Chương 116: Bonds Tied In Viscera II

Probability is the chance or likelihood that a specific event will occur. It was impossible to truly tell if the Wendigo was simply determined to survive by whatever means or if the creature simply consumed mass to satiate an insatiable hunger, and ONI was a creature from the realm of the living; it never showed hesitation in whatever actions it took and killed with a carnal lust, similar to the Wendigo's hunger.

The thought never crossed Silvester's mind, but when he saw the two monsters face one another, he could feel the coming events preemptively; the tension between the two was thick enough to cut with a knife. The Wendigo knew fear; the massive loss of life to the digital wildlife did nothing but nearly bolster the singular being's intelligence to the next level.

Silvester had made it down the slick hill and had managed to kill his growing downward momentum with minor injuries, a few scrapes, cuts, and bruises, but no broken bones, while Ann still rested limply on his back. He didn't know what to do; he had the choice to leave his friend behind and run. He may have been exhausted, but unlike Ann, he hadn't used up his Will.

Aspirants had to use Will frugally, unlike most Dreamers; it was a power-up that enhanced one's body, mind, and spirit, and most importantly, it worked as a gateway to magics and other great powers, but to muster, let alone use, Will at the potency of a Dreamer as a meagre Aspirant was akin to manually accepting hysterical strength and, in turn, surpassing the body's imposed limit and tearing it apart from within.

He could easily reach staggering speeds if he ran with all his might; in fact, it was the only reason that he survived being chased by the fiend that was wearing his lost friend like a undersized onesie. On the contrary, to truly run at a pace that didn't just match the Wendigo's, he would need to drop Ann. He gritted his teeth and ground them together, making a sound resembling styrofoam rubbing against one another in his skull.

He bit the side of his cheek with a slow but steady force, like biting into a carrot; he felt his flesh crush and part under his dentition; blood slowly bubbled, gushed, and pooled in his mouth. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Silvester was unsure of whether to spit it out, considering the Wendigo was a short bound away.

The fiend crumpled and tumbled like a tumbleweed down the slick mountainside after Ann nailed it with an arrow, and ONI immediately diverted its course to the Wendigo. Silvester wasn't sure if the demonic noble simply wanted to taste the blood of another or if its target was the cannibalistic fiend from the beginning. Their fight would only buy time. Regardless of the winner, the duo's guillotine would only vary in sharpness, ranging from a blade to their possessed friends' teeth.

Silvester's bow had snapped, River couldn't find one in an acceptable condition, and Ann had collapsed long before being able to collect her blade. The only weapon Silvester had at his disposal was his hands, and quite evidently to the elven man himself, the close-combat specialist was the one who collapsed on his back without a tear's worth of Will. He caught glimpses of the two Nightmares sizing one another up, and understood that it was only a matter of time before their executioner would be chosen.

ONI stood swordless, with the size and poise of a bear ready to dismember its challenger. Swirls of red flowed around its body in shades of a bloodied sakura pink to a vibrant rosy red that glowed vividly. Its thick gauntlet ran down into thin fingers crowned with dirtied nails, pointed into talons. The Wendigo stood on all fours, with the towering height of an elephant and the poise of a cougar preparing to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

The body of the possessed hunter remained the same size, yet its arms and legs elongated unnaturally, with each gnarly segment of thigh, lower leg, forearm, and upper arm being as tall as a man and as pale as marble. Like a trail of lightning, bolts of thin red lines ran through portions of its limbs, distributing blood throughout the body with the tepid efficiency of a chewed sippy cup's straw.

It coiled its head and neck to the side, cracking and regenerating bone as the hunter's skin stretched into helical folds; its stolen face pulled the cheeks to the side like an uncanny smile frozen in place, and its eyes… were nowhere to be seen. It sniffed the air, sounding like a gruff huff of a moose. The rain pattered against its agonized flesh, and dissolved into steam on contact with the demonic samurai's armor. With a strike of thunder, each side had finished sizing the other up.