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“Yeriel!”

The beast ignored us like we were never there and rushed towards where it threw away Yeriel. The air, that calmed down a few moments ago, warped in a mad rush again, as I gritted my teeth.

There was no time. The suit started, taking its time, as I shot forth, however, I was late. Yeriel barely managed to stand after getting knocked down—which was already surprising enough—but the beast knocked her out again, flinging her away from a dozen of metres.

It didn’t seem to be done with all the violence it inflicted on her. The three-and-a-half-metre-long berserk saint beast chased after her, ignoring the fly flying around it—which was me, of course.

I would be damned if I let it go on further. I brought forth all I have, as well as all the acceleration I could get from the suit. With the humongous momentum I built, I charged, spirit force surging throughout my body—all over the lower body, towards the hills of my feet.

I screamed—didn’t know if I was trying to get its attention, or just out of my mind. Well, probably the latter, but who cares?

I skidded my head backwards and my legs forward as they rammed against the back foot of the berserk Saint beast. Even with everything I have, it was impossible for me to take it head-on, but I sufficed enough, well, only against one leg of it.

The reindeer fell, screaming, toppling over the snow, but it wasn’t over yet.

“Sorry, pal,” I screamed, “there ain’t no Christmas for you.”

The nail sword twisted in my arm to form a reverse grip before it pierced the leg of the beast. It takes more than just raw power to deal damage to a beast that was born divine, but I managed with enough raw power.

Burning flakes hovered around as the fiery crimson metal penetrated the back of its leg. Crimson blood oozed out as the ember-bound sword went further. The beast cried, jerking its legs, and rolling on the ground. The ground felt like it was having a seizure as I held on. My sword barely reached the bone, and I was flung away with the lurch of the foot, finally.

Yeriel stood up on the other side with a bloody face, though it was healing at a frightening pace. She eyed the beast and tilted her head to look at me. The beast didn’t wait for long. Even though I inflicted a much more critical blow on its leg and made it bleed more than any of us ever managed, it still bolted towards Yeriel. Its back leg was limping a little.

“Yeriel. Run!” I shouted.

However, the fool girl didn’t listen. She stood there, biting her bloody lips. The horrifying beast was about to collide against her for the third time, but before it could reach two metres of her, it stopped.

No, it didn’t stop, but a sudden outburst of power from Yeriel stopped it. I could only wonder the sheer output of power that would need to render all the effort of a berserk saint beast futile.

“Please,” Yeriel said, “stop it.”

The beast wasn’t listening to her at all. Well, that’s normal. Just think for a second, if you find your cub missing and meet a person with its scent, not to mention wearing antlers on your head, of course, it would attack you.

“Oh, Ishar,” Noyar said as she dropped next to me, along with Jon. They certainly had no clue of what was happening before their eyes.

I stood up and looked around to search for my sword. It wasn’t stuck to the beast so, it should be nearby. I found it quite close to it. “Come on,” I shouted, flying towards my sword. “She won’t be able to keep it at bay for long.”

Like I assumed, Yeriel’s shield broke, and she was flung away for the third time, though she was in a better state. She stopped supernaturally as her body stood upright before the beast could reach her.

“Yeriel,” I shouted at her again, rising twenty metres in the air. “You can’t stop it.”

Yeriel said nothing and engaged with the mad beast again, ringing the same words again. I wasn’t sure if she was in her right mind after all she went through, but I, myself, was far away from judging that. Still, one thing was for sure. If she kept on going like this, then it would be her who would go down.

“Yeriel, listen to me, please.”

Whatever she was trying didn’t work, and she was thrown away again. However, I was waiting for that. I caught her before she could fall and shot upwards, ignoring the horrifying cries of the beast. Yeriel struggled in my grasp as she groaned.

“Leave it,” I said. “You can’t stop it like that. Come with me, I have a better plan.”

Yeriel stared for a few seconds into my eyes and struggled out of my grasp. It was so swift and abrupt that I had no clue what she did, but she was flying next to me out of my grasp.

I had no idea how she was doing this and all the other stuff. Well, I can tell how she was doing it, but I don’t understand how she was doing it without learning those first. However, I asked no question, knowing that any question about that could lead her to a psychological epiphany, and she might lose all grasp on her abrupt power. As I feared, she was going on pure instinct. The intent behind all of this was from the Yeriel I knew, but it's still instinctual.

Luckily, she didn’t fly away to stop the beast. I sighed in relief inwardly and found Jon and Noyar.

“Let’s go,” I said, looking warily at Yeriel. “I don’t think we have any need to catch its attention.”

With me injuring the leg of the Winterheart Reindeer, it was a bit slower than before, which should have been enough for us to get the lead, but turns out not everyone was in our previous state. Well, I still had the fire spirit stone dust, which could buy in a couple of minutes, but there was no need for that. It might be useful later, so I kept it.

Yeriel and I had no problem taking the lead, however, Jon had to carry Noyar, making them the slowest of the group. Noyar didn’t seem ready to leave everything to us, so she decided that Yeriel and I would take the beast to a roundabout way to reach the rift, while they would reach there in the meantime and prepare.

That seemed like a feasible plan, not to mention we had blocked the entrance to the cavern the last time. If they opened it beforehand, we could just jump inside without leaving a chance for the beast to take a bite at us.

“Alright,” I said, “see you in a bit.” I turned to the left and took a peek at the beast chasing. It still had all its attention on Yeriel. “Let’s go,” I told Yeriel as she nodded. The beast chased after us like I assumed, ignoring the target which it could catch up to easily.

I calculated how much time it would take for Jon and Noyar to reach the rift and decided how much time we would have to waste. The answer was almost double.

I turned my head towards Yeriel next. Her face was bloodstained, but all the wounds she got from the beast had healed miraculously. However, what troubled me most were those empty, vacant eyes and the slight halo of darkness surrounding her. Well, it hadn’t swallowed her completely yet, that’s a good thing, but . . .

I had no clue what to think about it now. Yes, I could think of a couple of solutions, but none are possible anytime soon.

“Yeriel,” I called, not knowing what to do. “How are you?”

Yeriel gave me a look and kept her silence.

“It's alright,” I said, biting my lips. “We can undo what’s done.”

I didn’t know if she didn’t hear the wind rattling in our ears as well as the cries of the saint beast, or just ignored my words. This was troubling me greatly.

After a couple more minutes, we raised our speed, understanding each other about what we were intending. The beast would chase after us, no matter what.

When we reached the spot, Noyar and Jon barely started opening the entrance. Finding us, the Knight with Dominion of Gravity took the liberty to finish the job first. Jon hurled a gravitational push against the boulders, tossing them aside.

The entrance of a looming cave appeared before their eyes, as they looked at one another and nodded. I dropped with Yeriel next to them the next moment. The cries of the beast told it was not that far away.

“Are you sure about this?” Noyar asked me.

I thought for a second and shook my head.

“What?” Noyar grunted. “You seemed pretty confident before.”

“At least it's better than throwing meaningless assaults on the beast, hoping they would stop it,” Jon croaked. “I would throw away my life a hundred times if there’s a strong possibility of stopping a catastrophe like this.”

Yeah, I get it, you’re a hero. Letting out a breath, I said, “Luckily, I’m not suicidal as Jon.” I looked behind and couldn't see the beast, though its screams were getting ever so clear. “I might not be 100% sure about this, but I’m pretty confident about this. Now, let’s go. We’ll discuss the plan when we’re inside. Noyar, you stay in the front. Your dominion might help us there in the navigation.”

Noyar nodded and raised an eyebrow. “Why do I feel you know what’s inside the rift?”

“Because I knew exactly what’s inside.”

“What is it?” Everyone looked at me incredulously as the beast's roar resounded as it finally found us.

“Chaos.”

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