Luluka's heart thump as she felt immense power surged into her body. Black aura began to form around her and wave violently.
Combined with her blood red eyes that glinted with the dangerous light, she looked like a goddess of death, ready to slay her foe and harvest their soul to the pit of hell!
The white tiger didn't back off nor flinch despite its opponent seemingly getting stronger. It was a powerful monster and it had its own pride.
The violent wind became even more violent, and not long after a windstorm engulfed the entire area!
It blasted everything!
Trees went flying out of the ground followed by rocks and debrises here and there.
It was chaos.
Everything was a mess.
Not long after, the storm finally died down and what was left was no more than a chaotic mess. Broken trees were collapsed on the ground like dying corpses.
Leaves scattered everywhere. Some areas even had deep holes into the ground where the trees used to be.
It was a mess, but—Luluka was nowhere to be seen.
Not seeing her corpses, the tiger thought its prey was buried under this mess of collapsed trees somewhere.
It was a pity, it couldn't have her as a snack. But no matter, since there was still one more snack ready for it not far away from here.
Thinking so, it began to make their way toward the carriage, but—
*Boom!!!!!!!*
A very strong explosion sound rang out as black smoke rose up to the sky!
Under the smoke was a large figure of a white tiger monster, kneeling on the ground while crying in pain.
Its white fur was tainted by black color everywhere. Not only that, it was also tainted by red color…
It was blood.
The white tiger was bleeding heavily while crying in pain.
In front of it was a trail of red smoke and at the end of that trail stood a figure of a girl. It was Luluka with some big object on her shoulder.
"Well, that packs some punch." Luluka said with a satisfying smirk.
On her shoulder was a weapon from her old world. A very heavy weapon that packed a serious punch—
A rocket launcher.
That's right, Luluka had created a rocket launcher from her skill Blood Manipulation, and combined with the power-up from Blood Sacrifice, it packed an extremely heavy punch.
The tiger was in pain, but more than that, it was in rage!
A powerful monster such as itself would lose to this puny humanoid creature? Hah! What a joke! It couldn't allow such a thing to happen.
Its pride wouldn't allow it.
*ROARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!*
An extremely loud roar rang out as the monster opened its mouth widely!
The sound wave traveled fiercely in all directions and even created ripples in the air!
The ground shook and the lying tree's trunks began to crack and exploded into tiny pieces!
Luluka was alert upon seeing this. Swiftly, she created Blood Barrier around herself like a cocoon and continued adding layers to it.
After adding tons of layers to the barrier, it was still not enough as it began to break one layer at a time due to the violent sound wave. Luluka's ears were ringing and she felt like her eardrums were about to explode!
'Wh-What the hell was that!? Did it just use wind magic to enhance its voice!?'
Luluka now realized that she'd underestimated this monster's intelligence. It was smarter than she thought!
'Argg!! Not good! I'm gonna puke!'
She pressed her hands on her ears and shut her eyes tight while gritting her teeth to endure the ringing in her ears. Her head felt dizzy and she felt nauseated.
Not long after, the loud roar finally stopped.
Luluka fell onto the ground and threw up all the contents in her stomach. She felt her strength left her. Her head still felt dizzy.
The Blood Barrier around her body crumbled completely and turned into red mist. She couldn't even imagine what her fate would be like if it wasn't for this barrier.
'N-No… If this goes on I'll…' She tried her best to recover from her dizziness, but—
*Shik!*
Holes suddenly appeared on Luluka's back as the monster dug its sharp nails into her body!
"Arggg!!!" Luluka felt immense pain as she cried out in agony!
The monster pinned her down onto the ground and looked at her menacingly.
Luluka felt like she was about to faint due to the severe pain and the dizziness in her head. If it wasn't for Blood Sacrifice greatly strengthening her body, she would have lost her consciousness already.
'No… At this rate.. I'll…' Luluka was desperately struggling to stay awake and focus.
The monster opened its mouth wide, showing its sharp teeth. It brought its mouth closer to Luluka, ready to devour her alive.
'No… I… have to....R-Ruby…I have..to…'
The monster's mouth came closer and closer until it was only inches apart from Luluka's skin, but then—
*Shik!*
Blood splattered into the air and the forest was filled with the monster's agonizing cry!
It's body was impaled by two red spikes sprouting from Luluka's back!
It struggled to break free, but the spikes skewered it's body and fixed it in place, making its struggle pointless.
Then not long after—
*Shik!!!!!!!!*
The two red spikes on Luluka's back suddenly expanded and flattened and turned into red wings!
The wings had pointed tips on where the feathers were supposed to be. It cut though the tiger's body, making it cry out in even more pain!
It's body kept twitching and twitching violently, and not long after, it finally stopped.
The monster—had died.
Luluka fluttered the red wings on her back and threw the monster corpse to the side. The ground trembled as it fell.
She then got up strugglingly and began flapping her wings. She flapped her wings once then twice, sending the leaves on the ground to scatter.
Then she flapped for the third time, and her body started to float. She kept flapping her wings repeatedly making her body float higher and higher.
Once high into the air, she looked down at the monster's corpse while thinking back about what happened just now.
Just now, when she was pinned onto the ground and was about to get devoured by the monster, she activated her new skill, Enhance Senses, hoping that it would clear away her dizziness.
And it worked!
She then activated Blood Manipulation and created spiky wings from it.
If it was before, she wouldn't be able to create such functional wings, but now she could do it thanks to Blood Sacrifice enhancing her magic power.
Luluka kept staring at the monster's corpse for a while. She wanted to drink its blood, but that could wait for later.
Right now, she needed to go check up on Ruby.
Thinking so, she fluttered her wings and flew toward Ruby…
————————-
[Ruby's POV]
"..by…R…by….Ruby!!"
Ruby came to her senses and weakly opened her eyes after hearing someone call her name.
It was her mistress.
Her mistress was calling out her name desperately. Her face was stained with tears and blood.
"M'….M-M'la…dy.." She weakly called out to her mistress.
Seeing her awake, her mistress smiled delightedly, although still crying.
'M'lady…. please don't make such a face… though you still look cute while in such a state, huh?'
She wanted to say that out loud, but she couldn't. She felt no strength left in her body. She could only smile weakly to her mistress.
She wanted to say goodbye to her mistress with a smile on her face.
She could feel it.
The strength was seeping out of her body.
Just now, her mistress had put her own pendant on Ruby's neck. It seemed to have some type of healing magic in it.
Ruby could feel her wound was closing up, but—she knew that it was too late.
She could feel it.
Her wound was too severe and she was losing too much blood. The pendant was healing her, but it was no use. It wasn't fast enough.
It was a miracle that she was still alive for this long.
But—she knew that her time had come.
With great difficulty, Ruby reached her trembling hand out to her mistress. Her mistress caught her hand and put it on her cheek.
"*sob* Ruby… Please…*sob* Stay with me…." Luluka said with a shaky voice as her tears streamed down her cheeks.
Ruby wiped away her mistress's tears with her thumb.
"M…'la..dy…..pl…ease.. don't…cry…" seeing her mistress cry for her made her feel guilty. She continued wiping her mistress's tears.
Then, she noticed something and her eyes widened.
There were deep cuts and blood everywhere on her mistress's body. Her clothes were tattered.
'W-What happened? Y-You are injured to such an extent, just what…' Ruby was shocked to see her mistress's injury.
Her mistress saw the worry look in her eyes and smiled at her. "Don't worry…Ruby… *sniffle* I'm okay…*sniffle*… I already….defeated the bad guy who hurted you… So….it's okay now.."
"..."
There was silence…
Ruby didn't respond.
Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
Protecting her mistress was her duty and yet, she let her mistress risk her life to protect her. Her mistress even got injured badly, just to protect her.
And here she was, lying down in a pool of blood, and couldn't do anything…
Ruby began to blame herself.
She felt guilty… and yet, she still felt warmth in her heart.
'Ahh… This warmth…'
This was the warmth that had melted her cold heart before.
Scene after scene flashed into Ruby's mind like a movie playback. Her mistress's smile. Her mistress's mischievous face. Her mistress's pouty face. Her mistress's crying face.
All these images flashed in Ruby's mind.
It made Ruby feel delighted. To be able to serve her mistress and spend her last moment with her, Ruby felt like her life was worth it.
She could feel it, deep in her heart. This warmth her mistress gave her had awakened this feeling inside of her.
But—at the same time, she could feel her time approaching.
She needed to convey this feeling right now…
Seeing Ruby's eyes start to close, Luluka became panicked. "Ruby! Please Ruby! Don't close your eyes..*sob*… please…"
Ruby's smile widened.
"M'la…dy…No…..Lu…luka…" She weakly called out to her mistress by her name.
"Yes..*sob*…I'm here..*sob*.."
This was it.
The moment where her feelings were conveyed…
With difficulty, Ruby tried to speak as clearly as possible—
"I…love you…"
And just like that, with a smile on her face, she stopped breathing…