'What? Did it sense me?--' Finn thought.
It was only then that he realized a miscalculation; the being that had its only eye stitched, not reliant on its sight, likely possessed a superior sense of hearing and feeling. There was only a millisecond to decide whether to gamble on a killing strike, or to evade.
As a chill ran across his body, finding the giant moving with such haste, he instinctively made his choice–
["Hollow Disengage"] [4:59]
He retreated into the shadows just as the cyclops' leg swung by, slamming its foot into the steel.
As he landed several meters away, emerging from the darkness, sweat left his pores as his heart thumped. For a brief moment while that close to the cyclops, his own body had believed it was about to die.
With its focus on him in that moment, a crackle of thunder echoed through the hollow chamber of chains–THWOOM.
An impact struck the distracted cyclops from behind before Charlotte passed right by it, flicking her blade that had a coiling cloud around it. Before the sightless giant could try and retaliate, a single step brought it to be struck by the follow-up of electricity.
"Nice one–!" Finn shouted to the spellblade, bringing himself back in.
"Mm, it's not enough though!" Charlotte responded.
"It's a damn good start, mate!" Jasper added in, coming by as he sent a slash of cobalt light at the cyclop's side.
Against its tough skin, the knight's illuminated blade didn't carve through its flesh, though it left a bleeding wound nonetheless while it was shocked. Finn approached with the intent of following up with a strike of his own, though found the cyclops moving just as he got close.
"Watch out!" Charlotte warned.
The assassin stopped his approach just as the bleeding giant opened its mouth for the first time, not speaking any discernible words, but unleashing a bellowing roar that caused the air to quake.
He could feel the ground vibrating beneath his feet as the cyclops expelled not frustration from the pain it felt, no, this was different–it was its pride.
The yell brought them all to a halt for a moment; the sheer volume of it made his bones ache and his muscles to throb momentarily as his body stiffened up. As it settled down, the cyclops turned quiet once again, reaching towards its own eye.
"What is it doing...?" Jasper questioned.
"Nothing good," Finn answered.
The exiled being tugged at the black threads that sealed its eye, gripping the stitches with its fingernails without any care before violently tugging them out. It made a repulsive sound, like paper being torn.
"He tore them out...?" Charlotte carefully observed.
The once stitched eyelids now parted, revealing a singular, large eye of a black sclera and a deep-purple iris that subtly shined.
They were being used as human nunchucks, at least that's how it felt; utterly unable to move amidst the giant's dance with the chains.
A stomach-churning predicament, though, quickly turned to one more painful as he found the wall quickly approaching as he was swung around again. Using all of his focus, he pointed his hand against the upcoming, rigid stone–
["Shell Barrer"] [1:59]
The ethereal shield manifested just as he would've been sent right into the wall, acting as a cushion as he pressed against it, allowing his shoulder to glide against the shield.
"Hold on!" Charlotte shouted, trying to close in.
Though he heard the spellblade's reassuring words, he could briefly make out amidst his rampant rollercoaster that the cyclops unleashed another burst from its eye, forcing Charlotte to get down.
"Jasper...!" Finn shouted, finding it hard to fill his lungs with air in the chaotic spinning. "Can you cut your chain!?"
The knight was left groaning still, mostly limp as he was still swung around with blood leaking from the gap in his helmet, "No...no way, mate. I can't...focus for a second...like this!"
While it would be simple enough to warp away, the problem was that the chain around his ankle forbade him from doing so. As he racked his brain for a solution, he was suddenly tugged down, completely reversing his momentum as he found his back suddenly being pulled towards the ground.
"Finn!" Charlotte shouted, picking herself just as the beam dispersed.
While he heard her voice, it did nothing to help as he was brought down in unison with the knight, slammed with such intensity that all of the wind was knocked from his lungs. Not just air, but saliva and blood was spat out of his mouth from the crash, feeling the steel flooring right up against his back.
He yelped in pain, sharing the same experience as the knight from their sudden downfall. A silver lining came in the cyclop's brief stint of exhaustion after using his eye, keeling over as the chains were released.
"Hey! Hey...! Please get up!" Charlotte urged with clear worry in her voice.
Finn found Charlotte at his side, carefully helping him up, though just the act of standing was a painful experience as his entire body was left throbbing.
It wasn't just his back, but his head that hurt, finding a migraine now from the impact, "Urgh..."
All things considered, he was grateful to be unbroken, though undeniably concussed as blood leaked from his nose. The impact would've assuredly turned a normal person into tomato sauce, almost frightening to him that his bones were left unshattered, even if only barely.
As he looked over, the bard helped Jasper to his feet, though the knight hardly looked any better.
"Finn, we should get out of here–we still can," Charlotte suggested urgently.
He straightened himself out, not leaning on the spellblade as he breathed out, wiping the blood from his lip, "No. It'll chase us down, and we don't exactly have anywhere to run outside, remember?"
"Right..." Charlotte accepted. "But, still, you're hurt. You can't fight like that–"
"I can. I've managed through worse," Finn assured her, wearing a smile as he stood straight, though hiding from her just how dizzy he felt as the room spun.