The Author's Viewpoint
Chapter 144 - Panpan No More

Chapter 144: Chapter 144 - Panpan No More

Tave scanned the sky in every direction. Up, down, around.

Demons.

They were everywhere.

His eyes swept fast, calculating. At least ten. Then sixteen. Seventeen. Twenty... twenty-five. And that was just what he could see. Each of them radiated power. Not just random scouts, these were Gaia Masters, most of them Gaia Grand Masters.

This wasn’t a chase anymore.

It was a closing net.

Tave’s mind ran wild, a hundred escape routes playing out in fragments. Every move, every angle, every possible opening. But each path ended the same.

Any direction he flew. They’d catch him.

Unless... they didn’t want to kill them. Not yet.

Tave hovered in the open sky, wings stretched but trembling. He held Panpan close against his chest, her grip weak but steady. One arm clung around his shoulders, the other pressed to his back, her face tense as she met his gaze, silent at first.

Then slowly, she shook her head.

"Tave..." Her voice cracked as she tried to speak. "Can you...?"

"You want me to drop you?" he said, almost in a whisper.

Her lips trembled, but she nodded. "I’m asking you to survive. If you can... then escape."

Tave let out a slow breath.

"You know I won’t last long even if I do," he muttered. "Flying alone changes nothing."

Because he could feel it. His Gaia Wings were flickering now. The flames around them were dimming, fluttering like a candle on its last breath.

He’d pushed too far. Burned too hard. Took too many hits.

Still, he pulled Panpan in tighter, his grip firm, his heartbeat loud in his chest.

Below and around them, the demons watched.

The flying lizards circled slowly, wide loops, tightening.

And the demons with wings were hovered with weapons ready. Spears, blades, enchanted chains. Yet none of them moved.

It felt like they were stalling.

Like they were waiting.

As if they wanted Tave to believe there was still a way out.

"Look at them... still trying to run. How cute."

"A little rat still clinging to hope in a noose? That’s just sad."

"So? Do we kill them now?"

"Yeah. The command’s clear. Kill them and bring their heads to the Lord."

"But come on, don’t you want to watch those wings snap first? I want to see them fall, screaming."

"I agree. That’d be a beautiful way to end this."

Tave heard every word. But he didn’t flinch. His mind was in overdrive, racing through every possibility. Twenty-five demons, Gaia Masters and Grand Masters, surrounding them. There was no sky left to run to. Every angle led to death.

But this wasn’t surrender. This wasn’t giving up.

This was him still fighting. Still forcing himself to think, to act, to survive.

Then. His instinct exploded.

Danger. Close, fast, now.

Three demons lunged, wings slicing the air like blades.

Tave reacted, twisting, trying to dodge. But he was too slow. One spear tore into his shoulder, deep, clean. His body jolted. Pain cracked through him like lightning.

He faltered in the air, grip tightening on Panpan.

And then. She moved.

A sudden burst of wind exploded from her core. It spun them both midair, scattering the incoming strike. But that redirection came at a cost.

CRACK.

Blood burst into the wind. Sharp, bright.

The spear struck again. This time, not him.

Panpan took the hit. Right shoulder.

She didn’t scream, but her face twisted in pain. Her arms wrapped tighter around him, holding on.

Tave gasped, struggling to stabilize them both midair. His wings wavered, but he kept them afloat.

Above, the demons roared with laughter. Louder now. Like jackals.

They weren’t rushing to kill them. They were enjoying the show.

Tave could feel the blood. Warm, steady, trickling from his own wounds. But more than that, he felt her blood. Thick, warm trails ran down from Panpan’s right shoulder, seeping over his arms, down his fingers. It didn’t stop.

Yet her face showed no panic. No fear.

They were surrounded. Completely.

And the demons. They were toying with them.

Then it came again. A flash of steel, a sharp lunge. Another strike, this one from the front.

"Tave!" Panpan shouted, trying to intercept with her bow.

But the blade hit her again. It slashed across her side, ripping into her waist.

They were thrown off balance midair, spinning wildly.

Tave tried to stabilize, wings beating hard, but. His vision blurred.

Since earlier, his entire body had been burning, literally burning. The flames inside him, the Soul Fire, the forced connection with Kaelira, the power he barely held together. It was tearing him apart.

The pain had grown so fierce, it was becoming numb. Even fresh wounds barely registered.

And now. He couldn’t hold the wings anymore. His Gaia Wings broke.

Not physically. They just let go. His energy collapsed, and with it, the lift.

He and Panpan fell.

Wind screamed past them as gravity pulled them down fast. The world spun.

And the demons followed. One of them dove ahead, and kicked!

A savage blow to the side sent them spinning upward again, their fall briefly reversed by the brutal force.

Tave grunted, trying to catch control, but Panpan twisted before he could. She took the next hit, intercepting it with her side.

Another strike followed. It landed across her back.

Then another. She took that one too.

Each time, she moved before him, putting herself between the attack and his body. She was shielding him. Even now.

Even as her strength faded. Even as her blood soaked into his arms.

They weren’t being allowed to fall. They were being battered down.

Panpan clung to him, but her grip was weakening. Her body limp. She was losing too much blood.

Tave’s eyes blurred. His limbs burned. His chest screamed.

He didn’t know how much longer he could think.

But he still hoped. He hoped for something, someone. Anything to reach them in time.

Their bodies plummeted again. This time in a spiral. Spinning wildly, tossed like rags in a storm. The wind itself felt like it wanted to rip them apart.

Tave wrapped his arms tighter around Panpan.

Their fall was uncontrollable now.

And in that moment, as the ground rushed up to meet them.

He wondered.

Was there anything, anyone, left who could save them now?

Tave pushed his mind to think, even as his vision blurred at the edges, even as their grip on each other began to slip.

And then... the words escaped his lips without thinking.

There was still one hope.

One.

"Panpan..." he whispered, unsure if she could even hear him through the rush of wind and pain.

But she answered.

"Tave... if there’s a chance... if you can fly again...," she said, her voice ragged. "I’ll take the hits. You escape."

Tave shook his head faintly. Not like this.

He tightened his hold on her.

"Panpan." This time, his voice had weight.

"Let’s form a pact."

There it was.

The one chance.

A pact. Sacred, binding not just bodies, but souls. Power, fate, pain, everything. If they forged it now, they would share all of it. Strength, weakness, curses, blessings. Their lives, their destinies.

"If I can ascend to Gaia Master..." Tave continued, "maybe Kaelira will listen. Maybe she’ll lend me her full strength. Just this once."

They were still falling. Still spinning. The ground rising fast.

"But if we do this. Your life will be tied to mine. You won’t own your path anymore. We’ll be bound."

And in that moment, he felt it.

Panpan’s arms wrapped tighter around him. Her strength not giving out, but answering.

They were still falling, their bodies tossed by the storm like leaves in a hurricane.

"Are you really okay..." Panpan whispered, her voice thin against the howling wind, "forming a pact with someone like me... a failure?"

She didn’t wait for him to answer.

"Sorry," she said, softer now. "I’m being selfish. You’ve done so much already. I’ve only slowed you down. But even so... I’m giving my life to you, Tave. You deserve it. I’m willing."

Tave pulled her close, pressing her against his chest. This wasn’t desperation anymore. It was a decision.

A forest elf like Panpan. Her soul, deeply rooted in the World Tree, carried power not easily understood. If he could bond with that, if they could merge everything now, it might be enough to tip him over.

To break through.

To ascend.

He locked his fingers with hers, their hands smeared in blood from wounds old and new. That was all the seal they needed.

And then. Something stirred.

Like a quiet voice deep within the world responding to them.

The system responded with clarity:

[ Pact Initiation Detected ]

[ Soulbond Request: Tave → Vanya ]

[ Blood Confirmation... Verified ]

[ Target has accepted the pact. ]

[ Core Synchronization Engaged ]

[ Shared Core Access... ]

Wait...

As the glowing notifications flickered in Tave’s vision, one detail caught him off guard.

A single word that hit harder than any blade or fall.

The name.

Not Panpan.

But. Vanya.

Tave’s eyes snapped wide, even mid-fall. His breath caught.

There was only one person in the world with that name.

Only one soul tied so deeply to the World Tree. Only one bearer of that lineage.

Vanya Zylven.

She was the princess.

The crowned heir of the Vensalor Kingdom.

And then, as if the bond itself pulled truth to the surface, he heard her voice. Not spoken, but whispered, soul to soul.

"Tave... I’m sorry," she said softly. "I haven’t been honest with you."

She is Vanya Zylven. The one destined to inherit the heart of the forest itself. The one the demons would never let go alive.

The one now bound to him, in soul and fate.

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