Eduardo drew in heavy breaths as the force acting against his blood suddenly weakened, easing the strain in his body.
It wasn’t that Andrea had lost her ability altogether. No, It was simply no longer strong enough.
The pressure that had been rupturing through his veins dropped significantly to sothing his body could now resist.
His healing factor surged in response, stabilizing the ruptured points as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground, one knee pressing into the broken concrete beneath him.
Andrea quickly reacted by opening her mouth and unleashing another sonic howl toward him.
But Eduardo raised his arm over his face, bracing against it as the sound slamd into him.
This ti, it didn’t send him flying.
Instead, his feet dragged backward across the ground, carving lines into the surface as the pressure forced him back step by step.
Dust kicked up around him, but he held his ground.
Andrea saw this, and understood in that mont that her powers had weakened to a level below the Grand-Class status.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as the realization settled in. Which ant there was only one option left.
Run.
Her wings spread wide, and in the next instant, she shot upward in a burst of speed, flying into the sky.
Eduardo noticed the change but didn’t dwell on it. Instead, his own wings spread out as he launched forward after her.
They flew across the skyline, weaving between buildings at blinding pace. Andrea darted through narrow gaps, cutting sharply between structures, trying to shake him off, while Eduardo followed relentlessly behind, matching every turn and shift in direction.
They eventually dropped out of the dense structures of the city and toward the outskirts where the terrain opened into scattered vegetation and the beginning of a forest stretch.
Andrea glanced back, then forward again. She repeated this every now and then to keep track of how close Eduardo was to catching her.
Until this one ti when her focus split for just a mont, costing her greatly. She slamd straight into a massive tree which splintered outward on impact.
Andrea recoiled from the force of the strike, but before she could recover, Eduardo was already there.
He crashed into her, driving her downward with overwhelming strength as they both plumted straight into the ground below.
The impact carved a crater into the earth. When the dust cleared, Eduardo stood over her, with one foot planted firmly against her torso, pinning her completely.
She struggled, trying to push him off. But regardless of how much her arms strained to do this, he didn’t budge.
However, Eduardo lifted his foot slightly, then slamd it down again, driving her deeper into the crater. The ground cracked further, the impact expanding the crater as a burst of blood spilled from her mouth.
He bent down and grabbed her wings, then pulled; tearing them from her back with a violent rip as she scread.
But that didn’t make him didn’t stop, not even for a second.
His fist ca down several tis, slamming into the side of her face relentlessly.
Each hit snapped her head to one side, forcing blood out with every impact as her facial features began to distort under the assault.
She beca unrecognizable.
And still, he did not stop.
——
The family leaders who were still engaged in battle noticed a change.
Silvana’s eyes narrowed slightly, clicking her tongue in irritation as her senses picked up on approaching figures from a distance.
So she quickly dispatched the wolf in front of her with a blast of magic that struck him squarely, sending him crashing backward across the ruined ground.
Then she turned her hand upwards and a large magic circle appeared above it.
The spell activated, and in the next mont, every single family leader present vanished from sight.
As though they had never been there.
It was a concealnt spell; the sa type that had initially hidden them from Eduardo’s senses.
General Iroh arrived almost imdiately after, hovering above the ground as he swept his gaze across the battlefield, taking in the destruction; and the wolves scattered in disarray, staring around as their opponents vanished without a trace.
Several vehicles of the Imperial Guard rolled in, coming to a halt as soldiers stepped out in formation.
And although it was a disappointnt that they had lost their targets, Iroh was not deceived.
Just monts ago, he had sensed the presence of multiple family leaders gathered here; aning they had all disappeared sohow, but only just now.
Ever since Audrey’s announcent of her pregnancy; and the subsequent disappearance of Alistair and most of his siblings from the castle, King Carson had not taken any chances.
He had already co to the conclusion that war was approaching, and every move of the family leaders aligned with the Desdemonas had to be monitored at all tis.
So when multiple family leaders began moving at once, leaving their estates and territories to converge on a single location, it imdiately triggered an alarm.
That was when the King issued an order to the Imperial Guard to find out what was happening and stop it if necessary.
At almost the sa ti, Ethan dropped from the sky, cracking the ground he landed on. His eyes scanned the area in search of Eduardo but then saw.. "Valerie!"
He moved toward her quickly, and when he approached, she turned toward him slowly; tears on her face as she shook her head.
Ethan’s steps slowed, and his eyes moved past her, landing on Marvin’s lifeless body. His gaze widened because he couldn’t sense any life from him either.
A look of terror followed instantly across his face.
Later that night...
The convoy returned to the Arcorys residence, rolling in slowly, and when the doors opened, the atmosphere was heavy.
Every single wolf stepping out carried the sa expression; grief on their faces, with tears barely held back or already falling freely.
lvin stepped forward from one of the vehicles, carrying Marvin’s body in his arms.
His eyes were red with tears that fell from it. But he said nothing as he walked toward the house.
The door burst open.
"Dad—?!" Percival ran out imdiately, his voice already breaking before he even got close.
His steps slowed as he saw the body. "No... no, no, no—"
lvin’s knee fell, gently placing the lifeless body of his twin on the ground. Percival reached them, grabbing at his father’s arm, his shoulder, anything, as if trying to wake him.
Ethan stepped forward quietly and placed a hand over Percival’s shoulder, with a glint of held back tears in his eyes and his teeth gritted in frustration.
Percival stared at his father, his eyes trembling as the truth finally settled in.
From the doors, Hayley stepped out and walked toward them slowly.
She hadn’t understood what was happening yet, until she reached them and saw who Percival was shaking.
"Dad..." The word left her lips softly. Her eyes dimd, and her body gave out instantly as she collapsed where she stood.
——
A/N: Sniffs..
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