"Let’s stop fighting and go after him," Elderic muttered sharply, his eyes cutting toward Eleanor with urgency.
Without waiting for her to even give a reply, both he and Eleanor shot forward. Their figures tore through the air like streaks of light, heading straight toward the mouth of the cave.
The entrance lood ahead of them, looking dark, silent, and ominous. For a brief second, everything felt completely wrong.
They were just about to step inside when a figure burst out of the darkness like a cannonball.
"RUN!"
Eleanor and Elderic froze mid-step, looking totally baffled.
They turned around and saw Reed sprinting toward them like a man chased by death itself. His eyes were wide with terror, his breathing was ragged, and he didn’t even bother to explain himself before he jumped out past them.
Then, they looked back at the cave. A faint glow with a steady pulse shone from deep within, and a rising heat made the very air distort.
"WHAT—"
Elderic’s words died halfway in his throat. His instincts suddenly scread at him.
"JUMP!"
The mont the word left his mouth, both of them moved. They didn’t think and they didn’t hesitate for a second before they leaped away.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The world behind them exploded. A cataclysmic blast tore through the cave as a beam of condensed fire, pure, violent, and suffocating, shot outward like a dragon’s breath.
The mountain shook and the rocks vaporized instantly. The ground cracked open as the beam carved a burning path across everything in its way.
Elderic and Eleanor were blasted forward by the massive shockwave, their bodies shooting through the air at a terrifying speed. Wind howled past their ears and debris rained down around them like teors.
Mid-air, Eleanor’s eyes snapped toward Reed. There he was, still running and trying to escape. Her expression darkened with sudden fury.
"YOU!"
With a flick of her hand, she summoned a Fla Shower. Dozens of blazing projectiles ford instantly, streaking toward Reed like a teor barrage.
Reed felt the heat and the killing intent behind him. He twisted mid-run, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"Are you serious right now?!" he yelled.
He tried to dodge, but Eleanor was much faster. She closed the distance in a flash, grabbed him roughly by the collar, and slamd him straight into the ground.
BOOM!
Dust exploded outward and a crater ford beneath them. Before Reed could even groan in pain, Elderic landed beside them with a heavy thud, stabilizing himself with one knee pressed into the earth.
Monts later, all three of them stood at the foot of the mountain. Behind them, the cave continued to collapse, and fire still raged within like a living inferno trying to claw its way out.
Eleanor tightened her grip on Reed’s shirt, her eyes blazing with anger.
"Just what the hell is going on?!" she shouted.
Reed didn’t answer imdiately because his chest was rising and falling rapidly. His hands were trembling.
Then, slowly, he raised his arm and pointed upward.
"There’s... sothing inside..." his voice ca out strained and thin. "It’s a Chira."
Eleanor frowned at him.
"A Chira what?"
For a split second, there was total silence.
Then, a massive ROAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR! tore through the sky. The sound wasn’t just loud, it felt ancient. It was a roar that carried weight, authority, and sothing undeniably draconic.
The air itself trembled and the ground beneath them cracked.
CRASH!
A massive figure descended from above, slamming into the ground with overwhelming force. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward that flattened trees and kicked up a storm of dust and debris.
Through the rising cloud, a silhouette erged. It was huge, with flas flickering across its body and scales gleaming beneath torn flesh.
Multiple limbs shifted unnaturally, looking as if several different creatures had been stitched into one single abomination.
Reed staggered back slightly, his voice barely steady.
"...I told you to run."
The dust hadn’t even settled when the creature moved. A low, guttural growl rolled out from the smoke, thick and suffocating, sounding like sothing breathing for the first ti in centuries.
The silhouette stepped forward, taking a slow, heavy step that cracked the ground beneath it.
Then, its full form erged. It was a grotesque fusion of nightmares.
A massive draconic head crowned its upper body, with molten cracks running across its scales like flowing lava.
Beneath it, a second head twisted sideways with wolf-like fangs exposed, its drool hissing as it hit the heated ground.
Its torso was a distorted mass of muscle and stitched flesh, looking as if different creatures had been forcefully rged into one existence.
It had six arms. Two were scaled and clawed, two were fur-covered and sinewy, and the last pair didn’t look stable at all, twitching unnaturally like they didn’t belong there.
On its back, it had torn wings that were half-burnt and half-regrown, leaking fire onto the earth.
Eleanor’s breath hitched in her throat.
"...What the hell is that?"
Elderic didn’t answer her. His eyes had already changed, glowing with intensity.
"Move."
The word dropped cold and hard. The next second, he vanished.
BOOM!
The ground shattered where he had been standing. Elderic reappeared mid-air above the Chira, with mana surging violently around his sword.
"Mystic—" The air warped and compressed around the blade. "—BLAST!"
A massive sphere of condensed mana erupted from the sword, screaming downward with destructive force.
The Chira looked up and actually smiled with an inhuman, twisted grin. It opened its draconic mouth and simply bit the attack.
CRUNCH!
"Whaaat?!" Elderic shouted in total shock.
The mana blast detonated point-blank, but the creature tore through it, ripped it apart, and devoured the energy.
The explosion swallowed both figures and then—
BOOOOOOM!
Elderic’s body shot out of the smoke like a broken projectile, smashing into the mountainside with a deafening crash.
"What?" Eleanor gasped.
She moved instantly. Flas ignited around her, wild and furious, as her aura exploded outward. Her rage finally overtook her hesitation.
"You disgusting freak!" she scread. She thrust her hand forward.
"Burn. FLA SHOWER!"
Hundreds of blazing projectiles rained down, covering the Chira entirely in a storm of fire. The forest lit up and the ground began to lt.
The air sizzled as if it were burning itself. For a mont, nothing was visible but the orange glow of the flas.
Eleanor’s chest heaved and her eyes trembled with effort.
"...Did it—"
A shadow moved within the fire. Her instincts scread and she tried to turn around, but it was already too late.
A massive claw ca swinging at her.
SLAM!
Her body was smashed into the ground with brutal force. The impact sent a shockwave that ripped apart the surrounding earth.
Thankfully, at the last mont, she created a small fire explosion that shoved her away, but she was still badly injured.
"—KHH!"
Blood spilled from her lips and her vision began to blur. The weight of the creature’s presence was overwhelming and she couldn’t breathe.
The Chira lood above her, its multiple eyes staring down with sothing far worse than rage. It looked at her with curiosity, as if she were nothing more than prey it hadn’t decided how to kill yet.
"Get... off..." she wheezed.
Flas erupted from her hands again, but they were weaker and unstable.
A second strike ca, faster and much crueler than the first.
BOOOOM!
Her body was sent flying across the battlefield, crashing and rolling before finally stopping in a broken skid.
A heavy, crushing silence followed.
Elderic coughed, forcing himself out of the rubble with blood dripping down his forehead. His arm was shaking uncontrollably.
Eleanor struggled to stand, her flas flickering weakly as her breathing ca in uneven gasps. She raised her hand one last ti.
SWISH!
A beam of fire shot up toward the beast, but the Chira just opened its wide maws and swallowed the fire whole.
Then, it snorted flas from its nostrils in a mockery of her power.
Both of them looked up at it in despair.
A low rumble escaped its throat, almost as if it were telling them: I am disappointed.
Elderic clenched his jaw and shook his head.
"...We can’t win."
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