Chapter 76 - Seventy-Four (1/2)

I can feel my blood boiling with the perspective of how much pain this puppeteer had inflicted on others, on my friend, of how he uses and abuses other living beings in the same way a contractor does to the magical creature, on how all of this always seemed to resolve in the stronger eating the weak.

It infuriated me.

Instead of the fortunate ones sharing their blessing they eagerly ate the most unfortunate; and that is a cycle I'm going to break, and it may sound follish, childish, I may not reach all, and it may never end even, but every single one I take care of is one less to have his ways with the weaker, and in numbers it may sound meaniless and small but will affect the entire life of that magical creature you save.

And this type of person who destroys everyone around him for his own gain… makes me really angry.

I let a growl escape my lips as my shadow twists and turns under me, but this time two hound forms grow from it, similar to my normal form without a crystal, their red intelligent eyes glinting with malice and the same anger I felt, their rows of sharp teeth appearing in the darkness of my shadow as they growl.

This was one of the things that I learned over the years, with two magic working at once I'm able to make them, almost two completely separated beings, the fruits of mixing my Clone Shadow with Sentient Shadow.

They were very similar to each other, but as one walked on four legs and had the upper part of his face covered by a white skull, the other had a hound furry form, very normal if it wasn't for the fact that he walked on two limbs; these were my clones, Darkjaw and Deadbite, two little rascals that were quite costly MP wise; and sometimes patient wise too.

”Oya oya boss, Ya 's dis you have for us today?” Says Deadbite as Darkjaw growls in approval.

”I have prepared a feast for you guys.”

” 's that so?” He says, earning an eager grow from Darkjaw. ”Then how about we have some fun?!”

He jumps and mounts the other shadow, Darkjaw, a spear of his own appears in his pawed hand as he licks his black lips, his eyes shining a bright red as the texture of his fur seemed to move like black flames.

”Take care of the others, the deer one is mine!”

”Y's boss!”

At that they run straight to the annoying ones that were sneak-attacking me all this time, the trees and grass on the way cover them as the only thing I see is the spear rotating mid-air in his hand in a swooshing motion that, combined with their speed, was opening a path of cut limbs around them.

With that taken care of I look once more to the deer, his neck sliced up and gushing goop, looking into his blank eyes, and saying:

”I know you can hear me you freaking bastard, and I don't know what you are planning nor do I care, but you just messed up with one of my friends and I will make sure to hunt you down like the coward you are and end your miserable life!”

I can sense that the string on the back trembled with my words, reacting to what I said, which was my intention, to have his attention on me; for you see, those two were my clones, my shadows, and myself in a way, so I did not need words to tell them what to do, in fact, our exchange of words was a mere show for the puppeteer to see.

They actually had another mission beyond taking care of the lowly shadows that matter not to us; they were going to follow the strings to their source, and give me the location and identity of the coward puppeteer.

With my vengeful spirit ignited I can feel my blood boiling, but looking at Elfihe a heavyweight pushed my anger down, a sadness that overtook my wish to lash out.

It was strange, to feel so much anger yet so much sadness, like a fire burning on ice.

As if unaffected by gravity my long hair starts to stand, swinging up in a wavy motion as it speeds up until it burst into dark flames, showing off the anger that wanted to erupt out of me and burn everything down to ashes.

The deer, impatiently moving his hooves in place, starts preparing others sharp black ice in my direction, intending to use rage attacks once more to his benefit.

They shot out as if gunpowder exploded behind them, swooshing in my direction as quick as a diving bird, the sharp spear head dangerously sharp as it approached, leaving an afterimage with dark glint as it passed.

And yet, I did not move, from beginning to end my eyes were focused on my lost friend as all emotions boiled inside me and wanted to burst; and yet like all colors together turned white, all those strong emotions together made me cold and silent on the outside, like the string of the bow ready to be resealed and strike, yet silently waiting for the target to appear.

I clench my teeth with what I was about to do.

The ice flies in my direction, but they do not reach me, and before they could even come close enough to cause any harm they simply melt.

I can sense the surprise on the other party, even the deer widen his hollow eyes a little, unaware of the difference in levels; on how my fire burned far stronger than is ice could freeze, even more in that corrupted state.

He is so stunned that he stops moving for a second, attacking me once more when I start walking forward, slow confident steps as my eyes never leave his, taking my time to shorten the distance between us.

He keeps attaching, increasing the strength and number, trying to compensate even with size, but none of that matter as it all melted, some not even forming anymore as I was too close, my hot aura reaching far enough to affect his attack in the source.

Then I stop.

I was up close to him, enough to engrave his figure in my memory, enough to carve the current state of his figure in my burning soul, to never forget how badly hurt he had been, of how were once there was a sweet smile and a pair of gentle eyes were now voided of emotion, a mere empty shell to be used around.