Chapter 475: Escape in Chaos
Chapter 475: Escape in Chaos
(Sayuri’s Perspective)
In an instant, the wolf demihuman before me disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a trail of smoke. My eyes widened in surprise at his impossible speed, but it was too late.
“Ngh-!” I was struck by a surprise kick to my back, powerful enough to send me tumbling to the floor.
However, despite my small body, I was a member of the Council of Arcanity—the representative for the Demihumans. I will not allow another to defeat me so easily like this…!
“Tch-!” I evaded his follow-up attack with a roll and sprung to my feet once more, causing the wolf demihuman to smirk before instantly vanishing again.
But this time, I was prepared.
Tiger Instinct!
My burning orange eyes lit up like fire, and my senses heightened exponentially.
… There!
Suddenly, I turned around, just in time to see the wolf demihuman attempt to kick me again. His pupiless eyes widened slightly as if impressed, but his expression quickly twisted into a smug sneer as I punched forward with brute force.
“Hyah!”
My punch met nothing but thin air.
“Wha- impossib- ngh!”
I felt claws tighten around my hair, and the next moment, my face was planted in the ground. The wolf demihuman stood above my body with his foot on my back, smirking victoriously.
“Is that all you’ve got, little tiger?” He sneered mockingly, baring his white fangs and licking the blades that protruded from his forearms and curved backwards.
“How did you…” I opened my mouth to ask, but then decided against it. What good would asking my enemy about his tricks do?
Very well… this guy is unlike any opponent I’ve faced thus far. If I have to call upon the powers of my ancestors… then so be it.
“Come… Battle Soul!” I yelled as loud as I could, and summoned the fiery spirit within me.
“ROARRR!”
The bellow of a tiger echoed throughout the battlefield, and the wolf demihuman was forced to step away from me. The spiritual materialization of a tiger’s burning head formed above my body, and slowly, I rose to my feet, all wounds healed. My eyes shone with the same fire my Battle Soul did, and I spread my arms.
“… You are better than most. But I am the strongest Demihuman in existence… and you will do well to remember that.”
“Tch…” He snorted as if this was an annoyance. “Battle Souls, huh… I don’t like it, but looks like I have no choice but to use that.“
I didn’t know what he was talking about, and quite frankly, I didn’t care. He had forced me to do this, so there was no turning back now.
“Legendary Fire Magic — Solar Nova!”
My Battle Soul roared and opened its jaws wide, forming a fireball in its gaping mouth. It grew bigger and bigger, slowly increasing in power, until at last, it was the size of a meteor.
And now…
“Take… this!”
“ROARR!”
I commanded my Battle Soul to launch the fully-charged Solar Nova at the wolf demihuman, and it unleashed a roar in response as it obeyed my order. Although the wolfman was taller than the average demihuman, the massive bomb of fire in the air dwarfed him.
He’s still not making a move to run… guess he’s accepting defeat. I smirked. After all, there was no place he could run. His end was upon him.
But then, contrary to all expectations, the wolfman… smiled.
“… Heh.”
Slowly, he raised his arm up and pointed his open palm towards my Solar Nova, as if that was going to stop it. And then, out his mouth came two words:
“Good bye.”
ZEW…
The sound of a laser accompanied the concentrated beam of thin white light that shot out of the wolf demihuman’s hand. Compared to my Solar Nova, it was pitiful how weak his attempt at defense was. Surely, that skinny ray of white light couldn’t do anything to my-
“What…”
My eyes widened and my body froze as I witnessed a truly horrifying yet beautiful sight occur in front of me.
My Solar Nova stopped moving as the wolf demihuman’s white ray of light came into contact with it, as if frozen in time. Then, the radiance slowly engulfed the Solar Nova whole, like a layer of skin that blocked off the fiery orange of the bomb and turned it into a harmless glowing white ball instead.
And finally… it disappeared.
My enormous Solar Nova, an attack that could wipe out entire villages, was gone. Reduced to atoms without even an explosion. It simply wasn’t there anymore, and had been nullified by whatever it was the wolfman had used.
And not only that…
“Heheheh!” He took advantage of my momentary surprise to shoot another beam of that same white light at me, and it hit my Battle Soul square in the forehead.
“Ngh…! What…?!” I felt a sudden pain in my forehead to correspond, and I fell to my knees.
How is this possible…?! Anything that is not a Battle Soul cannot hurt or interact with another Battle Soul! Just what is that white light…?!
“AHHH!” I screamed in pain as my Tiger Battle Soul disintegrated into nothingness, having been taken down by that mysterious white light. As the Battle Soul’s wielder, I suffered similar backlash, and collapsed to the floor, barely alive.
“… Hmph,” the wolf demihuman gave a short snort as he walked over to me, and the white light that surrounded his body was now gone. The blades that protruded from his forearms had returned to just being normal flesh as well, and his grey pupils were back too.
“I really didn’t want to have to rely on that power, but… you brought it upon yourself for bringing a Battle Soul into the fight,” he spat with a nasty sneer, stepping on my back like he had done just a minute earlier. “We Demihumans fight with our fists and bodies, not some bullshit like magic. ‘Strongest Demihuman’ my ass… you’re nothing but a weakling. And weaklings… don’t deserve to live.”
Lifting his foot up into the air, he stomped down hard on my back.
“Ugh…!” I cried out in pain, but he did not stop and instead did it again. And again. And again.
Until my consciousness was just about to fade away, and my lifeforce was dwindling. The cruel wolf demihuman continued stomping the life out of me, and finally…
My eyelids grew heavy, and I couldn’t even cry in pain any longer…
It was… over?
“That’s enough!” A man’s voice suddenly roared, and my eyes snapped back open to see an old man in a butler suit rushing over, taking on a fighting stance in front of the wolf demihuman, who raised an eyebrow at him and finally left me be.
“Oh…? An old geezer?”
*****
(Xuan Kai’s Perspective)
“That’s…” My eyes widened as I saw the newcomer who had just joined the battle. He was a familiar old butler—one I had met just recently, so the memory was still fresh in my mind.
“…” Beside me, Zhao Xiuying was staring at the man as well, and her body was trembling a bit though she didn’t speak. That was not a surprise—this man was none other than the butler of the Zhao Family, who had played a major role in Xiuying’s upbringing.
After some careful consideration, I opened up a Warp Gate beneath our feet, and turned to the girls.
“You guys, leave. This will take you to the private beach. If they spot us, it’s over—we’re not strong enough to take them on.”
“But… what about you?” Feng Mian asked in worry, and I turned to Xiuying.
“Don’t worry about me. I still have some business to take of here.”
Namely… figuring out what that white light was. If this is the calamity Sylvoir spoke of, then I need to find out their weaknesses as soon as possible. The earlier, the better.
The girls knew better to pry, so they merely nodded and stepped into the magic circle.
“Stay safe, Xuan Kai,” Feng Mian said, and I sent them away without any hesitation. Xiuying, however, had purposely moved out of the magic circle, and so she wasn’t teleported. I narrowed my eyes.
“Xiuying, you have to-“
“Legendary Sky Magic — Fang of Zeus!”
The old butler yelled, slamming the ground with his gloved hand and calling upon the heavens. Clouds formed above the wolf demihuman, who let out a low growl of anger.
“Ugh… this again…? You’re making me real pissed, you know?!”
With a howl, the same white light from earlier wrapped around his body, and he pointed his finger upwards into the air.
“Die!” The butler roared in fury, but the demihuman wolf merely smirked.
“… You’re too naive, old geezer. Far too naive.”
A skinny white ray of light shot out of his fingertip and hit the enormous lightning bolt that had been about to strike him head-on, and a bright, blinding flash ensued.
The Fang of Zeus… had been nullified, just like the Solar Nova from before.
“Wha-!” The butler’s eyes widened in shock, but it was too late. The wolf demihuman leaped forward and kicked him straight in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the metal gates of the Zhao residency.
“Agh-!”
Being old, he was easily killed from an impact like that.
“Butle-” Zhao Xiuying tried moving out of the bushes, but I pulled her back.
“Idiot, he’ll hear!”
But a wolf’s ears were not to be underestimated. Slowly, he turned in our direction, laughed darkly.
“A buncha scrawny kids, eavesdropping, is it? Well… looks like you need a lil’ discipline…”