A shadow streaked through the forest.
Arianne hopped from one branch to another, as she enjoyed this feeling of freedom she was experiencing.
She noticed something move a few distance from her right side, and quietly came to a stop.
Perching on the branch on all four, she moved ever so slowly and quietly.
She didn't look different from any other animal.
A few breaths later, she finally saw what had caught her attention.
It was a massive Jaguar that had its body lowered as it stalked its prey.
A few distance from the black Jaguar was a dear-like beast about 3m high. Arianne noticed from its aura that it was comparable to a peak-beginner mage.
Shifting her attention back to the Jaguar, she couldn't help but furrow her brows.
Because the Jaguar had hidden its aura perfectly, Arianne couldn't gauge the beast's power.
But that couldn't stop the maniacal grin that was flashing on her face.
Since morning she had killed at least 20 beasts. At some point, she got bored, as the beasts were simply not her match.
But after remembering Grim's words, she decided to put them into practice.
Instead of outright killing her prey, she decided to stalk them before she would pounce on them in surprise; just like any other predator.
After trying it out a few times, she discovered something.
Something within her blood boiled every time she made a kill.
She enjoyed that primal feeling, and before she knew it, that innate desire started clouding her mind, it started controlling her.
The deer-like beast who was gazing quietly at its surroundings, as its instincts were screaming at it suddenly turned to its side when it noticed something brush past the grass.
Its body visibly relaxed when it noticed it was just the rustling of the grass from the air.
*Whoosh*
Its relaxing body instantly went on overdrive as a massive shadow loomed over it, but before it could react, the dreadful fangs of the Jaguar pierced into its neck, causing it to release a painful cry.
It wanted to struggle and was about to use its mana when suddenly a massive pressure caused it to go still.
The black Jaguar released its repressed aura.
It was a beast comparable to a peak-advanced mage.
The overbearing pressure caused the deer-like beast to succumb to death quietly.
Arianne noticed the aura around the Jagauar that was tearing into its prey but didn't seem to care.
Her eyes glowed red, and saliva drifted out from the side of her mouth.
The emotions in her eyes were no different from a feral beast.
It was a primal desire to kill.
Her body moved slowly without her control, as she inched closer to the feasting Jaguar.
There was no sound caused by her movement, her breathing was shallow to the point of being non-existent.
The Jaguar which prided itself in its concealment didn't know that a creature was stalking it at this very moment.
The Jaguar moved to the head of the deer-like beast, but seeing the deadly antlers which the deer didn't even have an opportunity to use obstruct it, it moved its claws and tried to break it when suddenly:
*Whoosh*
Seeing this opening, Arianne jumped high into the air on all four; her movement was all subconscious and without her control.
The boiling blood within her seemed to have reached its limit. Suddenly her body which was high in the air in the direction of the Jaguar started changing.
Her hair became far longer and covered her entire back reaching down to her feet.
Her facial features changed; her eyes disappeared, and the same went for her nose.
And what remained on her face was a wide mouth through which several pointed teeth comparable to fangs were visible.
She pounced on the back of the Jaguar before her teeth pierced into its neck, just like the beast had done for its prey.
"ROAR!"
The Jaguar roared in pain.
Unlike what happened when it had attacked its prey, the fear the Jaguar felt immediately changed into anger, and without any hesitation it released its aura to the fullest as it gave another roar.
*ROAR!*
Arianne's body was sent flying backward, and three breaths later, her body slammed into the trunk of a massive tree.
*BAM!*
The Jaguar opened its mouth in Arianne's direction as it ignored the blood that was streaming down its neck.
Its eyes flared in anger, and a massive black ball formed before its opened mouth.
Unfortunately.
Arianne who had slammed into the tree trunk and broken it into two, stood up as if she hadn't felt any pain.
She opened her mouth and released a primal roar, one much scarier than the one the Jaguar had released.
A spiritual wave spread out from her with that roar, and in a mere instant, it slammed into the Jaguar which was about to launch the now-formed one-meter pitch-black ball before it.
Its eyes went still and its movement halted completely.
Arianne suddenly fell on all four, and her body rushed forward with a fluttering sound.
A meters away from the Jaguar, she noticed it was about to recollect itself.
Her body erupted with a blood-red essence, and suddenly the blood that was streaming out the neck of the now-awakened beast turned into a blood-red chain that tightened around its neck.
The Jaguar whose consciousness blanked for a moment came to, only to feel choked as the blood-red chain tightened around its neck greatly.
Arianne's now almost three-meter body flashed before the Jaguar and slashed her right claw across its neck.
Her claw glistened with a red light.
*Spurt!*
A fountain of blood spurted from the neck of the jaguar, as its head flew into the air.
The black ball before it slowly disappeared while its body fell with a thud.
Racing her head, Arianne released a horrifyingly loud and deep primal roar that resounded within the forest for several miles.
*ROOOOAAAAR!*
After almost a full minute of roaring to the sky, she lowered her head and fixed her gaze on her kill.
Her body moved on its own, and she tore into the cut neck of the Jaguar and started sucking its blood, blood that had already formed a pool on the ground.
Arianne couldn't tell how long she feasted upon the beast.
When she came to, she found herself in an entirely different area.
It was still night, as the moonlight seeped past the huge branches and leaves of the massive trees and illuminated her surroundings.
She looked at her hand and realized she was now back to her human form.
Feeling her face, she became lost in her thoughts.
'Why did I transform without my control?'
*KABOOOM!*
She was pulled out of her thoughts when the sound of an explosion drifted into her ears from a far distance.
*KABOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Even though the explosion was coming from afar, Arianne noticed something.
The explosions were getting increasingly closer, which meant whatever was happening was drawing closer to her position.
She threw the matter of her previous transformation to the back of her mind and decided to check what was happening.
But suddenly, in her other direction, she heard an explosion, one far lower in intensity than the previous one.
But her eyes widened when she noticed, this explosion was less than half a kilometer from her.
From her position, she could see a fire lit that part of the forest, as smoke rose into the ground.
*KABOOM!*
She frowned and thought for a moment.
Ignoring the more intense explosion that seemed to get louder and closer with every breath, she moved toward the fire that was starting to spread.
In less than ten breaths, Arianne was just about 30m from the burning area.
The temperature in this area had risen a lot, and the heat was a bit unbearable even for her.
But thankfully, her uniform helped to reduce a lot of heat and made it just barely bearable for her.
Arianne couldn't help but stop, while a look of hesitation flashed on her young but pretty face.
She didn't stop because of the heat, but because she could tell from the fire that had stopped spreading that it wasn't a normal one.
The fire covered a region of about 20m and no matter what, it didn't spread any further, as if it had an intelligence of its own.
But Arianne refused to believe such a thing, so the greater possibility would be that the fire was being controlled.
And since no vampire could control fire laws, that could only mean this was the work of a beast.
However, the massive trees within the fire didn't burn down quickly. Instead, it seemed as if they could still last a while longer.
"...away, you beast!"
Suddenly, a muffled scream drifted into Arianne's ears.
And while she didn't hear the words spoken by the person, for some reason she found the voice awfully familiar.
Every trace of hesitation disappeared from her face, and before she knew it, she fell on all four.
Arianne crouched and approached the burning region as quietly as possible.
She evaded the region with more flames and after finding the branch of a tree that was yet to catch aflame, she jumped onto it.
With higher ground, she was able to see what was happening a few feet from her.
But what she saw caused her mind to go blank for a second,
There before her was a massive firebird, standing at about 15m high as it perched on a big branch of a tree.
The firebird gazed at the two beings before it in disdain.
It was a 2m long black snake that seemed to be wounded and seemed to be on its last leg.
It was a miracle how it was still able to survive in front of such a terrifying beast.
But that miracle didn't come about naturally, instead, it was created by a dark-haired boy who stood in front of the beast and spread his hands out as if to block the terrifying beast from drawing closer.
His white snake-like pupil flashed with a rare light of determination.
Unfortunately, determination alone couldn't win a battle.
And that was proven by his current state, as he was drenched completely in blood and his skin covered with burn marks.
Even the highly durable academy uniform had been burnt away
Before Arianne knew it, her body flew into the air and started transforming for the second time on the same night, as an angry roar escaped her mouth.
"DIE, YOU BEAST!*
A shadow streaked through the forest.
Arianne hopped from one branch to another, as she enjoyed this feeling of freedom she was experiencing.
She noticed something move a few distance from her right side, and quietly came to a stop.
Perching on the branch on all four, she moved ever so slowly and quietly.
She didn't look different from any other animal.
A few breaths later, she finally saw what had caught her attention.
It was a massive Jaguar that had its body lowered as it stalked its prey.
A few distance from the black Jaguar was a dear-like beast about 3m high. Arianne noticed from its aura that it was comparable to a peak-beginner mage.
Shifting her attention back to the Jaguar, she couldn't help but furrow her brows.
Because the Jaguar had hidden its aura perfectly, Arianne couldn't gauge the beast's power.
But that couldn't stop the maniacal grin that was flashing on her face.
Since morning she had killed at least 20 beasts. At some point, she got bored, as the beasts were simply not her match.
But after remembering Grim's words, she decided to put them into practice.
Instead of outright killing her prey, she decided to stalk them before she would pounce on them in surprise; just like any other predator.
After trying it out a few times, she discovered something.
Something within her blood boiled every time she made a kill.
She enjoyed that primal feeling, and before she knew it, that innate desire started clouding her mind, it started controlling her.
The deer-like beast who was gazing quietly at its surroundings, as its instincts were screaming at it suddenly turned to its side when it noticed something brush past the grass.
Its body visibly relaxed when it noticed it was just the rustling of the grass from the air.
*Whoosh*
Its relaxing body instantly went on overdrive as a massive shadow loomed over it, but before it could react, the dreadful fangs of the Jaguar pierced into its neck, causing it to release a painful cry.
It wanted to struggle and was about to use its mana when suddenly a massive pressure caused it to go still.
The black Jaguar released its repressed aura.
It was a beast comparable to a peak-advanced mage.
The overbearing pressure caused the deer-like beast to succumb to death quietly.
Arianne noticed the aura around the Jagauar that was tearing into its prey but didn't seem to care.
Her eyes glowed red, and saliva drifted out from the side of her mouth.
The emotions in her eyes were no different from a feral beast.
It was a primal desire to kill.
Her body moved slowly without her control, as she inched closer to the feasting Jaguar.
There was no sound caused by her movement, her breathing was shallow to the point of being non-existent.
The Jaguar which prided itself in its concealment didn't know that a creature was stalking it at this very moment.
The Jaguar moved to the head of the deer-like beast, but seeing the deadly antlers which the deer didn't even have an opportunity to use obstruct it, it moved its claws and tried to break it when suddenly:
*Whoosh*
Seeing this opening, Arianne jumped high into the air on all four; her movement was all subconscious and without her control.
The boiling blood within her seemed to have reached its limit. Suddenly her body which was high in the air in the direction of the Jaguar started changing.
Her hair became far longer and covered her entire back reaching down to her feet.
Her facial features changed; her eyes disappeared, and the same went for her nose.
And what remained on her face was a wide mouth through which several pointed teeth comparable to fangs were visible.
She pounced on the back of the Jaguar before her teeth pierced into its neck, just like the beast had done for its prey.
"ROAR!"
The Jaguar roared in pain.
Unlike what happened when it had attacked its prey, the fear the Jaguar felt immediately changed into anger, and without any hesitation it released its aura to the fullest as it gave another roar.
*ROAR!*
Arianne's body was sent flying backward, and three breaths later, her body slammed into the trunk of a massive tree.
*BAM!*
The Jaguar opened its mouth in Arianne's direction as it ignored the blood that was streaming down its neck.
Its eyes flared in anger, and a massive black ball formed before its opened mouth.
Unfortunately.
Arianne who had slammed into the tree trunk and broken it into two, stood up as if she hadn't felt any pain.
She opened her mouth and released a primal roar, one much scarier than the one the Jaguar had released.
A spiritual wave spread out from her with that roar, and in a mere instant, it slammed into the Jaguar which was about to launch the now-formed one-meter pitch-black ball before it.
Its eyes went still and its movement halted completely.
Arianne suddenly fell on all four, and her body rushed forward with a fluttering sound.
A meters away from the Jaguar, she noticed it was about to recollect itself.
Her body erupted with a blood-red essence, and suddenly the blood that was streaming out the neck of the now-awakened beast turned into a blood-red chain that tightened around its neck.
The Jaguar whose consciousness blanked for a moment came to, only to feel choked as the blood-red chain tightened around its neck greatly.
Arianne's now almost three-meter body flashed before the Jaguar and slashed her right claw across its neck.
Her claw glistened with a red light.
*Spurt!*
A fountain of blood spurted from the neck of the jaguar, as its head flew into the air.
The black ball before it slowly disappeared while its body fell with a thud.
Racing her head, Arianne released a horrifyingly loud and deep primal roar that resounded within the forest for several miles.
*ROOOOAAAAR!*
After almost a full minute of roaring to the sky, she lowered her head and fixed her gaze on her kill.
Her body moved on its own, and she tore into the cut neck of the Jaguar and started sucking its blood, blood that had already formed a pool on the ground.
Arianne couldn't tell how long she feasted upon the beast.
When she came to, she found herself in an entirely different area.
It was still night, as the moonlight seeped past the huge branches and leaves of the massive trees and illuminated her surroundings.
She looked at her hand and realized she was now back to her human form.
Feeling her face, she became lost in her thoughts.
'Why did I transform without my control?'
*KABOOOM!*
She was pulled out of her thoughts when the sound of an explosion drifted into her ears from a far distance.
*KABOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Even though the explosion was coming from afar, Arianne noticed something.
The explosions were getting increasingly closer, which meant whatever was happening was drawing closer to her position.
She threw the matter of her previous transformation to the back of her mind and decided to check what was happening.
But suddenly, in her other direction, she heard an explosion, one far lower in intensity than the previous one.
But her eyes widened when she noticed, this explosion was less than half a kilometer from her.
From her position, she could see a fire lit that part of the forest, as smoke rose into the ground.
*KABOOM!*
She frowned and thought for a moment.
Ignoring the more intense explosion that seemed to get louder and closer with every breath, she moved toward the fire that was starting to spread.
In less than ten breaths, Arianne was just about 30m from the burning area.
The temperature in this area had risen a lot, and the heat was a bit unbearable even for her.
But thankfully, her uniform helped to reduce a lot of heat and made it just barely bearable for her.
Arianne couldn't help but stop, while a look of hesitation flashed on her young but pretty face.
She didn't stop because of the heat, but because she could tell from the fire that had stopped spreading that it wasn't a normal one.
The fire covered a region of about 20m and no matter what, it didn't spread any further, as if it had an intelligence of its own.
But Arianne refused to believe such a thing, so the greater possibility would be that the fire was being controlled.
And since no vampire could control fire laws, that could only mean this was the work of a beast.
However, the massive trees within the fire didn't burn down quickly. Instead, it seemed as if they could still last a while longer.
"...away, you beast!"
Suddenly, a muffled scream drifted into Arianne's ears.
And while she didn't hear the words spoken by the person, for some reason she found the voice awfully familiar.
Every trace of hesitation disappeared from her face, and before she knew it, she fell on all four.
Arianne crouched and approached the burning region as quietly as possible.
She evaded the region with more flames and after finding the branch of a tree that was yet to catch aflame, she jumped onto it.
With higher ground, she was able to see what was happening a few feet from her.
But what she saw caused her mind to go blank for a second,
There before her was a massive firebird, standing at about 15m high as it perched on a big branch of a tree.
The firebird gazed at the two beings before it in disdain.
It was a 2m long black snake that seemed to be wounded and seemed to be on its last leg.
It was a miracle how it was still able to survive in front of such a terrifying beast.
But that miracle didn't come about naturally, instead, it was created by a dark-haired boy who stood in front of the beast and spread his hands out as if to block the terrifying beast from drawing closer.
His white snake-like pupil flashed with a rare light of determination.
Unfortunately, determination alone couldn't win a battle.
And that was proven by his current state, as he was drenched completely in blood and his skin covered with burn marks.
Even the highly durable academy uniform had been burnt away
Before Arianne knew it, her body flew into the air and started transforming for the second time on the same night, as an angry roar escaped her mouth.
"DIE, YOU BEAST!*
