Artorias spent nearly two entire hours hiding in that same spot on the ceiling, covered in his shroud of shadows and listening with his enhanced hearing for any movement.
His muscles had begun to burn within the first ten minutes. Then they started to ache at fifteen minutes. By the thirty-minute mark his feet were beginning to throb and his back tingled with stings of pain.
Anybody else would have begun fidgeting by then, moving around to stop the pain from consuming them.
But Artorias had long grown accustomed to pain. To him, it was more akin to a tool than any real sensation, helping him clear his mind and keep his focus sharp.
His patience—and stubbornness—was soon rewarded.
The steps leading to the shrine subtly shook, small tremors vibrating through them and into the building itself. The sound of large feet treading cautiously up the broken steps echoing in his mind.
It stopped as it reached the top, and he could practically feel the chimera's single eye glaring at the monastery.
Suddenly, it lifted one of its large feet and crashed it into the ground, causing the entire building around him to shake and tremble. Dust and smaller pieces of wood fell on him, but he didn't budge from where he sat.
'That was a warning.' his grip on the hooked claw in his hand grew stronger.
It most definitely knew he was somewhere in the shrine, but he doubted it knew exactly where he was.
The chimera didn't offer him any more warning after that.
For a moment it was quiet, until the distinctive sound of something clicking sounded from outside. It was quickly followed by a hissing noise and a sudden spike of the temperature rising.
'Oh, that bastard- '
His danger sense screamed, and he pulled on the lightning sitting in his chest with all the urgency he could muster.
The world around him slowed but it was already too late.
He watched almost in slow motion as the entrance of the shrine collapsed, flickering tongues of orange and red sweeping through the doors which had stood only a second before.
His body moved so quickly, he could have sworn he saw a flicker of golden lightning follow his trail. Spirit Energy burned through his muscles and bones, enforcing his arms as he broke through the roof above him.
But the fire was quick, it was deadly, and it was unnatural.
Faster than the lightning in his chest, it latched onto the wood of the shrine and began to burn and consume anything it could reach.
By the time the roof above him began to collapse, it was already at his feet, the fire spreading quickly and devouring the shrine within seconds.
His head popped out first, a greedy gasp of air being swallowed as he latched onto a shadow and pulled.
He tumbled out of a tree, his vision growing slightly blurry.
'Shit! I got some smoke in my lungs,'
Artorias fell to his knees with a wheeze, focusing his healing factor on his no doubt damaged lungs. Whatever that fire was, it wasn't natural, which meant the smoke it produced was all the deadlier.
His danger sense screamed at him, and he only saw a shadow of something large descend on him before he was rolling to his right, lunging away.
He was lucky that he did, because not a moment sooner, did the chimeras right arm pierce the ground he had been standing on.
Coughing, he forced his head up and looked for another shadow.
The sound of rustling grass alerted him that he didn't have time to be picky.
Choosing without thinking, he grasped onto the first shadow he could find and wretched himself forward. Missing another swipe of sharp claws that would have torn him apart.
A shadow, this time smaller, but no less deadly, descended on him as soon as he appeared.
Cursing in the confines of his mind, he jumped to his left, avoided the morning star and could only grunt as the chimera used the remainder of its tail as a whip, hitting him with the force of a truck.
His ribs cracked, his lungs wheezed but he moved with the force of the attack, rolling over the ground and using the shadows created by the fire to avoid another strike of the descending morning star.
Pulling on more lightning as he reappeared, the world around him sharpened, his bones felt like they were vibrating as he reached the limit of how much he could use of Solthia's Talent without experiencing any pain.
Forcing himself to stand, his throat hurt with the urge to cough, but he did his best to ignore it. His legs wobbled but he forced himself to stand upright and meet the single eye of his hunter.
"I should have expected that," he said to it, pointing the hooked claw in his hand at the chimera and covering his mouth to cough, grimacing at the feeling of wet blood.
The abomination let out a maddening laugh, the sound more akin to a screech than anything human, as it threw its head back.
He hated to admit it, but it had every right to laugh at him.
Artorias knew that it would go out and gain more abilities to use, the fact that he didn't account for some type of fire breath was the height of foolishness.
From the two-hundred and sixteen chimeras to be examined and fought since the beginning of the collapse, every single one of them had shown to have the ability of some sort of breath related ability.
Fire was the most common medium, the most famous myth of the chimera in Greek mythology was their fire breath after all. But they weren't limited to it.
Some had water and ice, others focused on winds or lightning, there were even a rare few that worked with toxic fumes.
Really, for someone who had obsessively researched them in his younger days, that was an oversight he couldn't believe he had made.
When the chimera finally calmed down, it wiped one of its claws near its eye, as if it was wiping a tear of laughter from there.
"You're a comedian." He said with all the dryness he could muster, trying desperately to stall enough time for his healing factor to heal his damaged lungs and cleanse the smoke from within.
Unfortunately for him, the chimera was smart, and it wouldn't fall for such a cheap trick.
Lunging at him with two quick steps of its large feet, it swiped at him with both of its claws.
Pulling on the experience he had gained over the past two weeks; he changed how his senses were being enhanced, shifting and tilting invisible ratios and began to move.
Their little dance lasted for all of three breaths.
He stepped past the first swipe easily, tilting his entire body with the motion to have the wind generated by its swipe graze him, his hair flowing from the breeze.
Using the momentum, he ducked under the second swipe, coming to stand right next to its still damaged chest.
The hook in his hand gleamed, the perfect opportunity to strike revealing itself.
But…this was a Fallen Spawn with an intelligence that rivalled his own, an intelligence that held the same twisted spark as he did.
It could create convoluted plans as easily as it breathed. Every movement was thought out, every possible reaction was seen through, every risk was accounted for.
It may have seemed like Artorias had gotten the perfect opening, but such an easy opening was what made it so suspicious.
His mind, enhanced by the lightning in his chest, allowed him to think and account for multiple variables at the same rate that the chimera could.
'Which meant…'
His danger sense spiked even as the shadows under his body pooled. The hooked claw, originally aimed to pierce, was instead used to slice.
On the third breath of this dance, emerald scales on its lower body shattered under his quick swipe, drawing a line of black blood as he fell into the shadows.
Not a moment later, the chimera's morning star flew uselessly at where he had been standing, in between its outstretched arms and body and hitting nothing.
He appeared in the shadows created by the fire, the burning shrine crackling behind him as he flicked the hook clean off the blood staining its edge.
The chimera released a low hiss, spinning its body with the movement of the morning star before flicking it forward, making it pierce through the air.
Artorias didn't even flinch as it landed right beside him, cracking concrete and shaking the ground.
The abomination narrowed its eye at him, and he couldn't help but crack a grin.
"That makes us even."
Scrapping its beak, he could almost see its pride beginning to crumble.
It made sense why.
Artorias was meant to be an insignificant bug it could crush easily. It may have seen him as some sort of rival, but that was only in the intelligence department.
After all, its body, experience and versatility were far vaster than his.
But he hadn't just kept up with it, he had also injured it.
He had drawn first blood.
Under its slowly intensifying glare, he allowed his body to ignite with the loathing he had kept specifically locked away for the chimera. He wouldn't let it rule him as before but instead use it as a focus.
Now, he would be fighting as if he was on deaths doors, facing the inevitable end after surviving its deadly grasp.
He would fight as the dead man he was, reborn in the ruins of a city that had threatened to swallow him.
'Now, the real fight begins.'
They both lunged at each other, a clash of frenzied conquest and twisted intelligence mixing to determine the stronger being.