He had never seen anything quite like it before, the closest resemblance being worms rather than any prey he had hunted. This was just a worm if worms were huge and predatory. There were no visible weak spots, at least, not any obvious ones like joints except for the mouth. That was the thing about worms. They were quite uniform throughout, hard to pinpoint any specific striking spots. But there wasn't time to determine what to do. It would disappear, and he had to strike before it did.

They saw V-Ruby-One unleash its magic, this time directed at the sandworm rather than them. They pulled back on their bow, feeling their muscles tense, and even then, they pulled back even further. Release. Onyx-Three aimed for the body in general, though they hoped to perhaps strike it in a weak spot by sheer luck. Even if they didn't, the bow's enchantment would still enhance the damage inflicted by the arrow. Despite its size, sandworms were not invincible. Bleeding would make it slow. Weak, like prey. He did not expect one strike to end it, but enough wounds would bring it death in the end.

Rather than arcing gracefully back into the dunes, the worm suddenly spasmed midair, caught in the clenching grasp of corrupted electric power. It twisted, body contorting, and crashed flank-first into the dunes--just as a gout of blood opened from its neck, spraying red enough to soak the sands. An artery struck, by looks.

The sandworm was still only half out of the sand, but it was going nowhere, for the moment: jerking and twitching, jaw snapping open and shut, legs stabbing at nothing.

It was bleeding badly from Onyx-Three's shot, and Ruby-One had bought them a moment to inflict even further damage, if they could.

@V-Ruby-One

The monster arced and fell, writhing before them and never before had Helion wished for a pair of wings, if only to lift itself from the ground to observe that agony from above. Above the creature. Stronger. Looking down at it, as it deserved.

So caught up in its fantasy, the spell it had cast never dropped, black lightning continuing to spill from its body. Its own muscles were beginning to burn from the corrupted volts shearing through it, but it did not make any noise in pain, it did not show any sign of faltering, save for involuntary twitches that came with the territory. It only shriekd out a laugh as it took a step closer, arms raised forward and lightning poured from its body into the sandworm.

@V-Onyx-Three

The iron tang of blood filled his nose, a welcome reprieve from the nothingness of Hydra. For a monster of such a size, Onyx-Three was surprised at how easily it succumbed already. But it wasn't dead yet. He knew not to underestimate prey, especially not something that lived in a harsh environment such as this. Ruby-One continued the onslaught, and he admired the brilliant lightning in shades of Chaos. So that was the power of magic, viewing it from an external perspective really gave them more admiration for it. Things always seemed better when you weren't on the receiving end.

He nocked another arrow into the bow, this time aiming for the sandworm's maw. If he could get at its internal organs, or at least damage its main source of offense, that would decrease its ability to strike back. The blood from the previous shot was already good sign. It was not nearly as scary as it seemed. And-- release.

The sandworm thrashed and writhed; smoke began to rise from its carapace, here and there. The arrow fired into its maw vanished there--a tiny speck against a twelve-foot-wide mouth--but yet more blood began to gout.

The worm erupted, abruptly, fully from the sand. Its upper body raised up--but not very far. A foot, perhaps, above the dunes. Then it lashed out in an arc, horizontal, uncontrolled in its spasms--but given its sheer length it was very possible it might knock either combatant flying.

@V-Ruby-One

It was all-consuming, the caged beast at last freed and rampaging through V-Ruby-One's body. It was like fire under its skin, pins and needles in every pore, even the bright light that shone above was nothing compared to the shroud of darkness that overcame its vision. It felt nothing but savage glee as the worm kicked and thrashed and, if it could, it knew it would be screaming in agony. BURN IT. DESTROY IT. BRING ALL TO NOTHING. ALL IS CHAOS. Blood was soaking the sand. Lightning jumped and made its fur stand up.

And then suddenly there was massive mound of flesh coming straight for it. It had a split second to think and, instead of trying to dodge out of the way, it just switched off its spell and readied flames in its lower hands. As soon as the worm slammed into its body, the black flames erupted, in a small explosion of fire as V-Ruby-One was thrown back. It felt something snap - probably one of its arms, but it had plenty to spare.

It slammed into the ground, tumbling a bit, but as it came to a halt, claws digging into the sand to try and stop its momentum, there was only bared teeth and a gleeful snarl on its face. Oh, this is fun.

@V-Onyx-Three

The sandworm was more exposed now, an easier target-- but then it raised itself above the sand and began to flail. It was a sight Onyx-Three did not know was possible considering its geometry, uncontrolled as if mimicking Chaos, resilient in its fight for survival. Despite its smoking and bleeding and burning, it was still alive. The usage of its sheer size and weight against them was a smart move, not that now was the time to be admiring its strategy. Was it strategy? Or instinct?

There was no time to run, and it would've been a waste of energy when this was an opportunity to inflict further damage. They returned the bow next to their quiver and took out their dagger. In a second, the sandworm slammed into him, and he tried to dig his dagger and claws into its flesh in an attempt to hold on to it rather than get flung away.

Black flames coursed over the beast's flesh, bitterly cold and biting patches of carapace into withered husk. It reeled backward, upward, shuddering and spasming still as it threw its head back high into the sky... with Onyx-Three riding it, knife implanted in the flesh.

Blood sprayed below from the arrow wounds, like a fountain.

The Sandworm was weakening. It seemed unable to burrow, but for now, it turned, crashing for the sand. It didn't dig down, but rather began to rush away with Onyx-Three astride it, arcing up and down in huge bouncing leaps.

@V-Ruby-One

With the sandworm thrashing and burning, injured, losing strength, victory felt near. It could see the black form of Onyx-Three holding on. It was trying to escape - but that wasn't happening. V-Ruby-One scambled back fully to its feet and began to run in its direction in a full spring, arm raising as if direction its magic to shape and deform and answer its call.

From the blackened sand beneath the worm, oil began to pool and rapidly harden and within a couple of seconds, a large tentacle was thrusting its way out of the dunes. It arched around, racing towards the sandworm to grasp at it, wherever it could, to stop its retreat. Or, at the very least, hold it back for as long as it could.

"KILL IT," Helion shrieked as it ran alongside the thrashing monster. "RIP IT OPEN."

@V-Onyx-Three

Onyx-Three held on for dear life, flung up and down by the retreating sandworm, breath knocked out of him with every descent. They couldn't even look back to see whether V-Ruby-One was following or not for fear of falling off, but he heard its voice ring out not too far away. "I AM-" they struggled to catch their breath, "TRYING!" They shouted back, using the spikes on the back of their free arm to further secure themselves to the worm.

When the worm bounced up again, they withdrew the dagger with their free hand so that they were hanging on by only one arm. They raised the weapon above their head, and as the sandworm arced downwards, used the momentum from the fall to drive the dagger into the worm. But their grip was too weak. Their claws slipped and the dagger landed only a shallow blow. Onyx-Three slid to the side, and now they were hanging on to the side of the sandworm rather than on top of it.