Without waiting to see what the Failed Kitsune was up to, Reilei charged forward at incredible speeds as purple flames converged at her right palm.
"This is amazing. Just a moment ago, I was struggling to stand upright. But now I feel like I have been granted a second wind." Reilei thought to herself as she noticed the improvement in her movement.
As Reilei closed the distance between herself and the Failed Kitsune, the creature's eighth tail turned pitch black. The instant it did so, a sphere of darkness no larger than the size of one's fist formed at the tip of its tail. Then, just as Reilei arrived within five meters of the Failed Kitsune, the sphere rapidly expanded in all directions, engulfing Reilei, Luna, and even Ayanellia who had maintained a safe distance from the main battlefield.
In the blink of an eye, a black dome that expanded approximately sixty meters had materialized. From the outside, there was a strange purple hue that formed a barrier and gave off an aura similar to the kitsune's mana.
At the same time, inside the barrier, there was nothing but total darkness. The temperature also continued to decline to a point where it fell below zero degrees celsius.
As for Reilei, after she was engulfed by the darkness, she maintained her course to strike the kitsune; however, the creature had already changed its location immediately after casting its spell.
"I can barely see anything…" Reilei said to herself as she frowned.
Normally, even if it was in total darkness, Reilei never had an issue seeing things when she merged with Xiao Liang using Amalgamate. After all, whether it was day or night, Xiao Liang's vision was unaffected. However, the darkness created by the kitsune was unnatural. There was a heavy energy in the atmosphere that further obstructed one's vision. And, to make matters worse, the chilling air was beginning to cause Reilei to become drowsy and sluggish.
Reilei's felt her eyelids grow heavier with each passing moment as she struggled to stay awake.
Swooosh!
"?!" Out of nowhere, a gust of cold wind brushed past Reilei. The kitsune had struck out at her with its razor-sharp claws coated the ice element.
Fortunately, Reilei was able to snap out of it and evade the attack at the last moment. But, the feeling of wanting to enter a deep slumber once again overcame her.
"Why am I feeling so sleepy all of a sudden? It has not been that long since I last slept… Then, is it one of those debuffs that I was warned about?" Reilei internalized as she kept trying to keep herself from nodding off.
As she was getting ready to doze off, Reilei heard a voice that prevented her from doing so just in time.
[Voice Chat] Luna, "Realistic, are you okay?"
Right after the darkness encompassed the surrounding vicinity, Luna opened the party's voice chat function to stay in contact with Reilei. Luckily, the darkness did not also interfere with system communications.
[Voice Chat] It's So Realistic, "Y-yes… I'm fine… However, I'm… not sure how much longer… I can hold… my eyes open… I feel like I just… want to rest…"
"What's going on? It sounds like she is ready to pass out." Luna said to herself as she listened to Reilei's voice that sounded as though she was barely awake.
However, the odd thing was that Luna felt completely fine. While the air was a little chilly, it was still at a fairly manageable point. And, there were no signs of negative effects coming through the battle logs.
"Perhaps it's related to that…" Luna muttered.
Reilei's situation reminded Luna of something similar that happened to her when she traveled through the Pzenium desert.
Since members of the Trephasia race did not handle extreme heat or areas with a lack of life that well, Luna felt sluggish and drained during her visit to the Pzenium desert.
Luna was uncertain what race Reilei was; however, based solely upon her appearance, it seemed to be some sort of reptile. If that was the case, then it was not surprising that Reilei suddenly became the way she did.
Most reptiles did not handle the cold well and typically entered a state of brumation. Luna believed that Reilei was experiencing something comparable to brumation due to the severe drop in temperature because of her race!
"If it is due to her race, there is nothing that can be done. Our only option is to find a way out of this darkness and away from the cold." Luna concluded.
Luna was only half-correct in her assumption. It was not a result of Reilei's race. Instead, it was because of her link with Xiao Liang!
[Voice Chat] Luna, "Realistic, whatever you do, you can not allow yourself to fall asleep. If I am correct, this type of cold environment is unsuitable for you. For now, try to focus on finding a way to keep yourself warm to minimize the negative effects. In the meantime, I will find my way to you so try not to wander off too far."
"Warm…? Warm…" Reilei murmured as her eyes closed and a faint growl could be heard coming from just a few meters away.
The Failed Kitsune seemed to realize that Reilei's condition was getting the best of her and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a finishing blow!
Grrrr…!
As the creature growled, its sixth tail lit up once more. This time, an icicle roughly two meters in length materialized above the Failed Kitsune's head.
When the last part of the icicle formed, a powerful burst of wind erupted behind the object, propelling it forward like an arrow being released from its string!
Swoosh!
The icicle soared through the air on a direct course for Reilei's head!
But, just as the icicle was about to reach Reilei, the purple flames around the palm of her hand transformed as a hint of blue appeared. Then, the next moment, the flames flared up into a great blaze!
This blaze completely encompassed Reilei's body, causing the icicle to melt before it could even make contact with her. However, that was not all.
The cold air around Reilei began to retreat as the numbing coldness in her body was f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y expelled.
As it witnessed this sight unfold, the kitsune had a wary expression as it visibly trembled. For some reason, the purple and blue flames enveloping Reilei caused it to feel an instinctual fear. To the kitsune, it was like meeting an apex predator that reigned above on the food chain. It was the first time since the creature's creation that it experienced such a dreadful feeling that made it want to submit.
However, lost in its rage while having its first taste of what it was like to fear something else, the kitsune became enraged as its anger further consumed it. Since it did not know how to cope with the feeling, the kitsune ultimately gave into its madness as its fur underwent yet another change in appearance. It turned from a pure white into a mixture of black and red as all eight of the kitsune's tails lit up.
〈Battle Alert: Polketin's Failed Kitsune has f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y entered into an enraged state!〉
〈Battle Alert: Polketin's Failed Kitsune will lose 5% of its HP every second until its enraged state ends!〉
All of a sudden, the dome of darkness started to shrink as the cold air also started to flow towards the kitsune. It was collecting every bit of its strength as a response to the flames Reilei summoned.
"This is…" Luna was on her way to meet up with Reilei after pinpointing her location from the burning flames she emitted when the darkness started to vanish.
In addition, Luna received a surprising set of alerts from the system.
"This is unusual. It is willingly burning its own lifeforce to enter an enraged state? It even went as far as canceling its other skills. Something must have changed to make it feel this cornered." Luna surmised.
Luna was unsure what transpired in such a short amount of time, but she knew one thing. The kitsune only started to act this way the moment those flames around Reilei emerged. Therefore, it was hard to dismiss a connection between the two.
"Wait… That's strange. Where did all of her mana go?" Luna made sure to keep a close eye on Reilei's HP in case something unexpected occurred. However, to her surprise, it was not Reilei's HP that dropped, but rather her MP.
A second ago, Reilei had roughly 21,000 MP remaining—that was just a bit under 50% of her total mana value. However, before Luna knew it, Reilei's mana had dropped to 0%!
Meanwhile, a dense concentration of mana containing several elements converged at the center of the kitsune's open maw.
At the same time, the scales on Reilei's body started to light up before eventually turning into a red-orangish color.
