The Wretch vs. Lung 2

My eye was on the line, and I knew I could well be killing a man if I connected a blow.

I still grabbed the shattered trunk of a tree that had been thrown at an earlier part of the fight, and swung it at him, aiming for an undodgeable wallop more than a decisive blow. I hoped it would connect and split him.

Goddess needed it to. We needed it to. If we couldn't, Lung would kill us all.

The hit connected, and I saw the spray of blood as one side of his chest cavity opened. Sternum to lower rib. Sliced through the lung.

There was no humor in the irony, only a chill, as I saw blood fountain out.

In the midst of smoke, I saw him stagger. I saw him draw in a deep breath, his chest coming apart in sections, like twenty fragments breaking apart, then coming back together in another configuration. His back popped, scale scraping against scale as it extended.

- Gleaming 9.11