My Lost Soul

Chapter 43 - A Fitting Grave

"Oh well, I didn't quite prepare to fight you, but it will do for now." Corian brought his hands out of his robe.

"Shut it and fight!" Enjō charged at Corian with his hands on fire.

Corian jumped back, dodging his fist by an inch.

"I hope you don't mind waiting for me while I finish..." a burst of paint appeared from under him, all of the colors mixing in a torrent beneath his feet.

"This is my Great Muse: Jungar Havöc." He spread his robe out, which suddenly turned green. The torrent that surrounded him suddenly expanded and filled the area with green paint.

"Shi—" Enjō drew his hands back to cover his mouth. The paint stormed around, covering him and blackening his vision.

Enjō's eyes snapped open to a ceiling of leaves. He shuffled around, dead leaves scattered as he stood up.

"What the hell..." Enjō looked around. Crickets chirped, and the sun only peeked out of the gaps between the huge tree leaves.

"This is my Jungar Havöc—a jungle." Corian's voice echoed out.

"This is...mad new for me," Enjō looked down and saw some ants and beetles crawl towards him, "Ew..."

"If you can find me before you run out of time, then you get to leave my jungar. If not, then you'll die." Another echo rang out.

Enjō turned his head, Where the hell is he?! This place just looks endless, man...

Enjō walked around for a while, touching some of the plants and critters. Eventually, he was trudging around , looking up at the trees.

There's literally no way this is real...he did say it was just a muse right? That means he's tricking me, right?

Wait, that's a ruse, not a muse. Damn i-

Suddenly, he felt his head get yanked up by a vine, choking him by the neck. "What the—" Enjō choked under the vine's grasp as he hung on a tree branch. He tried to claw beneath the vine to release his neck, but it grew even tighter, it's thorns piercing his neck.

Shit, I'm done with this! He thought as he grit his teeth and grabbed the end of the vine and set it on fire, freeing him. He landed on the ground with a thump.

"Argh..." Enjō rubbed his head as he got up. A scowl grew on his face as he looked around, "Alright, that's it!" He rubbed his hands together, the fire growing larger and larger in his hands, "I'm done with this shit!"

He brought his hands out and spun around, the fire from his hands creating a vortex of fire that consumed the jungle surrounding him. His vision grew dizzy, and all he could see was the surrounding flames that engulfed the trees, but a dark figure dug its way through the fire and pounced at Enjō from the treetops.

"What the—" Enjō quickly moved out of the way as the figure landed on the ground, revealing its cat-like appearance.
Shit, how is a tiger here?! Enjō thought as he backed away from the tiger that stalked towards him, despite it being covered in flames.

How the hell isn't it dying?! Enjō shot a blast of fire at it, the tiger dodged and pounced at him again, this time pinning him to the ground. Enjō's lungs were squeezed, and he stopped breathing. His face grew red as he forced the tiger's fangs from his neck. As he felt his fingers slip, he screamed, "Get off!"

Fire surged from his body and the tiger let go, weakly backing away. Enjō scrambled up, drowned in his sweat, and watched the tiger start melting on the floor, black paint dripping down to the floor.