Minutes prior.
"That cylinder"
Iye, holding the can Am pointed at flailed it around.
"..You mean the spray can?"
She answered as if it were natural to do so.
"That, or whatever it is"
Am, still looking outside, spoke to Iye.
"Give it to me"
"Huh? Why-"
Her words cut short, sneaking a glance upwards, realizing what he meant easily, or at least had the notion he understood.
'Well, that could also work'
The spray can was tossed towards Am, he grabbed it without even looking back. But when he didn't do what was expected, she grew confused
Brows tightly knitted together, bewilderment quietly apparent in her tone.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
At the edge of her wait, she asked.
Step
"!"
Am took a step forward, but not towards where Iye thought he would go to, but to outside. Even the Oksi held a startled look on its face.
"M-My brother?! Where are you possibly going!"
'It seems this object can seal and solidify into a hard substance'
Am's previous observations proved this to be right.
"You.. are not possibly thinking of saving him?"
Am answered back swiftly to her question.
"I am"
"Don't be stupid"
'And what kind of fucking reason would an Oksi save someone else? It isn't in their nature to do so anyway, in fact they would be the first to abandon their comrades, well except for the nobles'
She was fuming with anger, while her calm voice betrayed her anger, hands had tightly grabbed the mahogany roots that let out a rosy scent along with a sting of a charred smell. It tore apart under her strength.
"Come back in"
"Make me"
"...."
She for obvious reasons couldn't waste strength on him
'What the hell is wrong with this guy?'
"You are quite the hypocrite Am or whatever your name is"
Iye popped her elbow and cracked her fingers.
"It is a title"
"Shut up"
The mood for smart talk had long passed.
"Just moments ago you tried to kill me, yet now you try to save someone else? Are they perhaps a friend?"
Ethics were probed.
"He is not"
Logic followed in line.
"Then what in the world are you doing? Get back in here, you are no hero, especially so when you let your 'brother' die by watching me kill him in front of you"
Am rolled his eyes to the invisible figure that stayed crouched. He wanted to say something like 'Well, you were dangerously strong, and it truly seemed like you could kill me without much trouble'. This however sounded like an excuse to the dead. Which he grew tired of repeating.
"...."
"Now you get it? I didn't give you that spray can for you to play some budget hero, I gave it to you for survival"
His mouth parted, but only a mumble came out.
"I don't like this accursed tradition of safeguarding either"
"What was that?"
"I have no reason to hear you"
He ignored the slightly startled words of Iye and walked away from the gaping hole. Iye shouted for him to stop and come back right this instant, which he also naturally ignored.
Inhaling the air tinged with a charred smell, he rushed forward, now that no light of the spotlight shone on him. Like a shadow.
He planned to completely disable the movements of a dangerous predator.
***
Guoaaa!!!!!!
The beast still scraping a bloodcurdling scream out of its throat, flailed around under the surprise attack.
'Oh? Does it have different effects against other lifeforms?'
Am for a moment marveled at the sight of the predator turned to a wailing baby.
He didn't dwell much longer. Hooking his slender long-arms under the humanoid creature with mushrooms sprouting in different areas of the body, he picked him up with almost no difficulty.
Turning around, he started running back where he came from.
"...."
Am's face contorted in small regret, he could have saved his brother... at the expense of his life however, which was sure to happen if he did intervene in the battle against the mysterious transparent woman.
But he knew all too well of the weight his life carried.
Thus, he could not fall to some random enemy wanting to save one of his own.
It was just how it is in his tribe.
"Huuuu"
Inhaling the air deeply, Am's chest expanded like a balloon's.
"Hang on tigh- Oh, you are unconscious..."
'Anyway'
Grasping Tiju into a princess carry, Am...jumped off the branch?
Eyes cast downwards, pupils shrank as if zoomed in, looking awfully similar to dots with intricate shapes, creating a picturesque scene only those who squinted really hard could see.
Thud
His feet landed softly, though unlike a normal mammal, they didn't land on the branch like an obvious thing that should have happened.
They remained stationary in the blowing wind.
Guaaa!!!!!
Eyes, still stitched tightly together, yet the platys was capable of somehow climbing up the branch and rushing towards where the contracting muscles were sensed, the breathing it could hear from the arrogant prey resounded in its amazing hearing.
Leaping towards the source with near impossible accuracy for someone who had been blinded just moments ago.
Despite the increasingly closing distance of the platys towards Am, no rushed emotion could be felt, nor surge within.
Only a serene calmness followed, a calm mind was after all needed for his insight to work at maximum after all.
Like giant springs attached to the legs, the moment they rose from their spot and leaped away. Am had been launched away from the closing maw of the platys.
He flew like a jumping frog, the ground zoomed further in the more gravity tugged him like a child tugging its balloon.
Crash!
Am's body rolled and crashed into another spiraling branch, almost falling at the edge.
At the same time, the fearsome platys, vision stripped away, tumbled down, barely away from touching the fog and only survived by digging its sharp claws into the tree.
"..."
A chill ran through Am's spine, he gulped his warm saliva down.
'It...seems...quite mad'
Guoooo!!!!!
In the distance, a roar faded away with the passage of time.
'I should go before it catches up'
Fixing the body of the unconscious Tiju in a more comfortable position, Am marched towards the crevice in steady steps and breaths.
Ta
Finally, reaching and getting back, he softly set on the ground the fast regenerating corpse, he looked back at the silent Iye. A gaze full of questions bottled themselves in, her voice came low and screeched against the scorching air.
"You did quite..."
"..."
"A useless thing"
She said plainly, sneaking only a glance at the wounded person Am saved.