In the middle of a forest along the northwestern shore of the Farror continent, a draconian hybrid raced through the billowing trunks of the ancient trees. Sparse light fluttered through the hanging canopy of the woods. Shaded and protected from the sun and wind, the forest felt safe to its inhabitants.

As one of beings of the forest the hybrid moved with natural grace and beauty. It leapt through the underbrush, swung from low hanging branches, and sped through the maze of trees. Following alongside the hybrid was a black form. Almost completely unnoticeable to the naked eye. The black form acted like a second shadow to the hybrid. Match its pace and movements with uncanny precision.

As the two forms weaved their way through the forest heading towards the south, they came upon a large clearing. As he came into the clearing with a solid wall of rock at the eastern edge he witnessed a majestic waterfall spill other the rocky outcrop and into a pit of water that seemed to never overflow. The pool of water and waterfall created a sense of peace and tranquillity in the savage wilderness of Farror.

Arriving at the waterfront both forms became visible. They were Lucifer Aeroic Khan, the Draconian Nephilim hybrid and Luna, Lucifer’s only friend and companion. Luna wasn't any Beast that Lucifer knew lived in the forest. Eric had made sure he knew all the Beasts in the forest and that were frequent in Farror. But little Luna, as Lucifer had named her was a mystery. She was as far as he could tell a Rank 1 Beast but her Order was unknown. She had grown incredibly fast after Lucifer had began caring for her. She was ostracized in the Razor Wolf pack so he had assumed she was the runt. Her light swallowing black fur chalked up to be a frowned upon variation.

Even after almost an entire year together he could not determine her Order or exact Rank. He had tried to ask Eric and Jasmine if they knew her breed, but all he got were the words: “Treat her well.” Confused and annoyed Lucifer decided he cared not for her breed of lupin Beast. Only thinking of loving her regardless. And so the two became the best of companions.

Luna learned everything from Lucifer. How to hunt, how to fight, even how to use her Mana. Lucifer had found out on the 3rd month of their stay together that Luna understood his words. After testing it out with various little experiments, such as asking her to get something or to answer his question in barks, he finally came to the conclusion she was at least a High Order Beast.

Only a High Order Beast could communicate with the sentient beings. Jasmine taught this to Lucifer during their lessons on Mana and it's influence on the lives of Gaies. While keeping his discovery from Eric and the others, Lucifer told Luna to keep her wisdom a secret around others besides him. This led to Lucifer confirming that Luna was indeed at least High Order. No other Beast could be so clever.

But this was only her mind. Luna had incredible power and abilities. Her small form hid strength on par with Lucifer’s own. This was over their height and weight difference. As Lucifer was after all a 5’9” hybrid of pure blood draconian and Nephilim bloodlines. These two beings were well known for their brute strength. But little Luna could match this deadly combination? This would scare anyone who heard of it.

Lucifer crouched next to the water while his wings fanned out to balance himself. Luna stood slightly behind him as if she was his silent sentry amid his shadows. Looking with his dragon eye deep into the water's depths, Lucifer saw many different fish and aquatic Beasts swim around the water. Straining his eyesight and then channeling a small amount of Mana, Lucifer augmented his dragon eye's vision. Searching with this super sight he found a large winding shape.

The shape was a large serpent type Beast. It was the local Apex of the waters in the forest. A Beast at the peak of the 2nd Rank. Low Order, Aqua Fang. A serpent that traced its lineage back to the ancient flood and rain dragons. A large 20 foot long body with giant foot long royal blue scales that overlapped forming a dangerous jagged scale armour. With a 4 foot diameter the Beast was massive. Capable of surrounding and constricting an elephant, the beast was made even more dangerous by its scales that ripped into whatever it touched. Large fangs ringed the inside of the serpent's mouth. Much like the teeth of a shark, the teeth were laid in rows of savage destruction.

Taking a deep breath Lucifer braced himself to face this tank like serpent. He knew that the long fangs at the forefront of the serpent's jaws were sharp enough to puncture a Rank 3 Beast's skin. So using those fangs as daggers would be perfect for his hunt of the Flash Lynx.

Lucifer had figured he could lure the Beast to the surface before fighting it. He did not take into account the depth the Aqua Fang lurked nor the ridiculousness that was its scale armour. It was worthily a Beast that took defence as a way to attack in the truest sense. A protective plating that cut its foes to ribbons as it wrapped itself around them. This boosted it's already deadly body's efficiency tenfold. Only the slow way it moved and it's soft underbelly made the Beast an imperfect being. It also had a low Mana Purity preventing it from matching up with higher Order Beasts in its later years.

Thinking of this Lucifer decided to take the Beast underwater. His tail could aid his underwater movement ability. While his leathery wings allowed him sharp turns that other land animals lacked in water. This added onto his already powerful body and claws sharp enough to rival any 2nd Rank Beast, created a deadly body for combat in any location. Lucifer’s only issue was breathing time. He knew his breath would exhaust faster during a battle. So he had to plan a quick way to kill this aquatic Apex.

While Lucifer planned his underwater assault, Jasmine was scolding an awkward Eric.

“You sent him to kill a fucking Flash Lynx! That is the same Beast we had to make a deal with to let him live in the lower forest for 6 years! How can he possibly be ready to face it? I wouldn't want to fight that goddamn cheat monster!” Jasmine screamed in absolute hatred. She could not fathom how the boy's adoptive father could tell it such a thing. She had grown to love the boy just like Eric over her time teaching him. He was like the little brother of hers that died mid pregnancy. She would definitely stop Lucifer’s insane quest.

Eric on the other hand was awkwardly scratching his head. He believed the boy had a chance and it was only because of the Flash Lynx’s familia that they made the deal. How could a lowly 3rd Rank Mid Order Beast challenge 3 warriors all at or above the Knight/Magus stage? All three of the warriors who were watching Lucifer had a Mana Purity of at least Yellow with only Yue at Green. This evened the playing field against the Flash Lynx in Mana Purity. But they were still as strong as any Rank 4 Beast individually. So how was it the Flash Lynx made them make a deal for Lucifer to live amongst the forest?

Like Eric had thought it was because of the familia backing the Flash Lynx and it had parents with a fair amount of authority and power. This let it become quite the local bully in these parts of the woods. It's parents were a female Flash Lynx at the 6th Rank and male Lightning Bobcat at the 7th Rank. Both were Mid Oder Beasts known for their top class speed. None of the trio could afford to anger those monsters by butchering their child. Only if a younger Beast killed their child in a bid for being Apex of the region would they swallow their fury.

This may seem unrealistic to some. But Beasts have pride. They would never let their prey be scavenged, they would never bully a later generation Beast, they would only use numbers when fighting a stronger foe and they would always accept a challenge duel. Beasts were in many ways better than the people. They were honourable, straightforward and told no lies. How many people could say the same in the world?

But alas. Eric still sent Lucifer to face a Rank 3 Mid Order Beast that could match his own speed. This was not just a test for Lucifer in his magical training but also his martial training he did with Eric. The so called ‘sparring’ was actually a way to allow Lucifer to find his own way. Karate may be learned by all, but no two practitioners fight the same way. Eric’s method of training was an attempt to circumvent this issue. A true master had to forge his own path, and a genius like Lucifer had to do the same if he wanted to achieve his absolute peak.

Eric also wanted the boy to suffer from failure as well. At most Lucifer could take on a Low Order Rank 2 Beast. But a Mid Order was like increasing the Rank by an entire degree. Even more so against a top flight Beast of speed. So Lucifer was sent to learn defeat; and maybe, just maybe win an impossible battle.

Lucifer was completely ignorant of the machinations going on around him. Instead he only focused on the task at hand: luring the Aqua Fang out onto land. If Lucifer could get the Aqua Fang out of the water he could prevent it from running away. Isolating was a key part in taking down superior animals. Lucifer also had to find a way to kill the Aqua Fang. But he did not think of that till he established a solid plan to isolate the Beast from the water.

After an entire hour Lucifer finally could not think of anyway to get the Aqua Fang out. Standing and kicking the water at his feet, Lucifer was surprised to see small piranha like fish scuttling towards his foot. The little fish bit his scale covered foot as he finished kicking. As his foot sailed out of the water it had 4 of the little fish still latched on it. In anger he let loose his strongest kick to throw them off. As the little fish sailed through the air they began to fall into the pools middle. And almost as soon as they hit the water, a large fishy mouth leapt out and swallowed them.

This event was an epiphany for Lucifer. He just would have to get enough blood out here to get the Aqua Fangs attention. Then he would only have to lure the Beast onto dry land.

“Woof”

Lucifer turned to see Luna pushing a purple coloured flower towards him. The flower was similar to the wild roses that grew around the cabin but, this one had a pale grey stamen. The purple and grey flower felt off to Lucifer. It seemed unnatural. Thinking back to a lesson he had with Jasmine Lucifer finally guessed the flowers origin.

It was a deadly Poison flower that grew by lakes and rivers. It had the provocative name of Laughing Skull Flower. It was a flower that took in water from its surroundings and turned the water into a sweet colourless mist that would make one giddy with laughter. But the laughter was just a symptom of the poison that had inflicted you. After the poison entered your nervous system it would destroy your nerves and paralyze you. Turning you into a vegetative state where your mind worked but your body did not. Death would set in after 3 minutes of entering the vegetative state.

Luna had brought the flower hoping Lucifer could use it to kill the Aqua Fang with little to no trouble. One must know that while the Laughing Skull Flower was dangerous, it had a easy cure. Mana. As long as one had Mana they could purge the Laughing Skull Flower’s mist from their body. So while Luna had a great idea, it was difficult for Lucifer to outlast the Aqua Fang in terms of Mana quantity.

Lucifer currently is a Yellow Spellblade Initiate. While his body could compare with Low Order Rank 2 Beasts. His claws, scales, muscles and reflex were all far above any other races. Even draconians did not physically match up to Beasts till they were at least 30 years old. And that is only when compared with Rank 1 Beasts.

The only possible way for Lucifer to quickly and easily take down the Aqua Fang, was to force it to ingest the Laughing Skull Flower. This was the idea Lucifer came up with after minutes of deliberation. If he could hide the flower amid the bait he set for the Aqua Fang, then the Beast would slowly kill itself. It would not even be able to move; allowing Lucifer the chance to kill it without any difficulty.

Choosing this plan also meant that Lucifer would miss out on eating the high class meat of the Beast. This was the only reason he hesitated doing this. He really could not bear for such a large and powerful Beast to not be devoured. His draconic pride was compelling him to duke it out with the Beast. While his bloodthirsty Nephilim side was telling him to just slaughter indiscriminately. These two powerful urges came directly from his blood. They were near impossible to set aside. So Lucifer enacted upon them.

Dashing into the woods he searched with his draconic eye all around for one particular Beast. The most common amphibious Beast in Farror. A Lute Frog. The Lute Frog had a waterproof hide. One that could be used to make a satchel that water could not invade. Quickly finding the frog, Lucifer whipped his tail at its head. A sickening squelch immediately followed. His tail had directly punctured the frog's cranium. It died painlessly albeit in a horrible manner. Smirking at how easy the kill was. Lucifer began skinning the Beast.

Carefully removing the delicate skin he told Luna to eat the meat of the frog. Beasts ate each other to grow stronger. So while Luna was at least High Order, she was still in her weak period of growth. After drying the hide, Lucifer began to fashion a bag to carry the Laughing Skull.

It had been 3 hours since Lucifer left the cabin. Jasmine was not happy. She was currently preparing to rush to the Flash Lynx’s den to save the young boy. But Yue had suddenly appeared stopping her.

“Jasmine. He is fine. He is hunting an Aqua Fang now. He won't challenge the Lynx till later.” Yue spoke her usual short and curt sentences. Her face still an expressionless beauty. As soon as she finished speaking she turned and left towards the south where Lucifer was preparing to fight the Aqua Fang.

As Yue was leaving Jasmine shot a deadly glare at Eric before putting down her gear. Her gear included a thin long sword, buckler and a long staff that had an ornate top. The staff head was designed to look like a shining star. Though it looked more like a spiked mace with how Jasmine held it.

“He better be alright if you want to live.” Leaving these callous words, Jasmine took off behind Yue with her staff in hand. Eric stood calmly by the cabin with his long naginata leaning against him. As he saw the two women enter the woods, he released an exhausted sigh. Dealing with a raging elf was never fun. Especially Jasmine. She was very famous or infamous for her temper. Though Eric couldn't help but smile as he thought of the reason Lucifer chose to hunt the Aqua Fang. He knew it was for its vorpal sharp fore fangs. Chuckling to himself Eric decided to visit the Flash Lynx and check to see if Lucifer could match it. He knew the boy's strength better than anyone. No matter how much Lucifer tried to hide his prowess the veteran warrior could easily tell.

Lucifer was finally ready to face the Aqua Fang. He had the Laughing Skull Flower in the Lute Frog satchel he made. He only needed to start his slaughter so the scent of blood would rouse the giant serpent. So taking a step in to the water's edge, he waited till the little piranhas had began to latch onto his feet. Then channeling a fast burst of Yellow Mana through his body he obliterated the small animals.

Many aquatic Beasts in the pool of water felt the pure Yellow Mana signature that flared at the surface. Even the Aqua Fang had its interest perked. Though it was too proud to go look at the cause. Leaving it's minions to do that. Soon many Low Order 1st Rank Beasts came rushing towards Lucifer. Lucifer did not stay waiting for them to arrive. Giving a glance at Luna and telling her to wait for him, he dove into the water. Swimming with his tail acting like a fish’s Lucifer sped towards the approaching mass of fish. With another burst of Mana, Lucifer shot into the beast's ranks. With claws extended and wings tucked Lucifer began to corkscrew. Turning himself into a deadly drill that began to slaughter the surrounding fish. Bloody gore soon began to form a dense fog amid the water. The sweet aroma of blood soon filled the entire pool as Lucifer’s drill of death continued to kill indiscriminately.

The Aqua Fang immediately knew something was wrong in the water. How could such a delicious smell of blood and slaughter happen in the pool it was lord of? He didn't decided to have a feeding frenzy, so who dared to kill in its territory? Soon the cool grey pupils became red with anger. Roaring in rage the behemoth slowly began to swim towards the incredibly thick cloud of blood. As the Apex approached the few surviving fish rushed to flee in all directions. Allowing Lucifer to know showtime had begun.

Fanning his powerful wings out, Lucifer stopped his corkscrew spinning. As he reoriented himself, the Aqua Fang’s slit like irises locked onto his dark golden glint in the darkness of the now bloodied water. At this moment his Nephilim heritage showed its prestige.

His left eye allowed him to read a being's intentions. This reflected in his as colours. Red showing aggressive intentions. White, neutral. Green, positive. His left eye only needed to catch a glimpse of a being's body to know which intentions it had. And as his vision picked up the Aqua Fang swimming towards him, he saw a flash of dark red. Showing intensely aggressive intentions.

With the location of the Aqua Fang tagged by his left eye, Lucifer’s right draconic eye instantly marked the Beast. No matter where it went in the dark waters, Lucifer would see it. This allowed him to right himself at the perfect angle to swim underneath the giant serpent. As the Aqua Fang’s jaws closed with an audible snap where he had been a second ago. Lucifer flicked his tail, causing his body to spin so he was facing the soft underbelly of the underwater Apex.

A vicious snarl left Lucifer as he swung his deadly sharp claws into the Aqua Fang’s stomach. Stabbing into the Beast till his arm was completely inside, Lucifer channelled a mighty current of Mana into his arm. Dragging his now Mana enhanced arm through the 20 foot Beast's stomach. Lucifer created a horrific gash 2 meters in length. His sharp claws made even deadlier by his Yellow Purity Mana reeked havoc in the Beast's insides. The stomach lining and many internal organs were torn to shreds causing massive hemorrhaging.

The Aqua Fang thrashed as Lucifer created his gruesome cut. The massive serpent writhed and howled in painful despair as it felt the damage inflicted upon it. How could such a small insignificant Beast wound it so? It is the Apex! The strongest in the entire pool of water. Only outside of the water was the Aqua Fang vulnerable to other Apexs. Never in its own home.

Soon the fact of it being Apex would become useless. Lucifer had implanted the Laughing Skull Flower the moment the Aqua Fang tried to bite him. He let it float away as he moved underneath the Beast. And exactly as planned the deadly flower was swallowed by the serpent. This was the only way it was possible for Lucifer to rip the Beast to shreds so easily. The nerve killing poison had set in unknowingly into the Beast. While the Beast could have easily expelled the poison, it was too preoccupied with Lucifer’s merciless attack.

Lucifer let his body drift out from under the massive serpent. He smiled slightly as the slit irises clouded over and the Beast died without known how. His gaze soon moved toward his objective. The fangs. But Lucifer soon found a problem. How was he going to remove the fangs when the serpent was underwater? He couldn't even break though the Beasts scale armour, say nothing about its teeth. Deciding to forgo that troublesome issue he swam to the Beasts spade like head. Grabbing the giant plate like scale that made up the Beasts flat skull, he began to haul the massive corpse to the surface.

Luna paced back and forth as her big brother (as she thought), went to kill the ugly metal worm. Anxiousness filled her as she began to worry if the flower she brought worked. She paced and paced almost missing the arrival of Yue and Jasmine. As the Draconian and elf approached her she leapt away and snarled. She hated these two females. One was desperately trying to mate with Luna’s brother without even seeking his approval. The lizard-bitch only released her disgusting mating scent whenever she was around Lucifer. The knife ear bitch was worse. She would take Luna’s time with her brother to talk useless magic nonsense. Once Luna matured she would properly teach Lucifer real magic. He is a Beast like Luna and could use his Mana like her too. Two-leg magic was only secondary for him.

While bewildered at Luna's aggressive response to their presence the duo immediately dismissed it as ‘wolf nonsense’. Turning their undivided attention to the water where a massive shadow was slowly getting bigger. Indicating something was approaching the surface. Something huge. As their hands went to their weapons, they tensed for battle. Lucifer may have angered something he couldn't face and was fleeing. Prepared for the worst the two readied spells and weapons to save the boy.

After 5 whole minutes of tense waiting Luna began happily barking while prancing in circles. A second later Lucifer broke through the surface, swinging his hair back and gasping for a breath of air. Yue did not relax at seeing the boy resurface but intently focused upon the giant shadow under his body. Jasmine on the other hand couldn't bear the silence and called out to the boy.

“So what's the huge thing beneath you brat? Don't tell me you tamed the Aqua Fang.” Jibed the elf in jest, but her glowing staff did not show her amusement. Lucifer seeing the two beauties ready to save him could only laugh in honest delight. He had found the perfect way to bring the Aqua Fang corpse home.

“Actually I'm carrying it but I can't get it out of the water. Yue could you please help? Jasmine as well? Your ice magic would make this a breeze.” Lucifer could not bear to not laugh as he requested the two women to aid him.

All Lucifer got in reply was hanging jaws of shock. They didn't believe that he did what he admitted to. It was preposterous. A almost 8 year old brat had killed an Aqua Fang and then had the gall to ask them to move the corpse. This was humiliation at its peak. The shame from his excessive accomplishment and from being asked to work hard labour as a woman. Beautiful women at that! After a minute with no response, Lucifer’s cheerful laugh turned into sporadic chuckles of nervousness. He was terrified he was rude again. After last time he was; the women had ‘taught him a lesson,’ Lucifer viewed the two as a couple of demonesses.

After a sigh full of exasperation and defeat, ice slowly began to cover the pool. Slowly Yue began her normal saunter towards the still floating Lucifer while maintaining her cold indifferent face. As she came up next to the now shivering boy, she reached her arm out and grasped the head of the serpent. Green Mana coated her arm, giving it the strength to lift the 1800 pound body up and onto the solid ice. As soon as the body was upon the ice, Jasmine casted a spell she normally used to torment Lucifer. [Ice Prison]. A middle tier spell that's used to control and isolate enemies. Soon ice covered the giant serpent.

“Thank you very much!” Lucifer said respectfully as he bowed upon exiting the freezing cold waters. As soon as he finished speaking Luna crashed into his soaking wet body. Joyful licks of love and relief covered Lucifer’s immature face. Luna tried her best to use her warm and soft fur to warm her dear brother up from the knife ear bitch’s hateful magic. How could she not know water freezes, and her brother would be covered in water? She was obviously trying to hurt him in Luna’s eyes. Lucifer grateful for Luna’s concern rubbed his big hand on her crown before gently scratching behind her ear. This earned him even more licks from Luna.

As the two played, Yue couldn't help but casting a bitterly glare at the young wolf. She desperately wanted to be that close to the source of her ever present desire. As quickly as it came the look disappeared from her icy visage before she began transporting the frozen serpent with Jasmine. After a 30 minute session of clear cut logging, the giant iceberg arrived at the cabin. Courtesy of a newly created pathway about 3 meters wide.