The energy waves from the open portion of Life and Death Gate flooded out and transformed into beasts of distant past. The lake water rolled up on the shore while cracks appeared on the ground.
Sophia was clad in a white robe, her curves highlighted as beads of water ran down her face, neck, and shoulders.
She has a smile on her face, but deep inside, she was nervous. It was her second time using this ability, and she was having a hard time to power the gate.
She has used the vitality from the flora and fauna in the region to summon the gate and mobilize the beasts who have died here long ago, but just the process was taking a heavy toll on her body.
In normal times, she would not even use this ability, but Kiba has infuriated her beyond the limit. She could not let him go unpunished after he saw her naked along with the teasing he has done.
She was young and noble blood coursed through her veins. Her sense of pride and honor would not allow her to go easy on Kiba.
"Is he also from an aristocrat family?" Sophia wondered as she contemplated the words he has just spoken about the gate’s existence.
ROAR
A dinosaur-like creature roared loudly. Its body was illusory like a phantom, but the power radiating out of it was menacing.
A significant portion of its flesh was missing from its front, as if it was chomped away by a giant beast, giving it a terrifying appearance.
The dinosaur leaped forward with one of its hind leg aimed at Kiba.
"Archaic existences sure were loud," Kiba mused as he waved his hand and formed a golden barrier around him.
BANG
The feet covered with large talons struck down. The momentum of the force carried by the dinosaur was so powerful that craters, in the form of footprints, appeared even before the legs actually touched the ground.
Three legs landed on the ground, but the fourth leg was half-way in the air. The dinosaur roared again as it saw its leg struck on the top of a barrier.
"Can you please be silent?" Kiba raised his left hand, but then he stopped. He looked with slight amazement as the talons from the dinosaur’s leg pierced through the top of the barrier, drawing out strings of golden sparks.
"I guess I did underestimate you," Kiba said with praise. "But hey, don’t blame me. No one told me you would be this strong for a mere ghost-like existence."
Shua.
The dinosaur swept its tail at the barrier while it opened its mouth to spew out a column of blue flame.
Crack.
The barrier ruptured into pieces like a layer of frail glass, sending golden fragments in the air.
Kiba jumped high to dodge the assault of the flame, when a bird made of nothing but a skeleton appeared behind him.
The bone beak of the bird struck towards his back with a surging force. The sound of the air being sliced apart entered his ears just as the beak collided against his back.
Crunch.
Much to the disbelief of Sophia and the bird, the beak cracked apart with a loud crunch sound. It was like his back was made of the strongest metal in existence.
"It is not right to attack from the back," Kiba turned towards the bird in the air. He aimed a hand at the bird and a stream of golden light boomed out of his palm.
The bird rapidly flew away to dodge at a speed not visible to the naked eye. Alas, it was fast but not as fast as the golden stream of light.
One half of its body shattered into oblivion under the assault, and the bird crashed on the ground with a loud thud. But the bird was not done as new pieces of bone regenerated to make it recover.
"Ah! I have forgotten you are dead so you can’t really die."
After saying this, Kiba’s body flickered and he teleported away as a column of blue flame passed through his former position.
The flame landed on the center of the crystalline lake. In just the blink of an eye, the entire lake was seething with blue fire.
The lake was dancing with fire, marking its beauty with a sinister imprint as the water boiled up. The entire lake evaporated away in no time, and in place of the lake, now there was just a black landmass.
"Pervert, why would you destroy the lake?" Kiba asked with a faint smile.
Sophia was in no state to answer. Her body was sweating profusely as she channeled out more power than she could handle to support the Life and Death gate.
Some distance away from her, the dinosaur roared in fury at its another failure. It once again charged at its target.
Kiba ignored the dinosaur and looked at Sophia. Her face was pale and blood was streaming down from her lips.
"I warned you before to not use this gate," Kiba said with a sigh. "It might be just a poor imitation of the real gate but is not something that a human should ever summon."
Sophia’s legs trembled and she fell down.
The dinosaur opened its mouth to crunch down Kiba, but just then, its body blurred like a fading image.
The same happened to the bone bird and other beasts who haven’t attacked yet.
Sophia was only eighteen years old and she could no longer power the gate. Her exhaustion resulted in the disappearance of the gate.
Sophia brought the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her mouth. She initially believed she would win in no time so she went all out.
It never occurred to her she would lose due to her stamina running out.
"Haah, the fault is not yours," Kiba said as he appeared right in front of her. "The true Life and Death Gate existed for another purpose in that world."
"Another purpose?" Sophia was stunned.
She obviously knew the world he was referring to was the world from which the meteorites originated. What confused her was what this purpose he was referring to.
Her relatives in the family have always said the use of the gate was to mobilize the death and use them for battle. She has also heard that there was another ability which was associated with the ’Life’ part of the gate. But she was far too young so she wasn’t told about the other ability.
She didn’t believe he knew of another purpose when even she wasn’t aware.
Kiba didn’t want to explain or share details since it would mean remembering the events in BSE79 meteoroid. Something he didn’t wish to recall if it was possible.
So he instead simply said, "You should never use the gate if you wish to live a long and healthy life."
"What are you talking about?" Sophia was startled by his words. "My ancestor said this ability carries the path for long life."
Kiba looked at her and then sighed. He didn’t bother explaining for he knew she would not believe him over her family.
After all, why would she give his words more weight when he was nothing but a stranger? It was not possible for him to overstep the role her family has in her thought process.
"Ah well, maybe you are right," Kiba said before bringing his eyes on her exposed thighs. "But we both can definitely agree on one thing."
"What do you mean?" Sophia asked, startled by the change in his tone. Her face was down so she didn’t notice the movement of his eyes.
"Obviously that you are still being a pervert," Kiba answered with a teasing smile.
Sophia’s pale face instantly turned red again. She covered her thighs and raised her head to look at him with anger in her eyes.
If looks could kill, Kiba would have died god knows how many times by now.
"You are the one who is the pervert!" Sophia said as she jumped towards him. Her anger powered her weak body to catch the scoundrel who has infuriated her from the last twenty minutes.
Kiba stepped sidewards to evade her.
"I’m pretty sure your mom would definitely agree with me and not you," Kiba said with a laugh.
"She would not!" Sophia was incensed further as she tried to catch him. "She knows me very well."
"Does she?" Kiba leaped high in the air to avoid a punch. "I’m sure she is not aware of the pervy side you showed me."
Sophia was about to rebuke when she heard loud footsteps.
"Your servants are here," Kiba said as rays of white light enveloped him. "Don’t let them see you like this, unless you wish for your mom to learn about your pervert behavior."
"Scoundrel!" Sophia’s chest moved up and down violently as she tried to catch up for breath. Before she could retort further, there were no more traces of Kiba.
He has teleported away from this place, leaving her behind as her servants rushed here.
The sound of footsteps turned louder and she quickly dashed towards the carpet where a towel was placed. She covered it around her robe to ensure her servants would not notice any abnormalities.
Just then, around twenty men in black and a woman appeared in sight. Their eyes were filled with disbelief as they observed the craters on the ground and the scorched landmass in place of the lake.
"What happened?" One of the men in black asked.
They were guarding the area from far away and it took them two minutes to come here after they felt the shockwaves from the battle.
But now as they looked on, there was no one but only their mistress.
Who was she fighting for such damage to take place?
The men in black tensed up with dread since the occurrence of the battle meant they have failed in their duty!
"My lady, are you well?" The woman asked in a polite tone.
She was sure the battle was really intense judging from the scale of damage. She felt extremely worried to see such battle take place under her watch without her knowing.
"I’m fine," Sophia brought her eyes on the woman and the guards. "But you all are sure incompetent to fail in one duty I assigned."
Sophia might have failed to punish Kiba for the time being, but her noble nature didn’t allow her to accept it as a defeat. She promised to discipline the debauchee sooner or later no matter what.
For now, she wanted to punish her servants for their failure in carrying out their duty. If they guarded the area well then she would not have met Kiba in the lake nor he would have seen her naked.
"We will take responsibility for our failure," The woman said with a deep bow. "Please punish as you deem fit."
Inwardly, she sighed in relief knowing her mistress was safe. If anything has happened to her, she knew death would be an easy outcome.
"Well, your punishment is---" Sophia trailed off as she noticed something suddenly gleaming in the sand beside her.
She was sure she didn’t notice this glittering object before and she theorized it has appeared just now.
She wondered if it has appeared due to the earlier battle or for any other reason. Surprised and filled with curiosity, she leaned down to check. She shoved the sand away and picked out a green crystalline bead.
The bead was the size of a human eye and its interior was enveloped with white mist. From time to time, the mist would morph into indistinct images.
"Scene inscription," Sophia thought. Such types of bead were similar to camera devices but with high quality. One just has to send their Will to the bead and then experience the scene as if they were present there.
The bead was warm to touch and this made her believe the inscription was done just now. She has good reasons to believe how the bead came here.
Sophia pressed the bead between her fingers and closed her eyes. Her mental Will entered the bead.
Inside, there was a world of green marked with white. The white mist mutated and transformed into two colorful figures: Kiba and Sophia.
The scene from the last part of the battle appeared. Sophia sitting on the ground, her thighs exposed while her curves were clearly highlighted due to wetness from water and sweat.
As one looks at her, one couldn’t help but love and take her into an embrace and caress her tenderly.
The scene from before then replayed with Kiba calling her a pervert and saying her mother would definitely agree with him.
The mist then disintegrated and once again morphed. This time there was no one but only a projection of Kiba.
"Hey, pervert," Kiba said with a sincere smile. "I recorded your pervert side in this bead. Keep this bead safe, and after you leave the forest, give the bead to your mom and ask if she agrees with me or not. Let your mom be the judge."
Sophia’s heart thumped and she retraced her Will from the bead.
"Shameless villain!" Sophia clenched the bead and turned it into a fine powder. "Don’t let me catch you!"