Abuse of Magic

"We have to behead it, and pull out its heart in order to kill it," said Stella, "Assuming it hasn't eaten unicorn."

"It's a good place to start!" shouted Chuck, flying at the imugi with one hand outstretched to grab it by its neck, and the other cocked back to punch it.

As the beast drew closer to them with a roar of its own, its body seemed to writhe in the air, side to side as a snake would slither. A great hood opened along either side of its head as Chuck tried to grab it, and his hand slid along its scales, unable to grab anything. Using his fist, he was able to shove its gaping mouth away before it chomped down with enough force, it blasted them back, away from it.

The imugi raked its tiny claws along Chucks side, not causing any damage at all, and then tried to wrap its lower body around him. With a quick flap of his wings, they lifted out of the constriction attack, and Chuck kicked it in the face as it tried to bite him again.

It fell back with a shake to its head, then charged at them again. Chuck roared back, snapping his jaws back at it, and dived. It struck at his arm, and he snapped onto its hood, tearing a chunk loose as it screamed in pain and rage.

"I need to remember to put some popcorn in my purse," murmured Stella as Chuck spat the tainted meat out.

"Don't you have like a thousand cookies in there?" asked Joseph as he guided the mech to dive at the injured creature.

"Focus!" snarled Chuck as it struck at him, managing to latch on to his shoulder this time, and quickly wrapped itself around him.

Flying higher, he struggled against its coils, finally getting an angle to bite it back. Snapping his jaws shut on one of the front legs, he twisted and jerked, ripping the leg off, and spitting it far away.

The imugi screamed in pain, letting go of his shoulder and he was able to grab its massive head, screaming back in its face, before chomping down on it. It writhed, whipping itself back and forth, and freeing itself from his grasp. He climbed higher, panting hard, and watched as it flew around him furious and in pain.

Screaming, it dived at him, and he dodge to the side, swiping at it as it passed, and it curved around, latching onto his leg. Chuck roared and immediately dived towards the ground, crashing hard on top of it, and proceeded to punch it over and over again, until it finally let go. Hissing at him, it went to strike again, and he threw himself to the side, causing it to miss. As it slid past, he snatched at one of its back legs, ripping it off.

The imugi screamed again, turning and striking at him, biting down on one of his wings. Chuck roared in pain, falling back on top if it, and clawed at it, trying to dislodge it from his back. Growing his claws sharper and longer, he started stabbing it over and over. It finally let go of his wing and struggled to escape. He flipped over, grunting as he landed on his hurt leg, straddling the giant snake monster, and shoved all his claws into its back, trying to rip long gashes into its hide.

It twisted to bite at him again, and he leaned over, out of its reach, realizing its body was beginning to coil around him again.

"This thing just won't give up!" growled Chuck, reaching over and biting off its other front leg.

"Of course not!" hissed Joseph, fighting against the strength of its muscled body. "It's an abomination!"

"Oooh, I found some chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies that I forgot were in here," exclaimed Stella in excitement.

"Are you seriously going through your purse right now?" blurted Joseph.

"Why not? I can't really do much else right now," she remarked around a mouthful of cookie.

He only responded with a grunt as the imugi slammed into Chuck's back, ripping off the damaged wing.

"AAGGHHH!" bellowed Chuck, twisting around and slamming his elbow into its face. He grew a long spike out of his elbow and plunged it into an eye, causing it to disengage and pullback away from him.

He didn't hesitate, charging at it, and smashed his fists down on top of its head before it could drop his wing out of its mouth. Pounding over and over, his fists began to bust open the skin, causing thick black blood to well out around the imugi's scales.

With a snarl it dropped the wing and opened its mouth, exposing all of its needle-sharp teeth, so he couldn't hit it again without impaling his fists on those teeth. Bellowing, he grabbed it by the neck, ripping the other hood flap to get his fingers around it, and standing painfully, he began to whip the entire thing back and forth, slamming its head against the ground.

Just before Stella could complain about dropping one of her cookies, they stopped beating it against the ground, and threw it up into the air. Panting hard, Joseph and Chuck watched as it flew up into the air, hanging limply as if dead, then began to fall back to the ground.

"Is it…" began Stella, but stopped as they saw it land and begin to glow.

"Oh shavist!" cried Joseph, dashing towards it.

"What's going on?" asked Stella. "Is it about to evolve or something?"

"Not if we can help it!"

"But aren't you supposed to stand and stare in horror as it changes into some upgraded form?" she asked.

"What?! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" yelled Joseph.

"That's what happens in all of the films Issa shows."

"I'm going to have to talk to her about that when I get back!" he growled as they got close.

Chuck grew a long crystal sword, and as they arrived next to the crater it had made when landing, didn't hesitate as the glare became too bright to see. He slammed the blade into the back, slicing it open from the base of its head all the way to the middle of its back. Shoving his hand into the muscle tissue and past the cut rib bones, he closed his eyes and grasped his target firmly.

Pulling back in a spray of blood, Chuck held up its beating heart. Throwing it away, Joseph sent a bolt of lightning at it, then turned back to the imugi. Taking the bloody blade, Chuck chopped at the backbone at the base of the head. If he could just get past the interlocking bones, its head would slice off.

Placing his hurt leg onto its back, to steady himself, he lifted the sword high, and plunged it through the last of the bone, carving past the soft tissue, and driving the crystal deep into the ground underneath. The glow began to dim, and he grabbed it by the two horns that poked up over its eyebrows, hefting the head in the opposite direction of the heart, and sending another lightning bolt.

"That was fun," chortled Chuck, stumbling to the edge of the crater to sit down.