I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty.
Arthur Conan Doyle:
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"Monstrous granny," Amel muttered as he dragged himself upright, brushing frost from his pants.
"Adorable idiot," Yuno shot back without hesitation, her grin equal parts mocking and triumphant as they resumed their trek through the icy wasteland.
Before Yuno could take another step, the ground beneath her rumbled violently.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward in jagged lines, and the eerie silence shattered under the force of a deafening roar.
Without warning, a massive lizard erupted from the earth, its grotesque jaw gaping wide as it lunged straight at her.
Yuno's reflexes kicked in instantly. Flames erupted beneath her feet, propelling her backward in a burst of fiery energy.
The creature's razor-sharp teeth snapped shut on empty air, missing her by mere inches.
As she landed several paces away, flames trailing behind her like the tail of a comet. Her expression was calm, save for the faint twitch of irritation that played at the corner of her mouth.
Her eyes narrowed as her hands ignited, flames spilling from her palms and casting flickering light across the frost-covered ground.
The fire glowed against the stark whiteness of the landscape, a vivid contrast to the frozen stillness around them.
"Really?" she muttered, her tone thick with annoyance. "We just got here, and you're already starting this crap?"
Amel, standing off to the side with his arms crossed, watched the lizard with detached curiosity.
He didn't bother to intervene—at least, not yet. His gaze traced over the creature's grotesque form, taking in every detail with practiced precision.
'It seems that stupid elder god made a contract with this overgrown gecko,' he muttered, his voice barely audible over the wind. His eyes narrowed as he examined the monstrosity before them.
Before it had been corrupted by the contract, the lizard had been a delicate and ethereal creature.
Its slender body had moved with an almost spectral grace, and its crimson eyes—faintly glowing like embers—had carried an air of quiet, uncanny power.
After forging a bond with the eldritch entity, the lizard's form underwent a grotesque transformation.
Its once delicate and translucent scales had darkened, now shifting in a hypnotic pattern of deep black and sickly green, like ink dissolving into turbulent water.
Iridescent purple veins snaked across its body, faintly pulsating with an eerie, unnatural glow.
The edges of its scales had become sharp and jagged, giving the creature an almost weaponized appearance, as though its very existence had been reforged for destruction.
Its legs, now slightly elongated, ended in clawed feet tipped with talons that dripped a viscous, otherworldly ichor.
Its tail, longer and prehensile, swayed with menacing precision, the barbed tip twitching like a predator's fang eager to strike.
Along its spine, jagged obsidian-like spines jutted upward, shifting subtly as though they could retract or extend at the whim of its dark master.
Most haunting of all were its eyes—or what remained of them. The once crimson orbs had been replaced by void-like black pools speckled with faint, glimmering stars, as if its gaze pierced into the infinite depths of the cosmos.
Around its head, faint tendrils of shadow or mist writhed ceaselessly, a dark halo that pulsed with the oppressive aura of eldritch power.
Not everything about it had changed, though.
Its horns, still translucent and bone-white, remained untouched, a strange remnant of its former self.
Yet even they seemed almost out of place now, as though clinging desperately to a memory of what it had been before the bond.
When the creature moved, the air around it grew unnaturally cold, each motion carrying with it a dissonant chill.
Those nearby might hear faint whispers riding the wind—indecipherable, yet disturbingly intimate, as if the eldritch entity it served was watching, speaking, and judging the world through its grotesque vessel.
Behind Yuno, Amel sighed deeply, his exasperation palpable. Taking a step forward, he gestured dramatically at the towering abomination before them.
"You couldn't have made a normal lizard when you were 'bored,' could you?" he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "No, of course not. It had to be this."
He threw his hands up in mock defeat, letting them fall to his sides with a loud clap against his thighs. "A perfectly average, non-horrifying lizard was apparently too much to ask for."
Yuno, unfazed, glanced over her shoulder with a smirk. "Normal is boring," she quipped, turning her attention back to the monstrosity with fire flickering in her palms.
"And this one isn't mine?" Yuno snapped, her flames flaring brighter, casting jagged, flickering shadows across the icy wasteland. "And you're not the one it's trying to eat."
"Fair point," Amel said with an exaggerated shrug, stepping back with casual ease. "I'll just let you handle this one, Your Highness. Consider it... practice."
Yuno rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like a creative insult.
The lizard roared again, its foul, rancid breath misting in the frigid air as it lunged at her with terrifying speed.
Yuno didn't flinch. She crouched slightly, fire crackling around her fists, her lips curling into an unimpressed smirk.
"This is going to be messy," she muttered before launching herself forward, a fiery comet streaking toward the beast.
As she soared through the air, her flames twisted and expanded, forming the shape of an enormous, blazing fist and with a deafening crack, the fiery punch collided with the lizard's back, obliterating its jagged obsidian spine.
The sharp, splintered remains scattered like shards of glass across the icy ground.
It took just one punch. One fiery, unapologetically overkill punch, and the monstrous creature crumpled into a lifeless heap. "Impressive" didn't even begin to describe it.
"Okay, you old granny, you're powerful," Amel said, clapping slowly, the infuriating grin on his face stretching wider.
Yuno turned her fiery glare toward him, her expression daring him to push his luck. She opened her mouth, ready to deliver what was sure to be a razor-sharp retort—
But then the air changed.
A low, guttural rumble rolled through the frozen ground beneath their feet, reverberating deep in their bones. The chill in the air sharpened, slicing through the heat like a blade.
Amel's grin faded instantly, his posture stiffening. He felt it too. His eyes darted past Yuno, his expression shifting from casual amusement to grim focus.
Only one lizard was supposed to be that big.
But then...
Thousands of eyes blinked open all at once, their faint glow cutting through the stark whiteness of the snow.
They emerged from the frozen earth, frost-covered and layered with snow, as if they had been buried there for eons, waiting. Watching.
And now, every single one of those eyes was locked on the boy and the girl.
"Well, that's new," Amel muttered, his voice uncharacteristically subdued.
Yuno's flames flickered, her hands clenching into tight fists as she stared at the grotesque sea of massive, unblinking eyes.
"Great," she muttered, her voice flat but tinged with frustration. "It's never just one, is it?"
"This is going to take forever, and honestly, I'm bored of all this fighting," Amel's voice sliced through the tension, casual and lazy like a sword with no real intent behind it.
Yuno, already preparing herself to face the endless sea of lizard-eyes glaring back at them, didn't even glance in his direction.
Her focus was absolute, fire crackling in her palms, eager to see just how far her new powers could take her.
Then she felt it—a hand on her shoulder.
She froze, her flames dimming just enough for a moment as she glanced sideways, irritation flickering in her eyes. Amel stood there, his face unreadable.
"What?" she snapped, though her voice lacked the usual bite.
Instead of answering immediately, he gave her shoulder a light squeeze.
The expression on his face made her pause. There was something different about him—something uncharacteristically serious.
She knew what he was silently asking: he wanted to take this one on.
But why? She could wipe out every last one of these monstrous lizards without breaking a sweat.
Why would he want to step in now?
The question hung in her mind, but something in the way he looked at her made her hesitate, leaving it unspoken.
Then she noticed something else.
For a brief moment, she expected to see his usual blue flames igniting, crackling to life with their signature showy flair.
That was his thing, after all—blue fire, always flashy, always distracting. But this time, it was different.
Crackling arcs of electricity danced up and down his arm, from his shoulder all the way to his fingertips.
Bright and volatile, the sparks flickered and jumped, lighting up the icy expanse with an electric glow.
'Well, now that's new,' Yuno thought, raising an eyebrow. 'I've never seen him do that before.'
She turned fully toward him, crossing her arms, her own flames now extinguished. "Electricity, huh? When did you start adding party tricks to your arsenal?"
Amel smirked, sliding back into his usual cocky self. "Figured I'd spice things up. Can't let you have all the fun."
Yuno snorted, the corner of her lips twitching into a small smirk of her own. "Fine. Knock yourself out, Prince Charming."
Amel's smirk widened as the electricity arcing along his arm grew brighter and more intense. He stepped forward, voice low but laced with playful confidence.
"Watch and learn, old lady. This is how it's done."
Yuno rolled her eyes but stepped back, muttering under her breath, "If you die, I'm not dragging your stupid body out of here."
"You Wish" as he redid himself.
The forest trembled as the colossal lizards roared, their grotesque forms closing in on Amel and Yuno.
Snowflakes swirled in the icy wind, but neither seemed to notice the cold.
Amel stood tall, wearing his black t-shirt and blue pants, steam rising from his body as electricity crackled around him, growing brighter and more volatile with each passing moment.
Beside him, Yuno's loose white shirt fluttered in the chaos, her leather pants glinting with frost as she summoned fiery weapons in both hands.
The ground trembled under the weight of the charging lizards. Their sheer numbers were overwhelming, but neither of them faltered.
"Get back, Yuno!" Amel commanded, electricity snapping through the air around him like a violent storm.
He raised his arm high, energy gathering into a single, massive point at the palm of his hand.
The glowing orb pulsed like a living star, its light casting long, eerie shadows across the snow.
Yuno hesitated, her expression torn between trust and anger. But then, she relented, curious to see how he would handle this.
Amel took a deep breath, his entire body humming with the power coursing through him.
The lizards charged all at once, their massive forms towering over the forest like living skyscrapers. Amel's eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening. "Enough of this shit," he muttered.
With a single, fluid motion, he swung his arm in a wide horizontal arc.
The laser that erupted from his hand was no ordinary beam. It was a tidal wave of pure, crackling energy.
The blinding blue-white light stretched from horizon to horizon, cutting through the forest like a divine blade.
The air itself seemed to split apart as the beam surged forward, obliterating everything in its path.
Trees disintegrated in an instant, leaving nothing but glowing embers. Snow and ice vaporized, filling the air with thick clouds of steam.
The lizards barely had time to roar before the beam hit.
Their massive forms froze in place, their scales lighting up like molten metal before shattering into nothingness.
The ground beneath them glowed red-hot, the snow melting away to reveal charred earth.
Yuno shielded her eyes as the heatwave washed over her, the sheer force of the blast sending her hair whipping wildly in the wind.
When the light finally dimmed, she lowered her arm and stared in stunned silence.
The forest was gone. In its place lay a smoking, steaming wasteland that stretched as far as the eye could see. The lizards were no more, reduced to ash scattered across the barren earth.
Amel stood at the center of it all, his hand still glowing faintly, steam rising from his body.
His black t-shirt was torn and singed, but somehow it was already repairing itself. It was unique, to say the least.
Yuno walked toward him, her boots crunching on the freshly scorched ground. "You… you just wiped out the entire forest," she said, her voice a mixture of awe and disbelief.
Amel turned to her, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Yep."
Yuno crossed her arms, shaking her head with a wry smirk. "Show-off."
She was wry of him now.
"Nah," he replied, his grin widening. "I was just too bored fighting them the old-fashioned way."
The snow began to fall again, covering the smoldering ground in a fresh white blanket as the two stood amidst the aftermath, the crackle of electricity still faintly lingering in the air.
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