The competition was back in full swing. This was the second last day of the competition. The pandemonium in the camp was on a whole other level.
After the glorious fight with the serpents, the fairies had received a little shock out of their comfort zone. They had believed they were the apex predators, standing supreme in the world. Turns out, they were not even at the top in their own back yard. This was a wakeup call, pushing the fairies to work harder to grow themselves.
Meanwhile, the results of the bout with the basilisks had been included in the competition. All teams got equal points, except Nina's. However, given how far ahead she was, she could afford to lose some points.
Kigen continued playing his role, but this time, he was engrossed in something. After the breakthrough, he had had a chance to consolidate his gains. He could feel he was more powerful, to the point where he desired a fight, just to see how mighty he was.
So soon after his breakthrough, he had been able to toss a serpent the size of a tree across the forest like a ragdoll. Even looking back, he still couldn't believe that that was him doing it.
In that moment, he had felt indestructible. Now that he had cultivated some more, he was eager to try out.
As though the universe was conspiring to provide him with a foe, a burly man following behind a serpent drew close to the fairies' location. Even from a far, they could tell something was going on.
Usually, he would fly to the mother tree's highest point and cultivate while hovering in this place. Even from this distance, he could still hear the clamor of activity as various fairies went about their work.
Once, it had just been him, all alone in the forest. Back then, he even captured an eagle for companion. Tera was still around. First came Nina, who instantly bonded with Tera, the Tande, then Foli, and before you know it, it was now a full house.
With all the influx of new prey, due to the competition, mother was spotting several new buds. Soon, more brothers and sisters would join the ranks.
Yelp!
As Kigen was caught up in his thoughts, he suddenly heard a scream echo in the forest. He immediately recognized the voice, that was a fairy calling for help.
He was instantly on alert, scanning the forest, trying to determine where the scream came from. More screams ensued. Kigen's heart tightened, so did his fist. He worriedly looked around, trying to find who was in danger, and what was attacking them.
Suddenly, he saw a fairy shoot out of the treetops, flying at full speed. Moments later, a huge hand flew out of the treetops, extending outwards and grabbing at the poor fairy. Before the poor thing could cover much ground, it was already swallowed up by that huge hand.
"Gotcha!" The human behind the hand, exclaimed. He seemed quite pleased with himself. "My third!"
Kigen witnessed all this. There are no words to describe the level of rage he was feeling. He didn't even notice himself act, as he found himself shooting towards the human in reckless abandon.
This time, Kigen didn't even bother aiming at any particular part of the human. His rage had taken over, and he was barely thinking.
Slamming into the human's abdomen, Kigen's intention was to shoot through the body, coming out the other side. Having taken on all manner of creatures, Kigen was confident of achieving this.
However, things did not go according to plan. Instead of shooting through, Kigen did not even break the skin. He found himself smashed against the human's neat stack of abs.
Kigen's attack was not fruitless. Due to the force of impact, the human, who had climbed a tree to catch the fairy, lost his footing and tumbled to the ground. Along the way, he broke several branches, but he didn't seem to mind.
Once the human landed, he quickly rose to his feet, staring at Kigen. At some point during the fall, Kigen had gotten himself out of the human's body, and was now confidently facing off with the human.
"Interesting, such a powerful guardian," the human muttered as he stared at Kigen. In the same breath, his hand suddenly moved to catch Kigen.
Kigen had been ready for it, but he was still almost caught. Reacting quickly, he flapped his mid wings, not escaping, but closing the distance between him and the human. Specifically, he was heading for the human's eyes.
The rod in his hand transformed into a pike. He was incredibly quick, moving so fast he couldn't be seen with the naked eye. His pike was ready to impale, but just as he struck down, the human somehow managed to turn his head, causing Kigen to impale the side of his face.
A nasty wound appeared across the man's face. Thinking fast, Kigen suddenly caused tendrils to sprout out of the tip of the pike, digging deep into the human. Kigen had learned this skill from watching Asha, but his control over the wood element was much stronger. Hence, this skill was quite deadly in his hands.
The human immediately let out a scream as he moved to swat Kigen from his face. The fairy had already anticipated this, furiously retreating. He left the pike behind, still doing damage, still digging into the face.
Turning around, Kigen was shocked to see the human pulling the pike out of his face. Even the tendrils seemed to snap. Some had sunk too deep, they were not coming out. Kigen found that he was still able to control these tendrils.
With an epiphany, Kigen took to the skies once more. In his hands, a bow and an arrow formed. He was not going to engage in melee combat, rather, he would kite the human until it fell down.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Arrow after arrow flew out of Kigen's bow in quick succession. Each arrow's aim was true, finding its mark with deadly precision. So far, he had shot one eye, multiple places on the human's face, hands, and body.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
As Kigen was forming another arrow, he felt several more arrows descend from behind him. Turning around, he found many of his fellow kin had gathered. They were copying him, shoot and move, shoot and move.
Kigen's heart was gladdened, but he didn't have time to waste. Once this much wood element congregated inside the human's body, there seemed to form a chain reaction. The human started to crack.
"What?!" Horrified, Kigen saw a crack appear in parts of the human's face and body. Strangely, no blood came out. Despite being shocked senseless, Kigen did not allow this to distract him.
Closing his eyes, he focused. Challenging all the willpower he could muster, he willed for the arrows to grow, digging deeper into the human. The man let out a devastating howl. He seemed frozen, unable to move. He couldn't even collapse, so he stood like a statue that was cracking.
The many tendrils in the face and head went for the brain, but Kigen did not feel what he expected to feel. Perhaps a skull, then the soft tissue underneath. None of that. Was this really a statue or a man? Kigen wondered.
Finally, he felt something different. Somewhere deep in the chest of the man, there was something that felt different from the rest of the material making up the man. Something harder. So hard that not even the tendrils could penetrate.
With such an obstacle, Kigen manipulated the tendrils to dig around this mysterious material. The human let out a deep roar, but he still could not move. The fairies watched as the human simply became still.
Kigen had managed to dislodge the material. Upon inspection, it turned out to be a mysterious looking black crystal.
"Quickly now, place this body on the mother tree," Kigen commanded. Once the human had fallen, the other fairies quickly followed his order, while others went to free their brethren who had been captured. They were placed in some makeshift cage, but they could not break out.
On his part, Kigen continued to inspect the black crystal. As he did, he kept wondering where this human came from, and why just randomly start attacking fairies.
There was something else that he said. "What a powerful guardian." It was starting to feel as though everyone knew everything about fairies except the fairies themselves.
Kigen was horrified of attracting the attention of that kind of trouble. This had clearly not been a human, maybe a magic construct. Whatever it was, Kigen wanted no part with the kind of people that could make something like this.
Caught in his reverie, Kigen did not realize the crystal was slowly shrinking. Before long, what had been the size of a stone had been reduced to that of a pebble, then a speck of sand.
That was when Kigen realized he had just absorbed the entire crystal, without figuring out what it was. A weird power welded up within him and felt as though he was undergoing another breakthrough.
This time, it was not as dramatic, and it subsided soon afterwards. A fairy streaked through the forest, running towards him, "Senior, we've found a serpent!"