Hunter Of The Six Realms-Chapter 53: Tendrils
Chapter 52
He vanished, blinked across the field with a single burst of wind, then appeared behind the farthest one and snapped its neck before it could even turn. The second turned and lunged blindly. Kaizen sidestepped, grabbed its head and slammed it down so hard, its skull split on a rock.
The final one stood frozen. Kaizen walked toward it slowly.
It growled, a low desperate sound, then turned and ran.
Kaizen didn’t chase. He just raised a hand.
A spear of fire shot forward, precise and silent, punching through the back of its skull.
The beast fell instantly.
Right at that moment, out of nowhere, a series of attacks came flying at him with amazing speed. Kaizen was quick to put up a wall of ice that quickly blocked them before they could reach him. Once they stopped, he put down the wall, and there she was, a young girl just sitting on a rock like she’d been waiting for him. White hair tied back in a loose ponytail, green streak running through it, and eyes that said she wasn’t here to play. One of them glowed red. The other barely blinked.
She had a glowing green eye,literally an eye, floating above her finger, spinning slow like it was watching him. Whatever it was, it gave off a weird pressure he didn’t like.
Her outfit was simple, black crop top, fitted pants, green boots and gloves. Behind her, these strange shadowy tendrils drifted through the air, calm but ready.
"You’ve been causing a lot of disturbance, intruder."
Her voice was calm. Almost amused.
Kaizen stood still, eyes fixed on her. Was she another humanlike beast? Because everything about her looked human except her right back and red and and those tendrils behind her... they weren’t still. They moved with a kind of lazy grace, coiling and uncoiling like snakes waiting for a signal.
The one thing that made him sure that she was a beast was the aura he could sense from her. It was ominous, and she definitely wasn’t here to make peace.
The green eye hovering above her finger pulsed once, like it was aware of him, too.
Kaizen narrowed his gaze. That thing... it wasn’t just decoration. He could feel it watching him, like it was dissecting his every breath. The energy coming off it was dense and unnatural, and the way she idly spun it around her finger, like some cute toy, made his skin crawl.
"You’re awfully quiet," she said, standing slowly, brushing dust off her pants with exaggerated care. "Shy? Or just smart enough to know you’re outmatched?"
So she came for a fight huh.
Kaizen rolled his neck once. "We’ll find out."
He moved.
Not recklessly, but fast. A feint to the left, then a burst of wind-enhanced speed straight toward her.
Her smile widened, and she didn’t move.
Just as he closed in, one of the tendrils lashed upward from the rock beneath him.
He saw it but barely in time. He twisted mid-air, letting the tendril graze his side as he landed to her right, crouched low. Before he could strike, another tendril shot toward his face. He ducked, spun beneath it, then swept his leg toward her knees.
She jumped, not just a hop but a flip, graceful and high, almost floating. She landed behind him, and as her boots touched the ground, a second wave of tendrils erupted from the earth without warning or sound, just raw speed and precision.
Kaizen leapt back, arms raised as he summoned a quick burst of flame to deflect them. The fire caught a few mid-swing, burning them away, but more came. Too many.
He backed off, skidding to a stop.
She just stood there again. Not even breathing hard.
"Cute little fire trick," she said, tilting her head. "Try again."
Kaizen’s eyes shifted briefly to the green eye.
It always moved when he charged, like it was reacting to his attacks. So... it wasn’t just seeing him. It was guiding the tendrils.
He kept his voice cold. "That thing... is it doing all the work for you?"
She chuckled. "Why waste energy thinking when it can do it better?"
Kaizen didn’t respond, but he instantly realized.
She wasn’t reacting to his moves. Not exactly. She was reacting to his intentions. That eye, it wasn’t just watching. The eye was seeing the future. Microseconds ahead, maybe more. That was why nothing hit her, because she was basically cheating time with that thing.
Which meant standard attacks wouldn’t work. Not even feints if they were too obvious.
He shifted his stance, slower now, more careful.
She noticed. "Finally thinking?"
Kaizen moved again, but not to attack. He circled her slowly. Watching the tendrils, watching the way they shifted slightly with each step he took. The eye never looked away.
He raised his hand and ice arrows formed in the air in front of him, and with one hand command, the arrows shot toward her. She didn’t block them. The tendrils did. Effortlessly. Each one swatted out of the air with precision.
They weren’t blocking based on sight. They were blocking because the eye knew the attack was coming before it even formed.
He kept circling around her and throwing random attacks in all direction, no longer following a pattern.
She was watching him now, No longer amused but curious. Slightly tense.
She could feel that he was adapting.
The next moment, Kaizen stopped suddenly.
That’s it. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
He charged again, but this time, he didn’t use any elements. Just raw speed.
The tendrils came for him.
Kaizen ducked the first, flipped over the second, then slammed both feet into the third, using it as a springboard to launch himself higher. Mid-air, he twisted, shifted his weight and punched downward with full force.
She sidestepped, just in time. But her shoulder caught the edge of his swing.
The impact cracked the ground beside her. She staggered a step, but quickly regained her balance. Then her head slowly turned toward him.
The smirk was gone and her eyes narrowed.
Her voice dropped,. "Okay. That one hurt."
Kaizen straightened, exhaling slowly. "I was right, your tendrils can’t protect you from non magical attacks."
She laughed, but this time, it wasn’t playful. It was cold.
Then the ground trembled. And the tendrils, all of them rose at once, hundreds now, forming a dome around her.
"You’ll regret underestimating me."
