Prince of The Abyss

Out of the twenty men that Sena had taken under her control, only half managed to reach the top. It was terrible news, after all, with how the last fight went. If this one was stronger than the last, it was going to be a hard time because of the environment they were in.

He was fighting an owl in a place that had no limitation to the sky. ’How fun...’

However, not all hope was lost, as one of the men was an archer, which was great news, not because he could help that much in the fight, but rather because he could exploit all the arrows he had.

Did it mean that he might run out and probably die? ’Yeah...’ Did he care?... ’Not really, I mean, he doesn’t even have will of his own anymore, in my eyes, at least; death is better than being controlled all your life to do things you never wish to do.’

Reaching the top of the mountains, the summit was quite spacious, a large ground, great news knowing they were about to fight a powerful beast. However, there was one thing missing: the beast itself.

Aether stared at the empty space, confused, before turning to Sena, who was scratching the back of her head. He had opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he saw something with the corner of his eye, something coming with speed, straight from the sky.

When it hit the ground, dust raged up, blocking their vision, but even with it, you could see its silhouette because of its sheer size.

The dust slowly settled.

Then...

Two giant golden eyes opened within it.

An owl, just like they had expected. But that didn’t mean it was good news.

A massive one, if the jaguar had been four times its normal size, with this one he had no idea what to say. But it had to be at least close to five metres tall.

Its grey feathers shifted with the wind, while its wings slowly folded against its body after the landing. The talons beneath it dug into the stone, leaving deep marks across the summit, and its hooked beak looked sharp enough to tear through steel.

The owl didn’t move.

It simply stared at them before tilting its head, confused about what its people were doing.

Aether turned to Sena. "Are you scared?"

The girl’s eyes widened, confused. "Why would I be scared? I’m not the one fighting it head-on, and since my slaves can’t feel emotions unless I make them, they aren’t either, so it’s only you."

Aether frowned. "I’m not scared! Just... a bit nervous."

While they were talking, the owl just continued to look at them, even more confused than before, but suddenly, before she could realize it, a purple string attached to its leg; it raised it, shaking it, but it wouldn’t come off... and suddenly, it saw an arrow come for its eyes... except it didn’t hit it; the arrow missed it.

Sena turned to Aether, anger visible on her face. "I thought you knew how to use a Bow."

Aether chuckled, summoning Voidpiercer. "Just a bit rusty."

Dashing forward, he suddenly heard the owl screech, loud enough for even the people in the village to hear. He put his hands to his ears, trying to stop it, but it was too loud, his ears starting to bleed. When it finally stopped, it shook its wings, feathers flying towards them, but he had a feeling they weren’t normal. Regaining himself, Aether deflected the arrows coming towards him, letting the others go beyond him, and letting the others dodge for themselves.

He checked his ears before dashing forward again, but the owl just flew in the air. ’This is what I meant; it’s not fair."

The archer in their group raised his bow, trying to hit the beast, but it was way too fast for a Reader to ever track. Even when he tried it, he missed; true, he only tried once, but he didn’t want to waste his arrows.

The other men raised their blades, waiting for it to come down. And it was... just faster than they could ever predict, its talons wrapping around the heads of two of their men before they could even react... But before it could fly in the air, a blade suddenly pierced it, making it fall to the ground. Looking back, the blade slowly came out of its body, crawling to the ground before it came back into Aether’s hand.

The owl screamed again, trying to create an opening for itself, but Aether managed to bind it in time with his chains, so that when it finished, their men could come to attack it. Once the scream stopped, they raged forward, trying to kill the beast. But some chains would never stop it, as it shook its wings once more, launching arrows at the men, catching them off guard.

Neither they nor Aether had expected it to still be able to use its feathers, so not even he was able to dodge them, as they pierced his leg and shoulder. He had been lucky; if it had been his head, it would have been really bad... and it still was: three out of their ten men had died in the attack, while the others had been seriously injured

Aether sighed, summoning his bow. "Looks like I will have to step up my game and rely more on myself."

Firing the arrow, he finally managed to hit it, just before it could break his chains and fly in the air. Now with one of its feet pierced with a poison arrow, it was going to have to do something before the effect of the poison took over.

It had to be more aggressive, which was exactly what they needed. For it to come to them.

"Come to the ground already, you oversized bird, or I will cut your wings and steal your freedom."

He said, watching the owl circling above them in the sky.