The clearing reeked of scorched soil and blood. The Thunder Boar King towered in the centre, its golden hide cracked and sparking with blue arcs of lightning. Smoke curled from the earth where three thunderstorm bursts had already burned men and trees alike. The survivors were grim shadows around the monster, too few compared to when they had entered the Doom Forest at dusk.
Tanks braced their shields, forming a wedge in front of the beast. They pressed shoulder to shoulder, boots digging into the mud as they shouted in unison. "Hold!" Mana flared across their shields like ripples of steel-blue light. The Boar slammed into them; wood splintered, bones creaked, but they held.
Above, archers from Seikaku's team loosed a volley of enchanted ropes. The lines coiled around the monster's front legs and tusks, glowing faintly where charms bit into hide. With a roar that shook the trees, the Boar stumbled. The archers drew again, ropes tangling tighter. For the first time since the fight began, the Thunder Boar King dropped to one knee.
"Kaito!" Omina's voice was raw. She was already charging, eyes red, sword trembling in her hands. Beside her Kaito's aura ignited crimson—Undying Rage pulsing like a heartbeat. The two of them struck together, their blades flashing in the storm-lit clearing. Omina's berserk swing tore a deep gash across the Boar's shoulder. Kaito leapt high, slashing down into its flank.
The monster bellowed, shuddering. Lightning danced wildly across its hide. Kaito and Omina staggered back at the same time, their powers finally burning out. Kaito's red aura flickered; Omina's berserk strength drained from her limbs, leaving her pale and trembling. But the damage was done—the Boar's front leg buckled and its head dipped.
"Push!" a tank roared. They slammed forward, shields first. The Boar was forced down onto its belly, its tusks carving trenches as it slid. Seikaku's archers seized the opening, raining down arrow after arrow, the shafts glowing gold as they struck. The arrows pinned the beast's massive feet to the earth, sealing it in place. More arrows followed, peppering its back, until the monster was a bristling mountain of quills.
"Fall back!" a captain ordered. Melee fighters retreated to regroup, dragging the wounded with them. Healers scurried between bodies, pouring glowing light into gashes, whispering prayers to stop the bleeding. The sound of arrows was a steady drumbeat above the low moan of the dying.
Then the Boar cried out.
It was not a roar this time but a thunderous, drawn-out wail. A pulse of lightning radiated from its body, shattering the arrows pinning it down. Shafts exploded into splinters. Sparks hissed on the ground. The monster lurched upright, swaying on its blood-slick legs. Its golden eyes rolled, foam spraying from its mouth. Exhaustion rippled across its body, but the hatred burning in it was far from spent.
Through the smoke Kaito moved. His crimson aura was flickering but still alive, a thread of rage winding tighter. He appeared at the monster's flank, knees bent low, blade raised high. "Saigo no kirifuda!" His voice cracked like a whip—his last resort. For an instant the red aura flared into a burning column.
He struck.
The blade ripped across the Thunder Boar's neck in a single, clean arc. Blood fountained, hissing where it touched scorched soil. The beast roared and staggered, its tusks slamming into the ground. Kaito fell to one knee, then collapsed entirely, the red aura fading from his body like smoke on the wind.
The Boar swayed. A hush fell over the survivors.
Then a single great arrow whistled through the dusk. It struck the monster's chest and drove deep, the shaft as thick as a spear. The Thunder Boar gave a final shuddering groan, lightning crackling once more across its hide. Then it crashed onto its side with a tremor that knocked leaves from the trees. Its storm winked out. The clearing went silent except for the ragged breathing of the living.
"Yoshiya!" Omina's knees buckled. The necklace slipped from her hand, its gem dimmed. She collapsed, her breath shallow. Yoshiya caught her before she hit the ground, dragging her toward a tree and laying her gently against the roots. He pressed his palms over her, whispering the healing incantation until pale light spread across her wounds.
A tank from their team scrambled across the mud to where Kaito lay unconscious. "Got him!" the man shouted, hefting Kaito's limp form over his shoulder and carrying him toward the cluster of healers. The healers knelt immediately, pouring everything they had left into the two battered fighters.
Around them, the battlefield shifted from chaos to aftermath. Survivors rushed to heal the injured, to gather fallen weapons, to count the living. Seikaku climbed down from his perch, bow slung across his back, his face drawn but composed. He gave the dead monster a long, hard look before walking to the centre of the clearing.
The casualty count began to surface like corpses rising from the water—names whispered, faces missing. Kokoro. Dorobo. Akane. Others too, people whose names Yoshiya barely knew but whose screams still echoed in his ears. Omina's eyelids fluttered as she stirred, but she was too weak to stand. Yoshiya held her tighter.
Kaito sat up slowly near the healers, his eyes vacant, red aura flickering faintly at his fingertips. He stared down at his bloodied hands as though they belonged to someone else.
Guild officers arrived, organizing the retrieval of bodies and the securing of the Thunder Boar King's heart, tusks and hide. They spoke in clipped tones, assigning groups to different tasks—some to build stretchers, others to dig shallow graves until transport could come from the outpost. Even victory felt hollow.
"This wasn't just a beast," one of the surviving captains muttered to Seikaku. "Something made it stronger."
Seikaku nodded grimly. "I felt it too. That mana… unnatural. Like something deeper in the forest pushed it."
Yoshiya overheard the words as he tucked Omina's necklace into his belt. He glanced at the Boar's corpse, at the faint electric haze still clinging to its tusks. Doom Forest. The name suddenly felt far heavier than it had before.
Night fell fully, swallowing the clearing. Torches were lit, and healing spells cast a dim glow over the wounded. The flicker of orange and blue lights painted the survivors' faces like ghosts. Yoshiya sat back against the tree, Omina's head resting on his lap. Around them, the scattered stars of light from torches and spells shimmered like a fragile constellation.
He looked down at her pale face, at the smear of dried blood along her cheek. The victory felt thin, almost meaningless compared to the bodies lying silent across the clearing. Yet the fight was not over; this was only one monster, and something darker stirred in the depths of the forest.
Above, the last sparks faded from the sky where the Thunder Boar's storm had been. The night was too quiet. Yoshiya tightened his grip on Omina's shoulder and stared into the dark between the trees, thinking of everyone lost and of what might still be lurking ahead.