In the crowd, the Beastn crouched low, sharp claws and fangs half-hidden, all glinting with a cold light.
The lead Beastman took half a step forward, staring warily at Evangeline. He bared his teeth and said, "We don’t an to hurt you. Co back with us. We’ll lure that Fallen Beastman into a trap and trade his life for yours!"
A mocking smile touched the corners of Evangeline’s lips as her fingertips idly caressed her long whip. "Why go to all that trouble? If you kill , won’t the Fallen Beastman you’re so obsessed with die along with ?"
"You!" The lead Beastman’s face darkened. His claws clenched and unclenched fiercely at his sides, and anxious growls rumbled in his throat, yet he hesitated to order the attack.
The Beastn from the tribes behind him grew restless as well. ’The person before them is a female, and a witch favored by The Beast God at that. If we attack her recklessly, we might incur The Beast God’s wrath!’
’But the Fallen Beastman’s existence is a constant, looming threat to us, the Beastn of the Norfell Tribe!’
A cold light flashed in his flickering eyes. He raised his hand. Instantly, the surrounding Beastn unsheathed their claws, brandished their Bone Blades, and closed in on Evangeline, forming an encirclent. The very air seed to freeze with murderous intent.
With a flick of Evangeline’s wrist, her long whip shot through the air like a striking viper. The vicious lash, accompanied by a piercing whistle, forced the encircling Beastn back several steps!
Tapping her toes lightly on the ground, her graceful figure danced away. As her red veil fluttered, she put so distance between herself and the others.
The wind swept past, sending her dark hair flying, half-covering her eyes. A cold, composed gaze shone through, as if this ambush were nothing more than a trivial ga that didn’t warrant her full attention.
With a single crack of her long whip, a gale howled. A vast, surging power erupted from Evangeline, unleashing a frosty shockwave that crashed into the charging group of Beastn!
In that instant, the horde of Beastn were sent flying backward like kites with their strings cut, crashing heavily to the ground.
The air in the entire area seed to have been whipped into a vacuum, leaving only a suffocating pressure.
Evangeline stood at the center of the tempest, her red veil whipping in the wind, her eyes shimring with a cold light.
’The vicious energy in my chest is begging for an outlet,’ she thought, flicking a finger to make the wind from her whip coil around her. ’These people served themselves up on a platter. Even if I don’t kill them all, I’ll teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!’
In a flash, a furious gale erupted with a BOOM!
The ground cracked and shattered, and pieces of stone floated into the air.
A vacuum ford around her slender figure. The Beastn at the forefront had their bones crushed by the invisible gale! For a ti, no one could get within three ters of her.
"With this pathetic amount of skill, you thought you could capture to set a trap?" Evangeline scoffed. The rest of the Beastn were sent flying, kicking up clouds of dust. The stench of blood was overwhelming.
Wracked with excruciating pain, the Beastn stumbled back, low growls of terror escaping their throats. So who had shifted into their beast forms clawed at the ground, not daring to take another step closer.
Evangeline raised a hand to wipe a splash of blood from her cheek, the crimson leaving an eerie streak on her pale skin. She languidly raised her gaze and smiled slowly. "How boring. I don’t have ti to play with you anymore."
She recalled her long whip and turned her back on the carnage. Her cold voice drifted back.
"I’ll say this one last ti. My Beast Husband may be a Fallen Beastman, but he has never hard any of you. If you continue to pester , then I’ll truly begin a slaughter."
As her words faded, a ring of energy exploded from her feet. The massive trees nearby were silently sliced in half, their cross-sections as smooth as mirrors. What if that had been aid at the Beastn instead...?
The Beastn stared at the massive trees crashing down, their bodies trembling as so of their severed manes drifted away.
Under their terrified gazes, Evangeline tapped a foot to the ground and shot forward. She beca a crimson streak of light arcing across the sky, her figure leaping swiftly between the layered mountain peaks, disappearing from sight in a matter of breaths.
The Beastn from the tribes stood frozen in place, not one of them daring to give chase.
’They had missed their chance, in the end.’
’At the tribal trade gathering, Evangeline had been stabbed through the heart by her own Beast Husband. She had been on the brink of death—the perfect opportunity to capture her. But she was a Witch, her thods bizarre and unpredictable. Despite being gravely injured and near death, she had escaped from right under their noses, vanishing without a sound, without a single trace.’
’Now, seeing her again, her injuries were fully healed. They were no longer a match for her.’
*
Coral Cetus stood at the edge of the sea as the waves rushed in, washing over her ankles again and again.
She bit her lower lip, her gaze fixed on the distance. At her ankles, fine scales shimred into view with a cold light, as if urging her to return ho, but she seed oblivious, her eyes never leaving the horizon.
But there was nothing there, only the rustle of leaves in the wind.
Stellan took Coral Cetus by the wrist. When he felt the cool scales that still lingered on her skin, ’a dull ache spread through his heart.’ His voice was soft and low, nearly drowned out by the waves. "Let’s go back."
The sea breeze lifted Coral Cetus’s long pink hair, brushing it against her tense profile.
The sound of the tide was a mournful whimper, much like the anxious thumping in her chest.
"We need to report the appearance of the Fallen Beastman in Norfell to the leader as soon as possible." Stellan’s grip tightened slightly as he lowered his voice. "The conflicts on land are not our concern."
Coral Cetus watched as her people transford one by one into streamlined shadows and slipped silently into The Deep Sea. She lowered her head listlessly and finally gave a silent nod.
’I will never forget this tribal trade gathering,’ she thought. ’Even though it was simple and rushed, I t soone nad Evangeline—a female who was completely different from the rumors.’
’She was also the one I consider my one and only friend.’
At this thought, Coral Cetus tightened her grip on the pink Conch in her hand.
’Evangeline had said she could hear it too.’
Stellan said nothing. He simply reached out and stroked her long, dawn-pink hair, then took her hand and led her into the shimring water.
The evening tide rushed in, the seawater churning as it surged and rose.
The once-exposed reefs were completely subrged. The last sliver of the setting sun sank below the horizon, and darkness descended. The rolling waves let out a low roar, and the entire sea felt imnsely oppressive in the twilight.
In the vast Beastman World, the population of Oceanic Beastn far outnumbered that of the Terrestrial Beastn.
In the distant Deep Sea lay the famous Triangle Sea. Like the claws of a colossal beast, it had torn the continent into several pieces. It was The Holy Land where the Oceanic Beastn had thrived for generations.
However, they had only ever heard of it; none of them had ever truly set foot in the Triangle Sea.
Even for the Oceanic Beastn of The Norfell Sea, reaching the Triangle Sea ant passing through the infamous great whirlpool by the undersea cliffs.
The undercurrents there were violent and the waters were riddled with vortexes. The slightest misstep would send one spiraling into The Abyss, never to be seen again, not even as bones.
Following a faint, thread-like magical connection, Evangeline reached the coast just as twilight deepened into night.
The damp, salty sea breeze rushed to et her, and in the distance, ocean waves churned.
Evangeline lifted her gaze and saw two familiar figures on the beach. Coral Cetus’s pink hair billowed in the sea breeze, and the dark cyan scales on Stellan’s legs were faintly visible. They were walking hand-in-hand into The Deep Sea.
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