Chapter 44: Pride

A towering wolf, standing at 8 meters, found herself encircled by 15 soldiers clad in black armor, while the ground beneath them resembled a black hole, though it was her shadow expanding over 15 meters. "This is frustrating," she exclaimed, noticing the fog's increasing density as it closed in.

Her vision was obscured momentarily by the advancing fog, a sense of wariness gripped her heart. In an instant, she sensed a lightning-fast strike approaching, disrupting her domain. Instincts screamed as impending doom loomed; her shadow knight shifted slightly to her right just before impact.

BOOM! An explosion rocked the knight, engulfing her and her small army, and casting them into chaos as laughter echoed from the fog. Without Ava's support, the shadow domain and the rest of the black knights vanished, leaving them surrounded by fog.

Confusion and anxiety washed over her as she struggled to regain her balance amidst the dense fog's presence. The fog seemed to intensify, causing her danger senses to flare up. Suddenly, a sound pierced the air, putting Ava on high alert as voices rang out, "How dare you enter the sacred grounds of our goddess." Ava felt the resentment in the voice. She prepared for anything that may come her way. "A little Beast kin dares defy our words, the guardians," another voice sounded with a more dominating aura.

Ava's immediate impulse was to run away as the two auras clashed down on her like a tidal wave; she admitted the large gap between their power. This was her first time feeling genuine fear in a long time. Abruptly, a wave of a powerful attack appeared in the sky with a brilliant red light.

Even with the denseness of the forest, the attack was still visible, and in just seconds, the strike shot out, landing below with a fierce wave of power emitting from the strike. The world was silent for a moment before, the fog disappeared, which Ava's eyes showed with surprise.

Her domain was still there, and she was defending against vines that were coming in every direction. Ultimately, everything was an illusion that she discovered at the last moment, and how did this happen?

Simply put, the attack that hit was real, which meant they were inside the fog. It wasn't an attack, as she looked sideways, a little branch pierced her. "Is it the trees or another being?" She wondered, removing the little branch. Without many thoughts, her eye glowed, and a roar filled with fury screamed out, sending waves that started removing the fog. But that wasn't enough "What." She felt confused and perplexed, as her senses tried to search the fog to find nothing.

Unexpectedly, for a split second, she sensed all the trees surrounding her releasing vines and fog; even for a moment, she memorized their location, and immediate action was taken. The 15 knights reached out of the domain with long shadows following them, attacking the trees around her.

Soon enough, the fog started to remove itself as the scene of broken trees and destroyed trees showed. Assessing her surroundings, she found no other threat; her size decreased, and the domain along with black knights came back to her. "What's wrong with this forest?" She exclaimed with an annoyed expression.

Suddenly, she felt a powerful stare, which shocked her, and she stared into the sky to notice who it was; she sighed, replying, "Don't startle me like that, Ximena." Her dead stare didn't even leave her once, and she inquired,

"What are you," using her supreme race bloodline she tried to control her but didn't work, to her surprise. She stood in the sky with white beautiful hair floating along with pairs of dragon wings behind her.

"What do you mean," Ava inquired curiously, with a confused expression.

"What do you mean, my ass, you aren't a normal dire wolf, are you. So answer," the dominating voice rang out, PLUS her aura making the ground vibrate. The power contained in her voice sounded like she was angered and why.

Simply, Dragons are beings that see themselves as supreme to every other existing race. Being unable to coexist with them as they saw them as just mere slaves or insects. Having egos like a mountain, which wasn't bad if they could control it. For Alex, it was different because she saw him as being beyond mortal.

But staring at this dire wolf that seemed to have a unique aura around and a bloodline that was more supreme to her made her furious and curious. 'A dire wolf shouldn't have such a bloodline.' At first, she was curious about her ability and the unique aura around her, but when some drops of blood came from the small wound from the little branch.

She sensed a supreme bloodline, which was equal to her own. Ava stared above with a confused expression, not understanding what was happening. Ximena merely felt challenged by her as rationality went out of the window.

Suddenly, Alex appeared before them, and he said, "Ximena, control yourself." The beautiful sky-blue eyes stared at her, and at that moment, she felt that she was standing before an emperor whose order couldn't be defied.

Realizing her stand, she controlled herself and said, "Sorry, Alex."

"I'm not the one you should apologize to," he answered with a cold stare.

"I'm sorry, Ava," she said.

Ava stared at this with a confused expression and said, "What the heck is going on; can you two just tell me."