7 A Beast or a Man?

Whitetooth was taken aback at the sight of Ruby. He storms off to where she was and stood on her way.

"Where are the rest of my warriors?"

Ruby just gawks at Whitetooth. She could see the fury in his eyes as if she were to be killed if he receives an unfavorable response.

"Answer me, human!"

She points at the sea of flames where Roger is at the bottom of.

"I threw them there. They would catch a cold if they kept lying on the ground. I was about to warm this one up, too." she says delicately then points to the corpse with her lips.

Enraged, Whitetooth scratches Ruby's face, leaving three claw marks in her left cheek. Blood gushed out from the wound but Ruby just stood there, unmoving. Her eyes were still fixated on Whitetooth like she was dissecting him from head to toe.

"Hey, mister..."

Whitetooth raised an eyebrow at Ruby. He looked at the young woman standing in front of him and, for the first time, he felt chills going down his spine. It was either he could not grasp why such an inferior woman could fearlessly stand across him or it was because he could feel something sinister is hiding behind those big blue eyes.

"You look diferent. Hmm. A beast or a man?"

Something snapped inside Whitetooth. He could not stomach that someone is mistaking him for a lowly human. He tries to pounce on Ruby but was met by the blade of her scythe. He could have been decapitated had he not hesitated to attack.

Blood continued to drip from Ruby's face like they were tears that died on her cheek. She stood silent, watching the beast in front of her.

Whitetooth could feel that something was definitely wrong with the woman. Even with sharpened hearing and reflexes, he could not hear the change in her heartbeat and anticipate her next move. All he he had to work on was the looming feeling of bloodlust which Ruby continues to emit despite not showing any sign of wanting to murder anything that comes her way.

He tries to tackle Ruby but she was quick to react, deflecting him by burying the edge of the scythe in his shoulders. Whitetooth winced in pain. He felt the blade burrowing deep into his bone.

Whitetooth sneaks up behind Ruby to attack from behind, but she blocks it like she had eyes at the back of her head. Just when he was about to leap away from her, Ruby wields her scythe and pulls Whitetooth by the waist. The blade sank deep in the beast's loin, causing it to bleed profusely. This move had also stunned him momentarily.

When he came to, he was already within striking distance of Ruby. Frozen in fear, he tries to move a muscle but could not. Whitetooth saw the blank expression on Ruby's face. This woman was no human: she was a cold-blooded killer. He knew this more than anyone because he was the same.

Before Whitetooth knew it, his torso was slit open in one swift strike. Blood splat all over the place, sprinkling some on Ruby's face. Lying in a pool of his own blood, the Wolf King gasps for air. He tries to gather mana on his palm to summon a fireball but he has no strength left in him. The flame fizzled before it even began —so did his life.

Ruby stood like a monument atop Whitetooth's lifeless body. Her lifeless eyes snapped back into life. Unaware of what's transpired, she examines her surroundings. She stumbles and falls to her hip upon seeing the corpse in front of her.

"What in the world happened?"

Ruby tries to get up but she felt all kinds of pain course through her body. She manages to stand halfway using her scythe as a crutch but falls flat to her due to exhaustion and blood loss. Her consciouness start to fade but she keeps calling out her hero's name.

"Roger! Roger? Roger?"

The battle for survival is over. The remote village deep within The Dark Forest is now safe from the wolves. No matter what threat comes, the woman clad in red robe who wields an unusually large scythe will be there to face it.