The puppy wriggled free from the girl's grasp, stumbling toward the trembling boy. Its movements were awkward, almost pitiful. But, as it approached the boy's feet, its fur dissolved into muscle—bones snapping, elongating—until a hulking young man loomed over the child. His hand clamped the boy's throat and slammed him into the jagged wall. Stone cracked; the boy crumpled, blood spattering from his lips as he gasped.
"I said, don't wander!" The young man's voice echoed.
The children watched, their fists clenched and ready—but Gerral thrust his arm outward, blocking them. "Assassins," he hissed.
The girl clicked her tongue. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Always so messy," she scolded, strolling toward the broken boy. He coiled into a quivering ball against the wall as she approached.
"Pest!" she sneered at his defiance, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and yanked—hard enough to make his scalp whiten. The boy whimpered, scrambling onto his hands and knees as she dragged him forward. Dirt smeared his face as he crawled beside her like a tethered captive. His muffled cries swallowed by her giggles.
When they reached the hulking young man, the girl drove her heel into the boy's skull, grinding his face against the cold stone. She climbed onto his shoulder, settling onto his neck as if it were her throne.
"Useless as the Tracker," she said, slapping the head trapped between her thighs. "But at least he's good for something."
The young man snorted in amusement. Around them, the air grew heavier, charged with an unspoken hunger for blood.
SHING!
Alan's sword swung free, its blade leveled at the horse-riding girl. "Where is Nora?!" he roared.
The girl flinched, her earlier malice dissolving into bewilderment. "Huh?!" she stuttered, hands rising instinctively—palms empty, unarmed.
"You killed Clark," Alan snarled, advancing a step. "What did you do to Nora and Connor?" Behind him, Gerral blinked. Milla and Sylas exchanged puzzling glances.
The girl's lips parted, but before she could defend herself with words, Alan moved. His blade flashed through the air.
"HRRGH-AAH!" The young man's scream ripped through the chamber, raw and guttural. His hulking form convulsed—muscles surging, bones snapping like dry twigs. Veins bulged, pulsing violently before fur tore through his skin in coarse, uncontrolled bursts. Then, with a savage lurch, a beast erupted forward—fangs bared, saliva spilling from its jaw in thick, glistening ropes.
Alan pivoted mid-strike, narrowly avoiding the claws that grazed his ribs. He hit the ground, rolling, his boots anchored on a stone beside Milla.
The beast chased after him, fangs first. But before reaching them, he crashed headlong into a stone wall that erupted from the floor. Sylas' axes spiraled through the air, burying themselves deep in the beast's mangled torso. He staggered, bloodied fur matting further as he struggled to stay upright.
CRRRRNNCHKK-THUNK!
The beast wrenched the axes free, flinging them back at Sylas. He caught them mid-spin. The beast crouched on three limbs—cornered.
"Useless!" the girl snarled, fingers plunging into the boy's greasy hair. She pulled his head back until his cervical vertebrae crackled. A card flickered between her fingers, and she jammed it down the boy's throat.
The transformation was immediate and cruel. The boy's body convulsed, his shoulders jerking back unnaturally. His sternum split wide, peeling open like a chrysalis to reveal raw, unfinished muscle. Claws—blackened and jagged—ripped free from his fingertips, gouging deep into the stone floor. His jaw dislocated with a sharp crack, stretching into a slavering muzzle that dripped with bile. What emerged was a monstrous fusion of bear-like bulk and a man's remnants, his form twisted and incomplete.
The girl clung to the thrashing beast like a twisted jockey, her thighs gripping his surging neck as he roared. With a slap to his head, she launched him forward, leaving herself suspended in mid-air before landing gracefully on her feet.
The bear charged, his massive legs trampling the wounded wolf beneath them—CRRRK! His titanic paw swung downward, slamming into the ground, shattering the stone. But it struck nothing as Alan's wind magic swirled through the space, hurling the children backward.
Milla dropped to her knees, her fists hammering the trembling earth in rapid jabs. Stone spikes erupted upward, shattering against the bear's hide—he barely flinched. He charged forward through the smoke and debris, his eyes blazing with a pitiful rage.
"Now!" Emma shouted, her fingers weaving mana threads around the beast's massive frame. Across the chamber, Gerral's chant soared. Vines burst through the cracked flagstones, coiling tightly around the bear's hind legs and dragging him to a shuddering halt. His charge faltered, his jaws snapping just hand-spans from Milla's face—saliva splattering across her skin in a wild, feral arc.
"GRRAAAH!" The beast's furious bellow thundered through Milla's chest, rattling her bones as he thrashed against the restraints.
His front claws gouged trenches into the stone, and he coiled his haunches, bracing for another fiery push.
Too late—BOOM! The battlefield shattered in a fiery eruption, flames engulfing the bear in a violent blaze. Cards ripped through the air, piercing through the smoke and whistling death.
BOOM! BOOM! BLAM! CRACK-THOOM!
The beast shuddered, Emma's threads snapping. His jaws yawned wide, serrated teeth glinting with deadly intent.
"Lightning Blast!" Sylas roared. A thunder spear cored through the bear's shoulder, charring his flesh and hurling him backward—driving him straight into the path of the incoming cards.
Detonations rocked its massive frame, each impact spraying blood-soaked fur and cartilage across the battlefield. He crashed at the girl's feet, his ruined muzzle twitched, choking on his own gore.
Her boot crushed his jaw—GLRRRCH! "Worthless meat!" she spat.
Alan was already airborne, his blade screaming toward her throat. The wolf sprang to intercept, but Gerral struck his remaining eye with a root twisted into a trident, blinding him in place. Before the beast could recoil, Milla's stone fist smashed upward, cracking his lower jaw.
The blinded wolf lashed his head violently, jerking Gerral off-balance. His claws slashed blindly toward Gerral's ribs—KRUNCH!—Sylas' axes buried deep into his haunch, and his swing stumbled.
WHUMP! Gerral rammed his muzzle with an enlarged trident. The wolf shrieked.
Alan's sword met the girl's throat just as her fingers twitched. Three cards swirled between them.
"Stab me," she grinned, blood trickling where the blade kissed her skin, "and your precious Nora burns."