The first Moonfang burst out of the mist—a wolf creature with three eyes that glowed like embers and bony plate armor down its limbs. Kaela intercepted it in mid-air, her sword cutting through its head before it even landed.
Yuuto stiffened as two more came bursting out, moving faster than anything he'd ever seen.
He raised his hand. The Starfire ignited within him, but died like a pathetic lighter.
"Uhh—Kaela?!"
"Concentrate!" she bellowed, parrying the claws of one fang. "It won't respond to you unless you order it so!"
Yuuto clenched his teeth, extended his hands, and bellowed, "Burn."
A burst of blue fire exploded around him, sending one Moonfang flying into a tree. It let out a yelp, its fur leaving a trail of smoke.
Yuuto blinked. "I did that?"
Kaela grinned mid-swing. "Don't incinerate yourself next time, got it?"
Together, they finished off the last fang. Yuuto collapsed to his knees, panting, while Kaela wiped her blade clean on a fallen leaf.
"You're learning," she said. "Still sloppy. But alive."
"High praise," he wheezed. "Coming from the Ice Queen."
She ignored that. But she didn't correct him, either.