Alnea lay on the ground, heaving. Panting. Groaning. And bleeding. Remnants of his robe—Cecilia’s robe, clung to him in ribbons, and pieces, exposing the countless wounds on his body, bleeding with the beasts around him. And as he bled, Alnea felt closer to Death than ever. No wonder Yuri had asked him to not to rely on the defences of his robe. Since he could already feel the breath of Death though, what was he to do next?
How many days had it been? Two? Three? Alnea did not remember. For him, the past few days had been all about constant fights. He was not even allowed to rest. When his Spirit Power was exhausted, he was forced to rely on his sword. And when the sword became too heavy to hold, he had to switch to his dagger. Only when it was time to eat, was he given an hour of rest.
Fortunately, with how crazily he was fighting, and using up his Spirit Power, just one meal a day was not enough for him. As for how many times Yuri brought him his meals… He could not really remember. All he knew that whenever he was about to collapse from exhaustion, Yuri would show up, and bring him away for a short rest. At the moment though, Yuri was not with him. And neither was Cecilia. All he had was the breath of Death. And the source of that breath, a Twin Tailed Python Tiger, in the intermediate phase of its Adolescent Stage, walking towards him with arrogance.
Was it fate? It did not matter. He may have lost all his strength, and exhausted all his Spirit Power, but he was still Alnea Oathkeeper. Since the tiger dared to have ill thoughts about him, he would show it how stupid it was. Through the sheer power of will, he forced himself off the ground, and faced the tiger. Not with his sword, or dagger. They were too heavy to lift. Besides, for the tiger, just his hands were enough.
The tiger, noticing his disdain, roared in annoyance, concentrating all its malice in its roar, before springing into action. In its overconfidence, it did not even bother checking whether its ‘Roar of Malice’ had worked or not. All it had in its mind was to deal with its prey as soon as possible, and enjoy a hearty meal. What it was met with though, was the Tiger Slaughtering Stance.
As the Fifth Stance of the Slaughtering Origin Volume, the Tiger Slaughtering Stance was originally designed to deal with tigers, and all other feline beasts. Just in terms of technical aspects, and the prowess it could burst with, the Fifth Stance was much better than the first three Stances of the Oathkeeper Style. However, higher prowess of the stance meant higher requirements for using it.
A year ago, Alnea would not even have been able to last for few breaths. And though his body had developed enough to use the Fifth Stance without any worries, at the moment, even standing was becoming difficult for him. Not to mention the fact that he had yet complete modifying the Oathkeeper Style. Even if he had had enough strength, he still would not have used the Tiger Slaughtering Stance for too long. So, just like the tiger, he decided to end the fight as quickly as possible.
The tiger came down on him, not with its paws, but with its maws, aiming to strike his neck. So, as a tiger himself, Alnea went down on all fours, and tilted towards his right to avoid the tiger’s jaws, only to face the snakes right in the next instant. They were fast, and feisty, rushing towards him for a bite. But as a tiger, how could he let some small snakes get the better of him?
Grabbing the two snakes just below their heads, he pulled on them with all his strength, ready to jump on to the tiger’s back. But the snakes were tougher to deal with than he had thought. They chose to bear the backlash of using an ability beyond their limits, and opened their mouths to spit venom at him, rather than to let him jump on to the tiger’s back.
Cursing the snakes for their stupidity, Alnea let go of the tiger’s tails, and rolled towards his right, once again, to avoid the ‘Poison Sting’, and the paws of the tiger coming for his head. These Oren Beasts… They surely had a weird obsession with heads of their prey. But it could be understood. With all sorts of weird Innate Abilities abound in the world, only smashing heads could prove the death of their enemies.
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However, Alnea had no intention to let his head get crushed, or to die for that matter. The blood loss… It was starting to make him feel a little dizzy. Not to mention the headache from severe exhaustion of his Spirit. Even his steps were beginning to shake. And his senses were beginning to lose focus. The only tangible thing that he could feel with certainty was the breath of Death.
Towards your left, the breath seemed to be saying. And so, Alnea moved towards his back, avoiding the blow coming from his left. But just listening to the breath was not going to help him. He had to find the source of the breath, and strangle it. Only then, would he live. And only then, would be able to find his breakthrough. So, even if his vision was getting blurry, he did not hesitate to stand up once again, and face the beast.
Since he was dealing with a tiger, the first thing he had to keep in mind was its immense strength. Then there were its Innate Abilities. The snakes on its back could be annoying, but its abilities would be even more annoying. Especially if he used its ‘Flame Flowers’. Fortunately, the tiger was just at the intermediate phase. It should not have access to its ‘Coat of Flames’.
Having made up its mind, Alnea waited for the tiger to get near, reacting more by instinct, than what he was seeing. His senses were blurred anyways. He just had—
Behind you.
The tiger was getting cunning, Alnea thought. At the very least, it was not underestimating him anymore. Unfortunately for the tiger, it still did not know the horror of the Slaughtering Tiger Stance. The moment that Alnea felt the breath of Death on his back, he jumped with all his strength, and backflipped onto the tiger’s back, shifting from the form of Tiger to the Slaughtering form, shaping his hands like the blade of Oaths.
The snakes, of course, would not let him do as he wished. Even before he had landed on the back of the tiger, the had already raised their head, and were ready to strike at him. Before they could do so though, his blade of Oaths severed them from their base. Almost simultaneously, the tiger roared in pain, and rage, and began moving so erratically, that Alnea had to jump off of its back. But the tiger had just begun falling into its insanity.
Somehow, being separated from its two snakes hurt the tiger so much, that it lost all its defences against the toxins that Yuri had infected it with. And in a matter of moments, it became just as insane as all the initial phase Oren Beasts had been. Rather, it became even more insane, indiscriminately releasing all its Innate Ability. It did not matter if its attack hit the target or not. It just kept sprouting ‘Flowers of Flame’ from its mouth. And when those did not work, it even went so far as to cover its entire body with—
The moment that the tiger paused for a moment to release an ability beyond its control, Alnea flashed below the tiger, and drove his blade of Oaths right into its chest. Just to be sure, he even plunged his other hand into the beast’s chest. And when he felt the tiger falter, he hurriedly withdrew his hands from within the beast, and rolled away before the tiger could fall on him.
Just moments later, the tiger fell with a thud, confirming that it had been injured fatally. Not fatally enough to die right away though. It kept moaning, and whimpering for quite some time after its fall, speaking a story of despair, and indignation. But that was the way of the world.
Still, if he had had the strength to stand, or even crawl, then Alnea surely would have ended the miserable life of the beast. Unfortunately, injuring the tiger had taken away what little strength was left within him. He did not even have the strength to groan, like the beast. Or to move his head to see the state of the beast. Not that he would have been able to see anything anyway. His blurry vision was getting even more blurry. And as time passed, he began losing his other senses as well. His hearing. His touch. And lastly, his smell.
Blood. That was what he smelled like. Blood, and grime. How many days had it been? Two? Three? he did not remember. Neither did he care. What he wanted was not answers, but the people he loved. He wanted his Heart. Yet, all he had was Death. Blood, and Death. And an endless darkness… Like the one that his namesake had faced. But…
Why was the darkness so warm, and peaceful? This was not the darkness he remembered. This was not the death he remembered. Or else, why would there be a white light in the darkness? Why would he see Yuri in his Death?