Jordan increased her speed and shot ahead, but Cate was still on her heels. The two sisters moved through the forest with no regard for anyone else. One wanted to survive, and the other wanted to kill.
The first time Cate defeated Jordan, she did not kill the young woman because of her background. Killing Jordan was sure to bring the wrath of the Staranse Mage Clan down on Cate, and this was a distraction she did not want. Cate needed her time with the Avalong society to be as smooth as possible. This way, she could get the chaos keys sooner, allowing her to open the Vault of Souls. All this had now been thrown to the back of her mind. After Jordan showed her deep desire to kill Cate without caring for their relationship as "sisters," Cate decided that it was time to put an end to her. Cate would grant her no more chances. Cate did not explain this to Jordan, but the young woman understood that if she was caught right now, she would be killed, and nothing could change this.
Since her life was on the line, Jordan ran with everything she had. When she finally accepted that no matter how fast she ran, there was no way to escape the seemingly unstable Cate, Jordan decided to pull others into her fight. She changed directions and headed toward a group of people who were moving through the forest together. Cate could sense these people, but she could not make out who they were. Still, she had an idea as to who they might be. There were over fifty of them. Among all the people participating in this crazy test, only the werewolves would ever decide to move together. They were pack creatures, and their mentality tended to lead them into solving all their problems together.
Cate stomped her left foot on the ground and channeled her magic into the earth. A spear made from rock shot out of the earth, timed so perfectly that Jordan did not realize what was happening until the spear went through her right foot. It passed through her tibia and lodged itself in Jordan's kneecap. The pain was unending, but Jordan knew that her life was on the line. She chanted quickly and channeled her magic through the spear to create a large fireball that she threw behind her. "Hmmmph," Cate snorted at the frailty of the fireball as she backhanded it to the side as though it was nothing.
There was a great explosion, and Jordan used this force to propel herself backward. She then created over fifteen of the same fireballs and made them explode just behind her. She had already used her magic to create a simple barrier on her back, allowing her to take on the force from the explosions with limited damage to her body.
These explosions made her fly through the sky, and in the end, she fell at the center of the pack of wolves. Cate had needed to take care of the fireballs, and this had delayed her for a few minutes. When Cate finally reached the werewolves, Jordan had already offered them the sun and the moon in exchange for their protection. Jordan now stood far from Cate with fifty-three werewolves between them.
A man who looked to be in his early thirties moved forward, and all the other werewolves moved to the side. This man was in the process of becoming an Alpha. The process was still not complete since the pack had only been recently formed, but this did not mean that this man was weak. After all, even a werewolf in the process of becoming an Alpha was still called an Alpha.
"You will not be killing her today. Let the fight end here, and we can all go our separate ways," the Alpha said. His voice was deep and projected strength. His yellow eyes had a shine to them that offered comfort to his kind and terror to anyone else stupid enough to look him directly in the eye.
Cate sighed deeply at this. She had already made up her mind to kill Jordan. Even the threat of being hunted down by the Staranse Mage Clan was not enough to get her to stop, let alone a threat from a few puppies. "I have always had a soft spot for werewolves. For this reason, I will allow you a single opportunity at survival. Behead the fool you are protecting, and I will forget that you dared stand in my way. You have one minute to present her head," Cate said.
These words shredded the pack's pride, and the Alpha knew he would be challenged and removed from his position if he did not defend their honor. Cate did not care for any of this, but the Alpha firmed his resolve to not only protect Jordan but to also kill Cate.
When Cate made a foolish decision and had a hole in her chest, she had a choice to make. She could have chosen to die, and that would have been the end of her suffering that had gone on for thousands of years. But she also had another path before her. In her long life as a severed head used as a trump card by heroes and villains, Cate had seen many things and learned countless secrets. She did not waste all that time sleeping. She stayed inside her mind and comprehended magic and ways in which she could have victory over her foes. During this time, she created many spells, with most of them being failures. She created the spell that allowed her to leave her existence as a severed head and take over the body of the original Cate. This Rebirth Spell was one of the most powerful spells she created in those thousands of years. Still, it was not the most powerful spell she created in that time. This honor fell to the Original Sin Spell. This was the spell she used to close the hole in her chest and pull herself back from the brink of death.