The Lone Wanderer

A few minutes earlier

Micky flew in a wide arc around the pale man, trying to figure out how to attack him. Using the annoying trick Percy had taught him, he made his heart beat faster, and his body glow yellow. He was a lot stronger like this!

Micky had really wanted to slap Percy when he first showed him how to do it, as it always made him really hungry afterwards. But Micky forgave Percy, as the trick allowed him to get even more food, so it was a good thing. The new changes to his feathers helped him a lot too, but the pale man still didn’t let him approach.

A glowing indigo net shot at him, giving him a tingly feeling all over his body, as some smoke came from his feathers. The magic was really hard to dodge! The fire and air of the guys he had fought before wasn’t that bad! At least, it didn’t hurt him too much from this far, but Micky was a little scared to get closer. And not only because of the zappy thing.

Percy had warned him to not let the pale guy touch him with his hands. Micky didn’t know why, but he always listened to Percy when he was being serious like that. He knew he wanted what was best for him.

“Eat!!” Micky yelled at his opponent angrily.

Percy had told him not to speak when strangers were around, but this one should be ok, right? After all, the man had already seen them use their tricks. Either way, he would have to die. Percy rarely let Micky eat human cores – which made sense, as Percy was a human too. But Micky felt guilty because he really liked them! After all, they tasted differently from the bugs and other animals. Maybe not this guy though. He looked sick, so his core might taste bad.

Micky shrugged. It couldn’t be much worse than the mice and snakes.

“What the fuck is up with this bird?! Did it just speak?!” the man asked.

Micky felt insulted hearing him. Did the bad man think he was stupid or something? Nesha always said he was learning fast!

Pulling some air mana from his new core, he tried to throw it at his enemy with a flap of his wing. He normally preferred using it to make himself faster, but there was no reason why he couldn’t fling spells around like humans did, right?

Though the blast didn’t travel far before dispersing. In fact, that happened behind Micky, as he was flying even faster than it. Pathetic. How did the humans even do this? The mana was so much more useful when it clung to his feathers! In fact, even if he could reach the man with it, he doubted it would be as good as his talons or beak.

Another indigo flash zapped him, taking him out of his thoughts. How annoying! A few weeks ago, Micky had killed several people with Yellow cores at once. Now this guy was giving him so much trouble by himself. It was that irritating indigo light! Percy would make fun of him later if he didn’t finish this quickly! Micky glanced at the pale guy in hatred, peering into the silvery thing.

It flickered!

With another flap of his wings, Micky avoided the indigo light before it was even released. Just like Percy had explained. Micky had always been able to see the silvery things, but he’d never relied on them much during a fight. By the time he learned he could kill the bugs more easily with it, he could already predict their movements on his own.

This was good!

He could get closer to the pale guy now! Sticking more mana to his feathers, Micky flew as fast as he could, spiralling towards his opponent. The man kept trying to shoot him down, but his speed coupled with his ability to see the silvery thing helped him dodge most of the spells.

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Every now and then, he did get hit, which wasn’t great. The blasts hurt more from this close. At least, the air mana seemed to reduce the pain a little. Micky couldn’t wait until he could use the trick with his second core too. Sadly, he hadn’t finished clearing his mana channels yet, as it was really boring to sit around doing that. Though Percy had promised him it wouldn’t make him hungry when he used it with his second core. ᚱ

Micky got burnt again. This time, the damage made it a little harder to fly, as each flap hurt. And he still hadn’t solved the problem of the guy touching him when he pounced on him. While Micky knew he was really fast, he didn’t think he could avoid both the indigo lights and the man’s hands from that close.

But it wasn’t like he had many options. The only thing he could do was to use his air mana to fly faster. Gathering it on his wings, he paid more attention to how it interacted with his feathers. It made them feel wider, causing them to push against the wind better.

However, they weren’t all the same. Some parts of his wings received more pressure as he flew. Micky tried to gather more mana on those feathers, removing it from the parts that didn’t help as much. Then, he flapped his wings.

It worked!

He leapt even further than before, narrowly dodging another indigo net. Lucky! Micky kept at it, fine-tuning how his mana interacted with his flight. It was hard, because his second core was so much weaker than his first one. It barely had any mana! He had to use what little he had more intelligently. But that was ok, as he was the smartest bird on Remior!

Flap after flap, Micky grew faster as weird greenish vortices formed behind the tips of his wings. He had expected this to be louder too – flying faster always made more noise. But that didn’t happen. For some reason, he had grown quieter instead. The wind just parted naturally in his passing, propelling him forward rather than holding him back.

More.

More!

Micky circled the pale man from a distance of about a dozen metres, whizzing around him at an insane speed. Everything in his eyes was a blur, but that was ok. If Micky was having this much trouble seeing, his opponent should be even worse. Indigo flashes shot randomly, but few even came close to hitting him. Feeling ready, Micky banked towards the man, opening his talons wide.

“Aaaagggghhh!!!” the man screamed as Micky carved several deep gashes along his arm and soul both. The bird didn’t miss how his opponent had tried to grab him at the last second, but he was moving too fast for that.

Again.

After the second strike, the man knelt on the ground, several fountains of blood pouring out of his body. The silvery thing was greatly damaged too. If the man hadn’t shielded his torso with his arms, he would have died already.

This was it. Aiming for his opponent’s neck, Micky dove one last time, to deliver the finishing blow. So focused was he on doing so, that it was too late to change course once he glimpsed the man’s sinister intentions.

Slamming his fists against one another, the pale guy unleashed the remainder of his mana into a bright shockwave of indigo. The pressure arrested Micky’s momentum, inflicting several nasty burns on them both. Though the man received much less damage from his own mana.

Plopping gracelessly on the ground, Micky still tried to pounce on the man, to tear his throat out, but the latter wasn’t planning to go out without a fight, it seemed. He held the bird back with both hands, as a strange suction force emerged from his palms.

No! This was the thing Percy had warned him about! Micky felt his strength leave his body, as his hunger reached an all-time high. Unwilling to let himself get devoured, he tried to lift his talons, but he couldn’t move his legs. Falling back to his beak, he tried to peck the man’s eye out, but the latter desperately pushed back, keeping him at bay.

At first, Micky had the advantage, inching closer with each snap of his beak. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. The man started gaining ground as the amber glow faded out of Micky’s body, his power evaporating at a scary rate. At the same time, Micky saw the pale man’s grievous wounds closing in real time, as the latter stole his life one drop at a time.

Just when Micky thought he was a goner, however, he caught a shadow flying towards them rapidly. As for his opponent, he didn’t seem to notice, until the dark ball passed right through his head, leaving nothing but a bloody spring behind.

Only then did the suction force cease, as the headless corpse fell limp on the ground. Micky nearly collapsed too, but somebody propped him up gently at the last second.

“Micky… are you ok?” Nesha’s voice was tinged with concern.

“Hungry…” he replied weakly, causing a faint smile to tug at the girl’s lips.

“Then eat.” she said gesturing at the body, before the two of them looked over at Percy’s side of the battlefield.

“And hurry up. It looks like he’s about to bring you dessert.”