The sky was split in half by electric fissures. I felt a small tremble to the ground a few moments later.

It was no earthquake. The shaking grew more intense, if still weak. I saw some minor dust clouds from beyond many buildings. Flaze readied herself and summoned another Knight Clone.

I too took a stance.

I heard crashing sounds, stone falling against stone, raining debris. The footsteps became more audible, what we faced became visible.

Flaze Original mounted my back, just as we saw our enemy. A monster multiple stories tall, like an ostrich but with two ugly humanoid heads sticking out from opposite sides of its body.

I chanced a single Identify, and the information that came back easily informed me of the best option.

[Warrior - Lvl 100+]

Run.

[Longstrider].

I bolted out of there. Flaze Clone stayed. She taunted the creature just as I quickly shot away, but was easily bitten by one of the heads. Her armor dented and cracked, but somehow wasn't immediately cut in half, along with whatever lay inside.

Flaze Clone screamed. She tried to cut at the monster's face, barely managing to do small scrapes. Both heads grabbed hold of her, as the beast's feet slowed down. The two ghastly faces looked almost angry at each other as they tore the clone in half.

The Flaze at my back shuddered.

I sped up further, I charged away just as the monster's attention fell back on me. It gave chase, uncaring of whatever obstacles stood in its way. Cars were flung aside, walls and fences broken, rubble further separated into many pieces.

I took a hard turn the first chance I got. The hope that the monster wouldn't bother chasing after us quickly vanished as it crashed through a building and reappeared from the explosion of dust.

Both heads snarled. They wanted blood. I weaved through the pillars that were still present, and the monster collided into them, stumbling for less than a second, clearly annoyed if nothing else.

The monster was catching up. Even my ridiculous Skill in Longstrider was not enough. I already had a hard time maneuvering at this speed, and I was only able to dodge our opponent's first actual attack because Flaze yanked at my mane at the last second, allowing me to react.

Jagged sharp teeth whisked past me, but the monster had two heads, and the next bite came a single instant after the first. I veered further off to the side, narrowly avoiding a fate similar to the one Flaze's Clone suffered. I kicked at the beast's cheek just as it passed, activating a burst of light.

The monster shrieked, angered further by my attack. I was happy for it, for they slowed down a hair, wasting time on such a gesture.

The chase continued, the monster caught up again all too soon. I weaved through the head's bites just as I did before, but I couldn't quite dodge them all. One particular attack grazed me, another came with a set of teeth that went way too close for comfort, a situation salvaged only by Flaze ramming her shield into the head hard. There were yet more attacks, and I stumbled from a particularly bad headbutt.

[Curse of Th–

"Not yet." Flaze told me, and I paused. In my thoughts, but not in my travel. I trusted in whatever plan her fucked up mind had come up with, if only that I'm way too preoccupied with my run currently to think of a proper one myself.

The chase continued. Flaze guided my path by tugging on my mane, leading me to take rapid turns in order to lose our pursuer. It didn't quite work as well as we hoped. The monster did slow down by ramming into the sides of the buildings, but was nimble enough to avoid the worst of it.

It was on to us again after a mere few moments, giving me only the briefest of respites. Shit. This is what evolution is like? I want mine NOW!

Alas, I wouldn't get what I want so easily, so I continued to lead along our stalker. I peppered it with fireballs when I can, sneaking in kicks when possible. Meanwhile, Flaze used taunt on the few flying monsters that we passed, ones she was sure wouldn't be able to catch up to us anyway. They ended up getting in our pursuer's way instead, tripping up the monster even further.

And yet Ostrich Head still kept up, we still hadn't lost it, and the power displayed made it clear to me already that fighting wasn't an option. A dead horse serves no one, whereas I may yet serve myself.

"Alleyway, soon. Tight turn. Curse on mark."

Flaze suddenly said, finally about to reveal why she prevented me from using my Skill earlier. Turning in the wide streets was fine, but something so narrow as an alleyway would be a difficult task while I have Longstrider on. The heads up was necessary, and with it, I'm confident in the maneuver only slowing me by a hair.

I also don't know the layout of this place, and may have ended up in a dead end if it were just me.

"Turn!"

Flaze gave the signal, and I veered to the side, in between two buildings. I entered the alleyway, and immediately felt dust and rubble rain down towards me, displaced by a shrieking beast. The creature plowed through solid concrete, rushing to catch up to us, meanwhile several other monsters caught up behind its back and started to hound at it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

That was when Flaze gave the second signal.

"Curse."

I activated the Skill, and the monster momentarily stopped. It raged just as more debris rained down from above, trapping it further, and preventing proper movements.

The monster contended with other monsters, I saw that it was having trouble. Greed blossomed within me at the thought of defeating such a high-leveled foe, what it might do for my evolutions, but Flaze quickly snapped my mane forwards when she noticed the spell I was under. "No. Too dangerous."

Eeeeehhhhh… I whined, but Flaze didn't budge. I briefly considered what would happen if I turned us around anyway, but I realized it would indeed be too risky, and I didn't want to share that risk with a friend that was clearly reluctant.

Chicken! Chicken Flaze! Chicken! Boooooo! I was not above mocking her for it, however.

With a sigh, I left our prey behind. My head snapped back around only a moment after, once I heard a reverberating war cry, along with the deafening clap of thunder.

"Power of Friendship!" I heard a solitary voice say. It was vaguely familiar, albeit I could barely tell, for the sound was heavily muffled in a way that made it ring sharper.

I saw a figure in the distance, a short and stocky woman. Her voice reminded me of Orlean, and the joke she used as a genuine war cry was so much like her. But Orlean Piercer was very tall, unlike the stranger right in front of us. They couldn't be the sake person

And yet I still felt a familiarity to her. As illogical as it may be, to look at a stranger shorter than my friend even with full plate armor boosting her height, and still think they might be the same person. I just had a feeling, I just had a hunch, and I found myself stupidly acting on something so irrational.

Longstrider deactivated. Flaze tensed.

We stopped just in time, to see a whole ass pillar fly towards the over level 100 monster. The stake of metal sunk with the crunch of flesh. It didn't penetrate all the way, but it drew proper blood.

"Jackal–! Why'd you stop!?" Flaze finally asked, as the battle in front of us began in earnest. The constant thrum of electricity among the pillars became stronger, lightning arced in between them and towards the stranger.

I gave a quick reply to Flaze, as I was focused on the battle, ready to help if need be.

Orlean Piercer.

Flaze paused, I felt her eyes drill into the back of my head.

"What?" She finally said. The armored stranger zipped across the battlefield faster than even I could, as if she was drawn towards the metallic pillars through forces unknown.

No, not unknown.

Magic.

I pointed at her, so Flaze too may see.

"What?" She repeated again, after a few moments. "You think that's Orlean? No way! She's too small!"

Rude. I mused, seeing said woman weave in between the monster's strikes, pulled along by the pillars, she was slingshotted through the battlefield.

Another pillar sunk into the monster, it shot out from the higher floors of a skyscraper.

Orlean-Probably then released a blast of lightning, and I could see the pillars direct them into the insides of the ostrich's flesh. The beast shrieked in pain and rage, a sudden movement mildly caught the woman off-guard. She was flung aside, but quickly recovered, rushing towards her pillars.

"...Well, she is putting up a good fight. We might as well make contact after." Flaze took a more calculating pose. "If shit goes south, hopefully she'd be too tired to mount a proper pursuit, even without your Longstrider. Her preparations clearly make her a more dangerous fighter than us. Maybe. Not that I stand no chance."

I chuckled at Flaze's justifications. I wondered what level the woman even was.

[Handler - Lvl 99]

Ah. Well. That makes sense.

She felt my gaze, her attention shifter over to myself for a single moment. Our eyes met, but the woman didn't let it distract her. She dodged another bite from the monster, and then led the second head to collide with the other.

Oops. I could've gotten her killed by distracting her. Hopefully she doesn't hold a grudge.

The action continued, I and Flaze watched with rapt attention. I pondered coming over to help, but Flaze had a point in that the stranger was stronger than us, at least with all of her preparations. It'd be good to save our strength.

Still, I was ready to rush over should it come down to it, on the off chance that I was right, and it was indeed Orlean. If I could become a horse, then it's perfectly reasonable for her to become fun-sized.

The woman in question continued her assault, she raised her hands in tandem with a floating pillar. The object flew with her, almost as if magnetized towards her, and it shot forward as she commanded it with a gesture. More pillars soon joined in, as the battle raged on, turning the beast into a pin-cushion. It grew weaker each time, from the compounding damage, the bleeding, and the near constant thrum of lightning. They amplified each other, the power of the pillars, and the person they were all centered around on.

Orlean-Maybe made sure to avoid the beast's jaws as she flew around it, but she couldn't evade all strikes, and the monster's gigantic body managed to slam into her a good couple of times. She was only saved from those blunders, by her ability to be pulled towards her pillars.

Truly, like magnets. I grew convinced that that's what I was seeing.

The two combatants both tired out, the ostrich monster's legs were shaking, having such difficulty just to remain standing. The small human too flew unsteadily in the air. She was only really able to move quickly, by doing the pillar trick, restricting most of her fast maneuvers into straight lines.

My hooves immediately dug into the dirt, when in a last moment of struggle, the monster finally caught what might possibly be Orlean in its jaws. I was already running towards her, when the woman suddenly flashed a bright light, joined by her pillars.

It was a blinding display, the sound of crashing thunder. I saw a scene similar to the one we found earlier in Orlean's house, fractured lightning racing up to the sky like a tree without leaves.

Only this time, in the center was a hostile monster. An explosion of electricity that originated in part from within something's flesh, helped along by the countless embedded stakes.

The Level 100+ monster staggered. The woman fell from its mouth, limp.

She crashed into the ground first, before the beast even started falling. I winced when the stranger started vomiting without taking off her helmet, and I could tell that just made her gag further.

She never even noticed when the monster she had killed finally crashed all the way to the ground. The resulting gust caused her to fall on her face, and the dust no doubt got into the seams of her armor.

"Friendship… Wins Again." She collapsed on her face.