Leave The Monster Alone

But then she turned toward Alan and he had a sudden realisation. She was not Rika, she was not even someone whom he knew. But she gave Alan a small and comforting smile and he forgot to breathe for a few seconds straight.

"What is a youngling like you doing out here in this wilderness? You should not be here alone or someone might snatch you up" The female's voice was so melodic that Alan found himself lost in it, his eyes crossed in wonder. There was something about her that was different, dangerous to his senses but he could still not turn away from her. 

Now that he looked at her, he could tell she looked nothing like Rika at all and he once again wondered just how he had thought of the two of them as similar. They were as different as they come anyway. 

"I'm sorry, I took you as my companion. And I'm not alone here since Kuro is out with me as well" Alan pointed to the calm feline which was a first for her. Usually, Kuro was growling at his time but not today. Today she seemed unusually calm, unusually calm if someone asked Alan. 

Her eyes looked dazed as well, as if she had been drugged or drunk on something,  a very similar feeling to getting high. In simple words, Kuro did not look to be in her senses currently and it caused Alan to gulp down in dread. He felt his mind slip little by little, his senses losing their focus.

He felt as if he was slipping underwater with no way out and the female in front of him had something to do with it. She was not a normal human by any chance, that much could be easily concluded by Alan's tired and slipping mind.

"Kuro, go and warn the others" Alan's voice came out sharp, a contrast to his sleepy mind but Kuro was almost too dazed to follow through. The feline could likely not move at all, the air not permitting her to follow her own will.

"My, you are really resilient but no matter how much you resist, you cannot hold on to that feeling forever. Sooner or later you will hand over your control to me" there was something probing at his mind, a silent knock against it and Alan resisted.

For the first time, Kuro gave out a small but threatening growl, a warning to the female to stay back. Even now her figure was blurry in Alan's mind, her silhouette merging with Rika's here and there, asking his brain to trust her because he knew her.

Alan resisted the feeling inside his mind and he pushed back. The desire to get free from her control was overwhelming and the more he put into it, the clearer he felt. He saw the female frown just a little bit at his actions, her eyes going dark and a frown emerged on her face.

"Resistance is futile so you should just give in to this feeling and save yourslef the efofrt. After all, you will need a divine core and amazing control to resist my attack. Sooner or later your core will be mine to harvest. I am nothing like my carbon copy, I'm the real deal here" the female sounded arrogant but she did not know Alan had the advantage here.

He had felt her power as similar, he had seen this type of power before, in Shiro and her human puppets. This person, diving beast? had similar powers to her. No, Shiro's powers had been a copied and watered-down version of her. This person was obviously superior in strength.

But Alan had a core inside him as well and so did Kuro. They were the only ones in their party who had such an advantage but the female clearly did not know about it yet. Ether she was too confident in her abilities or too young to sense his own core.

Not that Alan himself was too advanced and sense cores if they were hidden beneath layers but he could draw conclusions better than this female anyway so he also knew that he could not allow her to clash with Luna or Mark who did not have such protection.

He needed to finish right here and right now, maybe try to get her core as well for future use. Could he hold her core inside as well? Were dual cores a thing that could happen? Alan was not sure.

"You! You are ignoring me? How dare you" and then came the rage, an expected result of someone who had developed her powers in such a way. Her blade came down faster than Alan could have countered and it struck his skin.

Too bad for the female, while she had gotten mental powers from her core, Alan had gotten physical resistance and the blade did not make a dent on his skin. The blade bend when it met his skin but there was no loss on either side.

"Kuro, now" the sharp claw struck the empty air, the female having dodged in just the nick of time. Kuro shook himself off of the control of the female, her feline body ready to counter.

"You tricked me. You have a divine core as well, a traitor to our cause. I should kill you but I won't. I will peel your skin off slowly first and then make you into my doll" the female giggled the last part, her eyes lost in her own fantasy.

It was a disturbing picture to make, but the female was open from all sides. It would be easy to take her out for Alan but there was a deliberate way she stood which made it difficult for Alan to attack directly.

It felt and looked like a trap on her side, despite not being able to see anything dangerous in the vicinity and it was worrying Alan a lot to be in such a situation. The female also looked as if she was considering it all as a game.

The air shifted and Alan dodged the attack on his person from his side. There was a human male attacking him, his figure matching Alan's own but he lacked the advantage. If this was how the female wanted to play then fine, Alan would play that way as well.

It was not like he had a problem with this all, considering that he had no problem killing humans to save his own hide. One was no problem and neither were two when another one popped into existence.

But there were more coming and the more Alan hunted them, the worse the situation got. The bodies refused to stay down, even when Alan made sure they stayed down dead. Somehow, these bodies refused to stay dead and no matter how much he killed them they stood up again and again. 

They were like zombies and unlike Shiro's case, they actually looked dead from the start.

"You don't know how many of these soldiers I have at my disposal. Humanity really is a fast populating race and now they are all just waiting to become my puppets. Even your loved ones would join my collection sooner or later" her words caused Kuro to growl and it took several moments for Alan to recognise his own growl.

It was low and inhuman, his body standing on the edge of his seat as he let out that inhuman voice. 

But the female just smiled in satisfaction, her twisted eyes looking at Alan in amusement and the younger knew, the other considered it all to be a game. She considered human lives to be a game where she was far above them and could command them however she liked.

She was a tyrant, drunk on her own power and just like many before her showed the cruel side of her character for no reason. Alan did not know her reasons or motivations nor did he care to know. She was an enemy who needed to be dealt with and this was what Alan was going to do.

His core vibrated at his wishes, providing him with power and Alan finally broke through. Kuro was not far behind, her outer coat sullen by the red of the blood. She looked like a demonic beast cast out of hell and ready to devour anyone who stood in her path.

Alan pushed himself, his bow out to shoot at the other divine beast and for the first time, her facade faltered. His serious eyes faced her own conflicting ones before it all faded under her rage.

"You dare to do this to me? I'm a divine beast, the apex of the apex and one of your own species. How could you do this to me? The female cried out in rage, her body flaming from inside at the injustice she felt happening at her expense.

However, Alan did not care for her complaints too much since he had already loaded his arrow and it was ready to fo at any second now.