Higure almost puked after taking a trip through... whatever that thing was. She loathed the idea of even comparing it to the dimensions she normally thrived in. It was absolutely absurd.
"What the heck was that?!"
"It's the Path Skill I told you about before," Rakna said as he stood unfazed. "By the way, how was this one, Ceres?"
"One of the best we've had yet," the former AI answered, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I have no idea what you two are talking about," the lioness grumbled.
"I've been trying various methods to transport a person through the Reverse Side," Rakna looked at her. "I can technically control everything inside of it. I can even move people around, though it seems impossible to mess with their corporeal integrity. So, next idea; change the world itself to accommodate the goal."
Higure's expression twitched in disbelief.
"Move space itself, shoot the person like a bullet, open a wormhole…" He listed. "I usually tweak those three main ones into different versions. Ceresta tagged along for several of those tests; she helps me analyze them. The most cost-effective we found was to create a shell around the person and then make it fly at superluminal speeds."
"…and what was this one?" The lioness asked blankly. She frankly was just humoring him.
"I stretched space. Instead of altering its relative scope, I essentially turned it into an elastic and slingshot us to this place. It's a bit disorienting, but I think it's a success. It's by far the fastest one and it's particularly cheap in cost."
"I'm sending you the data," Ceresta followed up with a smile.
"Thanks. I'll go over it later."
"…you both are crazy," Higure deadpanned and stood up with a groan, combing her hair with her hand. "Now I'm scared of what our children will be like."
"What kind of jump in subject even is that?" Rakna retorted.
"The logical kind," she grinned and looked around. "But you did bring us to the correct place."
"Are you sure this is right?" He asked and eventually turned toward the presence he could sense in the vicinity. Whoever it belonged to was certainly right here, but also nowhere to be seen.
"Come on, devourer of mine, I know you already noticed."
Rakna huffed. "I guess. I just didn't know they could do that."
Higure snorted and walked toward the anomaly all three of them could sense. She reached with her hand and briefly activated RiftShuttle. Her fingers landed on an invisible surface, which she promptly proceeded to shatter by making a fist.
The scenery they were looking at cracked like a mirror. What lay there was nothing more than a sly ruse, like a magician masquerading a chameleon.
As the reflective walls crumbled, two pairs of eyes crossed in an instant. One was Higure's fierce glower and the other the languid nostalgia of a large tiger.
The biggest Dawn Tiger Rakna could sense on this mountain was lying there on a peculiar patch of white grass, with a circular formation of rocks surrounding it.
This tiger was much bigger than Higure had been during her life. At the very least, it would likely be five to six meters tall while standing up. Not only that, but its fur was slightly dull, coarse, and longer than average.
'He's old… no, in fact, he's approaching the very end of his lifespan,' Rakna thought.
"Did you become shy after all these years?" Higure smirked at the tiger. "Why didn't you greet an old pal when you saw them?"
"…I could ask you the same thing," the old tiger replied almost lazily. His pale blue eyes glowed faintly. "You are the one who landed in front of me and started yammering."
The lioness snickered. "Seeing you like this… can you even get up from there?"
Both Dusk Lions and Dawn Tigers had a similar lifespan. On average, they lived 500 years, and it was during her 400s that Higure decided to have children. This tiger had already been older than her at the time; which meant that he was currently pushing thousands.
Wordlessly, the old beast raised his paw and slowly pressed it on the ground before him. Despite how slow it was, it caused a massive tremor that alarmed the mountain's inhabitants.
Slowly, he began to stand while Higure watched with a serious expression. The massive tiger let out a sigh, stretching his neck. For a moment, the yellow light blanketing the sky almost gave the illusion of a halo around him.
"You can call me Calga," he uttered. "We have guests, after all."
The lioness scowled. "Since when you had a name?"
"A noisy Host gave it to me some time ago."
"Hah. You? The Raid Boss who assaulted Hosts and Locals on sight?"
Calga silently looked at her, his body dwarfing them. He was… absurdly serene.
"…no, I suppose it's normal," Higure clicked her tongue. "I'm the only one who hasn't changed, it looks like. Even a hothead like you has become an old man. It's kind of sad," she smiled wryly.
The tiger let out a harmless growl, "Why have you come to me?"
"You can also call me Higure," she huffed. "As for why I came… you should know. Calga. Where is the coward who killed my son? The one who dared to resort to deception."
"…so, it's like that. Did you inspect your daughter's Twilight?"
She glared at his uncaring response. "Don't tell me you forgot our honor? If you are still the same proud tiger that I knew back then, you should have punished him yourself. Now, did you… or did you not?"
Calga lowered his head, his eyes boring into hers. "I have not."
She frowned darkly.
"I don't have the energy to waste on worthless brats anymore," he continued. "But I suppose… if it's a request from my old enemy, we could settle it the same way as usual."
"You…"
"One last battle with you is not something I hoped I could have. But it's not such a bad idea," his lips curved into a sneer. "What about it, Higure? Do you accept, or are you now too weak to face this dying old cat?"
"…" Higure let out a few emotions escape her expression before she eventually turned around. "If it's not too much to ask… Rakna, could you grant me this?"
The therian sighed as Calga shifted his eyes toward him as well. "Of course... it had to end up like this," he complained and approached her. "I'll warn you once." He put his hand on her shoulder. "If I feel like it's going to become dangerous for you, I'll intervene."
As soon as he spoke, he released a wave of unfathomable energy. The old tiger stepped back with astonishment in his eyes.
"[PhilosopherCraft - G̴r̸i̴v̶̷̷a̸̴̸'̴t̴r̶ ̷R̸a̸h̸e̴s̶t̸]"
With a skill spoken in the Original Language, Rakna deliberately shed all his status. His attributes plummeted to ten, his skills lost their ranks, and his level dropped back to one.
Meanwhile, the power emanating from Higure exploded in intensity. The lioness snapped her fist and a sound like the clap of thunder echoed, breaking the dimensions inside her grip.
Rakna quietly let go of her shoulder and she smiled at him. "Don't worry, I know," she responded to his warning and quickly pressed her lips against his. "I know where I must return to," she said and turned around to face her old enemy.
"Hahahaha!" Calga burst out laughing at what he just witnessed. "To think you found a mate, and one of this caliber; it's truly reinvigorating these old bones of mine!" He cackled and dimensional energy began to cloak him; it felt utterly diametrical to the Dusk Lion version of it.
Rakna retreated to Ceresta's side. "Sorry, but I'll need you to protect me for a while," he told her and she smiled softly.
"I will not disappoint," she grabbed his hand and carried them away in a flurry of petals.
Higure looked at Calga and took a deep breath. Similarly, dimensional energy overtook her. But in comparison, while she was creating rifts, he was actually expanding dimensions outward.
"Let's go then…" She mumbled and her bones began to pop. Her canines grew and her midnight fur grew back around her neck and wrists first. Her body expanded and rapidly grew taller. But unlike her opponent, she did not fall on all fours, retaining a humanoid frame.
Her hair grew longer and covered the width of her shoulders as she turned into a werelion. Dark orange markings appeared around her neck and gushed out with light, passively forming a Dusk Mane.
"Haha, you really have changed," Calga sounded amused. "But does that make you strong enough to defeat me, I wonder."
"Come and find out, old cat."
The tiger roared out a low pitch that vibrated the air for kilometers. He charged forward with a world-defying momentum and dashed toward Higure, bright yellow light spilling out of his maw.
He fired the magic contained inside without wasting time, letting loose a beam of concentrated light wide enough to engulf the sky.
In response, Higure reacted just as fast. Her arm went up in orange flames, conjuring the power of the Dusk Star, and swung her fist in retaliation.
* * *
The two inaugurating blows clashed in a flash of light. The beam split off into hundreds of lasers as the flames pierced into it, each of them carving into Sun Call's mountain. Rocks and trees were sliced through like butter and the earth melted.
Rakna shielded his face when the shockwave reached them, but it was promptly batted away by a swipe of Ceresta's hand. He looked at where the two felines had contested and barely managed to keep track of them with Eye of Symphony as they shot up into the air.
"Light Magic…" He muttered to himself. The old tiger had a simple but devastating element.
Calga's laugh reached his ears and in the distance, mana burst out of his body as he infused light into it. The tiger blinked away after applying Elemental Reinforcement, moving at speeds barely any Host in the System would be able to cope with on a fundamental level.
Higure's eyes, however, seemed accustomed to it, as if she had faced it thousands of times. With her Dusk Mane steadily brightening up, she swung her leg to her left. She struck the shoulder of the old tiger, who had purposefully raised it as a parry.
Calga raised his claw, tendrils of light wriggling about, ready to slice their target. But he stopped due to a sudden impact coming from his opponent's leg, which should have already struck.
"[BurstEcho,]" Higure chanted coldly and instantly, her kick repeated itself dozens of times. The sound was akin to an explosion and the Dawn Tiger was hurled away.
Yet, he recovered just as fast, growing a pair of light wings. With a smirk still fully in place, he let out another roar and entered sublight speed again.
"[Bring Forth Ruination,]" Higure intoned. "[Katastra.]"
The Fifth Layer of Enthymio manifested at the tips of her fingers. A layer that should normally be perilous to even call upon was like a puppy to her. After all, Ruin was part of her. Her infamy as the strongest Dusk Lion long ago was born from her interminable path of ruination.
"Serious from the start, are we?" Calga cackled, his voice coming from above.
Higure's eyes widened slightly, recognizing the fluctuations. She looked up and spotted the tiger hovering in the center of a massive geometrical formation of light.
"Let's reenact some memories of ours," he laughed. "[Reflect Their Obsession, Antanasia!]"
The world became fragmented and mirrors fell into place like a puzzle. Straightaway, thousands of dots amidst the light formation began to shine.
Higure erupted like a shooting star, flying up as soon as she saw what he was doing.
Regardless, the beams descended. They sank into the mirrors as if water, before coming out of it as a hundred duplicates. In less than a second, thousands of light cutters capable of melting the face right off pretty much anyone in the System besieged Higure.
But even against this number of attacks, and their speed that could sign one's death with just one small mistake, the lioness closed her eyes. She rekindled an old Excelled Skill she had refined in her battles with Calga himself.
In slow motion, she predicted the light, not with her physical senses, but the fluctuations inside the dimensions. There was nothing in existence that did not make a ripple in them. Furthermore, she didn't need to deal with every attack.
With a flick of her finger, she hit a Focal Point right next to her, at just the right time. Twenty of those light beams broke apart then and there. Only she in the history of her race had reached a level of mastery where she could accurately hit several targets with one Focal Point.
She hit a few more and halved the imminent threats. As for the rest, she simply twisted her body to dodge them and caught the remaining ones with her bare hands.
If one looked closely, they would see the light darkening as it approached her Ruin, fading away into nothingness. Like rust, even light could crumble.
She snapped her eyes wide open and her Dusk Mane glowed. "[Release.]"
The power accumulated inside her personal dimension burst, creating a field that banished away the rest of the light. And before Calga could make his next move, she made hers.
"[UnityCraft – Whisper ofThe End,]" she chanted and blew softly in her hand whilst aiming at the tiger. That small action, containing the combined might of her two magics and Katastra, was the beginning of a chain reaction.
Faster than one could think, her sigh had turned into a maelstrom of colorless Ruin Magic, large enough to swallow the sky and expanding with every 'echo'.
Calga dismissed his magic while his eyes gleamed gleefully. "[Silence.]"
One word. Not only was it the direct antithesis of Higure, but an uncontestable command. From him as the source, a bubble of stillness invaded the Plateau. The colors were silent; the grass was silent; the wind was silent; the beasts were silent.
And the Echoes of Ruin died out.
Rakna, caught in it, felt his internal energies stop moving. They were so still that they might as well have been non-existent. Only the Obsidian Star deep in his soul refused to ever be silent. It's only when the bubble receded toward Calga that everything returned to normal.
"I have calculated it," Ceresta said, with some amount of annoyance in her voice. "I will not let it hurt you next time," she vowed and the therian could only smile at her protectiveness.
He looked up at where the two felines were eyeing each other.
Soon, they resumed their dance.