A/N: I mistakenly gave the name of the elf girl to Aria. So she will be Exildra from now onwards...
Exildra groaned in pain as she tried to pull out the long claw embedded in her stomach, gutting out from her back. Blood flowed and pooled below her, staining her clothes. Her forehead was drenched in sweat, and her skin had turned. The claw was as long as her arm and as thick as a normal sword.
Beside her lay a huge hyena, its head ripped from its body. On its fore legs, one leg was missing a claw. It was obvious that that claw was currently inside Exildra. The environment told silent stories of what had happened just moments ago.
The battle must have been very brutal, to say the least, looking at how tattered her clothes were and how she was bleeding from multiple wounds on her body, especially the one in her stomach.
Her palms pressed uselessly against the wound, slick and trembling, fingers sliding through her own blood no matter how hard she tried to hold herself together. Every breath tore through her chest like broken glass. When she inhaled, the claw shifted inside her, scraping bone and flesh, and her scream came out hoarse and strangled, more a dying animal's sound than a human voice.
Her vision flashed in and out. The ground beneath her looked too bright, then too dark, then far away, as if she were already drifting above her own body.
Her legs kicked weakly, heels scraping dirt and stone, leaving crooked lines where she had tried to crawl and failed. The smell of iron filled her nose. Warmth spread beneath her back, soaking into the earth, stealing what little strength she had left.
She had killed the beast, but she was slowly dying herself. Exildra clenched her teeth until her jaw shook. Veins stood out along her neck as she forced her hands to grip the protruding claw. It was rough, ridged, and still warm from the beast it had belonged to. Then she pulled.
Her body convulsed violently. Blood surged out in a thick rush, spilling between her fingers and splattering across her thighs. Her scream broke apart midway, turning into wet choking sounds as her throat spasmed.
She collapsed back onto the ground, chest heaving uncontrollably, eyes wide and glassy. The world spun. The sky above her blurred into a pale smear.
Her fingers clawed at the dirt now, nails snapping and bending as she dragged shallow furrows into the ground. Survival screamed inside her head, loud and desperate, but her body no longer listened. Each heartbeat felt slower than the last, weaker. It felt like a drum being struck with a hand that was already tired.
The headless hyena lay only a few steps away, its body stiffening, its body slowly stiffening, turning cold. Blood cooled at its neck.
Victory... she had won. The thought was almost funny, but it kept her awake. After all, she had succeeded in killing a Tier 1: Circle of Spirit Evo-Hyena, a beast that was well attuned to transformation elements like shadow, space, gravity... They were dangerous. Exildra was just unlucky to encounter one, even if she was also at the Circle of Spirit.
Her lips trembled as she tried to laugh, but only blood bubbled out instead. Her hands slackened. Her grip on the claw loosened.
The pain dulled, not because it was gone, but because something inside her was shutting down. Her eyes stared upward, unfocused, reflecting nothing. The pain had almost overpowered her.
The battlefield had turned silent again, with Exildra lying there... broken and bleeding.
...
The silence did not last.
A faint tremor rippled through Exildra's body, starting from her chest and spreading outward like a stubborn refusal to end. Her breathing hitched, shallow and ragged, but it was there.
Deep within her, her circles started rotating, especially the Circle of Spirit. It continued its slow, merciless work, squeezing what little vitality remained and forcing it through torn flesh and shattered resolve. It wasn't healing as it seemed to be, but endurance. Hardcore endurance.
Exildra's fingers twitched. Then her hand clenched.
A broken groan tore out of her throat as awareness slammed back into her senses. Pain returned in full, sharp and blinding, so intense it almost knocked her unconscious again. She arched her back and screamed, the sound ripping itself raw from her chest as the embedded claw shifted with her movement.
Her vision blurred, but she forced her head up, teeth bared, saliva and blood stringing her lips. The claw was still there, still lodged deep, still anchoring her to the ground like a cruel stake.
"No," she rasped. "Not... here."
Her hands slid back to the wound, fingers shaking violently as they wrapped around the protruding claw. It was slick now, soaked through with her blood, but she tightened her grip anyway. Her arms trembled, muscles screaming in protest as she pulled with everything she had left.
Her body convulsed.
The claw came free with a wet, tearing sound.
Exildra shrieked as blood burst out in a violent surge, her body arching before slamming back into the ground. She choked, coughing up dark red froth as the world spun wildly around her. Her fingers spasmed, nearly dropping the claw, but instinct made her hold on.
She was dying. She knew it.
With shaking hands, she fumbled at her waist, fingers brushing against torn fabric and cracked leather. Her breath came in frantic gasps as she searched, panic clawing at her mind. Then her fingers closed around something hard and smooth.
A potion vial.
She did not remember hiding it there. She did not remember when she had decided to keep it untouched. It did not matter.
Her teeth tore the stopper free. She raised the vial with trembling hands and poured the contents into her mouth. The liquid burned as it went down, searing her throat and chest like liquid fire. She gagged, nearly spat it out, but forced herself to swallow every drop.
The effect was not instant.
For a few terrifying moments, nothing happened. Then warmth bloomed in her gut, spreading outward in slow, painful waves. The bleeding did not stop, but it slowed. The torn flesh around the wound began to knit together, clumsily and imperfectly, leaving behind raw, screaming nerves. Her muscles spasmed as strength trickled back into her limbs, not enough to fight again, but enough to move.
Enough to escape.
She lay there for several minutes, gasping and shaking, clutching the blood-soaked claw against her chest. When she finally moved, it was inch by inch. She rolled onto her side, then onto her knees, vomiting bile and blood onto the dirt before forcing herself upright.
Unseen by her, a golden circle faded into existence right beneath her.
Every step was agonizing.
She staggered away from the battlefield, dragging her feet, one hand pressed tightly against her stomach while the other held the claw like a crude weapon. The world swayed with every movement. Her vision darkened at the edges, but she kept walking.
Then she heard it. A low growl... annoying.
Exildra's head snapped up just as a blur of crimson lunged from the undergrowth. A fox-like beast, sleek and lean, its fur the color of fresh blood and its eyes sharp with hunger. Circle of Body... weak and desperate.
It did not hesitate to attack. Neither did she.
The moment it leapt, Exildra moved on pure instinct. She twisted her body just enough to let it pass her shoulder and drove the claw forward with everything she had. The strike was brutal and precise. The claw pierced straight through the fox's skull and out the other side, killing it instantly... collapsing at her feet.
Exildra stood there, panting and staring down at the corpse. Her hand shook violently as she pulled the claw free, blood spraying across her arm and soaking into her already ruined clothes. For a brief moment, she felt something close to savage satisfaction.
Then the strength faded.
She dropped to one knee, panting, before forcing herself back up. She grabbed the fox by the scruff and began to drag it behind her, leaving a dark trail in the dirt as she moved.
Each step was slower than the last, but she did not stop.
Eventually, she reached a low tree with thick, overlapping leaves that formed a dense canopy close to the ground. The branches bent naturally, creating a crude shelter beneath. Exildra collapsed inside, dragging the fox in after her.
She slumped against the trunk, breath ragged, body trembling uncontrollably.
She was alive... for now.
"I'm hungry..."