Chapter 147: Tempering

A paw carrying claws each the size of a dagger swiped through the air. A sudden burst of wind blew out from the center of the clearing, seeming to propel a lone figure backwards, clearing the tips of those organic razor blades. That lone figure was of course, Sage. Looking quite the sorry character, his clothing torn up and stained with dirt and blood. Surprisingly, there wasn’t an insect to be found in the vicinity, just one man and one beast. Facing off from him was a huge creature that looked like a tiger that had been color-shifted to blue instead of orange. Weirder yet, its back had scales and ridges leading down to the most unusual point of all, its tail. It looked like a huge snake had suddenly grown out of its rear end, with even a hissing head full of fangs sitting on the tip of it.

Even after narrowly dodging the swipe of the claws, he wasn’t out of danger. After the wind assisted leap backwards he still had to roll to the side to avoid the lightning fast strike of the snake head. Borrowing the motion of the roll, he entered Tree Spring Stance and forced himself into a crouched position. His body already storing up energy, he crosses his arms in front of his chest and receives a strike from the huge beast. This tiger’s back was the same height as that of a horse, many times larger than a tiger from earth and the strike was enough to turn rocks into dust. If Sage’s body wasn’t strengthened by merging with the Serpent and he wasn’t using the Tree Spring Stance he was sure his arms would have been torn clean off. Instead, he released the stance as he was struck, taking advantage of the force to get launched backwards. He even let out another stream of his Divine Breath to propel him a hundred yards further.

His threw his hands out to the sides and his fingers flickered, the beast having no idea what it was up against until it was too late. Meeting Sage head to head had been his choice, an opportunity that he’d taken to place a noose around the beast’s neck.

Literally.

Sage spun horizontally a few times before landing on the ground next to a tree. Falling Leaf Steps, Leaf Spinning Slowly. It broke his fall and let him land gently even from a great height. He took a quick couple steps and wound a circle around the nearby tree, hopping up and putting his feet against the side of the trunk he was somehow supporting himself into a completely horizontal position. His hands were near his feet, but then he stood up… sideways. His fingers tightened into fists and pulled hard like he was tugging on a rope, hauling it to his waist with incredible speed.

Over a hundred yards away the Beast, that had been running towards him this whole time, seemed to stumble slightly, its head lowering towards the ground. Unfortunately, it would never recover. Its head continued to fall downwards until it smashed into the underbrush, sending up a cloud of dirt and fallen leaves. Sticks snapped as the huge body continued forward, the head no longer attached. Two steps later it careened over onto its side, skidding across the ground and leaving a small trench in its wake. A pool of crimson started to form among the green leaves. The furious activity transformed into sullen silence, at least for a moment before the snake tail started to writhe around frantically, moving without purpose and flailing at the nearby bushes.

A string of crimson beads of blood showed the position of a nearly transparent wire, the cause of the beast’s demise. The beast was known as a Blue Python Tiger, a name quite obvious given its characteristics. Sage disappeared from the spot, just as the beast’s body on the ground did.

The piercing cry of an eagle shattered the crisp silence of the morning. A shadow descended from the sky, a massive boom resounding in the air when it reached the ground. A huge cloud of dirt and debris was suddenly kicked up by the flap of an immense set of wings. Metallic silver wings spanned a dozen yards, the beast large enough to carry away a pair of oxen in its claws. The regal color of its feathers ruined by the featherless and leathery black vulture head. Beneath it a huge serpentine body flailed back and forth. The peak struck down rapidly, aiming for a killing blow on the creature caught between its claws.

A crimson stain showed up on the tip of its beak, but the vulture didn’t seem sated. The creature beneath it was far from finished. It brought its head back to strike again, stopping as it finally caught sight of the encroaching vegetation. At least a dozen thick tree roots had shot up out of the ground and were entwining around not only the creature it caught, but its own legs. Flapping its wings, the vulture tried to escape, bringing away its prey from this dangerous area.

Beneath it, the creature groaned in pain, nearly being ripped in half from the force of the claws around its torso jerking upwards. After a few tugs, the vulture was unable to pull its meal free, but the tree roots had nearly caught hold of it. A tinge of fear flashed across its vicious black eyes, giving up on the catch and lifting off on its own.

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Or, at least it tried to. When it was only a few feet into the air it suddenly smashed into something and was knocked back down. At least a dozen silver feathers were knocked loose and fell to the ground, the vulture looking around in confusion, unable to tell what was going on. It found nothing in its way and tried to take off again, smashing into another invisible barrier. Thin lines digging into the back of the vulture and confining it. The roots beneath it stretching ever higher, rising straight up and weaving together to form a perimeter. The vulture’s struggle getting fiercer and more desperate by the second. It looked back towards its prey, sensing the source of its troubles. The spot where it had been pinned was now empty, the vulture saw only the tip of a serpentine tail disappearing into the mass of roots.

A few minutes later, the sounds of struggle finally faded. The pained squawking and caws of a bird continued for a few more, until finally there was only silence.

The thick roots slowly receded, exposing the creature that had been in battle with the vulture. A serpentine lower half and the upper body of a humanoid, many of its scales torn off and bloody, at least a dozen of its hundreds of ribs were broken and one of its arms was half-severed.

“Damned Bird.”

Sage was reaching his right arm across his body to hold the torn up flesh of his left bicep together, the bone clearly visible. His arm having nearly been ripped clean off by that vulture’s beak. He’d already stuffed a whole bottle of pills into his mouth and he glared almost hatefully at the huge vulture laying in front of him. The big body completely entangled by roots and currently being trussed up by a thin wire, the same one that had formed a net in the sky to keep it from escaping.

Finally caught you!

He turned his gaze up towards a mountain peak in the distance, tracing the rocks and grass, scanning a specific spot until he caught sight of a massive tree. Its gnarled roots clinging to the rock wall and stabbing into the cracks like a climber’s strong fingers. Up among the trees massive boughs he saw a huge tangle of sticks and grass, formed into a huge disc shape.

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