Ango sat in silence, enjoying what the night had to offer spear in hand, his mind was nearly blank and strangely enough, the only thing going through his mind was the lyrics of the song he had said countless times in that cold, dark cell. He couldn't stop himself from muttering it
"Who are you, the shadows asked
That we must Kneel before
Only a brother of a different soul
That tore away our door
Hawkwood looked at him, the words Ango spoke made him recall people, good people, bad people, familiar people used as test subjects. He was not smiling and he could not; he never understood what those people went through thanks to his skills among the orcs and to Piere among the gnomes but he had seen the faces of the ones who sang the song.
Their voices were broken, subdued with every hope shattered. He couldn't understand but he was always swept up in their chorus and this time was no different; he opened his lips and muttered alongside Ango
the souls of light and the souls of dark
"The shadows fought them all
They were spent and all alone
But they did not succumb"
And they arose, they all arose
Those wretched shadows of hate
And now they serve all the lords
That took away their fate"
They did not speak after that, they didn't make any sounds and just sat there quietly. After a while, Ango decided to get up and go to sleep but before he could, he heard a soft rustling sound.
'There is no wind,… no wind?' he opened his mouth and roared.
"MOVE AWAY"
Ango bolted in a direction and throw himself, a moment after letting his mana flow again. Little snow suddenly jumped forward due to fright after getting violently awakened by the shout and Hawkwood also reacted instantly.
*Boom
*Tkhhh
Bits and chunks of stone and wood were flying around; Moonlight was faint so normally not much could be discerned but it was different. Ango could see the beast in front of him, among the flashes of red light.
*Gulp
In front of him stood a tiger with jet black lustrous fur, green eyes that stared at him without moving, and two long saber-like teeth flashing with red lightning illuminating the area and filling it with an ominous aura and crackling noises.
The first emotion Ango felt after surprise was terror, pure and utter terror. Staring at those eyes Ango could feel his body tremble without his control, his mind was screaming for him to move but he could not. His heart was pumping so much blood through his body that his eyes could only see red and blue; A tunnel of blood and red lightning.
He had felt like that only in one other situation, when Vallis would stand in front of him, force him to look into her eyes while she listed what she wanted to do to him. To watch him flinch, to watch him imagine the pain, to see the terror.
The tiger's muscled twitched and Ango could feel its mana moving toward its claws. Lightning began running through the claws, illuminating the area further, causing Hawkwood's eyes to squint but he did not move to Ango's defense.
'No more'
There was no roar or no loud sounds, only the sizzling of lightning and the low sound of the beast's breathing as its hind legs pushed the ground beneath it as Ango was watching.
"NOT FUCKING ANYMORE"
Ango roared out loud, the terror was still there but something else had taken control of Ango, anger. He did not want to see those eyes. He could see the tiger in the air and it was then that his body moved. He rolled toward the tiger, something that Hawkwood had drilled into him.
*Booom
Ango didn't see what had happened as he was mid-roll but he heard the sound of the tiger smashing through something. He could hear the sound of Little snow growling, but Hawkwood was holding her to prevent her from dying.
The moment Ango turned his head to look at the beast he only saw blue flashes in front of him, and he did the only thing he could, he ducked and threw himself forward. He missed the hit by only a few centimeters and he could almost feel the force of the blow on his face.
'Fuck, I need to limit this motherfucker's speed but how?'
*Tkhhhh
A loud boom was heard but then creaking sounds were heard
'Fuck it, I can't get close to it like this, need to take out the eyes first'
This time Ango didn't waste any time, he grabbed a stone during his roll and turned his head immediately when he landed. He saw the beast trying to lunge in his direction but before it could-
*Boooom
A tree trunk fell upon it, the same tree that the beast had collided with a few moments ago was now broken and had fallen, trapping the beast underneath it; Ango could not see the top of the tree whether it was due to its height or the darkness he didn't care.
There was dust in the air, limiting his vision but he could see four red lights among the dust, and so he threw one of the stones toward where he assumed was the beast's left eye.
A frighteningly low-pitched roar shook the dust out of the way and also made Ango's heart beat off tune but it also let him know that he had succeeded in shutting one of those hateful green eyes.
He bent down to pick another rock but the tiger began to struggle with intense ferocity, clawing itself out of the trap, seeing this let Ango know he didn't have much time and he had to increase his odds of survival so let go of the rock and started mumbling.
'Lightning speed, lightning speed, lightning speed, lightning speed'
*zzzz
His mana started to churn and move, coming out of his lower body and moving like a snake on his legs. This was the method Piere had taught him, to connect certain words to the magic he visualized, making the process faster and easier but less flexible. It was a good method for attacking spells since once the magic was released, he could stop but for the utility one's like lightning speed, he had to constantly keep the image in his head, forcing him to mutter the words; otherwise they would end.
Hawkwood and Piere could not do what he was doing, their mana could not affect their own bodies, and that was what Ango was doing. This spell made the muscles contract when lightning passed them, essentially hurting the body if the lightning was not that weak but it came with a con. Since it was designed for running, Ango couldn't do any fine controls with his legs, he couldn't suddenly make a turn while running, his leg muscles would contract at the wrong moment and he would fall.
He bolted forward, far faster than before, toward the tiger; this time he held the initiative and he intended to go for the kill. He held his spear in both hands as he charged, aiming at the beast's remaining eye so that if even he was not powerful enough to kill it, it would be blinded.
But when Ango was nearly upon it, the beast broke free; many patches of fur were torn from his body when it was struggling but it was free now, the cos didn't matter.
'Fuck damn it' due to his surprise the spell broke
He was too close to move out of the way, so he decided to continue the attack while it was still stationary. He thrust his spear with as much strength as he could muster; the tip of the dagger fixated on top of the wooden stick was moving at a high speed toward the beast's eyes but at the last second the beast moved its head.
The spear was now flying past its head but the beast was not done, it open its giant maw, the fangs flashing a dangerous red and he bit the spear as it was passing, shattering the wooden stick to pieces.
'Fuck' That was the only thing Ango's brain managed to produce at that moment, that and jumping toward the dagger; his brain made that decision the moment he saw the dagger flying in the air.
The tiger decided to bite Ango but since its neck was still extended from the previous one, he managed to stay safe; had the tiger decided to take one step and then bite, he would have died right there and then.
'Fuck, I don't have much time' he extended his hand toward the dagger and grabbed it but he did not move away.
'Now the scary part, fuck, who faces a beast with a fucking dagger'
While still in mid-air, he turned himself and now was facing the tiger. He felt his feet connecting with the hard wooden trunk of the fallen tree and he pushed against it, bolting toward the tiger that was still in the process of turning its body toward him.
He flew over the tiger's back and did the only thing that could help him win this fight, he stabbed the dagger with all his weight into the tiger's back and then let go of it.
*Rooooaaar
'Fuck, it's way worse up close' and he fell to the ground, failing to land properly and grabbing handfuls of rock and dirt.
'Damn it' as he was trying to get up, he caught a glimpse of the tiger, writhing in pain but when he managed to top, and take a proper look, he saw the tiger pouncing toward him, its maws wide open ready to snap him into pieces.
Ango didn't have many other choices and even if he did, he couldn't think of anything in that situation. Unlike what he had heard from the guards and the imaginative discussion between his fellow slaves, a fight was too fast-paced to think of a proper plan.
He threw the handfuls of rocks and dirt toward the tiger's remaining eye and rolled toward its blind eye.
Unlike what many believed, beasts weren't without intelligence, it was just that their intelligence tended to be lower than other races on average. The tiger tried to protect its remaining eye with its arms from the rocks flying toward its face, still remembering to what it had lost an eye to.
But because of its momentum, the tiger fell head forward. Ango saw the tiger losing its balance and didn't waste time yelling 'chance' or anything like that; instead he raised one of his arms, closed his eyes for a single moment and said out loud
"Lightning bolt"
*Crackle
A deep red lightning bolt flew out of his hand, too fast to keep track of but a bit off. Ango's hand was aimed a little distance away from the tiger and if the bolt continued on its way, it would miss the beast.
But Ango wasn't worried, there was a reason he had decided to let go of his only weapon a few moments ago.
When the lightning bolt was about to pass the tiger, it suddenly curved toward the back of the beast, hitting the dagger that was lodged near its spine.
*zzzz
*Rooa---aaa
The beast's body was shaking due to the intense convulsions, so much that it couldn't roar properly. The tiger was constantly trying to regain its balance but it kept falling.
If the lightning had simply hit its fur, the tiger wouldn't have been hurt much but the dagger had acted as a lightning conductor.
Ango didn't wait to see the result, he knew that one weak lightning bolt was hardly enough to kill a beast, so he didn't stop
"Lightning bolt"
"Lightning bolt"
The beast was now on the ground, its one intact green eye was rolled back. The lifeless body jerked; Ango knew that it was because of the current but he didn't want to risk it so he sent another one
"Lightning bolt"
Ango stopped, he was now sure the tiger was dead, and it was only now that he understood how much pressure he was under, the fight had perhaps lasted for a minute but Ango felt like he had gone through a whole day of Hawkwood's training.
*Huff huff huff huff
His heart was beating like drums and he felt weak all over, so much so that he wanted to lay down but he was not done.
A bit further away Hawkwood had a smile on his face while looking at Ango; he had seen Ango make many errors in this fight but he knew how it was to fight for survival. He then let go of Little snow and watched her bolt happily toward Ango, but a moment later he cursed, he had forgotten a very important matter.
On the other side, Ango who was walking toward the tiger's corpse suddenly heard something speeding toward him and it was close
'Fuck, another one?' without thinking any further he jumped to the side, ready to cast a lightning bolt, and he saw a white small beast jumping toward him.
"Lightning bolt"
"ANGO STOP" he heard a voice call for him