Alnea felt his Heart shaking in dread, and nervousness, when saw the ‘Dark Paw’, a menacing mass of darkness, nearing Cecilia, threatening to tear into her innards. And the closer the ‘Dark Paw’ got to her, the more active his mind became. It was as if time itself had slowed for him, magnifying everything that was happening in the distance by several times, making him wish he could just stretch out his hands, and swat away the mass of darkness.
Different from the barrage of rocks, and pebbles that the bear had shot at them earlier, its ‘Dark Paws’ focussed all of its strength into its paws, amplifying their destructive prowess with darkness, before shooting all of that destructive prowess at a single enemy. The strength behind its ‘Dark Paws’ was clearly much higher than its previous attack. Especially since the bear itself was at the advanced phase of its Adolescent Stage. If struck directly, even if Cecilia would not die, she would, at the very least, become incapacitated to fight.
So, the moment that Alnea saw the bear planning to launch its attack, he launched his Arcana in advance, shooting the strange, rotating spherical shell, formed from thirty six Oren rings, aiming it directly for Cecilia. Coupled with how his Arcana was faster than the bear’s ‘Dark Paws’, even though Cecilia was closer to the bear, it was his Arcana, ‘Gravity Shift’, which reached her first, and sunk into her body.
Immediately afterwards, her body shifted to towards her right on its own, as if someone, or something was pulling on it, allowing her to ease past the ‘Dark Paws’ without making a move of her own. She did not just stand there in a daze though, and neither did Alnea. Unlike with ‘Gravity Field’, he had much better control with his ‘Gravity Shift’, and could control it even after it had been activated. Not for long, but for enough to make an impact in the fight.
Groping along the threads of the forces stitching the world together, he reached towards the oddly rotating rings within Cecilia’s body with his Spirit, and changed the direction they were rotating in. Right in the next moment, as Cecilia took a step towards the bear, she found herself being set free from the pull of the ground. Even then, she still used all of her strength in her steps, and consequently, was pushed off the ground, as if flying directly over the bear’s head.
Meanwhile, the bear itself looked at its enemy with confusion. It was not the first time that it had seen other beasts fly. But it was the first time that it had seen a beast dodge its attack in such an unnatural manner. Right when it was sure that its Dark Paws would hit its enemy, the figure glowing in green, red, and black had shifted to its side, easily avoiding its attack.
It did not have the time to wonder about the strange ability of its enemy though. And since the distance between them was not enough for the bear to prepare another Dark Paw, it could only slap its enemy with its paw. Or so it had tried, only for it to miss once again. A flying enemy… It did not even have any wings. How could it fly?
Taking advantage of the bear’s confusion, and its outstretched paws, Cecilia rolled her body forwards, shifting her head towards the ground, before latching on to the bear’s shoulders with her hands. It was also at this moment that the ‘Gravity Shift’ stopped working. His Arcana had already done its job though.
Gathering all of her black, and red Aspects towards her hands, Cecilia made them all drill into the bear’s body. Or rather, she made their lights drill into the bear’s body, and pushed herself off of the bear’s body, twirling in the air, before landing back from where she had jumped, allowing its swing over its head to miss once again.
While she was performing all sorts of acrobatic moves though, Yuri had not been standing still either. She had stopped in place just when Alnea had, and had been preparing her Arcana ever since, waiting for the right opportunity, which came when Cecilia had jumped into the air. At that moment, while the bear was preoccupied by Cecilia, Yuri had released a black fog from her body, which had then coalesced into the shape of an eye, carrying the Mysteries of Death.
Staring directly at the bear, the eye had stayed floating in the air for a few moments, before turning back into a black fog, which then shot directly towards the bear, barely passing below Cecilia’s feet as she landed back onto the ground. The bear, on the other hand, had been completely preoccupied with Cecilia, and had missed the eye when it had formed. Even the way that Cecilia had landed back onto the ground had blocked some of its vision, not to mention the lights of her Aspects raging inside the bear’s body.
Distracted by all sorts of things, by the time the bear had noticed the eye, or rather, the fog rushing towards it, it was already too late. The fog just simply drilled into its body, and began wreaking havoc from within. Not to an extent that the bear would be rendered helpless, and defenceless. But it did distract the bear a little, reducing both its strength, and speed.
Its ferocity, however, only increased in intensity. Roaring towards its enemies in annoyance, and anger, the bear disregarded all caution to the wind, and charged towards them, beginning with the one closest to it. Yet, it had barely taken a step, when it felt the world around itself become much heavier than normal.
Of course, with the bear’s strength, the heaviness was not a problem to it, but it did make it slow down a little, giving enough time for Cecilia to excite her Aspects once more. By the time the bear finally reached her, leaving that world of heaviness behind it, the light of her Aspects already returned to their peak. And so, she engaged with the bear once again, meeting its paws directly with her fists.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Unfortunately, her strength, even when augmented by her Aspects, and Martial Style, was not a match against the bear. So, the moment that the fists, and the paws clashed, the green robed girl was thrown back by the overwhelming force of the bear. However, she was a Wanderer, not an Oren Beast. She had never thought of competing with the bear in raw strength. As for the clash with the bear, she did it just to send even more lights of her Aspects into the bear’s body.
Yet, it was also true that she clashed with the bear, and was thus, bearing its consequences. Her right wrist had turned black, and was already starting to swell. It was probably broken. But she did not have the time to care about her wounds. The bear had already gone completely feral, and was rushing towards her, not even bothering to use its Abilities.
No, it did use it’s ability, just not one that Alnea had expected it to use. Mists of darkness rose out from the bear, dyeing its already black fur into an even darker shade of black. Even the sole spot of brown on its chest had become completely black, turning the bear into something akin to an incarnation of darkness. That was why the ability was also named as ‘Incarnation of Darkness’. An ability which the Dark Earth Bears rarely, if ever, used. After all, the consequences of become an ‘Incarnation of Darkness’ were far too great.
However, it looked like being attacked by three enemies, while being suppressed at every turn, had enraged the bear beyond its limit, to the point it had even stopped caring about all consequences. Merging into the darkness around it, the bear, the incarnation of darkness, simply vanished from their sight, and even from the senses of their Spirits.
Fortunately, Yuri was prepared for the eventuality. The moment that the bear vanished from their senses, she released her second Arcana, merging her own senses into the darkness. It was normal for her then, to feel the presence of the bear.
“Five metres to Cecilia’s left, it is heading directly for you.”
Confirming the position of the bear, Alnea stopped hesitating, and prepared another Arcana.
“Under the shine of the boundless Night…”
“When the darkness hides under her light…”
“I call forth the sounds of imaginations…”
“To lead to Nightmare, and a world of fascination.”
Literal waves of Oren spread out from his body, creating shrill, and eerie sounds. The bear was too enraged to pay attention to the sounds though, and just kept rushing straight at him, while he kept backing away, inching closer towards Yuri, giving Cecilia enough time reach the bear, and deal with it personally. And she did not let him down.
When she lost sight of the bear, Cecilia immediately used ‘Dark Sense’ to look for the bear, only to catch its figure rushing towards Alnea. Cursing the bear, she turned around, and rushed after the beast. It did not matter if her wrist was broken. She did not hesitate for even a moment to urge her Aspects, forcing them back into action. Green, black, and red lights covered her entire body, illuminating her surroundings.
And as she neared the bear, she pushed all of the black, and red lights into her hands. This time, however, she did not blast her Aspects directly into the bear. Rather, she willed her Aspects to reveal their true form. A blood red claw on her right hand, and a black snake wrapped around her left hand. And when she reached the bear, she thrusted her claw directly towards its back.
The bear, intuitive as it was, sensed the threat to its life even in its enraged state. Alnea still could not see its figure, but from the sudden halt of the pressure coming to his face, and the enraged roar ringing in his ears, he guessed that the bear must have passed, and turned around to deal with Cecilia. Unfortunately for the bear, its actions were in vain.
The eerie sound ringing in its ears, which it had kept ignoring for a while, had made its way into the bear’s Spirit, bringing it into a world of illusions. A world where the bear had no enemies. A world where the bear reigned as Supreme. A world, where it had broken through the shackles of its bloodline, and become the true Incarnation of Darkness. The Origin of Darkness…
Only for the Darkness of abandon it. It did not deserve darkness, the Origin said. It did not even deserve to be a bear. And so, all it was left with was Earth. But it had ignored Earth for far too long. So, when it came back crawling, even Earth ignored him, and went away. In the end, nothing was left. It… was nothing… It—
—was a truly ridiculous world, which even the bear was able to see through in just a moment. After all, Nightmare Call was just an Initial Stage Arcana. And that too of just the Low Grade. It did not take long for the bear to break free of the call of its Nightmare. However, in a battle of life and death, even a fraction of moment was enough to change the course of battle.
The bear turned its head, intent on tearing through its enemy, only to feel a sharp pain in its chest. When it looked down, all it saw was claw, just as red as its blood flowing down the hands of its enemy, piercing through its chest right where its heart was supposed to be. It could not understand how that came to happen… Its enemy… It was not strong enough… Its claw… It was not strong enough… Nothing made sense…
Until it saw a red light glowing inside its chest, and flowing into the claws of its enemy… It finally understood… but it refused to die! With a roar defying the Origin, it aimed both its paws at its enemy’s head—
The snake coiling around Cecilia’s left hand sprang up, and rushed into bear’s mouth the moment it roared. And just a fraction of a moment later, the bear’s roar changed from one of defiance, to one of pain, agony, confusion, and resentment. It did not even have enough strength to bring down the paws it had raised.
In the end, it could only watch in helplessness, as its enemy withdrew its claw from its chest. Coincidentally, as Cecilia withdrew her claw, the snake also drilled its way out of the bear’s wound, leaking all the Aspects that had been wreaking havoc in its body. However, the snake did not come out alone. It also brought the bear’s life with itself.