Free Web NovelChapter 49: Chapter 48 - Helpless to Stop It
Point-of-View: Aurora Pretorius
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I let out a drained sigh as I sat down on the ground, my hands covered in dirt. I felt numb and hollow inside, the tightness in my chest refusing to go away. I had just finished burying the bodies of the cheetahs, while piling up the human corpses by the trees, well away from the den.
I know the location of a pride of lions and lionesses not too far from here, I’ll go there later and command them to come eat the bodies. What is wrong with humans? Humans killed my dad. Humans killed the cheetahs that I considered my family.
Why would they do such a thing?
I just can’t understand, why?
Why?
I shook my head and stood up...I can’t let myself drown in despair, I need to clean myself up and then find a new den for myself and Dot, far away from here. I’ve failed to protect so many, over and over again...I have to protect her, no matter what.
So I can’t wallow...I have to focus on protecting her. And I’ll kill anyone who gets in my way. I then glanced down at my body with a grimace...my fingers and hands were covered in dirt, and blood was splattered against my skin and zebra-skin clothes.
I headed for the stream and stepped into the water, not bothering to take my clothes off as I waded towards to waterfall and stood underneath it. The force of the falling water quickly washed away the dirt and blood, but the bloodstains on the zebra-skin clothes I was wearing weren’t washing out.
I’ll just have to make a new outfit out of the next animal that the cheetahs hunt down-...oh, I guess I’ll have to start doing the hunting myself now, huh...all by myself...I began trembling as I let out a quiet sob, my eyes tearing up...
Every time this happens, it feels like my happiness gets abruptly torn apart in the blink of an eye, with no warning or explanation, leaving me with nothing but a despairing sense of helplessness.
Sixteen years ago, I had been enjoying myself so immensely, and then, in a matter of minutes, I had to watch as my dad was shot in the head, helpless to stop it. And then, ten years ago, I had to watch as Drag was killed by that bear, helpless to stop it. And now, today...they were all killed, and once again, as I always am, I...I was helpless to stop it.
I then stepped out from under the waterfall and let myself fall forward into the stream face-first, hitting the water with a loud splash as I let out a loud scream of frustration, bubbles flowing out of my mouth, my body sinking down before slowly floating back up along the surface. I then turned my body across so that I was face up, staring up at the sky despondently, as I floated along the surface of the water.
Hm? I then stiffened as I suddenly felt like I was being watched, and as I light breeze blew across, I picked up the faint scent of...perfume? It’s coming from the bushes over there...
And then, it felt like the gaze on me shifted away...but someone’s definitely there, I can still smell them. Dot should be asleep right now, I’ll take care of this without disturbing her. I quickly and silently swam out of the stream, before quietly and swiftly sneaking towards where I felt the gaze coming from, going around a tree to the left of the bush.
It was a woman, wearing a black shirt with a red ribbon below the front of the collar and a black skirt, she had long black hair and pale skin...is she an enemy too? If she is, I’ll kill her.
She was holding a phone, tapping away at the screen...is that a smartphone? It’s bigger and thinner than the ones I’ve seen. Whatever, I don’t really care...all that matters right now, is whether or not she’s someone that I need to kill...
As she turned on the phone camera and began zooming in while pointing it at the stream, I silently slipped behind her and extended out my claws, pressing them against the side of her neck. She froze with a slight, quiet gasp, trembling slightly as she finally noticed me, dropping her phone as her hands started shaking.
"Are...you...with those...other people that...came here earlier?" I inquired as I felt a murderous intent rising up inside me...I haven’t spoken in a long time, I was struggling to speak full sentences, but it doesn’t matter, all that I can think about is killing her if it turns out that she’s an enemy too...
It was almost like I was hoping she’s an enemy, I wanted to kill her, for no other reason that I wanted to lash out at this cruel, unfair reality, I wanted to take out my anger and frustration of my own helplessness by killing...
Suddenly, I instinctively sprang back as I felt a strange sensation from her, a strong pressure that was pushing against mine, before she quickly stood up and leapt over the bush, into the open grassy area.
That settles it. She’s an enemy. So I’m going to kill her.
I shot towards her on all fours, the dark mist forming around me in the shape of a cat silhouette, enveloping my entire body, before I swung my arm forward while extending the shadowy cloak around it towards her rapidly.
She managed to just barely evade my attack, as she pointed her hands down and suddenly shot straight up as a strong blast of wind burst out, before I then swung my arm up, the shadowy claws whipping up rapidly in response.
She narrowly flew out of the way, before inhaling deeply...and blowing out a huge wave of flames from her mouth, lighting up the area in a bright, fiery glow. I didn’t move, instead focusing on intensifying the density of the shadowy cat-shaped cloak around around.
As the flames then enveloped me, I didn’t even feel the heat, as the shroud protected me...I couldn’t see anything, but I could smell her perfume...she’s landed back down on the ground, and is racing across to my left.
I rapidly swung my arm across with immense force, blowing away the flames around me as I did, before spotting her in my left peripheral...she had formed a large, purplish-black ball that looked perfectly round, and yet distorted at the same time.
The moment I blew her flames away, she fired the ball at me, which rapidly shot towards me...I quickly reacted by raising my left hand and expanding the size of the hand and claws of the shroud, while focusing on intensifying that spot as much as possible.
The dark projectile hit the palm of the shadow, and as it did, I could tell immediately...that it was the same ability as the new one I’d gained after touching that glass-like thing. I swiftly closed my hand into a tight fist, crushing her attack.
"Huh!? Impossible...!" Exclaimed the woman, her eyes widening as I dissipated her blast.
I got the feeling that I should avoid touching an attack like that with my bare hands...but since this cat silhouette shroud is made using the same ability, I don’t have to worry about that. The way that attack felt when it hit my shroud and I crushed it...I think I can replicate that feeling...and copy it... freewebnøvel.coɱ
"Wh-what!? No way, the Negative Blast is one of the most difficult Dark Skill techniques to master...how the hell are you able to use it after just seeing it once!? That’s imposs-...ohh, shit...," She trailed off in shock and disbelief, as I formed managed to copy it, a bit unstable at first, before I quickly got it under control, and then expanded it massively, as she stumbled back in horror, her eyes widening.
"Now...die," I stated coldly, as swung my arm across in her direction, flinging the massive ball of black and hints of purple towards her. freewebnøvel.com
The blast was too big and too fast for her to dodge, as she reacted in alarm by pointing her arms forward, with her fingers stretched out straight, her hands pressed together.
And then, right as my attack closed in on her, it seemed to slow down through the middle, before erupting in a dark, shadowy blast, vaporizing the grass and ground in the vicinity of the blast, bits of grass and dirt erupting and flying out from the point of impact.
As the dark mist and dust cloud cleared away, my eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, as I saw that the woman was still alive. But she looked quite injured...her clothes were in tatters, her sleeves almost completely gone, some of the cloth around her waist also torn.
And there were several patches of dark purple on her skin, mostly her arms, with a few on her face and legs too. Her body was trembling in pain, as she let out a pained cough, blood trickling down the side of her mouth as she stumbled back.
I see, that must be what happens when that attack hits you directly. What did she call it again...I think it was Negative Blast. And she said something else about it...that it’s a ’Dark Skill technique’. I’m starting to understand this ability a bit better now, I should thank her by killing her without inflicting too much pain...now, then, it’s time to finish her off.
As I began to extend my shadow claws towards her, she suddenly let out a furious scream of frustration, before springing back and shooting a blast of wind at the ground in front of her, kicking up a thick dust cloud and then rapidly flying up and away, quickly gaining both height and distance.
I began to chase after her, extending the arm of my shroud towards her, before reluctantly halting with a frustrated click of my tongue as she got out my reach, before flying away at too fast a speed for me to catch up with...she was much slower than me on the ground, but she can fly faster than I can run.
Damn it, humans that can fly are a pain to deal with...but I remember their faces, I’ll make sure to kill them the next time that I-...I then stiffened as I felt it again, the feeling of being watched. This time, it felt like there were two sets of eyes on me, and I could faintly smell them too, so they were definitely there, but...how did in the world did they get there?
I’m currently on high alert, with all my senses heightened, there’s no way that I could have missed two people sneaking up on me...I would have heard them moving, or at least picked up their scents, since I’m downwind right now.
I could only think of one explanation that made sense...these two have super-powered abilities too...
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