An hour before the attack of the Shadows in Long"s school, grandma Kahayag was also preparing herself. The plan has been settled and if everything goes according to their prediction, not only will they get the advantage of capturing the Shadows but to be able to deal with the nearby Shadow stalkers who are still hiding.
With her incredible senses, Kahayag could feel the powerful aura this Shadows emitted looming not far from her apartment.
It was obvious who they are after. It was Lesse who is one the last royal blooded Eastern Dragon. But for some reason, the Shadows chose not to move and kept on biding with their time. With their past experiences with facing the old woman protecting the Dragon siblings, they knew they do not stand a chance against her face to face.
However, one thing that granny Kahayag noticed at the moment is the absurd number of the Shadows revealing faint traces of their aura. A good hundred of them is showing a glimpse of their presence like twinkling black stars in the white sky.
Granny Kahayag and Elric had a plan to deal with them, but that was a.s.suming that they were just going to face a few of them, not a hundred of them!
Unexpectedly, the enemy shadows seem to have their own plan as well that they even decided to reveal their spiritual presence intentionally just to show their current number advantage. They were still maintaining a strict one-kilometer distance though, afraid to step into granny Kahayag"s domain or risk burning into crisp in less than a few seconds because of her anti-Shadow formation.
But with such overwhelming numbers, she was afraid that her anti-Shadow formation might break and she would end up facing a hundred of ever-elusive and savage Shadows.
A war is about to start and Granny had only a couple of spiritual bullets in her a.r.s.enal!
Inside her room, her eyes turned from left to right, checking the anito figurines that she had strategically placed all over the apartment as a part of the formation that was keeping them safe.
She closed her eyes slowly as her aura and looks suddenly changed.
From an old familiar grandma to her true form of Kahayag, the woman from the Realm of Light.
The real Kahayag had a beautiful and refined figure filled with a mysterious air. Her long black hair and white tribal dress fluttered in revelation. It was the same woman that Elric saw back in the spiritual plane together with his great ancestor Lapu-Lapu.
Her mouth slowly chanted words as if praying to an unseen G.o.d.
She touched the protective beads in her wrists before tracing with her fingers the hidden tribal tattoos in her arms and lastly, a black knife oozing with dark smoke and corrupted shriek can be heard upon waving it. It was carefully placed in a small knife scabbard filled with ancient tribal designs.
And finally, she opened her eyes and revealed her orange iris and a completely different presence. She had been possessed by the Spirits of War.
A wicked smile slowly formed in her lips while she slowly walked towards the small anitu figurine close to the window.
"What a beautiful day." She said as her orange glowing eyes scanned the clear blue sky. The light pa.s.sed through the wooden windows and quickly her skin quickly radiated a faint light.
"Too bad, this is probably the last time I will see the day." She mumbled as her now soft and dedicated looking hands slowly moved towards the small anitu figurine.
Then her hands stopped with hesitation, she looked at the small wooden sculpture and a hesitant gleam can be seen in her orange glowing eyes.
Time ticked slowly and Kahayag seems to be having trouble over something. Her mind is not sure while her heart is unsettled.
A few moments later, a solemn deep sigh can be heard from her silhouette by the window as her fingers finally touched the anito figurine causing it to fall down to the wooden floor.
WOOOOM~
The sound of the anti-Shadow barrier dissolving in the spiritual plane can be heard in Kahayag"s ears. With the wooden catalyst of maintaining the protection now gone, the spiritual energy protecting the entire apartment from the surrounding Shadows has quickly dissipated.
HAAAAASHHK~
HAAa.s.sSH~
HAASK!~HAAASK!~
The creepy cold weathering voices of the Shadows can be heard from the window that Kahayag was standing. Their dark ethereal form that resembled a feral black wolf can be seen clearly from Kahayag"s visual.
But contrary to Kahayag"s attention, the etherial eyes of the Shadows were not focused at the powerful Spiritual warrior, but to the elegant young lady sleeping peacefully on a soft sofa inside her small room. It was Lesse.
"You want it? Come get it." Granny Kahayag confidently said as the intensity of the orange light in her eyes became stronger. Her hands revealed a powerful gush of orange spiritual aura that caused reverberations to the air surrounding her.
She was like a killing machine, getting a warm-up.
CRAACK~
POOSH~
With the spiritual energy completely gone off the anitu figurines, it quickly cracked and exploded into crisp, leaving nothing but wooden dust - it resembled that the anti-Shadow barrier had been completely dissolved and there is nothing that can stop the Shadows from acquiring Lesse.
HAAASK~
HAASHK~
Together with the faint pop, the figures of the Shadows from the distance howled in excitement as they quickly melded into the shadows. The attack signal has been triggered.
SWOOOSH~
SWOOOSH~
SWOOOOSH~
And like das.h.i.+ng black cars, the Shadows pa.s.sed from buildings to buildings like racing black clouds towards the white wooden apartment where Kahayag was waiting.
In less than ten seconds, the one-kilometer distance had been casually covered by the Shadows numbering over a hundred. But just when they were about to finally touch the wooden apartment wall, granny Kahayag"s aura suddenly exploded.
"HAHAHA! Come and I will send you back to where you belong!" Granny Kahayag"s etherial figure left her physical body and floated above the apartment where she can see the whole horizon of the charging Shadows.
Quickly, she raised her hands and a spiritual bow and arrow appeared in her hand.
"I hope you are watching me my dear." She whispered as her hands skillfully weilded her range spiritual weapon. With a forcefully stretched bow in her hands, a focused glowing eyes and a terrifying spiritual aura, Kahayag, released the arrow straight towards the most Shadow concentrated direction just a few meters before her.
SWOOOSH~
FLAs.h.!.+~
With her spiritual fury unleashed in the form of a bright arrow, a blinding light immediately exploded before her that quickly enveloped the entire apartment while the dark figures of the Shadows disintegrated like a thin piece of paper scorched in blinding flame.
Those lucky Shadows that were yet to arrive immediately backed away to escape the area of effect of the blinding light. Thanks to their extrordinary reflex, flexibility, and speed, the Shadows managed to keep the casualties to a minimum.
But despite escaping safely from Kahayag"s arrow, the rest of the shadow had an indignant look now that they have witnessed what this old woman is really capable of.
They need a plan. To barge in straight to their target is the same as suicide. They need a distraction or the least they can do is buy some time until they reach Lesse and taking her weak human body is as easy as one two three.
"That"s fourteen of you are gone. Keep them coming!" Kahayag taunted as she reloaded her spiritual bow. A gleam of determined look is revealed in her glowing eyes as she scanned her surroundings and the Shadow frantically scattered in different directions, hoping that the arrow will not come towards their face.
The fight was happening in the spiritual plane, therefore in the physical realm, everything looked as if there was no fight going on. Lesse was sleeping soundly in her sofa, not knowing the real face of danger slowly creeping in her way.
SWOOOs.h.!.+~
FWOOOOM!~
SWOOOs.h.!.+~
FWOOOM!
With every light arrow, Kahayag unleashed, countless Shadows are being devoured into black dust.
The Shadows, on the other hand, did not seems to be completely afraid of her though. Knowing that her power shouldn"t last forever.
All they need to do is buy themselves time and hope that the scary old woman before them would finally stop releasing those arrows due to spiritual exhaustion. Not to mention, they had already expected such retaliation from her; therefore, they had come prepared. All they need is the signal from the one leading them.
Suddenly, Kahayag stopped her attack and her head turned around to look at a certain direction.
With her extremely sensitive spiritual sense, she could feel the sudden appearance of the isolation barrier in the school"s direction.
"The enemies have already started to move on the other side. I could only hope Elric would succeed." She muttered to himself as she quickly reloaded her weapon and aimed at the direction of the cluttered Shadows.