The number glowed.
[1]
A familiar pulse stirred beneath my surface pushing out. The dice demanded a toll, it was siphoning mana from both me and Lyra. Fortunately, with a roll of[1]the cost barely noticeable. But that was the only lucky part. I could feel it, something in the spell distorted wrong. My core buzzed with resistance, every circuit flickering in protest.
A golden shimmer pulsed from my body, threadlike strands of light peeling off my surface and drifting through the air. The fog parted around them. They moved slowly, deliberately, drawn toward the Mega Tusk's face. As the strands reached its scorched eyes, the glow deepened, sinking into the ruined flesh.
The wounds began to mend. Scar tissue faded. Burned lids pulled taut. Bit by bit, the skin reformed, glowing faintly beneath the mist—until the last shred of damage vanished. Then, the lids shifted. The scars peeled back.
And its eyes slowly opened.
"We healed it…" Lyra's voice was desperate, barely above a whisper. I wanted to crack a joke—something stupid, something to pretend this wasn't happening. But the pressure pressing against my core wouldn't let me. The ominous weight only grew heavier.
"Lyra!" I shouted. "Full mana body coat—NOW! Shield yourself!"
The Mega Tusk stirred. Its hoof scraped the ground, carving shallow grooves through the dirt as its body dropped low. Muscles shifted. Shoulders pulled tight. Its massive frame locked into position. It was aligning. Preparing. This wasn't a wild lunge or a rage-fueled outburst, it was calculated. Controlled. A predator marking its prey.
The full weight of its frame unfurled upward, smooth and monstrous. The earth beneath it seemed to shrink. Air warped around the tips of its tusks as they scraped forward.
Then it charged.
The forest broke behind it. Leaves tore sideways. The ground split beneath each step, earth churning under its hooves as dirt and splinters exploded outward. Pressure spiked, thick enough to smother breath and drown thought. All sound blurred into motion.
Everything happened too fast. Lyra moved first. Wind burst from her boots as she sprinted to the side, slipping just past the charging beast's path but the Mega Tusk saw her. Mid-charge, it slammed a front hoof into the ground, hard enough to crack stone but it didn't stop. It leaned into the pressure, weight tilting, back legs skidding wide.
Its body swung sideways in a brutal arc, momentum carrying through as tons of muscle twisted mid-motion. Dirt exploded beneath its rear hooves as they carved deep trenches through the earth. The entire beast was drifting, redirecting with brutal precision.
"What the f—! The Mega Tusk knows how to drift?!" I watched in disbelief, unable to compute what just happened.
It charged again, adjusting mid-motion, gaining on her in seconds. Lyra sprinted across the clearing, boots kicking up dirt, breath ragged. The Mega Tusk gave chase, thundering alongside her, close enough to hear the grind of its hooves.
She looked back... a scream ripping from her throat and she pressed forward to run away, but—
Then it cut her off.
One massive front hoof slammed into the earth just beside her, cracking the ground. It anchored there, and with terrifying control, the beast's body pivoted sharply as it swung its back half across her path and blocked her completely. Lyra skidded to a stop, heart pounding, eyes wide. She turned left, ready to bolt.
But the beast wasn't finished.
The front right hoof, still hovering from the last pivot, slammed down hard and claimed the ground as a new anchor. The instant it hit, the Mega Tusk twisted again, nearly a full rotation. Its hindquarters swept around like a wrecking wall. Dust and debris exploded around her as it cut off her second escape.
The Tusk shifted with her.
Her limbs flinched back, instinct overriding thought. Her feet shuffled without direction, kicking at dirt. Her hands trembled. Her pupils darted left and right, driven by panic rather than purpose. Her body moved on its own, fear gripping her fast as the pressure closed in. Every nerve fired without aim, her thoughts too scattered to catch up.
She braced to move again, but the Tusk moved faster. Its next anchor came down with unnerving accuracy. The moment she shifted her footing, it responded. It carved another violent arc across the clearing and crashed into position just ahead of her. A third wall. A third denial. It wasn't a hunt anymore. The Tusk had already caught her, it just hadn't finished the game.
She was being played.
Trapped…
The ground around her was torn apart. Deep crescents and spiraled trenches marked where hooves had ripped through soil. Every move she made, it mirrored. Every path she took, it closed. It didn't rely on power alone. Every movement was measured. No wonder it never charged in, even when the other tusks were slaughtered.
It had been waiting, patiently while blinded. Taking its sweet time until it was sure.
The moment its eyes were healed by me, the beast became unstoppable. The Mega Tusk wasn't just built like a fortress. It thought like a strategist. Pure muscle on a monster frame, and somehow, the brain came with biceps too.
I was sweating inside the cube. Literal droplets. Nobody warned me that adventure life came with boss fights like this. I didn't sign up for any of this. "Lyra—go up! Jump! It's reading your every move!" I shouted, offering the only escape I could see. She heard me and without hesitation, she jumped.
Magic coiled beneath her feet and launched her skyward.
As if the Mega Tusk had been waiting for Lyra to jump, the moment her feet left the ground, the Mega Tusk charged forward and crashed its tusk into a nearby boulder, splitting it with a sharp, echoing crack. Shards burst outward. A few larger chunks lifted slightly, tossed by the force of the impact.
It moved with purpose. Twisting its body into the swing, it brought the tusk around again—not to break, but to strike. The motion was like a batter swinging for a home run. One chunk of stone flew from the air and caught Lyra clean in the stomach. She screamed as the blow knocked her sideways through the fog. Her body crashed into a tree and still the Tusk advanced.
"F—! F—! F—! F—!!! What the hell is this thing?!"
I shouted, panic ripping through my voice. I flew after her, wobbling through the air, too shaken to think straight. I spotted her through the fog, crumpled near the base of a tree. She tried to push herself upright, arms shaking, one knee barely locking into place. The tusk came low, clean, and fast like a ruler knocking over a standing pen. It struck her legs and swept them out from under her, sending her twisting through the air before she could fully stand.
She hit the ground hard, shoulder first, slipping across dirt and dead leaves. Her breath left in a sharp gasp. The wind magic flickering at her boots stuttered, nearly collapsing. For a moment, she didn't move. Then she groaned, desperation glazed her eyes, wide and unfocused, one hand clawing into the soil as she forced herself up.
The Mega Tusk stepped forward without rush, its movements deliberate and unbroken.
Lyra rose again, arm trembling as she summoned wind around her feet. She pushed forward, wind curling beneath her boots as she darted to the side.
But it didn't matter.
The tusk struck from behind, clipping her shoulder and hurling her through the air. She hit the ground hard, rolled once, and landed in a crumpled heap like a toy tossed aside. A harsh cough tore from her throat as she fumbled, pulling her shield from the space ring with trembling hands.
Above us, the fog whispered—not to me, but to something unseen.
"The boy… why him?"
"His spark… in that child?"
"What's happening here...?"
The Mega Tusk closed in. Each step carved grooves into the ground, its weight shaking the earth. Its massive tusks dragged wide, curling toward her sides, cutting shallow trenches into the dirt as they boxed her in. Lyra lay sprawled, limbs heavy, unmoving. That's when I noticed it. The mana coat was gone. The glow had vanished completely, no shimmer left clinging to her skin. She had nothing protecting her now, no magical barrier to absorb the hit, just her body vulnerable and exposed.
"KEVIN! HELP!!!" I screamed, voice cracking. "DO SOMETHING!!!!"
As the words left me, something brushed against my senses. A ripple in the air sudden and unmistakable. It came from Levin.
"Levin—what's happening?!" I turned toward his direction, trying to scan his condition through the haze.
His presence was fading, growing weaker with every breath. Just a moment ago, I could feel it solid at the edge of my awareness, and now it was slipping away...thinning into nothing, like a thread unraveling into emptiness. My core clenched.
Why was everything spiraling like this? I swear I really didn't know what to do!!!
At the same time Lyra stirred, just barely. Her head lifted. Her mouth moved, but no words came. The shield hovered weakly between her and the monster. The Mega Tusk stepped directly in front of her. Both hooves slammed into the ground. The force cracked the earth and launched her off it, her body lifted for a breathless second before a tusk struck her midair. The shield flew from her grip. Her body twisted, helpless, before slamming into another tree with a crunch that made my core seize.
I scanned for Kevin, but he wasn't moving. Only then did I realize.
The fog had wrapped around him. Tendrils spiraled up his arms, down his legs, binding him to the tree like chains woven from smoke. He struggled against it, shoulders jerking, feet scraping for leverage, but the mist refused to give.
"Let me go!" Kevin snarled.
"Don't go," it whispered.
"Don't save them."
"He's close."
Kevin clenched his jaw, flames crackling across his arm as he tried to summon a burst of fire. The heat flared, licking through the mist, but the tendrils only tightened, swallowing the blaze before it could erupt.
"What do you mean? Who is 'he'?!" he barked, still straining, mana sparking wildly around him.
"You'll see..."
"They'll die. Everyone's going to die!" His voice shook with fear.
The fog didn't answer. It only pressed closer, its tendrils brushing his cheek with slow, deliberate weight.
"It's their fate."
"You mortals never understood how fate works."
The Mega Tusk didn't rush. It turned deliberately, its massive frame shifting with slow certainty, and began walking toward her. There was no roar, no burst of aggression, only the quiet, steady weight of finality. I moved fast, cutting across the clearing, sparks trailing behind me as I pushed toward her.
Lyra still hadn't risen.
The beast loomed above her now, its bulk swallowing what little light filtered through the mist. It advanced another step, dragging the ground beneath its hooves. Then it raised one massive leg, lifting high, directly over her chest. She remained still, unresponsive as the danger closed in, no attempt to roll away. Her limbs lay sprawled across broken roots and cracked earth and her breath came shallow, almost silent.
"Lyra—get up," I said, forcing the words out through grit.
Nothing. No response. The hoof hung above her like a falling sky. The Mega Tusk let out a long, echoing roar that rippled through the mist, not in rage but in triumph, as if announcing its victory to the forest itself.
Then the hoof began to fall.
It came down slowly, with terrifying certainty, each inch heavier than the last. This wasn't just weight pressing toward the earth. This was purpose. The end of a battle that had already chosen its victor just before the hoof could drop, I reached her, hovering above her chest, sparks flickering off my shell, trying to shield her with nothing but presence. I was too panicked to think. Lyra's life was at stake.
As the hoof descended, the world began to close.
Light thinned, dimming around the edges like a curtain being drawn. The trees faded, swallowed by the thickening mist. Color drained from the clearing, leaving everything washed in gray and silence. All of it narrowed into a single shape above her—vast, dark, and absolute.
And then, just before it struck, when the last fragment of sky disappeared beneath the crushing shadow, I heard something. A single sound cut through the stillness.
A howl.
It wasn't a word or a spell, but something pulled from somewhere deep and feral. The sound was untamed, rising as it broke through the silence. At first, it came distant and frayed, like a voice carried through fog and pain. But with every breath, it swelled and gathered force until it filled the clearing with undeniable weight. It wasn't the kind of sound that asked for attention. It demanded it.
Levin.
Levin Frei's POV:
I saw Dan hovering near Lyra. Both of them stood in front of me. She held her bow steady, blood streaking her arms, bruises blooming across her skin. Every part of her looked battered, but she refused to fall. And once again, she stood between danger and me.
That was the part that cut the deepest. I sat slumped against a tree, ribs screaming with every breath, my shield broken and mana completely spent.
Useless.
I wasn't part of the fight. I was the burden they had to carry. Watching them from behind felt worse than any wound. I wanted to stand where Dan floated. I wanted to be beside her. I wanted to be someone who mattered but I didn't and I hated it.
I saw it—Dan transformed into a chain, lashing out and striking both Tusks at once.
Lyra moved like the storm itself, her steps fierce, her spells relentless, every motion radiating strength and purpose. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be strong. They didn't just look strong. They were strong. While I struggled to stay upright, they had already become the kind of strong I kept chasing, a shadow always just out of reach. Then she turned toward the Mega Tusk. I thought it was over, that we could go home.
But it wasn't.
Dan's magic, the same gamble that had saved us before, turned against us. The Mega Tusk's eyes healed. Then it moved. Its movements were sharp and focused, each step closing the gap with pressure. It tracked her without rushing, cutting off space until there was nowhere left to run. I watched it track every dodge, closing off her escapes one by one. It studied her, drove her back, and waited until she had nothing left to give.
Then it struck.
The first hit landed and my breath caught. The second came before she could recover, and something inside me cracked. She flew through the trees, crashing through branches before hitting the ground. I wanted to move, to run to her, to do anything but my body wouldn't listen. She tried to stand. Crawled forward. Pressed her palms into the dirt, blood spreading beneath her as her arms trembled. Her body had nothing left, but she still refused to stop. Until she couldn't anymore.
And I just sat here, useless.
Again.
This wasn't the first time I saw her fall. The memory surged up, painful and unforgiving. Dan had become a dagger and stabbed her straight through the chest. I saw it. All of it. I didn't move. I didn't stop it. I just screamed while the blade sank into her.
That moment never left me. It settled deep in my soul, wrapped tight around the lie that I could still protect her. And now she was on the ground again, bleeding and broken, while I watched from the same useless place. Every part of me screamed to move, but nothing answered just a shadow, empty and shaking, watching the one person I swore to protect fall again.
Something inside me stirred, twitching awake, but I ignored it. Because what I was about to witness was the one thing I feared the most. The Mega Tusk stood over her. Hoof raised. Her body didn't move. The shadow of that hoof stretched across her. Time slowed. Every part of me braced for the sound I couldn't bear to hear.
Tears slipped down my face before I even noticed.
I didn't want to see it. Not again. So I closed my eyes, ashamed of the coward I had become.
And I screamed.
I screamed as long as I could, trying to drown out the impact. If I screamed loud enough, I wouldn't hear it. I could pretend it never happened.
But the sound never came.
That silence crawled through my chest, pressing against the edges of my mind until I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't take it anymore.
So I screamed harder.
Louder.
Until the scream twisted into a howl.
And then everything stopped.
No sound. No breath. No pain.
Only darkness.
Pitch black.
My heart stopped beating.
I was dead.