The Guardian gods-Chapter 747

That realization unsettled them far more than the whispers ever had. The ease with which they had been allowed to leave felt wrong. No one spoke of it, but all of them carried the same thought as they made their way to their next destination.

The material they now carried felt aware, like it was eager to see what they had in plan and wanted to play along.

Their next destination, after securing the shard, was a crucial piece of the plan laid out for Osita.

This time, the target was not a place, but a living being, the lair of a Beast King. Their objective this time was to take the firstborn child of that Beast King.

It was common knowledge among those versed in such matters that once a beast ascended to the rank of Beast King, reproduction became exceedingly rare. Their strength and existence stood closer to natural laws than living creatures, and so each offspring they produced carried immense value. A firstborn, especially, was not merely a child it was legacy, continuation, and proof of dominance.

To steal such a child was not just theft.

It was an unforgivable provocation.

The rage this act would ignite was precisely what the plan required. A Beast King stripped of its offspring would not act with reason or restraint. It would lash out blindly, consumed by fury, devastation following wherever it turned. And that rage was meant to be guided, its path bent toward the Osita Kingdom.

The loss of life would be immense.

More importantly, the lives lost would not be random. The destruction would claim figures of importance, events would spiral outward, and consequences would stack upon consequences, eventually giving rise to far greater upheavals. It was a spark meant to start an avalanche.

And so, while remaining vigilant of the crystal shard they carried, Mei and her team moved toward the Beast King’s domain.

The day finally came for the Beast King to hunt.

Across the mountain range, an uneasy stillness settled in. Those watching held their breath as the massive shadow briefly broke through the clouds above the peak. Moments later, the land darkened as its vast figure moved away, its presence pulling light and wind with it as it gained distance.

"Now."

The signal was given, and in that instant, everything moved.

The two winged members shed their human forms without hesitation. Their true bodies emerged mid-motion, blends of different beasts, built for the sky. With a thunderous snap of wings, they launched upward, slicing through the thin air and into the violent mountain winds.

Mei’s spells took hold almost immediately.

Layer upon layer of acceleration wrapped around the two flyers, compressing air and space alike. Speed was forced beyond what their bodies should have endured. The ground vanished beneath them in a blur as they surged toward the upper reaches of the mountain, their velocity climbing until it bordered on light itself.

Mei and the others rose from their place of concealment as well, lifting into the sky but holding their position far behind. Their eyes remained fixed on the distant shape of the Beast King, watching as it continued to move away.

Or so they believed.

Without warning, the immense figure in the distance stopped.

Then it shifted.

The Beast King climbed higher into the sky, its form disappearing completely into the clouds, leaving behind only an unnatural stillness.

The air twisted.

At first it was subtleba, rely noticeable but within moments it became violent. Space itself rippled, warping like disturbed water. Every instinct within Mei and the others screamed in unison.

The Beast King had sensed something.

And it was no longer where it was supposed to be.

The flyers reached the nest a moment before the Beast King fully sensed the intrusion.

Nest was hardly the right word. It was a vast hollow carved directly into the mountain’s heart, wide enough to house a town. The stone walls were scorched and smoothed by repeated contact with an immense body. At its center lay the child still, colossal even in infancy, its breathing slow and heavy, each rise and fall sending tremors through the cavern floor.

There was no hesitation.

The chained box was opened.

Light bent inward as space compressed violently around the opening seal. The air screamed as reality folded in on itself. Before the child could even register the presence of the two strangers who had appeared out of nothing, it was drawn in completely, its form erased from the mountain in a single instant.

The box snapped shut.

Chains tightened with a sound like grinding stone, final and absolute.

And in that same instant, the Beast King reappeared at the entrance of the cavern.

It did not charge in. It did not roar. It simply was there.

The two flyers froze.

Their entire view was filled by an eye larger than their bodies, its pupil reflecting the empty hollow where the child had been moments before. The Beast King’s gaze moved past them first, toward the nest.

There was nothing.

No scent, no life signature or presence. Then its gaze returned to them, to the two intruders standing rigid, clutching a strange, chained box.

The realization was immediate.

The scream that followed tore through the mountain. Air warped, stone fractured, and the sound itself carried rage, loss, and fury so absolute it transcended language. The shockwave rippled outward, shaking the peaks and sending avalanches cascading down the slopes.

It’s child was gone.

That was when Mei and the others arrived from below. They burst through the cloud to see the beast king’s giant body blocking the entrance to the nest.

There was no time to speak.

One of Mei’s companions moved instantly.

The minotaur-like figure, his body etched with stone-like lines and veins of molten red fire threw himself forward without hesitation. As he charged, power surged outward, his domain unfolding violently around him, molten light racing along the lines of his body as he slammed into the Beast King’s presence with everything he had.

For a brief moment, space overlapped.

The Beast King’s massive figure vanished and with it, the obstruction at the cavern’s entrance. The path was suddenly clear. The two flyers did not need words or signals. Still wrapped in Mei’s acceleration spells, they turned and launched themselves into the open sky, their forms tearing through the air and vanishing into the distance without a single glance back.

Then space cracked.

A jagged fracture tore open in the air itself, its interior revealing a violent, flaming backdrop that looked less like fire and more like a place where reality had failed to exist properly. From that hole, the minotaur-like figure was thrown out violently.

Half his body was gone.

Stone-lined flesh ended abruptly at the waist, molten veins spilling light rather than blood. Yet somehow, impossibly, he was still alive, barely conscious, barely breathing.

From within the cracked space, the Beast King emerged.

Its enormous form pushed its way out as though breaking free from confinement, shaking its body once, as if casting off water. The fracture widened just enough to allow its full body to pass through before snapping shut. The surrounding space healed almost instantly, leaving no trace of the rupture behind.

The mountain fell silent for a heartbeat. The Beast King turned its gaze first to the nest.

Empty.

Then it looked to Mei and the others fleeing.

They did not hesitate once they saw space cracked, they grabbed hold of their fallen comrade who was plummeting from the sky to the ground, they fled, pouring everything they had into speed and escape. Their breaths were ragged, their movements strained, but they moved, desperate to gain even a fraction of distance.

They did not get far.

Anger flashed within the Beast King’s eyes. It let out a sharp, piercing squeak, brief, almost insignificant in sound.

The world blurred.

In the next instant, Mei and the others found themselves back where they had been moments before. Their bodies locked in place mid-motion. The air around them froze, space itself hardened, denying movement entirely.

They tried to respond.

Domains flared, power surging as they attempted to unfold and combine them, but it was useless. The Beast King’s control over space was absolute. The space surrounding them was cleanly severed from their domains, isolated and sealed as if wrapped in invisible walls.

They could think, they could see but they could not move and before them stood a Beast King whose rage had nowhere left to go.

The Beast King studied its captured victims.

Its gaze lingered, noticing immediately that two were missing and more importantly, that the box was nowhere in sight. Then, from its massive form, a voice emerged.

It was cold, female and clear "Where is the box?, "Where is my child?"

The words carried no distortion, yet they pressed down with more weight than the mountain itself.

One by one, Mei’s companions reacted.

Some closed their eyes, shoulders slackening as though they had already accepted the end. There was no struggle left in them, only the quiet understanding that this was beyond what they could escape.