I slammed through the front door of my home. My breathing was already growing ragged.
Fenrir dashed towards me. His burning eyes were soft with worry.
I petted my friend's snout. Sitting down, I needed a break. Even if I didn't have time.
"We are on the run now, buddy."
Fenrir let out a low growl, annoyed.
A spider nightmare creature crawled in through an open window. Chattering all the while. I couldn't understand it. But Fenrir could. And I could understand Fenrir.
In a quick succession of growls and barks. I understood the situation.
The other creatures of my family were already present in the surrounding buildings.
A few were scouting the area as well.
A small grin graced my lips. I wasn't fully dead yet. Still high chance though.
A plan started to form in my mind. Just in case I couldn't find a safe place. If a battle did start in such a scenario. I would have no choice but to be on the frontlines. The other Awakened Demons and Monsters wouldn't last long against a good Awakened, and they were as good as dead against a master.
Fenrir would be my trump card, together with warp.
I also learned something very obvious in my battle a few minutes ago. Something I should have learnt and practiced a long time ago. Warping my arrows. The idea was so simple, but devastating. I only did it from pure instinct and will to survive.
A creature of the same type as Fenrir barged in. Already growling and barking loudly.
Fenrir stood up, so did I. The time to move had come.
The four of us rushed through the ruined streets. Vines and old destroyed buildings were obstacles, yet provided protection from long range.
They had at least a single long-range specialist. A single arrow could be enough to end me.
Soon enough I heard it, a shout. Low, but audible enough for me to place the distance.
I tried not to think of the thought. I really did. I needed to focus, to clear my mind, to calculate.
An inappropriate snort left my mouth. The thought of doing actual calculations was ridiculous to one who only knew the basics.
Fenrir growled by my side, clearly not finding any amusement in our current situation.
A situation that was in fact, my fault. Perhaps I should have left peacefully. Perhaps I should have run while there was only Morgan and her squad.
But that didn't matter now. Only survival mattered.
***
Morgan jumped across half-ruined rooftops, punching through collapsed walls in her way.
A scowl was on her usually calm face. She wasn't disappointed in her team, and not entirely in herself either. She was disappointed in the lack of information. This was clearly no ordinary sleeper. Able to calculate, choose targets, and hold hostages.
This seemed more like something a legacy would do, or perhaps an assassin.
But no assassin would let an obstacle live. And Chloe was an obvious obstacle. She had seen it in the boy's eyes. The calculation. He had clearly thought of killing her. But didint. Perhaps he felt pity. Perhaps he didn't see her as much of a threat as he should have. But Morgan felt it in her gut. The slight crack in the voice. The slight twitch in his fingertips every time he looked at Chloe while holding her.
He had clearly not killed before. Morgan was unexplainably comforted at that. She actually felt a tinge of happiness that a boy who looked no older than fifteen or sixteen hadn't needed to kill yet. Especially in such a place as the outskirts.
Morgan continued to contemplate her current target. Moving through the terrain with graceful ease.
Until finally, her earpiece buzzed.
"Located the target. 500 meters from his home, heading west."
Morgan calculated her position in a second. Then gracefully turned her whole body to the right, jumping off a wall. Her momentum unchanging.
A gleam appeared in her eyes. The promise of a decent fight. Of course, she would need to hold back a lot. This was a mere sleeper after all. But she could still test her own skills against such a unique enemy.
Perhaps against her, he would go for a vital point.
To try and break the morale of her squad.
A ungraceful snort almost left her lips. But she choked the action down with pure will. She was a princess, such things were ungraceful.
***
Chloe noticed the target sprinting across the ruined streets. Several other odd shapes are around him. She cast off the thought. First the imaginary wolf. Now a dozen other figures? Perhaps she was starting to lose it after so many years.
Or perhaps, the boy was no sleeper. Could he perhaps use illusions? But such an ability wouldn't make sense. It didn't have any connection with his ability to teleport things. But it would make sense why she saw the wolf at first. Perhaps he was practicing his aspect at the time?
It would also make sense for him to conjure nightmare creatures. Everyone would be caught off guard by a nightmare creature assisting a human.
An ability seemingly similar to Beastmaster.
Chloe quickly cast off the thoughts as soon as they appeared. Reporting to her squad on the target's location. Her voice professional.
She summoned her bow. Fingers twitching every once in a while. She would either be the first to make contact, or the last.
The thought of the former shot a shiver down her back. She never wanted to be a hostage ever again. The feeling of absolute helplessness. The dread, the pure terror. It was too much.
Chloe inhaled deeply. Holding her breath for ten seconds before exhaling slowly. She needed to calm down. To think, to focus. This was just a simple mission gone array. Easily fixable. After this, she would go into her second nightmare with another group of awakened. Two of her teammates and five unknowns. An easy trial by all means. Eight trained legacies were nothing to scoff at after all.
Her mind focused, Chloe shot towards the figure at breakneck speeds, closing the distance rapidly.
She would reach the one-hundred-meter mark and stay put, waiting for backup. Her fingers twitched once again, but she didn't let her mind wander again. Instead, her eyes narrowed, filled with focus and determination.
***
Finally, after several minutes of running. One of my dear family members returned, informing me of a terror that was fully awake, and didn't seem hostile.
I flipped an imaginary coin inside my head. Heads, I survive; tails, I die a mere insect.
It landed on heads.
A grin filled with desperation and hope bloomed on my face. Everyone changed direction towards the left.
It was several hundred meters away. Entirely possible to reach with a bit of effort.
Fenrir barked loudly in warning. I was too slow.
An arrow shot right into my right arm, nearly tearing it off.
I clenched my jaw, barely suppressing a scream. But I didn't falter, didn't fall.
The spell had tortured me more than this flesh wound. It had torn at my very soul, at my very being. Compared to that? This was nothing.
I shot a glance backwards, and sure enough. The archer was on a rooftop, a hundred or so meters away.
I should have known, I did know, that she would be an issue. But of course, I didn't kill her. A mistake. A mistake that cost me my arm, for eternity perhaps.
I brushed off the sad thought, now running between buildings, in a zigzag pattern. Doing as much movement as possible without slowing myself down too much.
The creatures around me scattered. Some mere shadows across the ground. Some of the spiders jumped from wall to wall.
I reasoned that it was fine, because in reality. It was. Not the arm, but the situation. The terror was already close by. My arm was a sacrifice.
I summoned the [Vamparic dagger] into my left arm, blocking a second arrow that was going for my left leg.
She could still track me, impressive.
I couldn't help but praise the skill, I myself had no talent with the bow. I was just lucky it was ascended, able to punch through most things with brute force.
Until finally, I reached the terror. Or to be exact, the entrance to its location. A giant hole in the ground stood in front of me. A giant crater.
My happiness died a slow and ugly death. Because if this terror was territorial, I was as good as dead. There would be no way to escape from a Terror who most likely had wings.
I doubted that I could even warp out of the crater. I couldn't even see the ground.
I stood straight, I needed to choose my poison. A saying I had grown used to on the outskirts.
The question was, which poison would kill me?
Was it the unknown Terror lurking in the depths? Or the humans that seemed hell bent on capturing me.
Neither option was great. And the fake coin flip that was rigged didn't bolster my confidence.
Another arrow flew, and I didn't deflect it. It wasn't aimed at me. A warning shot.
It struck the ground in front of me. A warning.
While I had the time, I inspected it. A purple crystal-like shape that barely resembled an arrow, and more of a shortsword.
Glowing menacingly. I silently noted that there was still energy in it, probably able to explode, scattering the sharp shards everywhere.
An idea bloomed, a last-ditch attack if the circumstances would require it.
Soon enough I heard it, footsteps.
I turned my head, dark hair slightly covering my exposed right eye. My left hand hung limply at the side. The arrow that had torn through was long gone.
Fake confidence surged. A smile I didn't feel like forming on my face.
I had to play this off, buy time.
They would also most likely buy time. Waiting for other squads. They probably didn't want me jumping off a ledge, to my seeming death.
Finally, Morgan arrived, her heavy metallic boots clinking against the ground. I inwardly noted that her armor looked different now. Sharper. As if it were made from hundreds of blades.
I filed the information carefully, the idea of touching the armor seeming more like a death sentence to me.
"Do not move."
Morgan didn't raise her voice, she didn't need to. There was no surrounding noise. No wind. No roars or screeches.
Only the five of us. Five against one.
Well technically, five against six.
But that surely didn't count, right?
I raised my only good arm, eyes soft. Fingers trembling.
Morgan stepped closer, her voice a sharp blade against my ears.
"Kneel."
I almost laughed, my own words turned against me.
But I did as I was told, kneeling slowly, my movements slow and deliberate.
I dropped the [Vamparic dagger] on the ground, and it seemingly dissolved into abysmal motes.
Sweat glistened on my forehead. The acting and injury were stressful.
Morgan stepped forward, then absolutely blurred. My vision was engulfed by her elegant armor the same second, her fist flying towards my head.
I warped, appearing on a rooftop.
I exhaled steam, my arm bleeding more noticeably.
Morgan turned to me at once, a scowl already in place.
"Do not resist."
I barely dodged an arrow flying at my leg, noticing the one with the weird barrier standing close to the archer.
It seemed they weren't willing to risk their long-range support again.
[Twilight bow] started to manifest in my grip. I dodged another arrow, then warped away from Morgan.
I couldn't use the bow, not really. I didn't have an arm after all.
But I could use the arrows.
Three crystal blue arrows manifested. Warping away in the same instant. My reserves drained, and what felt like blood flooded my stomach. It seemed, I had overdone it.
Warp was out of the question, but I managed to set up.
Now came the second part.
Fenrir shot out of a ruined building right behind the slim figure with daggers, pouncing on their back.
His maw opened, trapping the neck of the figure between his fangs.
He growled loudly, making sure everyone was paying attention.
I barked a laugh.
"A hostage situation once again, eh?"