The blood-red Beast lowered itself closer to the ground, its enormous claws digging into the arena floor until stone cracked beneath the pressure. Hot vapor rolled from between its saber-like fangs, and the darkness that had once hidden it now clung behind its body like a torn cloak rather than a second skin. It was bigger, stronger, and every breath it took made the muscles along its shoulders swell as if the transformation had not fully finished yet. The thing in front of Kael was no longer the careful shadow predator that had circled him in silence. It was something else now, something uglier and far more direct.
Kael wiped blood from his shoulder with the back of one gauntlet, eyes fixed on the creature as it paced. The wound still hurt, and the torn edge of the Journeyman's Leather Jacket reminded him with every movement that this beast's claws did not care how good his armor was. Still, the longer he watched, the more one detail became impossible to miss.
