Holding the unconscious Alice in the embrace of his white feathers, marred with blood and scars, Aries narrowed his gaze on the gray rat, which was still alive. Its body was charred, and its muscles were spasming, but it was still alive and moving, and was even well enough to keep fighting.
'If it could still fight, it still posed a danger to us.' Even with its current state, Aries didn't underestimate the rat; a rat, when cornered, is at its most dangerous, after all.
Gently releasing Alice from his embrace, Aries focused on the rat once more. While slowly, it was still moving towards them, Aries could tell that with every step the creature took, the quicker it became.
'It's recovering.' He surmised.
This was bad; if he was right and let it recover any more, it might overpower and kill him. From the single clash with the rat he could remember clearly, he could tell that he was completely outclassed. Luckily, he had the advantage of being able to do more than just rely on direct, physical combat. With his constitution, he should be able to hold his own, at least.
Slithering his way to the stumbling rat, a plan formed in Aries's mind. First, he would poison the rat with [Desire Toxin], then he would stall until the toxin took effect, hopefully killing it or weakening it enough for him to land the finishing blow.
Once he was in close enough proximity to the rat, which was now moving much faster— though dazed and seemingly not having noticed him as yet, moving in the same direction as before he moved—he readied his fangs and prepared to execute his plan.
A translucent, golden liquid dripped from Aries' needle-sharp fangs as his jaw clamped down on the back leg of the rat. The taste of cooked rat and burned hair filled his mouth as he injected a copious amount of toxin into the rat.
With Aries clamped down on its leg, the rat finally noticed him. It let out a shrill screech before bringing its clawed paws down on him.
By the time its claws struck, Aries had already moved, so its claw only made contact with empty air. Its eyes searched the town square before landing on Aries, who had moved some distance away.
Despite its injuries, the rat pounced at Aries with a ferocity that made one forget it had been severely injured.
Aries studied the rat's movements carefully as it approached him. Even though it was quickly recovering, it was neglecting its injuries, meaning its body would occasionally fail it. This was what Aries was counting on, and it was what would allow him to stall or even beat the rat.
He waited patiently for an opening to reveal itself to him as the rat drew closer.
He allowed it to get closer… And closer… And closer… And—
'Now!'
Whipping his tail around, he struck the rat square on the side, batting it away.
The rat soared through the air like a stone shot from a sling, sailing towards the bloody, flesh-like crimson tree. Just as it was about to collide with the tree, it twisted its body in the air, landing perfectly on it instead of crashing into it, then launched itself off the tree.
The rat moved like an arrow, launching itself with such speed that it ate up the distance between them in mere moments. Building tension in its broken but healing body, the rat lurched its arm forward, tearing through Aries' feathers as if they weren't there.
His body flinched at the pain, but his mind remained steady—as steady as it could be in his current state. Rushing forward like a tide, Aries bit down on the rat's tender flesh, tearing out a chunk from its side. Then, he spat out the chunk of flesh from his mouth and moved to wrap around the rat.
It had already moved, however, using his body as a foot hold to jump away before circling around him and clamping onto one of his wings while clawing into another.
A searing, electrifying pain shot through his back as his wings were torn and mauled, but what was pain to someone who was once far beyond understanding? It was no different from a normal human's; in fact, he was in near-unbearable pain, only keeping steadfast due to his unyielding mental fortitude.
Aries clenched his teeth, mentally at least; his serpentine body was not capable of such an action, so instead, he tensed his body and fell backwards. Under the full weight of his serpentine body, the rat was crushed. It was not broken, but it was hurt, and that was enough for Aries.
Aries wrapped the rat in the coils of his long body, trapping it in his tight embrace. He squeezed with enough force to crush a grown man, suffocating the rat in the continuously increasing pressure of his coils.
Instead of the sound of breaking bone, however, there was silence, a silence that rang in Aries' ears. Neither the sound of cracking bones nor the feeling of crushing said bones ever reached Aries; instead, he was met with another jolt of searing pain. The rat, instead of being crushed, chose to retaliate, kinfing its claws into Aries' flesh, forcing him to loosen his grip, allowing it to slip from his embrace.
As it escaped, the rat took the chance to claw into Aries' face as well, destroying his left eye and leaving three horizontal claw marks on his face.
He yelped and buried his head into the coils of his body. When Aries lifted his head, his eye was shut and drowning in blood, his other eye glaring, brimming with killing intent.
His vision blurred red with fury as he charged forward like a raging bull. Usually, he would have kept his composure under the effects of such anger, but the fear and pain had chipped away at his mental faculties; he was in no state to resist, so for the first time, he was being controlled by his anger.
The rat clawed at the ground a few times before steadying itself and charging forward to meet Aries' furious charge head-on.
The two collided with their foreheads, causing a shockwave that blew a gust of wind that shook the leaves of the bloody tree. Their bodies intertwined like tangled thread, cutting, biting, clawing, and leaving each other marred with cuts, bruises, and blood.
Dyed crimson, Aries and the rat both attempted to land the finishing blow, bearing their fangs and claws respectively. Their clash had lasted nearly an hour, with the rat dominating in physical ability. Aries was only able to keep up due to being slippery and the rat being poisoned, growing weaker with each passing minute.
Even after so long, the rat was only barely weaker than Aries, a testament to how strong it was, especially so for a being of its rank. If it was left alive, it could end up a big problem down the line.
None of that was on Aries' mind, though; he was consumed—maddened by anger, only thinking of rending apart and killing the rat.
Baring his fangs, Aries clamped down towards the rat's neck. At the same time, the rat flashed its claws, striking at Aries' neck.
As fang met fur and claw met feather, something happened. Both the rat and Aries collapsed unconscious, just before they pierced flesh. In the sky above, covered in gray clouds that blocked the sun, those very clouds vanished, revealing an inky black sky and a silver moon.
It was day— it should have been at least. Night was not due for another few hours. This was no ordinary night, however. In the Inky, starless sky, the silver moon, which was much larger than even a full moon, shone brightly. Its silver light descended in streams of light that spread a chilling night air. The streams of light coalesced into a hooded figure wearing layered black and gray robes. The top layer of the figure's robes had a silvery blue symbol that depicted an open maw holding a heart within.
The figure hovered above the ground for a few moments, wind emanating from him, blowing away the dust and rubble, before landing softly on the ground.
He quietly walked toward the two who had collapsed from his descent, quietly looking down at Aries, locks of silver hair peeking from behind his hood as he smiled. Reaching out, Aries and the rat floated before him, before collapsing into silver light and flowing towards the moon, as well as every living being in Lios.
Spreading his sensing outward, covering all of Lios and the surrounding area, he made sure that no survivors were left unnoticed. Then he collapsed into streams of silver light and returned to the silver moon hanging in the inky sky. Once he returned, the moon vanished, returning the evening sun to its rightful place and allowing the inky sky to retreat.
No survivors were left in Lios, and those who remained were corpses. The once calm and peaceful town was left broken and barren. Once the rest of the world found out what happened, only a menacing, bloody tree remained, embracing the broken remains of the ruins of Lios like a dark deity, growing, waiting…
Waiting for the day poor, unfortunate souls found their way into its embrace once more.