[But there's a price to pay for any miracle, and Minato knows all too well what that price is.
Tick.
The beast howls even louder this time, its rage and pain practically palpable in the air as it blindly seeks out the person that hurt it so. In shielding Dipper and Yu Minato's inevitably made himself the closest target to the beast and it seethes in what might appear to be hatred as it dives for the boy, convinced that he's cheated it out of its kill and demanding his life in exchange.
Minato knows this of course; the barrier he cast would only have been possible if he was absolutely committed to it, even to the point of guaranteeing his death. There's no one else to target besides him; everyone else is too far away...and just like before there's no one left to save him.
Tick.]
Ah- [And then there's no more time for Minato to say anything else, grabbed by the monster's jaws before being swallowed. It would have been a small mercy to him and everyone else if that was all that happened, but the resulting cacophony of teeth crunching onto bone, blood spraying into the air and increasingly pained cries accompanying each sound before fading away with the clatter of a spit out sword hitting the ground would be proof enough that death was never quite merciful in the jungle, nor was it particularly rewarding.
Tick.
But for the bloodied and cracked weapon on the ground and a few scraps of cloth fluttering onto a pool of blood right below the monster's open jaws, Minato might have well have just stopped existing between the minute before and the next.]
Actual warning for gore goes here 2/2
Tick.
The beast howls even louder this time, its rage and pain practically palpable in the air as it blindly seeks out the person that hurt it so. In shielding Dipper and Yu Minato's inevitably made himself the closest target to the beast and it seethes in what might appear to be hatred as it dives for the boy, convinced that he's cheated it out of its kill and demanding his life in exchange.
Minato knows this of course; the barrier he cast would only have been possible if he was absolutely committed to it, even to the point of guaranteeing his death. There's no one else to target besides him; everyone else is too far away...and just like before there's no one left to save him.
Tick.]
Ah- [And then there's no more time for Minato to say anything else, grabbed by the monster's jaws before being swallowed. It would have been a small mercy to him and everyone else if that was all that happened, but the resulting cacophony of teeth crunching onto bone, blood spraying into the air and increasingly pained cries accompanying each sound before fading away with the clatter of a spit out sword hitting the ground would be proof enough that death was never quite merciful in the jungle, nor was it particularly rewarding.
Tick.
But for the bloodied and cracked weapon on the ground and a few scraps of cloth fluttering onto a pool of blood right below the monster's open jaws, Minato might have well have just stopped existing between the minute before and the next.]