--
The bats were being overwhelmed.
Flap - Flap!
Bat Bat’s voice echoed from outside, shouting angrily.
"Too many! Too many!"
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
Time was running out.
He looked at the two remaining guards inside the crevice with them. Both were injured, one bleeding from the shoulder, the other with claw marks down his arm. Their faces were pale.
The third guard was not here. He was either outside fighting or already dead.
Sekhmet’s chest tightened.
Half the guards were gone.
The sacrifice line had held only long enough for escape.
Now the kobols would search. They would smell blood. They would find this crack eventually.
Sekhmet’s chaos energy was depleted.
His bats could not hold forever. He needed blood.
Not because he wanted it.
Because he needed it to function.
The system had said it.
His own body screamed it.
He could barely feel his fingers.
His legs wanted to collapse.
Lily watched him, realizing the shape of his exhaustion.
"What do we do," she whispered.
Sekhmet stared at the darkness of the crevice, mind racing.
He could not fight the whole pack alone in his current state.
He could not run far without collapsing.
He could not let them find Lily.
His gaze flicked to the injured guard’s bleeding shoulder.
The smell hit him instantly.
Warm blood.
His throat tightened.
His canines ached.
He forced himself to look away.
He was not that desperate.
Not yet.
He focused on the void land.
He had stored some dead bodies there, but he could not access and consume it like a meal without revealing too much, and it might not even help the thirst. He needed fresh blood. Living blood carried more energy. That was what his body craved.
Outside, kobol voices barked closer.
"Here! Smell!"
"Blood!"
"Hide!"
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
He made a decision, cold and sharp.
He looked at Lily.
"Stay here," he said.
Lily’s eyes widened.
"No," she whispered.
Sekhmet’s voice hardened.
"Yes," he said. "If they find you, you die."
Lily’s jaw tightened, but she understood.
Sekhmet looked at the two guards.
"You protect her," he ordered.
The guards nodded instantly, loyal even while bleeding.
Sekhmet reached into the crack mouth, listening for the nearest kobol movement.
TapTapTap...
They were close.
Sekhmet whispered to Bat Bat through the bond.
"Get inside," he commanded.
Bat Bat fluttered in through the crack, landing on Lily’s shoulder, wings shaking.
"I tired," Bat Bat complained.
Sekhmet ignored it.
"Guard her," he said.
Bat Bat puffed up.
"I boss," it declared.
Sekhmet did not have time to argue with a bat’s ego.
He stepped toward the crack opening again, body heavy, mind sharp.
Outside, the kobols were still fighting the remaining minion bats, but the swarm was thinning. Several bats lay torn on the ground, their bodies dissolving back into blood mist.
Pffft...
The kobols snarled, annoyed.
Sekhmet inhaled slowly.
Then he stepped out into the moonlight.
The kobols turned instantly, eyes locking on him.
Their leader, a larger kobol with a bone necklace and a jagged spear, snarled.
"Human!"
Sekhmet activated Blood Eye automatically despite exhaustion.
[Kobol Pack Leader
Overall Battle Power: 5800]
Below six thousand.
But strong enough to kill him in his current state if he made mistakes.
The kobols spread, trying to surround.
Sekhmet’s voice came out low, rough, but steady.
"You want blood," he said.
The kobols snarled.
"Give!"
Sekhmet’s eyes darkened.
He could feel his hunger rising again, tasting the blood in the air from the battlefield.
He raised his hand slightly.
His Blood Control responded weakly, not enough chaos energy to shape properly.
His blood sword could not form.
He was running on fumes.
The kobol leader lunged.
Tap - WHOOSH!
Sekhmet dodged by inches, the spear tip grazing his coat.
Scrrrk!
Sekhmet grabbed the spear shaft with one hand and slammed his elbow into the kobol leader’s jaw.
THUD!
The leader staggered.
Sekhmet felt pain flare in his arm from the impact.
He did not care.
He grabbed the kobol’s neck with both hands, pulling it in.
The kobol snarled, trying to bite him, claws raking at his coat.
Scrrrk! Scrrrk!
Sekhmet’s hunger exploded.
He did not think.
He bit.
His teeth sank into scaled flesh at the kobol’s throat.
CRUNCH- Shhk!
Hot blood flooded his mouth.
The relief was immediate and violent.
His body shuddered as if lightning ran through his veins.
His senses sharpened.
His fatigue loosened.
The world brightened at the edges.
He drank.
Deep.
Hard.
The kobol leader convulsed, claws weakening.
Sekhmet swallowed and swallowed, tasting iron and life and chaos energy embedded in the blood.
His throat burned with satisfaction.
For a moment, there was nothing but relief.
Then Sekhmet realized what he was doing.
He forced himself to pull back, blood dripping from his lips.
Drip... Drip...
The kobol leader sagged in his grip, eyes wide, body trembling.
Sekhmet’s chest heaved.
His hunger calmed slightly, but not fully.
It never fully calmed.
The kobols around them froze, shocked by the sight.
Their leader gasped weakly, then collapsed.
Thud.
Sekhmet stood there, blood on his mouth, breathing hard, eyes darker than before.
The kobols hesitated.
Then their fear turned into rage.
"Monster!"
They charged.
TapTapTap!
Sekhmet’s chaos energy was not restored fully, but the blood gave him enough to move again. He could feel strength returning in small waves.
He grabbed the fallen leader’s blood and used Blood Control to fling it like a whip at the front runner.
Splat!
The kobol slipped, fell.
Sekhmet stomped its neck.
CRACK!
He turned, grabbed another kobol by the throat, and bit again, drinking just enough to fuel himself.
Shhk —Gulp—
The taste was addictive.
The relief was terrifying.
Sekhmet felt his mind wobble on the edge of bloodlust again.
He forced himself to stop.
He cut through the kobols with brutal efficiency, using their own blood to trip and blind, using claws and elbows and knees when he lacked chaos energy for full weapons.
Thud!
Shhk!
CRACK!
Within moments, the kobols that had been closest were dead or fleeing.