Rhaddan lowered his guard in confusion. “What?”
Now was my chance! I had came up with this attack when Sylverwulf first attacked me, but I hesitated to use it. I had a window of about 0.2 milliseconds before Rhaddan would up his guard again, so I had to be quick.
I can alter the speed at which things leave my skill ‘CONTAIN’ with ‘RELEASE’ . So if I store an extremely thin and flat barrier within ‘CONTAIN’, I can release it at max speed with ‘RELEASE’.
I call it this move-
“BISECTION!”
The extremely thin and barely visible barrier traveled at 2,600 feet per second, but while it goes insanely fast, it was too thin to tank such speeds. Luckily, the barrier managed to leave a mark on Rhaddan’s left arm before breaking apart.
He looked at his arm in surprise and saw a trickle of blood come from the gash. He smiled at me and began to spin his chain around.
“Nice party trick,” he sneered. “Wasn’t even capable to tear through my skin,”
He whipped the chain in my direction, and while I tried to dodge, his chain was going too fast; coiling around me and slamming me into a tree with massive force.
I wouldn’t have even felt the damage due to being a spirit, but for some reason, his chain could actually hurt me. I coughed as sparkling bits of my body fell to the floor.
“Y-YURU…!” Sylverwulf shouted, still unable to move her body.
“Didn’t think my chains would be able to hurt you, eh?” he said, walking slowly to me. “Pretty haughty, don’t you think?”
I coughed up more of my essence as I shook in pain. The pain as different from when I got attacked by a spiritual predator; instead of shock, it was intense waves of supernatural heat permeating through my body.
But I didn’t care, all I wanted was to create distance between him and the girls. What happens to me doesn’t matter, all that mattered was their safety.
Rhaddan grabbed me, with the chains protruding from his back stabbing into me. I screamed in pain and squirmed in his giant claws. His chains began to siphon the energy out of my body and I felt myself become weaker and weaker.
〔ALERT: Your karmaic energy is being siphoned by skill ‘FOOD CHAIN’〕
His chains, on top of being super fast and able to harm spiritual creatures, could also siphon energy? This is bad, I underestimated just how tough this guy was going to get away from.
〔WARNING: Karmaic levels at 23%〕
As I felt more and more energy being sucked out of me, I scrambled my brain on an idea. How could I use his own power against him, I needed something to overload his siphoning abilities with.
Wait…overload… THAT’S IT.
〔Computer, apply the skill ‘OVERLOAD’ to my energy reserve!〕
〔WARNING: This action will greatly stun you and leave you unable to use any skill for approximately 35 minutes. Are you sure?〕
〔YES, DO IT!〕
Suddenly it felt like I was being puffed up like a balloon and I felt like I was going to explode. All remaining energy was being wrung from my body, and Rhaddan’s chains would siphon ALL of it.
His chains began to glow white as they siphoned the sudden influx of energy and burst apart, startling Rhaddan and releasing me from his grasp. He tried to lunge for me again but failed. I created distance between us by floating on a high branch of a tree.
Rhaddan laughed. “Not a bad idea overloading my chains,” he said. “But I’m guessing in exchange, you can’t use karmaic energy for a duration, hm?”
I wasn’t surprised he knew, it was plenty obvious. And as figured, I couldn’t use ANY of my skills, including ‘SUPERCOMPUTER’. And without ‘HIGHLIGHT’, I the vision of an ordinary person. I had gambled all my cards away in exchange for guaranteed evasion.
Not a bright idea.
But I laughed. Laughing harder than I ever had since reincarnation.
“I might be out of cards,” I said. “But you should know-”
Rhaddan picked up what was going on and lunged backwards to evade, but it was too late.
“Never celebrate a victory without ensuring your target is dead,”
Sylverwulf lunged out the forest with her fists engulfed in a blue flames. Her all-black leather clothes helped her camouflage extremely well in the dark and accented her snow-white hair and intense blue eyes.
“Die,”
I flew as fast as my spirit body could move and hit Rhaddan’s back, causing him to instinctively move forward to evade whatever attack he thought was coming from behind, only to receive a nasty right hook covered in blue fire.
As soon as Sylverwulf’s fire-packed punch landed on Rhaddan’s face, it bloomed into a beautiful plume of blue fire that illuminated the entire forest. Sylverwulf wasn’t done yet, grabbing Rhaddan by his chest fur mid-air and using all her strength, tossing Rhaddan towards the same bush she came out of. I was unsure what she was doing until-
“PUSH!”
Rhaddan instantly went flying into a tree at insane speed and broke the entire tree in half with his body alone. I stared wide-eyed at a panting Daira. She never looked so aggressive; her jet black hair how wild and all over her face, a black tank top instead of her usual shirt, and blood all over her face.
Sylverwulf looked just as raw. She had blood splatter all over her face and hands, messy white hair, and her clothes all had rips and cuts on it. She gave me a flashy smile and a thumbs up.
“IDIOTS!” Rhaddan shouted, limping towards us. “I WILL KILL YOU, ALL OF YOU!”
Daira and Sylverwulf stepped in front of me and got into formation, with Sylverwulf igniting her fists into blue flames again.
“Bring it, mutt,”
Rhaddan lost it and howled, sending his chains flying towards the girls. I wanted to help but couldn’t in my current state, so I just floated out of the way as to not be a hindrance to the girls.
My part was done, it was their turn now.
The cool nighttime breeze ruffled the trees and added to the intense atmosphere. Me and the girls both know we are completely outmatched in power and strength, but I think we both figured out how to get out of this mess.
“You ready?” Sylverwulf whispered to Daira.
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Daira, though she looked gritty and tough, was actually shaking in fear. Nevertheless, she held her ground, nodding in approval.
Rhaddan clapped his hands, breaking the girls’ focus. “DOMINATE THEM: FOOD CHAIN!”
His chains coiled into one big lump and lunged towards the girls, but the girls simply dashed out of the attack. The chain kept lunging at them but each time they dodged at the right moments.
When the chain went for Sylverwulf, she caught the chain and set it on fire, then slamming it into the ground. Another chain went for Daira, but she used that “Push” ability and sent it flying back at Rhaddan and smacked him in the face.
Sylverwulf seized the opportunity and went for his legs, kicking his feet and making him lose balance, giving Daira and opening to jump in and get him in the stomach with a “Push”-infused gut punch.
After that, they both dashed back and stood side-by-side. Rhaddan wasted no time getting up and lunging more chains at them, but again, the girls simply dodged them. I could see Daira calculating their next combo in her eyes while Sylverwulf just had a battle-crazed look.
Daira had an idea. “SYLVER!” she shouted. “Remember that move we used to practice but never did again?”
Sylverwulf racked her brain. “Uhh… you mean that move?! You sure?”
Daira grinned. “It’s the perfect time to test it out,”
Rhaddan coughed out some blood and laughed. “Bring it on, you sons of bitches,”
Sylverwulf and Daira nodded, standing side-by-side as Sylverwulf’s fists ignited into blue flames and Daira coat her hand in her “Push” ability. They sprinted towards Rhaddan and got ready for a punch.
Rhaddan spread his arms wide. “GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT!”
The girls leaped and aimed their fists at his stomach. The flames on Sylverwulf’s fists bloomed into a giant plume of fire and the space around Daira’s fists seemed to distort.
“PULL!” Daira shouted.
Rhaddan was suddenly and violently pulled towards Daira, but he was prepared and raised his fist to attack her. Unfortunately-
“Over here, idiot!”
Sylverwulf dashed towards him at inhuman speed, leaping into the air and striking Rhaddan’s side with such force that I could hear the crack of bones and the squelch of torn flesh. The fire around Sylverwulf’s fists bloomed again and incinerated Rhaddan’s side, blood and flesh matter flew in the air like confetti and splattered everywhere. The sizzling sound of burnt flesh resounded throughout the forest, along with the blood-curling scream of Rhaddan in pain.
“GOK!”
“Burst forth: IGNITION!”
The brilliant wall of fire began to consume Rhaddan’s entire body as he flew farther and farther into the forest. There was pause as we waited for the sound of him crashing into something, and on cue, we heard a CRASH.
Once they heard that sound, the girls lowered their guard and laughed in triumph. I, however, was still tense. Obviously that wasn’t enough to kill someone like Rhaddan, so he’d just come back again.
I floated between the girls. “That was amazing!” I cheered. “But we need to get out of here now that we have him somewhat incapacitated,”
Daira nodded. “You’re right,”
Sylverwulf slapped my back and laughed. “That was good thinking,” she complimented. “Testing the range of his ability was a good idea,”
I bounced in approval. “Yeah, but let’s not stick around and test our luck,”
The girls nodded.
“The trail to the village should be back where I came from,” she said. “Let’s hurry-”
As we were about to run for the trail, we felt a familiar evil aura.
“You…are going…NOWHERE!”
We turned around and saw a bleeding Rhaddan with a big smile on his face. A big portion of his stomach had been ripped and torn apart but he still limped towards us. He pointed at… Sylverwulf.
“I will… k-kill you-”
Sylverwulf pointed at the sky. with a smug grin “You think you got time for that?”
We all looked up and saw the sun about to rise, it’s brilliant rays peeking over the trees. For the first time, I saw the face of true fear on Rhaddan’s face. He looked at us and back at the rising sun, contemplating a choice.
Daira snapped her fingers in realization and smiled just as smugly. “Oh yeah,” she said. “You Lycanthropes turn to dust under the sun, don’t you? Do you think it’s a good idea to keep hanging around when the sun is about to rise?”
Rhaddan grunted in frustration and seemed like he was about to risk it all and come for us, even though the rays of sunshine was already beginning to shine and burn the night away. He roared and pointed at us, specifically at Sylverwulf.
“I will kill you!” he declared, and ran into the forest like a puppy; on his hind legs and all.
We laughed and breathed a sigh of relief, the girls dusted off their clothes and shared a high five.
Then I sensed Deity’s presence in my head again.
“Not bad,” he said. “I thought you’d have tried to take him on yourself, but it seems you were smart enough to rely on your comrades,”
“I’m not stupid,” I said. “Taking Rhaddan on by myself would be suicide!”
Deity laughed and his voice got all emotional. “I’m glad you weren’t like me.”
----------------------------------------
As Rhaddan scurried through the forest, careful to avoid the patches of sunlight, his mind raced with Sylverwulf’s smug face and how she managed to best him in combat. He understood what his superiors meant now; she was a special Beastman, one that they should exterminate at any cost.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” he cursed. “Even the other girl managed to put a dent on me…”
The “dent” was a massive wound on his side that gushed out a worryingly huge amount of blood. In fact, he left an entire trail of his blood where he ran. Not that he cared in the slightest.
At last, he reached his destination: a patch of the forest that was overlooked by a massive mountain range. His actual destination were the mountains themselves, but he had wasted time and the sun was now shining brilliantly in the sky.
“Shit!” he cursed again, stomping his foot in anger. He looked around the forest in desperation and noticed a figure moving towards him. He squinted and tried to get a better look at the silhouette.
His eyes went wide when he realized what he was looking at: a human. And not an ordinary human, either.
“What are you looking at, mutt?” the human said, their voice soft but stern feminine.
Rhaddan instantly went down on both knees and prostrated as the human got closer. The prostration caused him extreme pain but he dared not move a single muscle around this human.
The shadows covered the top half of the mysterious human’s face, so only their bottom half could be seen. They wore a long, white, fur-trimmed coat that reached their ankles and sleek golden boots.
“Good, that’s a good boy,” the human said. “But for not prostrating as soon as you saw me-”
In the blink of an eye, Rhaddan’s entire left arm was sliced off with surgical precision. His eyes went wide but to suppress the pain and the urge to scream in pain, he bit his tongue and made sure his breathing was silent. On top of that, blood began to pour out of his mouth; limiting his breathing.
But he dared not move.
“Did you kill her?”
Rhaddan could finally speak, but when he tried to, more blood just gushed out of his mouth. The human didn’t seem to care and merely watched as Rhaddan writhed in pain.
“I asked you a question, dog, did you kill her?”
Rhaddan barfed out as much blood as he could and spoke. “I… I couldn’t kill her-”
His ears were neatly sliced off so fast that the pain didn’t register until seconds later, but even then he didn’t dare move.
“Weren’t you the one boasting that you were the strongest of Orzenna’s commanders? yet you couldn’t even slay one measly Beastgirl?! How pathetic!”
Rhaddan closed his eyes and breathed slowly. Though the human seemed like they were on the brink of ending his life, he knew that they’d still need him. They needed his strength, his powers, his-
“I don’t need you,” the human said. “I can’t keep a dog that can’t even play fetch,”
Rhaddan opened his eyes wide and stared at the human in desperation. “Wait, please! Please, give me one more chance, I simply let my pride get the best of me and fooled around. I know this time around I can definitely kill her! Please spare me, Your Holiness!”
“I don’t do second chances,”
“Wait, you can’t do this! Saint Ath-”
SLASH!
In his last moments alive, Rhaddan saw the upper half of his body slide off the lower half and fall to the ground. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t end this way. His master would heal him, he knew it in his soul. They wouldn’t just dispose of him outright.
Would they?
“Useless mutt,” the human said, watching the life leave Rhaddan’s body. “Stained my brand-new coat.”
They spit on Rhaddan’s torn apart carcass and walked away in cold fashion, their coat stained with animal blood. They stopped and looked back at Rhaddan’s body before walking forwards again into the dense forest.