleeves had torn, my hands raw.
The Maw reeled back, its body fashioning disturbing craters as its skin caved in, stumbling on malformed legs.
I took a breath—then staggered.
Everything hit me at once.
The blood in my nose gushed as my legs buckled, the white in my eyes invaded by a crimson red.
I dropped to one knee.
All the telekinetic reinforcement collapsed and deactivated at once.
My body was screaming for rest.
But my eyes stayed locked on the creature.
It stepped forward. Slow. Confused.
I could feel its stare. Predatory. Curious.
Then it raised its arm for one last swing.
I didn't flinch.
I just smiled.
"I can almost see them," I whispered.
The creature froze.
"All the needles," I said. "Lodged right where I needed them." I muttered, my eyes tracing every part of the body I hit…and simultaneously launched a wooden needle in.
I raised both hands.
"This is for that first day, motherfucker."
My fingers closed into fists.
SSSHHHHHKKKKKKKKKK—!!!
I couldn't see it, but I could feel it.
Dozens of wooden splinters buried in its flesh twisted, spun, shredded from the inside out like a blender.
The Maw convulsed.
It screeched—wet, desperate, agonized.
And then it dropped. Face-first.
'Good riddance.'
Silence returned.
I didn't move. Couldn't.
Hell…
THUD
I dropped face first onto the ground as my heavy eyelids threatened to shut.
I found refuge in the cold cratered ground…or was it wet from the toxicity and mold of the upside down…or maybe it had generated some heat from all the force I had been channelling into it…I truly couldn't tell.
All I knew is that I wanted to do nothing more than to lay there and shut my eyes, never to wake up, knowing that this pain I felt in my body wasn't something that would go away no matter how long I waited.
'No…I can't…not yet.'
It took me a full minute, but I made it to my knees, then struggled and stumbled to my feet as my arms lay limp beside me.
I stood in the middle of a ruin. My home—what was left of it—had become a warzone.
I looked around.
Cracked floor. Broken walls. Scorch marks. Blood. Dust.
This wasn't a base anymore.
It was a grave.
I limped down the stairs, every step heavy.
I found what I could.
Compass. Still intact.
Notes. Still legible.
My carved weapons.
My mask—ripped and half melted. I grabbed a piece of cloth, tore it, and tied a new one.
The back door creaked open behind me. I didn't turn around.
I packed it all into a brown sack, tied it to a stick, and slung it over my shoulder.
As I walked toward the front door, I stopped.
Turned back.
"This place... it was the closest thing I've had to a home in my whole life."
My eyes were bloodshot. My muscles were almost torn, held together by thin membranes. But my grip on the handle was firm.
"Goodbye."
I shut the door.
And started walking.
Next stop... the lab.
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I personally enjoyed writing that one, lol. What's not to like about a fight scene, eh? So, what do you say, huh? Do I deserve them Powerstones now?