A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Chapter 437 - Naeku [2/3]

"Wah!" a startled and shocked Naeku exclaimed. 'Why isn't my nature sense picking up anything?!' she screamed in her head, now completely thrown off.

Yet, she recovered remarkably quickly. Less than a second after that voice came from behind her, she gripped her spear tightly and roared as she turned around. Her right arm went first, with the shield attached, and attempted to bash her ambusher's face in.

Just before the shield hit, from the corner of her eye, she noticed the face of a handsome young man with silver-white hair and a bit of stubble on his chin. He was smiling calmly at her.

Then, the shield slammed him in the face.

Or so she expected.

Instead, the shield passed through Erik's face as if it was air, slamming against the wall Naeku stood next to, and leaving the werepanther completely bewildered. "What the…" she muttered in confusion.

Yet, she remained alert, and quickly pulled her shield back, before taking a combat stance again. Now she stood face to face with the same man, but he was slightly transparent and completely unharmed from her attack. She eyed him cautiously.

Yet, Erik said nothing, choosing to simply stare at her instead. Some tension built while the highly alert werepanther stared back.

But when Naeku noticed he wasn't going to make the first move, she narrowed her eyes. She poked his body with her spear suspiciously, as if thinking he wasn't even there.

Wryly, Erik looked down at the spear passing through his transparent body, before looking back up at Naeku and chuckling. "That's rude, you know?"

"Wah!" Naeku exclaimed again while her eyes widened, and she took a step back. "So, you are real!"

Then, she narrowed her eyes threateningly again and readied her weapon. Attacking him may have been futile so far, but that was no reason to lower her guard. "You're that werewolf from earlier, aren't you?! Tell me, where are my people?! My Uncle?!"

That question caused Erik to grin. "You've certainly got your priorities straight, huh?" he chuckled softly. "It's not 'where am I', 'who are you', 'why did you bring me here', or even 'why are you transparent and intangible'. No, you care about your people as much as, or perhaps even more, than you care about yourself."

Despite Erik's calm tone, Naeku wasn't soothed at all, and bristled at his casual attitude. "So?! What's it to you?!" she exclaimed with frustration, clearly feeling helpless right now. Her eyes flew across the room as her nature sense worked in overdrive to try and find anything that might help her, but found nothing.

"It's admirable, is all," Erik smiled slightly, but then shrugged. "Or stupid, depending on who you ask, I guess. Personally, I haven't decided yet. Perhaps there's a bit of both in there."

Naeku scoffed and snarled as Erik was truly tearing at her patience. She took her eyes off Erik and began to walk around the room, poking walls and doors with her spear while completely ignoring him.

An amused Erik watched her for a moment. Then, he chuckled and shook his head, "There's no point. You can't break anything in here, and even if you do, you are currently inside another dimension. There's no going anywhere without my permission."

Unsurprisingly, Naeku ignored him, and he continued to watch her. Yet, after a few minutes, she'd finally lost the last of her patience and cursed. "Fuck! Fine then! You want to play that game?!" she roared while turning back to him. "Then let's see what happens when I do this!"

Suddenly, green and yellow runes appeared on her skin and began to glow brightly. Once again, she began to overcharge her runes.

Instantly, Erik's eyebrows twitched. Honestly, he had no idea what an exploding Naeku might do to his dimension, but he wasn't interested in finding out. He could toss her out of this place anytime, of course, but he preferred to have this conversation in here.

So, he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Man, you are either incredibly decisive, or dangerously suicidal."

But Naeku ignored his words, and simply narrowed her eyes while ignoring the pain that wracked her body.

"Alright, alright!" Erik threw up his arms helplessly. "I'll stop playing around, just don't blow yourself up, woman! Damn! Your people and Uncle are fine! You've won the battle!"

Naeku blinked and joy threatened to break through her iron mask, but then she hardened her gaze again. "How do I know you're telling the truth?!"

Erik shrugged dismissively, "You don't, but how are you ever going to find out if you blow yourself up?"

It stayed silent for a second as Naeku's eyes scanned his face for deceit. It was unclear whether or not she found any, but since she had the same nature affinity as Emma, there was a good chance she had the same uncanny instinct for people's intentions as well.

In the end she ended the overcharge of her runes and lowered her weapons. A small stream of blood left her transformed, werepanther nose, but she quickly wiped it away and narrowed her eyes at Erik.

"Fine," she growled, carefully hiding the relief in her voice. "Let's say I believe you for now… assuming you have a good explanation for how that even happened?! I love my uncle, but there's no way he beat both of them and came out alive!"

Rather than answer her, Erik blew out some air as the tension finally left the atmosphere. "You are one intense woman, Naeku…" he muttered thoughtfully, as interest and curiosity played in his eyes.

"Focus, my love!" an exasperated Elora exclaimed in his head with a roll of her eyes.

Erik coughed a few times and mumbled, "Right…"

Then, he finally focused back on Naeku, who was now looking at him a little strangely. Ignoring her gaze, he began with a shrug, "Simple, I took care of the mud wielder, and your uncle took the metalwind woman."

Instantly, disbelief spread on the werepanther's face, and she scowled. "Think of some better lies! Even in some magical universe where you actually beat a third ranker, there's no way you did it without any wounds! You'd have needed to overload your runes, at least!"

"And yet, that's what happened," Erik shrugged casually. Then, he suddenly got an idea. "Actually…"

Suddenly, Aaron's unconscious body appeared at his feet. He'd decided to carry the man before, because he wasn't sure how Naeku would react to his sudden appearance.

Now, he pointed at the body beneath him with a small smile, "See?"

Naeku blinked and recoiled a little when she recognized the third ranker. But then she noticed he was out like a light, and carefully approached with a raised spear, before softly poking the man to make sure he was real.

"Huh…" she mumbled, before turning back to Erik with a raised eyebrow, now looking at him with curiosity, but otherwise remaining quiet for a moment.

After a few seconds, Erik shrugged again, "Anyway, to get a head start on any other questions you probably have, I've already told you where you are. This is another dimension, my personal dimension to be precise. Furthermore, my name is Erik, and I am in this form because I am simply projecting myself while my real body is running across the desert."

Erik could project himself like this anywhere inside his own dimension, but this was the first time it had been useful.

"What?!" a startled Naeku instantly exclaimed, banishing her previous thoughts, before narrowing her eyes angrily. "Running to where?!" With the evidence pointing to the fact Erik truly had defeated a third ranker, she was now more inclined to believe his other words.

"Calm down," Erik waved his hand dismissively. before pointing at the body near his feet. "My battle with this mud-man caused me to travel quite far out, so I'm on my way back to the battlefield, and your people."

Naeku sighed a little in relief as her body relaxed. "Alright," she nodded. "Assuming you're telling the truth, how long until we get back?"

"About half an hour at this point, probably," Erik shrugged casually. Then, he smiled softly, "I wanted to use this time to get a head start on discussing how you'll thank me for saving you and your people."