Reiji finally made it over to the normal forest, trying to catch his breath.
He then sat down on the snow covered ground. He felt the cold through his umanori.
Looking around, he saw no danger. He was right at the edge of the blood forest, about three meters from it.
I need to get to the capital but if that thing keeps following me I'll lead it to it.
He then heard a distant screech, causing him to sigh and lower his head.
"Not you again."
He muttered, calmly looking over his shoulder, thinking he had enough time before it arrived.
With widened eyes he stared at it. The screech was distant but it was right behind him.
Yoruha had finally prepared the magic seal, using her mana to draw it onto the floor.
It consisted of three rings and in those rings were cryptic letters only she could read.
There was one circle in between the rings and in those circles were three vertical claw marks that were side by side.
In the center were two clawed hands and floating above them was an eye.
She then gave the seal a large dose of mana and the circles started moving, running along the rings they were in between.
After a moment the rings started to spin and after the whole seal, except the center, blurred from the speed, two small portals opened.
Through those two portals came two arms, both ending in clawed hands.
The hands literally ripped open the space directly above the seal's center, opening up a portal big enough that a human could walk through it.
The portal was filled with darkness and tiny white, star-like spots.
The arms stayed, keeping the portal open.
They were reddish in colour and quite muscular.
Even though Lord Fujioka couldn't perceive mana, the magic power flowing through every vein of the arms made the veins glow so brightly that even he could see them.
"Why is the spirit that opened the portal different from last time?"
Asked Lord Fujioka.
"Well, I simply called upon a different spirit that is used for teleportation seals. You've only seen one out of at least seven and that was 22 years ago, sweetheart."
Yoruha Kageyama answered his question with a smirk.
"Always so smug."
He said with a flat tone, walking into the portal with one final goodbye.
It wasn't a smooth transition to where his destination was. It was more like his entire being freezing in time for a moment before he found himself standing in a field that was located on a hill.
He looked around and spotted the capital around one kilometer away.
What he also spotted were multiple gigantic ice spikes covering a good chunk of the city.
Lord Fujioka's face went pale at the sight.
He stood there, trying to process this situation and his own emotions.
"...I just hope you're alright, Reiji."
He muttered as he slowly began to walk across the field towards the capital.
Reiji was currently holding his arms up, stopping the monster's legs from crushing him.
Just a moment earlier it tried to crush Reiji with its front limbs.
The force behind its attack was almost unbearable, especially when sitting down.
The only reason he was holding his own was because of the adrenaline rush and the fact he was having a near death experience.
The hoofs of the front legs pressed against Reiji's palms even harder as the horse head tried biting him.
He felt his every muscle straining and he grunted as he tried to push it back but to no avail.
"You keep following like some lost child…You want a piece of me? I'm right here!"
He screamed with anger, his voice strained.
Pushing each of the monster's front limbs to the opposite sides caused it to fall forward and get its horse head grabbed by him.
Its front limbs slammed into the ground on Reiji's left and right with enough force that it made the ground shake.
Reiji quickly showed his thumb into its other eye, blinding it. Now he had to take out the human head.
The monster screamed in pain, swiping at where he stood with one of its legs.
Reiji, however, was nowhere to be seen. Did he run? Did he get cold feet? No, in that split second of pain and confusion for the monster he managed to get right under it, getting out of the sight of the human head.
With his back pressed against the ground, he kicked up with both feet and made the horse move back.
It then lost balance and fell onto its side, desperately trying to get up.
Before it could, Reiji jumped at it and gave the human head an eye poke with his index and middle finger, taking out its eyes with one attack.
It tried to grab his arm but was too slow, instead it got a left hook to the face.
The area where its life force is most concentrated is too deep inside of its body for my knife or hands to reach.
He thought to himself, jumping back and landing on the ground.
I'll have to beat it to death.
The monster got up and started screaming and thrashing, knocking down the trees around it.
Reiji silently walked around it, trying to find an opening. Soon he realized he probably still couldn't kill it even if an opening would show up.
Can I leave it like this? It doesn't seem to be regenerating its eyes.
Reiji then watched the monster for a few more moments before shrugging and leaving.
After walking for three hours he saw something unusual.
He noticed a few giant ice spikes sticking out of the ground in the distance.
Once he got close enough he saw that they were sticking out of the capital
Walking up to the gate he left from, he noticed that the entrance had collapsed, rubble blocking his path.
Reiji climbed over the pile of rubble, carefully going down on the other side.
Walking through the streets he saw similar sights.
Collapsed buildings, rubble everywhere. He saw that some were walking without an arm or using a stick because they didn't have a leg while others had frostbite.
The whole time he walked the air was even colder because of the giant ice spikes.
"I'm lucky I wasn't here…kind of."
He muttered to himself.
Reiji, for a reason that baffled even him, didn't really feel anything when he saw all of this.
His next destination would be the building that Lord Fujioka owned if only he remembered where it was.
Of course, there still was a chance it was reduced to nothing but rubble.