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Fenna's voice was ice. "You're not getting the cart. Or the cores. Or anything else."
Zephyr tilted his head slightly. Star stepped forward. The ground beneath him hissed where his claws touched ash.
Zephyr's jaw clenched. "You people picked the wrong team. You will regret this."
The lead rogue's smirk widened. "What a joke. If you don't give us what we want, Then we'll just take your lives instead."
Star stepped forward, wings half spread which blocked the cart. Smoke hissed from his nostrils. The molten gold of his eyes shimred like twin suns. He purred as if he ant, "Don't touch my food. I won't let it slide."
A whistle cut the air. It was Zephyr's signal.
Three of the rogues slapped their hands and from the woods hidden companion's beast ca out.
First one was a soot-black Coal Hound (D-rank, fla breath)
Second one was a lean Grave Vulture with ash-colored wings and a hooked beak (E-rank, swoop & bleed)
Third one was a twin Furnace Weasels that darted like sparks among roots
The bone-armored woman barked, "Form two! Beasts forward!"
Fenna's bowstring tightened—but this was tar combat now. She needed Aurora in the sky.
"Up!" she snapped.
Aurora shot upward, tiny wings fanning hot wind. A brief fla burst rippled from her chest. It was basic, but blinding enough.
Zephyr flicked two fingertips. "Star, use Fireball!"
A dense sphere of heat rocketed from Star's jaws and detonated at the Coal Hound's paws.
BOOM!
Fla blossod in a three ter circle, forcing rogue and beast backward. Leaf litter ignited; smoke rolled into instant cover.
The lead rogue dove aside. His cloak ablaze at the hem. "Break their line!"
From the haze the Grave Vulture dived for Zephyr's face. Fenna pivoted by lose arrow:
whip-thunk
Feathered shaft clipped its wing joint, it was enough to spoil the dive but not kill. The bird wheeled, screeching.
"Rapid Fireball!" Zephyr ordered.
Three smaller teors spiraled out. One smashed the vulture mid air, a second split a Furnace Weasel's path, and the third exploded against the Coal Hound's ribs, driving it yelping into a charred stump.
Just then another rogue used mana, it was sickly purple which slamd to the ground. A Cinder Boar erupted from the ground, tusks sizzling. It was hiding under ground.
Fenna spun. "Aurora— peel it!"
Aurora tucked her wings, plumted, and let off a hissing flash burst re inches from the boar's eyes. It squealed, blinded, and swerved straight into Muse's line.
The cow bellowed and t the tusk with her horn —CRACK. The boar staggered; Muse kicked, her hooves ringing off the beast's armored snout.
Blade steel rang behind Zephyr. The lead rogue is close again. Their swords clashed, sparks flying. Over his shoulder he command:
"Star, use Ember Lance!"
A needle of concentrated fire speared from Star's maw, punching through the blinded Coal Hound's flank, then searing into the spell rogue's thigh behind it. Both dropped, howling.
The rogue with the Grave Vulture shouted, "Funnel left, chain the black wing beast!"
They didn't know what kind of beast they were facing. Star looks wasn't so Hollowback Hatchkin anymore. He stood nearly two ters tall at the shoulder, black scales rippling with heat, wings smoldering like molten iron plates. His horns curved like obsidian blades, and his claws left scorched prints in the ash-covered soil.
The rogues were uncertain about his origin.
They had fought fire-beasts before, hound types, wyverns, even mutated lizards, but never anything like this. Star didn't match any classification. His aura burned too steady. His eyes, molten gold with slitted pupils, carried intelligence no scaled beast should have. He was still too small to recognize what he truly was.
But even then, instinct clawed at their nerves.
A primal warning, older than guilds or contracts ca in, To survive they need to stop star. Otherwise… they are dood.
Dark fla shackles exploded toward Star from a rune rod / staff.
Zephyr sensed it a heartbeat late. "Star, use the Infernal Ring, counter it, otherwise we will be in trouble!"
Star dug talons into ash and spun, unleashing a horizontal cyclone of fire. The shackles incinerated mid air; nearby brush torched in a ten foot radius. The closest Furnace Weasel vanished in a puff of smoke; the Grave Vulture's feathers lit like tinder and it crashed, flapping wildly across the ground.
Chaos erupt among the Rogues.
Fenna drew a phoenix-lit arrow, it was her last fla-shaft and leveled at the bone armored woman trying to line up a spear. Thrum! The arrow flew, struck the rogue's pauldron, blooming into searing fla that crawled across her armor. She shrieked and rolled.
"Kill the girl! Take the beast!" the lead rogue roared, bleeding now from Zephyr's last dagger cut.
But Star was already moving. A single mighty leap—claws aglow.
He landed square on the rogue's back, tail lashing to swat aside the remaining Furnace Weasel. In the sa motion his fore claws ripped deep, and—
RIP-slash—
Blood and fire burst together as he tore across the rogue's shoulder harness, shredding the beast glyph etched there. The rogue scread, staggered, then fell unconscious.
The field was frozen. Three beasts down, four rogues wounded, one unconscious.
Only two enemies remained standing—the bone-armored woman, scorched but alive, and the rune rod warlock, now backing away limping.
Star advanced, smoke drifting from his scales.
Fenna knocked a simple shaft. Aurora hovered, singed but fierce, tiny flas licking each feather tip.
Zephyr rested his dagger tip on charred soil, chest heaving. "Last chance. Drop weapons or get burned by my beast fire."
Silence.
The bone armored woman hissed, tossed her spear aside, and knelt. The warlock followed, trembling.
Zephyr kicked their weapons away, then ripped the warped crest from the lead rogue's cloak to show Fenna: the guild brand scraped off, replaced by a crude fla sigil.
"Renegades," he muttered.
Fenna bound their wrists. Muse stood guard, snorting disdain. Aurora landed on Fenna's shoulder, cooing triumph. Star finally eased, tail curling around the cart protectively.
Growl! "My food is safe."
Zephyr scanned the smoking grove—bodies sprawled in broken heaps, scorched leaves crackling beneath flickering flas, and ash falling like soft snow.
The stench of burned fur, feather and mana-scorched bark clung to the air. Every breath tasted of heat and violence.
Then Zephyr's boot crunched sothing… He looked down and found one of the rogues had dropped a leather satchel. The flap was half open, and inside, among blackened coins and cracked vials, sothing glinted with unnatural light.
Zephyr knelt and tugged it open.
His brows furrowed.
A rolled parchnt crudely with wax(open) and beneath it, glowing slightly with faint mana threads, several stolen beast cores still throbbing with life. He ignored the cores and carefully unrolled the parchnt.
His stomach twisted. It was a sketch. A hand-drawn likeness. Two faces. Rendered with haste, but unmistakable.
Him. And Fenna.
There was even a vague outline of Star, before his growth.
Zephyr's jaw clenched.
"These weren't just thieves," he said, voice low and tight. "Soone sent them. Look." He held the parchnt up. "There's a sketch of us in his bag."
Fenna froze mid-step. Her eyes narrowed. "What? Let see."
She walked over quickly, snatched the parchnt, and studied it. Her expression darkened with each passing second.
"That's… that's ." Her voice trembled between fury and disbelief. "And that's you. They even got your scowl right."
Zephyr didn't smile.
Fenna flipped the parchnt over. Scribbled across the back were coordinates, a bounty sigil. Her fingers crumpled the edge before she could stop herself. "Soone paid for this."
Zephyr's gaze flicked to the scorched bodies. "Then we find out who."
Fenna nodded grimly. "Let's start with the ones still breathing."
She turned sharply toward the moaning rogues, Fenna yanked the bone armored woman up by her collar and slamd her against a half-burnt tree. "Talk. Now. Who sent you?"
The woman coughed, spitting blood. "Go… to hell."
Fenna didn't flinch. She pressed the tip of a glowing bone piece under the woman's chin. "No thanks. But I'll make sure you get there first unless you start talking."
Zephyr stepped beside her, arms crossed. "Who sent you? Just tell us. I promise you, you can't handle her anger."
The woman snarled, tried to lunge—but Star's growl from behind which froze her mid motion.
The rune rod man spoke first, voice shaking. "W… We were hired… paid in silver… half upfront…"
"By who?" Fenna asked sharply.
"…Ayan. From the Phoenix Ring," he muttered. "Told us to kill the boy. And bring the girl back. Alive."
Fenna's jaw locked.
Zephyr's eyes widened. "Ayan?" His voice turned flat, incredulous. "That bastard couldn't even wait for the duel?"
The woman sneered. "He said the arena was a formality. That once you were dead, she'd co crawling to his bed. His words."
Fenna's eyes blazed. She pulled the bone away slowly, her whole body trembling with restrained fury. "He's trying to enslave … assault ! How dare he!."
Zephyr stepped forward. "No one touches you. Not while I'm breathing."
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