He coughed out volumes of blood, screaming from the pain of this attack.
Upon taking this attack, the spectating hunters just laughed and smiled amongst themselves, showing not even a slither of pity for this werewolf.
As the werewolf's pain seemed to worsen, the happiness of these hunters grew.
The dark-skinned hunter then shouted and stabbed the dagger right into his stomach, staring into the werewolf's soul while doing so.
He screamed in pain, opening his eyes widely upon taking such an attack. It felt like his insides were burning apart, and he was struggling to even breathe.
"Tell me what I want to know now!" The hunter ordered, as his eyes glowed orange themselves.
An aura of orange qi enveloped his body and he removed the dagger to stab it into his body, only in a different place.
"AAARH!" He screamed, coughing out even more blood before grunting in pain.
There was a look of consideration on his face, but he continued on in silence. The pack of a werewolf was beyond that of even a family. There was an unbreakable sense of trust that was akin to a chain, with each link inseparable from each other.
Betrayal seemed to not even be an option for this werewolf.
"Give the the information that I desire and you can make this a lot easier for yourself. You know what, tell me where your pack are and I'll let you go." He offered, removing his dagger.
As he did so, the werewolf gave out a sigh of relief, and the wound slowly started healing.
"I... I don't believe you!" He replied angrily.
"Fine, don't believe me. Don't believe me and I'll just endlessly torture you then when I'm satisfied, I'll kill you. And just for your information, I'm not easy to sate."
There were a few seconds of silence between the hunter and the werewolf.
They both stared in each other's eyes, before the werewolf slouched down and seemingly gave up. His chains were keeping him up but his torso had fell forward, and he just panted, clearly exhausted.
"They're a few miles north of here. They're in Gayala." He confessed.
"There we go, that's all we had to do. Now, you get to go free."
The hunter appraoched him with a solemn face, ripping the chains and ropes off his limbs. Upon being freed, the werewolf just dropped to his hands and knees in weakness.
He was weakly breathing and looked mere days from death.
The werewolf then turned to try and gallop away. Upon taking his first stride, the hunter was now stood ahead of him with a cold emotionless face. The silver dagger in his hand still sizzled away, and he simply didn't move an inch.
"You said I was free, you said I could go!" He shouted.
The hunters behind him simply laughed upon hearing his comment, and the werewolf was struggling to understand the source of humour. He turned back to the hunter with cautious eyes, surveying the surroundings.
"I'm a hunter. You really thought I would let you enter the woods and terrorise other people?" He asked.
"No, I promise you. Me and my pack, we all stay strapped down and controlled in full moons, we do not attack a soul!" He insisted, begging for his life.
However, the hunter remained remorseless. This werewolf could tell that he wasn't going to get into this hunter, that showed not even a sliver of sympathy.
He leaped up and tried to run past the hunter but he was now too weak. The silver dagger was driven right into his heart, and he took a sharp inhale upon taking this stab.
Looking down to his chest, he slowly looked back up to the hunter before collapsing to the ground. His breaths were short and frantic, as if he was panicking. He flailed around weakly, unable to take the dagger out from his chest.
Seconds later, the werewolf died and his body came to an abrupt stop.
"Piedro, take the body and burn it, there's no use for it any longer
*****
The days of travel continued and Abel could feel himself making steady progress. With Zeke's translated pages of parchment from his Abryssian skill books, he could tell he was approaching the top of his class.
His aura was much more intense than the other qi auras that he would witness within the carriages.
Upon entering the forests at nighttime, Zeke would also compel weak merchants and receive blood so that they could keep themselves going.
It wouldn't be long before they would have more freedom in the union of Solterra to find blood, and so they only drank blood once during the journey.
It didn't feel good to starve themselves, and Zeke was feeling the ravenousness more significantly but he was willing to wait.
Revealing themselves and their abilities was one of the last things they wanted to do, knowing the hunters that laid in the darkness, waiting to execute them.
Soon, the carriages started soaring over sandy, dusty planes, and clouds of dust followed them along in their travels.
As they travelled on, large grey stone walls could be seen ahead of them, and they could see the large city of Ansita, Solterra.
The animals looked tired and pleased that their journey was finally coming to an end, and they were all given large volumes of water to keep them refreshed.
Master Klemens at the foremost carriage was met by other soldiers and cultivators. They were now in the heat of the desert, and these soldiers had armour with more earthy, sandy tones.
"It's a pleasure to meet you dear master Klemens." The cultivator at the head of this group said, kneeling.
He had a sword at his holster and had white sand-coloured robes. He had olive-toned skin and had a long, thick beard.
The cultivator looked to be in his thirties but was 140 years old. His looks meant that he was a strong cultivator, almost definitely being an aristocrat of noble status.
"Please follow me to your accommodation. This is where you'll be staying for the time, and the merchants willl be directed to their own accommodation also."
The students followed their masters into this large city, that was bustling with people. The bright golden sun beamed across the city, enchanting the buildings around them.
There were more buildings made of grey stone, along with the classic sandstone of the surrounding desert. The city was actually built on an oasis, so there was a moderate amount of foliage and greenery across the streets.
After walking for a few minutes, they arrived at what looked like a castle. It was surrounded by palm trees, and was also manned with several cultivators, with some being heavily armed. Most of the people that wore a lot of armour were physically quite large, and muscular.
"This is where you will be staying for the time being. There are cultivation rooms and small dojos located in the site, that are of the style of those in Fragan. Here, there will be frequent meals, along with an infirmary with various healers to help when needed."
The students entered and were given different rooms to place down their belongings. They didn't stay long in this place, however, and were soon escorted to the academy where they'd be training.
The Iron Fist Academy. One of the most renowned academies of the desert realm as a whole.
The academy was much larger than their own, and had several palm trees and sandstone buildings that weren't found in Fragan. Fragan was a total grassland, and simply wasn't as hot and sandy as Ansita was.
To begin with, the students were being taught by masters of this academy. They were around the same stage in their training, and their first session was mainly just learning different fighting techniques based on close quarters combat.
The students were split into their usual classes, but these classes then merged with the other classes that were present within the Iron Fist Academy.
Upon making themselves at home here, they soon became exposed to the perceived stars and talents of the academy. The strongest of their year group was said to be a boy called Keagan Natsuo. The Natsuo Family were nobility within this city and the union of Solterra as a whole.
Their patriarch was a personal adviser and assistant to the duke of the entire union.
He stood at 6'3, with icy blonde hair and shaved sides. He also had piercing blue eyes, that showed off his confidence and determination with a single glance.
In the halls, there was a highly anticipated match up between the two strongest of the academies. This was a match up between Otto von Falken and Keagan Natsuo. Keagan wasn't son of the lord of the city, but his heir was 2 years older than the two, so wasn't exactly his competition.
The two warriors stood against each other, both with firm, sharp glances. Just from their showdown, they could tell that the other possessed the same resolution as themselves. They shook hands firmly, before walking past each other with their eyes still locked onto each other.
The tension was high, and the students surrounding them had almost come to a stop like time had paused.
They expected a battle, but felt very disappointed to see that nothing actually happened.