My Wild Beast-Chapter 75: Fighting Shadows (2)

Atia’s blade clanged with the crescent blade of his opponent’s, blocking his strike to the warrior’s open side—or it had been open until he’d moved in a blur that should be unnatural even for an Elite warrior of Silver Feather. Atia’s brows furrowed.

That second of distraction cost him. He hissed as a Featherblade raked across his cheekbone, followed swiftly by another carving into his arm with the deadly whisper of steel slicing air.

With a grunt, Atia slammed his weight into the blade, piercing it through the gap between his opponent’s ribs, making him cry out. Atia didn’t waste any more time on him. He slammed his forehead into his nose, the bone crunching beneath the impact, wrenched his weapon free and swiped both his blades outwards, tearing through the flesh of his neck. Blood splattered across his face and aggravatingly in his hair.

A glint of steel swiped through the air, and he ducked as multiple Featherblades rained down on him. He used their buddy as a human shield, holding his heavy weight in front of him. Only the sounds of their wings beating followed. They were probably figuring out how to kill him without getting too close.

"I didn’t think Silver Feather’s ’Elite’ warriors would be such cowards!" Atia taunted, trying to bait them closer to him. "Come at me! Warrior to warrior! Be a man!"

The warrior to Atia’s left snorted, rising higher in the air and putting more distance between him and Atia, assuming he was better protected there. He wasn’t.

"It is strategic. Not cowardly. If we fight you head on with brute force our failure is inevitable."

"And here I thought you were the best of the best," Atia snickered then redirected his human shield to the right. Two knives sank into their friend’s back and their eyes flared with anger.

At the sudden jolt of movement, the head of the man he’d killed fell from his body with a thud, allowing a clear view of Atia’s face. Blood spurted out of his neck like a geyser, forcing Atia to rear back a bit. He hadn’t thought he’d struck that hard, but his twin blades were made of Starstone—it could cut through bone easily. Evidently.

When the rain of blood calmed, Atia peeked at their hardened faces. A sigh escaped his lips. It wasn’t like he meant to behead the guy!

Knives resting between each finger of both warriors were flung at him in a deadly flourish. Atia released the human shield, dropping to the dirt, narrowly escaping the onslaught of blades raining down on him. They stabbed into the earth and trees just beyond him, a few within an inch of his flesh.

Atia uncovered his head, and sprung forward, wincing when his foot scraped against the fallen warrior’s crescent blade. Without missing a beat, he grabbed the weapon and shot it like a frisbee at the warrior on the right, striking him in the chest. He sucked in a breath, eyes widening in horror as he stared at his chest and the blood pouring out of him.

His fingers trembled, rising to the blood trickling down his torso and staring at it in disbelief. Worse still, his eyes fell back on Atia, lips twisting with pure hatred. Atia rolled his eyes. Entitled chicken.

He didn’t pay him anymore attention and leapt towards the other warrior who thought he was out of the jaguar’s jumping range. The eagle warrior raised his blade at the last second as Atia crashed into him with his blades and they slammed into the tree behind him.

The warrior with steel sticking out of his chest, yanked it free triumphantly before his wings weakened and he struggled to remain in the air. The ground rushed up to meet him as he sputtered, falling diagonally towards the river as he tried to use his wings but the strength seeped out of him and he fell into the rushing water with a splash.

Aiyana landed not-so-gracefully on one of the rocks as the water spattered over her from the fallen warrior. Pain shot up her leg and back, her tail bristling as she lost purchase on the slick surface, but she recovered just in time by hopping to the next rock, avoiding a plunge into Soluma like the two wounded eagles now flapping wildly as the current swept them away.

She watched with a slow, feline grin curling her lips. Atia joined her after discarding the last warrior, his eyes bright from the rush of the fight. That was until he saw Aiyana’s pale fur drenched in her own blood, and how she sat awkwardly, leaning more on her other legs.

Aiyana ignored his scowl and burned through the last of her energy racing across the rocks to the other side of the river before he could voice his concern. Atia followed close behind, landing beside her. The sound of beating wings made them pause and turn around, apprehension now clawing at them at the sight of many more eagles emerged from the sky in human and bird form.

"They must’ve called for backup," Atia sighed, twirling his blades idly, a wild grin on his face and a spark in his eyes like his body didn’t ache from hunting Nova through the night, slipping through shadows since first light, and fighting without pause.

Aiyana stood up, her tail swishing as she assessed their situation. They loved a good fight, but they were running on empty now. Even with that confident and easy-going smile lighting up his face, Aiyana could tell by the few beads of sweat tracing the firm lines of his back and the restless twirl of his blades that he was nearing exhaustion.

Her paws pattered on the ground, bracing herself and sharing a look with Atia.

Run or try and fight? Oncari lands weren’t far from where they were. freēwēbnovel.com

But before either of them could come up with a plan, the eagles angled themselves, and dove towards them at lightning speed. A snarl ripped from Aiyana’s lips and Atia raised his blades, determination set in his brows. Mid-flight the eagles snapped their wings out, halting their attack. Some of them veered away, unable to slow down.

Atia and Aiyana’s spines straightened the moment they sensed the new presence at their backs. Golden eyes glinted back from the dark forest behind them as one by one, jaguars stepped up to their side, a wall of strength emerging from the shadows, silent and poised.

An eagle at the front let out a sharp whistle, turning its head to the others, and glaring at the Oncari before shooting off in the opposite direction. The rest followed swiftly, wings slicing the air, leaving only a few in their human forms lingering at the edge of trees. They didn’t retreat fully, eyes locked in a silent warning—this wasn’t over.

"Aiyana..." An all too familiar exasperated sigh followed her name, curling around her like smoke. Her shoulders almost hunched and ears flattened at his voice.

As one, Aiyana and Atia turned to face their Chief, looking like two naughty cubs again.

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