The shadows wolves swiftly attacked as both of them split up and attacked both of Ruby's sides. Ruby immediately turned her halberd and slashed at one of the shadow wolves closer to her side. The blade hit the wolf and was launched towards a tree that it immediately went through and then landed on the ground, melting into the shadows.
The other shadow wolf didn't damage her badly as it only tore her clothes and gave her a slightly large claw mark on her shoulder, she gritted her teeth and ignored the pain then used her leg to kick the wolf away.
The wolf was caught off guard by that and became staggered, the giant wolf was not idle when the shadow wolf's were attacking, it was now behind Ruby with its claws laid out in the air, within moments it's claws digged deep into her back.
Ruby cried out in pain as she felt her flesh and bones being sliced apart, and the foreign feeling of something touching an organ made the pain much more unbearable.
The wolf used its claws and lifted up Ruby, then threw her towards the ground and making its claws be pulled out from her back.
On Ruby's back, a bloody deep three clawed gash opened up her flesh, revealing some beating organs and a faint crystal red glow from where her heart used to be.
These injuries can be considered deadly, and Ruby should already be dead, but the crystal heart within her contained large amounts of vitality, but that would not help her recover as long as the wolf is around.
Ruby gritted her teeth as blood came out of her mouth. Was she going to die again and experience that feeling of helplessness and despair from a few minutes or hours ago, depending on when she revived. It hurt, but Ruby gritted her teeth and used the halberd she was highly holding due to the pain to bring herself up. Her red gaze went towards the violet of the wolf.
It was a full moon, and the clouds in the sky covering it parted, revealing a silver glow that shined more prominently than before landed on both the wold and the girl.
Both were injured, and both the difference is that the wolf can regenerate slowly, unlike the weak and fragile abnormal coloured human that unluckily fell into its gaze. Looking at the wolf's imposing figure, Ruby felt like giving up as she did not find any notable way to save herself from this situation.
As she was about to lose hope, a tentacle landed across her cheek, and Ruby turned to look at the floating basket beside her. She blinked and remembered that it exists, the tentacle on her face was rubbing her cheeks slowly and softly as if trying to relieve Ruby's intense pain.
"Equivalent Exchange, use....me." When she heard that gentle whisper, Ruby shuddered instinctively. What could she exchange for in this place. It's not like she could exchange her lifespan or something for a bit of help.
"..."
Could she do that? Well, she wouldn't know until she tried, so Ruby immediately did. "I-I wish to exchange ten years of lifespan for something useful in the situation."
The tentacle stopped moving on her cheek. It retracted itself and immense shot into where Ruby's crystal heart was and impaled her.
"You have 90 years of lifespan left. As the trade is over, you shall gain an equivalence of exchange to the 10-year lifespan trade."
Ruby had no time to react when the tentacle shot out and pierced into her heart. She could feel her body become a tad bit weaker when that happened, but she also felt her crystal heart begin to thump and felt as if those ten years of lifespan were recovered almost instantly.
Then she felt something enter her mind quickly. It was an intricate and horrifying set of a halberd technique that presented a balance of savage attack and masterful defence.
It was called the Nameless Territory Art as it was a foothold to create ones own personal halberd technique and name it on their own accord.
Currently, she could perfectly execute the basic and intermediate versions of the technique.
Though she was still injured, the recent vitality had stopped the bleeding and mended the open flesh on her back. Suddenly, a shadow wolf ran towards Ruby, giving her no chance to truly digest the changes.
Ruby's mind went on high alert. The shadow wolf appeared in front of her within moments, but as if she had anticipated that she spun the halberd around and his the wolf with the pole of the halberd pushing back the wolf, she then dashed towards the shadow wolf with the halberd to her side.
The shadow wolf was about to counterattack when all of a sudden the red gem on the halberd blade glowed, and Ruby's speed increased. Ruby spun the halberd abive her head and implanted the blade straight into the shadow wolf's skull.
The shadow wolf howled in pain as the halberd pierced through its skull into its mouth, and out of its jaw, the blade was embedded on the ground, and the shadow wolf's mouth was open, the pole of the halberd could be seen in between its jaws, the light in the shadow wolf's eyes faded and it dissipated into a pile of black dust that spread around on the ground.
The giant wolf watched this happen from afar, and it was surprising that the girl who had trouble defending and attacking him could now kill one of its shadow wolves.
The other shadow wolf that hid in the shadows when it was flung towards the trees appeared near the large wolf and glared at Ruby, then immediately ran towards her with full speed, Ruby waited for the wolf to pounce at her before she sidestepped and then used her heels to turn around and attaching the wolf in a diagonal slash attack bisecting it with clean precision.
The split wolf turned to black dust before it fell to the ground, and Ruby breathed difficulty. The pain from her wounds would continue to hurt if she continued fighting.
She turned around and looked at the Giant wold that was now looking at her curiously. The wolf was clearly intelligent and was slightly impressed with the girls' sudden adaptation, though that strange looking entity basket thing helped her it was still a part of her strength and the wolf greatly respected strength...or else it would not have 'allowed' that human and its monster wipe out the local villages around its domain.
The wolf respected the girls' strength, but it was nowhere near enough to make it recognized in its eyes because...he is only playing with her.
The shadows twisted all around the wolf, the ones from the trees, the ones from the rocks and plants, and even Ruby's shadow, it's eyes were now completely violet. For a moment, silence prevailed , and all the shadows within a kilometre radius rushed towards the wolf and surrounded it in a ball with the violent sounds of the winds accompanying it.
Ruby clenched her teeth as she observed this phenomenon, the shadows that surrounded the wolf took on the form of an egg which begin to twist and crack every second, the energy in the surroundings felt distorted to Ruby.
The large shadow egg cracked, and from it, a furry figure that looked as if a wolf found out an incomplete method to walk and resemble a human, the giant wolf from before has now become a dark furred towering werewolf with deep violet eyes.
Seeing this terrifying entity Ruby's mind almost collapsed from the sudden drainage of mental energy from her mind, it was as if she almost became insane but resisted halfway, she didn't dare to continue looking at the werewolf and stared at the ground.
'Damn it?!! I can't beat that!!! What do I do?"
Ruby clearly would not survive an attack from such a creature so the best thing she should do was escape but that is not possible as the werewolf was faster than her, she quickly began to think and her mind returned to the basket, what could she trade to escape from her current dillema.
Ruby's thoughts raced like wildfire as she clutched the halberd, her fingers trembling not from fear alone — but from the unbearable weight of choice.
What could she possibly trade?
Her life? Already on loan.
Her soul? Possibly already partially consumed.
Her memories? …No, those might be the only things still hers.
The basket floated beside her, trembling softly — as if in anticipation.
Ruby gritted her teeth, her blood-slicked hand tightening around the halberd's haft. She couldn't fight that thing. Not in her current state. She needed an out — something that would level the playing field, if only for a moment.
Then, a thought crept in — dangerous, dark, and desperate:
"What if I traded my humanity?"
Her breath caught.
It was a terrible idea. She didn't even fully understand what she was anymore, and now she wanted to cast away what little humanity she had left? But the truth was undeniable: survival demanded sacrifice.
And the Crimson Maw would always accept sacrifice.
With her mind set and eyes locked on the monstrous silhouette ahead, Ruby whispered, "Crimson Maw… I offer my humanity in exchange for a chance to survive."
The basket froze. For a long, dreadful moment, nothing happened.
"Life and Death are Intertwined, and so is your being. Your humanity can not be traded, but I will take your blood. The exchange is accepted."
The shadow werewolf howled and ran towards Ruby with the intentions of consuming her whole, but it had to stop in its tracks when it saw Ruby disappear in front of it in a flash of red
The werewolf growled and then sniffed the air. "I see... you are no longer in my domain litte red human... good for you."
The werewolf howled at the full moon above it and went into the forest to hunt for some other creatures it could consume.
While in an alley in a city near the forest, a flash of red light illuminated the faint darkness and an injured girl with thorn clothes was spasming on the floor in intense pain, Ruby felt as if her blood was boiling and her bones were freezing, it felt like thousands of tiny snakes were buying into her skin and entering into her body, gleefully devouring her organs one by one, she would have screamed but the pain was to unbearable.
Soon, Ruby's body began to change, and her once pale skin began to take on a slight tanned colour, and her ears elongated just a bit, she could feel blood coming out of her eyes and every other hole in her body and she could feel two intrusions wanting to tear out from her flesh on her back. Her nails became darker until they were black, and she grew some small fangs. Her eyes took on a beastly form as she now had slits in her pupils that were light red, and her injuries began to heal rapidly. Though these changes were happening to her, Ruby's height remained the same as her age, fourteen to fifteen years old now.
The intrusions that she felt in her back finally tore out of her shoulder blades, behind her two transparent like red bat wings appeared, they were small and someone needs a high amount of concentration to see them clearly.
Finally, the pain ended, and Ruby laid there for a few minutes before finding a bit of strength to stand up. She realized her halberd was on the floor and the basket, too. She took them both in her arms and shuddered as the cold touched her newly sensitive skin. "...I don't want to do that again." Ruby felt traumatised by the entire experience of this night.
All those events happened in twenty minutes.