Chapter 24 Imagined Flight Part 3

“Swing through debris and waste

Float nonstop”

The average hobgoblin has enough strength to break a human spine like a white woman snapping raw pasta and Italian morality.

If only for that, they would be considered nothing more than an E rank threat.

But what makes them truly threatening is the combination of might and cunning.

‘170 cm tall, absorbed initial hit, no visible weapons…’

In the first few seconds of the encounter, the hobgoblin had already analysed the state of the opponent. It realised that the thin aluminium trash lid was significantly tougher than what it should’ve been, and it sighted the golden frog that laid on the corpse of another goblin.

Its conclusion was the enemy could manipulate materials, increasing strength and toughness, along with animating them and giving them new properties that could be lethal. And that its primary concern would be the opponent creating ‘environmental threats’, landmines so to speak, that would make an area more dangerous to traverse and more favourable for the opponent. The longer the enemy was left to its own devices, the more dangerous it was.

So it would attack without giving it a moment of rest.

The monster jumped.

Aiden rolled forward, the railings behind him exploding with force, knocking him even further. Rubble and dust went flying, obscuring vision and forcing his eyes into slits. An acrid smell like acid filled his nose as lime steam exploded out.

The shadow was already upon him, with a powerful kick, the hobgoblin blew away the obscuring mist.

He braced himself as a second kick sent him flying, throwing him flying like a soccer ball. He went wide, crashing onto the ground and rolling once more. Crashing into a large tree whose roots had broken through the pavement.

‘It rolled with the hit!’ the hobgoblin realised.

Aiden vomited on the ground, his stomach offering little other than liquids to expel. Within the yellow bile, he saw a bit of red. ‘Internal bleeding?’ he grimly questioned. His shoulder burned with pain, but he had to ignore it. There was no place to get treatment, he had to rely on his regeneration to fix this.

He unsteadily rose, eyes, nose and ears all changing colour as tattoos covered them.

A myriad of senses assaulted him, his brain struggling to keep up, but he needed every single advantage he could afford. His opponent was physically stronger than him in every conceivable way, those attacks might’ve already damaged his internal organs. He cannot afford to take a single one of its attacks.

A fresh screen of lime steam engulfed the enemy, yet it was emerging, slowly walking towards him. It moved as if… it was thinking.

“Shit.”

The hobgoblin realised its opponent had moved with the attack expertly well, rolling away so that only its toes actually made contact rather than the entirety of its foot. Leading to a movement that only looked like it was damaging, while creating distance between them. And so, it decided to operate on the worst possible scenario.

‘None of my attacks have succeeded in lethally damaging it.’

‘Every single one of its hits can kill me.’

‘It can kill with a touch.’

‘Can I even land a hit on that thing?’

Both man and monster came to the same conclusion, ‘ ‘I can’t underestimate it.’ ’

Far away, air sirens blared.

Jun opened the door as Ranpo instructed, pushing in the exact spot that dislodged the door. Taking a tentative step into Aiden’s home.

It was clean, tidy, almost obsessively so. Unlike her home, it was a study in the sterilisation of life.

Ranpo glanced around the front door from his perch on her shoulder, before shaking his head. “He’s not here.”

“Aiden!” Jun called out.

She looked sheepishly at Ranpo when the crow gave her a ‘really?’ look.

“Couldn’t hurt to try,” she reasoned.

“His shoes aren’t there,” Ranpo pointed out, gesturing at the floor with his wing. “He wears slippers indoors.”

Jun’s eyes followed them, noting four pairs of slippers on the racks.

“Gotit,” she answered as she brought Ranpo down into a cradle.

“What are you-”

The door was slammed shut as the world blurred. Barely a minute later, Ranpo fell out of Jun’s arms, instinctually gliding onto the grass as he crashed dizzily onto the ground.

“I can fly by myself!” Ranpo yelled.

“Butyoudoitsoslowly!” Jun retorted. Her head spun around quickly, “Anywaysyousaidyouand Aiden were last here?”

Ranpo glanced around, noticing that they were next to the river. Nodding, he said, “Yes.”

“I’llsearchthatway,” Jun said, poking a thumb behind them before she sped off.

“Understood,” the crow answered, testing his wings before taking flight.

Just as air sirens began to blare.

Steam drifted off the hobgoblin’s body, clinging onto taut strands of muscle like a lime string.

Despite losing his glasses, ‘again’, Aiden noticed the brief second of tensing, where the hobgoblin’s entire body seemed to wound like a clockwork spring before it exploded in a massive physicality of movement. He dodged down, the massive kick cleaving the air above him, shattering the old tree beside him into wood chips as the heavy thing fell down.

Too late did Aiden realise his mistake, as the tree fell directly upon him. He crashed into the asphalt, wood splinters lacing his bare skin as his leg was pinned by the heavy weight.

He struggled to free his leg as the hobgoblin sputtered out of its movement like a machine dying, then steam billowed off its skin again as its body shuddered back into thunderous movement, its own leg moving to stomp Aiden’s head in!

A tree branch was covered in a white blur as Oros pounced, ripping itself off of the tree and wrapping itself around the hobgoblin and forcing it off balance. The leg fell far, showering Aiden in asphalt as it shattered the ground.

“Thank you!” Aiden yelled as he finally freed his leg, escaping to find Oros constricting both arms of the monster.

His mind had an odd realisation, that Oros was significantly larger than the wrist watch size it was before.

The hobgoblin fell to the ground, wrestling with the serpent as they rolled through shattered asphalt and wood dust.

Aiden moved to help, just as the monster freed one arm and swiped at Oros’ head.

He felt a sudden force strike his cheek, as both him and Oros jerked their head to the side.

The hobgoblin finally grabbed onto Oros’ neck, and Aiden felt a force holding down his own neck.

“Gah!” he choked out a breath, instinctively clawing his own neck to stop a hand that wasn’t there, the force crushing his neck too strong as he fell to the ground.

In all his experimentation, Aiden had never considered once what would happen if someone were to hurt his Hume status, the literal measure of his existence.

The hobgoblin’s eyes shone with understanding, as it tried to wretch its other arm free. Keeping the serpent and its creator simultaneously in a chokehold.

Aiden struggled forward, gasping as the hobgoblin’s grip tightened on Oros. The white snake hissed and snarled, its own death coil loosening, before it sunk its teeth into the monster’s flesh.

At that moment, it was intelligence that was the hobgoblin’s undoing. Fearing a venomous bite, it let go of its stranglehold, dropping Oros as it tried to suck the venom from its hand.

Oros was many things, but venomous was not one of them.

Tasting nothing but its own blood, the hobgoblin turned to face the serpent, only to see half its body frozen in black and covered in strange multicolour plants.

Aiden did not waste the moment of opportunity.

A slight distortion in the scenery beside it was the only warning the hobgoblin got, as an arm covered in tiger stripes swiped at it. It held its arm at guard as Aiden struck, sending the hobgoblin skidding back. Aiden retreated, glancing at his own slightly burnt palm.

A moment of lull as both combatants stared each other down.

Muscles tensed.

Tattoos appeared.

Both moved.

Unexpectedly, both jumped back. Both were afraid to directly engage an enemy with such a capacity to harm, and so, both hoped the other would be the aggressor.

At this moment, their different win conditions showed.

“Oros!”

Aiden turned and ran, Oros slithering onto his leg as he did so. He did not need to be here, simple survival was all he needed to achieve.

Whereas for the hobgoblin, an enemy human escaping could alert the rest of the race, leading to swift extermination. Its own survival was dependent on its elimination.

Steam billowed off of the hobgoblin’s skin, its muscles tensed, then it jumped, clearing the distance quickly.

But Aiden simply pivoted to the left, and the hobgoblin’s unstoppable charge simply missed as it slammed into a building, shattering the walls.

He kept running, with Oros sliding around his bag. Aiden’s eyes searched as he returned to the former battlefield.

‘There!’

In front of the building where he first engaged the goblins were three scooters. One had crashed into the wall by mistake, but the other two were still there.

Aiden sat in one, finding the seat snug.

The scooters designs were sleek, uniform, and seemed to be made with human proportions in mind, all things that hinted that they weren’t goblin contrivances.

Here came the difficult part.

“Oros, can you act as my arm for a while?” Aiden asked.

The serpent stared quizzically at him for a moment, before they realised his plan.

Slithering around his right arm, the serpent poked its head forward, biting onto the right handle of the scooter, in place of Aiden’s right hand.

Placing his left on the remaining handle, Aiden steeled himself.

Oros might be an extension of him, but it was not a limb Aiden could control. They could communicate, one with words and gestures, but neither will ever fully grasp the other’s mind.

So this will rely on coordination between two separate beings.

Trust in the midst of desperation.

A crash behind them signalled the end of all the time they had to prepare.

“Throttle!” Aiden yelled, and Oros bit down on the throttle.

The scooter sped off, Aiden steering them onto the road as the hobgoblin prepared another charge.

But this time, it could not make it, crashing just behind the duo.

Aiden risked a glance back, and it was enough to confirm his suspicions.

His strike against the hobgoblin’s arm had burned.

That thing overheated itself to perform its massive strength feats, the steam wafting off of it was some sort of coolant, acting similarly to sweat. What the liquid actually was Aiden had no idea, it might actually be Mountain Dew given goblin contriving.

But even make believe science had limits, as the hobgoblin crashed behind them again. It was pausing slightly between jumps to ensure that its body didn’t cook itself to death.

Oros hissed slightly in an almost questioning manner. They were succeeding in escaping, but they couldn't keep running. This location was cut off from the rest of the city, the only bridge back heavily guarded.

“I don’t plan on escaping into the wilderness,” Aiden replied, “that’s a good way to get us killed even faster.”

Aiden turned right, just as there was another crash behind them. They were going almost 40km per hour and the hobgoblin was still keeping up!

“We can’t engage that thing directly without taking some heavy damage,” he continued, noting the blood on his lip. “It would take something on the level of a fully grown tiger or a polar bear to even trade blows with it, and even then I’m not sure the animal would win.”

“But we have to kill it, it’s the biggest danger we’ve encountered so far, but that also means it being alone makes this a prime moment to finish it off.”

His eyes glanced over a sign as they rushed past. It was familiar to Bu, but not Lu. “So I’m driving to the place where we can win.”

And following the directions, they found it.

An abandoned shelter. The crashes followed behind them as more of the scenery was destroyed.

Aiden staggered off the scooter, finding his limbs feeling a bit… weak. A strange tiredness that seeped its way to his bones.

Oros hissed worryingly.

“I’m fine,” he muttered as he righted himself and stepped into the underground shelter.

As he stepped in, ancient lights flickered to life, on the ground of the entrance was writ this:

‘When Dawn Fails, From Earth We Return.’

It was not a small thing, where most might think of cramped underground vaults stuffed full of food and resources. These things were grand, meant to house people in the thousands if needed. Interconnected throughout the entire city, it was an underground kingdom in its own right.

This section was connected from an old parking lot, and thus the entrance was built like one. Miles of empty space filled with regularly placed pillars holding up the ceiling.

“Let’s go.”

“What is this?” Ranpo couldn’t help but say as he flew.

The abandoned district was trashed, numerous craters caused by some impact littered the area, a path of destruction that seemed to be heading somewhere. Towards the source, he saw goblin corpses. On one, was an origami frog with a bright yellow hue.

This settled it, signs of battle, a remnant of Aiden’s power, that was all he needed as he swerved back.

He was only a crow, he needed help for this.

The hobgoblin stepped underground, its eyes locked on its opponent, leaning on one of the walls next to some kind of mechanical control.

The enemy’s posture was slack, tired, and weakened.

The hobgoblin knew it was time to end this. This shelter would be a tomb for at least one of them.

Slowly it closed in on the opponent, eyes wary for unseen and hidden threats.

Then Aiden smiled, as his remaining arm held onto a lever and with a heave, he turned off the lights.

Suddenly darkness engulfed the both of them.

In that instant, the hobgoblin lost all sight. Two serpents dashed out, having hidden behind the pillars. Aiden rushed towards the hobgoblin, eyes glowing.

The hobgoblin focused on the glowing eyes in front of it, crouching down and preparing to pounce. Just as a brown coloured serpent bit its left forearm.

Aiden’s plan was to use the cover of darkness to disorientate the enemy, creating a brief gap where a snake could deliver lethal neurotoxin. While it was weakened and slowed by paralysis, he and Oros would finish it off. The white snake showed itself more than capable of wrestling with the monster in its enlarged state.

The next few actions happened in only a few seconds.

Jerking toward the bite, the hobgoblin seemed to hesitate for the merest moment. Then it raised its right arm, its palm opened and straight like a blade, before it severed its left forearm with the snake still biting it.

Only a single moment of hesitation flickered in Aiden’s step, but it was enough, delaying the perfect encirclement as the hobgoblin grabbed his severed arm and threw it to the right of him, hitting Oros and throwing the serpent back.

Aiden let himself slip, sliding on the ground with built up momentum as he went underneath a great axe kick that slashed the air above him.

Now behind the hobgoblin, he quickly retrieved the brown snake and Oros as the monster turned to meet his eyes.

“I was wrong,” the hobgoblin spoke for the first time, a strange accent almost making it intelligible. “I thought I could take you without risk or harm.”

Great amounts of steam billowed from its body, “I was wrong.”

Aiden quickly jumped to the side as the hobgoblin smashed the area where he was. Dodging just out of range of its follow up attack. More steam billowed and the hobgoblin… it wasn’t stopping.

Quickly he reabsorbed his cat eyes, the world darkening as the hobgoblin obliterated a pillar with a kick. The monster was tracking the slight glow from his eyes, more importantly, it wasn’t caring about overheating now. Steam scalded his skin as Aiden jumped away, trying to avoid the enemy. It was attacking everywhere with reckless abandon, in an arena where both combatants were blind.

But there were ways other than sight.

Aiden tuned into his ears, the tattoos there augmenting them just enough.

Clicking his tongue, a sound almost unheard as the hobgoblin went about smashing pillars and wreaking blind havoc, Aiden avoided the monster. Continuously clicking his tongue to make out the path of destruction it walked. He moved away, avoiding the enemy.

In this battle in the dark, a lucky hit would decide victory. Would Aiden avoid the blind destruction to poison the enemy, or would the hobgoblin strike him by chance?

Then the monster stopped.

Aiden clicked his tongue, trying to figure out its location.

And he realised where it was, and where it had herded him away.

Aiden resummoned the cat's eyes, uncaring if they gave away his position, the shelter lit up for him, just to see the hobgoblin stepping towards the electrical switch.

And the lights turned back on.

‘That was its goal!’

It had forced Aiden to retreat away from the switch, so that he could not at all stop it from returning light! Now both combatants could see!

But Aiden was not one to be unprepared.

The hobgoblin threw a cone shaped shell to the side, clutching its abdomen as it tried to dig out a needle. It glanced around, eyes landing squarely on Aiden, far off to the end.

Its romp of destruction was not without cost, numerous bloody lines decorated its body, laced and slashed by the broken concrete and steel. It had sacrificed its arm, suffered pain, and taken a lethal injection, all to defeat him.

But Aiden had won, the sting would kill it, now it was a matter of surviving.

“Why do you fight?” Aiden asked. Half hoping it would respond. He didn’t know what venom ran through the hobgoblin, but he knew it needed time to take effect.

Surprisingly, it did.

“I fight because there is nothing else left to me,” it answered. “I still have some memories of the past… broken, fragmented… but I will be killed regardless because of what I’ve become. I fight because this rebirth has cursed me.”

A strange feeling filled Aiden’s chest, he didn’t know what, he couldn’t recognise it, but still, he asked,

“What is your name?”

“I forgot my old one, but now I am Johnjohnjohnjohn.”

Aiden nodded as it- he answered.

“Thank you, I will try to remember you, to never forget who you were.”

And the hobgoblin, he chuckled, “You have not won yet.”

Suddenly steam billowed off his body, perhaps for the last time. Both of them tensed. Aiden awaiting that last suicidal final charge.

But it didn’t move towards Aiden, instead, he ran into a pillar, punching through it like it was a dry cracker.

Confusion was soon cleared by the waters of understanding, as the ceiling above the broken pillar collapsed.

All around Aiden, were destroyed and shattered pillars, only a few remained, barely holding up the ceiling.

And Johnjohnjohnjohn was rushing towards the few that survived, smashing them with sheer force as more and more of the ceiling collapsed.

Aiden jumped, running towards the exit, his steps felt painfully slow.

Behind him, the entire shelter was caving in, hundreds of pounds of stone and rock crushing falling and crushing all that remained.

All that destruction, the smashing of so many pillars, Aiden thought it was a distraction from his goal of turning back on the lights, but it was a setup for this.

To bury both of them.

Aiden ran, he kept running, his calves burned and cramped, but he ran towards the exit. Ignoring the sounds of destruction. Ignoring Oros hisses. Ignoring the burning in his chest as he heaved breathfuls.

He finally reached the staircase, leaping two to three steps with each stride as he made his way up, the collapse just behind him! Sunlight peeked through the entrance, and when Aiden finally breathed fresh air through tortured gulpfuls, he fell onto the ground. The building behind him collapsed into the earth. The sound of its destruction only masked by the great beating of his own heart.

When it finally ended, when he finally calmed to the point where his heart was not deafening his own ears, he looked back.

It was by pure chance he survived.

The collapse had started far away from him, and followed as the hobgoblin destroyed more pillars, following behind him. If he had decided just to be a bit closer to the monster, just a step or two nearer to the pillars, he would’ve died, crushed under tons of concrete and steel.

Suddenly, a noise came from the stairwell, a single, horrible noise as a fist broke through the collapsed concrete.

“There’s no way,” Aiden muttered, disbelief on his face as bloody fingers clawed through the rubble.

Then steps, slowly and slowly went up the stairs.

“There’s no fucking way.”

Aiden turned around, to see the hobgoblin slowly walk up the stairs.

He gripped his hand, trying to rise and run, only to fall, a lethargy of death that stole the strength from his body.

Aiden realised why when he looked at his hand.

Where formerly, it could be considered merely skinny, now it was little more than skin and bones.

The first two hits by the hobgoblin had damaged him more greatly than he realised, internal bleeding was the least of the things he had healed over and that repair had to come from somewhere.

The way his regeneration apparently worked was through an enhanced metabolism, rapidly digesting nutrients to heal over wounds.

His body had digested itself to keep him alive.

That was the source of the tiredness, that lethargy in his bones. He simply spent too much energy regenerating.

The steps stopped, Aiden laboriously raised his head, to see the hobgoblin towering over him.

‘So this is how it ends.’

Oros hissed from atop his bag, still ready to fight, but he closed his eyes, this was over, he had no strength, no tricks left.

Then he heard something fall beside him, and he opened them again.

Johnjohnjohnjohn had fallen to the ground, three steel bars had punctured his chest, a large shard of concrete pierced his leg through.

Venom coursing through his veins, his body cooking itself in exertion, and numerous life threatening wounds in his body, Johnjohnjohnjohn could not continue anymore.

Aiden had done it.

He had defeated a D rank threat.

He defeated a hobgoblin.