Chapter 103: Escape
The battlefield had fallen into a strange, dreadful silence. Exildra’s blood slowly soaked into the dirt. The ghoul stood a few ters away, licking its claws lazily.
Then Bahamut moved. He didn’t move fast or explosively, he just vanished. The air detonated as the sound barrier was shattered from his movent.
BOOOOM!
The ghoul barely raised its arms before Bahamut’s fist crashed into its face like a teor. The impact snapped its head backward with a sickening crack as its entire body was launched across the courtyard, smashing through three ruined houses before plowing into a stone wall.
The ground shook as dust erupted. Bahamut didn’t stop. The earth burst beneath his feet as he shot forward again, his fox tails whipping violently behind him.
Inside the rubble, the ghoul began to laugh.
"Ehihihihihihih..."
CRASH!
Bahamut crashed through the debris and slamd the creature deeper into the ruins with another monstrous punch. His claws dug into the ghoul’s throat as he dragged it out through the broken wall and hurled it across the street like a sack of rotten at.
The ghoul rolled violently across the streets and forcefully skidded to a halt.
Then it stood. Its neck twisted grotesquely back into place. The broken flesh knitted itself together.
Its green eyes glowed brighter.
"Oh..." it whispered in delight. "This is wonderful."
Bahamut’s ears flattened, his teeth bared.
Then his body shifted.
Bones cracked and rearranged as his legs thickened and his muscles bulged. Grey fur erupted along his arms as his claws elongated viciously... Wolf trait!
He exploded forward again. The ghoul raised its axe which it had manifested. Upon closer look, the axe was made of bones...
CLANG!
Bahamut’s claw intercepted the weapon, ripping it from the ghoul’s grasp before his other hand slamd into its ribs.
CRACK!
The ghoul’s chest caved inward as it was thrown into the air. Bahamut leapt after it.
Midair his body shifted again. Golden fur spread across his shoulders. His mane burst outward like fire.
Lion trait!
"RAAAAH!"
His roar shook the valley. Both his fists ca down like falling mountains.
BOOM!
The ghoul slamd into the ground hard enough to create a crater. But the creature only laughed. Its ribs forced themselves back into place as black flesh wriggled and repaired the damage.
"You heal..." it hissed happily.
Bahamut’s answer was a brutal kick that tore the ghoul’s arm completely off. Blood sprayed violently, but the ghoul simply stared at the stump.
Then the arm regrew. Bahamut’s eyes burned brighter.
"Good," the ghoul whispered. "Break
more."
The ground suddenly liquefied. Sand erupted upward.
Bahamut’s legs twisted as scales ford along his body, his spine arching as his arms beca long, serpentine limbs.
Sand Wyrm trait!
The ground obeyed him. A tidal wave of sand surged upward and crushed the ghoul beneath tons of earth, shocking even Bahamut himself. Even if his angered state, he noticed the specialty of the trait he was using now...
The entire street collapsed.
But the sand exploded apart monts later as the ghoul burst free, claws tearing through the storm.
Bahamut was already above it, his arms stretched outward. He was acting on anger and instinct, not fully aware of what he was doing apart from finding ans and ways to end the ghoul.
Feathers erupted along them. His pupils sharpened.
Eagle trait!
He descended like a falling blade.
CRASH!
Both talons pierced through the ghoul’s shoulders, pinning it to the ground as Bahamut drove it deeper into the earth.
The ghoul’s claws lashed upward.
RIP!
They tore across Bahamut’s chest, causing blood to spray. But the wound sealed itself almost imdiately.
Bahamut didn’t even flinch. He shifted again.
Fox trait!
Speed exploded from his body. His fists beca a blur as he attacked.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each strike shattered bone. Each strike crushed flesh.
The ghoul’s skull caved in. Its jaw shattered. Its torso collapsed inward.
But every wound regenerated. Every broken piece crawled back together. The creature’s laughter grew louder.
Its aura thickened. Death Intent surged violently.
"YES!" it scread.
"YES! KEEP GOING!"
Its claws erupted forward.
They stabbed straight through Bahamut’s stomach.
Blood poured from the wound. For a brief mont the world froze. Then Bahamut grabbed the ghoul’s head with both hands.
His body expanded violently. Muscles bulged like iron cables. Brown fur erupted across his arms.
Bear trait!
"DIE!"
He slamd the ghoul into the ground... Ten tis.
The earth shattered under the brutal impacts.
Finally Bahamut raised one massive claw and drove it straight through the ghoul’s chest.
CRUNCH!
His hand burst out the creature’s back.
The ghoul’s body convulsed violently.
For the first ti... It scread.
Bahamut pulled his arm out, ready to finish it, when a green blur moved.
The ghoul’s claws slashed across his shoulder, nearly ripping the arm off.
Both of them staggered backward, but they healed at the sa ti.
The ghoul stood again... but sothing had changed.
Its aura was heavier, darker, and stronger.
Bahamut prepared to charge again, when suddenly...
FLASH!
A figure appeared between them.
Sel.
He grabbed Bahamut’s arm and yanked him backward.
"LET GO!" Bahamut roared, trying to lunge forward again.
Sel slamd him into the ground.
"BAHAMUT!"
The shout cut through the madness.
Bahamut snarled, struggling violently. Sel’s normally calm eyes were burning with urgency.
"LOOK!"
Bahamut’s gaze snapped toward the others.
Rakia was barely conscious. Apollonia struggled to stand.Ren was limping.
And Exildra... She lay motionless, blood pooled beneath her head.
Sel’s voice dropped to a hard whisper.
"We can’t win this fight."
Bahamut froze.
Sel continued, gripping his shoulder.
"That thing is evolving while we fight it. Its power is increasing every minute."
The ghoul laughed from across the courtyard. Its wounds had finished regenerating while its aura expanded further.
Sel looked back at Bahamut.
"Exildra is dying."
Those words landed heavier than any blow.
"If we stay," Sel said quietly, "she dies."
Bahamut’s fists trembled. The ghoul crouched again, eager for the next clash.
Sel tightened his grip.
"We leave. Now."
For a long mont Bahamut didn’t move. Then he looked at Exildra again.
His claws slowly unclenched.
And for the first ti since the battle began, Bahamut stepped back.
He ignored the mocking laughter of the ghoul and flashed with Sel towards the others. He quickly picked up Exildra while Sel picked up Rakia. Apollonia managed to stand up with the help of Ren.
The ghoul’s aura exploded outwards, destroying things, when it sensed that sothing was wrong.
Its eyes glowed as the dust generated from its outburst settled only to reveal an empty space.
"NOOOOOO!"
...
Bahamut and the others heard the ghoul’s enraged and terrifying roar but they didn’t stop. They ran as fast they could, in hopes that it wouldn’t find them.
Hopefully...
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