It felt like this all things happened in a long time but it barely took a moment for Vayu to do all this, with years of his hunting experience he was very fluid with his actions there was no hesitation, because hesitation meant death on the battlefield. He landed halfway up the slope then quickly jumped again, and reached solid ground and without slowing down or looking back, he ran. The horned rabbits chased after them but Vayu didn't even glance at them as he continued running, under Ruru's guidance, they burst out of the forest and were back into the open grass field. Behind them— a roar thundered through the trees, the hybrid rabbit had most probably healed again and was going to follow them soon as the roar was filled with furry and a large amount of killing intent appeared behind them. Vayu while running glanced at his status window.
Overdrive remaining: 2 minutes
He knew the moment overdrive got over, he would be useless so without thinking about anything he pushed himself to the limit and started running like crazy, even Ruru was amazed by his speed. The distance that had taken them over two hours to cross,
eighty percent of the same distance was covered by Vayu in those two minutes.
Then— Overdrive ended. Vayu collapsed forward,as his body finally gave out. Ruru fell from his back, still in shock.
"Ruru!" Vayu yelled her name.
Her eyes snapped into focus.
"Now…" he said weakly, his voice fading "…it's all in your hands."
And then— Vayu lost consciousness
As Vayu lost consciousness, another roar thundered from behind them. The hybrid rabbit was nowhere in sight, but it was faster than Vayu and if it chose to chase, it could catch them easily, fear ignited in her mind and for the first time she clenched her jaw and gathered what little strength she had left. She tightened her grip on Vayu as slowly putting him on her shoulder and ran, pushing her body far beyond its limits. As she crossed the vast open ground, another roar erupted, this one filled with pure hatred and fury. Ruru glanced back, her heart pounding—only to see small horned rabbits chasing her. The hybrid rabbit stood at the forest's boundary, motionless, glaring at them from afar as if not wanting to get inside the open field. Relief washed over her in a shaky breath, her pace slowed slightly as the little horned rabbits didn't scare her.
Ruru turned again to confirm the position of the hybrid rabbit once again, but when she turned back her blood ran cold. A horde of horned rabbits was running behind her, moving with terrifying speed and more joined the horde from every direction, their numbers swelling with a unnatural amount. What made horned rabbits weak was their cowardice and lack of unity, but at this moment under the command of the hybrid rabbit it was gone. They were charging together, driven mad, forming a single surging mass.
Ruru ran faster as the city gate loomed closer with every stride. Her lungs burned, her legs shook, but she didn't stop. Just as the western gate came into view, her foot slipped and she fell hard on the ground, the world spinning and whatever small strength she had gathered left her body and terror finally overwhelmed her and she collapsed on the ground, unable to move.
She had fallen right in front of the western gate; the guards and hunters coming from the hunt there stared at the scene in disbelief as the tide of horned rabbits ran towards the city gate, no one saw the man and women laying on the ground all they could see was, horde of those horned rabbits, their eyes gleamed with greed and no one knew who took the lead, but without anyone's instruction a roar came out and a tiger faced shapeshifter rushed towards the beast horde.
A slaughter followed soon after. Shapeshifters poured out from the western gate, transforming mid-run, cutting down the horned rabbits with ruthless efficiency. It barely qualified as a battle. The creatures that had moments ago surged like a living tide now fell apart instantly, their numbers meaningless to them. Most shapeshifters suffered little more than a few scratches, horned rabbits were never true threats when faced head-on. The horde, that had looked like a disaster ended almost as quickly as it had begun.
When Vayu finally woke, the first thing he sensed was weird machines around him, same as the ones he had seen in the experiment lab. He carefully looked around him, at the moment no one was present inside the room except him, he laid on a clean bed beneath a stone ceiling etched with healing runes giving him a warm feeling, he knew Ruru would not put him in danger and deduced this things were meant to heal rather then harm him and he felt at ease. While most injuries among shapeshifters healed naturally with time, some wounds were different, like those inflicted by beings from the other three realms, or those carrying lingering effects from spells that disrupted their regeneration. Such injuries forced even shapeshifters to heal like ordinary people. What surprised him more was that he was still in his shapeshifter form. The moment consciousness fully returned, he felt the transformation begin to loosen, his body revert back to his human form. His stats dropped rapidly leaving him weak and tired. No one was in the room but he stayed fully alert, quickly made his breathing even and the instant the cooldown passed, he transformed again without hesitation. He couldn't afford to expose himself. Time passed quietly the sounds of distant footsteps and muted voices filtered through the stone walls. Then the door opened and Ruru stepped inside.
Ruru saw Vayu awake and showed a excited expression on her face and quickly sat beside him "how are you feeling" she asked.
And after talking some more with Vayu she took out some food from her bag and as Vayu ate she started explaining everything calmly. Most people had paid them no attention at all—during the chaos outside, they had simply been two unconscious bodies among many fallen beasts. Even as the slaughter began and ended, neither of them were paid any attention during the fight. It was Ruru who eventually regained consciousness first and dragged him to safety. To her, it had seemed as if Vayu had been struck by some unknown technique from the hybrid rabbit, something that interfered with his natural healing.
She also mentioned that the bull brothers had now recovered, and were already preparing to head out for another hunt. After telling him this, she hesitated for a moment as if wanted to ask something but then said her goodbyes before leaving the room.
Vayu remained lying on the bed quietly after she was gone, staring at the ceiling as the events of the previous day replayed in his mind again and again. Then, abruptly, another thought surfaced he remembered that he had bitten the hybrid rabbit and quickly said "Status window" and as expected, a new entry had appeared, glowing faintly: Hybrid Beast 15. He didn't dwell on the name and without hesitation, he tried to transform.
A red warning flared across his vision.
Insufficient demonic energy.
Vayu clenched his jaw and slammed his fist into the bed, as irritation flashed across his face. He needed demonic energy—and he had no idea how to obtain it.