Two weeks had passed since Kareem had broken every bone in Edoran's body.
Since then, Edoran had trained under Gary and Shin with nothing but pain and resolve. Every strike, every failure in those days had carved the Equus form deeper into his soul.
The horse-like beast of war, fused with dragonic resilience and the gift of precognition was becoming more formidable as Edoran trained with it.
Today was the day that form would be tested in real battle.
A Tier-1 Greater Savage, The Wood Tiger had brought death to patrols and scouts for months near a forest called the Whispering Vale. Nova Star had written it off as a no-go zone for tier-1 reverberators. No one had hunted it yet due to the upcoming tournament.
Edoran and Harold ignored that.
"We're not ready," Harold had said that morning, his grip tightening around the cannon he was holding.
"We're ready enough," Edoran had replied. "We can't get stronger in a cage."
Now, as they entered the deeper layers of the forest, the ground itself felt alive. Roots shifted underfoot.
The sky was replaced with a moss-draped ceiling that blocked the sun inside the forest.
Edoran dropped to all fours, claws dragging through the moss. His Equus form shimmered into full focus, wings erupting behind him.
He let out a guttural roar that split the stillness.
And the forest answered.
The ground erupted.
Walls of vines surged from the ground, aiming to crush them from all sides.
Edoran's precognition kicked in as he leapt left, then back, then forward in a blur, avoiding four lethal strikes in under two seconds. Harold backpedaled, firing a pulse round into the twisting plants.
Then the Wood Tiger appeared.
Its body was massive and threatening. Its coat was bark-brown and leaf-green, pulsing with faint bioluminescence. Antler-like horns grew from its skull, wrapped in moss and crawling with tiny vines.
It stared at Edoran with no signs of fear or danger.
Then it roared, making the forest convulse.
Round one had begun.
Edoran darted forward, his wings lifting him, claws flashing in a cross-slash aimed at the beast's shoulder.
But vines intercepted mid-swipe, deflecting his strike. A root snapped upward, aiming for his jaw. He twisted mid-air, then spun for a low sweep, barely dodging it.
The Wood Tiger's paw came crashing down.
Edoran blocked with crossed arms, his dragon-scales cracked but held. The impact sent him flying through a tree. Bark exploded around him. His wings caught wind mid-spin and stabilized him before he hit the second trunk.
Harold's voice buzzed in from the telecom. "You good?"
"Still breathing."
"Distract it. I'm locking a charged shot."
Edoran flew upward, twisting sround dozens of rising branches trying to impale him. One scraped his leg as blood gushed.
The Wood Tiger reared back and inhaled deeply.
"Don't let it—!" Shouted Harold.
Too late.
The roar that followed wasn't just sound, it was power. A concussive blast that flattened trees and shattered stones. Edoran dropped into a controlled dive to escape the wave but was caught at the tail-end. His bones ached from the blast.
But he didn't stop.
He launched forward in a blur, ducking low, and carved a line along the tiger's ribs. Blood sprayed. The beast snarled and tried to retaliate but Edoran was already behind it.
"Now, Harold!"
A second later, a beam of red light lanced across the battlefield.
The Wood Tiger sensed it coming. It created a wall of vines but the beam blasted through them.
The beast howled in pain as its moss-covered side sizzled.
Edoran followed up immediately, his wings flaring. He dove in again. The tiger pivoted and opened its jaws as a green mist poured from its mouth.
Toxic spores.
He pulled back just in time, but the mist grazed his chest. His armor hissed, and the collar around his neck shimmered in alarm. His skin burned as he felt his Equus form going a bit haywire.
He hit the ground, rolled, and coughed.
The forest responded again. Dozens of thorned branches rose from all angles and converged on him. He ducked, rolled, sliced but one caught his side, drawing a line of red down his ribs.
His vision shifted.
In a flash of precognition, he saw the Wood Tiger pounce—massive body midair, claws raised.
Now!
He backflipped just as it landed where he'd been.
But the beast didn't stop as it pivoted, slapped him with its tail, and sent him crashing through three trees.
Harold shouted from the ridge. "Edoran!"
The Wood Tiger turned toward Harold's perch.
"Oh no you don't," Edoran growled.
Blood dripping, he pushed his body past its limit. His core flared, wings beat downward in a blast, and he soared up over the trees.
Midair, he twisted.
A memory from Kareem's lessons echoed.
"Never hesitate to kill. Hesitation belongs to prey."
Edoran let out a savage cry and dove straight for the Wood Tiger's head. At the last moment, he banked right, narrowly dodging a rising vine, and delivered a spin-kick reinforced by his dragon-scale leg straight to the beast's temple.
The Wood Tiger reeled.
Harold fired again—direct hit to the ribs. The beam bored deep, exposing muscle and charred organs.
But the Tiger wouldn't die easily.
It turned and unleashed another mist-cloud.
Edoran predicted it. He swooped to the left and, for the first time, wrapped his wings around himself like a shield. The mist hissed against the scales, burning—but not breaking.
He dropped low, slashed at the beast's leg tendons.
The Tiger stumbled.
Edoran leapt and drove both claws deep into its exposed throat. He clamped down and twisted. The beast bucked and screeched, its paws flailing but Edoran held firm.
His precognition told him the next ten seconds were critical.
Claws up. Angle left. Muscle spasm incoming. Dodge the kick. Tear the artery.
He followed each insight with flawless precision.
At the ninth second, the Wood Tiger gave a final cry and then collapsed. The vines around them writhed and died.
Harold ran over, the cannon steaming.
"You look like shit."
Edoran fell to one knee, panting, his Equus form flickering.
"It's dead, I think," he rasped.
Harold looked down at the tiger. "Are you sure?"
Edoran didn't smile. "I do not know. It is pretty roughed up."
Harold sighed and joined him to load the tiger carcass.
He looked toward the east.
"Nova Star's tournament is in three weeks. Tobias and Lily have agreed to train with you under Kareem."
Harold helped him stand.
Edoran nodded.
"I can finally train with that monster again."
The Wood Tiger stirred suddenly. It was not yet defeated.
Even with arterial wounds and one leg barely holding weight, the Tier-1 Greater Savage let out a cry that reverberated through the roots of the forest.
The surrounding vegetation reacted immediately as hundreds of thorny vines sprouted from the trees, hurling themselves like spears toward Edoran.
His precognition surged as time dilated around him.
Left, duck, slash, jump.
He moved in a blur, dancing through the storm of living spears. His claws cut some mid-flight, but others nicked his arms, back, legs. Blood streaked behind him as he dove low and sliced a bundle of vines that were about to impale Harold.
The Wood Tiger was buying time.
Its body crackled with green energy as it absorbed the forest's life force. Moss regrew over its flank, roots crawled over its broken leg, trying to brace the injury.
"Oh no you don't," Harold muttered, bracing his cannon. He calibrated it for maximum charge. "Keep it distracted! I need ten seconds!"
"Then buy me two," Edoran snapped, spreading his Equus wings wide.
He shot forward again, not with the intent to attack, but to deny.
The Wood Tiger leapt to meet him, its fangs outstretched.
They collided midair.
Claws met fangs. The impact cracked the nearby trunks and sent bark flying like shrapnel.
Edoran twisted midair, raking his claw across the tiger's face. The dragon-scale edge tore a line across its left eye. The beast screamed and slammed its paw down but Edoran blocked with both arms, spiraling into the dirt below.
He hit the ground hard, back first, but rolled to his feet.
He launched again, this time low. He zigzagged, faking a right flank then cutting to the blind spot. The Wood Tiger reacted too late. Edoran's claws drove deep into its haunch, carving muscle clean through.
The beast staggered and retaliated with its tail which was covered in thorns now.
It struck his side.
Edoran grunted, breath knocked from him, and was sent tumbling, skidding over broken roots and snapped branches.
His Equus form shimmered erratically.
Harold shouted from the ridge, "CLEAR!"
The cannon beam erupted from above as a brilliant white-red laser sliced through the canopy and struck the Wood Tiger square in the spine.
It howled, arching, vines recoiling in agony. Steam poured from its wounds.
Edoran saw his chance.
He ignored the pain and pushed his core to the limit. His claws crackled with internal resonance. He flapped his wings once, lifting off with impossible speed.
Midair, he twisted and folded into a tight spiral, accelerating into a kinetic drill.
He hit the Wood Tiger dead-center in the chest.
Boom.
The explosion of force cracked the forest floor, created a shockwave that blew back leaves, stones, even Harold's coat.
Edoran emerged on the other side, covered in blood. Some of it being his.
The Wood Tiger stumbled.
It tried to breathe—but no air came. Its lungs had collapsed.
Still, it didn't fall.
Not yet.
It turned with mad fury in its one remaining eye and hurled itself at Edoran, claws ready to die killing.
Edoran met it head-on.
Their bodies collided, claws tangled, fangs scraped dragon-scale.
But Edoran's precognition flashed again, this time revealing the exact muscle twitches a second before the final blow.
Step left. Grab the throat. End it.
He followed the vision with ruthless precision.
His claw shot forward and drove the edge through the back of its skull.
The body spasmed.
Then stilled.
A great silence followed as the vines around them withered, curling in defeat. The forest finally went still.
Edoran released the corpse, panting.
His hands trembled. Blood soaked his chest. But he was alive.
Harold slid down the ridge, the cannon smoking, face pale. "...You good?"
Edoran nodded, barely. "I think… it's finally dead."
The Wood Tiger—an apex greater savage lay wasted at his feet.
And for the first time, Edoran felt like a predator, not prey