Shattered Sanity

The instant the Night Panther rose onto its hind legs and swung one enormous paw toward Riven’s face, he immediately crouched before boldly stepping forward with his wooden sword aimed directly at the center of the beast’s chest.

’Please bless me just this once, Minerva...’

Riven begged, as he let out a desperate war cry at the top of his lungs.

”HAAAAAAA!”

He screamed while driving the wooden sword forward with every ounce of strength remaining inside his exhausted body, as although to him it felt like nothing more than another desperate thrust born from instinct, what he did not realize was that something entirely different had begun unfolding beneath the surface.

In that extraordinary moment where his life hung by a single thread, Riven’s conscious mind quietly stepped aside, as his subconscious instinctively took control over his body before flawlessly reproducing the very same movements that Garron had demonstrated weeks ago during training.

As without Riven consciously directing any of it, his body began to replicate Garron’s precise movements from his memory, as his front foot planted itself exactly where it needed to be, before his hips naturally rotated, while his upper body simply followed along until finally, his wrist completed the thrust in one perfectly connected sequence.

”DIE!”

Riven roared, as the sharpened tip of the wooden sword finally reached the Night Panther’s abdomen while the last remaining strands of Aether inside his Soul Vessel instinctively flowed down his arm before entering the weapon through the palm gripping its hilt.

However, this was also the exact point where every one of Riven’s previous attempts had failed.

No matter how many times he had practiced, he had never once managed to synchronize the movement of his body with the flow of Aether precisely enough for the technique to succeed, causing the Aether to always reach the sword either a fraction too early or a fraction too late.

Yet now, with death standing directly before him, his subconscious somehow accomplished what his conscious mind never could.

Having perfectly preserved Garron’s demonstration within his memory while also experiencing every single failure through his own body, it instinctively resolved every flaw that had accumulated throughout weeks of training, as it silently pieced together the correct rhythm until the countless failed attempts finally converged into a single flawless sequence.

*SMACK!*

Riven’s wooden sword pierced straight through the Night Panther’s abdomen, as warm blood immediately began trickling down his arms while one of the beast’s massive paws struck the side of his head just an instant later.

*Wobble*

Riven felt his world darken, as stars filled his vision while his balance faltered beneath him and the strength in his knees vanished almost instantly.

For a brief moment, he could no longer tell whether he was standing, falling, or already lying on the ground, as the force of the blow scattered his thoughts and left him unable to properly understand what had just happened.

’I guess I’m done...’

Riven thought, as to him, the strike felt like the end, as what he failed to understand was that the Night Panther had already lost most of its strength the very instant his sword pierced its abdomen, because from his dazed perspective, the beast was still standing before him while his own body could barely remain upright.

However, where Riven was mistaken was that he believed this was the Night Panther’s full strength, whereas had that very same paw strike landed with its original force, his skull would have likely cracked apart on impact, and instead of merely feeling dazed, he would have already been dead.

However..... because the sword had entered first, the beast’s body had stiffened from the shock of being pierced, causing its killing blow to arrive as a weakened strike rather than the full-force execution it had intended.

Which was the only reason Riven was still alive, however, the poor boy understood none of that.

To him, all he could feel was the darkness creeping across his vision, and the terrible certainty in his gut that the wooden sword had failed to bury itself deep enough.

’Well at least I got to kill Hagrid before I died...’

Riven thought, as his fingers remained locked around the sword hilt even while his consciousness wavered.

’All things considered, I’m fine with dying now.’

Riven accepted, as despite successfully driving the weapon into the beast’s body, he remained convinced that he had merely wounded it rather than landed a killing blow.

However, just as that thought settled inside his mind, the Night Panther suddenly let out an agonized howl unlike anything Riven had heard before.

”RAAAAAAAAGHHHH!”

The sound tore through the hillside pass, as the beast’s entire body violently convulsed while its claws scraped across the stone beneath them, as the pain in its voice caused Riven’s eyes to widen weakly.

’Huh?’

He wondered, as for the first time since being struck, he noticed that the Night Panther was not preparing another attack, but rather trembling in shock.

’Why does it look to be in more pain than me?’

Riven wondered, as he could see how the beast’s golden eyes were rolling to the back of its head, while its open jaws had no bite left in them.

As just as he tried once more to bury his sword deeper into the beast’s body, suddenly—

*BOOOOOOOM!*

A violent shockwave tore through the back of the Night Panther’s body, as flesh, shattered bone, and steaming innards exploded outward in every direction while a massive hole was blasted through its torso.

*SPLAT*

Hot blood splashed across Riven’s face, while something wet and heavy struck his shoulder, and the stench of torn organs filled his nose.

For a moment, Riven could not even react.

He simply stood there with the sword still buried in the Night Panther’s abdomen, as his mind failed to understand how the beast that had nearly killed him only seconds ago was now collapsing before his eyes.

However, somehow, without understanding it himself, he had executed Garron’s technique in its entirety.

The Night Panther died almost instantly, as its massive body lost all strength at once and collapsed forward onto the wooden sword, while its heavy bodymass dragged Riven down with it.

*THUD!*

Both boy and beast crashed onto the rocky ground together, as the Night Panther’s corpse landed heavily over him while blood, flesh, and pieces of innards smeared across his clothes.

For several long moments, Riven lay pinned beneath the dead beast, breathing in short broken gasps while his entire body remained frozen beneath the overwhelming weight pressing down on him.

He could feel hot blood dripping from his hair.

He could feel torn flesh sliding across his chest.

He could feel the wooden sword still trapped somewhere between his hands and the dead creature’s body.

Yet even then, his mind remained slow to accept the obvious.

The beast was not moving.

Its claws were no longer scraping against the stone.

Its jaws were no longer searching for his throat.

As only after several more seconds passed without another attack did the truth finally begin to reach him.

The Night Panther was dead.

And somehow... Through some freak miracle of nature.....

He was still alive.