Hunters on the Loose (Pt. I)

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|| CHAPTER 38 | Hunters on the Loose (Pt. I) ||

"One kills life in order to feed another.

"Others kill them for fame and to feed their greed. Beneath the gold and silver, lies despair that even the celestials give away their breaths to.

"It's a beast that lies dormant within the stomach of the earth. One that dares not to travel between realms, and yet, it holds a firm grip upon all universes. It's a being that shows its fangs at your weakest, at your lowest point of life.

"Where you've lost all hope and light.

"When you've known what true despair feels like...

"... it's a beast that hunts you down with no mercy, 'till the end of your last breath."

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"A-A-A––"

"An Antheros!" Shizuka cut Vinnetra's words, reassuring the group to let their guard down.

Gushing at the creator, Shizuka approached it slowly, cautious not to startle the young being.

A breathing life that resembled that of a wild deer.

It was breath-taking, Shizuka admitted.

An ancient beast that bore large wooden antlers with fresh flowers blooming on it. Its cloud-like tail had no end to its roots, reaching the ground and tailing behind the Antheros as it took small steps towards the young Spirit Wielder. Flowers of various colours bloomed there with different sorts of crystals in the middle that matched their vibrance.

"O-Oh, gracious Gaia... I thought I'd die for a second there..." Vinnetra let out a shaky sigh of relief. His knees shook tremendously and he melted down into the floor, holding his chest tight as if his heart would jump out at any second.

Isseiris looked after the black-haired male as Orion and Shizuka went to look at the creature.

"Whoa..." Shizuka stares at its appearance agape, Orion closed her gaping mouth as he grabbed her hand, gesturing to follow him.

"How did this... thing get here anyway? This ain't a random forest, for Gaia's sake! I thought Antheroses aren't supposed to be around humans?!" Orion exclaimed in genuine confusion, looking around the room to see if there were other creatures around.

"Oh, yeah, I thought Antheroses are supposed to be in the Sacred Forest of Yellovta. How did this little one get here?" Shizuka gently patted the creature's nose as it snuggled closer into the comfort of her hands.

The female chuckled softly, slowly brushing the soft bluish fur that blanketed the creature's body.

"Little, you say?! That thing is Gaia-knows-how huge!" Vinnetra spoke in disbelieve while staring at them, spreading out his hands at them.

"As much as I don't like siding with this loud-ass idiot, I agree," Orion spoke up. A small frown was seen, plastered visibly on his face.

"This little one is a baby Antheros, it seems to me. The adult Antheroses, apparently, are much bigger than this one. They're not supposed to fit into houses as small as the ones in this neighbourhood," Isseiris explained calmly, replacing Shizuka who had her share of fun.

"Small...?" Vinnetra and Orion repeated incredulously, as a bead of sweat ran down the sides of their faces.

It was a puzzle, really.

How Isseiris dubbed all the two-stories houses to be 'small.' They were more than they could afford.

They could only wonder what the word 'big' meant in his book for a house.

The young Caraell reached his hand out to stroke the Antheros' head, which the Antheros obliged to. Letting out a small cry, Shizuka awed at the creature's quiet noise, unable to contain her excitement.

It was, but a few moments ago, that they were scared to death.

However, all the peaceful times at hand seemed to be lost when the baby Antheros raised its head, standing straightly when it heard some faint noises. They could see that its height reached the high ceiling, including its wooden antlers.

'It's tall, all right...' Orion and Vinnetra gulped at its height, seeing how the creature obviously seemed alerted.

"Shush, someone's here," Isseiris hushed them and promptly led them under the stairs as the creature disappeared into thin air.

Shizuka and Vinnetra snuck into the back of the stairs first, with the last two following behind, keeping a lookout on what's coming.

Orion closed the little wooden doors quietly, leaving a little narrow space for them–– enough to see through. The little storage room under the stairs was hidden behind some desks and stacks of books. It didn't have any doorknob and its colours blended in with its surroundings.

To say that it was the most breathable hiding spot, they would be lying.

It took Vinnetra half of his sanity to not scream how hot and suffocating it was in there when they were so close to each other without any space to breathe the slightest.

The deadly glower Orion sent to the other boy seemed to hush him completely when the latter cowered with pursed lips.

Orion peaked through the slit of the doors. The red hues he bore travelled over a tall man with an article of full black clothing, carrying what none of them had expected.

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'Is that... a Cuserius Staff...?! Why in Gaia's name is that guy carrying a freaking Cuserius Staff?!'

The shocked look on Orion's face worried the other three, but they stayed quiet and waited for him to speak his mind.

The unknown man's face was covered with the same black-hued mask and yellow-tinted goggles on his eyes. The mysterious man held out his hand and a screen appeared with sound waves on it.

Little by little, the bars went up and down.

The static noise over on the other side slowly came to a cease when a husky voice emerged from the translucent device, 'B-306 speaking. C-005, did you find those Antheroses yet?'

Codenames were used, Shizuka noted.

The four hiding souls listened with their lives possibly on the line, hearing how those men were after the Antheroses. A being they knew existed more than one in the area aside from the youngling they met before.

It would be a big problem when those men get their hands on the mystical being.

Vinnetra noticed how tense Shizuka and Isseiris were being at the mention of the deer-like creature. Even after having little to no knowledge about the Antheroses, they dubbed the situation to be far more dangerous than they thought it was.

'Some illegal shits going on here,' Orion kept to himself, pursing his lips and biting the lower part in hopes of replacing his need to click his tongue. 'And it ain't looking so good.'

"C-005 here. No, I did not. It looks like it disappeared. The life signal's gone. We found one of their babies, evidently. There are traces of its presence here," the man coded with the name 'C-005' explained, "I have also detected some unknown signals around here."

'Unknown signals? What do you––'

"B-306?" the man called out, hearing a never-ending buzzing from the other side of the screen. Tapping the translucent piece several times, it was confirmed that their line had disconnected due to unknown occurrences around the area.

Grunting, C-005 cursed, "B-306! Answer me! God, damn it!! I knew this realm isn't the best place to hunt for those damned creatures...!"

He exited the house, angrily, leaving the hinges of the door creaking after a loud throw to the walls.

Orion and the others exhaled their breaths that they didn't know they were holding in.

"What... was that...?" Vinnetra breathily asked with a dumbfounded look. They were all in shock, trying to comprehend what was going on.

"I thought we were just going to go running and got lost in a random neighbourhood or something..." Shizuka said as they got out of the tiny space they were in before. "I didn't know it would escalate this far."

"Where did he go?" Isseiris asked as he looked around. "The Antheros is gone too," Vinnetra added as he searched for the young creature.

"That man... was holding a... Cuserius Staff," Orion informed them tensely as he remembered what he saw.

They couldn't help but notice the shaky hues that met theirs in worry. A gulp ran down one's throat, choking the air that once treaded through the tunnel of what gave them life.

And yet, their heart stopped beating, for one second.

For one solid second.

Their whole world froze.

"... A-A Cuserius Staff...?!" Vinnetra repeated with a shriek, with a dropped jaw that wouldn't come back up as the other two stared with wide eyes.

"I thought the Cuserius Staff was banned from Xenorynth," Isseiris wondered out loud as the girl beside him nodded.

"The Cuserius Staff is originally from the Felloras Kingdom, right?" Vinnetra asked. "I know that much."

"Yeah, it is. The Cuserius Staff..." Isseiris pondered for a moment, contemplating.

"... It's a staff that is known to be able to capture any kind of life forms, even the gods and goddesses themselves. They were created on a limited amount since the Cuserius Gems are only found by naturally-formed minerals beneath the earth..." Isseiris explained to the group, causing them to shiver ever-so-slightly.

"Are they after the Antheroses? There's gotta be more of 'em here since they're looking for them..." Orion guessed, stepping outside.

"Then what about the baby Antheros from before? We can't just leave it here," the platinum-blonde-haired girl asked softly, concern in her voice when she spoke.

"As that man said, it's nowhere to be found. No trace of it is left here," Isseiris plainly pointed out to his group when he looked at his map. He's finally able to use his spells again after they got out of the house.

"Why did the door get stuck earlier? Is it that man?" Vinnetra searched the doorknob from before, trying to find what was wrong with it. But to no avail, he gave up on it and went after his group.

The group walked in silence as they were having their guards up.

They checked every corner to make sure no one and nothing was there. When they incidentally stopped for a while near an empty mart, a loud 'boom' was heard from the other side of the neighbourhood and rubbles of giant rocks suddenly went flying at them.

"Wha––?!"

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"RUN...!"

The group ran for their lives, trying to dodge all the boulders and giant rocks being targeted at them.

It was in the heat of the moment that Shizuka decided to use a little of her magic to destroy some–– but saved the rest for later, in case of a big battle.

Though she truthfully admitted in the midst of the panic, it was a bit of a hassle to think and to run around somewhere they hadn't stepped foot into. Gaia knows what they would be encountering next once they ran into a corner.

One of the boulders almost hit Vinnetra. But fortunately for him, Orion quickly pulled him out of the way while the group continued to run forward.

"GAH!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?!"

Vinnetra ran and ran, Orion and Isseiris catching up beside him.

As Shizuka flew while shooting the boulders with some simple light-based magic–– preventing them from hitting her group–– the aura that had yet revealed itself to the naked eyes of humans surrounded the boulders, causing them to propel towards the running figures.

The once lifeless boulders had suddenly followed them as if they had legs of their own as well.

With poor Vinnetra carried by Orion parkouring from one end to another, the boulders could do nothing but collide and self-destruct against the walls, leaving nothing but broken pieces.

The group came to a sudden stop when a silhouette emerged from the shadows in front of them, blocking their path.

Winds that rustled the trees moved the shadows beneath the scorching sun, glitching the figure as it rose up. When the blanket of darkness left the figure's body, Orion's widened eyes easily told them that the unknown soul was one of the men from before.

The man chuckled deeply and refitted his googles, sighing. "Well, well, well... The intruders are just children, eh? This should be easy enough."

"The man from before...!" Orion exclaimed loudly, making the whole group change their forms into fighting stances.

If glowers could kill, the man would be in shreds right now.

However, his own lax form wavered not.

Instead, he mocked them with another laugh, shaking his head. "Ho~? Ready to fight I see...?" the man said with a whistle, cocking his head to the side.

Shizuka could already imagine the smirk beneath the mask the man wore tightly.

On Isseiris' signal and Shizuka's preparation, they expected the worse to come.

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"Then a fight is what you'll get...!!"

The man, currently known as C-005, charged at the students, ready to burn them in the face.

He aimed for Vinnetra firstly with fists blanketed in flames.

With a heat that rivalled the sun, the rays the latter sent didn't really help when it only reinforced the man's raging flames that had gone up to his shoulders.

Vinnetra let out a breath, barely cast a spell out of his specialized Blood Magic to defend himself, "BLOOD MAGIC: CRIMSON NEEDLES!!!"

The earth shook and the surface of it cracked open, revealing not light nor dark, but the hues flow within every living being in the realm.

Crimson rose.

Gargantuan pin-like earth ridges grew larger and wilder from beneath, flowing from the cut that ripped the caster's skin open. A stream of red poured down slowly as if time had no control over the flow of life coming from Vinnetra.

Though, he was a second too slow.

C-005 had barely evaded the boy's attack, earning unhealing scratches that marked his skin red for the rest of his life.

Clicking his tongue, the man now aimed for Orion. He put his staff behind him, promptly pulling out two knives out of his black vest.

Orion dodged the man's consecutive slashes as he backed away, but one of them managed to slash his forehand, earning a painful grunt from the ash-blonde, "U-Urghh!!"

"Orion-san!" Shizuka aimed her hand towards the man as she shot a light beam towards him. It barely missed him as it injured his shoulder.

"God! Stop moving, would you?!" Orion complained aggressively whilst he tried to kick the man, but the older male backed away from the kids, holding his slightly bleeding shoulder.

"Imperium Oceani: Caerula Flustus," Isseiris calmly chanted his spell as a large wave of blue appeared in front of them, charging at the man, hitting him and injuring him in the process. Bloods flowed down his face as he backed far, far away from the children, retreating.

"U-Ugh...! I'll get you, children, next time!!!"

And with those last words spoken in shame, he ran away. The three immediately ran towards Orion as he held his bleeding forearm.

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"Dream Weaver Magic: Time Reverse."

The blood went back inside him as his wound closed up and his clothes all patched up, returning to their normal state.

"... Thanks, I guess," the ash blonde-haired male quietly thanked the female with slight pink tinting his cheeks, looking away in the end. The girl didn't notice it due to being busy examining the other boys, accompanied by her mumbles, checking if they're okay.

Of course, Isseiris and Vinnetra noticed this immediately and the latter started to secretly tease the slightly blushing male.

"Oh?... Orion~ Hohohoho~ I didn't know you like her~!" Vinnetra whisper-shouted to the red-eyed boy, receiving a redder blush from him in return.

"Wh––?!" Before Orion could shout at the black-haired male, Isseiris elbowed his stomach lightly to keep him quiet.

"Don't want her to know now, do you?" the light-blue-haired male reminded blankly to Orion as he blushed again, grunting while clutching his aching stomach, specifically the spot that Isseiris had targeted.

"Urgh... Damn you...!!"

"Hohoho~!! Be grateful we didn't leek your–– ugh!!!"

"Shut it!"

"Stop fighting, you two."

|| CHAPTER 38 | Hunters on the Loose (Pt. I) - To be continued… ||

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