With Alnea as the centre, a strange ripple spread around him, imperceptibly changing the world. The darkness… it was no longer the darkness of the canyon, but the darkness of his domain. And everything within his domain was under his command. Except the wolf, of course. And anything else that was not related to darkness, or the lineage of Night. Still, at the very least, he knew where the wolf was. To his left, biting the blade of his sword.
His earlier block had been one of pure instinct, driven from the breath of death he felt on his neck. He did not like that breath though. And so, changing the grip of his sword once again, loosening his left hand, and putting more pressure on the base of the hilt with his right hand, rotating his sword, intending to smash the wolf’s head onto the ground like how the ‘Great Waterfall of Amarand’ smashed water onto the ground.
The wolf, of course, did not let him have his way. Even though it had enough strength to fight against the ‘Great Waterfall of Amarand’, it chose to release its hold on the sword, and stepped back to launch a flurry a barrage of wind blades on his defenceless side. Cunning wolf. Just as the wolf was experienced in many life, and death fights though, so was Alnea. And he had his domain to alert him of the wolf’s attack.
Using the momentum of the waterfall, he twisted to his left to avoid most of the wind blades. There were still a few blades coming right his way though. So, he kicked his sword at its tip, while putting pressure at its handle to flip it, using a split moment to release his grip, and change the order of his hand to regrip the sword, before slapping most of the wind blades out of course.
Of course, just his sword did not have the ability to deflect the Innate Ability of a peak phase Oren Beast. But with two Aspects granting his sword with a repulsive force, further maximised with the ‘Throbbing Pulse of Earth’, just a few wind blades were not enough to break past his defences.
The wolf took his actions as a direct challenge to its dignity though, and sent an even greater barrage of wind blades, as if it was planning on mincing him into pieces. Just to be sure, it even dashed along with the wind blades, planning to end him itself if the wind blades proved insufficient. Unfortunately for the wolf, he was not alone. Let alone the wolf, he did not even have to deal with the wind blades.
The moment that the blades were about to rain down on him, a wall of grey fog descended in front of him, absorbing all the wind blades. As for the wolf itself, it was so engrossed in dealing with him, that it did not notice the pair of blackish green claws until they were almost upon its head. Or maybe, it did notice them. It just did not expect anyone find it within the darkness.
Cecilia’s Dark Sense though, even if only at the Intermediate Grade, was enough for her to spot the wolf. Rather, just in terms of sensing enemies hidden in darkness, ‘Dark Sense’ was even better than ‘Domain of Night’. Still, ‘Domain of Night’ also had its own advantages, which Alnea used to boost Cecilia’s claws. In the next moment, greenish black claws, covered in an extra layer of darkness, clashed with the wolf’s claws. And despite the difference in strength between them, Cecilia only had to take a couple of steps back to stabilise her footing.
Still, it was a fact that she out with a disadvantage in her clash with the wolf. And the beast to tried to make full use of its advantage, biting down on her neck while she was still stumbling. Yet, just like him, Cecilia was not alone. And he had not been standing still for no reason. Urging the darkness around them to form a wall in front of her, he quickly finished casting his Arcana, changing the core of Cecilia’s gravity.
Taking advantage of her different core of gravity, and of the fact that the wolf was aiming at her neck, Cecilia leaned back at an unnatural angle, easily avoiding the wolf’s bite, while letting Alnea entangle it with the thick film of darkness. Not for long, of course. With the wolf’s strength, it easily tore through the restraints binding its movements, but not before an arrow, coalesced completely from black fog, tore through the darkness of the canyon, and struck its waist.
Howling in pain, the wolf became distracted for a moment, and turned its attention to arrow sticking out of its body. In the next moment, to the wolf’s confusion, and horror, the arrow disintegrated into countless tiny little worm like creatures, and dove into its body. As a survivor of countless life and death battles, the wolf knew what letting its enemy’s attack seep into its body represented. Determining itself to finish its prey as soon as possible, it turned around—
Using the chance that the wolf was distracted, Alnea shifted Cecilia’s core of gravity once again, allowing her to add the extra force of her weight into her claws, as she used all her strength to stab her claws into the chest. And yet, even with all the extra strength, she only managed to barely dig around half an inch into the wolf’s flesh.
With the pressure that the wolf was feeling though, even that simple wound was enough for it to reach the border of desperation. And facing a desperate Dark Wind Wolf head on, especially when she was much weaker than the beast, would surely have resulted in her injuries. So, before the wolf could even move, Alnea changed the core of her gravity once again, even as he rushed towards the beast himself.
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On the other end, aware of her situation, Cecilia did not resist the pull on her body, and shifted towards her left, pulling the wolf’s attention to herself. The wolf had learned its lesson though. Even when desperate, it did not lose its mind, and kept its guard up at all times. Whether it was Cecilia’s deliberate retreat, or Alnea’s sudden advance, nothing escaped its senses.
So, when Alnea and Cecilia decided to attack the wolf at the same time, it was naturally ready. Jumping away from its enemies, it kept both of them in its sight, while preparing anther barrage of wind blades. However, they were not just any wind blades. The wolf was still a peak phase Oren Beast, after all. It had its own pride. And it refused to be repeatedly beaten down enemies so much weaker than it was.
Gathering the darkness around its body, it added a dark touch to its wind blades, and—
A sword, larger than the wolf itself, shining in a resplendent white light, dropped down from the sky, and pierced through the wolf’s neck, sealing its fate. With the ‘Sword of Fate’ pinning the beast’s body to the ground, it instinctively knew that no matter what it did, it would not be able to free itself for a while. Even the Dark Wind Blades that it was condensing earlier had dispersed into the surroundings. And with its body unable to move, it could not even launch Wind Blades. The only thing it had left was…
Aware of the wolf’s intention, Cecilia condensed a yellowish golden spear in front of herself, and threw the Spear of Ill Fortune right at the wolf’s head. And when the spear struck the wolf, it broke down in countless little blobs of light, before merging into the wolf’s body. Right in the next moment, Yuri emerged from the darkness, and struck at the wolf’s head with her sword condensed from all sorts of Aspects.
Coincidentally, that was also the moment that the wolf was swallowing the ball of darkness in preparation to launch Dark Winds. And when her sword neared the ball, it destabilised for reasons that only Goddess Ilea knew. The wolf though, bearing the pain of being stabbed by a sword once again, failed to notice the change in the ball. Swallowing the darkness that it had condensed, the wolf ignited its core, and summoned the Dark Winds—
The mass of darkness within the wolf imploded on itself, creating a massive eruption of dark waves. Thankfully, Alnea had been ready for a long time. While Cecilia was condensing her Spear of Ill Fortune, he was preparing Gravity Shift. And the moment that she struck the wolf, he pulled her towards himself. Still, even then, the implosion was powerful enough to ruffle through her robe.
“Are you alright?”
“…I am fine,” Yuri said, regaining her balance with his help, just as Cecilia walked up to them. “Do not let down your guard yet.”
“What are you worried about?” Alnea said, staring at the cloud of dust that the implosion had left behind. “Not even a peak phase Oren Beast can survive from something like that.”
“…I have a bad feeling.”
“You are just—
“It is from my Roots…” Yuri said. “They are warning me about something.”
“…Are you trying to scare me?”
“Do you think I would joke about something like this? Especially when—
“I have a bad feeling,” Cecilia said, staring at the dust with just as serious an expression as Yuri. “There is something wrong… Something has changed… I cannot point it out… It is as if my Roots are warning me…”
“…Why are my Roots so useless?” Alnea mumbled, before quickly entering his most alert state. His Roots had yet to react in any way, but for both the girls to say the same thing, at almost the same time…
The dust finally settled down, revealing what Alnea had expected—or not. The wolf’s tattered body was lying on the ground, bleeding to death, while a white cat, with golden stripes on its body, was sitting atop the wolf’s head, relishing the golden lights that it was sucking out of the wolf’s body.
“…Why is the wolf not dead yet?” Alnea mumbled, staring at the cat with wariness, and confusion. “A cat sucking golden lights… What are those lights? And what is that cat? I have never read of such a weird Oren Beast.”
“…That’s because the cat is one of the rarest Oren Beast in the world, and is rarely ever spotted in the wild,” Yuri said, as she stared at the cat with a pensive expression on her pale face. “Things are even worse than I expected.”
“…Is that cat so dangerous?”
“…No,” Cecilia said from the side, shaking her head with a solemn expression on her face. “I do not know what the cat is, but I can feel it. The cat itself is not dangerous. But… the more I look at the cat, the more my Roots are trembling, warning me for what it represents.”
“…And what exactly does it represent?”
“…Would I be afraid of just a cat if I knew what it represented?”
Just when Alnea, and Cecilia were on the verge of teasing each other once again, Yuri raised her hand, and motioned them to remain silent, before turning back to the cat. It was only when she had confirmed that they had not disturbed the cat, that she turned back towards them.
“Destruction,” Yuri said. “Chaos. Mayhem. Death. There are many things that the cat represents. But most important of all, the cat represents the fall of Fortune. And if we do not handle it carefully, then the cat might lead Rianra, and all the surrounding countries into destruction.” After a brief moment of silence, she added, “After all, it is a cat that devours Fortune itself.”