"Frann!" A blood-curdling scream escaped the lungs of a middle-aged woman who watched her little brother and husband be slaughtered by a young girl, who looked to be in her late teens, wearing an elegant black dress.
Minami ripped the heart out of the man whom she had just killed, making his lifeless body drop to the ground with a thud.
As if to taunt the woman who was devastated at seeing her cherished dead, she turned to look at her confusedly, slightly tilting her head.
"He was weak." She whispered, but the woman heard her clearly. Soon her grief was overwhelmed by her burning rage.
"Ah!!" She let out a mad cry as her Aura burst out of her, taking the form of a tiger as well, but unlike her brother, hers was yellow.
And then she burst forth.
It was probably her rage that added to her strength because Minami sensed that she was much stronger than before, and they had been fighting for several minutes.
She elegantly spun around and side-stepped, avoiding the oncoming claw of Tiger, and then she drew her fist and threw it at her opponent at a speed that baffled her.
*Ba-dum*
A dull explosion sounded out when the fist collided against the Aura Soul Avatar, spreading a few shockwaves that ruffled up dust and debris and made the trees rustle and creak.
It was soon followed by a cracking sound as the place where the fist had landed started visibly cracking, and to the woman's dismay, the force that hit her as soon as the fist broke through her Aura Soul was so great that it made her go blank. She groaned in pain after she regained her composure and found herself on the ground, several metres away from where she had clashed with her opponent.
It had been years since she had last been in such pain, and the woman now understood why her brother had been begging her to escape as he promised to hold this girl back.
"Who are you?" She asked as she helped herself back on her feet, wincing at the pain that kept jolting through her body.
Her clothes were already torn from places, a streak of blood leaked from her mouth, and only she knew how much pain every inch of her body was in right now.
Escape was not even an option since her enemy was way faster than her. She knew if she tried to make a run for it, Death would only embrace her sooner.
Minami was a little impressed when she watched the woman get up on her feet. She was quite a tenacious person. And driven by her emotions, this middle-aged woman, whose true age was around 60 years, had already held up against her beyond the limits of a mere human.
"At least, tell me who you are." The woman clenched her fists, shoving the pain at the back of her mind, and then she prepared herself for another round, summoning her Aura Soul again.
Minami lightly smiled at her words but did not answer her simply because she was not obliged to answer her.
To the woman's surprise, she recalled her Aura Soul back inside her body, and just when the woman saw a ray of hope, she raised her right hand.
The Grand Elder of the Wislaw Family was horrified when all of a sudden the Shadows lept at her from the ground, ready to devour her. Soon the legs of the Tigeress were bound, but the Shadows did not slow and stop. They crawled up its body as well.
And despite all her struggles, she failed to break free.
Soon her entire body was shrouded, and she was now caged inside an Orb of Darkness where there was no light and the cold seemed to permeate right into her bones. However, the most horrifying thing was the absence of any sound. She could not even hear her heartbeat or the words that came out of her mouth.
However, what she could feel was the Darkness trying to devour her Aura Soul, and her instincts yelled at her that once her Aura Soul fell, it would be her death.
And her fear proved to be true.
The moment her Aura Soul fell, she was impaled by countless strings of Darkness that started devouring her blood and flesh and even the bones.
When the Orb of Darkness vaporised a few minutes later, there was no trace of the woman left, and Minami stood alone in the clearing, wearing a very indifferent smile. Almost impressed that it had worked just as well as she had imagined.
There were three Grand Elders in the Wislaw Family, and two were now dead. Only one was left and she closed her eyes to locate her target.
"No need." She heard Keith's voice. "Let the others deal with him." He told her.
"Yes, Father." Minami nodded and then started walking in his direction.
It was for the best that Yingying, Iseul, and Kiara dealt with the last remaining Elder in Primal Desolation. To her, it was not even an effort and she was getting bored now.
Fighting against Keith in their sparring sessions was way more fun for her than killing these helpless people who stood no chance against her.
Minami silently walked through the woods, heading in a direction where she could sense Keith's presence.
She reached the place in a matter of few minutes, a small spring in the middle of the woods, and when she looked up, she found him hovering in the air, a few hundred metres up in the sky.
A sense of longing washed over her as she too wished to be able to fly like him, but it was not possible right now. However, he had taught her a method, and she immediately used it.
She created Discs of her Aura in the air, making a stairway for her, and then she jumped from one to next as she swiftly climbed up in the air, arriving right next to him.
The last disc under her feet disappeared, but Minami was not scared of the fall. In an instant, she felt like there was an invisible platform under her feet, and it had appeared before she could create one with her Aura and then telekinetically hold it in its place.
She knew it was Keith who had helped her, and she smiled before she looked in the direction his eyes were locked.
Several hundred metres away from their location, she caught the girls fighting against a group of six Aurors, and there was also a dead body cut into half a little away from the group.
Yingying, Iseul, and Kiara were not in the least troubled. It was totally one-sided, and at this point, it was just a massacre. Another Auror fell as he was effortlessly decapitated by Iseul, and it was then that Minami narrowed her eyes and turned to look to the East.
It was the last Grand Elder of the Wislaw Family, and he was leading a group of Elders and Warriors of the Family with him, most in the Spirit Profound Realm, and some at the peak of the True Profound Realm.
There were twenty of them, and by the time they reached the place where the girls were taking on the other group, two more had died.
The remaining three rejoiced when they saw their Grand Elder, and with renewed vigour, they rushed together with the reinforcements, determined to make these girls pay for killing their kin.
Iseul and Yingying shared a glance and the latter disengaged from the fight and rushed straight at the Grand Elder, intending to take him on by herself, leaving the rest to her companions.
Yingying seemed to be a little weaker than her opponent, but thanks to the sword in her hand, which was gravely sharp, she was the one at the advantage.
It only took a couple of minutes for Kiara to take care of the weaker Aurors, and then together with Iseul, he rushed at the stronger ones.
The Grand Elder could only listen to the helpless cries of his kin as they fell one after the other.
And when he found himself surrounded by three enemies, a cat, a crow, and a fox, the enraged bear charged at the one whom he considered the weakest, intending to take her with him to the afterlife.
Kiara slightly smiled as she saw through her enemy's intentions, and then she blurred from her spot, baffling the charging bear with her speed, and then to his dismay, she went on the offensive, gracefully, yet precisely chipping away his Aura Soul.
Iseul and Yingying both did not interfere as they let Kiara have fun, but they stayed on guard in case anything unexpected happened.
Minutes later, when they found Kiara at a stalemate with the old man, Yingying decided to step in and help her finish things but stopped before she even took a step forward when Kiara's body started emanating Azure flames.
"Go and catch the Head and finish up the remaining targets. Take Yingying with you." Iseul heard Keith's voice through the earpiece and immediately signalled to Yingying to leave with her.
They both glanced at Kiara, who seemed to be gaining in both strength and speed as she fought with an opponent who was stronger than her and decades more experienced. The beautiful azure flames around her body kept flaring up, and they could finally see her gaining an advantage.
Despite their desire to stay and watch the battle unfold, they left to execute their orders, not worried about her safety as they knew Keith was watching them and would not let any accidents happen.
