Elemental Cats

The voice coming from the Blood Fiend died out, and the Blood Fiend hung its head and arms like a puppet with its strings cut.

The Blood Ancestor disappeared, leaving a few strange words behind, and the Blood Fiend remained unmoving. The battlefield sank into a confused silence as everyone waited, barely daring to breathe, afraid it would rouse the Blood Fiend from its slumber.

For that same reason, Mindle didn't attack the Blood Fiend again, and Toz helped her maintain the fire mana making up her giant transformation. Since she wasn't wasting her mana attacking the Blood Fiend, she could stay huge for a while longer.

Since the Blood Fiend was still on the battlefield, it still posed a threat to everyone on the plane. And so far, Mindle had been the only to able to do anything to it. So, if the Blood Fiend, and not the Blood Ancestor, came back and started wreaking havoc, Mindle would be the only one able to restrain it. But only if she had enough of the firestorm's mana left to empower her giant phantom self.

While Toz and Mindle did their best to maintain the giant cat of fire, Kahglia and the others took the opportunity to rest and restore themselves as much as possible in case the Blood Fiend woke up again. The Blood Ancestor obviously wasn't as much of a threat, but it didn't seem like they were very reliable, either. And it would be better to be prepared for the worst when dealing with threats at the transcendent level.

So, while everyone prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, the Blood Fiend stood motionlessly in the middle of the battle, blood dripping slowly from its body.

Not knowing when the Blood Fiend would awaken or when the supposed Blood Ancestor would come back had everyone's nerves tightened to the limit.

The Alliance of Kingdoms' troops, led by General Scoll, were still slowly retreating toward the edge of the plane in the hopes of using ships to get off.

Although they had just been embroiled in a deadly war, the few remnants of the Tribe of Death had surrendered and were trying to join the Alliance in the hopes of also being able to get off the plane and escape the Blood Fiend.

General Scoll knew better than to create strife at this juncture, and he allowed them to trail behind while they moved toward the camp. Since both sides had been discarded by their transcendent superiors, there was a slight sense of understanding and sympathy between the two sides. Of course, some people had lost friends and close ones to the war, but rather than anger, most people felt sadness and frustration.

Not everyone knew what the Blood Fiend's appearance meant at first, but information quickly spread through the troops. And soon, most knew that the Obsidian Empire and transcendent Tribe of Death had sold out their mortal subordinated factions. They had fought for years, shedding countless liters of blood, and seen innumerable comrades die in battle. Each time they woke up, they feared they would be next. And all for what? To find out it was for nothing?

That information hollowed out the troops' hearts.

The Tribe of Death had different norms and hierarchical relationships, but being treated like less than disposable pawns was still something most unpleasant.

The troops and commanders kept an eye on the battle that had taken a brief pause following the Blood Ancestor's abrupt leave. But with how tense it was, it was as if the battle was still ongoing.

Eventually, the Blood Fiend trembled, and the magic circle unleashed another wave of light toward the center of the battlefield.

However, the dark tendrils that infiltrated the magic circle were almost gone this time.

"Luc- I mean, Blood Ancestor. Have you returned to end this epic battle, once and for all?"

Mindle tried speaking in a mighty and domineering voice to play along with Lucy's antics. However, the Blood Ancestor didn't respond. Instead, the Blood Fiend jerked and turned toward Mindle with organized movements. Just the fact that the Blood Fiend moved properly was evidence that Lucy wasn't controlling it anymore.

And then the Blood Fiend launching balls of blood toward Mindle was another piece of evidence that it was moving on its own again.

Toz had expected it when he saw the dark tendrils disappear from the magic circle, but seeing it in action made Toz sigh hopelessly. He didn't know if Lucy had ended up in trouble, but since the Blood Fiend and Mindle started fighting again, he didn't have time to think about it. He had to support Mindle in her fight with the Blood Fiend and give the Alliance as much time as possible to retreat.

After that, he could spare some time and effort to try and find the other cats. Hopefully, nothing untoward would have happened to them. Toz had trouble coming up with something that would distract Lucy from fighting with giants against Mindle like he had done while roleplaying the Blood Ancestor.

Although Lucy hadn't had very fun in the fight since he couldn't control the Blood Fiend's body as he wished, so maybe doing something else would be a little more entertaining. Toz hoped he hadn't ended up in any trouble more troublesome than he could handle. With the sudden appearance of droves of people surpassing the strength of the ninth level, Toz wouldn't be surprised if there was at least one such individual on the Tribe of Blood's team.

And where would they be, in that case? At the center of the magic circle controlling and supporting the Blood Fiend was the most likely place. Unsurprisingly, the same place as Lucy.

Toz didn't doubt Lucy's capabilities, but people and beings approaching the transcendent level weren't those just anyone could fight against however they wanted. And Lucy was probably still at the seventh level, which meant that there were at least two levels of difference between him and this potential opponent.

As he thought about it, Toz realized that Lucy would probably be fine. Two levels weren't that much, after all.