By some miracle he managed to duck the scythe -- probably weeks of Karkat swinging a sickle at him in the training center paying off. Or maybe just sheer instinct. The important part was that his head was still attached to his body.

The unfortunate thing was that ducking and dodging threw him off balance enough that he fell flat on his butt as he tried to keep moving backward. This was it. He was going to die again.

"Please. You don't have to do this."