Kesshō eyed the Werewolf, waiting for it to get back up.. The Werewolf got up, growling in rage at it's new opponent. Kesshō let out a hiss as she glared at the Werewolf. The look on the Werewolf's face changed to one of terror for just a moment before it howled loudly and charged towards her. Kesshō also launched herself towards it, her speed unmatchable even by Sapphire.
The Werewolf punched at the ground with its hands, one after the other. Dodging the first punch Kesshō sliced it's hand off, stabbing the second with four of her phoenix tails as she moved out of its way. The Werewolf howled in pain and staggered backwards, breaking its arm off and throwing it away.
Sapphire stared at the Werewolf in confusion, soon realising it's panic as she noticed the arm melting away into nothing. As it turned out, Kesshō also possessed a venom, a highly lethal one at that. Can she get any stronger? Sapphire wondered.
The Werewolf shot multiple fireballs at Kesshō but she walked through them completely unscathed, not even bothering to dodge them. Out of desperation the Werewolf unleashed a plume of toxic air from its mouth. Kesshō did not attempt to dodge it, instead she igniting it with a spark as she clamped her jaws, causing it to explode on the Werewolf.
Kesshō still remained unscathed and the Werewolf was running out of ways to attack. She was too fast to land a physical hit on, none of its skills worked on her. It howled loudly, summoning twenty hounds around it.
The nearest hound pounced at Kesshō from behind, getting impaled instantly by two of her tails. Two others attacked from the sides. Kesshō hit one by swinging her arm with a charged attack, her arm bursting right through the hound's skull. Her tails wrapped around the other and smashed it on another hound with great force, crushing and killing both. Kesshō drew in a deep breath as five other hounds pounced on her at once
"Tsuki Kenjutsu, Yon no kata: Tsukiniji." She mumbled as she slammed her katana on the ground, creating a shockwave that killed all five hounds.
The remaining eleven hounds cowered as she walked past them, not willing to fight her, Werewolf already planning to flee as well. Kesshō stopped for a moment as she glanced at the Werewolf, drawing a deep breath and closing her eyes. She opened her eyes, her left one's sclera having turned to black. The shockwave unleashed from her activating her skill killed all the remaining hounds, the Werewolf backing away under her glare, the power behind it having been felt by Sapphire and Winter too. Getting right back up from its position the Werewolf started to run away, having lost it's will to fight.
"Don't play around," Kurai commanded Kesshō, "finish it and return."
Blue-pink lines shot through Kesshō's legs as she launched herself forwards, standing right in front of the Werewolf. The Werewolf swung it's arm towards her but she jumped over it, tilting her body upside down she slashed it's head right off, a white crescent blade being created from her katana. The blade followed her katana as she straightened her body midair and slashed the rest of the Werewolf's body right in half. The blade dissipated as she slammed her katana, creating a weak shockwave. Holding her hand out Kesshō absorbed the Werewolf's with a skill similar to Sapphire's shadow absorption technique, the only difference being that hers looked like bright pink flames.
"Thank you for not playing around this time." Kurai patted her on the head as she stood in front of him for a moment, turning to Sapphire right after. She crouched beside Sapphire and handed her a red gem. "Looks like a Crimsonite crystal," Kurai observed. "Though it is that Werewolf's core and very valuable, she wants you to have it so you can recover."
"How?" Sapphire questioned.
"Absorb," Kesshō answered.
Kessho placed it in Sapphire's hand and she slowly absorbed the crystal core, red lines travelling through her hand to her heart where her core was. Winter watched it in awe, not understanding it but finding it quite amazing nonetheless. Sapphire instantly felt much more energized as a large amount of her energy restored.
"Level 60, HP: 4230/8021, MP: 1032/9500, Stamina: 2/12166, Strength: 6370 Defense: 4920, Speed: 8327, Energy: 43.82% (8843186/20180708 units)."
I can evolve. Sapphire thought right before darkness surrounded her vision and she passed out.
—————————————
Sapphire woke up some time around noon, she could tell from the sunlight filtering through leaves above falling right on her face. She turned to her side and tried to keep sleeping, still not feeling well rested.
"Sapphire, wake up," Winter called out.
Sapphire sighed and got up, rubbing her eyes before opening them. They were under a tree on a slight hill, some distance away from the city they were in before. She joined Winter by the side of the hill facing the city, looking to it.
"Do you think we really helped those people?" Winter inquired, staring at the city.
It was easier to tell from this distance the actual condition of the city after the battle. Half the houses were in ruins, a great number of people having been killed. There seemed to be a lot of commotion in the city, many people leaving and many knights arriving. Sapphire could make out the small figure of Kesshō sitting on the wall surrounding the city, a larger figure beside her belonging to Kurai from her guess.
"Just more would have died if we let it be anyways," Sapphire replied.
"But don't you think if we left it be for that night those two would have handled it much better, I mean she did kill it with barely any trouble or causing any damage to the city," Winter pointed out.
"Doesn't matter, we are not trying to save humans, we are trying to save other wolves, humans can all die for all I care," Sapphire answered coldly.
"But they didn't seem to be bad people, atleast not these ones, I don't know if they were even involved in everything that is happening, maybe they don't even know and would've helped if they did know," Winter argued.
"Are you trying to defend their actions?" Sapphire questioned glaring at Winter from the corner of her eyes.
Winter took in a deep breath. "No, I am only saying the people in this city were not the same as those. The lady last night who called us in did so because we were wolves, she knew that, and also knew we were more likely to be attacked by it because Werewolves hate the original wolves. The reason the Werewolf was making loud footsteps was to simply scare us away, or let us know where it is if we wanted a fight," Winter explained.
"Humans are not worth wasting your time, understand that," Sapphire commanded.
Winter sighed and lowered her head.
"Is that really so?" Kurai inquired, sitting behind them with his back resting on the tree Sapphire was under.
Sapphire snapped her head towards him, her expression turning to shock and confusion as she glanced between Kesshō and Kurai twice before staring at him.
"I made Kessho sit there so you won't realize I am not there. Anyways, that can wait for now, I would like for you to repeat your statement." Kurai requested as he got up.
"I- uh-" Sapphire stuttered.
"Do you really think so after having been saved by a human?" He inquired.
Sapphire stayed silent for a while. "But it's all their fault too." She sobbed after a while. "All of it, all my friends, and me myself. I was living happily and peacefully and now look where I am. They killed so many and ruined the lives of so many more."
Kurai walked to her and crouched in front of her, gently embracing her. "Yes, it's not wrong to blame someone for their wrongdoings, afterall they did it, they deserve the hatred and punishment. But what did those people from the city do? Whom you have never seen before, never even heard about. What is their fault in all of this, the simple fact they belong to the same species?" Kurai questioned. "If that is your logic and you were there centuries ago during the signing of the peace pact between the many species, you would have supported the idea to kill all Midnight Wolves. Many supported it in fact, except humans and phoenixes."
Sapphire tilted her head slightly in confusion, followed by Winter, equally as confused.
"None of the species are evil, there's good and evil in all, simply because you have received evil from one doesn't mean you can ignore the good in them. I will completely agree in killing off all evil from each species, but if any of the good have to die too then I am completely against it. There are very few who can truly be called evil too, someone who has done wrong to some might have done a lot of good for others. I have also killed a great many, I have seen a lot of things thus far you have not, and while I don't wish for you to see them, I would still like to request you to change your views, lest you also end up seeing them and learning the hard way.
"I am speaking from experience, even if you were to kill all humans for revenge, you will not feel any happiness from it. Enjoy this journey you have been gifted from this turn of events, you will learn and see a lot, lose and gain a lot, it's completely upto you how you wish to view those losses and gains. You can either focus on the good and be an angel, getting hurt multiple times but never losing hope in the good of the world–" he glanced briefly towards Kesshō– "Or you can be focusing on the bad things, and either succumbing to them, or embracing the darkness. Or, the last option, focus on both, think practically and act reasonably in every situation, interact with everyone based on what they deserve. I believe in you to be the third type of person, and I hope you will atleast try to be."
Sapphire slowly nodded understandingly.
"Anyways, that talk turned out to be longer than expected, and I should be departing soon too, me and Kessho need to be somewhere, we heard about the Werewolf terrorizing this town so decided to come and help out before going back on our way." Kurai explained as he walked away, waving goodbye.
Sapphire waved back to him with a smile.
"So, what do you plan to do," Winter inquired, standing beside her.
"Fine, your point is right, I was wrong, I will try my best to change," Sapphire sighed.
"Great, so, now where do we go?" Winter questioned.
"That way–" Sapphire pointed to the north– "Back to our homes for a while."
"That does sound like a good plan to me, let's do it," Winter replied. "When do we depart by the way?" Winter inquired.
"Right now." Sapphire smiled, heading straight north.
"Of course." Winter sighed as she rolled her eyes, following behind Sapphire.
"Midnight wolf (Alpha) (female), name: Sapphire, "Level 1, HP: 10000/10000, MP: 12000/12000, Stamina: 12894/14000, Strength: 6700 Defense: 5200, Speed: 8800, Energy: 79.99% (21038192/26301932 units). Skill Points: 5000. List of skills:
Titles: