Grub tore through the forest after the sounds of screaming and splintering wood.
Branches whipped across his face as he sprinted, his body weaving between trunks and ducking beneath low-hanging limbs with an instinct born from weeks of surviving in exactly this kind of terrain. Every few seconds a fresh crash echoed ahead of him, followed by another shriek from Luthiel that told him she was still alive and running.
The trail was easy to follow. The Ungul Bear had carved a path of devastation through the undergrowth, snapping roots like twigs and leaving deep claw furrows in the earth. Grub followed it at full speed until the beast's enormous body came into view ahead, its six legs churning through the brush as it barreled after the fleeing doll girl.
Grub channeled the faint reserve of Nihil from the stag into his legs. The cold weight shifted downward and his muscles tightened with borrowed strength. He closed the gap in seconds, launched himself off a raised root, and landed squarely on the creature's back.
Before it could react, Grub grabbed both of its horns. The bone was rough and warm beneath his palms, thick enough that his fingers barely wrapped around the circumference. He wrenched backward with everything he had, pulling the creature's massive skull up and to the side. The sudden shift in balance caught the bear mid-stride. Its front legs tangled and its enormous body pitched sideways, skidding across the forest floor in an avalanche of dirt and broken vegetation.
Luthiel spun around, panting, her golden eyes enormous with relief.
"Mister Grub!"
Grub looked down at her from atop the fallen beast, his expression flat and focused. Beneath him, the Ungul Bear was already stirring. Its formidable muscles coiled under the matted fur as six legs scrambled for purchase against the earth and started to rise.
Grub tightened his grip on the horns and held on as the creature shook itself violently. Its massive frame bucked and twisted, each convulsion threatening to hurl him into the canopy. Several of its paws reached backward, claws swiping at the boy clinging to its skull. One caught his side and tore through his shirt, leaving a thin line of red across his ribs. Another grazed his leg. Quickly, he adjusted his grip, wrapped his knees against the base of its neck, and refused to let go.
Then a thought crept into his mind.
I could snap its neck.
The idea arrived with clinical precision. The creature was shaking its head in a predictable rhythm, left then right, left then right. If he timed it correctly and pulled in the opposite direction at the peak of a shake, the combined momentum would be more than enough to twist the vertebrae past their breaking point and crunch.
The neck would break and the fight would end. Simple.
Nihil seeped into his arms, strengthening his grip. His fingers tightened around the horns as he calculated the timing. Left. Right. Left. The next shake would go right. He just had to pull left and—
"DON'T KILL IT! PLEASE!"
Luthiel's voice pierced through the calculation like a needle through fabric. Grub looked down and saw Lu staring up at him with glistening golden eyes, her mitten-like hands clasped against her chest.
"What? But it's—"
In the heartbeat of distraction, one of the bear's massive paws connected with his torso. The impact launched him off the creature's back and through a young tree that snapped in half against his spine. He hit the ground hard, skidded through the undergrowth, and came to a stop against a mossy boulder.
"MISTER GRUB!"
Luthiel sprinted toward him. Grub coughed, tasted copper, and forced himself upright. His back ached and a thin trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but nothing critical had broken.
He wiped his lip, got into a fighting stance, and shoved Luthiel behind him with one arm.
"It's dangerous, Luthiel. If you're going to stop me from killing it, at least get out of my way."
The words had come out harsher than he intended. Lu flinched slightly, her golden eyes widening, but she said nothing and stepped back.
Grub rolled his shoulders and faced the bear. The massive creature had righted itself and was prowling toward them on all six legs, its bone mask lowered, its dark eyes fixed on Grub with murderous focus. A low growl vibrated through the ground between them.
His mind raced through options.
Best to spend the rest of the Nihil here. Fighting this thing with an empty tank would be suicide. There's always another dead carcass to find for the plan later.
The cold residue crawled down one arm, coating his fist in a thin layer of black. Not much remained. Enough for two, maybe three enhanced strikes before the well ran dry.
As he thought through it. The bear swiftly barreled towards him.
Grub dashed forward to meet it. His Nihil-infused fist drove into the bone mask covering its snout with a crack that echoed through the trees. The beast's head snapped upward and a spiderweb of fractures spread across the cracked plate. The six-armed beast roared and swung a paw at him in retaliation.
Grub channeled Nihil into his other hand and caught the incoming swipe. The force was staggering, pressing him backward through the dirt, his boots carving furrows as the bear pushed with all its considerable weight. His arms shook under the strain as the creature tried to drive its claws through his guard. The creature's strength was monstrous.
With his blocking hand occupied, Grub reared back the fist that had struck the snout and focused every remaining drop of Nihil into it. The black residue concentrated around his knuckles until his hand looked like it had been dipped in tar.
Then with all the force he could muster in his situation he punched deep into the creature's lower neck. His fist burst through fur and hide and sank deep into muscle. Crimson blood engulfed his hand up to the wrist. The creature shrieked, a sound so menacingly loud that it rattled Grub's teeth. He had aimed deliberately for a spot below the vital areas. Even with the strange urge whispering in his head and how easy it would have been.
He ignored the bleak thoughts, after all, Luthiel was watching.
The beast shrieked in agony as its jaw yawned open. Its sharp teeth clamped down on Grub's shoulder before he could react. Grub had to immediately shove Anima into his muscles and skin before the bite could sever anything critical. The pressure was immense, the teeth sinking slowly through his reinforced flesh like nails being driven through wood. Blood welled around each puncture point and ran in hot rivulets down his chest.
Meanwhile, the creature's remaining limbs raked across his body. Claws caught his sides, his legs, his arms, each swipe drawing fresh lines of crimson. Grub held his ground through nothing but stubbornness and the knowledge that stepping back meant letting the bear reach Luthiel.
The Nihil in his blocking hand was fading. The cold weight dissipated like smoke, leaving his arm exposed and trembling. Pain flared through the limb as he desperately replaced the Nihil barrier with Anima reinforcement, the warm green shimmer flickering unevenly across his skin.
But it wasn't enough. He was quickly losing ground as blood dripped from half a dozen injuries. Behind him Luthiel stared in horror.
"MISTER GRUB, YOU'RE HURT!"
"Yeah," he grunted through clenched teeth. "I can see that."
Luthiel looked around desperately. Her heart raced. If she didn't do something—The bear would kill him.
Seeing no other option she raised her hand from behind him, her golden eyes narrowing as she took aim at the bear's paw that Grub was struggling to hold back. A thin beam of golden light lanced from her fingertip and pierced clean through the limb.
The bear screeched and reflexively bit down harder. Grub yelped as the teeth drove deeper into his shoulder, crimson leaking from every puncture. His vision blurred from the pain.
Luthiel's face contorted with panic. Her shot had made things worse. The creature was in more pain and was taking that pain out on the boy between its jaws.
"No no no no—" Luthiel grabbed her head in a frenzy trying to think of what to do until her face found resolve and her voice called out.
"MISTER GRUB, DROP DOWN!"
Grub looked back at her in confusion. Her golden eyes held a determination he had never seen from Lu before, something fierce burning beneath the usual gentleness.
He didn't question it.
He ripped his buried fist from the creature's neck in a spray of blood and used it to punch the underside of the bear's jaw. The impact was enough to loosen the bite slightly, though not enough to fully release him. Grub wrenched his shoulder free, tearing skin as the teeth scraped against reinforced muscle, and threw himself flat against the ground.
The paw the bear had been pressing against his blocking hand swung forward with nothing to stop it and smacked into the creature's own face. The beast staggered, momentarily stunned by the self-inflicted blow.
Then it looked down at Grub, pinned beneath its shadow, bleeding from a dozen wounds.
From behind the fallen boy, Luthiel's voice cracked through the forest as she stepped forward, her hands shook with confidence laced in regret. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.
"I'M SORRY!"
A beam of golden light erupted from her outstretched hands.
This was something entirely different from the thin lance she had used before. This was a torrent. A concentrated flood of raw Anima that screamed through the air and struck the Ungul Bear with the force of a collapsing building. The light was blinding, the heat was searing, and the sound was like nothing Grub had ever heard, a high keening wail that drowned out even the creature's roar.
The bear yelped in shock, but the noise only lasted for a few seconds before silence replaced it.
Its massive body shuddered once, twice, and then collapsed forward with a ground-shaking thud. The six legs folded beneath it and the great horned skull hit the earth inches from where Grub lay.
Silence fell across the forest.
Grub pushed himself up on trembling arms and looked at what remained. The entire upper portion of the Ungul Bear's body was stripped bare. Every strand of fur had been burned away. The skin beneath was scorched and blackened, cooked through layers of hide and muscle. The bone mask had cracked from the heat while steam rose from the carcass in thin wisps that curled toward the canopy.
The creature was dead. Thoroughly, absolutely, unmistakably dead. Grub stared at it. Then he turned and stared at Luthiel. Lu stood several paces behind him, her arms still extended, her mitten-like hands trembling. Her golden eyes were wide and wet and her flat chest heaved with ragged breaths as the remnants of golden light faded from her palms.
"Are you okay, Mister Grub?"
Grub coughed, causing some blood to spatter the leaves beneath him. "You killed it."
Luthiel's face crumpled. "Only because it was going to kill you."
Grub smiled weakly and forced himself to his feet. His shoulder was a mess of torn skin and puncture wounds while his sides were striped with claw marks. Blood dripped from more places than he cared to count.
"What was that beam?" he asked, steadying himself against a tree.
Luthiel frowned and looked down at her hands as if they belonged to someone else. "I don't know. It was the strongest one I've ever fired. I don't usually like using that much because I'm not one for violence." She flexed her mitten fingers experimentally. "It just came out when I saw you about to die."
Grub nodded slowly. Then he turned back to the bear's carcass. Black smoke rose from the massive body in thick, heavy plumes. Far more Nihil than the stag had produced. Far more than any small creature could generate. Slowly, he reached his arm out and absorbed the Death.
The cold weight flooded his chest in a rush that made his breath catch. This was substantial. More Nihil than he had carried since the journey to the village. The familiar heaviness settled into his bones and the world dimmed another shade.
He turned to Luthiel.
"Let's go. We still have a plan to carry out."
Luthiel nodded, but when Grub took his first step forward, his leg buckled. He stumbled, caught himself on a branch, and let out a quiet, pained laugh. Luthiel rushed to his side and ducked under his arm, propping him up with her shoulder. Despite the softness of her body, the support was surprisingly firm. That metallic frame beneath the plush exterior bore his weight without complaint.
"If I had fought that thing a week ago," Grub said as they hobbled forward together, "I would have died from the bite alone. Guess I'm getting a little stronger."
Luthiel smiled beneath the weight of his arm. "You really are."
Grub glanced at her. "And that was a nice move back there, Lu. Had no idea you had something like that in you."
Her golden eyes brightened for a moment before dimming with something more complicated. "Yeah. Neither did I." She adjusted his weight on her shoulder. "But I hope I don't have to use it too much. I would still prefer we don't go around killing animals when it isn't necessary."
Grub nodded. "Fair enough."
The two of them limped through the forest together, leaving behind a scorched clearing, a dead bear, and a trail of blood that slowly disappeared beneath falling leaves.
And if Grub's plan worked, the captured Lacert would soon start talking.