Chapter 217: Tunik Slips Up
The battlefield had already descended into madness long ago. Firestorms raged across the desert. Sand had turned into molten glass in multiple areas. Countless corpses of beasts littered the battlefield while the air itself trembled from the pressure of Demigods clashing in the distance.
Bahamut and Ren stood side by side. One was a humanoid bunny covered in crimson glowing marks with clawed hands capable of tearing through space itself.
The other was a monster wearing black armor streaked with red, his golden eagle eyes glowing brightly beneath the cloth.
The Solar Wyrm slowly rose again from the crater Ren had kicked it into. Its golden scales were cracked in multiple places now. Blood dripped from its jaws while its gigantic body coiled defensively. The earlier arrogance in its eyes had vanished completely.
Now? It looked cautious, even fearful. The wyrm stared at Ren first before slowly shifting toward Bahamut. It visibly shivered. Those eyes and that aura... That presence behind him. The wyrm wanted somewhere to hide. It wanted to dig a hole in the sand and disappear inside, but because of the fear, it forgot that it could actually do it.
Bahamut smirked faintly.
"You scared it."
Ren cracked his neck lazily.
"As it should be."
The wyrm roared immediately after, enraged by the humiliation.
ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!
Golden flames exploded from its mouth, making the desert vaporize, but Bahamut stepped forward calmly.
FWOOOOOSH!
Darkness erupted from his gauntlets like liquid shadows. At the same time, water spiraled around his arms in glowing blue currents. The moment the flames reached him.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
A wall of black water exploded upward. Steam detonated violently across the battlefield, and the heatwave vanished instantly. The surrounding warriors stared in disbelief. Water... and darkness? Most elementalists struggled to even control one element perfectly, but here was Bahamut, who wielded multiple as naturally as breathing.
The wyrm lunged through the steam cloud suddenly. Its jaws opened wide enough to swallow Bahamut whole, but it was too slow.
CRACK!
Space distorted as Ren appeared above the wyrm instantly and slammed both clawed fists downward.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The Solar Wyrm crashed face-first into the desert, the impact splitting the earth open. Before it could recover, Bahamut moved terrifyingly fast. Water spiraled around his fists while darkness wrapped around them like living armor. He punched downward.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
A compressed sphere of black water exploded into the wyrm’s skull, causing the creature to scream. Its scales cracked apart violently, and the force alone created a crater nearly fifty meters wide.
"Damn..." Ren whistled. "That actually hurt it."
Bahamut rolled his shoulders calmly.
"I aimed for the head."
"You are terrifying."
"You say that while punching space."
"Fair."
The Solar Wyrm rose again furiously. This time, the area around it started glowing gold, as its element surged. The sand liquefied and hardened instantly into gigantic spikes shooting upward toward them.
Ren grinned: Finally, something fun. He slashed sideways.
SKRRRRRRRRRRT!!!
Space split apart briefly. Every spike in front of him distorted and twisted before shattering into pieces. The warriors watching from the wall froze.
"What... was that?"
"That rabbit just cut space itself..."
"No..." another whispered fearfully.
"He redirected it."
The wyrm attacked again. Its gigantic tail swept toward Bahamut like a collapsing building. Bahamut raised one hand, and water gathered instantly. The liquid compressed unnaturally before exploding outward.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
The tail strike halted. The black water wrapped around the tail like chains before darkness spread rapidly across the scales, causing it to decay and corrode, and the wyrm roared in pain. Bahamut suddenly pulled, and the gigantic Solar Wyrm lost balance instantly.
"What the hell?!" Ren barked out laughing. "You’re dragging it?!"
"Help instead of laughing!"
Ren vanished instantly.
CRACK!
He appeared directly beneath the wyrm’s exposed jaw and punched upward.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The impact folded the wyrm’s neck upward violently. Blood exploded from its mouth as its entire body lifted briefly off the ground. Even the battlefield paused. Warriors, beasts... everyone, except the Tier 3s stared, because what they were witnessing no longer resembled a fight.
It looked like two calamities bullying another calamity. The Solar Wyrm crashed back into the desert heavily. Its breathing became ragged. Its golden eyes now contained unmistakable fear, and something else. Bahamut slowly walked toward it while darkness coiled around his arms like smoke. Water floated behind him in massive spheres, something that shouldn’t be possible for a newly ascended Tier 2. Well, no one noticed or rather, they weren’t focused on that. They were at war, and they didn’t have the energy and time to care about such a thing. Not even Bahamut.
Ren cracked his claws beside him. "Still wanna tame it?"
Bahamut looked at the trembling wyrm thoughtfully, and smirked.
"Now I do."
The wyrm immediately roared again, but this time? It sounded far less threatening and far more desperate.
...
Tunik held his stomach and rushed towards the healing zone Risa had created. His expression was pale and frightened. Soon, he reached the zone and flopped down in the sand. In no time, the huge gaping wound in his stomach was healed, along with the pain from it. His expression slowly regained color, and he felt all fatigue disappear.
He was just about to get up when something small, about the size of a normal rock with glowing golden lines around, fell from his robes onto the sand. His expression widened as he hurried to take it back, but he couldn’t move. He was frozen... in space and fear. Three pairs of eyes, two golden and one crimson, locked onto him from afar.
Then he heard a roar, and this one expressed more than just anger.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!
Even Hakim, Forta, and the Tier 3 beast halted in their battle and looked towards the place.
"It seems she was right. Someone took her child," the Tier 3 beast suddenly spoke, and ceased all its attacks.
"That idiot! Many have died because of him!" Forta cursed in anger.
"What’s the essence of this war then?" Hakim muttered with a pained voice.
"It was all a game for me. I just wanted to meet my master again..." the Tier 3 beast commented, making Hakim and Forta look at it in shock.
"All a game?!"
