Chapter 46

Jawran's jaw was its signature. It was pointy, long, and sharp, and its triple sides pattern could clasp many things due to its wild openings, akin to a palm with three fingers. Many long tendrils went over its torso, looking like hair, and hiding its skin that might be full of scales, or feathers. At the front and head, on one of the three beak sides, there were many glistering scale-like plates, surrounding numerous eyes.

“I didn't ask for a Jawran. Who in the right mind would ask for one? I didn't. Who asked you to follow us for the past hours from New York City, hm?!” Luke spoke to himself less than hundreds of feet before the storm.

Now, he could feel it and hear the tension rising, and Cube didn't falter, nor he did. Stepping out of Cube, he started to fall and act. Before going far, he reached out to his Cube, which changed and flared in bright color. Something moved from within, and Luke grabbed a pole at the side of his Cube that materialized from it. A few inches at best, it was the handle of some weapon.

It extended as he fell, reaching a long pole that moved with many waves that changed the Arcalyst, cycles between it and Luke, and shaping the Cube itself into a Mold according to the wish of its wielder.

“Extend, Wavehammer,” Luke said. “That should be plenty enough for you, bird, or you may be enough for me. Either way, let's get it over with.”

Luke no longer fell and hung in the sky, grasping the Wavehammer. With Arcalyst changed, it still had its hovering and flying capability even if it was no longer a Cube. With his right arm alone, he was grabbing a long handle, with the tip being a rough hammer. Cube throbbed and changed, bulked in shape, anchored to the space or air. This was one of Luke's favorite weapons: a long ass hammer with a thick sturdy end. While the body was still adhering to the gravity of this situation, the Wavehammer didn't. That was a limit of his Rank 5.

Less than a few seconds later, Jawran came over, washing the Fog forth, engulfing Luke's line of vision with darkness when the Dark Fog moved. Dark spiked waves were thick, looking like dark sea waves that could cut things apart.

Luke endured it like a wind, squinting and defending by doing nothing against this storm. Little bits and slashes spread, trying to dig into his flesh, but he was strong enough to weather it down.

Long neck with spikes, unlike any fish or sea predator, Jawran was a mutation that had no boundaries in the human world.

Yet, Luke smiled at those approaching three jaws that could swallow him whole five times over.

It was a terrific force and storm. Even those little Pterants— looking like savage winged beasts around Jawran—were as large as Luke, with simple beaks made of two sides that looked like swords. Their wings could cut things like blades thanks to their angle, thinness, and speed. Luke assessed his choices as he began to follow their attention.

It was no wonder that they did it as well. Arcalyst had a certain weight to his core, body, and mind. It always crawled into the minds of most Darks, feeling like a feast and great taste.

Distance lessened between them, and the incoming Jawran growled in a challenge, flapping its wings much wider and wavering many of its smaller brothers. Dark Fog quivered, lessened in speed and moved, unleashing waves of spiked waves as if it were moving according to Jawran's motion. Luke scattered them without moving, protecting himself with his Arcalyst, and still hanging in the sky.

No amount of Dark Fog hurt him, which meant his assessment was wrong. This Fog was a little bit weaker, more speedy, and not as viscous. There also wasn't a lot of its hideous Madness, so perhaps its size was a sham. Its physicality was scattering since any Walkers were Fog's prime enemy. Where normal humans would lose themselves, they did not.

Jawran didn't like it, but the darkness spread wide enough to create its domain. It rushed forward, all three jaws open wide and crazy. It had a triangular-shaped head, thus it had three jaws and six rows of long teeth. When open, the middle portion would reveal its throat, revolving in darkness without any tendrils or tongues.

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It wanted to swallow hovering Luke, who looked at that approaching death.

“Screw the luck of this duck. First, the people, now, I take on a Jawran above my Rank? Is it fate or nature of my life? What about karma? I heard about it...” He wondered and flexed his body and right arm that hung onto a long pole made of densely revolving Arcana. “I helped someone today! Unwillingly and with guilt, but so what?! It wasn't my fault that they came here. It is your fault!”

Unbeknown to him, he was probably heard overhead. Luke got upset and pushed the handle of his Wavehammer against its unmoving gravity, trying to change its point. He pulled. Then, the tip changed, pushing as he bent the pole. Luke's body weight shifted as he swung the entire Wavehammer with speed and weight beyond common sense. The wind pushed back, so did Dark Fog, and a sonic boom echoed in a single motion that hauled over his head.

Jawran began to clutch its jaws, enveloping Luke at three sides, while pushing forward, leaving no room for its smaller brothers. Luke welcomed it with a smile since he couldn't bother with small fries that shouldn't bother him. But the helicopter was still a potential target. Even if it had its weapons against Pterants of Rank 4, it was better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately, nothing in that machine would stop a Jawran.

So Luke swung his weapon in a straight line, unleashing an attack that might be easy to see, but harder to stop. Luke knew how attacking first was important like taking advantage of timing. Even the smallest of cracks could lead to victory. Flashes of lessons, failures, and successful kills flashed in his mind. How many Rank 6 Darks had he killed? Few dozen in his life? Less?

His Rank was stagnant for years, but even the fact that he was at Rank 5 was an incredible achievement because he never felt he was someone special all of his life. In the Federation, he knew the boundless ways of Walkers and knew how impressive they would get. He also knew his talent was finite and limited.

And humanity was still at a loss.

Why...

Luke hated losing and those jaws arrived quicker than his swing. He scoffed at them, pushing more waves over his head mid-swing, covering his upper body and mainly his right arm in thick waves. His right arm was the sole holder of the Wavehammer, so those waves throbbed as he swung, pushing against the Dark Fog and upper jaw that came at him first, hitting his waves.

He stopped it, though Luke felt some force came through. It was passable damage because he finished his swing and trashed the hammer point to Jawran's closest side. Then, another sonic boom arose, this time pushing a large amount of Fog away. Like a whip, Luke smashed his Wavehammer Arcalyst into a terrifying monster many times of his size, and the monster did not falter too much. It just winced and stopped in its flight as if someone slapped it.

This motion felt as natural to Luke as slapping someone, and with the Fog returning, his vision changed. He couldn't crash this sort of Fog with two Booms, though he figured one surprising thing.

“Oh, you aren't the maker and owner of this Fog,” Luke said, feeling that this Jawran had some flaws and its vision hid some painful ideas. “Is it fatigued?” Luke wouldn't mind even if it was wrong or right. He wouldn't even get lost thanks to his Arcalyst and its light in any Fog. Waves protected his right hand so it wouldn't break in his Move called Crashing Boom Chop, which involved a lot of things at the same time, making it a Fusion Skill and component of his Wavehammer.

Hovering close to Jawran, the second Boom revealed his whole Wavehammer. It was almost seven feet in length, with a burly head resembling his Arcalyst, but it was thinner and no longer like a cube.

The handle was thin and flexible Arcana and everything about it looked kind of odd and feeble, but it could become very thick and firm. For now, it seemed far too wavering, thin, and unable to hold onto the large chunk of Arcana at the end. Yet it kept on its appearance and swinging wouldn't crash the pole in the slightest. It was just the appearance.

In reality, if Luke wanted to, he could adjust the volume in a few moments, making a traditional and burly Wavehammer. This one was springy, allowing his swings to be more savage and Booms to work. It could be sturdier than metal unless it met an enemy with high strength or even a sturdier body than his Wavehammer or Arcana as a whole.

Jawran cried and backed off, flapping its wings as if it were baffled and afraid of this sudden shift. It smelt and remembered. Confused, it growled and looked around as it shook its massive head, trying to overlook this human. Its target? Nay. Many of its scales cracked, and a single eye bled into pieces.

Cracking in a wild scream, it attacked Luke as if he were an annoying fly. But at that moment, Luke swung it against and aimed his sheer force down, smacking this huge Dark down.

Jawran was too confused, so it fell into the ocean. It began to flap like a duck tossed into an area full of birds of prey and cried. It didn't like the water even when it could swim fairly well.

Luke laughed at it. “Tough bastard. I will crack you into the pieces next time whether that Fog is yours or you are a mere messenger.”

Once more, he was grasping his handle and remained in place, even if it seemed like he was about to fall off. It was his shortcomings. Wavehammer and his Arcalyst could fly, but he couldn't.