Fight or Run

Thomas took a few minutes to think before giving an order.

"Wolf and Radio, stay back and protect each other's backs. Radio, communicate with Eagle. He is going to fight alongside me." said Thomas with a calm voice, his eyes mirroring the movement of his flames.

Thomas has already lost too many squad members since he took the role of Captain of the Special Extermination Force. Ambushes, not guarding the flanks, disregarding their backs, not protecting the weakest members... Each casualty was a new lesson for him.

He was aware of humans losing their position as peak predators. The other animal species were gaining power in the food chain and gaining territories for their race. At this rate, humankind would lose all its countries even before the Golden Civilization could win the war.

His job was to delay the rise of new civilizations on Earth, gaining as much time as possible. And his current duty was to take care of the Ascended snake. To develop a strategy to fight the frozen boa constrictor, Thomas had to think about what were the weak and strong points of each one of his members and make use of them in the most efficient way.

Radio, being the weakest member in combat, has to be actively protected. Wolf was strong and agile, being able to use the surroundings to his advantage. Eagle was the one with the most mobility, but his attacks contained little attack power, needing to be accurate to be able to deal damage. And Thomas himself owns the greater firepower within the team. He could attack from a long distance, and his attacks could produce burns in the target. But he had to be careful with the usage of his ability, as he could wound his allies if anything went wrong in the fight.

His decision for the combat's strategy was clear. Radio was needed to be kept safe by Wolf or Eagle. Both of them could help to fight the boa, but Wolf had the highest risk of getting wounded, since his body would be exposed to the abilities of the boa and the fire from Thomas himself. Eagle's mobility made him able to decide when to attack, dodging Thomas's fire and focusing on the weak points with the objective to weaken the snake.

Also, Wolf was the only member who could defend Radio. He was on land, not like Eagle, and his control of the terrain and strength could allow him to maintain both of them alive.

"Roger that!" said Wolf and Radio with a clear voice in unison. Ready for combat.

"Eagle just communicated that he is ready as well!" said Radio, yelling the answer from his teammate. He was conscious of his uselessness in a fight. However, he also knew that he was the communications link between Eagle and the Captain. If Captain Thomas wanted to give an order to Eagle, Radio was necessary. He was essential in the incoming battle.

Thomas headed to the frozen river, followed by Wolf and Radio on land, and Eagle from the skies.

The group was slowly reaching their destination, not worried about losing the trail. Having Wolf and Eagle in the squad and a clear trace of the frozen boa constrictor, it was easy to follow the track back to the owner. They only needed to prepare themselves and to conserve energy for the fight.

After a while, Thomas went out of the grove to see a large river surrounded by shrubbery and more trees. He really hated this place, with trees everywhere. Maybe it was the nature of his Heart Core, urging him to burn the entire forest. After suppressing his impulses, he clearly noticed there was something wrong with this river. The water current seemed normal, moving the water along its course. But in reality, it was completely frozen.

"Take your positions! We have reached our target." said Thomas with a feigned firm voice. He did not know how much strength the boa constrictor had, but he knew that something like this was not ordinary. An Apprentice could never have noticed the water is actually still. Even he doubted if his eyes were right.

Thomas also could see fishes under the water, eating bugs, and interacting among themselves. But when they jumped outside the water, he witnessed that the fishes were not real. They were sculptures made of ice, frozen figures that could move and seemed lifelike.

The situation was getting worse for the moment. Thomas was considering if he would give the order to retreat. The Ascended snake who did this was above them in terms of power and control. But it was too late.

The entire river began to shake. The pieces of ice resembling water were crumbling. A colossal figure was coming out, almost as big as the waterway. The body was as lengthy as the whole river in sight, and when it stood up, it was blocking the sunbeam. The shadow of the ice creature made the Amazon forest darken.

The faces of Thomas and his team were white, turned aghast. In front of them, a frozen titan with the appearance of a snake was staring at them. The gaze alone could steal the life from their bodies. The group even forgot to breathe, not moving a single inch in fear the boa would kill them.

Thomas's fire disappeared the instant his eyes looked into the white ones of the snake. He could see the violent killing intent in the snake's eyes, warning him. His back turned wet from sweat, and his head was about to burst. He even regretted his decision to get to be an Ascended, wanting to run away right now and never come back to this place.

"What isss thisss? What isss doing a group of humansss in my domain?" Thomas fell to the ground with his knees, shaking, with no strength to get up. He did not believe what he was hearing. From the interior of the frozen snake sounded a voice resembling the screak of ice colliding with ice. And the voice was talking their language.

Thomas seemed to forget about the arrival of the universal language during The First Descend. Or he just did not think the new language rule applied to all beings. After all, he heard no news about dogs or cats talking.

"I asssked, what are you doing in my territory?" hissed the boa constrictor with a louder voice than before. Thomas's ears were in pain from the thundering screak. Confronting the fear and his self instincts screaming at him to stop, he looked around. Thomas saw Wolf, with blood in his ears, and a fainted Radio next to him. At the time he was wondering about Eagle's whereabouts, a rapid brownish shadow cut through the air into the frozen titan's body.

"Chirp! It is not its actual body! It is just the usage of its ability! Chirp!" Chirped Eagle after doing a slight slash into the snake's neck with his talons claws. He decided to attack the boa to wake up his teammates. If it continued like this, all of them would die today.

Nevertheless, as the gigantic frozen snake was not its actual body, the strike did not really harm the boa constrictor. But at least, the snake was forced to use Stellar Energy to mend the damages to its fake body.

The entire team, except for Radio, woke up from their dread after seeing Eagle's attack and the recovering tiny slash in the snake titan's corpse. All of them instantly understood that the only ways to defeat their opponent were to deplete the snake from Stellar Energy or find its authentic body.

Thomas looked for his lighter, and after using it, he found himself surrounded by blue flames in no time. This time, the blue's color on the flames was brighter. It was clear that Thomas was giving his all in this fight. After all, he was conscious that his life was in the line.

Wolf cleaned his blood and turned into his Wolf form, ready to attack as well, ignoring the fainted Radio. He also knew that if he did not fight alongside Thomas and Eagle, he would die, and Radio would also die in the end. Only by fighting existed the chance for Radio and himself to live up.

"I could have let you go, but you ssseem to have chosssen to die inssstead!"