The last of the Shadow Hellhounds and Wailing Ghouls dissipated slowly into gray dust and dispersed into the surrounding mist. Beibei was teetering on her two trembling legs, struggling to keep standing. Kunwa was already kneeling on the ground, his left hand clutching at his right shoulder even as red blood seeped continuously through the clothes. Nanate was faring a bit better than them both, but he still lodged the edge of his sword into the ground, using it as support.
Three pairs of eyes turned to the last shackles of light slowly ebbing, as the dark energy restrained within it surged into a storm, thrashing about the constraints.
"I'll try to hold it back. Take Kunwa and run out of the mountain path. It won't be able to follow you out of the valley."
Beibei glanced at Nanate who seemed to be taking deep breaths to steady his nerves, getting ready for the next fight. Then she glanced at Kunwa who was about to collapse from exhaustion and blood loss. Was her decision to come find the hidden family wrong? Would they have to pay a heavy price for her arrogance? She took a long, shuddering breath, fighting against the dizziness and fatigue threatening to overtake her body.
"No. Take Kunwa and leave now. I will stay behind and keep it occupied. I'll try to hold it back long enough for you both to leave the valley."
Nanate and Beibei looked at each other, each stubbornly persisting in their own decision, neither ready to give way.
"He-he-he-he! It so heart warming to see such close brotherhood in the face of death! Each wanting to die for the other. Why don't I make both your wish come true. Let me kill all of you.....then neither will have to leave the other behind and feel bad about it?!"
Beibei shuddered. An oppressive killing force permeated into the surrounding, pressurizing their body and soul. The words were not said aloud. Instead it rang out loud and clear inside their minds. All three simultaneously turned to the last area as the chains of light tore apart, and a thick black mist surged outwards like a raging storm of clouds.
A dark form emerged from within. It looked like a human, robed in black smoke, its face hidden beneath the long, loose hood. Only a tinge of red could be seen shining from within the shadows of the smoky hood.
The cloud all around started converging into more Devil's Snares, looking like snakes writhing all around the person's head.....like a halo of mist snakes. But unlike the snares of before, these snares really were snakes. Each long form had two bloodthirsty red eyes, shining in excitement of bloodlust. Their jaws opened wide, with little black smoke fangs glinting within.
Beibei was frozen in shock for a moment. This creature of the dark could think and talk...which meant he was at a much higher level than them! She swept her spirit sense through the tools and traps left in her satchel. Even if they were enough to take down the snakes, the man would still be there after all the snakes were dead. Moreover, he might have more tricks after these snakes. And they were seriously low on ammunition.
The snakes writhed and twisted in the air, their excitement building up as they caught a whiff of the blood still dripping from Kunwa's shoulder wound. Kunwa had torn through his shoulder padding and applied the medicine liberally before wrapping it up in cloth strips. But the wound was still fresh, and it would take time to heal. Looking at all the pairs of red eyes intensely staring in his direction, he felt like a fresh piece of meat that these snakes wanted to tear apart and devour.
The snakes started attacking. They were far more faster and agile than the last snares. In their current condition, keeping up with this pace was becoming more and more difficult. Their bodies were hurting all over, and every limb felt like heavy stones, difficult to control and move.
Beibei, Nanate and Kunwa, all three were fighting with all their worth. The only thought in their mind was that they couldn't stop. If they stopped then it was sure death.
But in the face of such an unending stream of force, even their will started shattering. And as soon as the mind lost its calm and focus, the heaviness of their bodies increased, making them falter and make mistake upon mistakes. Very soon, their bodies were ridden with a lot of shallow and deep wounds, and adding on to their already exhausted selves, they were barely managing to avoid the sharp fangs of the slashing snakes as they zipped past them from all directions.
'Use....Fire!....'
Dizziness and nausea was overpowering her senses. Amidst the shutting down of her mind, these words rang through all corners of her brain with a sharp and crisp note.....like an order coming from within.
Beibei was now fighting completely based on her instinct and physical will power. As the order rang out, she did not even have any energy to think where it came from. She simply raised her hands and let out a ball of fire from her hands. The fire hit a group of snakes making their way towards her, and instantly the black energy burned through, dispersing into gray mist.
'Again.....Fire!'
Like an automated machine, she just kept turning round and round, shooting off small and big balls of fire all around herself.
'When the mind, body and heart are too tired to move anymore...do not give up, but keep going. Because it is only then that the soul breaks through all the limits of the being, and the new is born. When an old limit breaks down, the potential of the person changes and evolves, and a new limit is created.'
Beibei now moved like someone possessed. She had completely cut herself off from the outside, her entire senses now having turned inwards, listening and obeying only the words which rang in her mind. Kunwa and Nanate watched in shock as her body slowly gathered itself, and went from its trembling, unable to hold on self, to completely merging itself with the momentum all around her.
She was dancing. Her body moved with an ethereal grace and agility, first following the rhythm of the snakes, till she mastered the momentum, and started playing with their own rhythm.
Moving, spinning, twirling, bending, falling to the ground, getting back up, running around, leaping into the air, twisting and falling back. Her body made and broke rhythms, provoking and egging on the snakes, forcing them to move to her own rhythm, befuddling them as she broke her own rhythm, trapping them in her unpredictable attacks. Black smoke slithered all around her like an elegant sonata playing to her rhythm.
And where she moved, large number of Devil's Snares burned down under the fires emanating from her, and ceased to exist. 'Dance of the Flames' - for some reason these words flitted through Nanate's mind. Looking on at her dancing, mesmerized by her beautiful and elegant killing moves, he could only think of this name for this awe-inspiring movement.
Beibei paused, then pulled both feet together and came to a stop. All around her dark dust poured around like a shattered storm, each grain sparkling in the dim light even as they lost their glossy sheen and turned gray, before dispersing in the mist all around. Her head hung low, her being still absorbed in the fleeting rhythm. An unbreakable calm pervaded her mind and body. She could feel her sensory perceptions growing even more stronger than before, and her spiritual consciousness heightened.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at the last creature of the dark. Her eyes were pools of icy calmness, like dark pools of void covered with layers of frozen glacial waters. Even the creature of the dark paused in his movement, stunned by this sudden change in the entire being of the person before it.
'Seek the fires within you, and let it flow. Do not be afraid of who you are. Who you are is also a continuation of who you were, and is the base of who you wish to become. Only the river of change connects all the pieces of you together.'
Beibei blinked, still absorbed in her own world. Fire from within? That tiny amount of fire barely capable of keeping the pill furnace going?....No...she always felt there was something holding back her fire. Was that something within her? She closed her eyes, trying to seek what was holding her fire from within.
Seeing her close her eyes, the creature of the dark came back to itself. This was its chance. It had to get rid of this person now, or the small chance would be gone. This woman's aura had suddenly changed, and it could feel an unprecedented force within her, a force which would lead to its utter destruction if he did not grasp this chance and get rid of her now.
The dark smoke around it started congregating again, forming thick and dense energy circles, finally condensing to form more ferocious dark creatures than before. Gone were the snares and hellhounds and ghouls......these new creatures were formless mass of dense black smoke, and could form anything at random.
Beibei was lost in her inner world. Kunwa struggled up, glancing at Nanate. Now they had to hold back these creatures. Beibei seemed to be going through some kind enlightenment, and they had to provide her with enough time. She had taken care of all the numerous and unending snakes on her own. Now it was their turn to buy time for her.
The large energy balls dashed past them in high speed, randomly flying in all directions. Yet slowly they could sense the web they were creating all around them, trying to catch them in the centre. Kunwa and Nanate moved to each side of Beibei. They carefully placed the two already injured beasts inside their clothes, then gripped their weapons and tools, readying themselves for a massive fight.
The balls picked up more and more speed. It was difficult to predict the attacks of these balls. They would randomly form claws, tails, spikes, snares, shoot out daggers or needles. They could attack from any direction, even from above or below. Within a few moments, both Nanate and Kunwa were dripping in blood, their clothes ripped in places, wounds scarring the dark ground below.
Kunwa's shoulder wound had opened up due to the continuous movement, and fresh blood soaked over the dried blood on his clothes.
The scent of fresh blood seemed to make the beasts seek more bloodlust, as the center of the circles started turning dark red, like glittering eyes. The black mist started lapping up the blood as it fell on the ground. The more blood it drank, the more excited it became, and it started sucking all the blood fallen on the ground, voraciously lapping each part of the soil. As the last drop of blood was sucked out of the soil, the mist finally turned towards the three. Having had a taste of blood after so long.....how could it let go of its prey.
Kunwa shuddered. Even Nanate felt his face growing pale as he felt the vicious glimmer in the eyes of each energy ball circling around them. They wanted to such their blood directly. These creatures would suck out all their blood, devour their vital essence and turn them into decayed corpses. Such was the appetite of these creatures of the dark. They didn't even have any energy left to run and escape! Both the men watched helplessly as the energy balls increased their speed, circling all around them in dizzying motion, eager to attack.
"Frozen Flame of Annihilation!"
The sharp cry pierced through the smoke in all directions, and for a very short moment, time itself seemed to come to a standstill.
A strange silverish-blue flame flickered around Beibei. They flickered again and again, as if trying to come to life. Then in an instant burst forth like a tempest, spilling over in all directions. Everything it touched turned to flickering silver dust and rained down heavily on the black soil.
In the midst of the fire, a tiny vortex started taking shape, and feeding on the strange fire, it grew larger and larger, till eventually it reached the height of the mountain, covering almost the entire passage width.
Only the three humans and two beasts were sheltered in the center of the vortex. The silverish-blue fire merged into the vortex, speeding crazily around its point. The vortex sucked in all black mist to its core, and then the fire burned it to silver dust.
After a long while, both the vortex and the strange fire dissipated. What remained was clean, pure air. The fire had entirely burned out the black smoke as well as the gray mist from their surroundings. They could even see the light of day seeping through the narrow gap at the top of the steep cliff. The black ground beneath their feet was now covered in a thick layer of fine silver dust, and even as they watched, the dust melted away to form thin rivulets of milky water, and seeped into the ground, fading away like a dream.
Beibei stood still for a long while, her eyes still closed. Then her senseless body crashed heavily onto the ground, laying motionless and battered.