In a time of running and fleeing for his life, Murai went almost 200 meters away from the meeting of that strange alpha. He lost control of the current situation, unknowingly going over the edge of his possible Mana Detection. It made him somewhat nervous that he was unable to feel the presence of the enemies or what was going on behind him or around him.
Tsh... This is terrible... Murai complained in his head. I got used to my Mana Detection way too much and now, it is affecting my train of thought along with that damned dog! What the hell was wrong with it... And me? I am not like that... No! I shouldn't be like this at all. I swear.
Murai unwillingly viewed himself as that alpha, as if memories of old reached and resurfaced in his mind. A slave... He was one before. It was unpleasant, but not... After all, who was he if not an eternal slave to his cursed life? It was another life after the other, making a cycle of chaos and neverending Ends. He hated it as he hated the context of being shackled by anything. And that alpha reminded him of him so much so, he cursed and fled like a duck meeting a wolf.
“Calm down, Murai Hisagi. This situation isn't as bad as you think.” Lisa argued aside from him. “That thing was only strange because of some hidden factors. There is no need to care about it since you ceased that issue away with a little bit of soul force. Now, it shouldn't bother you since it had no seal to eat you up. Probably.” She tried to calm him down, hoping it would work and his mind would focus on what will be important.
Along with this brief chaos, his chaotic attitude became apparent, full of some inner madness and memories that Lisa noted.
Her tries were unsuccessful, however, yet Murai remained silent in his fleeting. Then, Lisa glanced backward, and before even Murai was aware of the new presence behind their back, the alpha from before was less than 5 meters away, storming behind Murai's back. It was furiously running like a bolt of thunder toward them, reaching the running Murai who may run faster than any duck could, but he had no physicality of 4 legs.
“M-Murai!” she shouted, but she was slower than Murai's own reflex and feelings that he perceived from behind. He could only jump to the left, stumbling behind a tree as an open jaw littered with teeth and flame alike shot past his body, missing him only by a couple of centimeters. The alpha was no longer shackled, thanks to Murai and no one else, so whatever it came here for, he was skeptical.
“What the fuck was that?” Murai angrily quacked, landing a few meters away, and turned to face the enemy that almost bit his back or neck. The alpha jerked forward a bit more, stopping after losing its momentum. Then, it turned, facing Murai with a slightly hunched head as if sorry.
“You... helped. Me? Not enemy. No bite. I... help. Away.” The few messages left the alpha's mind along with strange body language. It bowed to the ground, and at last, indicated with its head away in a gesture to flee. It was soul intent as for Murai's guesses and it was traveling to him with little effort for this sort of beast.
It was special in some way and had some interesting Will on its own. Perhaps it was a Gifted that was forgotten by a willful god or a being that saw the end of its god? Many instances would cause this issue to be possible, but Murai wasn't sure if this was a unique circumstance to this world, or if it was something he should be familiar with.
His head went over some memories, but he couldn't find much of anything. Possibilities could range from a powerful soul, a blessing that could enchant its soul, or there was some Will that made this alpha unique.
Lisa had a few guesses herself, but she remained silent so she would see what Murai would do about it. She was doing this style of passivity without any issue since Murai always had his own mind when solving issues. Sometimes, it wasn't worth it for her to step in, giving Murai another worry. Putting Murai's nerves to a certain risk of bursting out wasn't what she desired and when fighting, she wasn't truly a helper, so why be a bother?
Though she didn't mind being one, so she floated closer, hoping to see what would happen with this quite fast alpha. Her eyes and mind even thought of using a Memory Extract, but out of curiosity about what Murai will do, she restrained this thought. From her eyes, she could tell it was way more powerful than Murai, considering how quickly it caught up with him. There was almost no aura, time of waste, and undulation upon its arrival.
From its aura alone, she guessed it was a beast that developed at least 2 successful evolutions, which wasn't hard to guess. Coyotes had simple ones, from a pup to unique sub-species such as Phantom Coyote, which then could follow other evolutions. Its Class shouldn't be more than D. A same class as Murai, so it was an advantage, but what of it?
Its level should be higher along with attributes that would create an even larger factor than that. They would matter much more in this situation.
“You?! You wanted to snatch me away!?” Murai asked, quacking all the same. “A helper? Help me? That is great... Is your mind even in the right state of mind, you foggy dog? Your soul and mind are like a hazy fog, so what is up with you? You wanted to rip me to shreds before, but you restrained yourself, but I don't give a shit about it. Now, I am in a damned hurry with Beast Master behind me so if you don't want to die, scram!” he unhappily quacked, having no patience for this thing that was unlike the rest.
It pestered his mind, clouding his resolution when Soul Read informed him of the calm agitation that this alpha now possessed. Something went through with his Sou Read, after all, giving him some idea that this alpha had an intelligent soul hiding under that fog. It also seemed it was hesitant or afraid of something, and couldn't properly gesture its own intentions or words. It sounded like a stranded soul in the mists of a new beginning that it couldn't move through. There was also that curse that dispersed, freeing the soul from that abyss.
Again, Murai found himself irritated by this.
“Me... No bite. I. Carry away. Fast.” Alpha argued back, tapping its paws on the ground and hoping to get some reasons to the other side. It wanted to help and nothing else, or so it appeared since it was no longer under any rules, seal, or even curse. It gestured its paws further to the ground and forced its head down as if bowing to its master. That, or it wanted Murai to hop on its back. Both would make sense.
“Hmph... Your soul seems to be in shambles of nothing but fog and confusion. Fine! I see your sincerity. You are faster than a dozen of me so it seems I have no choice anyway. But I won't let myself be bitten by you!” Murai decided to trust it for now since the situation seemed hopeless one way or another. He had already stopped for 10 seconds, causing the packs of coyotes to appear within the edges of his Mana Detection.
Hopping to Alpha's back, grabbing the fur by his beak, he used his tiny legs as a support. Murai found its body large and sturdy from the touch alone, giving him some tough realization of how small he was. The alpha appeared a bit different than before, but he couldn't point out the reasons why it was the case.
This little gesture surprised the alpha, who was no longer afraid of a lot of things, so some things were due. Its forced purpose, vision, and fog were slowly disappearing away. At some point, nothing will be clouding its life.
Without much further hesitation, and seeing Murai secured on its back, the alpha jumped away like a bolt of lightning. Charging at a fast pace as if breaks were no longer under its command, Murai found it incredible and bad at the same time. He had trouble staying on its back, and seeing this speed, he won't match it with his body. Not now, but in the future?
For once, he doubted he would ever manage this sort of speed considering his legs and the physicality of a duck. Murai wondered for a moment what he could do to accomplish this sort of speed. Body enchantment came at first, then the magic or equipment of some sort? That, or some evolution in stronger physicality?
Anatidae Peniscula mentioned a high potential in the physicality of his species, so perhaps there were some possibilities of unique opportunities. Albeit, the kinds that were hardly possible, since his path of magic was already decided and he can't change what already happened.
Anatidaes had a limited start in their evolution and many beasts of magical aptitude did as well. Usually, Anatidae's evolution choices involved 3 things. Soul power, body, and magic. One decision can lead to furthering a firm path, one of those 3 things, or more, but that didn't mean one won't be able to get some possibility to desire something else.
Though finding an opportunity to seek a different kind of evolution was a possibility, it was harder and usually not easy to do. The first evolution usually came up with a firm decision to follow certain things, but it wasn't a common thing. Humans can change their paths midway through their journey if it was in a similar threshold or kind. In this case, some sword paths would be easy to change to spear paths or other kinds.
For beasts, it was different, since their evolution was almost their Path alone, but it wasn't accurate.
The Path was what one viewed as their road of power. It could be body, magic, soul, or anything. Evolution in this sense can improve the Path, or become the Path itself. It was following options and possibilities one could have. A certain desire for power, it was.
For the beast, it was easier to follow the road of common sense of the evolutions, upgrading one's body that wouldn't be too different from the first choice. That was at least common sense in the Battleworld since the large differences at further evolutions may turn out to be a bother and hindrance to getting used to. The time required to learn new things about a different kind of evolution was the issue.
Lisa furrowed her brows from far, floating above them as she kept up the alpha's pace without any issues. Alpha ignored her, viewing only Murai as a worthy thing to talk to. She sighed, feeling that the situation went a bit differently than she thought it would. At least it didn't end up in a fight, which was a good thing.
She swayed her body, flying fast as she managed to keep the same - if not faster - pace than this alpha. It put her in a good mood to experiment with her soul form, since she held no limits of ordinary physicality, albeit it held major disadvantages. After all, having a body was what she desired, since a soul form was a rather empty living. It was dull, yet mysterious in some sense, creating some strange notion in her head.
Perhaps she didn't find it as bad as she thought she would.
Now, she and Alpha were at least 5 times faster than Murai's excuse for running as a duck. That was quite some speed.
In fact, they outrun the packs of coyotes behind them, much to the Beast Master's dismay and inability to change the outcome of his hunt. Realizing that, he suddenly remembered the route of some success so he put forth a map from his pocket. It was an old map of the Seventh Death Forest, but it was hardly detailed. It had only rough shapes that wouldn't change, yet the Beast Master knew where he was.
Looking at it, he smiled “It will get cornered in 5 kilometers before Death Valley. Good. I see no issue with my plan. Hunt it is.” he snickered and then gestured 2 packs of phantom coyotes under 2 alphas to go into the intersection of this trap, circling to clutch the forward running Murai.
The way they run into will be nothing but a long stretch of elevated cliff, without many choices to flee. It should be enough to allow his prey to be unable to escape, or so he thought and hoped.
That should go along with his hopeful plans, but whether it will be successful depended on the prey rather than his desires.
Murai was no ordinary prey, and Beast Master forgot about it since he discovered how weak his prey was. It should make sense, considering he knew more about the current circumstances of the Encounter than Murai did about his own. He felt his chances to be much higher thanks to the many beasts under his command, but even then, he failed to capture him fast.
Sending all the Alphas first would make the most sense to do, but trying to hunt for further information was always a good start according to his path. Considering the possibility of strange helpers that Murai can have, it was no wonder he was cautious. After all, the Centralis Kingdom knew of Vermillion Church so the Best Master was careful about his own sake.
It may be a battle against the beast outside of his own power, but it was his path. Feeling confident that he will win like a proper Beast Master, he grinned with delight.
Further into the Seventh Death Forest, almost half a kilometer away, Murai was riding this little helper he got out of nowhere. Following Lisa said nothing about it. She only gestured for Murai and Alpha to move toward the location she planned to be their hope. It shouldn't be a long journey with this sort of speed until Murai suddenly got an idea that he wasn't sure how to interpret.
“Lisa?” He sent her through their soul connection, hoping the alpha wouldn't hear him, but he doubted it didn't. Though, not as if it mattered, since it was yet to become clever as it should.
“What? Enjoying the ride?” Lisa followed his will along, also speaking to his mind.
“As if... What about this Helper part of the encounter? How does it exactly work? Is it not similar to the way things go under the gods' views? I am unsure of how this exactly works... Like this beast, who is helping me. He is like Lia, but not at the same time, so what is it?” Murai wondered.
“Oh, that issue? Heheh.” she chuckled. “Good question. You aren't stupid, so let me tell you rather interesting things. There are a whole lot of issues and things that Will of the Battleword didn't consider telling you, nor even mention. I see it as no surprise. Encounter is a pile of shitty mess, in a sense of your own. There are some complications in any kind of complicated run by the gods as many variables can happen in this world. If it would be too forceful, or way out of one's grasp, God's Wrath would already descend and kill anyone who would try to help you. Is that what you think of it, and how it should be?”
“No.” she shook her head.
“Helper is what, you think? A Helper is a being that follows the encounter part along with you. They may be outside of the rules but within them as well, along with some variables. Could someone help you without being a Helper and fearing God's Wrath? Sure, but it is a bit too complex than that. That's the rough point of what I can tell for now, but I am sure there are some slacking variables, in the same way that Razmund has his own. I think it has something to do with the Centralis Kingdom, and considering the whole Encounter, gods have some desires for this Encounter as a whole. Which? I don't want to guess. You wouldn't like my guesses, I bet.”
“Guesses? It seems you are beginning to understand me.” Murai seemed surprised by this. “They want some trouble... Gods, Vermillion Church, and Centralis Kingdom alike, and for what? In the name of some made-up games... Desires? What a mess.”
“Yeah? It's not a game if it doesn't involve Gods.” Lisa said, shrugging her arms. “It is like that priest, or whatever that dragon nutjob was. She directly put her Will towards the Encounter and got something out of it in return. It was an official stake for her part of a Helper status. You accepted her since you had no choice. The encounter made it possible because of the present variable of those messiahs. This beast, on the other hand, doesn't know anything about it, so it is helping you with the Encoutner in return for nothing. In fact, he is riding a steep hill that may end up killing it in return. It is a variable that does give you a helping hand. Well, the hill may be literal, in a couple of moments...” Lisa explained.
“So an indirect helper... Isn't it quite bad in this way? This encounter is already involving a lot of them under the Centralis Kingdom, I bet. Mess... as you said. What else have you seen in those memories that you are keeping for yourself?”
“Some stuff. Unimportant.” Lisa dismissed his doubts, ignoring the fact that Murai knew she wasn't taking every reason out of her own mind. She kept some things for herself, and even though she can be secretive about it, Murai can see through such a facade. In this sense, they both started to know one another a bit better, but that didn't mean in a good or bad way.
“If you say so like that, you obviously sound like a pathetic liar. Is this how you want this to be, Lisa? This life and death situation that would have been my End a long time ago? This Encounter WANTS me dead. GODS wants me dead!” Murai argued.
“Shut up, Murai Hisagi... Man up and deal with it. I am following the motions I think are right to tell while your situation is your idea that pushes to mine. It's mostly your journey, while I am forced to endure it along your way.”
“That is coming from a soul form that would die if I die. It is as hilarious as you are pathetic.” Murai chuckled and Lisa unhappily frowned and continued following the forest.
That went on for a bit longer until the Seventh Death Forest and this cherry section changed. A wide plain entered their vision when trees became scarce, revealing an open cliff baren of them because of lack of eath for roots.
Alpha shot out of the forest, slowing down before a desert-like location that was before them, but not directly. It was below, and at the front, since they ended up in a wide stretch of cliff, barren of trees, bushes, or grass. The word, vast was the right word to describe the following description of mountains, storms, and wild feelings of Death Valley.
There wasn't even a steep hill down, but a complete fall to an abyss that went unknown distances down. Beneath, and further beyond, there was a desert region in a deep hole-like crevice in the earth's crust. It had nothing but sand, rocks, and storms of incredible might. It looked like quite an unpleasant time to travel through, and worse than Seventh Death Forest.
“Is... Is this our way out? THIS? This damned hole seems like a prison rather than hope! Wouldn't I leave the Seventh Death forest if I enter this place?” Murai asked, thinking it was way different than the forest behind him that was under Encounter's name. Again, he repeated the same wonder, forcing Lisa to repeat the same words.
“This is still part of the seventh Death Forest, Hisagi Murai,” Lisa told, floating a bit higher to seek the surroundings. She was looking for some familiarity, or hoping to glance for something else.
“Is it? It looks completely different from the word, forest. Whoever it was that decided on this sort of name is a dumbass. I swear...” Murai said, unbothered by the sudden stop.
Even the fact that Alpha followed the direction that Murai told him was quite a good thing. Having this sort of taxi at least put Murai's tiny legs into a relaxed position and his stamina improved along with his mana. He was sure he could jump and maintain some flight for some time.
“Well, this seems it's our end, doggo.” Murai quacked, jumping back to the ground and leaving this furred back that wasn't as bad as he thought.
“Name. Is Alp.” Alpha sent, trying his hardest to get his words together, which seemed to work and the words did seem smoothened out.
“Alp? Yea... That's quite a name. Good for you to remember it now, but good luck retaining your freedom. I don't want something bothering me. Look.” Murai gestured with his beak and one wing towards Lisa. “I already got one thing to worry about.”
“Excuse me?” Lisa unhappily shot between them, causing Murai to chuckle as if he was the biggest comedian in the world.
Even Alp chuckled, finding this sort of strange dynamic weird. In fact, he was so happy to have proper freedom, he wasn't afraid of anything at the moment. Even death can come and he won't be bothered by anything but clutch it, or stop it. Before, even death was impossible for him, since Beast Master's slaving seal prevented the deaths from happening. He was never unable to die on his own terms or Beast Masters.
Not even the sight of a succubus put him on guard since the duck was much more interesting than it. That was already strange enough, considering Lisa's appearance wasn't common, and should be as rare as the Anatidae species as a whole.
“Alright, let this be,” Murai said and calmed down. “Listen, Alp. You saved my life at the moment, so we are even if you think you want to repay me for getting rid of your cursed living, or this slave thing, or whatever you believe in.”
Alp wiggled his tail, nodding without any words. Though it almost seemed as if he wasn't listening, so Murai asked again.
“You still want to follow me?”
Alp nodded, wriggling his tail in return.
“Fucking hell... This whole situation seems familiar...” Murai cursed, remembering the time when he "talked" with Iris in his nods. This resembled it so much, that it put him in unease.
“Don't wriggle your tail, goddammit!” Murai scowled at Alp as if he was already the owner.
“You. A Blessed! Me, a potential Companion!” Alp sent and the tail seemed to have a mind on its own.
Murai stopped thinking, hearing some giggling from above. Lisa was having a good time above, finding this whole exchange adorable, if not hilarious.
“You think this is funny?” Murai asked.
“I do, and I am tired of pretending it is not.”
Murai sighted, forgetting how dangerous their situation was. No... the time was dangerous, not the other way around.
“Then, what are you, Alp? I am not taking companions lightly, as I have none so far as a Blessed.” Murai said, putting his beak high in the air to appear majestic.