The Primal Hunter

“No, you are not,” Miranda said in an even harsher tone as she stepped in front of Jake, blocking the door.

“Yes, I fucking am,” Jake said, clenched his fists. “We have no idea what’s truly going on over there, and I’ll-“

“That’s exactly why you’re not going,” Miranda interrupted Jake, looking him straight in the eyes. “Take just one moment to actually think for once. We have no information. All we know is that there is some kind of plot that trapped the two of them on the planet, and now, apparently, this “I” creature is there… an entity we know is incredibly dangerous due to your own testimony. And you want to just head there like a headless chicken?”

Jake wanted to defend himself, but Vesperia quickly also spoke up. “I concur with the verdant witch. This is obviously a trap, and that is clear to all. Moreover, it’s difficult to believe it’s coincidental this happened while you are still injured.”

“What she said,” Miranda jumped in again. “Even if we assume they didn’t know you were injured, that just makes it all worse. They are clearly aware we can teleport to other planets, which can only mean they expected some kind of support to arrive. If you show up injured while they expect you at all power… do I need to say more?”

William, who really wasn’t part of the conversation, stood uncomfortably in the corner, though from the look on his face, he clearly also thought heading to help the Fallen King and Sylphie would be questionable.

Still…

“I don’t need to go alone,” Jake insisted. “Even if the Sword Saint isn’t here to help… if Arnold, Vesperia, Eron, and Sandy all come with me, I’m sure that we could handle anything they have to throw at us.”

“In the current moment of time, we are sure of nothing,” Vesperia sighed. “I also wish to go and assist them, but the risk is simply too high. If they are in a situation where the two of them can’t escape, all of us going there will do is put more lives at risk… more accurately, the lives of those among us who are not skilled at escape. I simply cannot take such a risk as a True Royal and the last of my line… nor can I in good conscious agree you go as my Sire.”

“To add… I don’t think you can convince Arnold to go even if you tried… but we could look into Sandy going alone, as they should be able to get away, though everything is always risky when it comes to the concept of desolation,” Miranda said, deep in thought.

Jake really didn’t like the thought of just sending someone and not going with them. Especially when they were dealing with something like desolation. No matter what, though… they needed to act fast if they wanted to offer any kind of assistance whatsoever.

“Alright,” Jake said, looking serious. “Here’s the plan. I go together with Sandy and Eron inside of Sandy’s stomach to not expose myself. Our goal is only extraction, not fighting, and if things get too dangerous, I know Sandy has a way to survive… but I doubt even a peak C-grade would be able to stop Sandy if Sandy really wanted to run. If all else fails, I still have one more hidden card to play.”

Miranda and Vesperia didn’t look happy with what Jake said, but he wasn’t the kind of person who could just sit still and do nothing while Sylphie and the Fallen King were under attack.

Seeing how determined Jake looked, the two women relented, and Miranda sent a few quick messages, with Vesperia sighing. “Come back safe and be careful, alright? Your life takes priority over everyone else’s, so if it truly comes to it, you must-“

“Stop,” Jake said, raising a hand. “I’m not gonna abandon any of my friends or family as long as I’m still breathing. No arguments. And right now, I’m pretty damn sure I’m still drawing breath.”

Vesperia looked like she wanted to comment but ended up just nodding. Miranda seemed done sending messages and looked at Jake. “Head to the teleporter now. Sandy and Arnold will be waiting there, and I also got a message Eron agreed to help and is heading there, as he also wants to observe this creature of desolation more closely. And, no matter what you say, do be careful. The Fallen King and Sylphie are both powerful in their own rights, and we’re not even sure they need anything more than a lift back to Earth.”

“Let’s hope that’s the case,” Jake said, heading out the door with Miranda having moved out of the way. William looked hesitant for a moment before coming along with Jake, speaking on the way.

“I should be able to increase the accuracy of the teleportation slightly,” he said in a careful tone, keeping up with Jake, who entered stealth while running, the karma mage doing the same thing as he switched to telepathy. “I tried hard to figure out who is behind this, and I did feel a connection to Ell’Hakan from the one we captured, not nothing definitive. The connection felt odd, warped, a bit akin to the other Chosen’s own planet… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think Ell’Hakan is directly involved with this entire thing. Some karmic remnants of his influence do still linger, though. That’s all I can really tell at this moment.”

Jake looked at the karmic mage for a moment and considered what he said. He also considered that William offered to help with the teleportation, but no matter how much William kept trying to prove himself, Jake still couldn’t bring himself to fully trust the guy. So having him potentially affect the teleportation…

“How about you come along with Sandy and me to check out this creature yourself? Then maybe you can get a better understanding of any links to Ell’Hakan or other enemies it might have,” Jake offered, in part to keep an eye on the guy and in part because he really wanted to know if Ell’Hakan was actually involved. The guy hadn’t made any outright hostile moves in a while, and with the Fangs of Man theater Jake pulled off, this timing was very odd if Ell’Hakan was the schemer who’d planned it.

“If you’re fine with that, I will… I did consider asking, but I assumed you would reject,” William said, his answer not sounding like a guy who had planned to do anything shady.

The two of them kept sprinting to the teleporter, as Jake could only hope this entire rush was entirely in vain and that Sylphie and the Fallen King already had the situation fully handled and were just happy to get a ride home… though his intuition wasn’t very comforting.

The Fallen King had battled many creatures during his life, especially while inside Nevermore. Quite a few unique ones, too, including, of course, two Unique Lifeforms in Minaga and the Ashen Devourier. Unique Lifeforms were known as very powerful but limited creatures… but this Desolate Child of Loss was by far the most limited the King had ever seen. At least, he believed it was, based on how it fought so far.

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Despite the progression of the fight and the constant damage the creature took from the continuous attacks of the King and Sylphie, it had yet to use a single skill. At least there were no apparent usages of skills. Its fighting style was just to take hits head-on without reacting while shooting out waves of desolation from its limbs and body while sometimes haphazardly lashing out.

However, more frustrating than anything was one simple fact he and Sylphie reached after they had been fighting for around seven or eight minutes:

They were losing despite how everything looked.

Swinging his golden hammers, the Desolate Child of Loss was struck from below and sent flying into the air as a crescent wave of wind left a cut on the shoulder of the creature, sending it spinning. Yet it quickly stabilized and waved its hand to release a cloud of desolation toward them, forcing them to retreat.

They couldn’t back off for too long, though, as the King attacked again, shooting beams of golden force while Sylphie continued with her cutting wind. Both of them were heavily limited in what attacks they could use, Sylphie more so than the Fallen King, as she couldn’t do her usual drive-by and charging attacks. In a brief moment of testing, she also confirmed that entering her wind form was borderline akin to assisted suicide as it would kill her in minutes within the domain of desolation constantly released by the Desolate Child of Loss.

Attacks such as big whirlwinds were also out of the question, and Sylphie’s Authority was entirely useless as there was no wind for her to command. The Fallen King’s usual blasts of force were also nearly entirely useless, and many of his soul attacks just didn’t reach the creature but were made desolate before taking effect. The desolation was affecting everything. The environment, Sylphie and the Fallen King, their magic and concepts, and most certainly the Desolate Child of Loss itself. Nothing was left untouched.

And, truly, that was the crux of why, despite the Desolate Child of Loss being constantly on the back foot and not having landed a single blow aside from the one touch on the King and Sylphie’s wing, the two of them were still losing.

It was a slow loss. Subtle. Insidious. The desolation wormed its way in to affect the two of them, even without them noticing. Healing desolation also took far more energy than other wounds. Being injured with the concept of desolation did not cause permanent or even semi-permanent damage immediately, but the mere fact it had the possibility of turning permanent was what made it so dangerous.

If a wound infected with the concept of desolation was left long enough, it would also make the Soulshape desolate until it passed a certain threshold of no return, at which point the damage would be semi-permanent, only fixable by evolution or someone extremely powerful interfering. Someone capable of fully eliminating the concept of desolation and reshaping the soul of the injured.

All of this is to say that he and Sylphie had to spend exorbitant amounts of energy to keep the desolation at bay while also attacking a foe that was barely affected by their attacks from the looks of it. Again, the King could see they did damage, and it was reasonable to conclude the Desolate Child of Loss would die at some point if they just kept attacking… but he had no way to determine when that would be, and it was a gamble they were unwilling to take the creature would drop dead before them.

Alternatives were already being discussed, and soon, it appeared a good plan was found.

The Fallen King received a telepathic message from Sylphie, informing him that help was on the way in the form of Jake, the healer from the Dao Sect, and the cosmic worm. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the King and Sylphie had already discussed running, but both had been reluctant due to their innately prideful natures. They both wanted to see if they could win and only run if it became absolutely certain they couldn’t… at least not without doing something very extreme with long-lasting consequences.

“How long till they get here? In rough estimates?” the Fallen King asked.

“Ree,” she sent back, naturally not knowing… all that was clear was that they wouldn’t make it in time if this status quo kept going. They would definitely take over an hour as they would appear outside the atmosphere, and even with Sandy’s speed, it took time to arrive on the surface.

“We will need to make a tactical retreat and meet them closer to the edge of the atmosphere,” the Fallen King said, the bird in quick agreement as she unleashed a dozen air bullets, making the Desolate Child of Loss stumble with a few more small holes in its body.

Now the question just was… were they running only to escape or to turn the situation around once assistance arrived? Jake was weakened, yes, but even in his weakened state he should still be powerful. Dependent on how much the two of them were losing, there was a good chance they could win with not only Jake to help with powerful ranged attacks but also Eron, an extremely powerful healer who could alleviate many of their endurance-related challenges.

Sylphie clearly also had these considerations and asked the Fallen King what he wanted to do, and after a moment of consideration, he reached a conclusion.

“Let us see exactly how durable this creature is… if nothing else, it should buy us time to retreat,” the Fallen King said. Sylphie didn’t take long to agree. If they dragged things out longer, it would become too risky to try anything as they wouldn’t have enough resources available if they had to retreat afterward, so now was the best time to strike.

Down on the ground, where the Fallen King and Sylphie had just launched the Desolate Child of Loss, the creature rose and began floating upwards once more, remaining entirely unbothered by the accumulating damage on its body.

If the creature truly didn’t wish to try and dodge… he and the Sylphian Hawk would show the limits of their offensive might.

The Fallen King gathered his power as the golden veins all over his body began to light up, overpowering the monochrome world. Holding out his hands to both sides, the claws turned from ivory into pure gold as he infused them with more and more power. Soul-destroying light revolved around them as the King prepared to move, just as Sylphie struck first.

Unleashing her energy and will, the Fallen King felt the wind whisk past him despite the desolation. It came from all directions as Sylphie was pulling in the wind affinity energy from outside the sphere of influence of the Desolate Child of Loss. The creature that was floating upwards just stared at her as the otherwise unseen wind began to turn green, and the attack was unleashed.

A torrent of wind, even surpassing what had slain the Twinhead Emperor, barrelled down, and despite being weakened by the desolation, it struck hard. The creature once more didn’t react as it was struck, the initial blast tearing off some of its skin and leaving small cuts all over its body as it was blasted downwards.

Soil and stone were thrown everywhere as the torrent kept going, and the King made his move. It seemed foolish, but the bird told him he could, so the Fallen King dove straight into the windstorm, only to have it all whisk harmlessly by him as the Unique Lifeform could only admire the bird’s control over her Authority.

Not that he wished to see himself outdone.

The skin and flesh were getting torn off the Desolate Child of Loss as it was unable to move while getting blasted into the ground, allowing the Fallen King to hold nothing back.

Smashing his first Golden Claw down, the soul-destroying light temporarily bathed the world golden before it faded to colorless once more. A second strike arrived a moment after, and another flash of gold lit up the area, followed by a third a moment later.

The Fallen King kept striking down, each strike tearing apart not only the body of the Desolate Child of Loss but its very soul. Fragments of bone began being torn off, as the Fallen King’s ivory claws also began to deteriorate; his body bathed in desolation as he kept striking, every hit a Golden Claw that could usually instantly kill even monsters higher level than himself.

Soon, the wind slowed down, and the Fallen King also had to retreat before the desolation could affect him too much. So much of it had been released as they kept attacking, which was only more evidence they had done significant damage.

Attending to himself, the Fallen King saw the Desolate Child of Loss lay unmoving, its body broken in several places, with many of its bones torn off and missing, with one of its arms and a leg even lying a bit away.

As a final farewell, Sylphie gathered the rest of her wind and unleashed it as a cutting crescent wind blade that hit the unresponsive creature right in the neck, severing its head, with the following explosion sending the two body parts flying in separate directions.

The Fallen King had retreated a bit away by now and was healing himself before the desolation could take hold, and a tired Sylphie also stared down at their handiwork. For a moment, the Fallen King thought that perhaps they indeed did only need a bit of help getting back to Earth… but there was one big problem.

No kill notification… and the desolation all around them seemed to only intensify in power.

Then, the King saw movement as a headless figure with half its limbs missing rose from the ground, and a voice echoed throughout.

“I… not like fight… but… you… resist… you… enemy?”