"Do you know what that creature is?" Rall asked, his eyes following every movement of the white beast. He could feel the aggression in the air. Shivers roamed his skin, his senses screaming that a predator chose him as their next game.

"There are two possibilities when it comes to shape-shifting predators. An Oboroten would be the best-case scenario. While they can change their body at will, they do not assume the attributes and abilities of the creature they are imitating. They are intelligent and territorial creatures that use their forms to scare their prey into falling into previously set traps. If they cannot control their terrain, they avoid combat at any cost," analyzed Sharyah.

However, Rall could feel a hint of hesitation in the demoness' voice. "You don't seem convinced. What's the other option?"

"It's improbable, but it's the only explanation for its change. That creature did not simply shift its form. It absorbed the power of its prey, taking away the traits that best suited its current environment. Extreme adaptation, the trademark of a terrifying invasive species. The Mohru tribe of the Aks'ala call them Urutomo. If I'm right, we are a premium meal for it."

She kept her poise, and yet her gaze kept running through the creature's body, scanning through any hints she could find of its history. The issue with this type of creature was their incredible potential for growth. Depending on which preys it had previously absorbed, a hungry Urutomo could be a tricky opponent, even for her and Rall.

"I'm afraid you forgot a possibility. Demons," Rall pointed out as he exchanged studying looks with the panther-like creature.

Sharyah abruptly turned towards him, then back to the creature while shaking her head. "Insulting."

Those were the last words they shared before the creature took a step back and disappeared into its large shadow. That move took Sharyah by surprise, but it was Rall who was truly shocked. A memory buried deep into his mind returned to its forefront.

"Code Aegis!" Tui shouted inside his head, conjuring the ancient language as a barrier around his body. In an instant, a sharpened tail whipped towards him from his shadow, the violent impact shattering the white symbols as they appeared. It was a practiced, vicious assault meant to kill in one hit. Any second later, and Rall's head would've become the creature's next meal.

Just as it arrived, the long and slim tail vanished. "This is the wrong time to space out," said Sharyah, returning to his side. The air around her body was warmer, and a blood-colored aura now covered her from head to toe.

"That skill it's using, I've seen it before. My dad's killer had it," Rall said, reliving the scene in his mind. The faceless shadow, the bloodied knife, the dead body of his father.

"I see. To step into the shadows, moving silently between them. A technique that mixes martial arts and the dark arts, fitting for a spy, or a hitman. I don't know who your father was, but he must have angered some dangerous pe--"

The sharp tail returned from the shadows, appearing in a different spot. Switching angles, increasing the speed of the attacks to aim for a blind spot at the back of one's head. Those were all tactics that hunters instinctively understood. The Urutomo could not imagine that Rall was never alone.

"Duck!" Tui shouted.

Following her advice as a reflex, the mage ducked under the tail, readying a Smite to blast it off, when he heard a sudden thud behind his back. He turned around, only to see Sharyah's headless body fall to the dry soil and her head rolling lifeless through salt and dust.

"She's... dead?" Rall muttered.

"Who's dead?" He heard a deep sultry voice whisper in his ear. He immediately turned around, noticing Sharyah's head still attached to her voluptuous body.

"How did you--"

"From your right!" Tui shouted, making the mage roll to the left as the glaive-like tail whipped over his head once more, only to disappear again.

"We don't have time for that," said Sharyah, whose voice was now back to ice and business. She had somehow moved ten meters away from Rall to avoid the tail, but she had a point. This was not the time to ask how. "Have you thought of a strategy, clever boy?"

"We need to take away its shadows. Once it's out, you'll have to keep it busy for ten seconds. I'll take care of the rest," Rall said, taking back his composure after a series of unexpected shocks. "Are you ready, Tui?" He asked the mermaid telepathically.

"On it," she replied. Again, particles of light magic converged in her chest as she got ready to burst with another flash of light. At the same time, crimson energy surrounded Sharyah's body, her lips moving with a mind of their own, spewing wicked incantations in the demonic language of the dark arts.

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Once again, the tail appeared, whistling through the air at high speeds but keeping low to the ground. The Urutomo had changed tactics, aiming to tamper with the mage's mobility by attacking his legs. This time, however, Sharyah completed her spell, conjuring a black aura around the deadly appendix as it now moved slower, falling heavy to the ground, the tip just scraping Rall's left thigh lightly. As the curse quickly took hold of its tail, the creature started retracting it in the shadows.

A dazzling flash of white light covered the scene, tearing through the shadows around the tail and forcing the vicious beast out of safety. And once the large creature appeared, Sharyah's black aura entangled it wholly in pure darkness. The Urutomo roared furiously, feeling the threat to its life. Adrenaline fought against the feeling of tiredness that quickly took over its body. The beast prepared itself for a desperate lounge towards its enemies. But as the Urutomo tensed its hindlegs, aiming straight towards the woman with the crimson aura, its instincts suddenly screamed that death was coming.

Its four feline eyes turned to the young light mage behind the demoness. The air turned golden, gusts of wind swirled around the young mage as he gathered energy for a terrifying attack.

Rall closed his eyes. He had to concentrate on the spell he was about to cast since he was far from mastering it. It was the last spell his father had written in his notes. 'The holy seal that evil could never break', that's how Theodore described it. It was also the last spell he had ever learned and the key to his survival during the trials. A tingle in his left leg broke his concentration for a moment, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Tui. He could keep his eyes closed and focus on the spell, for she was there. She would always be there.

"Steel of Gil, Fire of Vol, I summon thy bond to free my path of malice..." he started. A blinding light appeared under the mage's feet, forming a three-meter-wide white circle and golden symbols. Rall had never understood those symbols, and neither did his father. Theodore's theory was that they preceded even the Ancient Code. Was he to be right, that discovery would be enough to make historians collectively shit their pants.

The Urutomo roared again, changing its target at the last second and throwing its body at Rall. It understood that the mage could not be left to finish his incantation undisturbed. However, its body did not respond, as it wailed at a painful stabbing sensation originating from its back right thigh. A crimson force had taken control of its tail, sticking it deep inside its leg and cutting through its tendons and muscles. It knew then that the fight was over.

"...Let thy Chains of Heaven hold evil, and the golden Light of Jud shall fall upon their heads and judge their souls!" Rall shouted.

The ground trembled, and the golden symbols disappeared, giving way to seven thick golden chains. Summoned from a world unknown, the Chains of Heaven moved through the air at high speed, heading straight to the Urutomo's weakened body. It tried to flee, wailing desperately as it ran from the spell. But Rall had never seen any of his targets escape from the golden chains.

Soon the chains reached the creature, and it fell on the ground, tightly entangled by the shining metal. And as the seconds passed, the binding became tighter and tighter, crushing the creature's bones with cracking noises that echoed through the silent landscape.

Rall fell on his knees, breathing heavily. During his journey through the Tundra, he had constantly burned his energy to sustain him through the lack of food and water, and casting the Chains had finally exposed the toll he was putting on his body. Still, as long as he could stand, he could fight. Those were his thoughts.

Sharyah looked at Rall, then followed the chains to the Urutomo with cold eyes. "It's been a while since I last witnessed the Chains of Heaven. During the first Crusade, there was a High Inquisitor who could conjure thirty of them at once. They were very effective against my kind..."

"The past is the past," Rall said, straightening up. He suddenly noticed a numbing pain in one of his thighs. It seemed that the shallow cut from the Urutomo's tail was deeper than it first seemed. Slowly he stumbled towards the bound creature, who was still struggling ineffectively.

"It's sad. This creature was only following its nature..." Tui said.

"I understand. But think how easily it killed that wolf. This creature alone could destroy the Tundran ecosystem. Think of the little A'Kaleera girl too. If something like this attacks a village, there's not much the snow elves could do. The Fog could do it, but it would be a gamble. It must be done now," Rall said.

Tui did not respond, but the mage felt her nodding timidly. He still held the chains, so she would have to give the Urutomo the last blow. When they were finally close to the creature, Rall stopped just outside the range of the glaive-like tail and let Tui float the rest of the way. With her hands in prayer, she flew closer, and the Urutomo's struggles became more violent. But the chains unrelentingly held it down. They knew neither pity nor mercy.

"I am sorry," Tui whispered, even though the helpless creature could not hear her. "Smite."

The night became day for an instant. A white blast fell on the Urutomo, cutting straight through its body and shutting off the light in its eyes. When it was finally over, a single tear fell from the mermaid's ethereal eyes, a tiny particle of ashen light soon smothered by the cold grip of winter. Then the chains disappeared, letting the creature's corpse lie in peace.

"You are better than I expected," Sharyah said as her light steps brought her closer to the mage. Rall did not react. Instead, he started walking to the Urutomo's dead body. How did it possess the same skill as his father's killer? Did that mean it had killed someone with that ability? Was it just a coincidence?

When he was finally close to the creature, something else caught his eyes. "Dark purplish blood. Isn't this the same as-- cough, cough-- the same as-- cough, cough, cough..."

His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground, holding his neck with one hand. Sudden excruciating pain from his left leg and the concerned voices of Sharyah and Tui were the last things he felt before finally losing his consciousness.