Viers noticed something strange in the distance. It was a sunny day with clear skies but from afar, black clouds were approaching Viers’ location. Soon, from the size of a tiny dot, the spec grew until it resembled a huge black island floating in the sky.

Something is happening, I can feel it in my bones. What kind of event is going to happen? This is a fortuitous encounter, hopefully, I can pick up some small benefits.

Viers did not stand idle, he doused the fire by kicking dirt on it then he packed up his belongings and put on his backpack. Viers was ready to move should he need to.

The area was quickly covered with a black-gray canopy. Sunlight dimmed considerably, the clouds churned and kept changing. Strong winds blustered, accompanied by droplets of water falling sideways, gently at first but soon everything intensified. Leaves danced in the air, the sound of rustling trees came from all around him; along with a thunderous rumble from the darkness above. Flashes of light painted the dimmed sky in the form of yellow-colored veins. The stage was set for the orchestra.

“MOOOOooo!”

A loud roar came from the sky, it made Viers stagger. Like a ship’s horn had been blown in front of his face, he felt something similar to minor shockwaves hit his body. Viers kept looking at the sky trying to catch sight of the source of that roar but the raging waves of clouds reduced his visibility.

When lightning striked, it served as a lamp, brightening some regions of the blackened sky. From the flashes Viers could see something which was not clouds, it was a silhouette of an animal; quite small and hard to see because of the distance between them and the weather condition. In the short time lightning illuminated the stormy sky, Viers could only discern that whatever it was, it had four legs.

The lightning flashed again, but this time it was different. Viers saw a man with white clothes flying in the air, the lightning came from him. His arms were glowing with electricity, he made two balls of yellow lighting from each of his arms. Electricity came out from the clouds and hit him, the lighting balls on his arms shined brighter and then he threw both spheres forward.

There was another, it was a woman with long hair and blue clothes. She came from behind the clouds. When she arrived, her body was glowing with white light and there were tens of birds flying near her; the birds also glowing with the same light as her. She wielded a white spear, she thrust it forward and the birds surged to where she pointed her spear.

“You will not escape, beast!”

The third person was an old man, he wore a black robe and carried a black wooden staff; it was he who spoke. The old man made a sitting position in the air, the black clouds moved as if they were alive. Clouds turned into the shape of a hand, as big as a truck and made a grabbing motion to the animal-shaped figure.

The balls of lightning, the birds of light, and the hand of clouds moved fiercely. However, before the attacks reached their target the beast roared again. A shockwave came from the beast, it met the attack and managed to blast it away. The shockwave traveled in the air like the blast of a bomb, some of the clouds parted because of it.

“MOOOOO!”

Viers could finally see the animal shape, it was a bull, bigger than an ordinary bull, three meters long with pale white skin. Its eyes were blue like the sea with fierce-looking white horns. The most peculiar thing was its tail, it wasn't shaped like a bull’s tail. It was ten meters long and appeared to be made of blue water.

The water-like glow was flowing from the bull to the tip of its tail, almost like the bull was creating a river by itself. The bull was flying in the air, similarly, the tail’s appearance was not following the rules of gravity. it floated in the air similar to human hair when submerged underwater.

However the bull was not looking good. Its body was full of wounds, most were newly made. Similarly, the trio also suffered various wounds but they did not give the bull any chance to rest and immediately continued their attack.

“It’s useless, whatever you do your death is certain. My Authority — Cloud Imprisonment will keep you trapped, no one can come in or come out. Cease your pointless struggle!” The old man's sound could be heard traveling from afar and reached Viers’ ear.

The bull charged at the lighting man but he managed to dodge. The lightning man created a sword made of lightning to slashed the bull, the woman conjured a big eagle made of light, while the old man kept sitting but seemed to be preparing something. The bull made a sphere of water around its body to shield itself from the attacks then it exploded like a bomb, splashing bodies of water everywhere. The eagle dissipated while the lightning man appeared to be injured.

The lightning man took some distance while the woman engaged the bull with her spear, her bird of light attacked with her; they provided support for their master. Lightning man created hundreds of lightning swords, each had terrifying might. When The woman saw the man was ready, she disengaged and the man unleashed his rain of swords on the bull. The bull let out a roar and spun its body, its tail turned into a stream of water like a surging river. The bull managed to wash away most of the swords and the river submerged the lightning man and knocked him far away.

One of the deflected lightning swords was falling at Viers’s direction. As he saw a stray bullet went his way, his heart turned cold. He wanted to run away and get behind some cover but it was far too fast, Viers was powerless to do anything.

The sword missed him and hit the big tree behind him, a crack of thunder and blast of air with wood shrapnel knocked Viers to the ground. It was like a flashbang went off just behind him. Still disoriented, he checked his body for any damage, only minor wounds. He looked at the tree but there was only part of it now, half obliterated while the other half was burning.

Viers kept on watching the battle in the storm above, they talked sparingly and most of the time Viers couldn't hear them because they moved far away from his position. Their attacks also resulted in loud explosions or something similar. Viers noted they did not shout the names of their techniques and since they moved very fast, it was difficult for Viers to fully grasp the battle. Viers wondered what the objectives of the three humans were.

Is it a bull or a cow? Can they even make a roaring sound like that? No, it may not be a bull at all, what are those three aiming for? Killing the bull for its core? That certainly is the generic plot but not that important, the important thing is that they are so powerful! What are their ranks as Path-seekers? Nakala is level 2, are they level 5 or 10, perhaps even higher? They are flying, nice, someday I will be stronger than them and fly in the sky too. Wait, calm down Viers, isn't it very dangerous here? I almost died! Caught in the crossfire of those absurdly powerful people, but where can I go…

***

The battle soon turned to its climax; the old man created a typhoon of clouds, it moved with a thunderous sound and swiftly engulfed the bull. The bull tried to charge through the spinning clouds but it failed, the bull was entrapped inside it.

“Hurry! This won’t hold it for long, take it down now!”

“Sister, let’s hit it again with Authority — Brilliant Lightning Radiance.” The lightning man said to the woman, drenched and hurt.

“Yes, I have just enough for one last strike. With it trapped, it won't be able to dodge it this time.” The woman raised her left hand.

“This battle has gone on for far too long, all of our Victa will be spent at this rate. This is truly our last chance!” The man moved to the woman's left side then raised his right hand to meet his sister’s.

The siblings gripped each other’s hand and prepared to invoke their most powerful attack. The woman glowed brightly and the man crackled with electricity. Their aura rose and it could be felt by everyone, similar to how the sun radiated heat despite being so far away. However, it was not ‘heat’ that everyone felt.

The bull remembered this move, it realized the predicament it was in, and if it did not do anything then the spell would cause its death. So it turned anxious, charging the wall of clouds with force powered by desperation. Its blue eyes blazed with determination, the bull’s body emitted a powerful force. While it was flying, each step it took made the very air tremble as it charged, fully intending to free itself no matter the cost.

As the bull rushed, the bull’s body was covered by the form of another bull. This form was two times bigger than the bull’s original size, this bigger form was blue colored and akin to armor not made of flesh but by something ethereal. Real yet unreal, nevertheless it carried might, power great enough to break the cage of whirling clouds.

When the bull broke the typhoon, the old man spat blood. He was injured by the backlash of his technique broken. It took advantage of that opening, the bull charged straight at him. The old man panicked and erected a barrier of clouds in front of him for a last-ditch effort; it was useless before the empowered charging bull. It tore through his barrier and hit through him with great force. The old man's body exploded. Bits and pieces of flesh, blood, and gore spread throughout the air before it dropped down.

Despite the old man's death, the dark clouds enveloping the area remained. It was still raining intensely and wind blew strongly but there were signs of the technique gradually losing its effects, some clouds in the sky parted and the visibility returned slightly.

“Tch, useless geezer, can't even do his only job properly! We must hurry sister,” The lightning man cursed.

The siblings concentrated further to complete their preparation, the bull roared and charged at them intending to interrupt.

“Done!” The siblings emitted blinding light.

“Brilliance-” The woman spoke.

“Lightning-” The man followed.

“RADIANCE!” Both of them shouted.

They glowed with light so intense it was like the sun, the technique covered the sky with light. From the core of that light, a beam of light and lightning shot towards the bull.

The bull responded to the challenge, it roared louder than anything it let out before. A sea appeared in the sky, and then the sea transformed into the shape of a bull. It had six legs with a big menacing pair of horns jutting forward. The horn was black in color like obsidian, the six-legged bull was made out of water the size of a mountain. It raised its forelegs and stomped at the siblings like a force of nature.

"MOOOOOOOHHHH!"

A flash of light exploded as the two attacks collided, followed with a thunderous rumbling. A mighty shockwave of dust and debris swept through the area.

All combatants no longer had the strength to fly and they fell from the sky. They fell like a plane crash landing, dust and dirt rose upwards when they hit the ground.

The bull lay on the ground, its body was covered with blue blood. A broken spear at the shaft was buried in its stomach, the bull was still alive but only barely.

Not far from the dying bull was the woman, she too was on the verge of death. Her right hand was gone, blood flowed from the opening on her shoulder. Both of her legs disabled and misshapen, it was as if her legs were fruits stomped to a pulp.

The man was no longer breathing. He had no nose to breathe, no lungs, no brain, no heart, no torso. His body was destroyed from the waist up, only his right hand remained intact from his upper body, still gripping his sister’s left hand.

The woman was still conscious, she looked at her side and saw what remained of her brother. She let out a long shriek of sadness because of the death of her cherished brother.

“Aaah, aah, no, no, this can't be happening, NOOOOO!!!”

She cried, tears flowed on her face as she lay on the ground. The rain hadn't stopped, occasionally thunder resounded, her cry accompanied by the rain. But it was soon interrupted, she coughed blood from her throat. She had sustained grievous internal and external injury.

With the meager strength she had left, she took out a small bottle. There were four green-colored pills inside. However, her grip failed her and the bottle fell, rolling on the ground away from her.

She despaired, without those pills she would soon be dead. The rolling bottle stopped, it was stopped by the foot of someone.

She tried to focus her eyes on the newcomer. It was a chubby boy, young, brown-haired, his cheap clothes were a wreck and his body was full of hideous wounds and minor scratches. His face was burned horribly, his right eye was swollen shut, his right hand was dangling beside him. By the shape of it, there were broken bones inside. A long, thin branch of wood impaled his left chest, from the front piercing through the back his body.

“Help… bring... here...” The woman said weakly.

The boy looked at her silently for a few seconds then he looked at the bull. It was looking at him silently but the bull’s breathing was rough, then he switched his gaze to the bottle beside his foot. First, he pulled the wood on his chest with a jerk, blood spurt like a waterfall from both ends. Then he picked the bottle up, opened it, took out one pill, and he swallowed it.

The woman’s eyes grew wide by the boy’s action. He ate it? A priceless healing item wasted for a lowly commoner like him? Does he even know how hard it is, what it costs us to obtain such medicine? But fine, I can let him have one for the price of saving my life.

The boy’s wounds started to heal with the speed visible to naked eye. Bones mended, new skin formed replacing his burns, flesh regenerated, wounds all over were disappearing in the span of one minute.

After the boy checked his body condition, especially his chest, he approached the woman. He had taken out another pill and moved it closer to her lips, the woman opened her mouth, waiting for the medicine.

“Urk!?”

She felt pain in her throat, something foreign was embedded there. Something that wasn't there before.

It was a knife.

As her consciousness faded into the darkness, she heard the boy’s voice for the first time.

“You should be grateful I will not eat your flesh.”