The next day, the sun started to rise and just as Hamar stepped out of his tent after a night of meditation, he heard a screech.
Cawwww!
A massive vulture screeched as it swooped down from the sky and down to its prey. It locked onto Uncle Wang who was working on his carriage, setting it back up to continue to town. The bird, however, did not care and swooped down. It clearly did not follow the rules Hamar had learned the previous day, it did not recognise the power of the crystal protection.
As it whistled through the sky, Hamar held himself back. He fought his instinct to protect Uncle Wang and slash at the vulture.
Bang!
The vulture swooped down and a distance from snatching Uncle Wang it slammed onto an invisible barrier that had formed around the campsite. For a moment, Hamar could see the pink crystal form and the powder Wang had sprinkled shoot into the air.
The totem whirred as it worked to use the crystal power and produce the e barrier. The vulture didn't stop, it saw there was a barrier but continued to fight. It perched atop the crystal continuously causing it to be one material, then it would peck with it's beak, shaking the foundations.
From inside, Uncle Wang was getting anxious and shouted towards Hamar who was watching vigilantly, "Hop on! Get on top of Lassy, we might need to run!"
Hamar turned his head and stormed into the tent where Yan was working, "Come out. There's an enemy, hop onto the lizard!" Then he leaned din closer and whispered, "If you distract Uncle Wang, I'll take care of it."
Quickly Yan dismantled the formation she had formed to investigate the crystal and stormed out of her tent, pretending to be scared. She ran and scrambled into Lassy, "Get on now!" She shouted towards Hamar while continuing her scared act.
Hamar bit his lip and locked eyes with the vulture whose massive pupils intensely stared at it's prey. The totem in the middle of the campsite began whining and the crystal barrier cracked. This only caused the vulture to become more aggressive and pecked faster. Hamar hovered his hand over his sword ready to discard his disguise if needed.
He locked eyes quickly with Yan and silently made a plea, 'Distract him!'. Yan rolled her eyes and silently made a formation in her hand and tapped Uncle Wang on the shoulder. The formation in her hand spun and the laws transferred into Uncle Wang which caused his attention to change, causing his vision to temporarily pause.
She used a special technique which would cause vision to be lost but in an undetectable way where the victim does not realise they lost vision at all. Yan made a gesture and Hama nodded, "Let's sort you out, bird." He gritted his teeth and pulled out his sword.
Raising it high, Hamar inspected the crystalline structure. The end had been snapped off and he had not fixed it. His eyes scanned the floor and he sent out multiple threads of colourless aura, each one turning the crystalline powder into the Sword Soul.
He realised this was only a temporary fix as the laws he transformed into his own would dismantle after a while and be destroyed, "This should be long enough, the Sword Soul allows you to keep laws transformed for a longer time".
He traced the edge of his Sword Soul with his finger before jumping up into the sky, a phantom forming behind him. Without saying a word, he activated a technique he had theorised of previously. The phantom behind him formed itself into the visage of a staring eye whose piercing gaze stunned the vulture for a moment.
it was a move inspired by the move he had used against Yan which took control over laws temporarily and disrupted anything. It would be effective against monsters because their lower intelligence would mean that Hamar could keep control longer. The move injected his aura into the laws of the eagle and locked it to its position. This wasn't the same as transforming the laws into his, it was more superficial control which would dissipate quickly, leaving the laws untouched.
At the same time, he jumped dup with his sword. He then simply pierced the bird in its head, using aura to enhance his swords ability. As he made contact the crystal's powers showed themselves and a portion of the hit moved backwards and went straight into Hamar's arm. The power of his own strik turned on him, arm bones shattered but with little time he didn't stop and using the grip he had on the vulture he spun mid-air and flung the bird into the air, causing his arm to flop with all of it's insides torn up.
The sword he had made, had become his weakness. The reflective property of the crystal worked against him and he would need to remove it lest the sword cause even more damage when he fights.
It was a massive vulture and clearly a magical beast. It might have healing abilities and was definitely strong enough to survive Hamar's basic attack. However, it would likely not take the risk and fly away. He bet on that chance and Hamar fell down landing beside Yan who sat upon the lizard, Lassy. He bit his lip again and held his injured arm as he stood up and brushed his cloak removing dust from his fall.
Injecting aura into his arm, his muscle, bone, sinew stretched and sewed itself back together like patchwork. Yan breathed a sigh of relief as at that moment, her formation stopped. Uncle Wang awoke from his stupor and saw the vulture in the sky flying, "Phew, it seems to have realised it can't break through..."
He spun his head searching the horizon, "oh! there you are, go get the totem, would you?" He spoke to Hamar after spotting him behind Lassy.
Hamar smiled, "Of course, I just slept funny and hurt my arm a little, haha I'm fine though" he covered any possible issues then walked over to the totem and used both arms to pick it up out of the ground.
"Just throw it in the back!" Then Uncle Wang turned to Yan who was still sitting on Lassy, "If I'm not being rude is it fine for you to walk now? Lassy shouldn't be pushed too far," Yan acted surprised and stoked Lassy a few times before hopping off, "Of course you're not being rude, thank you for preparing to help us escape and thank you Lassy!" She kissed the lizard lightly then stepped around the carriage.
Hamar put his arm around Yan's shoulders, "We're good to go now Uncle!"