Snapping twigs and swaying branches were all that was heard as Lilith effortlessly made her way through the forest with relative ease and precision, she was able to perfectly choose the fasted way through a treeline with split-second decision making. She ran on the ground with ridiculous speed despite her body's current form which wasn't supposed to accommodate such an animalistic stance, she jumped and leaped onto branches at random and didn't miss a single step.
Even in her human form, she was no different from her beastly self.
"She's-..surprisingly fast!!"
Arthur commented while sprinting at full speed, struggling yet managing to dodge the incoming trees and keep up with Lilith and Paul.
"That's a mana beast for you, their strength and speed is ridiculous"
Paul chuckled but even though he said this he was still managing to keep up with Lilith with minimal difficulty, by circling mana to parts of his body he was able to keep up with the girl's superhuman capabilities.
"Hard Left!!"
Paul warned Arthur as Lilith suddenly changed directions, her senses had told her that the prey had begun moving, and with the itch to have her fists pummel something Lilith wasn't in the mood to let the beast escape. Any action it took, she'd gladly follow.
They were now inching closer to their target as even Paul was able to hear the frantic rushing footsteps of something other than Lilith, it sounded large and seemed as though it would be a problem to intercept but seeing the fact that Lilith still chased it without fail and the beast was actually running told Paul volumes about its strength.
With every passing second, they drew nearer and nearer as the beast could only helplessly run in fear in whatever direction it saw best but why was it afraid? Mana beasts weren't one's to shy away from a fight when their life was in danger yet now it was completely engulfed with fear when running away from the little Lilith.
Every part of the beast's body was screaming for it to run away, the beastly killing intent emanating from Lilith was monstrous and the beast wanted no part of it. Sadly, however, its predator was hell-bent on killing it with its own hands and wasn't about to let the beast loose just cause it was making things a little difficult for her.
As a beast herself(even as a demon), she was an expert when it came to hunting and knew exactly how to manipulate the path of her prey, it was simple and used the own animal's instincts against them like hacking the navigation system of someone highly dependant on it and having them go in whatever direction you so wished. The premise was the same instead Lilith was using fear.
When a person or animal is afraid they're instantly put into a state where a split-second decision needs to be made, you either run, fight or freeze and the one's Lilith loved the most were those that ran since when running with fear engulfing you you're trying your hardest to avoid the threat most likely chasing you, but what this also meant was the fact that you were now completely under the hunter's control. If smart enough it could easily use your fear-induced state to manipulate you into a trap to make life easier for itself and you wouldn't even realize it till it's already far too late.
This was what Lilith was doing as she lead the beast to a small clearing just large enough for the both of them, the seemingly best option would've been to exhaust the beast but Lilith didn't want an opponent that couldn't fight back, right now she wanted to pummel something but there was no joy in doing so to an already dead horse. What she wanted was to vent her frustration, see the anguish and despair in others and relish in that feeling; the feeling of having someone else at her mercy.
The beast finally made its way into the clearing and was about to leave until a little girl with bright magenta hair and an intimidating pair of pink cross-pupiled eyes stood in its way and glared with a look that both spelled anger and pure excitement, with a single glance the beast knew the girl in front of it had every intention of killing it which wasn't the most terrifying part at all. Everyone is afraid of dying but it's the type of death that is truly terrifying at that moment, and the gaze that the beast felt from Lilith told it its death wasn't going to be a peaceful one.
While this ensued Paul had caught up and was about to face the beast on his own in respect to the agreement for Lilith to merely be navigator but before he could unsheathe his sword the sound of rattling chains caught his ears before a resounding bang!!
Dust and a small shockwave of debris and wind covered Paul's vision for a brief moment as he decided to rush in and confront the beast in fear that it had attacked Lilith, however, he was stopped midway as his body unconsciously halted all movement in fear of what lay ahead.
In order to keep Paul and Arthur from interfering with her only night of fun, Lilith had switched from beastly killing intent to just the pure killing intent that humans and other races apart from beasts were attuned to, this would keep them at bay and allow her to have her way with the cowering beast in front of her. She could've also tried beating the two to a pulp but she doubted her strength to do so and also felt that the collar would interfere if she tried to harm her 'owners'.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood the beast raised its head and glared at her, the kick earlier was strong and sent the beast a few meters away from where it stood but it still wasn't enough to kill it which made the beast doubt the girl's strength.
Seeing the change in attitude Lilith smiled and charged at the beast, it wasn't cowering which was great since she didn't want it to lose all spirit just from a little 'tap'. No, she wanted to beat that fear into it.
The beast met her charge and pointed both its horns towards her.
BANG!! BANG!!
Lilith swung a kick that knocked the beast's horns away from her trajectory and followed with a second kick aimed at the beast's cheek, its head swung in the opposite direction before quickly reeling back in Lilith's direction. She hopped off the ground with a flip as she avoided the beast's counterattack, using the momentum she raised her leg and came back to the ground with a downwards kick aimed at the beast's head.
CRACK!! BANG!!
The short sound of cracking bone and the eventual impact on the ground was music to Lilith's ears, the smile on her face was widening with each passing second but her bloodlust wasn't satisfied. The anguish and despair in the beast's eyes still wasn't present but it didn't matter, she knew it would come eventually and was honestly happy that it wouldn't be a short walk in the park.
Lifting its bloodied head the beast violently turned its body and kicked in Lilith's direction who quickly blocked with her arms but was still pushed a few meters back, hope spilled into the beast's eyes as it finally landed a direct hit on its opponent but this feeling quickly faded as Lilith only shook her arms lightly which harbored nothing but simple bruises.
She placed a foot on the tree behind her and thrusted herself forward, the beast jumped back but the reaction was far too slow to avoid the swiping kick that smashed it into the thick trees behind. The beast groaned a guttural gurgle of blood and saliva as its jaw was now bent in an unnatural form, its teeth were long lost with its gums a bleeding mess.
The pain was unbearable, so unbearable that the beast wanted nothing but death at that very moment, it whimpered and whimpered as Lilith got ever closer. Her eyes gazing deep into those of the beast in front of her, it was as if she was looking into the beast's very heart and soul, inspecting every part of it like some sort of reaper. She was looking for something, looking for that gaze that would bring her joy, the same gaze she was oh so familiar with, the gaze she hoped she'd one day inflict upon that white-haired bastard.
She walked calmly and slowly as if there wasn't a care in the world, she made every passing second feel like days to the beast as it was only able to let out shrill gurgles. Now only a few meters away Lilith stopped and raised her leg high, the beast stared at her and the two met gazes till finally, Lilith saw it, the despair, anguish, and helplessness plastered within the beast's gaze like a beautiful painting from her favorite artist.
It was then that a wide smile appeared on her face as she began to bash the beast to oblivion, one kick after the other. Blood splattered in all directions but Lilith made sure not to kill the beast in a single blow as every kick was hard enough to cause immense pain but the beast still lived on, she was relishing in the torture already and the beast's gaze only heightened her enjoyment to new levels.
This constant series of bashes continued for another five minutes before the beast eventually succumbed to its injuries, the ground where Lilith stood including the tree and her already bloodied leg were painted with a deep shimmering coat of crimson. She panted heavily but it wasn't out of exhaustion but of excitement, her bloodlust was satiated and she felt joy in the suffering she'd caused the poor beast, her only regret was the fact that it wasn't the white-haired bastard getting pummeled under her feet but to be fair she knew the things she planned to do to him went far past just kicking him to death.
After her heart rate calmed down she grabbed the dead beast's head and slowly pulled it off before throwing it to the ground, she then picked it up by its dangling neck and slowly dragged it in the direction of Paul and Arthur who were still frozen in fear and shock. When she was just a meter away from them she lightly tossed the beast in their path and walked away after releasing the killing intent she'd induced on them. Her job was now done and her desires were met, whatever they did with the corpse was their problem, not hers.
The collar on her neck stopped glowing and she could feel her body fully coming under her control which placed a question in her mind.
'I wonder, will the influence never cease if the wish is not met? And what if I choose never to fulfill it, what will the collar do then?'
She thought while walking with a new skip to her step like a lottery winner coming straight out of their home after watching the winning numbers on television.