The Wendigo. They were nightmarish creatures that lived comfortably in dark places with their specialized eyes on the darkness. Once a prey entered their sights, they would continue to hound them until they died.

Through some twisted entertainment of the heavens, the Wendigo had the characteristics to horrify and strike fear into their prey. They loved the taste of fear in their creature, which led to their most terrifying aspect, their intelligence.

They imitated the sounds of other creatures, attacking from many different angles and luring prey into their deadly traps.

Oscar and Emily were the victims of their most recent scheme. The creatures knew to distract them so they could cut the cloth and then separate them. Then they copied Oscar and Emily's calls to lure them farther away.

These sly and horrific creatures circled Oscar, who constantly shifted to face each angle. Large amounts of drool poured from their unnaturally wide mouths onto the ground.

'If I was hearing the Wendigo's imitation, where is Emily? She can't have gotten so far, did she?'

Oscar worried for his friend but snapped out of it. Worrying would not get him anywhere. He lowered his body, intent on fighting.

These two creatures were Greater Apprentice Exalts, but not as strong as the ones on Edin. The ones on Edin constantly fought against each other for dominance and became incredibly tough and strong. These Wendigos relied more on trickery and darkness.

However, that didn't mean the Wendigo was not a threat. Oscar didn't feel much weight behind their blows, but their agility and sharp claws were a cause of concern, together with their flexible bodies.

The Wendigos brandished their claws and slashed at Oscar.

Their joints disconnected, turning their arms into an unpredictable lashing whip. The claws moved sideways, bending, changing directions. But this was still within the predictive powers of Oscar's Prinstyct.

"I can see it all." Oscar summoned his deer anima. A large collection of Ein poured into the deer anima. It blocked one of the shifting claws while Oscar dealt with the other.

The Wendigos leaped in the air, opening their mouth widely. Their teeth covered the entire interior of their mouths, even down to the throat. Oscar felt a shudder at the thought of being bitten by those accursed mouths.

"Keep one busy for me." Oscar ordered his deer anima to charge at one and distract it while he went after the other. A tinge of excitement entered Oscar's eyes as he strode confidently against the Wendigo.

'Reis Awaken'

Reis flowed in from Oscar's feet, traveling through Oscar's body with the aid of 'Reis Awaken'. But unlike his previous uses, the Reis stopped and settled into his hands. More specifically, his fingers and up to his knuckles.

In the view of 'Reis Awaken', the muscles of his fingers were incredibly clear, more than the rest of his body. Each strand stuck out without losing its individuality in the bulk of muscle, and they were strangely twisted and coiled.

As the Reis settled into them, the muscle fibers coiled and bound more tightly until they looked like straight strands. Yet Oscar's hand was still flexible and moved freely.

'Adamasreis'

After many grueling sessions, Oscar finally had parts of his hands completely transformed. Their muscles and flesh were now capable of reigning in and containing the power of Reis.

It was a strange uplifting feeling. Oscar thought the power would make his hands feel heavy, but they were surprisingly lighter. It was almost as if his fingers could float in the air if separated from his body.

The Wendigo hunched its back, went on all fours like a beast, and ran ahead. Its tall and bony body stomped quickly at Oscar. Once it was close, it brought up its large claws to slice Oscar into pieces while its mouth curled slightly with more drool.

Oscar punched with his buckler full of Ein. The full force of the Adamasreis contained in his fingers transmitted incredible power into his buckler.

The sharp claws of the Wendigo clashed against the buckler in a grating sound like scratching a blackboard. These claws were Wendigo's main weapon and the toughest part of its body, next to its teeth. But still, they cracked slightly against the pure raw power stemming Oscar's Adamasreis.

"OOOOOO!"

The Wendigo was flung into the air, vanishing into the darkness; however, Oscar did not give chase. There was another Wendigo to deal with. He could see his deer anima fighting with it right now.

Although Oscar still needed to become an expert in moving his deer anima simultaneously, he had other means, such as putting large amounts of Ein in its antlers and letting the deer anima swing wildly.

The Wendigo heard its companion's cry and stared up only to find Oscar's right in front. It could not react as a powerful punch blasted into its jaw, reducing all of the needle teeth in its mouth into small fragments.

This made the Wendigo look more horrifying as it had a bloody, toothless, wide mouth, showing all the gums inside.

The Wendigo whimpered, put its hands to its mouth in agony, and leaped away. Oscar didn't want to continue fighting because they could waste time swiping at him from the darkness. He needed to find Emily.

However, there was not a single sound from Emily shouting. Not even a single blue glow, except for the other blue mushroom; it wasn't Emily's because it was cut differently. The Wendigos had laid it as bait.

"Frederick!" Oscar shouted to no response.

He recalled the paths he had taken to this point, so he retraced his steps. He could see the many broken mushrooms and upturned moss from his and the Wendigo's movements. This made it easier for him to track in the general direction.

"This is her jacket." Oscar found the shredded remains of the cloth that connected them. This was where they were separated. "If I was flung this way, Emily might have been forced into the opposite."

Under the blue light of the mushroom fragment, Oscar carefully treaded while shouting, "Frederick!"

Sometimes another creature of the dark forest would attack. But these creatures were Middle Apprentice Exalts and were quickly despatched by Oscar. A few more minutes passed until he finally found a clue.

A piece of orange hair. Oscar could make out the color even in this dim blue light. "This is Emily's hair, but where is she?" He could also make out a deep groove from her staff. Strangely it resembled an arrow with a makeshift wonky tip.

Oscar continued to find more of such grooves and hair. His pace hastened as his eyes darted all over. It was strange that Emily had yet to respond to his calls.

"Frederick!" he continued to shout, but no reply ever came. It was as if Emily had truly vanished. He kept up the search, hoping not to find her dead body. The idea of Frederick's death was bad enough, but now Emily's was mixed in.

His face twisted when he found blood splattered on some mushrooms. Then he came upon another blue light, brighter than the dim ones he had. It covered a wider area than the original mushroom from earlier.

Within its soft blue light, Oscar found a large mushroom tree about the size of the willows around them. But the more surprising were the corpses of two Wendigos half buried in the upturned ground.

This was surely Emily's work.

"Frederick!" Oscar shouted.

"K-klein…." A weak voice sounded from the other side of the mushroom.

Oscar rushed over with joy, but his face soured instantly as his heart stopped. Emily was propped, leaning on the mushroom for support with a pale face. There were several gashes on her body from the wild attacks of the Wendigo.

"Emily!"

"Oscar….Took you long enough." Emily gasped as she drank some of her heal elixir, but the wounds were slow to heal. "These things inflict wounds that are hard to heal even with an elixir."

Oscar helped Emily get comfortable on the ground and passed some of his heal elixirs to her. "Take as many as you need. We can wait here for a bit."

"Those damned arms of theirs were hard to keep track of. How did you beat them without a scratch?" Emily asked while coughing. The heal elixirs were finally taking some effect. The wounds slowly hissed while closing.

"The Prinstyct helped, and I broke their claws and teeth."

Emily giggled a bit. "I wish I had the Prinstyct. They refused to stay still for a moment for me to hit them cleanly. In the end, I had to go for a dual exchange."

After a session of rest, color returned to Emily's face.

"Are you better?" Oscar said.

"Better. I'm not suited to these sorts of battles." Emily twirled her hair with a frown. She could not consider this to be a victory. These creatures were too wily for her straightforward means.

She glanced at Oscar, feeling slightly jealous of the early Prinstyct he possessed. It was the most useful power she had ever heard of, and she greatly desired it. How great would it be if she were an Elite Exalt now?

THUD

Oscar and Emily shot up and brandished their weapons. Something else was coming.

The creature, doubling Oscar's height, took large, heavy steps that made the ground tremble. It entered the light to reveal similar large claws and teeth of the Wendigo, but it was not skinny at all. It had large ripping muscles and a broad face with fur covering its head.

Its huge, not-so-bony hands firmly grasped the necks of the two Wendigos that Oscar let go. They were flailing around desperately in whimpers, similar to begging.

With a simple closing of its hands, the Wendigos' necks squished and tore from the body. The now headless bodies fell to the floor to be fed to the moss and mushrooms.

"OOOOOOO." The hulking pale monster stomped toward Oscar and Emily with a big wide smile full of needle teeth.