The Demon And The Wolf (VI)

10 minutes before Aiden and Kudelia's fall

The blood from the Jaeger's head wound seeping into her eyes. She brought her arm up to raggedly wipe it away to clear her red-tinged vision. The ache from before didn't seem to bother her anymore as adrenaline burned in her veins. Her left leg which felt numb when she had crashed into the ground seemed to have recovered.

She was breathing heavily. She wanted to deny that the direct hit from the Enigma hadn't done too much damage but she couldn't. After all, most of her Astarte reserve were about to run out and if she didn't take the Enigma down soon it would be the end of her and many other innocent lives.

However, despite of all this, she didn't really feel the pain.

She wasn't sure if the aching had become so great that she had grown numb to it or if it was the adrenaline that overrode all her other senses making her ignore it for now. But it was probably a number of things.

What drove her most at the moment was the Jaeger's pure rage. She stood up quickly, the red soil kicked up as she did so. She was inside a pit. It was created when her body crashed landed on the well maintained grassy meadow of the Latis Garden. It was the most beautiful garden of Rasparte City and was an extension of the Guardian school campus which sat at the entrance of the school.

She used her strength to jump out of the crater so that she could assess her surroundings, mapping it away in her mind to use it to her advantage against the Enigma. The ground shook as a loud sound of something heavy landing on the ground was heard.

It was the Enigma. It had just jumped out of the room to come out into the open. Its stature limited his options for movement in small classroom but when outside it was the one with the advantage. It grinned at the Jaeger cockily as she had fallen for his trap.

The cold evening breeze blew through the garden indicating that it was nearing nighttime, the sun was slowly disappearing over the horizon as the silver moon took over the skies dying it in its light.

"Finally, I have you cornered Jaeger!" the Enigma remarked happily, the joy from cornering its prey. Unbeknownst to him, the fight was far from over.

"I might be cornered, you foul creature." Her eyes changed colors. It went from silver blue to a golden yellow as her senses spiked to their optimum limit and everything began to slow down around her. For a second she could see it all - the trail of dust particles in the air slowly settling to the ground to the trail of blood trickling down the Enigma's claws - it was all so calm. And she was about to kick off the storm that followed. At that moment, she was invincible.

"But I'm still standing," she said as she declared herself undefeated and unyielding. "Illunis Art: Orbis Terrarum Gelida!" The Jaeger yelled out the incantation at the top of her lungs, her voice booming across the landscape.

White mist erupted all across the grassy meadow of the Latis Garden with her being the epicenter, blotting out everything. Her skin developed a thin layer of ice, her golden eyes radiated anger as the world around her began to freeze over. There was a sudden drop in the temperature. The once green meadow was frozen over with a thick layer of ice. Even the claws of the Enigma had been a subject to her mist as its claws started to develop frost on them as well.

The Enigma wasn't expecting such a display of power from the Jaeger. It had thought that her spirit would be broken by that blow he had bestowed on her but it played against him instead of in his favor. The Jaeger was more motivated than ever before. Her canine teeth were showing making them look like fangs. They appeared sharper as the look in her eyes indicated that of a predator gazing upon its prey with bloodlust. The girl didn't even seem human anymore.

'This is my playground,' she thought to herself, feeling the creature's helplessness from afar. 'And I'm unbeatable in my own element. I control everything that plays out from this moment.'

A drop of sweat rolled down from her hairline, trickling down from her temple to her jaw before it dropped to the ground. As soon as the sweat drop touched the surface of the frozen ground, the Jaeger shot off. Blizzard and mist surrounded the field and blinded the Enigma.

Her fingers held a tight grip on the leather binding of her daggers, excitement and anticipation flowing through her as her intimidating golden eyes never left the sight of her recent prey. The occasional snowflake and the fog blocked her view of it but she could feel its presence. The Enigma's heartbeat, the sound of its breathing and every slight movement was crystal clear to her.

Her predator instinct guided her to her prey.

The monster prepared itself for a frontal assault. Its claws were ready any kind of attack that was going to be thrown at it. Even if it couldn't see her, it was mildly conscious of the Jaeger's presence. It was confident that it would be able to stop her.

However, the girl had learnt from her previous encounter that this Enigma was different from the ones that she had dealt with in the past. It was continuously trying to outmaneuver her - using the helpless woman as bait, and the kicking her so that it would draw her out into open space all indicated the same thing. It knew what it was doing.

That was why she needed to hit him hard and fast, taking away any chance for him to counterattack.

She deliberately willed the fog around her to clear so that she had an unhindered view of the monster.

'Look at me. I'm coming to kill you. Look at my eyes and face, you monster. Don't you dare look away.'

The Jaeger was only a handful of feet away from the Enigma when she threw her dagger at it with acute precision which was aimed at its face.

The flying dagger caught the attention of the Enigma by catching it off guard as the dagger blocked its vision and disrupted its focus. It was just a second but that was enough for her. The Jaeger moved quickly and willed the mist once more to gather around her to block her presence from it.

On the other hand, the Enigma moved on instinct. Its claws that were prepared to counter the Jaeger's onslaught quickly deviated from its course and covered it's face to stop the flying dagger. The dagger crashed on its claws and cut through its thick metallic coating, barely missing his left eye.

"You think a lousy attack like that can bring me down?" the Enigma cackled. Unbeknownst to it, this was just the beginning.

Her presence was gone! The monster's red glowing eyes frantically tried to find her but the mist blinded its vision. The only thing visible to him were the snow and fog surrounding it from all sides.

'Where is she?!'

The monster heard it then, the whistling of something coming towards it, cutting through the mist as it approached the Enigma. With every passing moment it came closer. The Enigma prepared itself to lock hands with the Jaeger but what hit it was something he hadn't really expected.

The whistling sound changed into roaring as a golden hue enveloped the white fog. Through the mist a volley of arrows charged at the Enigma hitting it, without any area being spared. There was no specific target, they were just blindly shot at it.

On the other hand, the Jaeger was waiting calmly with patience. She had attacked the Enigma twice but none of those attacks were supposed to damage it too much. It was just a test. But at the same time she couldn't let her prey feel pleasure or accomplishment of being able to overcome her attacks. That's why she kept up a continuous attack of arrows to test her prey's strength. It won't be able to block all of them easily.

That's why she continued to fire her arrows one after the other. Persistently, begrudgingly yet briskly and absolutely... He won't be able to block them easily.

Another arrow pierced its thick bone armour causing its blood to be spilt. The Enigma was getting annoyed.

"You damned little-"

She executed her plan indifferently, continually pressurizing the Enigma and piling on the stress of battle with each arrow breaking its exterior and waiting for it to lose its cool and attack. She wasn't one of those fools who attacked first without a plan. This creature was her prey, her toy. And she was going to make it as painful as possible for the Enigma and more enjoyable for herself.

And then it happened; one of the arrows cut through the Enigma's cover and pierced its left shoulder blade. That was it, the Enigma who had been quietly waiting for the Jaeger was now filled with rage.

"Anger blinds you. Never let your rage control you rather manipulate your enemies' anger and use it against them."

Her master's teaching ran in her ears as the Enigma spewed of its fiery explosion once again, incinerating the frozen area around it.

"Now you've done it!" the monster yelled. "I will burn you alive, Jaeger!"

'The strong are not blinded by rage. They use it as a fuel to blind their enemy.'

She had never understood what her master was trying to teach her back then, but now...

The ground caught on fire, melting away the mist and the frost, making its way towards the Jaeger. The Enigma was blinded with the rage and was attacking blindly not concentrating on finding the girl anymore. This gave the Jaeger a lot of openings in turn.

A wild stream of liquid fire came slicing through her camouflage, only a few feet away from her. She smiled, her lips curled upwards in a sadistic manner. Her eyes showed nothing but the pleasure of achievement after all the Enigma was now dancing on her palm, just like she had wanted it to. It had fallen for her trap.

Without wasting anytime she slung her bow to her back, its string resting on her shoulders, and crouched down placing her feet apart. She pulled her left foot back and balanced her body weight equally on both her legs. All the Astarte particles within her gathered around her feet, preparing it for a high leap. A trail of snowflakes began to surround her and then she jumped in a parabolic course heading straight for the Enigma's head.

'It's just like the Old man had said - when you are attacking blindly, you always sacrifice a part of you. An important part of you which you are supposed to defend at all costs.'

She pulled out her bow midair and aimed it at his head. Her fingers coiled around the string as she pulled it back preparing to fire her arrow, but unlike her previous attacks, this one was going to be with precision. A golden light emitted at the shaft of the arrow and then she released it.

It was a single arrow not too but not too weak either. A trail of snowflakes was released from its rear as it shone silver and sailed towards the Enigma.

"On point," she murmured to herself victoriously.

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So finally the new chapter is out!!! The mystery girl is on fire! Who will win the battle.

Read to find out.

Anyways thank you guys for reading my story. Please do like and comment, it means a lot to me!!!