The same spell circles form on the birds one at a time. Each one he only has to look at once for the mark to appear. Before they could begin their descent, the entire cloud had been marked. Kairo begins firing, and a magically packed bullet hits its target as if the shot came point blank. He fired until the clips emptied and every bird lay still on the ground. No shot missed its mark no matter how hard they hid, the only survivors were those who fled and reached a safe distance. Soon, we were once again alone in the clearing.
"That was pretty cool." I admitted it was always nice to see new magic except when that new magic is used against you. Many of those spell rings started appearing all over my body.
"Thanks now give Willow back her body." Kario demands while aiming at me. I sighed hard while throwing my arms up in disbelief.
"Come on! not only did I save your life, but I was contracted to do so..." I waited for the rings to leave and grew impatient when they didn't.
"And the terms of this deal?" He asked, not dropping his guard.
"Ugh, I keep you breathing. I get three hours, so please, can we just head back?" I couldn't hide how antsy I was to leave, and I could tell that somewhat made him less nervous. The rings dissipated, and his guns turned back into black ichor, and we both sighed a breath of relief.
"All she wanted was to protect me?" Kairo asked with a slight blush on his cheeks. I roll her eyes and turn on my heels to make our way back to the train stop.
"Hey, wait!" The last thing I heard before the rumbling from earlier deep off in the forest was now right below our feet something was tunneling through the earth at blinding speed and once one of us was far enough away from the other it chose its victim. I spun on the spot the sound growing louder under Kairo instead of me with only a second to spare I use Here to yank him from that spot as I did a hulking mass of teeth and muscles burst from the earth-gnashing at the air.
The creature had a flat head that ran to a point covered in rock-hard plating dull grey bloodshot eyes searched until they found us. A bone-shaking roar escapes from endless rows of teeth, prompting three other burrowing noises to appear. From behind this horrifying beast, three smaller but similar creatures swam through the earth with ease toward us. One took the lead priming for a leap. Noticing this, I grip my dagger with both hands and stable my footing. When the creature finally emerges leaping from earth to air like a breaching shark, I lept forward at it, dodging with a countering thrust at its side. The creature lands on the ground with a satisfying slide into limpness.
"I forgot about the fucking Shear Baks!" I screamed, realizing my time was dwindling. I released a bit of magic enough to gain the attention of even the alpha as I charged at it. The other two turn to chase after me each one taking their chance to pounce the first try from my right letting my body drop I Swing my arms with a windmill motion catching the pup under the jaws and splitting its skull. The other tried from behind, but using There to move just a couple of feet above the creature, I thrust my dagger downward, sinking it into the second one's head, pinning it to the earth.
The Alpha analyzed the scene before slipping back into the hole it created and started barreling toward me. I speed towards it and as it leaps from the earth to bite at my upper half I quickly use There again to pull just a couple of feet before its attack ends giving me time to strike at the end of its breaching I bring my blade up to its chest where it stops unable to pierce its thick skin. With a quick motion, it backhands me away. I tried to block with my arm and magic but felt as if the bones gave under the pressure, even blocking with magic my arm and several ribs had broken. I slid limply across the grass, trying to focus on healing.
Gunfire erupted from Kairo, which just tickled the beast enough to gain its attention it dives back underneath the surface and charges him he reloads his gun, still firing the unavoidable shots into the Shear Bak while it burrowed. The bullets had no effect, as the creature breached again. Kairo dodges blinking next to me. The creature was confused and searched dumbfounded.
"This is fucking lame explain how your bullets work." I impatiently demanded.
"What, why?" Kairo replied, my tone annoying him. I push my blade into my hand as it makes contact it turns back into dark black ichor that I start to morph and form. I tug and pull at the mound of ichor until it splits into two pieces, one taking the shape of a double barrel shotgun sawed off at the tip and the other a snub-nosed lever repeater.
"Explain your prickles, Mr. Porcupine... please." Kairo stared dumbfounded at me.
"How did you change your shadows shape like that?! And what did you call me?" Kairo's berating was punctuated by the roar of the Shear Bak turning to find us.
"Tick-tock!" I prod, Kairo bites his lower lip pensively.
"Shite, fine. I solidified magic into crystal form, and my guns fire it, leaving a vacuum that I can fill with ambient magic or my own, but the higher the quality higher the storage, and I have the almost purest magic crystals you can create the only color higher than this iridescent blue is golden amber and I do not have the magic to make either." Kairo said, staring down at the beast that beat the earth in anger.
"Well, good thing I do." Kairo watched as I tucked the repeater under my arm and focused on my hand soon light pooled toward the center and took the form of two cylindrical tubes that showed a beautiful golden amber I opened the barrel of the shotgun and filled each barrel before setting it back in place. The Shear Bak began to charge us. out of option, Kairo deployed another spatial magic, causing the creature to slow as if stuck in place. It bucked hard against the magic that matched Kairos' bucking arm.