Chapter 76 - Seventy-Four

I can feel my blood boiling with the perspective of how much pain this puppeteer had inflicted on others, on my friend, of how he uses and abuses other living beings in the same way a contractor does to the magical creature, on how all of this always seemed to resolve in the stronger eating the weak.

It infuriated me.

Instead of the fortunate ones sharing their blessing they eagerly ate the most unfortunate; and that is a cycle I'm going to break, and it may sound follish, childish, I may not reach all, and it may never end even, but every single one I take care of is one less to have his ways with the weaker, and in numbers it may sound meaniless and small but will affect the entire life of that magical creature you save.

And this type of person who destroys everyone around him for his own gain… makes me really angry.

I let a growl escape my lips as my shadow twists and turns under me, but this time two hound forms grow from it, similar to my normal form without a crystal, their red intelligent eyes glinting with malice and the same anger I felt, their rows of sharp teeth appearing in the darkness of my shadow as they growl.

This was one of the things that I learned over the years, with two magic working at once I'm able to make them, almost two completely separated beings, the fruits of mixing my Clone Shadow with Sentient Shadow.

They were very similar to each other, but as one walked on four legs and had the upper part of his face covered by a white skull, the other had a hound furry form, very normal if it wasn't for the fact that he walked on two limbs; these were my clones, Darkjaw and Deadbite, two little rascals that were quite costly MP wise; and sometimes patient wise too.

"Oya oya boss, Ya 's dis you have for us today?" Says Deadbite as Darkjaw growls in approval.

"I have prepared a feast for you guys."

" 's that so?" He says, earning an eager grow from Darkjaw. "Then how about we have some fun?!"

He jumps and mounts the other shadow, Darkjaw, a spear of his own appears in his pawed hand as he licks his black lips, his eyes shining a bright red as the texture of his fur seemed to move like black flames.

"Take care of the others, the deer one is mine!"

"Y's boss!"

At that they run straight to the annoying ones that were sneak-attacking me all this time, the trees and grass on the way cover them as the only thing I see is the spear rotating mid-air in his hand in a swooshing motion that, combined with their speed, was opening a path of cut limbs around them.

With that taken care of I look once more to the deer, his neck sliced up and gushing goop, looking into his blank eyes, and saying:

"I know you can hear me you freaking bastard, and I don't know what you are planning nor do I care, but you just messed up with one of my friends and I will make sure to hunt you down like the coward you are and end your miserable life!"

I can sense that the string on the back trembled with my words, reacting to what I said, which was my intention, to have his attention on me; for you see, those two were my clones, my shadows, and myself in a way, so I did not need words to tell them what to do, in fact, our exchange of words was a mere show for the puppeteer to see.

They actually had another mission beyond taking care of the lowly shadows that matter not to us; they were going to follow the strings to their source, and give me the location and identity of the coward puppeteer.

With my vengeful spirit ignited I can feel my blood boiling, but looking at Elfihe a heavyweight pushed my anger down, a sadness that overtook my wish to lash out.

It was strange, to feel so much anger yet so much sadness, like a fire burning on ice.

As if unaffected by gravity my long hair starts to stand, swinging up in a wavy motion as it speeds up until it burst into dark flames, showing off the anger that wanted to erupt out of me and burn everything down to ashes.

The deer, impatiently moving his hooves in place, starts preparing others sharp black ice in my direction, intending to use rage attacks once more to his benefit.

They shot out as if gunpowder exploded behind them, swooshing in my direction as quick as a diving bird, the sharp spear head dangerously sharp as it approached, leaving an afterimage with dark glint as it passed.

And yet, I did not move, from beginning to end my eyes were focused on my lost friend as all emotions boiled inside me and wanted to burst; and yet like all colors together turned white, all those strong emotions together made me cold and silent on the outside, like the string of the bow ready to be resealed and strike, yet silently waiting for the target to appear.

I clench my teeth with what I was about to do.

The ice flies in my direction, but they do not reach me, and before they could even come close enough to cause any harm they simply melt.

I can sense the surprise on the other party, even the deer widen his hollow eyes a little, unaware of the difference in levels; on how my fire burned far stronger than is ice could freeze, even more in that corrupted state.

He is so stunned that he stops moving for a second, attacking me once more when I start walking forward, slow confident steps as my eyes never leave his, taking my time to shorten the distance between us.

He keeps attaching, increasing the strength and number, trying to compensate even with size, but none of that matter as it all melted, some not even forming anymore as I was too close, my hot aura reaching far enough to affect his attack in the source.

Then I stop.

I was up close to him, enough to engrave his figure in my memory, enough to carve the current state of his figure in my burning soul, to never forget how badly hurt he had been, of how were once there was a sweet smile and a pair of gentle eyes were now voided of emotion, a mere empty shell to be used around.

I blink slowly, a rare sad yet gentle smile curving my lips as I say:

"Come now my friend, is time for you to rest."

As I open my arms sideways I leave my guard wide open, tempting him into a battle stance, the lance forming on his hand in constant need of magical refilling as it dripped black water in his grip, melting with my heat.

With his hooves in the air he jumps forward, dashing in my direction, making soil fly up with the strength of his dash as he takes aim with the tip of the spear, eyes locked in his target as he gets closer and closer.

And yet I never moved, I didn't even blink anymore, it would appear as if I had embraced death at that moment… and I may have, but not my own.

"Terror Mountain Bone Form"

The moment his weapon would have made contact with me it only hits air as I take my full form, darkness overtaking the senses of anyone too close from the attack.

Once it disperses I appear once more; and where once stood my humanoid body now my hound form stood, its mouth wide open in a way that the deer, caught up in the momentum of his attack could not escape nor turn back as in a quick snap he ends inside my mouth.

As I raise my head to its full height I fill my mouth with my black flame, feeling the trashing body inside try his best to set himself free, hooves and hands kicking and slashing to naught, until it simply stops, the weight on my tongue dwindles until there was not even a puddle of goop anymore.

I breathe out the fire through my mouth, seeing the smoke rise in the sky, a feeling of emptiness making me stand and watch as the wind took it away until that smoke was lost in the air and back to the cosmos.

"Sleep well, my friend."

My voice is so rough and powerful that even my whisper is carried far away; I just hope that it is far enough for Elfihe to hear it.

Sighing I look down, my full height allowing me to see far and beyond, but not enough as other mountains and trees cover my view.

Careful not to destroy the house by moving my huge body around I give one last look on the direction my Clones went, returning back to my normal size and approaching the other horned shadow, probably someone belonging to his herd, harvest as him into this mad play, already recovering his parts from my attack as they start to mend together, far from being something natural.

I cut his strings and burn him too, a little more satisfied for giving them a somewhat proper burial; after all in some places having our ashes dispersed by a dear friend is the last wish of many.

I narrow my eyes towards the cloudy sky; this fight was not over yet.

On cue with my line of thought I feel a ping of pain from the two Clones, warning me that they arrived at their destination.

But, as we start to share eyesight's, my third eye open to look thought their eyes and see the puppeteer, a sudden gush of wind, movement, and pain explode and makes me squish my eyes and cough out blood, my hand shooting out to support the rest of my body until the pain subsided and I spit the blood on the ground, the taste not leaving my mouth as I pondered.

What the hell happen?

As I try to reach out I'm surprised by the lack of response from both of them, as their energy had forcefully cut out from me, the stretching magic slashing back out and causing the damage and pain that I felt.

Nothing major, however, what really bothered me was that the two of them had barely reached their destination, using my own stealth magic to conceal themselves, and yet were discovered almost immediately.

Even if they only had one-third of my level, it was already enough to deal with most creatures around here.

So this puppeteer… doesn't seem like he is a simple creature either.

But no matter, I caught the sense of his magic, and would be able to recognize him in the future; now it was only a matter of time until he fall under my bite.

And I wouldn't hold back.

****

Author note:

Who the hell forgets of a trip?

Me…

So, since I will be out until Sunday, have an early post!

See ya~~~!