For a moment, the terrifying creature that was the Skyblight Harbinger had been brought down, its monstrous body twitching and convulsing as it fought against the suppression issued by Gale.
It was a creature that possessed the traits of many other beasts, but it carried the avian nature the most, meaning this sort of suppression was the most effective. So for the first time since its appearance, it had been brought to its knees, its beak constantly releasing a shrill screech as it fought against the pressure.
But something of that caliber couldn’t last forever.
Osho felt it first, through their bond, a wave of mounting fatigue started to hit Gale as the bird slowly started to falter, and the already unstable manifestation started to become even more unclear.
Gale was reaching his limit.
It wasn’t surprising. Gale, a Novice, was suppressing and Elite-ranked creature by himself. The fact he’d even lasted this long was nothing short of a miracle, and the fact that the opponent was one his bloodline directly countered played a large role as well. But regardless, his strength was waning.
And the Harbinger was starting to recover.
Slowly, as Gale’s suppression waned, it began to stir. Its limbs twitched as with colossal effort, they began to rise. It was slow, but it was happening. The wrongness wrought by its existence slowly filled the air once more, and its eyes were filled with a primal rage. It still couldn’t lift up its head, but if it could, it would be glaring at Gale with a gaze that could kill.
The dense muscles beneath its feathers coiled like taut cables as they resisted, its terrible strength returning with full force.
Osho subconsciously tried to call Gale back, a small, naive part of his mind hoping that they could retreat before the creature fully regained its bearings.
However, Mrs Jane was faster.
Her wound still bled profusely, with more blood than any normal person should have been able to produce without dropping dead. Yet despite being injured and pale as a sheet, her eyes were filled with a cold calm.
She let out two quick whistles before clicking her tongue, and her two beasts which were already enraged by seeing her so injured, moved.
Nora moved forward and the Salamander hopped off Mrs Jane’s shoulder and landed next to her. Its body glowed before erupting in bright orange flames. In a short instant, the intensity and heat of the flames increased exponentially, and the ground beneath it melted as the flames started to take on a white hue.
As for Nora, her plated armor rippled before flapping open to reveal intricate veins of metal alloy, flowing in ways that defied physics in more ways than one.
The beasts moved in sync, moving with a familiar grace despite the chaos.
The flames of the Salamander went out, and the strange liquid metal alloy also went out. The two met and began to fuse, the metal glowing white hot almost instantly. The mix became a sludgy, glowing substance that seemed to volatile to be natural but too purposeful to be chaotic.
Mrs. Jane didn’t waste any time.
She pointed at the Harbinger’s chest, the creature still writhing and twitching on the ground.
"Pierce." She said softly.
Nora raised her forelimbs before slamming them into the ground, and the Salamander growled as the strange mixture hummed before compressing, and then it morphed into a spiraling molten lance. Its surface was black like burnt metal, and it was filled with unstable orange cracks, making it look like a weapon forged in hell.
The attack blasted forward at an incredible speed, a sonic boom echoing out as it easily shattered the sound barrier.
It struck the Harbinger dead center, and the reacting was instant.
The lance pierced through its hide and went deep into its body before exploding, searing through flesh, si ewe and bone alike. When it exploded, it returned to its molten form and spread through the creature’s bloodstream like living fire.
The Harbinger’s screeched as its body convulsed. Its limbs flailing and blood boiling inside its veins.
The alloy didn’t just burn, though. It clung to everything it touched, hardening and melting in intervals as it speead through and locked its internal pathways like a vile parasite of living metal.
Whatever regeneration yhe Skyblight Harbinger possessed... it would be working overtime for a LONG time.
Osho stared wide-eyed as he immediately understood.
As powerful as the attack had been, it wasn’t meant to kill, it was meant to bind. Now, even if Gale stopped using his bloodline, the creature wouldn’t be able to follow them as it was fighting fiercely with the molten metal running through its veins. Something that was no doubt, incredibly painful.
But for a second, Osho wondered why they didn’t just kill it right then and there, but he quickly understood why.
Mrs Jane was breathing hard. Her face was deathly pale and covered in sweat as her hand pressed against the terrible wound where blood leaked. There was no way she could continue the fight as is.
At that point, the Avatar Gale summoned finally vanished like a mist in the wind. The bird flew back into the bus unstably and landed on Gale’s lap, passing out instantly.
The bus was dead silent as everyone stared at the bird who had singlehandedly held back that creature by itself for so long. However, they couldn’t dwell on it for too long when Mrs Jane stumbled into the bus and everyone exclaimed.
Up close, her injury seemed far worse than they’d initially thought. They could literally see her ribs through her torn muscle and flesh, several of them half cut through by the attack. Osho was certain that the only reason it wasn’t worse than that was due to her enchanted equipment.
"Start moving." Ahe said firmly to the bus driver and still managed to use mana to make her voice transmit to the other drivers.
The convoy was soon on the move again, and Mrs Jane collapsed on her backside in the middle of the bus, the soldiers quickly moving to assist her with first aid items.
From beginning to the end, she hadn’t made a sound.
"Osho, come here." She called out and Osho blinked before standing up, gently cradling Gale in his arms as he went over, his usually indifferent expression filled with a rare worry.
The other students were also looking at the teacher with worry and awe. Mrs Jane was one of the strongest Beast Tamers in their Citadel, and she’d seemed all but invincible thus far. So to suddenly see her on the floor with such a heavy injury was quite the blow to each of them.
Yet at the same time, they couldn’t deny the effectiveness of that final attack. Mrs Jane is an Expert rank beast tamer, so to injure an Elite rank to the point of immobility, especially one as abnormal as the Skyblight Harbinger, was a testament to her ability, regardless of the price she had to pay.
When Osho got close, his nose wrinkled and he couldn’t help but look at her gaping wound. He could sense the vile Mana there, it was so potent that he didn’t need any advanced form of Mana detection to sense it, and he had a feeling that wS the reason the wound was so bad.
’He is she not even grimacing?’ He wondered as he met her steady gaze.
"What Gale did back there was no doubt seen by the Handlers." She cut the chase and Osho’s eyes widened slightly. Everyone knew about the handlers, why wouldn’t they? They were essentially the nervous system of the entire Citadel, and acted behind the scenes, supporting those at the front.
The idea that Gale’s stint woukd have caught their attention made Osho feel weird, whether in a good or bad way, he had no idea.
"As you saw, that thing is extremely difficult to kill, so the fact that Gale is able to suppress it to the point of immobility is most likely going to gain the two of you the designation of an Asset. In other words, your worth has shot up dramatically, and when we return, they are going to make your safety a top priority, so be ready for that." The more she explained, the more Osho’s brows furrowed
He understood where this was going, and it made perfect sense to him. Gale had the ability to suppress the Skyblight Harbinger, long enough to allow Mrs Jane the chance to land a debilitating blow and injure it severely. Chances are that the thing was going to retreat deep into its army to give itself a chance to heal, but regardless, they had bought themselves some time to handle the beast tide without worrying about its influence for a while. All because Gale had given Mrs Jane the chance to paid that blow.
In that same vein, it was only natural for them to want to keep Osho safe. That way, they would devise a plan where killing the creature was a guarantee, with Gale’s suppressiong playing a big role in making it possible.
The only problem was, Osho REALLY didn’t want so much attention. His inner introvert wasn’t happy at all.