As Jin and Stella went deeper into the forest, the air grew heavy with an unsettling amount of ki. A palpable ki started to surround them. It was thick and filled with the feeling of death, making Jin's instincts strike up with unease. He slowed his pace, glancing at Stella. "Stella," he whispered. "We should watch carefully before moving recklessly from here on. Something feels off about this place."
Stella focused her senses around her and started to feel it as well, nodding in agreement. Jin looked over at Stella again, "Are you sure you can do this without a weapon? We can just go back and find anything." Jin said, obviously worried about Stella, for what reason he was worried about her was remained a mystery, though.
"I'll be fine, so don't worry!" She said confidently, but it also had a hint of nervousness within her voice. They started walking again and found the den of wolves. The wolves themselves felt as normal as the ones Jin had fought during his hunting at the Bone Structure Palace with his master.
Jin turned to Stella, "Are you ready then?" Stella was breathing slowly but heavy as if nervousness washed over her suddenly but nodded. "I'm ready, if the worst happens we just need to run right?" Jin nodded and pulled out his tanto than began his assault. "Swiftless Feather" was used straight at a wolf, colliding with its head. "Forbidden Azure: Condensed Redemption" He used with his blade inside the wolf exploding the wolf, killing it. During so, all the other wolves noticed it and one jumped at Jin about to take a chuck from his shoulder, "Swiftless Feather" was used by Stella surprising the wolf for just a moment before she used her "Nature's Flow: Gentle Stream Cut" but without her Katina the move was severely weakened and had flaws all around it, but it worked in killing the wolf.
"Nice shit," Jin said before seeing something behind Stella, "Dodge!" Jin said quickly. A wolf bigger than the other dashed at Stella and was right above her. Stella used the "Swiftless Feather" technique the moment Jin said to dodge barely avoiding being caught in the jaws of this monster.
This wolf was bigger than the others, it had some sort of ki releasing from its entire body, the muscles on his back, his legs, and even his neck seemed a lot bigger than the others. He growled in a low and dark tone which released ki into the vicinity as well.
"What the hell is this thing." Jin said before having no choice but to rush it before it rushed him. "Swiftless Feather" combined with using "Forbidden Azure: Spirit of the Phantom Blade", Jin activated it onto his blade and increased the firepower of it onto his tanto and went for a strike, using "Swiftless Feather" again to gain an advantage on the side of this beast.
The beast sensing it howled loudly, which attracted other wolves nearby to attack the invaders of his territory. Stella used "Swiftless Feather" to knock one of the wolves back from Jin, allowing him to land his attack onto the giant beast on his side. The wolf saw phantoms and Jin run up to it and hit it, yet it didn't do damage, but suddenly, it did. Slow flames began to form from the cuts, and the beast growled again, jumping into the air before opening his mouth. A sudden burst of ki came from its mouth and caused a wave of visible sound roaming rampage directly towards Jin, and Stella. Both of their eyes widen and used "Swiftless Feather" to run out of the range of it, barely escaping and hiding in the forest. Due to the thick amount of ki surrounding the forest, the beast couldn't detect their ki.
"D-damn, what the hell was that?" Jin said, trying to catch his breath. Stella who was also trying to catch her breath, "I… I don't know, but whatever it was, it was powerful."
After a few minutes, they catch their breath and sit down on the ground of a tree behind it together. "I think I have a strategy to defeat it." Jin said, looking at Stella. "W-what is your plan?" Jin peaked over the tree, seeing the slow flame still burning the beast even though he released his ki. "It seems like this flame burns even if I release my ki… so maybe if you use swiftless feather on your arms and I use it on my feet with my technique, I can cause it to slowly die from burning it without needing to fight it up close."
Stella thought about it for a second, "But… wouldn't that be too much? You were tired from just using it once during our spar, and you look like you're baring holding it together with ki." Stella was worried about Jin's health with over doing it. "… I thank you for worrying but, what… what other option is there? I still have shit I have to do in my life. For that, I will continue to grow stronger no matter what." Suddenly, an idea appears inside Jin's head. "I have it! An idea."
Stella sat looking at him with biting her lower lip out of nervousness, and worrying. "Please… just be careful." Calming her breathing down after a moment. "What do I need to do?"
"Just keep all the other wolves off me for as long as you can, okay?"
"Sure, I can do that for quite a while."
Jin thought to himself, "I've only ever practiced this a few times… I'm not sure if it'll work, but shit, what other choice do I have here?"
Jin stepped out from the tree and used "Swiftless Feather" and instantly appeared in front of the giant wolf, and calmed his breathing before activating his hexagon around his tanto increasing the power of each strike.
He also infused "Forbidden Azure: Spirit of the Phantom Blade" into his blade, Jin instantly felt his ki hitting bottom, knowing this one strike is all he has, or he'll die here today. His blade started to glow a bright blue color as he swung it down upon the giant wolf's neck, trying to slice it in a single hit.
His blade entered the neck but couldn't penetrate all the way through, Jin fell to the ground due to running out of ki. Jin's vision blurring as he sees the wolf's claw fall upon him. "I-is this…really where I fail? Before I could even get my revenge…" He thought to himself, "Damn… I guess I'll see you sooner than expected, master." His eyes slowly close.
Stella, seeing this, her eyes widened, "No!" She used "Swiftless feather" instantly appearing where Jin's tanto was and used "Nature's Flow: Gentle Stream Cut" which used all of her remaining ki but pushed it forward striking the handle of the tanto pushing it down more as the flames of the tanto began to engulf the beast completely. She fell to the ground but lands on top of Jin, who was barely holding on to his consciousness.
Stella looked up, "Please… Please be enough." Not realizing it herself, but the flames were disrupting the flow of ki in the air and was somehow absorbing it, increasing the flame power on its own. The beast howled, it whined from the pain coursing through its veins, it's ki flow was disrupted, stopping all recovery options it had.
The beast shook itself and realized the one who caused this pain was laying on the ground, and it tried to use the sound burst, but it was to no effect. Instead, the attack disrupted and caused pain to itself. The beast's eyes began to bleed, his organs burning from the outside while his fur caught on fire, within seconds burnt to a crisp falling over and turned to dust shortly after.
Stella seeing this barley, "I-I saved him", she smiled before passing out on top of him. Jin, already, passed out thinking he had died. The other wolves saw the defenseless bodies but also looked at the blade, and none wanted to risk it after seeing the strange thing absorbing ki and disrupting the flow of ki. They all backed off slowly before running away.
A few hours had passed by. Jin slowly started to wake up, feeling his body filled with ki due to the forest's thick amount of ki his body absorbed over the time he was passed out. Jin looked around slowly before looking up and seeing Stella's dark blue hair all around his face and slightly turned his head to see her on top of him passed out.
Jin starts to get up slowly before taking off his shirt, and slightly moves Stella over to it using it as a pillow before he got up and grabbed his tanto putting it up in its sheath. "Ugh shit my head hurts…" He said quietly before breathing in the air in a deep inhale and slowly exhaled.
After a few minutes, Jin decided to pick Stella up and carry her on his back to the village.