The predator inside me became completely still.
Not because the hunt was over.
Because it was waiting.
Waiting for the moment to strike.
Kragar's crimson flame continued shrinking.
Smaller.
Denser.
Deadlier.
I watched his body.
His shoulders.
His arms.
His stance.
His breathing.
Everything.
The flame around his hand was no longer spreading across his body.
It was gathering.
Compressing.
Being forced into a smaller and smaller space.
Kragar wasn't becoming more skilled.
He was becoming more destructive.
He had discovered how to waste less of his power.
And every time he attacked...
That wasted power became destruction.
His foot moved.
I moved.
BOOM!!!
Kragar appeared before me.
His fist came straight toward my face.
I tilted my head.
His fist passed beside me.
The compressed crimson flame exploded against the air.
BOOOOOOM!!!
I twisted around his arm.
My claws struck his shoulder.
CLANG!!!
He turned immediately.
His elbow came toward my ribs.
I blocked with my forearm.
BOOM!!!
The impact forced me backward.
I landed.
Kragar was already there.
His knee rose.
I jumped.
His knee passed beneath me.
I twisted in midair.
My tail wrapped around his arm.
I pulled.
His balance shifted.
For a fraction of a second—
His chest opened.
I struck.
BOOM!!!
My fist slammed into his chest.
Kragar flew backward.
He crashed through three volcanic pillars before stopping.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The pillars collapsed around him.
Dust filled the battlefield.
I didn't chase blindly.
I waited.
The dust moved.
A crimson glow appeared within it.
Then—
BOOM!!!
Kragar burst through the dust.
His body was covered in cracks of crimson light.
His eyes burned.
His fist came toward me.
I stepped aside.
His second fist followed.
I ducked.
His knee.
I avoided.
His elbow.
I blocked.
His attacks came faster.
Not because his movements had become refined.
Because he was forcing more destructive power into every strike.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOOOOOM!!!
The battlefield became a storm.
I moved through it.
Every strike was death.
Every mistake would cost me.
But I was no longer trying to overpower him.
I was watching.
Waiting.
Hunting.
Then I saw it.
A tiny opening.
Not in his defense.
In his movement.
Every time he compressed his flame before attacking, there was a brief moment when his destructive force gathered toward one point.
His body became momentarily committed to that attack.
That was enough.
Kragar raised his fist.
The crimson flame compressed.
I moved.
His fist came.
I slipped beneath it.
My claws struck his ribs.
BOOM!!!
He twisted.
His other fist came toward my head.
I leaned backward.
The fist passed over my face.
I stepped forward.
My knee struck his abdomen.
BOOM!!!
Kragar staggered.
I followed.
Claw.
Elbow.
Knee.
Fist.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Every strike landed before he could fully recover.
But still—
He remained standing.
He grabbed my arm.
His grip tightened.
His crimson flame surged.
I felt the destructive force gathering inside him.
Too much.
I twisted.
Kragar pulled me closer.
His forehead slammed into mine.
BAM!!!
Pain exploded through my skull.
My vision blurred.
His fist drew back.
I saw it.
The same movement.
The same commitment.
The same opening.
I ducked beneath the punch.
My body moved before the thought finished forming.
I appeared beside him.
My claws stopped inches from his throat.
Kragar turned.
Our eyes met.
For one moment—
Neither of us moved.
Then his crimson flame exploded.
BOOOOOOM!!!
I was thrown backward.
I landed heavily.
Blood ran from the corner of my mouth.
I wiped it away.
Kragar stood across from me.
His body was burning brighter.
His flames were almost completely compressed now.
He had reached the limit of what his current body could contain.
The next attack...
Would be everything.
My eyes narrowed.
A memory surfaced.
Caelion's voice.
Certainty is poison.
I understood.
The moment I believed I had already won...
I would lose.
Kragar's fist tightened.
Crimson light gathered around it.
Not a massive flame.
Not a pillar.
Not an explosion.
Just one fist.
One point.
One overwhelming concentration of destruction.
The ground beneath him cracked.
The air trembled.
I lowered my body.
Blue energy gathered around me.
I didn't release it.
I pulled it inward.
Closer.
Closer.
Until every fragment of power surrounded my body.
My breathing slowed.
My senses sharpened.
Kragar moved.
So did I.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
We crossed the distance at the same time.
His fist came toward my chest.
I slipped past it.
His shoulder brushed mine.
My palm reached his chest.
His eyes widened.
For the first time—
He couldn't move.
I had already found the opening.
My entire body became still.
Every fragment of blue energy gathered into my palm.
Not explosive.
Not wild.
Condensed.
Focused.
One point.
I looked into his crimson eyes.
And whispered—
"I stopped wasting it."
My palm struck his chest.
BOOM!!!
The force didn't explode outward.
It went inward.
Straight through his body.
Kragar's eyes widened.
The destructive energy inside him was disrupted.
His crimson cracks flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
The glow began fading.
His body staggered.
He looked down at my palm.
Then back at me.
For a brief moment...
Neither of us moved.
Kragar's body slowly lost its crimson glow.
His flames disappeared.
His knees weakened.
He fell.
THUD.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The battlefield had stopped shaking.
The dust slowly settled.
The countless cracks across the volcanic ground remained.
But the destruction had ended.
I stood there.
Breathing heavily.
My blue aura still wrapped tightly around my body.
I looked down at Kragar.
He wasn't dead.
But he couldn't move.
I had finally stopped fighting his strength with strength.
I had found the smallest opening...
And placed everything into it.
My fingers trembled.
I stared at them.
The trembling grew stronger.
Something was wrong.
A sharp pain suddenly spread through my body.
My muscles tightened.
My breathing stopped for a moment.
I clenched my teeth.
The pain intensified.
My knees weakened.
I tried to remain standing.
But my body didn't listen.
Beast Ascension...
Wasn't free.
The power I had awakened was still inside me.
But my body—
My body felt...
Used.
Not simply exhausted.
Used.
As though every part of me had been pushed beyond what it was meant to endure.
My vision began fading.
I reached out instinctively.
Nothing.
My legs gave way.
I fell to one knee.
Then—
The ground disappeared beneath me.
Darkness swallowed my vision.
The last thing I saw...
Was the faint blue light surrounding my trembling hand.
Then everything went black.