It had been a trick. A demonstration of materialization so fine and quick that it had been only a translucent flash that still did its job in preventing the soundwaves from traveling their original path, making for an effective distraction as the origin of the soundwaves was confused. Then the beast flew out of the cave and slammed into Aurelius.
Anwar had not seen Aurelius perform any setups. So if his eyes did not fool him, as they very, very rarely did, Aurelius was dead.
Anwar didn't bother to check.
'He did his job in luring out the beast. His life was his own responsibility. Forget him. Just another name. If he is still alive, he'll survive by himself until you take care of the beast, anyway,' Anwar thought, resolving to give the beast all his attention and throwing his bag aside.
Once the beast slowed down from the burst of speed, it was revealed to him in all its monstrosity. It was a hawk-like, malnutritioned-looking bird monster. It had wide wings riddled with black and gray feathers, like most of its body. There was something that separated its wings from the rest of its body, however. There were red marks on them, which made them leave a red trail as the beast sped around.
For some reason, it hadn't seemed to notice Anwar and was about to pursue Aurelius. That's why Anwar breathed in and took a stable stance before outstretching his arms and putting his hands together before a beam shot out. And as expected, it was noticed and dodged by the beast.
The goal hadn't been to hit it, though; it was just to attract its attention, and it had succeeded.
The beast turned to Anwar with an exaggerated movement of its wings, fixing its bloodshot, black eyes on him. Then it flapped its wings directly behind itself, launching at Anwar with a sudden burst of speed.
The beast seemed to have incredible agility and unorthodox speed that worked in large bursts. It also seemed to be fairly durable since it had such confidence that it launched itself at things with no regard for its own safety.
Still, regardless of its durability, it should have known better than to act so recklessly. And Anwar would make sure to teach it that.
The beast enjoyed its rush of speed all the way up until Anwar dodged out of its way and materialized a spike as the extension of his arm and shoved it into the side of the beast. Dark red blood, diluted with some black substance, spurted out of the wound and onto Anwar as he drew it all the way across the beast's tough hide.
He couldn't do much damage, though, as the beast hit the wall of the mountain instead of Anwar and started thrashing with its wings. It managed to slam one into Anwar, flinging him off of the platform.
It then turned around to see what damage it had caused with the hard impact, only to see Anwar unscathed, standing on a smooth, almost translucent light-blue platform.
Not only had he used lengthened compression, enhancement of both his body and senses, and materialization, but also reinforcement. He wiped his sweat and some diluted blood off of his forehead with his sleeve before readying himself again. There was a limit on how long he could exert himself enough to fight a cursed beast with relative safety, so he had to end it fast.
He rushed forward toward the idle beast, another platform materializing under his feet. The beast didn't wait to be attacked, however, and took action. It wasn't in its nature to act defensively, and Anwar knew it.
That's why he knew that once he jumped up and raised a materialized sword above his head, the beast would launch its usual dashing attack. The beast was very eager to test its beak's durability against his sword, but he wasn't really in it for his ego. He was in it to rip the beast's heart out and squeeze it dry.
The beast's speed truly was in a league of its own with regard to all the individuals Anwar had observed during his life. In an instant, the beak was almost about to hit Anwar in the stomach.
Anwar outstretched one of his legs, touching the beast's beak lightly. He was immediately swept up by its speed. It was as expected. Anwar turned a full flip's worth, all the while the materialized sword disappeared and streaks began orbiting around a ball of energy in his hand.
And right when his flip was done, the beast was right below him, and without a shred of hesitation, Anwar slammed the ball of energy into its back.
There was a moment of silence or extreme sound. It was a mystery what really happened during such compression. Everyone had their theories. Well, almost everybody. Anwar didn't really care. Pondering the sound phenomena behind extreme compression was, in his opinion, a pointless use of time. All that mattered was the damage done. And it surely was done, as the beast's movements stopped and its body stiffened before being launched into the rocks below, as if pulled by the gravity of the sun.
Anwar was quick to follow by bending his legs, materializing a platform above his feet, and jumping downward. There was a whistling sound as Anwar materialized blades as extensions of both his hands. He then landed on the beast's back and, with one fluid movement, stabbed the blades into the center of its body. A screech echoed throughout the mountains as the incapacitated beast gained enough energy to flail its body wildly.
It rolled around, forcing Anwar to get off of its back. It then tried slamming Anwar to the ground with its wing. A stupid decision that cost it the tip of one of its long wings.
The beast thrashed around to create space, seemingly realizing it had to escape. At the exact moment it was going to do so, a long sword materialized in Anwar's hand as he slid under the beast's stomach and carved its flesh wide open.
He couldn't do it for long, though, as the beast entered the air with a flap of its wings, and with another flapping motion, he was already far away. Despite its injuries, the beast somehow maintained its speed and ability to burst forth.
Anwar looked on with his teeth clenched as he let the long sword fade from existence and took a stance for lengthened compression. He closed his eyes and breathed.
'This is the last chance. If this doesn't do it, all this work will have been for nothing. Focus, Cade.' He opened his eyes and watched as the beast flew far away, its speed unusually stable. 'Focus!'
The ball of energy, slightly smaller than an apple, happened to contain all the essence Anwar could muster. It wasn't anything special, though. It didn't guarantee victory by just hitting. The beam had to go through the beast's brain or heart to do damage, and annihilating the heart was out of the question, so only one target remained.
There was a split second of tremendous pressure before a vacuum sound resounded in Cade's ears so loudly it could be classified as an assault. Then all that gathered essence found its place in the world and shot off with a single purpose.
The beam flew hundreds and hundreds of meters in mere moments, disregarding any external influences as it pierced through the air to make its way to the beast's brain.
There was no way for Anwar to know if the beast was aware of the beam, so he had simply made an educated guess on the beast's state of mind and assumed it would keep flying forward mindlessly with the simple goal of getting as far as possible. Then all that remained was to approximate the moment its head and the beam would meet based on its stable speed.
As the two got closer, Anwar smiled. He could already see the beam perforating the beast's brain and the beast falling limply to the ground. When the beam and the beast looked to be just a few meters from each other, however, Anwar's face dropped as the beast initiated a burst of speed.
Anwar's veins popped out as he readied himself for what was inevitably a futile effort. He focused on his legs and took off sprinting. He would maybe have been able to keep up with the beast otherwise, but he had used up all his energy already.
Regardless, he couldn't just sit still.
But then he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he saw something in the distance. An impossible idea passed through his head, and he scoffed but focused his essence on his senses nonetheless.
Then his body relaxed, and an unbearable excitement and satisfaction started creeping up his stomach as he watched the boy with golden hair stand on a curving platform in the sky.
'That's right, he hasn't learned proper materialization yet, so he's using a shield as a platform,' Anwar thought, resisting the temptation to laugh due to the dire situation.
Nothing had been resolved yet.
Anwar eagerly watched as Aurelius put his arms together.
'Lengthened compression,' Anwar thought with a nod. 'Wait, what?'
Aurelius separated his hands, a thin, ethereal energy substance remaining between them. He then quickly moved his right hand to the left and his left hand to the right, making them unite in the middle for just an instant before zigzagging them with a lightning-quick movement as a thunderous sound resounded and a wide ethereal blade flew off.
Anwar watched unmovingly in awe at the foreign technique as the blade slit through the skies, quickly crossing the hundred-meter distance to the beast, and without giving it a chance to react, divided the beast in half.
It had been a trick. A demonstration of materialization so fine and quick that it had been only a translucent flash that still did its job in preventing the soundwaves from traveling their original path, making for an effective distraction as the origin of the soundwaves was confused. Then the beast flew out of the cave and slammed into Aurelius.
Anwar had not seen Aurelius perform any setups. So if his eyes did not fool him, as they very, very rarely did, Aurelius was dead.
Anwar didn't bother to check.
'He did his job in luring out the beast. His life was his own responsibility. Forget him. Just another name. If he is still alive, he'll survive by himself until you take care of the beast, anyway,' Anwar thought, resolving to give the beast all his attention and throwing his bag aside.
Once the beast slowed down from the burst of speed, it was revealed to him in all its monstrosity. It was a hawk-like, malnutritioned-looking bird monster. It had wide wings riddled with black and gray feathers, like most of its body. There was something that separated its wings from the rest of its body, however. There were red marks on them, which made them leave a red trail as the beast sped around.
For some reason, it hadn't seemed to notice Anwar and was about to pursue Aurelius. That's why Anwar breathed in and took a stable stance before outstretching his arms and putting his hands together before a beam shot out. And as expected, it was noticed and dodged by the beast.
The goal hadn't been to hit it, though; it was just to attract its attention, and it had succeeded.
The beast turned to Anwar with an exaggerated movement of its wings, fixing its bloodshot, black eyes on him. Then it flapped its wings directly behind itself, launching at Anwar with a sudden burst of speed.
The beast seemed to have incredible agility and unorthodox speed that worked in large bursts. It also seemed to be fairly durable since it had such confidence that it launched itself at things with no regard for its own safety.
Still, regardless of its durability, it should have known better than to act so recklessly. And Anwar would make sure to teach it that.
The beast enjoyed its rush of speed all the way up until Anwar dodged out of its way and materialized a spike as the extension of his arm and shoved it into the side of the beast. Dark red blood, diluted with some black substance, spurted out of the wound and onto Anwar as he drew it all the way across the beast's tough hide.
He couldn't do much damage, though, as the beast hit the wall of the mountain instead of Anwar and started thrashing with its wings. It managed to slam one into Anwar, flinging him off of the platform.
It then turned around to see what damage it had caused with the hard impact, only to see Anwar unscathed, standing on a smooth, almost translucent light-blue platform.
Not only had he used lengthened compression, enhancement of both his body and senses, and materialization, but also reinforcement. He wiped his sweat and some diluted blood off of his forehead with his sleeve before readying himself again. There was a limit on how long he could exert himself enough to fight a cursed beast with relative safety, so he had to end it fast.
He rushed forward toward the idle beast, another platform materializing under his feet. The beast didn't wait to be attacked, however, and took action. It wasn't in its nature to act defensively, and Anwar knew it.
That's why he knew that once he jumped up and raised a materialized sword above his head, the beast would launch its usual dashing attack. The beast was very eager to test its beak's durability against his sword, but he wasn't really in it for his ego. He was in it to rip the beast's heart out and squeeze it dry.
The beast's speed truly was in a league of its own with regard to all the individuals Anwar had observed during his life. In an instant, the beak was almost about to hit Anwar in the stomach.
Anwar outstretched one of his legs, touching the beast's beak lightly. He was immediately swept up by its speed. It was as expected. Anwar turned a full flip's worth, all the while the materialized sword disappeared and streaks began orbiting around a ball of energy in his hand.
And right when his flip was done, the beast was right below him, and without a shred of hesitation, Anwar slammed the ball of energy into its back.
There was a moment of silence or extreme sound. It was a mystery what really happened during such compression. Everyone had their theories. Well, almost everybody. Anwar didn't really care. Pondering the sound phenomena behind extreme compression was, in his opinion, a pointless use of time. All that mattered was the damage done. And it surely was done, as the beast's movements stopped and its body stiffened before being launched into the rocks below, as if pulled by the gravity of the sun.
Anwar was quick to follow by bending his legs, materializing a platform above his feet, and jumping downward. There was a whistling sound as Anwar materialized blades as extensions of both his hands. He then landed on the beast's back and, with one fluid movement, stabbed the blades into the center of its body. A screech echoed throughout the mountains as the incapacitated beast gained enough energy to flail its body wildly.
It rolled around, forcing Anwar to get off of its back. It then tried slamming Anwar to the ground with its wing. A stupid decision that cost it the tip of one of its long wings.
The beast thrashed around to create space, seemingly realizing it had to escape. At the exact moment it was going to do so, a long sword materialized in Anwar's hand as he slid under the beast's stomach and carved its flesh wide open.
He couldn't do it for long, though, as the beast entered the air with a flap of its wings, and with another flapping motion, he was already far away. Despite its injuries, the beast somehow maintained its speed and ability to burst forth.
Anwar looked on with his teeth clenched as he let the long sword fade from existence and took a stance for lengthened compression. He closed his eyes and breathed.
'This is the last chance. If this doesn't do it, all this work will have been for nothing. Focus, Cade.' He opened his eyes and watched as the beast flew far away, its speed unusually stable. 'Focus!'
The ball of energy, slightly smaller than an apple, happened to contain all the essence Anwar could muster. It wasn't anything special, though. It didn't guarantee victory by just hitting. The beam had to go through the beast's brain or heart to do damage, and annihilating the heart was out of the question, so only one target remained.
There was a split second of tremendous pressure before a vacuum sound resounded in Cade's ears so loudly it could be classified as an assault. Then all that gathered essence found its place in the world and shot off with a single purpose.
The beam flew hundreds and hundreds of meters in mere moments, disregarding any external influences as it pierced through the air to make its way to the beast's brain.
There was no way for Anwar to know if the beast was aware of the beam, so he had simply made an educated guess on the beast's state of mind and assumed it would keep flying forward mindlessly with the simple goal of getting as far as possible. Then all that remained was to approximate the moment its head and the beam would meet based on its stable speed.
As the two got closer, Anwar smiled. He could already see the beam perforating the beast's brain and the beast falling limply to the ground. When the beam and the beast looked to be just a few meters from each other, however, Anwar's face dropped as the beast initiated a burst of speed.
Anwar's veins popped out as he readied himself for what was inevitably a futile effort. He focused on his legs and took off sprinting. He would maybe have been able to keep up with the beast otherwise, but he had used up all his energy already.
Regardless, he couldn't just sit still.
But then he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he saw something in the distance. An impossible idea passed through his head, and he scoffed but focused his essence on his senses nonetheless.
Then his body relaxed, and an unbearable excitement and satisfaction started creeping up his stomach as he watched the boy with golden hair stand on a curving platform in the sky.
'That's right, he hasn't learned proper materialization yet, so he's using a shield as a platform,' Anwar thought, resisting the temptation to laugh due to the dire situation.
Nothing had been resolved yet.
Anwar eagerly watched as Aurelius put his arms together.
'Lengthened compression,' Anwar thought with a nod. 'Wait, what?'
Aurelius separated his hands, a thin, ethereal energy substance remaining between them. He then quickly moved his right hand to the left and his left hand to the right, making them unite in the middle for just an instant before zigzagging them with a lightning-quick movement as a thunderous sound resounded and a wide ethereal blade flew off.
Anwar watched unmovingly in awe at the foreign technique as the blade slit through the skies, quickly crossing the hundred-meter distance to the beast, and without giving it a chance to react, divided the beast in half.
