Even though the aim of the Silverstar Pack during this duel was to stall for time, the rumble earlier against the horde of Werewolf—took a considerable amount of time. All of them had expected that to happen, but the fact that it really happened made Adhara confident.
It made certain of one thing—the Dancing Stripe Pack was oblivious.
None of them knew what their real aim was.
Riona and her packmates thought they were in the lead, unaware of their grave mistake.
Unaware of what the Silverstar Pack's true aim was at this moment.
'So this is what Rex felt after successful planning... It's stressful to plan but there was an odd reward of satisfaction, other than the obvious,' Adhara thought inwardly. She felt a satisfying sensation permeating her chest, making her excited.
Grinning inwardly, Adhara's severed arm began to regrow as she spread her arms to the side.
Even though the intention was a one-on-one battle, that was not necessary.
Due to the clash against the horde of Werewolves, Adhara decided that it would be better for the duel to continue as a pack, as the supposed time was near. In addition to that—she could sense the others, especially Kyran were becoming impatient.
He was itching to have a go already."Remember, stay in your Human form no matter how bad it gets. I'm talking to you, Kyran"
"It's not the time to go all out yet, but now is not the time"
Adhara reminded the others through telepathy.
Upon hearing this, Kyran clicked his tongue in displeasure, "You don't need to single me out"
Stomping a step forward, he bared his fangs and unleashed a battle cry.
Roar!!
Kyran's aura surged with an explosive force, as much force as the fire inside of him, a simple shockwave of raw power that sent tremors through the air. His eyes glowed with azure light, and a second set of ethereal eyes appeared beneath his own, a testament to his bloodline.
A glimpse of his true power, the Glacial Umbral Werewolf.
It was a lineage unknown to the ancient past, exclusive only in this new era.
Even the Dancing Stripe Pack was stunned at the sight of this rare and powerful bloodline.
Meanwhile, Flunra stood motionless, his arms crossed in front of him.
His prying eyes surveyed the enemy with cold, calculating eyes as unlike Kyran, his behavior was devoid of the youthful thirst for battle. His aura was sharp and dangerous, a well-honed blade waiting to strike even without exhibiting blatant aggression.
As the most experienced and oldest, he forced his enemies to not underestimate him.
Lastly, at the corner, Gistella prepared herself, too.
She lowered her stance as a response to the tension in the air thickening with each second.
Swoosh!
Just then, a surge of energy rejuvenated their bodies, increasing their strength as they were about to fight, as a single pack. It was Rex's Master Hunter Pack skill at work—unifying them into a formidable force.
Across the field, the Dancing Stripe Pack mirrored their readiness.
Muscles flexed, eyes narrowed—they responded with fierce roars as they prepared to clash.
Noticing that all of them were excited, Adhara gestured ahead.
At that exact moment, Kyran roared again before he sprinted ahead, the first one to strike as he scanned his eyes to pick his enemy. With every forceful step Kyran took—he sent a ripple of his moonlight energy into the ground, propelling him even greater speed.
Swoosh!
Similarly, a Werewolf with the same temper as Kyran charged head-on.
Galloping on all four like an animal, the Werewolf, Garm, her eyes alight with a battle-maniac gleam, charged at Kyran, with the same ferocity. In an instant, they collided in a brutal clash of strength and speed.
Kyran lashed out with his claws, aiming for Garm's face.
But Garm managed to dodge, twisting her body with a swift rotation, and slipped to the side.
She then retaliated with a swipe, but Kyran blocked it, reaching for her tail.
His attempt misses by a hair's length, leaving him in a vulnerable position to be attacked.
Not going to let Kyran get away with this, Garm aimed to shred his back with her claws, but as her strike was about to land, a shimmering pale blue barrier, materialized. Her claws only managed to scratch the surface before they passed each other, the moment lost.
Ready to assist, Gistella protected Kyran with her power from the back.
Ignoring Kyran, Garm continued her momentum, her focus shifted to Flunra on the back.
Seemed like Kyran was not her aim from the start, it was Flunra.
"Remember me, Arnulf?!" Garm roared while she galloped, glaring at Flunra with crazy eyes.
Upon hearing this, Flunra frowned as it seemed Garm knew him but as she got closer to him, an eye-catching scar spiraling around her arm came to view—and that mark made him recall who this Werewolf was, "Garm, are you sure you want to fight me? This will be your eleventh time, and I'd feel bad, if your losing streak stretched.
I settled with scarring your arm but this time, you might lose your entire arm"
Now that Flunra remembered her, Garm became more frenzied.
"I'll make sure you'll not see the end of this full moon, Arnulf!!" She roared and tackled Flunra.
On the other hand, Kyran, sensing the shift in her target, quickly assessed the situation.
Realizing Garm was no longer his opponent, he turned his attention to the other members of the Dancing Stripe Pack. Channeling his bloodline prowess, he summoned an ice spike, from the ground—propelling and creating a road for him skyward.
Kyran sprinted on the ice spike's surface, curving and heading to the opposing pack.
His gaze locked on a new target as he prepared to clash once again.
Kyran set his sights on the Werewolf with unnervingly long claws standing at the center, the one called Cassia. She hadn't even glanced his way, an indifference, that marked her quite a formidable opponent if she was that confident.
Shadowed by the Honey Moon behind him, Kyran propelled himself from the ice spike.
He came straight down like a comet, his azure claws glowing fiercely.
Each muscle within his right arm was bulging as he intended to make a savage downswing.
But before he could strike, another Werewolf intercepted him, blocking his path.
Kyran's attack landed with a thunderous crash—his azure moonlight energy exploded along with dust and debris, covering a portion of the battlefield. In the next heartbeat, however, a shadow rocketed out of the dust cloud, hurling through the air like a bullet.
It crashed violently into the edge of the duel grounds, tearing the landscape apart on impact.
As the dust settled, the identity of the shadow became clear.
It was Kyran who had been thrown away.
Even though his keen senses and attention were attuned to this moment—he didn't know what happened, during the exchange earlier. He only realized, that he got propelled away when he crashed onto the edge.
Falling to the ground, he lifted his gaze to find a Werewolf with an icy demeanor standing tall.
She looked down at him with a condescending gaze.
Her furs swayed gently, as if she was underwater—and her arms crossed with an air of high confidence and pride. Clearly, this individual was on her high-horse, "Don't bother attacking Cassia, your opponent is me. I do not particularly like to beat someone featless like you, but this night is an exception. Be honored to be able to fight and die by me, Fiona"
Upon hearing this, Kyran laughed inwardly but stood up and bowed nevertheless.
"The pleasure is mine, Fiona. Please go easy on me," He said.
Not expecting Kyran to be courteous, Fiona scoffed, "At least you know your place"
Oblivious to him, Kyran donned a maniacal smile as he bowed.
'I'm going to take pleasure in tearing down that pride of yours,' He mused deviously.
Meanwhile, Adhara and Riona clashed once again.
Both of their movements were a blur of speed and power.
Riona, capitalizing on her superior speed and agility, lunged forward with a sudden leap, her claws gleaming as they aimed for Adhara. Instead of evading this attack, Adhara clawed the ground with her fiery claws and stomped the ground—sending up a massive chunk of earth as a makeshift shield.
'I can't stay on the defense, I need to be the one who attacked' Adhara pondered.
Crash!
Upon impact with Riona's claws, the rock shattered into a cloud of debris.
But in the next instant—her eyes flared in surprise, as Adhara was already there, right before her, launching an attack of her own. Switching from defense to offense, Adhara struck with a fiery swipe, followed by a back-heel kick engulfed in flames.
Riona dodged both with blinding speed, but Adhara didn't let up her offense.
She kicked the ground and reached Riona's throat with her claws.
Not deterred by this attack—Riona caught Adhara's hand with a smirk—prepared to counter, but was caught off guard when a small flame on Adhara's arm came to life. The flame moved as if it were alive, opening its mouth and spitting a fireball directly at Riona's face.
It exploded upon impact, causing her to stumble back a couple of steps.
'She has a Fire Elemental helping her?!' Riona thought in anger.
Though the fireball did little damage to her, the surprise was enough to stagger Riona.
Even her vision was clouded with smoke because of that—a one-second gap to be attacked. Experience new stories on empire
Seizing the moment—Adhara summoned a ring of fire beneath Riona's feet, detonating the ground alongside her in a vortex of flames. Even then, her ears perked, as she managed to narrowly escape the explosion by leaping into the air.
Her reflex was extremely sharp, and her body was completely attuned to her senses.
Despite not being able to see the attack, she trusted her instinct and moved.
But Adahra was already anticipating this, appearing right behind her, with a fierce battle cry as she slashed downward with fiery claws—using all her strength into one strike that surely would land.
Adhara was even more confident seeing that Riona was surprised by this move.
Being airborne and not expecting Adhara to strike like this, she was in a bad spot.
Even with her insane reflex, she wouldn't be able to dodge this.
However—Adhara's eyes widened in shock as her claws swiped through empty air—realizing that her relentless assault, had met its match in Riona's powers. Her body suddenly hummed, with kingly energy, and in an impossible twist, Riona contorted out of the way at the very last second.
She dodged the blow that should've been impossible to dodge.
Gritting her teeth, Adhara followed Riona's movement, 'That's not normal, she used a skill'
"I got you now..." Riona muttered as she raised her hand skywards.
A hand of a Werewolf made entirely of her kingly energy, enhanced by the Honey Moon was manifested above her, emanating huge suppression to the surroundings. Not wasting even a single second, she swung down, controlling the hand to descend on Adhara.
Swoosh!
Under her versatile power, she was able to change a bad position to a good one.
Now, Adhara wouldn't be able to dodge this.
"Since you're still stubborn enough to hold back, don't blame me if you die!" Riona laughed.
Her eyes watched delightfully, as Adhara was pressed by the energy, unable to go anywhere and was forced to take this hit head-on. She took pleasure in Adhara's helpless expression—as she had no answer to this situation.
Crash!!
Riona laughed aloud as she descended to the ground, expecting Adhara to be wounded.
'She's not going to hold back now...' She pondered with a smirk.
As the aftermath of the attack settled, four massive claw marks marred the ground, a sheer testament to the ferocity of Riona's attack. However—a frown soon haunted Riona's face as she saw no sign of Adhara.
She was quite certain her strike hand connected, but Adhara's absence showed otherwise.
Before she could search for her opponent, a sudden presence from above, sent a jolt through her senses. Too late, Riona felt the searing pain—her left arm severed by a burning slash that forced a hiss out of her mouth.
Crouching right in front of her was Adhara, holding Riona's severed arm clutched in her hand.
"Did you really think you'd get me?" She mused, raising her gaze and shot a smirk at Riona. "I expected more from you but this... this is quite a disappointment no? You said it yourself—I'm still holding back"
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