image [https://i.imgur.com/9s19VLK.png]

Gong

Taiyo and Garyu looked up from where they stood.

“The return signal?” Garyu asked. “But why?–”

Victor did it! Taiyo thought.

She gulped. It was now or never.

“Well Garyu, seems like we need to go back!” She smirked at him. The adrenaline in her veins made her heart race.

While he wasn’t looking, Taiyo sprinted forwards.

“What–Taiyo!” Garyu shouted. “You two, get her!”

Taiyo looked behind her and saw Ruyi and the older man chasing after her.

As long as Garyu wasn’t there, she could do it.

“Humph, I’m not so weak as to be captured by two mere Rank 0.3!”

Taiyo heard crashing behind her. She looked to see Ruyi cast sun chains on the older man, making him trip and fall.

“Hey, Taiyo!” Ruyi shouted. “Take me with you!”

“Keep up with me!” Taiyo panted. Her time with dance practice had given her a rather fit body. Ruyi trailed behind her slightly.

Ahead of her, the sky had turned crimson.

Only a couple of hours of daylight left. She thought.

The sight of burning fields and flashing lights filled her eyes. The acrid smell of smoke filled her nose.

As they ran ahead, the figure of a man with long, silky white hair entered her vision. He was tall, though not as tall as Victor, and had delicate, angular features. He wore a purple kimono, and sort of resembled the elves in some storybooks Taiyo had read as a child. On his back, he carried a black bow that appeared to be fashioned from a tree branch.

Taiyo tried to read his magical energy, but she couldn’t estimate the strength of the magic in his body.

He’s more powerful than me, she thought. Her heart sank as she realised this.

A powerful life practitioner? she thought. Why is he here?

The man currently stood before two beasts which were facing each other. A small orange fox type beast growled at another small blue hound like creature.

That’s a rare magical beast, she thought. The Ginger Fox. Descendant from the ultra rare Sun Fox’s.

“Hey!” Ruyi shouted. “Watch out! Those beasts are dangerous!”

The man paid no attention to either of them. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on the Ginger Fox.

“Ginger, devour,” he said.

With a leap, the Orange Fox attacked the blue hound. The hound tried to resist, but the fox used its smaller frame to get under and clamped its teeth around its neck. The hound growled, then yelped in fear. Taiyo watched its legs kick hopelessly as the light faded from its eyes. Its body twitching slightly.

The Magical pulsations around the fox increased, as if it had become more powerful. Its eyes glowed ferociously with a purple hue. Taiyo estimated its strength to be around 0.4.

Something about the scene upset Taiyo. Even though they were beasts, did it have to die in such a cruel way?

The elf-like man finally took noticed the two of them.

“Are you okay?” Taiyo asked, uncomfortably eyeing the orange fox feasting on the blue hound. Her heart was beating fast, and she held her breath.

“Are you two with the Sun God’s church?” He asked.

“You can control magic beasts,” Taiyo replied.

“Answer the question.” He looked at the two of them.

“Isn’t it rude not to introduce yourself first?” Taiyo asked.

There were plenty of life users in the southern hemisphere. In fact, there was a village near here to the east. It was much smaller than Sun Helm and they practised totemic magic.

But why was he here?

“My name is John Fauster,” he said.

“Taiyo, and this is Ruyi,” she said.

Taiyo looked the newcomer up and down. She tried to discern whether he was a friend or an enemy.

“How are you controlling that magical creature?”

“Are you two of the Sun God’s church?”

“We are,” Ruyi said.

Taiyo’s eyes widened as he spoke. Shit, we didn’t know if he had good intentions or not yet!

“Let’s work together in Yiho’s name–”

“I see.” The man raised his arm, pointing at Ruyi. “Then, in Yiho’s name, you Sun Dogs can go to hell.”

Purple magical energy swirled around the man. Taiyo could feel intense magical pulsations coming from him.

The pulsations felt like miniature seismic waves through the ground. The air was suffocating, like it was full of miasma.

External pulsations meant he was at least Rank 1!

“Ruyi!” Taiyo screamed. “Look out!!”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

It was too late.

The Ginger Fox leapt at Ruyi, sinking its fangs into his neck. Ruyi choked on his words and fell backwards to the ground. Taiyo watched his eyes shake as he looked at her from the ground.

Taiyo felt tears come to her eyes as she desperately tried to summon her magic in time.

Taiyo stared at the fox and realised she could no longer evaluate its magical power. She felt her heart nearly stop beating. At that moment, did it just become stronger than her?

Ruyi stared at Taiyo, the light in his eyes beginning to fade.

“Ruyi! Don’t die!” She tried to weave sunlight into a ball of flame to destroy the fox, but the fox was also of the sun element. Her magic flames weren’t powerful enough to harm it, and she had to be careful not to hit Ruyi.

“No!” she shouted, her voice cracking from pain. “Yiho, please save him!”

The light returned to his eyes for a moment, and Taiyo saw a determined expression cover Ruyi’s face as he looked at her.

He mouthed the word “Run”

“No!”

Ruyi’s whole body burst into flames, enveloping him and the Ginger Fox together. The Ginger fox tried to escape, but Ruyi held onto it with the last of his strength. Taiyo watched the flames and saw the bodies of the two of them burn to skeletons, with the faint outline of their skulls visible before quickly turning to ash.

“Ruyi…” Taiyo’s chest ached in pain.

They weren’t close, but it was impossible not to be friends when the village was so small. Memories of them playing tag as kids came to her mind, or how they both got told off for stealing sun fruits to eat by themselves, and then having indigestion.

“Humph.” The man frowned. “What a waste. I was trying to raise its rank.”

“You…” Taiyo wiped a tear from her face and clenched her fist. “How could you do that to Ruyi!?”

“You Sun Dogs had no qualms about hunting my companion,” he said. "And you cry when you are given the same fate?"

“Ruyi was the son of a farmer!” Taiyo’s voice cracked in indignation. “And I've hunted nothing!”

She circulated the magic blood within her body, and her anger channelled along with it. Though this man was much stronger than her, he did not control sun energy. That, at least, gave her a fighting chance.

Her heart pumped rapidly.

I’m going to avenge Ruyi, she thought.

“Foolish hound of the church,” he said. “Die with your friend.”

Three blue hounds appeared before the man. Taiyo estimated they were each Rank 0.2.

“You’ll have to do better than that to kill me!” Taiyo gnashed her teeth. She spun the light into a web the size of her body. One hound leapt at her from several metres away. Taiyo pointed her fist at the hound and clenched it. The web of light enveloped the hound, transforming it into a ball of blazing fire.

The image of Ruyi’s death was still vivid in her mind.

The two other hounds snarled, one leaping straight for her neck. Taiyo gracefully rotated her body, allowing it to move straight past her. The other hound attempted to sneak up from behind, but Taiyo spun a ball of fire into her left palm and touched the beast, setting it ablaze.

The smell of burning hair filled her nose, and the beast snarled as its skin burned, yelping moments before its death.

The third hound stared warily at her.

“Kill her, you useless mutt!” John Fauster pulled the bow from behind him, pulling the string. Purple mist swirled from his fingers, forming into an arrow.

Not good, Taiyo thought. That was the same technique as Garyu’s!

The hound leapt at her. Taiyo just dodged to the side, but she stumbled.

John Fauster released the arrow.

Taiyo’s heartbeat sped up even more, her brain turned at ten times the normal speed.

Thinking fast, she pulled golden threads of light from her fingers and wove them into a golden piece of armour on her chest, protecting her vital organs.

A force like a sledgehammer slammed into her. The light threads around her body dissipated as she flew backwards, slamming into a rock behind her.

Pain shot through her chest and back. Taiyo tried to circulate the magic blood in her body, but she couldn’t even move a finger. She looked helplessly as John Fauster towered over her.

“Why…” She squeezed out.

“Why?” His expression contorted into one of hatred, clenching his fist.

“You Sun Dogs have lusted after my companion since I was young,” he said. “All because he was a rare Sun Fox, you hunted him down and left him for dead.”

A Sun Fox? Taiyo thought.

Garyu’s words at the water tortles came back to her.

‘I did leave it wounded,’ he had said with a smirk.

“My only friend, my companion.” he said. “Why, you ask? Why the hell did you dogs attack him?”

“But…” Taiyo said. “You’re killing innocent people…”

“Innocent?” John Fauster laughed, his voice laced with madness and anger. “Your very religion supports the hunt of magical creatures as trophies! Which of you dogs are innocent when the very foundation of your society caused us so much suffering?”

“But,” Taiyo said in confusion. “It must have been a mistake, nobody would attack your friend.”

“This was no mistake,” he said. “I begged him not to attack Kitsu, asked him to please leave us alone. Do you know what he said to me?”

“...”

“He told me to get lost. He was going to kill that Sun Wolf for his next breakthrough.” John Fauster said.

“That was just the actions of one man!” Taiyo said. Her voice faltered. Even she could not defend Garyu’s actions.

“Then tell me,” John asked. “Does your religion forbid hunting Trophies from members of the life villages?”

Taiyo thought back to the scriptures and lessons she learned with her father.

“The life villages worship and befriend magical beasts, treating them like gods,” father said.

“So these are like Yiho to us?” she asked him, kicking her feet happily.

“Never utter such nonsense again!” Father’s crimson eyes narrowed in fury. “Those are heathen practices worshipping false gods. They cannot equate to our faith in the Sun God.”

“B–but can’t we get along with them?” she asked, trembling slightly.

Pawan sighed, looking at her.

“You are very kind and caring,” he said. “The greatest act of kindness one can give those people is killing their false gods and bringing them onto Yiho’s side.”

“What if they don’t want to?” She asked.

“Then they can die too.”

Taiyo’s eyes widened in shock.

No… Taiyo thought. The church’s doctrines really were what caused all this?

“You see it, don’t you?” he said, noting her expression. “All you bastards of the church, walking over others, is in your nature.”

He’s in pain. Taiyo couldn’t help but think.

Did Yiho’s teachings really cause this much hurt to the man? A sad feeling filled her chest. The world feeling like it was crumbling around her. Why, Yiho? Weren’t you supposed to be our basis of morality? Where was the morality in the slaughter and harm of others?

Why did the church allow so much pain to innocents?

“Gone silent, have you?” he said. “Good, I suppose I’ll finish this.”

John Fauster towered over her, pulling out a hunting knife from his back pocket.

Before, Taiyo would have believed that Yiho would protect her. But right now, as he took each step closer to her, Taiyo felt fear gripping her whole body. Her breath felt short. She stared at the knife, each step bringing it closer…

“Victor.” Taiyo shook her head desperately. “Help…”

“Victor? Not Yiho?” John asked. “Well, it doesn't matter. This will mark the day I get my revenge.”

Taiyo shut her eyes.