Catalyst Chapter 8: A Dark Rose

Read chapter 8 of Catalyst by dumbhd on NovelPedia.

Drip, drip, drip. The sound echoes, the blast furnace's heat boiling the water as it hits the ground. But the puddle shakes, vibrations causing the water to splash around. Terra slams into the faucet, the metal bending and groaning, behind him, the wall has caved in, debris piling up on Terra's clothes. Noble approaches Terra, lifting his Scythe, " Why do you still fight? " " Why.. NOT! " He smirks, " What? Getting tired old-man? " Terra chuckles as he stands up. Terra turns, jumping in the air and kicking off the wall, sending him up and over Noble, which turns and swings the scythe at him mid-air. " No. It's simply that you have no reason to continue. Is it that you are trying to stall for something? " Crimson crystals form at Terra's forearms as he puts up a guard, his body still upside down. " Nah. " He's hit by the scythe's blade, sparks flying off. Terra rolls backwards and regains footing, taking a few steps backward as the momentum hasn't dissipated yet. He glances back towards Dash, Noble notices, continuing his approach nonetheless, " It's for the boy, isn't it? Dragging an innocent sporeborn into this.. Pity. " Terra snickers, " He dragged himself into this! " They both circle each other, Noble's scythe scraping against the ground, Terra's fist glowing with his sinister crimson Ether. " You're barely using your Ether. " Noble states. " Neither are you, dumbass! " Terra yells. Both exchange glances, Noble's Ether starting to channel into his hand. Terra notices this and tenses up. `` This guy.. His pattern is simple, he'll wind up his scythe or fist to aim his attack, and then follow through. The problem with his attacks is that after he follows through, he doesn't feint or change directions! `` Noble takes two steps forward and wounds up for another attack, this time with his bare-fist infused with Ether. `` From the right? I'll obviously dodge- But he's anticipating that now, isn't he? I've done so like 10 times already! `` Terra plants his foot to his right, body-feinting a sidestep. Noble reacts accordingly, his punch changing direction toward where Terra feinted. " DUMBASS! " Terra laughs, crouching under his right-hook. Noble stares down at Terra's confident form, his smirk cutting through the air, " Impressive. " But Terra doesn't smirk for long. His hand cocks but he doesn't follow through. `` WHAT ARE YOU DOING IDIOT??? `` Terra screams at himself in his head. He turns, just for a second— But Noble has already recovered. Terra sees Dash on the ground, staring at his wound, leaning on a support pillar of a conveyer belt, holding the bleeding stub. He seems to be on the brink of death. Dash's vision is blurry, " T... Terra.. " He groans out, slumping to the side. He starts crawling, to where he no longer knew. The sounds of a soothing voice came from everywhere, `` It'll be fine Dash. `` The voice seemed sad, as if tearing up. It was feminine, he didn't recognize it well but It seemed important. He remembers everything in his life, but not that specific voice. Why now he wondered? But it didn't matter, his life was flashing before his eyes, his only friend and mentor is losing a fight and he's doing nothing. He's useless. HE'S USELESS. It repeats. He tries to clear his head, he tries to get up but the blood pools. He is out of tears and he's out of life. Now what? Now.. He gives up, right? That's all. In the pursuit of freedom, in the pursuit of the one thing he wanted.. [-/-] Clang. Clang. Clang. The little sporeborn stares at his father, swinging away at the wall, smiling. " Hey, dad? " The sporeborn's father, Dash's father, stops swinging, the pickaxe resting under his arm. He breathes heavily, exhausted, but he can't show that, not infront of his child. He has to show strength, show that people can press through hard times. " Yeah champ? " He coughs up a small cloud of rock dust. " I don't want to do this anymore. " Dash mumbles, his tone saddened, leaning on the dead stump of a Tree, planted just for harv