The Furball had been watching the battle for a while, crouched in the bushes, waiting for the right moment to step out.
Baldy and the Owl were beginning to tire and were preparing their finishing moves. The Furball felt that his time had come.
Another figure watching the battlefield from a tree, displeased with the situation, also prepared to make a move.
As the Owl rose, Baldy positioned himself on all fours with his belly facing upward. When the Owl reached sufficient height, an orange sword shot from the top of a tree toward where the Furball was and ignited a fire there.
The sword missed the Furball, but the sound and the flames revealed his location and caused him to lose his golden opportunity.
The moment the Owl and Baldy noticed the Furball's presence, they took defensive stances. Seeing this, the Furball wasted no time and rushed into the battlefield.
His first target was the weakest of the three: Baldy. The Furball's fur stood on end and he lunged at him.
Baldy rose to his feet and bared his teeth to defend himself, but he could not withstand the Furball's strength and was hurled toward a tree.
The trunks of the trees in the silent forest were so thick and tall that they were sturdier than a wall. Even so, the impact carved a visible dent into one of them.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the Owl quickly began diving toward Baldy.
Her talons were already burning hotter than ever.
The Furball turned his back toward the direction the Owl was coming from and bristled his fur even more.
Their collision created a cloud of dust. Neither gained the upper hand, but light scratches were visible on the Owl's talons and burn marks on the Furball's fur.
The Owl rose again. For some time, she had been attacking the Furball by diving from low heights. The Furball answered each strike with superior speed.
After fighting for several minutes, the two had forgotten the presence of the other beast on the battlefield.
Within the cloud of dust, Baldy stood upright on two legs. With his two-meter frame, mouth wide open and teeth bared, she threw himself at the Furball.
The Furball sensed the danger. He had not expected Baldy to make such a major move so early.
For the first time, the Furball felt uneasy. In an instant, he bristled the fur along his back more than ever and leapt backward.
The two rushed at each other and collided.
Watching from above, the Owl already knew the outcome, but he wanted to witness it with his own eyes.
A pool of near-black blood formed.
At the center of it lay Baldy. He had managed to land a heavy blow on the Furball's back, but the cost had been severe.
A roar that scraped at the ears echoed across the battlefield.
The Furball was overcome by a visible frenzy. He covered his wound with his fur and pressed his paw down on Baldy's skull as he writhed on the ground.
The sound of the skull cracking echoed through the field.
Baldy died quickly, unable to retaliate even in his final moment.
Still unsatisfied, the Furball struck Baldy's body and sent it flying into a tree far from the battlefield.
The teeth in Baldy's mouth scattered, and pieces of his organs were thrown in every direction.
The Owl watched everything steadily from the air.
Once the Furball finished with Baldy, he turned his focus to the Owl. His fur now remained constantly raised; from the outside, he resembled a spiked ball. Only the wounded area lay flat, concealed by the surrounding fur.
The Owl wrapped his beak in flame using his mana.
She rarely preferred using her beak in battle, but she had no other choice.
Although the Furball used his mana recklessly, the Owl could not overcome the Furball's endurance with his speed and flames.
As the sounds of impact echoed continuously across the battlefield, the sun visibly shifted and painted the world red.
The exhaustion of both sides was clearly visible. Death lingered at their backs, waiting to swing its scythe.
The Owl focused on the Furball's wound and deepened it significantly.
The Furball's brown fur was stained with darkened blood, giving him a dangerous appearance.
In order to deal greater damage, she abandoned defense, taking the blows head-on; cracks were visible on his beak, and red blood stained his wings.
The beating of the Owl's wide wings broke the existing silence.
The Furball matched him and concentrated the fur on his body at a single point.
From above, he resembled a two- to three-meter spiked brown plant.
Reaching sufficient height, the Owl fully spread her five-meter white wings, intensified her mana, darkened the color of his flames, then closed her wings and began to dive.
With her sharp beak leading, she advanced toward the Furball with a sound that tore at the ears.
The Furball sensed the danger, but he was a creature that liked taking risks. Instead of defending, he chose to attack.
Seconds before their collision, the Furball leapt toward the Owl with all his strength. The two collided midair.
With the force of the impact, the Furball slammed violently into the ground.
Blood poured from the wound Baldy had opened.
With the Owl's final strike, the wound deepened so much that the organs were visible.
The Owl had lost one eye, his beak was broken, and her head was covered in blood, but she had protected her wings. Her white feathers were stained red, yet she remained standing.
The Owl walked toward the Furball.
Having lost the gamble he had taken, the Furball tried to resist even before death. With his last strength, he bristled his fur, but the Owl's talons easily tore through his throat.
His throat was ripped apart, though his head was not completely severed. For about one or two minutes, the Furball writhed and made strange rattling sounds.
Silence seized the battlefield.
Relieved by the Furball's death, the Owl looked around, drove her talons into the Furball's corpse, and began flying along his usual path.
After a while, the boy with glowing purple eyes picked up the orange sword from the ground and walked toward Baldy's corpse.