King Of Limbo

The clouds above the destroyed settlement continued to rumble and roar ominously while the shadow hidden within caused Juliet to furrow her brows.

So far every attempt by organizations to venture deeper into the Newman highlands had ended in failure and with no survivors to report just what happened.

The people could only speculate that one or more high tier beasts were responsible but without being sure of its grade or just what tier it was no one dared venture in carelessly.

That's why when people observed Juliet setting off they quickly followed, after all there was no way the child of the great Lord Lamarck would go deeper into the highlands without being sure of her chances of survival.

All they had to do was tag along and reap what benefits they could. However they were greatly mistaken as Juliet had indeed chosen to take a gamble and she would now see whether or not that was a mistake.

*Kawwww!*

A loud cry echoed through the region and caused the hearts of all those who heard it to tremble. Soon the clouds began to part as a gigantic creature revealed itself to the world.

If Aron or Esmeralda had been here they would immediately recognize this creature, the one that had appeared now however was many times larger than the one Aron had faced himself.

Soon after it released it's cry, the skies became even darker and lightning rained down on the area.

Even Juliet was caught off guard by this but was luckily unharmed as a barrier immediately formed around her the second danger appeared.

As for those who pursued her, most perished while those that survived the sudden attack were still in a miserable state.

Juliet then immediately raised her guard up and shuffled back a few steps before drawing her greatsword. 'It completely destroyed one of my defensive artifacts in one attack...' She thought with a minor look of concern in her eyes as she looked up at what could only be described as a snake like vulture to her.

*Kawwww!*

Before Juliet could even properly understand her opponent, another attack was launched. This time however Juliet showed no panic as the usually bright glow in her eyes turned pitch black and began emitting an eerie mist.

[ Shadow Arts: Death's Path ]

The mist quickly began to spread all over her body making her seem almost ethereal now. This change Juliet was undergoing caused her to now see the world differently.

Everything to her was in black and white grid lines. The creature itself was now only outlined like a sort of moving sketch.

This was a rare type of mana application that fell under Spatial magic. It allowed her to shift the position of her body in space simply by looking at the grid she wanted for a limited amount of time.

"Grui... Danger." *Kawwww!*

This particular Pesia Jzir Vulture wasn't without a certain degree of greater intelligence either as it sensed the mana within the area was becoming slightly distorted and immediately attacked.

'1st Step.' Juliet acted just as quickly and took a step forward. However rather than move forward her body instead vanished completely and reappeared high up in the sky where the creature currently hovered.

She appeared right next to it's towering head which was over twenty meters large. The Pesia Jzir Vulture could not even react to this sudden appearance and soon felt a great pain surface on its body.

*Slash!*

Juliet's pitch black eyes had been fixated on this gigantic head as she gripped her great-sword tightly and performed a powerful vertical slash.

Her sword dug into the beast's flesh and ran all the way from its cheek to its crown, damaging all the eyes on the left side of it's head.

The beast felt the urge to let out a cry but held it's self back from doing so. All this occurred in the blink of an eye and Juliet soon began to fall back to the ground.

The now injured Vulture flapped it's wings with great ferocity and flew downwards in pursuit of Juliet.

However just as she was falling, she adjusted her position mid air as if she were about to kick it. '2nd Step'

*boom!*

A loud boom echoed in the skies as she performed this move causing her figure to vanish once again.

This time she appeared above the descending Vulture and aimed her great sword where it's left wing connected to the rest of it's body.

*Slash!*

Once again she slashed vertically without hesitation and successfully hit the gigantic creature before it could even understand what was going on.

*crack!*

"Tsk, not enough!" Juliet muttered in an echoey voice as her great sword failed to fully slash through the bone after easily cutting through the upper muscle and tissue.

*Kawww!*

This time the large beast couldn't help but let out a cry and the skies responded by raining down lightning.

'3rd Step' Juliet furrowed her brows and looked at a grid hundreds of meters away in the sky.

So just as the lightning rained down and struck even the beast, her figure had already vanished and appeared in a safer part of the sky.

The beast however continued to descend violently as its left wing was rendered largely immobile. The few movements it could perform with it caused the creature great pain.

'4th Step.' Juliet couldn't delay as her figure had began to become clear once again. She quickly kicked the air causing another boom before vanishing and appearing near the Vulture's right wing.

*slash!*

The beast was was once again attacked cleanly and could provide no defense quick enough. Just like before the slash failed to cut completely through the large beast's joint but the damage done was enough.

'5th Step.' Juliet now turned her gaze to a grid on the ground hundreds of meters away from where the Vulture would most likely crash. The grid had now began to regain its color, meaning her time was almost up.

*Voosh*

After appearing on the ground, Juliet began to breath heavily and her face was covered in sweat. The world slowly began to regain its colors as she felt the backlash of her art hit her.

She heaved a sigh and ignored the soreness that now befell her body and instead focused her attention on the rapidly descending creature in the distance.

*Kawww!*

*Boom!*

It cried out loudly and lightning rained down viciously in the area followed by the sound of the creature making impact with the ground.

The tremor this caused could be felt within a very large radius as the trees nearby were blown away completely by the shockwave it caused.

Juliet only raised her hand to cover her face but didn't move an inch as the shockwave passed where she stood.

The wave ended as quickly as it had began and she started walking in the direction of the fallen creature. Along the way she saw the bodies of those who had chosen to follow her in a miserable state.

"L-Lady Lamarck *cough* *cough*" Among the many corpses, they were of course some still alive but unconscious or injured. One such individual called out to Juliet with a look of ease as the danger had been quelled.

"You shouldn't have followed me." Juliet said indifferently before striking the man with her great sword. Even as he died, one could still see the shock on his face at how he met his despise.

'I can't allow one of my arts being possibly leaked.' Juliet's worry wasn't on the treasure but instead the art she used to face the gigantic Pesia Jzir Vulture.

This wasn't strange as most individuals with arts protected them greatly so that they remain unique to them and as tramp cards.

When Juliet chose to use this art, she was already prepared to kill all who witnessed it.

Juliet's gaze soon turned to the other bodies present still showing life force and she began stabbing her sword into them one by one until no life remained on the scene.

...

​ It didn't take Juliet long to reach the large crater the creature had created when it made impact with the ground. Aside from it's wings and head however it didn't look to be in that bad of a condition as the fall had barely caused it harm.

"Ruvaas Krem, Why... must Kojir suffer, we want Hogreem..." The beast muttered in a weak but heavy tone.

'It really can speak... to some extent.' Juliet thought as she approached the beast's head while masking the minor pain she was feeling. Right now she needed to look as if she was still capable of completely defeating it.

"If you can understand me then can you answer some questions for me? I didn't come here to kill beasts." Juliet offered and caused the beast to shift it's head slightly at her with interest.

"Ufra...Kilsi, You don't seek to bring Ofrel upon us? I will answer just spare our graaneer..." The beast muttered in a hazy deep tone, mixing its speech with words Juliet couldn't understand. This much however was enough for her and she could fill in the gaps herself.

"Okay, my first question is... What are you?"