Eric could only hear the pain filled howls of Beasts as he raced through the forest at his fastest speed. Eric assumed that the group was fighting a horde leader type of Beast because of the unceasing howls echoing throughout the forest’s trees. With a solid boost of Mana, Eric pushed himself to go beyond his top speed at the cost of some of his Mana. He could not let anything happen to Lucifer. The boy he felt paternal love for and the child of the woman he truly loved. He would allow nothing to damage his precious charge. With renewed vigor he weaved in and out of the forest towards the cabin’s clearing with worry etched on his masculine features.

With astonishing timing Eric burst in the clearing to witness Jasmine’s [Bastian of the Arctic] come under the assault of over 10 different 2nd and 3rd Rank Beasts, Low and Mid Order. The Low Order Beasts were extremely diverse, startling Eric. They ranged from the serpent familia’s: Luminous Python and twin Wooden Constrictors, the lupin familia’s: Red Eye Werewolf, Highland Storm Hound and a Jade Wolf, the ursa familia’s: trio of Juggernaut Grizzlies, to the avian familia’s: Steelwing Vulture. This extremely powerful line up could not be here on anyone's initiative. Not even the local tyrant the Flash Lynx could command all these different familias into attacking the dwelling of 3 Knight rank warriors and above. Something had to attract these various Beasts, but Eric had no mind to pay attention to this strange phenomenon. With a single minded focus he let down his burden of Lucifer’s gear as he unstrapped the long naginata on his back, preparing himself to enter the horde of Beasts and begin his slaughter.

With a silent boost of Mana, Eric launched himself at the back of the Steelewing Vulture. Preparing to deal with the most troublesome of foes first. It was the most powerful of the horde once one took into account it's vastly superior mobility and sword like wings that could cut down solid rock with a single swipe. As an avian type Beast, the Steelwing Vulture possesses one of the most acute eyesight and reflexes to suit aerial dogfights with other avians. Eric planned to eliminate this expert harassment fighter to make the later battle easier. Facing the combined assault of these many Beasts would exhaust any warrior, so Eric chose to kill the most difficult first.

With his naginata easily slashing the Steelwing’s neck, Eric decapitated his first kill. Landing on the still falling corpse; of the bird with the 7’5” wingspan, Eric made his entrance into what would be an epic battle between man and Beast. The first Beast to react to Eric was the Luminous Viper, that was directly beside the corpse of it's natural predator the Steelwing Vulture.

The Beasts Eric faced were all strong, the Luminous Viper a deadly Light Element serpent known for its trademark callsign. Lighting it's entire body up like a giant angler fish’s antenna. An odd body function but one that can be extremely frightening in the midst of the darkest night. Made even worse by the disturbing fact that the lighting of it's body happens in spasms, that mirror the Viper’s heartbeat as it prepares to strike. The Luminous Viper brings in a deadly combination of 1300 pounds of mass, a solid 13 feet length from end to end, and a solid diameter of 3 feet. This serpent was a deadly predator of the forest nights, only brought out by the overwhelmingly sweet scent of the Blood Hound's aromatic blood. The only positive of this Beast was its abysmally poor Mana Purity: Brown.

As Eric; being an experienced warrior, took advantage of the Viper’s startled reaction an eerie hiss sounded put to his left. Paying it no mind as he had already took a mental picture of the battlefield, Eric launched himself towards the Viper that was rearing its head back to strike him. With a two handed hold on his weapon’s shaft, Eric angled his naginata blade upwards while keeping the weapon diagonally with the blade closer to the ground. With the Viper's body recoiled completely in striking pose, Eric halted his slash till the Beast struck out. Timing his upward slash with the Viper's attack, Eric’s naginata cut into the Beast's unprotected throat. With a narrow side step avoidance, Eric had seemingly dodged effortlessly and attacked in the same breath. As the blade cut deep into the snake's hide, Eric quickly withdrew his weapon leaping backwards with a corkscrew backflip. A moment later a large Light green head filled with razor sharp fangs sunk into the ground he stood at. One of the two Woodland Constrictors had attempted to kill him while he dealt with the Viper. Only to fail as Eric let out a lightning fast slash mid flip to the kill spot of every snake: 7 inches below the skull. Instantly killing his would be assassin Eric landed on the soft grassy clearing weapon readied for more combat as he evaluated the new battlefield.

The Woodland Constrictor, the serpent with the longest body amongst the Beasts present in the horde. A 21 foot long body that weighed almost 1100 pounds only made worse by the rippling muscle that lined its 3 and a half foot wide body. As a snake the Woodland Constrictor was especially adept at strangling its prey. Wrapping around and suffocating any Beast or person foolish enough to enter its over 20 foot killing radius. This Beast with a perversion of strangulation mated for life. A fact that may seem insignificant, but was truly important because mated Constrictors stay together permanently. As a Beast with Red Mana Purity this made it even more lethal when coming in pairs. Seeing its mate so effortlessly die, the remaining Woodland Constrictor became truly enraged. Lashing out its massive body's tail towards Eric from his left flank in a bid to smash Eric to smithereens. Seeing the incoming tail out of the corner of his eyes, Eric calmly took a step back as he turned to his right. As he turned Eric twirled his naginata in a circle, he took a lunging stance. Thrusting the sharp tip of his weapon Eric struck out at the Red Eye Werewolf that was sneaking towards his back. As the Constrictor’s tail crashed down behind him, Eric took his time as he stabbed the Werewolf directly in the right lung. Twisting his blade outwards; Eric cut his way out of the Werewolf's chest, while he dove towards his right. Strategically placing himself towards the remaining snake's stomach. Quickly rising to his knees, Eric let his naginata fly in a overhead diagonal slash onto the Beast's exposed side. Creating a lethal cut spanning 8 feet of savage precision along the snake's stomach and reaching the gall bladder.

As a humanoid lupin species; the Red Eye Werewolf, is truly a Beast with man’s reflexes and a wolf's battle sense. This deadly mix is truly maximized by the Red Eye’s 5’2” height and 180 pounds of solid muscle. With arms hanging well below an average man's waist the Beast had incredible reach, just not enough to match Eric and his skillfully mastered 7 foot naginata. But the Red Eye Werewolf got its name for its Mana Purity; matching its eyes, Red. The true name for thiam Beast was Feral Eye Werewolf, but warriors found of easier to just name them by their eyes which also denoted their Mana Purity. Normally lupine familia Beasts have a strong sense of community. This fact was shown in an extremely peculiar way of ostracism. The remaining Beasts; the Jade Wolf and Highland Storm Hound, totally ignored the wounded Werewolf as Eric quickly dispatched it with a sickly clean beheading chop as the Beast writhed painfully in the dirt. Werewolves are total outcasts and bullied beings of the lupin familia.

Walking from the bloody scene of his 5 brutally fast and precise kills, Eric stalked towards the remaining Beasts that had now begun encircling him with a rough semi circle. Deciding to eliminate the forest's most renown berserkers. Eric chose to walk in the direction of the 3 Juggernaut Grizzlies. Monstrous bears of almost 2 tonnes of muscle and fat thrown into a 5’6” by 8 foot body. With a girth of 3feet these bears truly became juggernauts when charging. With their Earth Element; making their fur as hard as stone, barely any of the forest's Beasts could take their charge and walk away after. The Juggernaut Grizzly truly lived up to its title of a 3rd Rank Beast. But with only a Mana Purity of the Red grade the grizzly could never face up against the true predators of the Beast Kingdom. Facing Eric; a human male of only 6’5” and a sharp stick, the Juggernaut became an effective walking tank. With 3 mobile and active tanks to face but Eric felt this fight would be the most difficult. Eric knew he could take the Beasts one one on one if he so chose to. But fighting like that would give the remaining Beasts the opportunity to figure out his fighting style or worse yet letting a Beast catch any of his tells. So he decided to do the most difficult option left.

A demonstration of might. By doing this Eric could hopefully cause the remaining Beasts to back down. Eric let his true power finally reveal itself. A billowing yellow aura swept forth from Eric as he reached the encircling Beasts. Eric casually stood with his naginata held lightly in his right hand as his powerful Yellow Purity Mana burst forth covering his body in a hazy full plate of Mana. Clenching his fingers, testing the Mana armour that he summoned forth Eric became reminiscent of his days on the battlefield. The days when he fought single handedly against 20 elite fighters from Levin in his effort to help Roran escape. As Eric entered into his true combat form the Juggernaut Grizzlies being the closest instantly tended up. How could they not? Eric's Mana Purity alone put him at the top of the Beast hierarchy here, let alone his Knight Spellblade prestige that was gushing out. Faced with 5 different Beasts around the 2nd Rank, was entirely possible for Eric. But there are always variables in battle. And the biggest variables Eric faced were two fold:

1- Lucifer's current health state and whether he required healing.

2- Where the fuck was the Flash Lynx if all these different Beasts were here?

And thus began Eric's battle began with two glaring issues weighing on the fight. Upon catching sight of the largest grizzly step back, Eric launched a flying forehand slash towards the Beast's face. Unprepared and caught completely off guard; the grizzly took Eric's Mana enhanced blow to the left side of its maw, the blade edge of the naginata ripping deep into the fatty face of the bear. Spinning with his slash Eric spun past the cut open mouth of the Juggernaut Grizzly, arriving at its left flank he stabbed his naginata into the fatty underbelly of the Beast while continuing his forward momentum. Tearing the Beast's body apart as the vorpal edged naginata carved its mark into the Beast, Eric never stopped moving. As his weapon reached the initial grizzly’s muscular hind leg; Eric pulled his polearm close to his body pulling it out of the Beast, he leapt towards the second Juggernaut Grizzly. With his naginata trailing above his head poised to let loose a brutal overhand chop, Eric arrived adjacent to the second bear.

Now this grizzly could not be taken down quite as easily the first was for Eric. This grizzly had seen the power and speed Eric attacked possessed, it was also blatantly obvious to all of the surrounding Beasts that Eric's naginata was not an average ‘stick’. With these facts known the Juggernaut Grizzly raised itself on its mighty hind legs and let Eric's attack land on its shoulder muscle, trapping the blade in the knots of flesh. With his blade stuck in the Beast's shoulder Eric was left wide open to receive the grizzly’s incoming clawed haymaker. With a quick decision, Eric abandoned his naginata and deftly took the blow while utilizing the haymakers roundabout movement to step towards the Beast while trapping its large arm. Still rotating his body while grasping the Beast's arm, Eric performed an exceptional shoulder throw, with a strong hip check at the height of the throw to increase his throws power. Eric took the 2 ton bear high into the air and brought it down over his head while using perfectly timed bursts of high intensity Mana.

Thrown to the ground by a human half its size the grizzly became terrified. Eric appeared to only be a fast and quick warrior, none of the Beasts suspected he had such insane strength. This was the ploy Eric wanted. He used his martial training and adept Mana control to overpower and humiliate a Juggernaut Grizzly after killing one in an astonishing amount of time. These feats of skill and power coupled by his powerful Mana Purity, Eric showed his prestige and right to power. With a single instance he broke whatever fighting spirit the remaining Juggernaut Grizzly, Jade Wolf and Highland Storm Hound had left. The grizzlies were by far the strongest in brute strength out of the three Beasts left, yet Eric had shown his strength as superior to even them. This put him at the Apex of this group of Beasts and allowed him final say in what was to happen. With both the remaining Juggernaut Grizzly and the two lupine familia Beasts backing off, Eric let loose a Mana enhanced shout of power. To drive in his place at top of the food chain into the minds of these Beasts. But more importantly to let Jasmine know that he had the situation under control.

Inside [Bastion of the Arctic] Jasmine had been taking care of the Mana exhausted Lucifer. She had panicked when she first saw him unconscious but after taking a moment to study him, she noticed how different his body was currently. Larger wings, longer and sturdier tail and a more glossy shine to his scales. Lucifer had to have something happen to him that caused to change so drastically. Jasmine studied his internals for any injuries but saw his body slowly but steadily repairing itself from some kind of massive injury. After a brief flight of manic paranoia that Lucifer was dying, the elf eventually calmed down enough to be amazed at how the hybrid’s body healed itself. Finally after minutes of fretting and subconscious fidgeting Jasmine eventually left Lucifer to look at the other two bodies, albeit somewhat begrudgingly. She first took note of Yue, who while still was the most injured Yue’s body was healing much like Lucifer's. Though slower it followed the same with Lucifer in that it repaired the damage done while there was seemingly Light magic aiding the process. Jasmine became amazed by the situation, hoping to see the trend continue she examined Luna. Disappoint filled her excited elven head as Luna appeared to have no autonomous healing happening in her body. But the elf’s disappointment soon turned to fear riddled astonishment. Luna’s Mana Core was noticeably increasing as Jasmine probed Luna's internal situation. Luna seemed to be absorbing any foreign Mana and converting it for her own Mana Core’s usage. This was truly even more shocking than Lucifer and Yue’s extreme self healing. If Luna’s Mana absorption became known, Magus and Spellblades alike would hunt her down for experimentation to see if her ability could be transplanted. If it could be, Luna would become even more hunted than Lucifer for being an ‘abomination’. Even old monsters of the Saint/Prophet and higher stages would come out and personally hunt her. As Jasmine became lost in her delusions of Luna's Mana absorption, Eric's Mana charged shout resounded throughout the icy fortress.

Eric watched with cold eyes as the three remaining Beasts slowly backed into the forest's undergrowth. His gaze a silent command to leave and never return lest his wrath be visited upon them. Finally after a long cursory glance for any hiding Beasts Eric decided to do the best fight deterrent move he had. Raising his unarmed left hand to the sky, Eric gathered as much Light Element Mana to his hand. Gathering his Yellow Purity Mana in his hand, Eric combined the gathering Light Element with his own Yellow Mana outside of his body. Creating a semi solid mass of pure Yellow Light Element. Forming the Mana to his will Eric channeled a command through his Mana and into the Mana outside his hand. Elongate. Receiving the command the neutral Light Element Mana followed Eric's order and almost instantly formed a long shaft of Yellow Purity Light Element. Grasping the Mana formed shaft, Eric let another command issued forth. Sharpen. The Mana received Eric's additional order and quickly began to form a point rapidly as he threw the shaft made spear of Light towards the forest where the Beasts retreated to. Flying at an insanely fast the spear of Light Mana crashed into a large tree creating a massive explosion of Mana and power. Dust clouds blew up in response to the explosion of the Mana spear, clouding Eric's line of sight.

As the dust cleared a large crater became apparent. Eric only smiled bitterly at the wasteful usage of his Mana as his sight fell on the 4 foot deep crater. Trees had been blown to smithereens and bushes eviscerated but Eric felt this was all too pathetic. Eric had used the only magic spell Spellblades could use: [Elemental Spear]. A spell of short to medium range that costs exponentially more Mana when used by Spellblades than their Magus counterparts. Though it was an extremely useful spell for Spellblades it came at the cost of Mana wastage. Using an entire quarter of his Mana Core’s Mana, [Elemental Spear] did its purpose. Soon pain filled groans and scarred growls were heard as various Beasts were injured, mutilated and scared of Eric's power. With a cold snort Eric turned sharply towards the [Bastion of the Arctic] Jasmine had cast. Arriving at the icy fortress’ solid gates, Eric impatiently waited for Jasmine to open up.

With a grinding sound the icy gates of the fortress soon began their slow lumber open for the human. Opening just a fraction enough for Eric to squeeze his body through, the gates became afar. With another bitter sigh Eric roughly squeezed his way through the ice doorway. Soon the sight of Lucifer, Yue and Luna's prone forms became apparent. Eric heaved an anxious breath of relief after he too confirmed the trio's odd states.

“What the fuck happened while we were gone?” Eric couldn't help but curse to no one in particular.

“Who the hell knows you big brute. All I know is shit is totally fucked up.” Sighed the elf in response.

“Well none of them are dying, so wanna bet and who wakes first?” Eric made a poor attempt at trying to lighten the mood, only to receive a death glare from Jasmine as an answer.

“Alright alright, here lemme heal Lucifer so this can be dealt with. Hopefully my magic can speed his healing even more.”

“Fine but I swear you make any more stupid jokes or I'll tell Lucifer about how much of a pansy you are about rats.” Snapped Jasmine venomously.

“Chill the fuck out Jasmine. He is already done all his internal and external wounds, the only thing left is for his Mana Core to recover. After that he'll be fine. Let him rest for now.”

“Fine. Yue?”

“Seems like she was blasted royally. Trace fractures on all ribs, as well as her arms were snapped. Can barely tell the damage her ribs took but her arms are gunna be out even with this ‘auto-healing’ and my magic.” A grave assessment came out of Eric's mouth as he double checked the draconian’s body.

“God dammit! What the hell could take her out like that?”

“Dunno. But I'd say the pup’s condition is worst. If she really is absorbing Mana, then I think I know what happened with her.” Eric answered after a brief silence.

“Her race is something of legends if my guess is correct. When I first saw her the way the light bent and almost disappeared into her fur, making her darker than black reminded me of a legend old Tranil told me before leaving the Academy. ‘There are three rulers to the lupin familia. Fenrir, the world devourer, king of all wolves, birthed to fight the Gods and tear them limb from limb. Cerberus, the guardian of Hell, the hound of death and tormentor of souls. And the true queen of all wolves, the Shadow Queen. A wolf whose fur is so black that she can absorb light into her coat. But the Queen is the most dangerous of the three. Her darkness matching her cruelty, letting none dare to gaze upon nor disobey her. Not even Fenrir and Cerberus could match the Queen in battle; both wolves desperately want her as their mate, yet neither strong enough to make her submit.’ He told me this story when I asked him which Beast was most terrifying of all he knew. This pup screams Shadow Queen. Her absorption of Mana could be related to the Queen’s ability to absorb light. Her fur so dark that she seems to be made of solid Dark Element. Just now she has this golden streak on her crown which makes me wonder what kind of Beast she is.”

“Fuck. Lucifer loves to cause problems on his own. Now we have what could possibly be the scion of the lupin familia’s Shadow Queen? This is bullshit!” Jasmine screamed at Eric as he finished his recount of the Shadow Queen. She was already terrified Lucifer would cause problems big enough to put his already hunted life in greater danger. Now Luna as a possible Shadow Queen, would draw in even more problems for Lucifer to revel in.

SLAP

“Calm down you idiot elf. I am probably wrong. It's probably just my imagination, how could a godly Beast on a greater level than Fenrir and Cerberus be out here in the outskirts of the Beast Kingdom? Also an area under the feline familia’s jurisdiction? And even if she is a Shadow Queen, do you think we or anybody could handle her parents? I think not. So shut up and sit tight for them to wake up.” Eric exclaimed as he lightly shook his hand from the sting of slapping Jasmine. He could not stand the elf’s hot temper and shrill voice when she panicked. Slowly walking away from the still gawking Jasmine, Eric took a seat on the ice covered floor next to Lucifer.