Crisis

Unaware of the disasters brewing all over the Battlefield, Yu was facing his own crisis, in the form of a charred corpse

"Wuu"

"I know the smell is just unbearable"

He covered his nose while the wolf retreated a few steps, the smell of cooked human meat didn't seem to sit well with either of them

'Just as I decided to take an amiable approach trouble came knocking on the door, well it knocked itself out but still…'

Holding the urge to vomit down Yu approached the dead body to try and check for any defining features, first he looked at the black face and decided facial recognition was out of the way, even the mother of this person wouldn't recognize him, so he pat the body in various places checking for any belongings

After looking for a bit he found nothing that hinted at the origin of the body so he flipped it as a last effort

"Hmm? I know this"

What he saw was a quiver, it seemed to be made of ornate jade, it had two wooden arrows that had gone through the pass of time, what surprised him was the fact that while even the metal dagger of this young man had been a little scarred, these two wooden arrows were otherwise okay

"Hmmm? Wooden arrows, wooden arrows, who had two wooden arrows…."

Yu seemed to be lost in thought as he rummaged through the memories of the former owner

As he sank deeper into thought a pair of eyes flashed at the entrance before they suddenly accelerated with alarming speed, causing a yellow trail to form on its path, they headed straight toward the thinking youth, by the time Yu sensed something on the periphery of his eyes danger was already in his face, all it took was but a thought to summon the shield, but his dull mind stalled for a part of a second, enough for the attack to land on him

BITE

"Ragh!"

"Grr"

Instead though a shadow pushed him away in due time, the wolf took the hit meant for him on its waist side, while Yu started rolling across the floor of the room until he was able to stabilize himself

As soon as he found some balance he looked toward the enemy to find a rabid looking dog, a huge one at that, biting into the side of the wolf, the dog had a mad glint to its yellow eyes, its black fur that was stained with spots of red gave it a hellish feeling, while its set of sharp teeth proved that it would be one foe you wouldn't want to get into a melee with

'This!! Ruinous Blood Hound!!! Isn't that.."

He didn't have time to continue his line of thought before the hound started ripping through the side of the wolf, the wolf tried to shake the dog of or bite it but it couldn't manoeuvre to do so with the much larger dog circling with it, the hound wasn't only larger and stringer, it was faster too, in fact, speed was its main trait

"No!!"

Yu got up in a hurry and ran toward the duo, he took out his dagger and aimed at the hound

The smart hound didn't let go, nor let itself get hit, it wanted to turn its back to the human so it can kick it with its massive rear feat, the power would be more than enough to kill Yu in one breath. The wolf also knew that so it struggled to shake its head near to the dog, at the expense of its sides starting to spill out

Seeing the nearing maw, the hound sneered, it manoeuvred itself in the opposite direction, so the wolf's maw couldn't reach it while Yu's knife faced the wolf now, this had been its plan all along

"!!"

Seeing as he would hit the wolf if he continued his rush Yu made a low posture and took a dive under the wolfs belly, this added even more momentum to his strike which headed straight toward the hound on the other side, this time the knife struck true to its target electing a small whimper as it let go of the wolf and jumped away from the engagement

"Haaah haah"

Yu was out of breath as he got to his feet, this high-speed change of direction took a toll on his weak body, he was already wheezing for breath after only the first encounter, the wolf to his side had its insides spilling out, its dire state signified its close death if it wasn't sent to the grimoire

"GRRR"

The wolf stood up on its feet shakily as it tried to intimidate the hound, but it soon fell back down, its futile efforts had only gotten the blood to run down faster

'I need to send it back now, since it's a Guardian its state won't deteriorate but instead get better unlike normal Soul Beasts'

Guardians could be revived if they died, otherwise, if they were recalled with a fatal injury they would heal back slowly, this would save them from losing strength and just put them out of commission instead

Yu then glanced at the hound, which was now creeping closer to him, it wanted to wait for the wolf to die out slowly but it seemed to be losing patience for some reason

While the hound crept closer slowly Yu started looking around, trying to see a way out, or a way to stall the current situation, while he was at it he started retreating toward the wolf slowly

"WOOF!"

The hound suddenly barked at him and increased its slow pace, it seemed angry at him for retreating

'?...'

Yu looked at the hound confused he didn't understand why it was suddenly angry, his eyes darted left and right in search of an answer before it settled on the body of the owner

'Ah!'

He suddenly took another dive down, this time he aimed it at the charred body as he rushed to grab the arrows, but before he could touch them a grievous bark could be heard behind him before a shadow descended on him

"Not this time you don't!"

Yu's diving body suddenly experienced a painful reversal, it felt like his insides were turning around as he readjusted his body to go up instead of down, with the sudden reversal he was left with little strength to make a small jump successfully evading the bite aimed down

But the hound continued in its momentum forward, ending under Yu in the process, but it did not relent and instead opened its mouth wide to eat him whole, its teeth threatening to end his existence with one bite

'Check Mate'

Instead of feeling fear or dread Yu smiled in triumph at his enemy, he then conjured his shield in midair, just as the moth was closing in on him

RiiiiiiiiiP-

"Auuuuuuu"

The Hounds mouth was ripped open as the shield continued to expand, since it was under Yu and not above him it wouldn't just be rebounded, it would be instead pushed onto the floor, with the pressure from two different solid structures the Hounds mouth continued to rip open as it was being squashed to death. By the time the shield had reached the floor and started pushing the Hound to the side its body had already been split open, ending the cunning enemy's life in a rather gruesome way, maybe it was karma or maybe realty just wanted to play a sick joke on it, but the hound had received a much worse end than what it gave to others

Thud.

The sound of a body falling down followed, the midair Yu finally fell onto the floor, face down, his body was screaming at him in pain, his insides felt like they were churning, two sudden turns within the span of seconds was well beyond his limits, but he ignored it and turned to the wolf instead

"Hey, ima send you back heal up well, don't die on me okay ?"

While he knew it would live any way he couldn't help but ask it to not die, he didn't know if the Guardians gained through Sacrifice were the same as the original one, but he sure hoped they were

Without wasting any more time than needed Yu recited the recalling line as the wolf disappeared into the Grimoire, with a concerned look in its eyes

"Hahh"

He heaved a relieved breath as he sensed the wolfs life through their connection, the instant it went back he felt it stop losing life force, it seemed that it was indeed treated the same as a Guardian, for now at least, he didn't want it to die for him to find out if it was also able to come back, even though he kinda felt that it would

"A moment of carelessness almost got us killed, when I saw the body I should have known a beast was summoned, what happened to being prudent and not taking risks? Sigh"

He recalled his earlier promise to himself, now realizing how hard it was going to be, variables existed everywhere and he needed to think of his every move before he did anything if he wanted to avoid danger, even then he wouldn't be out of the woods yet

'Still…. I have gotten much more on my plate than this little incident now'

As he turned to look at the dead body of the hound he recalled its owner, more precisely he recalled the owner of the twin arrows

"Houk Mous"

This is a name that strikes fear into the lower nobles, it would turn the middle nobles silent upon hearing it, and it caused no end of trouble to the three big families

The Houk Family, a hunter based family which used to be part of the big four that ruled the Southern Paradise, they were ranked second in military might just behind the Shenai's, their ancient hunting techniques brought them unprecedented glory, and their unique family weapon set made their patriarch almost invincible in a desperate situation

But all that ended twenty years ago, the family head died at the hands of his own son, and six of the nine elders went down with him, another fled with the son leaving the last two to hold the family up

But with the only person able to use the family treasure dead and more than half the families strongest dead, the other nobles pounced on them like hungry wolves that found a lam. They robbed and killed many members of the family finding fault after fault with them until they were standing at their last leg, that was when the Shenia's stepped in and mediated for them, in the excuse that the two families were rivals of old the Shenai family managed to barely keep the Houk alive

Now twenty years later the Houk family had risen once again to the ranks of a middle class nobility, but with so many ancient techniques lost and no one to use their treasure they had no way to rise back and claim the empty fourth seat

"It just had to be this guy"

But the Houk's hope was not all lost, as the second and only remaining son of the last head had shown extreme talent three years after the families' fall, he continued to master technique after technique, crossing one adversary after the other, until he became one of the most promising talents of the Southern Paradise, some even compared him to the geniuses of the top families

"What a dumb fucking genius"

This was the same person that fell to Yu's trap, it was the very same person who had the sole right to hold onto the treasure of the Houk family, Winds of Waste

'It's said that each arrow could put an end to one of the top heads of the Southern Paradises leaders, this thing is no joke'

And now it fell into Yu's hands, but while it sounded good and all he knew he couldn't use it as he needed to be much more powerful and activate a secrete technique unique to the Houk family

"Welp, even if I could use it when I get stronger ide still die after I get out of here, killing the last hope of the Houk family is the last straw, the families will definitely unite to kill me"

He could see the grim future ahead, but he could only smile, for the irony of fate was truly too funny.