The Betrayal of the Guardians

~ (47) Strength of Taurus (Part I) ~

The bronze eyes glowed on their last opponent's sharp face.

The tall rock-sculptured wolf stared at its victims with its mouth open, exhibiting sharp, stone-like teeth. Arisa gazed at it in horror, noticing that every side of its body had sharp edges like blades. A deep green moss covered part of its gray surface.

"Throughout this mission," said the malicious voice in the background, "my pets were able to kill every candidate that crossed their paths."

Arisa gazed at her surroundings several times, in search of the owner of that cold voice. A few seconds passed before she concluded that the voice came from the wolf itself.

"I've heard from my colleagues that there is a certain group that escaped their fate from them," continued the wolf, its mouth half-open. "I wonder if you're that special group."

As they watched the creature in silence, Arisa couldn't help but notice Train breathing heavily. When she turned around to see if he was okay, she saw that his face had gone dark with fury tainting his usually calm expression.

She wanted to calm him down but didn't know what to say. Meeting the man responsible for his family's death must be torturing him. She couldn't imagine herself going through such negative feelings.

"I have grown an interest in meeting the commoners who shamed our power." The wolf walked a step forward. "Those strong people deserve to be killed by the Emperor's hand."

"Shut up, Taurus!" Train's enraged voice broke the silence. "You're no Emperor; you're a monster that deserves to pay for his crimes!"

The wolf's head twitched. "Oh, someone dares to badmouth me."

The wolf walked a few steps forward and as it did so, Arisa and Garoh instinctively walked a few steps backward.

"Watch your mouth, commoner," said the wolf. "You don't want to see me angry."

Train laughed. "And what will you do? Kill us?"

"Train," Arisa tried to stop his taunting.

She didn't want to see what Taurus could do if all his negative emotions blinded him. She knew that they had very low chances to win against him, but fighting a calmer opponent was better than fighting an enraged one.

"If I'm not mistaken," continued Train, ignoring Arisa's warning, "you were planning to kill us anyway, no matter if you were in a bad mood or not."

The rock-sculptured wolf stared at them. As silence fell, Arisa felt uneasiness within her. The weight pulling her heart intensified with each passing second.

"We should run," she whispered.

"Alright," said the wolf before her companions could say anything. "I shall fulfill my objective."

Not a second after their opponent threatened them, loud stomps cracked the air as the wolf rushed towards them.

"Everyone, run in different directions!" said Garoh.

With no time to think about what direction she could pick, Arisa followed Garoh, running to the left side as their opponent charged forward.

A violent crushing sound blasted the air. As Arisa and Garoh reached a safe distance away from their previous area, they glanced at the disastrous scene several meters away from them. A cloud of dust and sand had formed in that spot. Arisa concluded that Taurus was planning to smash them like bugs, but ended up colliding with a nearby boulder.

"The girls." Garoh panicked.

"Don't worry Garoh," a voice came out from Arisa's chest. "We're okay. We found a safe place to hide."