Chapter 34: Blood On The Snow[7]
"Don’t overwork yourself, Rain..."
"You’re a tsundere, my dear..."
"Please don’t go...."
Maria’s voice resounded in Rain’s ears as he stood on the snowy field. The snow below him was now painted in red, cut off flesh lay all around him as his armor broke from different places.
Blood slowly dripped down his whole body, yet he didn’t fall, didn’t succumb to the numbing pain in his body.
He couldn’t afford dying right now, and so he laughed like a madman. The Tigers looked at him in shock, while many of them ran away when they faced powerful opponents.
Rain didn’t run away, he charged alone and fought. Even if he was on the verge of breaking down, he didn’t stop.
He shook his body and the broken armor which clung his body fell down. But before he could take a step forward a wall of fire erupted from the ground in front of the Tigers making them back away.
And then a blinding lighting crashed into the ranks of the Tigers near Becca. When the dust settled Xior stood on the ground, Becca in his arms.
"Are you alright, Becca?" He asked, his voice was low as he gulped.
Becca nodded to answer his question as he started walking towards Rain. The Tigers didn’t dare move, his passive skill made it so these small fries would freeze in fear when he was near them.
"What you did was reckless...don’t ever put yourself in danger..." He said as he put her down on the ground.
"Take this old fart back, I will deal with them." As soon as he said this, multiple black chains erupted from the ground and grabbed the Tigers.
They roared loudly but all of the ones which had been restricted by the chains stopped moving. Their eyes changed, they became completely black as if to imitate Xior.
He turned and walked towards the area where the remaining forces were fighting. In the distance he saw Tharnak and the Tiger chief in a headlock, while Alice along with the Rabbits were cleanly killing the Tigers.
*****
Tharnak’s blade struck the Tiger chiefs blade, both exchanged multiple attacks but both dodged or blocked each others attacks.
It was a stalemate between the chief’s of both tribes. Around them Tigers and Wolves fought, each side was experiencing loss in their personnel.
Alice blocked the greatswords of two wolves and swiftly stabbed them with her spear, despite being only half as compared to the Tigers, she was fighting fiercely and winning.
A couple more rushed towards her as she was busy fighting two more in front of her, suddenly from the opposite side a wave of Tigers crashed into the ones which had jumped to attack Alice.
The diminishing numbers of Wolves stared in awe at the spectacle in front of them, Tigers were fighting Tigers, the ones which attack first had eyes just like Xior.
Everyone understood what had happened, they charged forward to help them and finish the Tigers. The Tiger Chief groaned as Tharnak slashed his thigh.
He staggered and pressed hard on the ground but Tharnak didn’t let him recover, he kicked the Tiger Chief’s chin and he fell on his back with a heavy thud.
Tharnak moved and his figure loomed over the Tiger Chief, he raised his sword high up but before he could swung it down and cut the Tiger Chief, the Tiger Chief grabbed the sand and snow mixture and threw it at Tharnak’s face blinding him for a second.
Tharnak jumped back as he rubbed his eyes but the Tiger Chief had already recovered, he ran at Tharnak, his greatsword in hand as he swung to decapitate Tharnak.
*****
Becca and Alice saw as the Tiger Chief’s greatsword moved in the direction of Tharnak’s neck. He was still rubbing his eyes and couldn’t see.
Alice ran towards him to try and block the strike but she was too far, the greatsword neared and made a CLANG sound when it was met with something other than Tharnak’s neck.
Xior stood in front of Tharnak, a sword in his hand with which he blocked the fatal swing. The Tiger roared and attacked again.
Xior dodged and threw away the sword, he ran at him and grabbed his waist. With his full strength he lifted him up and slammed him on the ground making his let go of his greatsword.
Xior got on top of him and started punching him, the Tiger Chief clawed his whole body, ripped apart his flesh with his claws but could not make Xior stop.
Punch after punch made the Tiger’s face bleed all over, but then he stopped. He looked at what he had done, blood was splattered all around him, his fists were covered in blood.
He took a deep breath, smoke came out of his mouth and he opened it once again, a small jet of fire came out of his mouth and burned his chest.
A sizzling sound came as his wounds got cauterized first then started to melt. The fight around them had stopped.
Everyone watched as how Xior mercilessly burned the Tiger Chief.
"I-I surrender...please...."
"I-I won-n’t har-rm anyone...."
"I-I will l-leave the w-wolves alone..."
The Tiger Chief screamed in pain but Xior didn’t stop. He kidnapped Fenra, then Becca, due to him Kayla almost died.
He would let go if he was the one to suffer, but unfortunately he was not. It was his childhood friend, whom he treats like family.
The wife of an honorable warrior and finally their daughter, a fierce and hot-headed woman but with traits similar to Becca.
He would take revenge for them, so he continued. After a few minutes he stopped, the Tiger Chief had lost conscious as Xior got up and patted his clothes to remove any dust.
The Tigers around him were all kneeling as the Wolf and Rabbit soldiers tied their arms.
This was a defeat they didn’t expect. Their pride was shattered into a million pieces, it would be hard to get back.
It was finally over, the conflict between the Tigers and the Wolves, which could’ve been solved it only the Tigers had agreed to stop tormenting the Wolves and send the captive wolves back.
But not only did they not agree to the suggestion of a mediator, they even tried attacking the Rabbit Tribe, followed by a series of events which caused this war to happen.
In the distance, two men stood and watched the battle. Both had robes on top covering their heads and their face was hidden due to it being night.
"These kittens were useless, father will not like this. But perhaps this brings us closer to make the Child of The End kneel before the Nameless."
One of the men said this and turned and started walking. The other one seemed to agree with him with his silence and also trailed behind him.
In the distance a estate could be seen on top of a small cliff, a dragon head was carved on the side of the hill as multiple Dragon Tribe members flew out of the city for their missions.
It was time for them to get serious, the man walking in the front grinned as he remembered all his plans to make the Tribes suffer.