A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Instantly, several things happened at once.

A scream from behind—"Uncle!"—a flash in the werelion's eyes as his omnisense picked something up, and finally, the Arcanist suddenly grinned victoriously.

The werelion growled in frustration as small scorch explosions went off in front of his open palms. He quickly veered off course, barely avoiding the grey-coloured sickle of wind that cut through the air just in front of him. It came from above and cut a deep swath into the ground before him.

He snarled, and angled his head upwards, where the helicopter had now reached them. The side door was open, and another third rank Arcanist stood in the opening. This time, it was a woman with fair skin, a bald head, and a similar robe to the male Arcanist's.

"I wonder if you'll be so lucky again!" she sneered, while charging another three light-grey coloured magic circles, powered by the second rank affinity of metalwind. With intense speed, they formed into more metalwind sickle's and launched themself at the werelion.

The werelion's body moved with precision and power as he started to evade, but the first Arcanist wasn't just going to sit by and watch. He instantly joined in on the assault with the wild laugh of a sadist who just got the chance to take some delicious revenge.

The werelion immediately started getting into trouble. While the mud Arcanist had been weaker than him, this metalwind Arcanist was clearly his equal.

Meanwhile, after launching her barrage, the metalwind Arcanist used to a rope to rapidly descent until she stood next to the mud Arcanist. "Aaron," she greeted with a cold nod. "I see you've been screwing up like usual."

Aaron's face scrunched up in annoyance. "Stow it, Abigail. Let's just kill him and move on, before the confessors start to question our efforts and we'll both be in trouble."

Meanwhile the werelion recovered from their barrage, and turned to face them with a solemn determination, even while panting heavily from exertion.

But before engaging again, he closed his eyes, his chest tightening as a wave of guilt washed over him. His voice, barely a whisper, trembled with the weight of a final goodbye. "I'm sorry, Brother… You'll have to manage without me now."

His heart ached with the unspoken promise, but when his eyes snapped open, they burned with fierce resolve. "I'll make sure Naeku escapes," he vowed, his voice stronger now. "And I'll take down at least one of these monsters. May that be enough for you… to protect our people a little longer."

As if to underscore his determination, he roared into the sky. At the same time, bright-red runes sparked all over his skin. Yet rather than simply act as a prelude to activating an ability, his power also started to rise exponentially. But it was unstable, even volatile power.
Enjoy new adventures from empire

"You will not find our people easily cowed!" he cursed at his two opponents. "Today I will take one of you with me to the afterlife! May it be harsh to both of us, me for my failing, and you for your evil!"

As he talked his power continued to rise, and his eyes became bloodshot. His body trembled, and the air around him shimmered with heat. Then, he charged with another roar, calling for a retreat. "Naeku! Take however many of our people you can, and retreat to Enkare Nkai! I will hold them off!"

Instantly, both Arcanists had their faces begin to twitch, although they weren't able to consider what was happening for long. "This asshole is actually overcharging his runes!" Abigail cried out in frustration, before conjuring multiple magic circles in a panic.

Next to her, Aaron cursed as well, "Fuck' sake. Can't these disgusting muts just lie down and die?!" At the same time, he, too, conjured various mud-coloured magic circles.

They knew that, right now, this fight had turned from an easy beatdown, to a survival game. The werelion was currently doing what Erik had done more than a year ago, back in London, in order to show Katya his determination.

By overcharging his runes, he gained a boost in power, but severely harmed his body for every moment he remained like this, until, eventually, his body wouldn't be able to handle it anymore, and he'd explode.

Arcanists could essentially do the same, but rather than damaging their body, they damaged their magic core, the end result of which didn't change. If they didn't stop the overcharge in time, they'd explode, and if they stopped before that, they'd still be in recovery for weeks at the least.

For Aaron and Abigail, this meant they now had to survive until their opponent exploded, and make sure they were well away from him before that.

Yet, before the werelion even reached them, things changed again, when a surprising fourth party entered the scene, and the werelion stopped in his tracks because of it.

"No, Uncle!" the leading werepanther from before exclaimed while coming up from behind at dazzling speed as she appeared to skate on patches of sand.

She'd left her troops after giving final orders as soon as she noticed what was happening. Her people were now actively slaughtering the enemy Runebound, so that they could soon disengage and flee into the forest behind them. Their expressions were unwilling and frustrated, but they were disciplined enough to obey.

"Our people need you!" the werepanther continued with panic and determination. "Let me be the one to sacrifice myself!" She finished while stopping next to her uncle and brandishing her spear and shield at the third rank Arcanists.

At the same time, both yellow and green runes began to shine brightly on her fur. She, too, was overloading her runes, but rather than just one, she appeared to have two affinities. Overloading two at the same time would increase the power boost, the damage to her body, and, of course, the inevitable explosion.

"I can take one of them down with my death!" she snarled determinedly while glaring furiously at their opponents, despite the obvious pain spreading across her expression. "Take down the other without sacrificing your life, so that you can keep our people safe, Uncle!"

Naturally, all their eyes turned to her. The two Arcanists scowled with frustration, recognizing the power that was emanating from her. Whatever two affinities she had exactly, they were both of the third rank, and such an explosion would, at the very least, heavily wound a third ranker, even when backed by the power of a mere second ranker.

Not to mention that she'd likely explode within a minute due to her weaker body and killing her before then would be a significant challenge with her uncle protecting her during that time.

Thus, all she had to do was get close to one of them by the end of that minute, which wouldn't be so hard with access to an overcharged speed ability like she showed before.

"Naeku…" the werelion whispered unwillingly. He knew she was right, and that their people needed him more than her right now, but he wasn't willing to see his little niece die like that. What would he even tell her father? His brother? Not to mention she was far more important to their people's future than he was, assuming they could survive until then.

Yet, before anything else happened, the loud, reverberating howl of a wolf, full of power and rage, suddenly spread across the battlefield like a tidal wave of sound.