Traversing through the thick foliage of the forest, over fallen-down trees, and past a cave entrance, they reach the edge of the forest. The group Isabella is with should be here, but there is no sign of anybody nearby...
"Something's off... They should be here; I'm not sure where they could've gone." Isabella freezes mid-sentence from feeling the malicious aura that has begun leaking from off the cliff above the two.
Despite his earlier bravado fighting the tusked beast, this malicious aura was on a whole different level, being enough to stun even the likes of Julian...
Goosebumps travelled up Julian's neck; his body feels extremely cold after directly feeling such a malicious aura. He managed to snap himself out of his fear, leaping backwards out of the aura.
"Isabella, snap out of it; we need to get out of here! Who knows what that is coming from!" He screamed towards Isabella, who was in a worse state than him from feeling that horrible aura.
As Isabella snapped back to her normal self and was running out of the aura, Julian analyzed it and recognized that it flowed like liquid. He came to the conclusion this was the same type of mysterious force that the unicorn he previously met had utilized.
They bolted from the bottom of the cliff, hearts pounding, refusing to learn what kind of monster could emit such an aura.
Without warning, the presence vanished—then erupted outward a heartbeat later, engulfing them as an overwhelming pressure crashed down on their bodies.
Dark tendrils of mana erupted from the cliff's peak, moving faster than a bullet as they wrapped around Isabella and tore her from the ground, dragging her up the cliffside.
Julian reacted in the same heartbeat the attack began. With no time to hesitate, he charged toward the cliff, to hell with fear. He only had one thought on his mind: 'Don't let Isabella die!'
Pouring every ounce of strength into his legs, he tensed his muscles and launched himself into the air, landing hard atop the cliff's peak.
With every step deeper into the aura, it grew thicker, heavier, pressing against him until simply moving forward became a struggle. A nauseating stench of rot seeped from the aura itself, clinging to the air as he forced his exhausted legs onward.
And there he saw it. A man with long, spiked ears stood at the heart of the aura, a grotesque parasite fused to his face. From the creature's chest bulged a single, massive eye, unblinking and watching.
Isabella stood with her back to Julian.
Slowly, she turned.
An identical parasite clung to her face, its grotesque eye already fixed on him.
There was no warning—no hesitation. Isabella lunged at him, her movements violent and unrestrained, swinging at him like a beast unleashed.
Julian reacted on instinct, raising all four arms to block her barrage of attacks, refusing to strike back despite the danger to himself.
"Isabella, stop!" He shouted, panic cracking his voice. "It's me—Julian!"
As his eyes shifted between the spikey-eared man's eye and the one stuck to Isabella, he realized one thing. The eye was controlling them both, directing their movements and their aggression.
If there was any way to stop this, it would be by removing the parasite without harming its hosts.
The same type of tendril that once grabbed Isabella shoots out of the spiked-eared man's right hand. Instinctively, the mana within Julian awakens to save himself from this attack, the aura of his mana wrapping around his arms, which significantly reduces the blow of the attack.
Julian launched himself forward, closing the distance in a single explosive leap. He met the infected man head-on, fully committing to close-quarters combat.
Their bodies collided, and a rapid exchange of blows followed; fists, elbows, and knees moving in a relentless blur. Each strike from the man carried immense force, bolstered by the parasite's control, but Julian met it blow for blow, his movements sharpened and reinforced by his newly awakened mana.
Power surged through his limbs with every motion, his reactions faster, his strength far beyond what his body should have been capable of moments ago. Stone cracked beneath their feet as Julian continued the assault, adapting on instinct, learning with every clash as he fought to overwhelm the parasite's control without destroying the man it had claimed.
The parasite manages to land a full-powered jab at Julian's stomach, causing lots of blood to pour out. Instinctively, Julian clenches his stomach to stop the bleeding while also trapping the parasite's right arm in his body...