21 The Blood Flame Tiger

Ayoro expected to see an intruder in his castle given how strong that force was. But for an instant, he was surprised to see that there was no one else around, and the children, all of them, were running as fast as they could along the long winding hallway. For a moment, he was confused. Who pushed him? It could not be any of the children. The strength from that push could not possibly have come from children who had no essence yet. What was going on?

"Hey… Get back here."

But the children kept running through the long empty hallway until they darted across a corner. He could no longer see them. Ayoro was so enraged that he actually broke into maniacal laughter. What, they were trying to escape? How brave and utterly stupid. He did not even try to run after them. Seriously, with his yellow essence, his speed as compared to those toddlers was like a cheetah racing a tortoise. Besides, this was his castle and he knew every nook and cranny of this maze. It was only a matter of time until the children got lost. They had nowhere to go. Even if they miraculously managed to escape from the castle, they would only be met with and endless stretch of forest, and they were bound to become food for the savage beasts in the forest.

If they wanted to die, they could do so once he had what he wanted. A vicious smile grew on his face. Instantly, a ball of yellow light appeared from nowhere and started taking the form of a beast. The form grew larger and larger until it was almost as tall as the man. The light yellow light disappeared from the beast revealing it completely. It was a Blood Flame Tiger; Ayoro's beast-type soul armos. The blood flame tiger was like the ordinary tiger, except that it was taller and a lot bigger. It stood Ayoro just beneath Ayoro's shoulder. But unlike the yellow and black stripes that a tiger had, this one had blood red fur with black stripes. Moreover, it had a more menacing and ferocious appearance with those long canines sticking way out of its mouth.

But once this savage looking beast saw its master, it rubbed itself against the man and purred like an attention-seeking cat. It licked the hands of its master, eagerly waiting for his orders.

"Yeah, yeah, that's enough, Manamo."

Manamo growled at its master's displeased voice. Who was responsible for this? Since Manamo was a part of his master's soul, he could feel his emotions too. Whoever was responsible would pay.

"Go and find those children and bring them back. In one piece."

A loud roar that almost shook the ground filled the entire the castle. At that, Manamo leaped with wide strides towards the direction which the children had taken.

…....

"What was that?" Markka asked. Her entire body was shaking, and she tugged closer to the little boy that was standing next to him. Hashimi welcomed the contact as he himself was terrified by everything going on. They had no idea where that terrifying roar had come from. They could feel the slight trembling within the ground form that terrifying roar.

Jari started crying again and Savyrran had to hold him in her arms to calm him down. "Saby, I want my Ma."

"I know this is hard. But we have to calm down so we can see Ma and Pa and Kasko again. Okay?"

Jari nodded slowly, sniffling. Savyrran ran her small hands within Jari's hair and then smiled sweetly at the child. As long as she was alive, she would not let anything happen to any of the children.

"Everyone, come closer."

All the children congregated around Savyrran, not having any idea about anything. She was the reason why they were so far from that wicked man. When the man had opened the door, Savyrran pushed him with every ounce of her strength while Ovandarrak led them out. She carried Jari on her back and then led the children away from the man as fast they could.

But they had no idea where they were going. The place was wide and empty with several massive columns everywhere. There were rows and rows of doors at both sides of the hallway. No matter how long they ran, it did not seem they were making any effort at escaping. But they had barely finished musing about their misfortune when an earth-shattering roar tore through the air.

It had been so ferocious that it sent a chill down their spine. Even Savyrran had been taken by surprise by that roar since she had never heard anything like that. Even the beast-type soul armos she saw during the tournament did not even make such horrifying noise. This one was on a whole other level.

Seeing the terror in the eyes of the children who had gathered around her, Savyrran felt helpless. She had no idea what to do, had no idea what she had gotten herself into. How was she going to take everyone back home when she did not even know where they were? For the first time ever in her life, she felt stuck about what to do. This was not something she could simply handle with her fists. But she remained resolute and strong for them so that they would not panic. She could not let anything happen to any of the children. She would protect them with her life.

"Ovandarrak, do you know what that was?" Markka asked her friend. Ovandarrak remained silent for a while before answering. "I'm not sure. But whatever beast made that noise was surely large."

Markka's eyes grew even wider with terror upon Ovandarrak's revelation? There was a large beast on the loose. They were only children. How could they fight against large beasts?

Ovandarrak was oblivious to the fact that his words had caused an unease among the children. Hashimi, Dhirran and Markka started sobbing. The seventh child, Layuni, was a lot calmer than the others even though his face was full of fear.

"Ovan, we don't know that yet." Savyrran tried to calm things down once he saw how even more terrified the children had become from her brother's words. Ovandarrak may be smart, but when it came to emotional intelligence, it was like he had none. He was very honest, and he always spoke his mind without caring about how it would make others feel. Savyrran usually did not mind that. She enjoyed her brother's honesty and was not bothered about his attitude. But given this situation, she had to make sure her brother did not say things to frighten the already terrified children.

Still, she believed Ovandarrak may be right. It was possible that a large beast had roared like that. If that were the case, and supposing it was tracking them, what would she do? She had never fought a beast. Well, there was a first time for everything.

A loud growl grew closer and closer towards them. Savyrran quickly dashed towards the end of the wall they were hiding and then discreetly peeped at the long hallway. That was when she saw the biggest cat she had ever seen. This cat was more than twice her height and had long protruding teeth. Its eyes were yellow and furious.

Savyrran felt her palm become sweaty, and her face darkened. Was that the man's soul armos? What could she do? So far they had not seen any exit door and it seemed they had reached a dead end.

Savyrran looked back at the children who had all gathered together, deeply holding their breath. If the beast got any closer and turned to their corner, they would no longer be hidden from it. She would have to buy them more time as they got far from here.

"Ovandarrak, I need you to do something." She stared deeply her brother, her face lacking all the usual cheerfulness Ovandarrak was used.

Ovandarrak nodded, not arguing with his sister. She had used his full name. She was serious.

"I want you to keep everyone going and will do my best get you a lot of time. Ovan, you are very very smart. I trust you, and I know that with that mind of yours, you will be able to figure out how to get away from this place. Do you understand?"

Ovandarrak nodded again. His cold eyes thawed when he realised his sister was staying behind. He hugged her tightly, trying to stop the tears from escaping. "Be careful, Savy."

"You too, little brother."

Once they let go, Ovandarrak got all the children up and asked them to follow him. Savyrran watched their backs until they disappeared into another corner of the hallway. Savyrran stepped out of the corner into the main hallway. The giant cat was slowly approaching her, roaring loudly. Even though it was huge, it still had the gracefulness of a cat.

The size of the cat was quite shocking to her, but she was not afraid at all. She could not be even if tried. Savyrran could tell when someone was afraid. But that emotion itself was not something she knew. It was not because she was strong. She just had never felt fear, and thus, the concept of flight when one was afraid was non-existent to her. If she was afraid, then it rather showed in the form of rage. Pure rage. And she was feeling that now.

Clenching her fists, she ran towards the giant cat as fast as she could. Currently her speed was like someone who had the orange essence.

The blood flame tiger roared with fury as the child lunged towards it. She was fast, but it was faster. It also ran towards the child. Manamo had been ordered by his master not to kill the children, thus, it would try not to go too far. It had wanted to swat the girl away with its huge red paws, like an annoying pest. But the child jumped high into the air, and then came to land on Manamo's back.

Manamo was furious. Who dared to ride on its master's soul armos? This child must be crazy. The ferocious blood flame tiger released an even louder roar and then tried to lift itself upright by standing on its powerful hind legs. It had to get her off its back at once. But the child was firmly holding on to Manamo's bountiful fur.

Savyrran was struggling to balance herself atop the giant cat, but the crazy tiger kept thrashing around like it was possessed. Then the giant cat got back on all four legs, but it did it with so much force that Savyrran was dangerously thrown of its back and sent tumbling down the ground. Savyrran could feel intense pain ripping through her body. Blood spluttered out of her mouth and her head pounded with pain.

This cat was tough; certainly the strongest thing she had ever faced. The giant cat pranced towards her slowly with confidence. Savyrran began to get back on her feet but the fall had been more serious than she had thought. She fell back on the ground, and her eyes seethed with endless anger as the giant cat got closer.

Manamo roared close to the girl's face. If not for its master's order, it would have roasted this brat alive. How could she be so impudent to ride on its back? No one had that right but its master. Still, it had to teach her a lesson. Manamo lifted his huge red paw and sent it flying towards the weak girl, aiming to roughen her up a bit. He was strong and massive, and putting too much power in his strike could kill her.

But Savyrran saw the paw hurling towards her. No, as long as she could move, as long as she was conscious, as long as she was alive, she would never give up. Mastering the terrible pain, she willed her self to roll out of the paw-strike as fast as she could. Her stamina and speed had greatly reduced, but she was not going to give up. Once the giant cat's paw hit the ground a small dent formed on the hard floor. Savyrran crawled back to the wall behind her and used it as a support to get back on her feet. She slightly glanced at the dent created on the floor. That paw-strike could have killed her.

Who even allowed such a huge vicious beast to roam around freely like that? It must have been that man. What was this place? With the wall pressing against her back, she was cornered. With how small she was compared to the beast, she could have easily maneuvered herself between the its legs, but right now, the pain throbbing in every part of her body was unbearable. Using her speed would only devastate her already weakened body.

The blood flame tiger roared again, this time, thick white smoke escaping from its mouth.

Savyrran could feel the heat emanating from the giant cat's breath. Could this thing also breath fire? She felt sweat wetting her face and dripping down her back and chest. The heat from its breath was insane.

"Manamo, that's enough." A voice called from the distance. Manamo's vicious face fell into depression upon hearing its master's voice. The blood flame tiger scampered away from the child, as though it was ashamed of something.