I was on my last legs, at least I felt as if I was on my last legs, or maybe I wasn't. Shearath, the dancing caves, and the pit itself has a way of giving help to me when I need it the most. Of everything I have faced so far, this was one of, if not the most exhausting, but I can live through it. Win it too. There was a feeling within me, one that I don't think I've ever felt before. It was kind of like an awareness, an awareness of the new rune that I just literally weaved out of thin air.
I asked for a way to be a protector, a way to be a shield for my people. I just realized, or it could be said I felt, that there was more to that word and that rune that I ever thought. There was actually no limit to who or what I could protect, as long as I wanted to, I could do it. A new power coursed through my body as I felt my soul energy surge and skip, flowing past one conduit to another as the bones in my spine tingles with power from it's ascension.
The sheer energy and power I felt, shook me so hard I shuddered, and the rune in my hands grew bigger and stronger, becoming a huge circular shield almost four meters in height and four meters in width. My soul energy thrummed underneath my skin like the strings of violin, cascading like the ongoing rush of a supernatural waterfall. I had grown stronger once again.
[CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE ADVANCED TO THE FIFTH CIRCLE OF THE SACRUM REALM. YOU'RE NOW A NINTH CIRCLE WEAVER AND SOUL REALM MASTER]
"What the hell is that?"
I looked down and saw Teluna staring wide eyed at the massive e rune shield. I would have loved to answer him, but there was a slowly being healed hole in my neck, I don't think I would be capable of telling him anything at the moment. He looked up at me and noticed my rather sorry state, the blood from ears and eyes, had pooled and drew lines over my face, and even though I was healing I was breathing really hard with a wheezing sound that sounded as if one if not both of my lungs have been punctured.
Teluna raised his hand and touched the side of my head, right at the spot where one of the rat's metal bullet had clipped and dug out my skin, exposing my skull. My healing had not kicked in fully so that wound was still very much raw. Almost immediately, Teluna's eye's turned a startling shade of gold as darkness energy began to seep out of his fingers. Then he whispered.
"I'm going to kill that bitch!"
"Teluna wai...…t" I tried to call him, but Teluna actually melted into darkness and disappeared from my arms.
Seems he has learnt how to travel through the shadow realm, though that achievement would mean nothing if he got himself killed, from the look of things, his anger at seeing me hurt was way past the boiling point. Who knew he cared this much.
Almost immediately there was a big boom, and the breath attack from the rat was cut off. At that moment that the pressure was taken of me my shield disappeared with a wink, and my exhausted body crashed to the ground in a heap. Teluna was battling the rat now, and he was doing well, if only for the fact that he was hardly causing any damage to the monster itself.
I could hardly move, so all I could do was turn myself over and watch as Teluna vented his anger on the rat. The rat sent it's spiked ridged tail swinging at Teluna, but all it met was a dissipating fume of black gas as he disappeared into the shadow realm. He reappeared above the rat, and sent a huge three meter long and a meter wide lance made from darkness crashing into it's spike covered spine.
There was a loud clink, and a sound of glass breaking, as three of those spike were dislodge from it's back, spraying blood in their wake, as for the first time since that beast started chasing us, it bled. But I don't think it like that, as it roared out in anger and shot towards Teluna with such speed, that all I could see was the silver blur of it's body.
The move was really sudden, and Teluna could not react in time, as the rat slammed it's body into his ten year old frame. The moment I saw that, my heart jumped into my throat, and I didn't care what or why, I got back up to my feet, struggling with all of my strength, so that I could give that beasts a piece of my mind, and could beating if possible.
But I felt a hand on my wrist, holding me back and stopping me from heading towards certain death. I turned and to my great surprise saw Nisi standing there. Before I could ask her what the hell was she doing in the black district she said to me.
"There's no need to get involved, let them take care of it."
I looked up just in time to see Kodak and Gus come crashing down from the sky, and in their hands, was a giant hammer and a giant axe, made of blood. They brought the colossal weapons smashing down on the head and neck of the giant rat, eliciting a scream from it, and almost immediately a huge hole opened up above it. This hole was completely ink black, as wisps of darkness like fog, seeped out of it's edges. And that was when I saw it, the very sight of that thing gave me chills.
Massive bony claws extended slowly out of that hole, and it stretched the holed wider and wider until more of the arm that those claws belong too were exposed. And then it's face, it was a lion, with a black mane, and grey skinned body, and claws that were gleaming with darkness. It's mane, and the hair on it's tail flickered and moved like tongues of flames.
This Lion was almost as tall as the rat, reaching an extreme fifteen meters in height, and a twenty five in length. His eyes were a piercing shade of black, as it stared at the rat with a horror inducing snarl. I felt a deep and powerful pressure that greatly surpassed what I felt from the rat, whatever or wherever this lion had come from, I only knew one thing, and that's the fact that it was something unnatural.
"You don't have to be intimidated by the Lion Kael, that's Teluna's shadow beast Lowen, though he's a lot bigger than the last time we saw him. He's going to help us."
I was completely blindsided once again, what the hell was going on. I turned to search for Teluna, and I saw him hanging on the back of Magellan, if it was not for the fact that he's eyes were no longer golden, but the same sharp shade of black as the lion's, I would have thought he was unconscious. Magellan must have caught him when he was hit by the rat, and then.
"BOOOOM!" "SNARL!" "SQUEAK!" "ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!"
It was terrifying sight none the less, watching two massive animals fight each other. Their clash shook the ground as the Lion pounced on the rat, scratching and biting as he tried to find purchase on the body of the rat with his claws and fangs. And even though his attacks were leaving deep grooves on the metallic frame of the rat, he was still not able to break through, and he was getting hurt in the process as the spikes, fangs and claws of the rat was actually causing him damage.
If he continued this way, he was bound to loose. The rat was actually not as strong as the Lion, not when you had to consider speed, strength, tenacity and battle awareness. But it had a greater defense than we could have accounted for, so we had to approach this from a different angle. There was only one person here who could take out that rat in one hit, and that was me.
But even though I had advanced, I only had a wisp of my soul energy left, and it should be enough for me to place one last small weave. I had a plan, but it was going to be a gamble. I looked up and painfully signaled the others but to come closer, I was about to fall backwards before I felt something solid behind me to catch my fall.
I turned to look and saw that Nisi had actually made a throne from the solid black earth below our feet, she even decorated it, by carving the head of a roaring lion on the arm rest of it. I looked at her and gave her a nod of thanks, before I turned my attention towards this fight. Gus and Kodak were closer, but. Magellan and Teluna got here first before because of their ability to travel through the shadow realm.
As testament to his superior healing abilities, Teluna was already standing on his feet. Which was good, I needed him just as much as I needed the others. I didn't say anything perfunctory to them, and just chose to get to the point.
"Teluna how long can this Lion of yours hold out?" I asked. Teluna turned to look at his Shadow beasts and said to me.
"Until he's either dead, or his enemy is. But from the look of things, that's not to far away." He said with gloomy tone.
It was obvious to me that he was really attached to this lion, though I couldn't help but feel hurt that he had kept such an important part of his life a secret from us. I nodded my head as I said to him.
"Don't worry, I have a plan. Your lion won't die today. Gus, Kodak how much blood do you have with you, is it enough to make constructs as big as the Axe and hammer you just made."
Kodak and Gus looked at each other before pointing behind me. Even though the breath attack from the rat had obliterated a whole lot grounds, the thousands of stone rat corpses that littered the ground were mostly still intact, and so. Was the copious amount of blood that flowed out their body and onto the ground, creating s river of blood. I hooded my head with a smile, I had everything I needed now.
"Okay this is what I want you guys to do...."