Bound By Fury:The Forced Path

It was then that the tension mounted as they finally found themselves surrounded by the changed Werehyenas, whose shining body surfaces glistened with water droplets, their yellow eyes flashing like lanterns in the dark.

Deep growls and splashes from these terrible creatures bellowed in the air, a dark sound of troubles to come.

Grido fixed his glasses, looking serious.

He looked at what was happening, his clever mind figuring out what to do next.

"Alright, listen up!"

He yelled then, his voice breaking the strained atmosphere.

"Newbie, you and Anna are the close combat experts; you two stick together, dodge their attacks, and tie them up."

"Your task is to keep them distacted and give opportunities for us."

Akira scowled. "Ok."

He nodded toward Anna, who was already stooping and ready, daggers glistening in the early sun.

Grido faced Victor and said firmly,

"Victor, I have just one thing to say , Go wild and kill as many as you can."

Victor smirked, cracking his neck.

"Now you're speaking my language."

Akira couldn't help but be puzzled by his question, thinking,

"Wait, isn't Victor, too, a close combat warrior?"

"What can he do from afar?"

Anna laid her hand on Akira's shoulder; her hand was firm yet reassuring.

"Don't worry,"

She said playfully, smiling.

"Just wait and see.

Victor stepped forward as the large broadsword was already at ready; his energy heightened, his person enveloped by a different atmosphere, using his skill:

Battle Zone.

A soft glow enveloped Victor as he raised his hand toward one of the Werehyena, pointing one finger at him.

And with that, he and the chosen monster disappeared in the flick of an eyelid.

"What the—where did they go?"

Akira exclaimed, looking all over as if searching for Victor.

Anna giggled.

"Victor's Battle Zone is a special skill,"

She said.

"It creates a white, closed area where he and his chosen opponent fight one-on-one."

"The skill continues until one of them dies.".

Akira blinked as he processed the explanation.

"A skill like that exists?"

"Really?

Anna shrugged.

"Akira, in this world, almost anything can happen."

"But…"

An air of seriousness clotted her face.

"It's a very hazardous choice."

"Each time, Victor could die using it."

Before Akira could say a word, there was a deafening screech everywhere, with a big shadow flying above.

Akira's eyes widened as a great beast came into view: a great, bird-like creature that didn't make a bit of sense. Its face was the face of an eagle; its sharp eyes traveled across the battlefield. From its muscular legs, it had big, long talons, while its mouth, full of jagged teeth that could easily crush bone, was that of a tiger; its ears were like a wolf's, which at each and every sound moved. And behind all that, a long tail, whip-like, cut the air.

"Geez, what in the world is that?."

Akira's crazy tone rose.

"What do you thing about my familiar , newbie ??" Grido asked Akira while riding the Beast

The beast who appeared was the little bird that never left Grido shoulder,now it had transformed to his original form.

"It fits you" - Akira said 

"Hahhhah isn't that right newbie" Grido replied happy

In a wild scream it dived, its great talons snagging a Werehyena. The beast struggled and scratched but could not break free. There was a terrible crunch as the Werehyena was torn to pieces, and then the dead body dropped to the ground.

Don't worry,"

Grido said confidently.

"Victor never loses a fight in such a situation."

"Not on this level."

To prove he right, in a while, Victor returned. Out of the wavering air of the Battle Zone, his form emerged. His broadsword all bloody had the fresh blood of the defeated enemy on it. Behind him appeared the falling to the yellow ocean the dead body of the Werehyena his eyes shone because of his victory, and he smiled more when he viewed the group.

"One down,"

"Who is next at the line"

Victor said, careless, now swinging his blade and casting the blood off of it.

Akira could not hide how much he liked.

A slow smile spread across his face, and his dark eyes sparkled with excitement.

"That was amazing," he said, his voice full of real wonder.

"Fucking amazing."

As the other Werehyenas saw their kind completely lifeless and dead they started to scream in rage and agony.

The air was full of the stench of blood and carnage.

What had been an azure landscape now was coming out to be a bleak war zone, strewn with disfigured bodies of the Werehyenas and deep marks coming off innumerable clashes.

Taking deep breaths which huffed out with flecks, sweat dripped down their foreheads as they faced annihilation.

Then, through the screen of leaves, came an appalling choral scream of rage as other Werehyenas emerged. Their cries of loss, of anger, shook the air with monster howls.

Then their number doubled and trebled, as reinforcements arrived, their misshapen forms glinting in the thin moonlight.

"More of them?!"

Anna breathed, her shaking hand clutched around the daggers, sure fluidity in her movements hobbled as her body weighted with every second heavier and heavier.

The answering attack of the Werehyenas was streaks of water hurled in jagged spears, with inhuman precision.

Anna was dodging as well as she was able, her agility salvaging, but she knew she was going down fast.

Victor staggered back into the group, his armor battered and marred, the broadsword trailing heavily behind him.

Blood smeared across his face, a gruesome blend of his enemies' and his own.

His energy flickered like a dying ember, perilously close to extinguishing.

"I've taken out six more,"

He gasped, sweat streaming down his brow.

"But I'm done. I'm tapped out—no mana left, and my body's giving in."

Grido crashed to a stop beside them in a deafening creak of wings-his huge beast wheezing hard, its talons cracked, its feathers slick with gore.

Normally calculating, stoic Grido-looked worn and grim.

Taking a swipe at the gore coating his face, his voice came out shaking, like a tone of utter disbelievement.

"How… how is this possible?"

"It's been a long time and they just keep coming!"

"Where are they all coming from?!"

Victor leaned against his broadsword, the smile now replaced by a deep frustration.

"If these were normal Werehyenas, we would have been done with this hours ago."

"But this-"

He weakly gestured toward the oncoming horde, his fingers trembling.

"This is not normal."

"They're all so strong, and fast, and there are just so many of them."

"There's simply no escaping this."

White-knuckled, clamping down on her daggers, despair chewed away at Anna's resolve.

"What is left to do now?" it finally broke into her voice.

"Grido-san, what to do?!"

Where once a fierce spirit smoldered, shaking uncertainty had taken hold of her frame-like one shaking on the verge of despair.

Grido said nothing.

His face was set forward, his fists clenched as his beast let out a weak laboured screech, as if it would fall at any moment.

Silent Akira had stood a little way away from the others through it all, his face masklike, tanned features unreadable, and black eyes riveted intently on the storming horde of twisted, snarling beasts.

"Tch,"

He growled, tutting his tongue impatiently.

For a moment his eyes flickered to his team Anna was reaching her breaking point; Victor, who had used up every single ounce of energy in this battle and was finally empty; Grido, whose one moment of surging power had been spent. The Stars were all seasoned, stubborn veterans of the impossible struggle that had kept going-but Akira saw it:.

"This is all they could do, he ruminated, calm-brained as the tumult raged about him. Strong, indubitably strong; but against this horde, this type of enemy."

Akira's face was wooden; a thin-lipped smile played on his lips while his fists were clenched as if the air itself hummed with promising anticipation, swelling from him in one huge, terrible tremor.

"I have seen enough."

Low in tone, almost a whisper, yet it cuts through the chaos of noises, like a knife.