Gold split the world in half, every strand of my hair rising as if reaching for the storm. Lightning devoured the air, a cage of crackling bolts swallowing ten meters around me. My skin burned under the assault, sharp lashes of energy biting into me again and again like furious serpents. I couldn't fall here. Not now.
Gritting my teeth, I forced my body past its limits, {Shadow Step} dragging me through the storm's edge. The fox lunged after me, its paws striking sparks, each step cracking the earth with thunder.
I needed a plan. Some way past that untouchable speed, past the shield of lightning wrapping its body. Think! There has to be a counter to lightning...
"You can't fight it alone!" Elira's voice tore through the storm, sharp and desperate. "I'll slow it down with my elemental power! You go for the attack!"
The moment her words hit me, I felt the ground beneath my feet tremble, then thick vines of stone and soil burst upward, twisting together like chains. The golden fox darted, lightning flashing, but its paws skidded as the earth swallowed them for a heartbeat.
Elira stood at a distance, her hands trembling, veins of blood and stone spiraling from her arms into the ground. Dual elements. She had surprised me again. So, wind and blood weren't her limits? She commanded earth itself. Could this girl wield every aspect? How was she not a character in the book? I couldn't wrap it around my finger.
My chest rose and fell hard, hope burning through the smoke. "Thank you," I muttered, but my feet were already moving, carrying me like the wind itself. I had to end it here, now. Even if I was useless on my own, even if I wasn't strong enough to face every creature I wished, I would still strike, still fight with everything I had. And with my friend at my side, there was nothing left to fear.
Just as I closed the distance, the fox's three tails lashed together, thunder splitting the air. Lightning whipped outward in jagged arcs, carving trenches into the earth. The shockwave slammed into me, searing my skin, the heat and crackle biting like a thousand burning fangs.
Its golden eyes gleamed with malice. With a single bound it shattered Elira's bindings, stone exploding into dust around its paws. The fox streaked forward in a blur of light, faster than my sight could follow. Sparks rained down in its wake, stinging my face and arms, cutting through flesh like invisible knives.
I swung the scalpel, but the storm swallowed it whole. My fingers twitched, the needles answering, but every flick felt half a breath too late. Lightning coiled up my arms, numbing bone and sinew, burning me alive from the inside.
"Not yet!" I snarled, blood spilling from my lips as I forced my hand forward. The needles darted through the storm, threads of crimson weaving against the bolts. For a heartbeat they vanished in the brilliance, then struck—one, two, three—glancing off the fox's hide. Too shallow. Too weak.
The beast's jaws opened wide, a furnace of golden light swelling in its throat. The world turned white as thunder rolled, ready to erase me.
"Elira!" I roared, my voice breaking.
Her answer came in a quake beneath my feet. The ground split, jagged pillars of earth spearing upward to shield me, buying one precious second. The fox's blast tore through them like parchment, but the light wavered, the force just thin enough for me to slip through the cracks.
My scalp burned, my hands shook, but my eyes locked on the fox's chest. That one soft point. The weak spot. My only chance.
"Beelzebub!" I screamed.
A crimson streak shot from the shadows, wings tearing the smoke. My little hamster slammed into the fox's face, claws and fangs ripping at its muzzle. It shrieked, the storm scattering for an instant.
That was all I needed.
My body vanished into shadow, and I reappeared beneath its throat, needles dancing like a surgeon's knives, scalpel gleaming with my blood.
This time, I would pierce its heart.
The needles bit deep into its hide, like a hot steel sliding through butter, and my scalpel followed, parting fur like paper. Beelzebub latched on, tiny fangs draining the fox's blood, and together we pulled its life out in ragged, greedy gulps. Gold turned to red beneath our hands, blood steaming as it soaked the lightning-streaked coat. The fox went limp, a final tremor running through its body, then nothing but a heap of smoking fur.
One more down. Yet so many remain...
[Warning! You have 10 minutes left to complete your quest.]
Crimson letters seared into my vision and yanked me back from the sick high of the kill. Time was bleeding away. I had no luxury to laze around. I had to move. I had to slaughter until there was no beast left that could bite at my town.
Beelzebub leapt onto my shoulder, his soft fur brushing against my neck, seeking comfort. He seemed uneasy, eyes glimmering with a strange distress. Did he sense that my time was running out? Would he die with me if I failed? I prayed not. My fingers stroked him in reassurance, and when I rose, blood flicked from my needles in scarlet arcs. That was when I felt a poisonous gaze, cutting into me from the west.
My eyes locked onto hers, and fire seared across my back. The scar where my wings had been severed burned as if the blade had just struck again.
There she stood. A woman clad in armor, golden hair whipping in the wind, sapphire eyes blazing like twin flames. Hatred gleamed in them, sharp enough to cut.
She moved. A single step, and the ground itself seemed to tremble. My breath froze, fear flooding through me like ice water. Not only was the slaughter of beasts on my shoulders, now she had seen me. Hera...
Our clash was no longer something I could escape. The only question was whether I would survive it...