A few moments ago, after Setsuna and Neun moved away from the other two, the two wolf girls started running in the forest with a grace and speed that could hardly be replicated by average existences on their level.
"I see that the princess has not forgotten the lessons I taught you about stealth..."
Setsuna ignored the words coming out of Neun's mouth and focused entirely on simply moving faster and with more dexterity, avoiding everything that could slow her down or make any sounds of her steps.
It was a silent run but the two of them knew very well that this might be the last time they run together. Like this, they traveled a few hundred meters away before finally stopping at a seemingly endless barren plain. They gazed at each other, their eyes full of meaningful emotion as they locked onto each other and didn't leave each other's gazes.
In the end, the first one to speak was none other than Neun herself. There were simply so many things that she wanted to convey to Setsuna. So many things she wanted to ask about her, and those thoughts and emotions made everything all the more painful for both her and Setsuna.
"How has life been for you, princess?"
"I am not a princess anymore, you know... You don't need to call me that..."
"No matter what your current position is... You will always be the one and only princess in my eyes."
She placed her hand on her hips and reached for her sword... As her stance changed, so did her eyes... going cold as though the chill of an endlessly cold plain rested on her eyes...
"This is why I beg you... Please, princess... Move away from here, I do not wish to hurt you more than I need to. It only prolongs my pain and suffering..."
Setsuna bit her lips tightly at her words... An endless volley of lightning started to flash and zap around her frame as she took her sword out of the sheath in one clean motion... It was an indication that she would not be hearing any more of Neun's blabbers... It was an indication for the start of their battle...
Slight traces of disappointment lingered in Neun's despondent-looking eyes, but she concealed them as soon as they came and looked at Setsuna with an apathetic expression on her face.
The two women stood equal distance apart, weapons drawn, and their bodies fully covered in mana. One was showing a deep, raging silvery white hue of mana mixed with blue electricity, while the other held on to an apathetic expression as a bluish watery hue of aura covered her body alongside calm traces of windy notes of mana.
Setsuna was a Storm Wolf, whose ability allowed her to have innate control over wind, lightning, and water. Meanwhile, Neun was only a Blue Wolf. She normally should have only been able to use water. But her mastery and talent helped her bring forth and awaken a second element, allowing her to control it in full.
Silence fell in the surroundings once again. For Setsuna, only the sound of her heartbeat filled her own ears, and everything else fell into a lull.
She could feel it. Neun had become even stronger than she had been the last time they faced each other. The only way for her to have a chance to win against her would be to find her domain. But she was already finding her way in.
'Flash.'
She had gotten rid of all showy movements and excess notes of circulation; only pure speed remained as lightning brought her forward like a rocket toward her opponent.
It only took her one step to reach close to Neun, but for this reason, all her senses became even more alert than before. She knew very well that she had entered her domain and on the reach of Neun's powers, and as she thought...
Calm Sea j
It felt like she was now standing inside a lake. Everything became meaningless, and everything felt like it should stop in front of the calming undulations of the endless sea...
Even though Setsuna had been moving fast, she immediately moved sideways and managed to avoid a downward slash that could have cleaved her head in two had she been hit by it.
The motion was not the end of her ordeal. Like a dance, Neun's sword would move in endless and chaotic motions, and Setsuna would avoid it, all this while turning around her and trying to pierce through her domain.
'I got her.'
She finally managed to reach the place that she believed to be Neun's blind spot and moved hurriedly for the kill, ready to tear her previous instructor apart with her sword.
Clang'
For the first time since the start of this fight, the swords of the two wolf girls finally clashed.
Agile Like the Surging Wind j
Moving and turning at an impossible angle, Neun managed to block the carefully timed strike that Setsuna had placed on her weak spot. At the same time, a hammer made of water manifested in the air before ruthlessly slamming down at her with inhuman speeds.
Boom - !
Setsuna managed to avoid the attack by taking a step back, but that was not nearly enough for her to miss the full brunt. The water, after striking the ground, changed form to look like two wolves and rushed at her with the speed of a vigorous cheetah.
"Begone!"
Setsuna howled, and thunder roared all around her, moving out of her body and relentlessly evaporating the two poor constructs into nothingness.
"Princess. Your mastery of lightning has certainly increased by a lot, the same with the way you use the sword. It's a beautiful growth. But if that's all you have learned in the time since we last saw each other on that night, I would be sorely disappointed, you know..."
Awooo~!
The wind started to stir, giving the impression that thousands of wolves were howling together and creating a hurricane of ever-surging pressure.
"Princess... Do you know why I love nature so much?"
Setsuna did not answer her, even as she watched the aura around Neun constantly swell to greater and greater heights.
Wind and water moved according to her whims, and the sky became dark and cloudy as even a sudden surge of rain seemed to be about to fall on their battlefield. One person alone was changing the laws of nature to fit her whims. The thought was both astonishing and terrifying...
"You see. Unlike the so-called Goddesses... Nature is unkind but also fair in its own particular way. It treats each and everyone equally."
She spoke gently, as if she was talking about her beloved of a thousand years.
"Nature is also unpredictable. It can be calm in one moment..."
She smiled at Setsuna before continuing her words...
"...Or it can show its wrath at the very next."
[Zone: Nature's Wrath]
The world changed, torrential rain started to pour from the sky in endless batches, as if wishing to bring the deluge, and the wind started to pick up even faster until it grew to the level of a veritable tornado.
"Princess, as descendants of the great Fenrir, we are all Harbingers of Calamity... Each of us in our own particular way, you see..."
Even as she manipulated the very force of nature to act on her whims, Neun was calm and indifferent and spoke in a tone without any hint of emotions. It was as if this raging sea and the tornado churning all around them were not the results of all the anger that was pent up inside the depths of her heart.
"Rage is our fuel. But rage does not control us."
Setsuna was astonished at the sight that had been presented to her by her once-beloved instructor. This was not the power a simple Duke should have in her hands. This was a power that was infinitely closer to the realm of a King-ranked being.
"For years, I moved relentlessly, accepted hundreds of humiliations and experimentations. All of this to obtain the power to bring death to the usurper and give back the throne to its rightful owner."
The apathetic expression lingering on her face never left as the violent and dormant wrath inside her heart kept swelling further and further and forced the world to change accordingly...
"With what kind of determination are you facing my wrath, Princess?"
This was a challenge for Setsuna.
"Please, dear princess... Do not die..."
Finally, under her control, nature expressed the wrath that was endlessly surging inside of her soul...
