"Do we even need to run if your summon can handle it?" Gail asked, his voice calm but tinged with a hint of skepticism. His Royal Wolf padded silently beside him, its ears pricked up as though listening intently.
Elara shook her head, gripping her Diamond Grimoire tighter. "Aria can't beat it outright. Not yet," she said, her voice clipped with tension. "She's still learning its movements. That's an eleven-core Beta Luminara beast."
The words sent a ripple of unease through the group. A beast with eleven cores—one step away from full maturity—was no trivial opponent, even for someone like Aria.
Even Kael's Royal Dragon, usually proud and unshakeable, shifted uneasily. Mary's Golden Lion pressed closer to its master, divine energy crackling around its mane in response to the oppressive miasma.
Before they could respond, Aria suddenly materialized beside them, her presence silent and unnervingly abrupt.
"Kill?" she asked, tilting her head, her onyx eyes calm but carrying a chilling certainty.
Mary let out a startled scream, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Does she have to do that?"
"Kill? Already?" Elara's voice cracked as she stumbled to a stop, her gaze darting between Aria and the monstrous Shadow Stalker still rampaging behind them.
"Yes," Aria said with a firm nod, her voice steady and assured. "I can kill."
Elara hesitated, her heart pounding in her chest. "Okay… go then," she commanded, her voice betraying a faint quiver.
Aria appeared in front of the Shadow Stalker in an instant, her small frame dwarfed by the towering monstrosity. The beast's hulking form radiated raw malice, its miasma swirling around it like a shroud of despair. Its glowing red eyes locked onto Aria, and it let out a guttural roar, shaking the ground beneath them.
Aria remained motionless, her expression serene. The beast charged, its claws carving deep trenches in the earth as it moved with surprising speed. Aria shifted slightly, adopting a low stance, her black dress rippling in the waves of miasma.
The Shadow Stalker's massive paw came down like a hammer, its miasma-coated claws gleaming with deadly intent. Aria's hands moved in a blur, intercepting the strike with a perfectly timed parry. The impact sent a shockwave through the air, and though she held her ground, the force pushed her back several steps, leaving gouges in the dirt.
"Not enough," Aria murmured, her voice barely audible.
Through her Diamond Grimoire, Elara felt the strain ripple through Aria. The beast's eleven miasma cores powered its attacks with monstrous strength, and Aria's current two cores were being pushed to their limits.
The Shadow Stalker roared again, its second head snapping forward with razor-sharp teeth aimed at Aria. She twisted her body, narrowly evading the attack, her movements fluid and precise. Her counterattack came swiftly—a palm strike aimed at the beast's torso, enhanced with miasma. The blow landed with a resounding crack, forcing the beast to stagger, but it quickly recovered, its twin heads lashing out in unison.
This time, Aria was caught off guard. One of the heads grazed her arm, drawing a faint line of blackened blood. Elara's heart clenched, panic flooding her veins as she felt the injury through their connection.
"Aria!" Elara called out, her voice trembling.
"I'm fine," Aria replied calmly, her golden eyes glowing faintly as Duality activated. Her black hair shifted, turning radiant gold as divine energy flowed through her body, countering the miasma's corrosive effect.
Aria's aura expanded, gold and black intertwining in a dazzling display of raw power. She shifted stances, adopting the second form of Heavenly Fang, a technique designed for precision strikes against larger foes. Her movements became sharper, her strikes more deliberate.
The Shadow Stalker lunged again, its axe-like claws swinging in wide arcs. Aria ducked low, her body a blur as she closed the distance. With a sharp exhale, she drove her fist into the beast's front leg, shattering the bone with a sickening crack. The creature howled, collapsing onto one knee, but it retaliated with its remaining strength, swiping at her with renewed fury.
This time, Aria leapt onto the beast's back, using her small size to her advantage. Her hands glowed with divine energy as she struck the base of its neck, disrupting the flow of miasma within its body. The Shadow Stalker bucked wildly, trying to throw her off, but she clung to it with unrelenting determination.
Through her grimoire, Elara saw the complexity of Aria's techniques unfold. Each movement was calculated, targeting the beast's vital points with uncanny precision. Aria switched to Voracious Mind, drawing upon countless martial arts techniques she had devoured. Her strikes flowed seamlessly, breaking through the beast's defenses bit by bit.
Finally, with a feral roar, Aria drove her glowing fists into the Shadow Stalker's chest. A shockwave erupted, and the beast collapsed to the ground, its massive body twitching in its death throes.
But Aria wasn't done.
She stepped back, her golden aura dimming slightly as her onyx eyes returned. Then, with unnerving calm, she began to dismember the creature. Her small hands moved with clinical precision, tearing through sinew and bone as she exposed the cores nestled within the beast's massive frame.
One by one, the eleven miasma cores were extracted, each glowing faintly with residual energy. Aria held them in her hands, her expression unreadable as she devoured them, the energy flowing into her like a river. The air around her seemed to hum with newfound power, though Elara could feel through the grimoire that the cores were being stored, their energy waiting to form her third core.
When it was done, Aria turned to Elara, her dress and hands immaculate, as though the grisly task hadn't just unfolded before their eyes.
"Food," she said simply, patting her stomach with childlike satisfaction.
Elara swallowed hard, her gaze flicking between Aria and the mangled remains of the beast. "Aria," she began hesitantly, "are you okay?"
"Yes," Aria replied, her voice steady. She tilted her head slightly. "This was fun."
Elara shuddered, her mind racing as the grimoire fluttered open again, revealing more details about the Heavenly Fang Form and the synergy it had with Aria's traits.
"She… did it," Gail muttered, his usually composed demeanor faltering as he stared at the aftermath of the battle.
"By the gods," Mary whispered, her face pale. "What is she?"
"I told you," Elara said, her voice soft but tinged with awe. "She's terrifying."
"Aria," Elara called softly. "How close are you to your third core?"
Aria tilted her head, considering. "Thirty percent of miasma half formed," she replied with that unnervingly precise calculation. "Need more divine energy to balance."
The words hung in the air, a reminder that even this display of overwhelming power was just a fraction of what she could become.
"Eleven cores," Elara murmured, her fingers trailing across the glowing pages of her grimoire. The diagrams of Heavenly Fang Form remained etched there, the details growing clearer with every movement Aria executed.
"Elara," Kael said, stepping closer, his tone cautious. "You realize what this means, right? She's not just a summon—she's a warrior with techniques that no one in this kingdom has ever seen before."
Elara nodded, swallowing hard. "I know."
Her voice trailed off as she looked at Aria, who was now inspecting a nearby flower with childlike curiosity, completely unaffected by the chaos she had just caused.