Chapter 7 – salvation
The paw came down.
Fast—like a diving eagle, carrying the weight of something far heavier than it should have been. Neel didn't move. He couldn't. His body had already given up before the impact even arrived. As the massive limb descended, ready to crush his skull into nothing—
A flash.
A small, white orb streaked through the air and struck the beast's paw.
A sharp burst followed—not large, not devastating—but just enough.
The trajectory shifted.
Instead of obliterating him, the claws sliced past, cutting through a few strands of Neel's hair as the force slammed into the ground beside him.
For a moment, Neel just… stayed there.
Alive.
The beast recoiled slightly, a low, furious growl rising from its throat. The spot where the orb had struck was scorched, its thick fur burned black, faint smoke rising from the charred flesh beneath. It bared its teeth, letting out a roar that shook the air as it turned toward the source of the attack.
Neel followed its gaze.
At the far edge of the forest, barely visible through the trees, stood a figure.
Small.
Slender.
The details were blurred by distance, but one thing was clear—
A girl.
A few faint, white orbs floated behind her, hovering in the air like fragments of light, flickering slightly as if they weren't entirely stable.
For a second, everything felt still.
Then the beast moved.
It abandoned Neel completely and charged.
The ground shook under its weight as it rushed forward, snarling, drool spilling from its jaws, its focus entirely locked onto the new target.
The girl didn't back away.
Instead, she raised her voice, loud and sharp, cutting through the tension.
"Get over here, fat fuck! Picking on someone weaker than you? That's pathetic. If you've got guts, try killing me instead."
The words were reckless.
Almost stupid.
But her stance didn't waver.
As the beast closed the distance, she gritted her teeth and lifted her hand. The orbs behind her responded instantly, shooting forward—but not cleanly. Some veered off, missing entirely, others collided mid-air and dispersed into faint sparks.
Still—
Two hit.
One slammed into the beast's shoulder, the other into its back. A sharp burst of heat followed, and the smell of burnt fur filled the air, thick and unpleasant.
The beast roared.
But it didn't stop.
Neel watched from the ground, his mind struggling to keep up with what was happening.
Relief came first.
Sharp. Immediate.
I'm… alive.
Then something else followed, heavier.
She was fighting.
For him.
And he was still lying there.
Doing nothing.
A bitter feeling twisted in his chest. Get up. His fingers twitched against the snow. Move. But another thought slipped in, quieter, uglier. Run. While you can.
Neel clenched his jaw.
"…Pathetic."
The word didn't come from anyone else.
It was his own.
In the distance, the girl moved through the forest, using the trees as cover. Her movements weren't perfect—but they were controlled, deliberate. She kept her distance, forcing the beast to adjust, using her orbs to pressure it whenever it got too close.
Her hair caught Neel's attention for a moment—long, black, flowing behind her as she moved, not perfectly styled or dramatic, just… natural, shifting with each step like water following its path. There was nothing exaggerated about her, nothing unreal—just a girl moving as fast as she could, trying not to die.
And yet—
She was holding her ground.
Neel's eyes followed her movements closely now, something else replacing the panic.
She wasn't just running.
She was thinking.
Every step had a reason. Every turn forced the beast into a worse angle. She stayed just out of reach, baiting it, adjusting constantly.
She's… reading it.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Neel felt something shift inside him.
Not admiration.
Not yet.
Something closer to realization.
She's better than me at this.
But she was still human.
And humans made mistakes.
It happened in a moment.
She fired another orb, aiming straight for the beast's face, probably trying to slow it down—but the creature reacted faster than expected. Its tail snapped upward, deflecting the attack mid-air, and in the same motion, it twisted its body and closed the distance instantly.
Too fast.
Her eyes widened.
She didn't have time to react.
The beast spun, its spiked tail swinging like a mace, cutting through the air straight toward her.
Neel's heart skipped.
"Get out!"
His voice tore out of him before he even realized it.
His body moved.
"I'm gonna regret this… but I'm not dying like a coward—"
A split second of hesitation hit him.
Didn't I already give up…?
It didn't matter.
He forced his ability.
The world twisted.
And he disappeared.
The next instant, Neel appeared right beside her.
He didn't think.
Didn't hesitate.
He shoved her away with all the strength he had and raised his arm instinctively—
The impact came a fraction of a second too late.
The spiked tail slammed into Neel's raised arm, the force behind it monstrous. For a brief, horrifying moment, he actually felt it—the spike driving in, tearing through flesh, grinding against bone
Then the bone gave way.
A sickening crack echoed through his body as the spike punched through, shattering his arm like it was nothing.
Neel didn't even get to scream properly.
The force lifted him off the ground and sent him flying, his body weightless for a split second before he crashed into a tree with a dull, heavy thud.
The air left his lungs instantly.
"—khh—!"
A broken sound escaped him as he dropped to the ground, his vision shaking violently. His chest tightened, refusing to take in air for a moment before his body forced it back in, ragged and uneven.
Then the pain hit all at once. It wasn't sharp it was worse.
A deep, crushing agony spreading from his arm through his entire body, making his fingers twitch uselessly as if they didn't belong to him anymore.
Neel coughed.
Blood spilled from his mouth, warm against the freezing air, staining the snow beneath him in dark patches.
His arm—
He looked at it.
And immediately wished he hadn't.
It was mangled beyond recognition. The shape was wrong, twisted unnaturally, bone fragments barely visible beneath torn flesh as blood poured out steadily, soaking into the snow.
For a moment, his mind just… stopped.
That's mine.
The thought didn't even feel real.
Then something else kicked in.
A faint shimmer of blue light started to spew out of his wound slowly it started engulfing his hand.barely enough to notice
That same crystal-like layer began forming again over the wound, spreading unevenly, trying to seal what it could. It wasn't instant. It
wasn't enough.
That realization hit differently this time.
Neel sucked in a sharp breath, his body trembling as he forced himself to stay conscious.
Don't pass out… don't pass out… if you pass out, you're dead.