Cannibal

(Winter Woods - Seksulfur's POV)

(Daytime)

A violent snowstorm raged as I struggled to walk through the woods. Back then, I had made an immediate escape after attacking the enemy however the infrasound from that time still kept messing with my brain.

It was invading ever so slowly, trying to pull out the undesirable beast from within. I wasn't ready for it! Not at that time! I had to catch up to Shyza and fast!

*Cough cough*

My knees gave in to the internal bleeding, forcing me to fall. Blood spewed from my mouth with every cough and it didn't seem like any of it was going to stop.

Health

Food

Must... restore.

Yes, I needed it back. The blood. All of it.

An evil smirk tore across my face as waves of sadism flushed my mind and lured my eyes into a red hue.

That was who I truly was, a carnivore.

(Unknown location - Olivia's POV)

ugh

My eyes slowly motioned as my consciousness returned to me.

"W- Where am I?", I took a look around but there was no one.

A few metres before me was an extremely deep depression that released chills of death from within. It resembled the so-called 'King's Slash'

The last few moments before I blacked out suddenly rushed in, forcing my eyes to widen.

"Shyza!", I tried to move around but I was bound tightly to a stake. "What is this!?"

*Grrrrrr*

Deep growls echoed from the depression and seemed to get louder as something got closer to the surface.

My heart was thrown into overdrive as a two-headed alien emerged from the deep dark. One of the heads was made of pure ice and the other of hot magma.

Fear crept in, throwing my body into a frozen state of tension as I stared dead-eyed into the beast's eyes.

Mixtures of hot and cold air from the alien's nostrils brushed over my skin as it got closer, both heads revealing their jagged teeth.

*ROAR!*

Its powerful roar summoned a powerful wind as it lunged towards me at full speed.

Both my eyes were shut tight in quick response, trembling as fear had its full grip on me.

*CRASH!*

All of a sudden, shards of ice fell all over my body. I opened my eyes to see the ice head completely shattered, leaving the magma head looking to my right with eyes filled with rage.

*RROAR!*

The alien zoomed towards that direction only to get its head slashed off by an invisible force. The fully severed beast's body fell with great impact, throwing volumes and snow and wind all around.

A figure stood amid the debris, walking closer with careful steps.

Who was it!?

"My goddess!", a familiar voice came from the figure as it got clearer.

It was a teenage boy donned in a battle suit of some sort but his face was hidden in a protective helmet.

The helmet temporarily disintegrated.

It was the boy from the Crux Coelestis ship! Was it Sedem? Yes, that was his name!

"It's a good thing I found you!", he moved behind me, cutting me free. "To think I'd be able to supercharge with the menergy traces alone. That beast didn't seem to have any though."

"Menergy traces? you found them?", that was when I realized. "Wait, why are you even here? I thought this mission was just for the three of us..."

He smiled, "There's been a change of plan. Right now, let's work on looking for the others."

I blinked quite a few times. I had no idea where the others were and guilt was dominant in my expression.

If only I were stronger

Shyza would've still been with me at that point.

"It's a good thing your suits have tracking devices implanted in them", Sedem knelt on one knee and inspected the snowy ground. "I can pinpoint Shyza's location. Seksulfur however..."

His tone immediately changed into a cold, dark one.

"Seems quite busy at the moment", he pointed to a lump of snow right before my feet.

A gust of wind suddenly blew off the snow, revealing a freshly decapitated head. I screamed, stumbling back into a fall.

The victim had blood dripping from his eyes and an expression of horror.

The other terrifying thing was the fact that this very head belonged to one of the black wolves from before.

Who could've done such a thing? The marks on the neck of the victim showed no signs of impact with a blade.

My mind scanned recent memories, leaving me with a horrid conclusion.

"A-Are you t- t- trying to tell me that-"

"Yes, he did", Sedem interrupted while standing on his feet. "C'mon. Shyza's tracking device lost contact with me a few moments ago. I can at least obtain her last location."

"Alright...", my legs trembled as I struggled to stand up.

We both walked towards the woods, taking quite a few minutes to get to find our way to the other end.

"We're here", Sedem stopped at a clearing.

My attention moved away from the strange plants and into his direction. There and then, a feeling of revolt crept up in my stomach as I gazed upon a field of blood-drenched snow filled with several mutilated corpses.

The only reaction I could give was to vomit all the disgust onto the snowy ground.

What was all that!?

It was one disgusting sight after the other!

Sedem's mood didn't look any better, "Goddess, you'll have to get used to seeing these things as soon as possible. You probably wouldn't be here but the fact that you had the holy book with you meant that you're a valuable asset we cannot afford to lose."

Valuable asset? What was he talking about? Even if they planned to keep me, I would've run away long ago but Shyza promised me that I'd be able to find my parents if I stayed.

This was all getting out of hand! W- Who were these people and what had I gotten myself involved in!?

"Something's coming", a stern look overtook his expression as his eyes shifted to the right.

In an instant, a solid ray of shadow burst in our direction as it compressed the air with immense pressure.

"Bordron"

*Boom!*

Large volumes of snow lashed into the air, almost knocking me off my feet. Sedem's suit had somehow contorted as a large mechanised arm emerged from its shoulder area and intercepted the attack!

His suit came off entirely, taking the form of a large spherical bot.

[Bordron: Defense systems enabling]

I stumbled, "W- What's going on!?"

The shadow split into two, attempting to attack both of us from separate sides.

[Bordron: Absorbing...]

The large bot's eyes started to glow a golden colour as the incoming shadows began to vibrate aggressively in response but before they could even reach us, bordron had somehow sucked it in through small openings on its body.

"With the menergy traces in our possession, bordron can easily synthesize any form of matter irrespective of the source or nature of its appearance", Sedem pointed to an area before us. "Searching for you won't be hard... trust me."

.

.

.

Silence reigned, accompanied by the mesmerising sounds of the chilling winds that blew over the Celladonian lands.

It was then that the area a few metres in front of us began to distort as the figure of a male came into view.

He had black hair, crimson red eyes and a majestic black cloak that hung over his body. His appearance wasn't the only thing that radiated a sense of danger.

Surrounding him was an aura of dark energy, similar to the black wolves from before. This one was different though. It seemed a lot more... deadly.

Sedem stepped forward, "You're the head of the pack, aren't you?"

The head of the pack? Wait, the ominous person standing right in front of us was the leader of the black wolves!?

That meant he knew where Shyza was!

"What do you want?", his eyes gleamed. "Wasn't wiping out the whole clan enough for you people?"

Wiping out the whole clan? What was he talking about?

My eyes strolled around the area and that's when I noticed pieces of burnt wood scattered all over.

Was there a settlement here?

"Seems like you're mistaken", Sedem replied. "We're not here for any of that."

"Really", the black wolf's bloodlust slowly rose. "The attacker had that very same symbol you have on your clothes. Do you think I'm a fool?"

Symbol? Was he talking about the cross? If that was it then-

It couldn't be.

"Sek's not himself", Sedem muttered. "It seems like one of our own has gone astray."

"Heh, so you say", the dark aura around the leader intensified. "The attacker was the last of a long-extinct race of wolves. How did he survive? you lot probably used some manipulation of some sort since wolves aren't CANNIBALS in the first place!!"

visible fear gripped him, "The way he moved. Those eyes. Even if we wolf clans breed conflict amongst ourselves, no clan in its right mind would suddenly turn this way."

"Calm down master", a familiar voice echoed as the space beside the leader deformed to reveal the little black wolf girl from before.

She held his hand, still keeping the emotionless expression on her face intact.

"If both of you came looking for the girl we took, I'm afraid she's long gone", the girl stared at me.

What did she mean 'she's long gone???

Did Seksulfur already take her away?

But then, Sedem did say that he wasn't himself. If Seksulfur was devoid of any rational thinking, could it have still been possible for him to notice the people he was familiar with?

"What are you trying to say?", I clenched my fists lightly.

"Before the clan was wiped out by the blue wolf, we were planning on using the little girl as bait to lure the intruders from the abandoned domes into our domain", she began. "It worked, however, the visitor was a lady donned in a red suit that had a glowing charm. She took down our warriors with her scythe and then took the girl with her."

So that first person had weakened them before Seksulfur had even arrived. Who was that person? Maybe she was with that large robot from before.

"I've told you what I know", the little girl's stare intensified into a glare. "Now leave."

"Not yet", Sedem retorted. "We'll need your help. Coincidentally, we have the same enemy."

"Don't be mistaken", strain emanated from the leader's voice. "Our true enemies are the two stray wolves who returned to the sacred lands. We only sought to lure those people in because our spies gave us information about one of the wolves being in those domes."

Two wolves? I thought Seksulfur was the only 'stray' wolf they were looking for but it turned out that there were two of them. Why had they targeted those two though?

I mean, what was so intriguing about them?

"We thought sacrificing either of them to the planet would open a way for us to leave these wretched lands.", the little girl spoke up. "Their auras are extremely powerful. Powerful enough to disrupt Celladonia's frequency if they were ever to be ejected into the atmosphere."

"...", Sedem kept quiet for a moment. "So all you seek is freedom. That'll be easy."

"What do you mean?", I whispered into his ear.

Don't tell me he was planning on helping them! I mean- they tried to kill us a few moments ago.

Or could it be that I was misunderstanding something?

"I'll help you both leave the planet if only you're willing to help us in return", a somewhat sly smile swept across his face.

Both the little girl and the leader of the Black wolves contemplated what response they were to give.

It took a while for them to decide but it was finally done as the little girl walked forward with a tiny bit of desperation hidden deep within her eyes.

"Fine. What is it that you need?", she hesitantly asked.