I thought... No, I hoped that with the help of my blood tribute, I could once again clutch the moment and dodge Loraz's strike.
But my body was too weakened to withstand the pressure of the skill for long enough for me to dodge. In fact, the very moment I tried to push my body against the thick slurry of air to remove my head from the path of Loraz's fist, the spell collapsed.
My desperate attempt to raise a barrier of darkness fell through when Loraz's attack proved to be faster than my defense.
My darkness surged forth... but it was far too little and long too late. Still, tiny tentacles of the elemental darkness reached Loraz's forearm before he could strike my face. They latched onto the man's skin, desperately biting down to stop the man's fist...
Only to snap and break, allowing Fay's father's strike to land squarely on my chin.
The world went blank for a moment.
All the burdens that I've carried up until now lifted off my shoulders as from standing, I went to floating in the endless darkness.
Free from all the burdens, I could my soul relaxing, embracing what has...
'FUCK NO!'
It wasn't the weight of my burdens lifting. Just the gravity no longer weighing down on them instead.
Thump...
My whole mind was blank, comfortably and peacefully coated in the darkness... But that didn't mean my bond with Fay vanished. And when the pain of her catching my flying body with her feeble arms exploded in my mind...
My mind did a hard reboot, bringing me back up to speed right as Fay fell back, unable... or unwilling to brace against the weight of my body thrown back by Loraz's fist.
"Haaa...." A long, pained groan escaped my mouth when Fay's burden as she tumbled back brought my senses up to a full alert... Only for my face to explode in a burning pain.
Still, I was alive.
Heavily breathing, pained to even take a breath while desperately trying yet failing to focus my sight. Nevertheless, I was alive. And now that Loraz's initial assault failed...
My hand moved down to where my shottie hung down on the strap from my neck.
Even with all my injuries, as long as I aimed in Loraz's general direction and used my blood tribute for just one more moment... I was confident I could bring him down. Even if one shot wouldn't suffice, it would considerably weaken the leader of the divines, giving me the opportunity to correct with another.
But right as my fingers were about to reach the handle of my shottie... A doubt exploded in my mind.
As such, Fay's calm facade...wasn't fake at all. It simply reflected the outer layer of her soul, hiding what boiled at its very bottom.
"If he's your mate, you won't be able to notice it," Loraz spoke, showing no hurry to come and finish his job. "But he's the one who brought all the problems to our forest!"
Paying little to no mind to the ongoing exchange, I finally focused on the only crutch that could hopefully allow me to salvage the situation.
Given the distilled intent to kill behind Loraz's fists, he already made up his mind. And however much Fay would protest, he wasn't going to change his goals.
'I maxed out both my wisdom and intelligence, so it's time for them to put in some work!' I thought, gritting my teeth...
Only to ignore everything around me as I delved as deep into my subconsciousness as I could. In the void of my mind that ensued, I surrounded myself with all the hints, clues, and threads of aura, skills, and attributes I've gathered so far.
"If I don't get rid of him, he will bring an end to our forest and our lifestyle! Fay! Listen! This is the only chance...!"
Loraz's words continued to fuel the rapid escalation of Fay's feelings, only serving to bring her boiling core closer and closer to its critical mass.
But right now, I have no time to pay attention to any of it. And as painful as it was to watch Fay grow more and more distressed... I had a job to do.
A job that, unless I would make up my mind to reach for my shottie and unleash its might on Fay's father, I had to complete.
"Can't you see it?!" Loraz's voice grew more and more intense, proving the time Fay bought was quickly running out. "THE MOMENT HE APPEARED, HUMANS INVADED!" Loraz screamed out, quickly reaching the end of his wits. "HE BROUGHT THEM HERE!"
"I'm not going to kill you..." Fay spoke, the boiling core of her emotions... suddenly coming to a stop.
The mixing of Fay's emotions stopped, and her soul suddenly calmed down.
And as the clock of the universe announced the passing of another second...
The core of Fay's emotions collapsed down on itself, only for its content to rebound from the implosion and explode all over Fay's soul.
And in this extremely short, near-instantaneous moment when the twitch of Fay's soul leads to her mana surging...
I saw it.
The one missing element of the puzzle that put physics, logic, and reason back into the equation of aura's definition.
Only for the surge of Fay's emotion to fully fill her soul and then spill outwards.
"I'm going to..." Fay's voice turned cold and hoarse, "SLAUGHTER YOU!"