A Wasteland

Listening to Yulrin's competitive spirit, Vandor felt his own ignite as he travelled through the forest.

"You want to make this a competition Yulrin, then so be it. We can't forget about a punishment for the losers though, any suggestions?"

Raran's voice pitched in as they all communicated with each other.

"Loser has to do the Clan's chores for a week?"

"Haha, sounds good to me, I hope you're not all scared."

Laughing happily Yulrin crushed another Beast to pieces. With everyone agreeing the four groups scoured the forest looking for their prey. This kind of messing around wasn't something none of them were used to, a brand new experience for them. "A breath of fresh air." Throwing his body at a giant bear Vandor grabbed its arms and pinned it to the ground. One member of his group that was younger ran up and stabbed it while it was on the ground. Brushing the blood off his shirt Vandor moved on to his next target. Raran watched his members take out as many small beasts that they could while he watched over them. His group was full of the most inexperienced people however he wasn't worried.

"Young and full of ambition. Let's see you prove your worth."

Encouraging them Raran wasn't too keen on using much of his power, he still hadn't made his decision about Xilo's offer yet. "I'll decide when we get back, I want to see how he handles this all." Raran had been paying very close attention to Xilo since that day. It was kind of hard not to, seeing as how they had the same power in their blood. A couple birds dropped to the ground as the marksmen of the group showed their talent. They only had five people in total that were good with ranged weapons and magic. The other 15 were all melee fighters if they weren't counting Xilo's main group. "I got two of them and the others were split around." Arrow's flew into the air and pierced another Beast.

"Good job everyone! I'll keep count, you all just focus on fighting."

This was a race and they didn't have any time to spare.

"Did it get weaker?"

Destroying more tentacles Xilo was confused at their sudden lack of aggression. It was quickly turning into a one sided slaughter in favour of him. He didn't know what had changed however that didn't stop him. Seeing more energy around Xilo took control of the core while the Astral Zone's beast disappeared at an incredible pace. It was turning from a lively forest into a barren wasteland of death. Uprooting the Core, Xilo checked on his barrier everyone in a while while he fought. "Seems all good there." He was getting closer to his goal and wanted to make sure no surprises showed up. The girl's casually sat around Xilo as he was working, occasionally checking for any signs of people.

"No one to be found."

"Nope, It seems like Xilo is also less stressed than before, so it looks like it's working."

Xelfia had noticed his face softening as the stress dampened.

"I guess Raran wasn't being tricked, thankfully."

"Eh, even If he was Felli, I'm here and so is everyone else. We're tough enough to defend ourselves."

"I know that Xelfia, doesn't mean I can't not worry though."

"True."

Althea watched Xilo's progress in silence as her energy reserves faded. "I used a lot more than I planned." Resting her chin on her hand she leaned against the air and observed Xilo. "Just a bit more and he's got it." With everyone helping out, something that seemed impossible had become simple. The Core stood zero chance at this point unless it destroyed itself. "I doubt it'll do that." The intelligent part inside of it probably stopped any attempt at self destruction. "I hope." Letting loose a yawn Althea could feel exhaustion over taking her. "I can't yet." She had to see Xilo take over the core with her own eyes. "Just a few more minutes." Xilo ripped apart another tentacle as the space opened up to him completely revealing a much smaller core that was being protected.

"Here it is."

Stepping forward with his energy, he let it encircle it as he grabbed control of the Astral Zone. With it being so weak it couldn't fight back, giving Xilo free access. "I did it." Excitement filled his movements as he calmed down his shaky arms. Grabbing a hold of the core he felt the energy of the zone pour inside him. "Whoa." A flood of energy entered his body all at once. "This is what Althea meant." Quickly, Xilo tried to take control of the energy and use it for himself. "She did suggest it." While that was happening Xelfia felt another cold shudder inside of her body. Pain ached inside of her as her body morphed into a dragon for a moment. "Again?" Waiting for the flames to appear Xelfia bit her lip as she endured the pain.

"Xelfia, Are you okay!?

Seeing Xelfia lurch over as her body grew scales Tearia reached out to her.

"I'm..fine."

through the pain Xelfia felt her emotions spiking.

"What's happening to you?"

"An annoying side effect of something Xilo did. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be fine. Thank you for worrying but there's not much you can do to help."

Hearing that Tearia rubbed Xelfia's back and tried anything she could to soothe Xelfia's pain. Even if it was a minimal amount of relief that was fine with Tearia. She didn't want to see her friends in pain. "I wonder if anything I can make would help." Since she didn't know what exactly was causing this, it was hard to say. She could just end up making it worse if she wasn't careful. Xelfia felt her scales digging into her body as the darkness expanded in her stomach , trying to take control.

"Not going to happen."

Xelfia would never let it take control.