***
The air seemed heavy as the young woman propelled herself towards the crimson terror. She was dodging each spasm of the snake's volatile body appearing as an elegant gust of wind. In a blink, she was already upon the veracious beast running across its crimson scales. With a singular word from Cassidy's mouth, the crimson beast seemed to quake.
"Air Force."
Cass's hand seemed to glow a strange hue of green, and within seconds the air itself followed suit— coalescing into a ball of wind.
She lunged forward aiming at the snake's head the wind behind her crackling with every movement.
"Fast!"
The snake was fast, but not fast enough, the young woman had already made contact with her target and the impact of her attack was nothing short of astounding, staggering the crimson terror and decimating the surrounding trees leaving nothing but barren stumps where they once stood.
And yet the terror stood strong, no lethal damage to its body in sight. Cass simply snarked and thought to herself:
'Damn, a class 3 Snair Drake really is no joke huh.'
As if to affirm her witty comment the terror seemed to stop moving, steeling itself as though it was preparing for something.
Cass simply shrugged and continued her onslaught, content with the result of her previous attack.
Bending the air as she moved, Cass attempted to hit the Drake with her previous elemental bomb but at the last second it seemed as though the terror hardened bracing itself for impact,
Cass's wind had simply ricocheted off the snake's scaly head, as though it could bend the air itself. Sensing that something wasn't right the young woman distanced herself and planned.
***
"It Hurts… Everything hurts like hell."
The young Kindle said as he felt his very being shudder.
Kalida knew he couldn't hold on much longer in his state.
5 maybe 10 minutes at most. The air within the terror's gut was stale, almost unbreathable. If he would not succumb to his wounds the young man would surely asphyxiate within this monstrosity's innards.
Kalida's mind raced as he thought of a solution.
It seemed simply hopeless, he had no way of knowing if Cass would be able to get him out of this monster's guts or if she was even trying to.
leaning against a crimson pole to support himself, he attempted to summon that holographic screen once more.
"Open."
But there was no response.
"System Open."
And yet again nothing appeared.
Kali stood an unreadable expression on his tanned face. And then in a moment's notice, he simply closed his eyes and willed the translucent window to appear as the ancient runes began to form the young man felt a crackle on left palm. Suddenly the shape of a crescent moon had begun carving itself into his flesh.
'Grah! What the he-"
Kalida's gasp of pain was interrupted by a sudden resounding voice from the incandescent runes.
[Welcome young Kindle]
[Ember Stats]
[Attributes: Daemons Blessing, Mark of Ichor, Bloody Stream, Coagulate, Child of blood]
[Name: Kalida Ardens]
[Class: 6]
[Rank: Kindle]
[Specialty: Ember Tamer]
[Ember: Scarlet Pyre]
[Ashes:0]
[Recollections:0]
The window appeared in front of the young awakened its translucent nature making it almost ethereal to witness. Ignoring the runes for the time being, Kalida studied the newly formed engraving on his caramel skin an obsidian crescent moon had now formed on his hand. He attempted to scratch at the borderline tattoo, but to no avail so the young awakened decided to focus on the problem at hand first.
Kalida studied the runes inscribed on the tablet until something caught his attention.
"Attributes?"
Almost as though the system knew his intention a prompt appeared before him.
"[Would you like to see the description of your attributes?]'
The young man paused for a second before responding.
"Yes."
[Daemons Blessing]
[Description: The blessing of the old gods seems to still be intact, contorting and conforming into something new and allowing a new legacy to be born.]
[Effects: You possess a fragment of something divine.]
Kalida reflexively puts his hand on his face before saying:
'This… I honestly don't know what to make of this ability. Its effects are too vague.'
[Mark of Ichor]
[Description: Being an ancient being of blood has scarred your very soul, damming you to always be marked by an unrelenting burn.]
[Effects: Your blood is naturally corrosive. Anything and everything Foreign to your body will be burned away by the ever-burning ichor within you.]
Kali stood Watching the flickering runes with an interesting expression on his face.
'What exactly does it mean by corrosive? I guess ill just to find out when the time comes hopefully later than sooner..'
[Bloody stream]
[Description: All opponents must bleed. There is no distinction between friend and foe for one's blood, All will eventually fall to its essence.]
[Effects: ???]
Again. The effects of Kali's own attunements seemed to leave him puzzled. unsure of what to even think about the illustrious boon of his, he simply chose to not pay it any thought at the moment and continued checking his Attributes.
[Coagulate]
[Description: A strange crackling could be heard somewhere in the distance so faint it was almost indistinguishable from the dull silence of the ambiance. And yet the sound would not extinguish it simply sparked on.]
[Effects: once an opponent bleeds from your attacks, summons will enter into a state of bloodlust. If an attack from the enraged summon lands the opponents blood will begin clotting.]
'This ability!! It's incredible, as long as I manage to even slice my opponent I can have a shot to incapacitate them.'
Kalida managed to regain his posture as he could feel the oxygen leaving his lungs by the minute. A feverish frenzy finally set into his mind, as the Kindle's reality finally set in.
Suddenly a cunning thought formed in Kali's mind.
"Let's see if you bleed. damn bastard!"
****
Cass seemed to not be doing too well. Her once radiating smile now gone from her face.
'This damn drake… i've never seen one with elemental properties, much less one that was this tough.'
The young huntress landed on her feet. Balancing her delicate silver spear, she steeled herself for another clash with the crimson terror. But something seemed wrong. The beast had begun convulsing violently, every inch of its scarlet scales tensing and pulsating as a result. Then in one swift motion the hulking beast fell limp.
Cass looked at the Remnant beast dumbfounded. But before she could react a strange sizzling could be heard in the distance.
The huntress recoiled, and in an instant summoned a beautiful golden shield. She had long casted away her spear choosing to wield the magnificent shield with both hands completely obscuring herself from the terror.
And with that the sound went from a sizzle to a crackle. Then from the former to a gory spectacle of crimson scales and rains of deep dark black blood.
Suddenly something or someone crawled out of the now agape stomach of the once might crimson terror.
****
"Damn! Feels good to finally be free!"
Kalida had managed to accomplish the impossible. He had managed to subdue the behemoth and secure his safety for now…
Feeling the clean air grace his lungs he let out an exuberant gasp before attempting to collect himself. Somewhere in the distance a gleaming golden shield could be seen towering over Kali. The artifact was easily over 12 feet tall from what he could tell.
Soon from behind the ancient thing a familiar face appeared.
Cassidy had seemed dumbfounded at what she was witnessing.
"How? Just how?"
Lifting the vibrant shield into the air it easily eclipsed the huntress by 6 or so feet. And in a flash the item had simply dissipated into a few golden sparks of nothingness.
Kalida opened his mouth to speak but before he could the huntress had already begun her questioning.
"So just what are you?"
Kali simply shook his head and said:
"A human obviously."
What had she even meant by the question?. Kali wasn't sure. Riddles weren't his forte but nonetheless he began to explain his situation in more detail.
****
Sometime later, Cass had finally finished her onslaught of questions. Her and Kalida had begun walking south from the grove. It was qucikly approaching night fall at this point so they decided to camp out in a nearby cave. After getting settled in She asked in a somewhat concerning tone.
"What rank did you say you attained when awakening, again?"
Kalida pondered for a moment before answering, his thoughts somewhat still a mess from his bloody encounter earlier and his still aching blemishes.
"Rank 6"
Cass could only stare at him with a cold expression on her beautiful ivory face.
'You're joking right?'
Kali simply looked at her with a slightly amused face and said.
"Why would I be?"
Cass leaned in closer and said:
" That would mean… your Ember is at a level not even recorded in human history."