Flat-Brim Samurai Chapter 142 - Frost Wolf
Since Apollo grabbed the keys off the guard, he closed in on the end of the hallway, input the key, and turned it. When he let a few guards pass and opened the door. There was a large gothic interior. Giant stone walls and hallways all around him and a giant cut out in front of him that led to a huge staircase leading to the next floor. He walked to the stairs and started climbing up. A massive chandelier with candles dangled from the ceiling. When he arrived at the second floor he clung to a wall and waited for a skinner to pass him. When the coast was clear he entered a doorway. On the other side of the doorway there was a long hallway filled with sculptures, paintings and carvings. They all were a show of power and destruction. There were paintings of beings behind crushed or demolished planets or galaxies.
This begged the question (What really is this place? At first I thought that this was just a temporary base of operations but it seems like something different. Like it was manufactured for someone rather than for the Harbingers of Fate in general.)
As he stewed this question he suddenly heard giant footsteps BOOM.. BOOM.. BOOM. He crouched behind a pillar and caught the sensory image of the footsteps. It was a giant wolflike being with cold blue fur that seemed to ooze a cold light blue aura. The frost in the air didn't cause anything in the tower to become infected with the cold however. Just like how Apollo tried to break the bars of the cell he was in, the tower itself seemed to be reinforced by a special type of force that couldn't be destroyed by anyone near his or that things power level.
Just then, the beast was sniffing around (I thought that I completely masked my presence?!? Nothing should be able to sense me with ordinary means except for things much stronger than I am! Wait, is that what that means!?!)
Quick steps started coming right towards his location. He summoned Akarui and activated Art: Battle Mode. He jumped out from the pillar and immediately slashed at the massive wolf but his blade was blocked by the frost on the wolf paws TINK. The wolf quickly backed up and charged at Apollo with its forehead, he couldn't do anything as he was sent flying backwards into the wall that wouldn't break KABOOM (AAAGHHH).
Apollo swung his sword, sending out a Water Wave but it was turned into ice and broke apart before it could even touch the beast. He didn't allow himself to freak out, he released all thoughts from himself and fully engaged himself at the battle at hand. He read the Quison of his foe coming straight at him and blocked with his sword and gave himself the room to be pushed back in case of him not being able to take all of the blow, he wanted to keep the amount of damage he received to a minimum even if it was going to be difficult. Upon receiving the blow BAM, he leached some of the energy from the wolf and imbued it into his sword. He combined it with the arts that he knew and ducked under the speeding paw that was coming to his location. After doing that, the beast flew up into the air FWOOSH.
Apollo knew what it was going to do as he used everything in his body to accelerate his speed to get out of the way KABOOM. The beast crashed into the floor and Apollo jumped up into the air above the wolf and slashed at its back SLASH, leaving a small gash. He landed on the ceiling and Refraction Clones appeared around him in order to confuse it. They all came down at the same time, all it had to do was stand there as all of the clones turned into ice.
The wolf just then sensed something from the ground charging straight at his abdomen STAB. Apollo from earlier masked his presence up in the air and fell to the ground silently before controlling his refraction clones, giving him the chance to land a sneak attack in the middle of the engagement. Apollo slashed down and opened the wound further SLASH, spraying blood all over him, but then he suddenly lost mobility with his sword. Ice formed around his sword and he couldn't pull it out. It wasn't bleeding anymore either. It dropped its entire bodyweight on Apollo which caused 5 ribs to break. If it wasn't for the training that he'd endured, his physical strength would not be enough and he would've died. Wounds on his chest appeared and blood started leaking from his body.
Akarui was busy absorbing the energy of the wolf. The wolf, having noticed this, jumped back and jumped forwards to bite Apollo when its mouth felt immense pain. A sword was in the middle of its mouth, keeping it from closing its mouth and stabbing right into the top and bottom of its jaw, Apollo had unsummoned his sword and resummoned it before placing it in the wolf's mouth. Apollo let go of his sword and skid backwards, sliding alongside his water and physical speed to get distance. The wolf in front of him was releasing an aura that wanted to eat Apollo whole. The anger from the wolf boosted its power as it crossed the distance in an instant. The claws of the beast were going back and forth and Apollo had to resummon his sword into his hand.
He blocked strike after strike, his body shaking due to the weight and power of the monster in front of him TIK TIK TIK TIK TIK TIK. Just then, Apollo's sword broke out of his grip and the wolf reached out and bit at his arm. Apollo started screaming in pain. He tried his best to break the eardrums of the beast by sending the soundwaves directly into the ears of his opponent but it didn't work. The frost-like aura was blocking the sounds from reaching.
Apollo's heart started beating like drum as pain started to infect his whole body, the cold was seeping into his bloodstream and caused Apollo to scream even more before he summoned Akarui in his left hand and stabbed into the eye of the beast, but it wouldn't let go of his arm and eventually, it wasn't enough, his arm shattered off of him. Apollo's rage and terror from his soul stretched outwards and his emotions flared to the most extreme that he had felt. No one would be there to save him and there wouldn't even be someone there to get his body. He clenched onto the sword with his left and infused even more power into the blade and leached even more power off of the wolf. He sent a flood of ice and water streaming through the eye of the wolf FWOOOOOOOSH. The beast's other eye and body started moving sporadically to try to get Apollo off of him but it couldn't move him. Apollo stuck to the beast like super glue as he twisted and maneuvered the sword through his skull. The beast couldn't think anymore and was slowing down. Apollo released the sword from its eye and stabbed it right back in with all the rage that he had built up AAAAGGGHHHHH STAB.
The wolf collapsed to the ground, Apollo could barely breathe. His muscles and body were involuntarily freaking out. He tried calming down but his blood pressure wouldn't go down. He looked at his arm and tried his best to regenerate the damage but it wouldn't do anything. He even leached the frost energy off of his arms but still his arm wouldn't regenerate. Apollo thought to himself, slumped on the wolf (I think it did direct soul damage). Apollo let out a scream that came from the deepest parts of him ,"AGGGHHHHHH!!!"