The threat's primal, lung-rattling growl sent Touya scrambling to his feet. Before his mind could even process the action, Lanert was already in motion. In his hand appeared a slender, lethal dagger, etched with intricate, ancient carvings that seemed to swallow even the faint light. He didn't throw it to harm Touya, but with perfect precision, launched it into his ally's desperately outstretched hand. The blade, a chilling manifestation of Lanert's curse that prevented him from attacking a living being, slid through Touya's palm without meeting any resistance.
Two lumps of charcoal ignited in the hollow's freezing, oppressive darkness, burning with a primal fury. A deep, teeth-grinding snarl locked onto the two young men. What emerged from the shadows was a nightmare made flesh. A hulk of steely muscle and thick bone, nearly four and a half meters tall; it resembled a wolf, but more like a monstrous, bipedal horror. Its fur was snow-white, rippling with icy blue strands. It stood on powerful hind legs, one paw shredding the frozen ground while the other gripped the hollow's entrance, its claws tearing through the soft clay. It was no less terrifying than the mountain troll, just faster, more focused, and more feral.
The monster snarled, exhaling vapid steam, and attacked. Touya finally grasped the icy hilt of the dagger Lanert had extended. He was thrown sideways, trying to place himself between the creature and Lanert. Lanert grabbed and pulled him back, and the werewolf's claw passed through both of them harmlessly, accompanied by a disturbing wave of air. In that brief moment of intangibility, Touya tried to drive the dagger into the beast's thick neck. The steel scraped against unnaturally tough hide with a sizzle, leaving only a thin line of blood and nearly severing his own fingers. Worse, the creature barely seemed to notice the attack. It tried to pin and crush Touya with one foot, the blow again passing through them with terrifying force but no effect. Finally, Lanert headed for the exit, Touya clinging to his shoulder. As they threw themselves out, their bodies felt like they were beginning to boil from overexertion. Even this short, frantic clash had engaged their muscles to their limits. His damned muscles threatened to become too fatigued to feel, requiring him to engage them all and apply explosive force to move forward. It was incredibly exhausting.
As their breath plumed like smoke in the snow, the werewolf advanced towards them on two legs, moving as if diving into a dark sea. Touya and Lanert had to flee, but this damned creature was impossibly fast. Touya, with an instinctual burst of adrenaline, leapt back and swung the blade blindly at its face. A massive paw gripped his wrist like a vise, lifted him into the air, leaving him dangling before a fully open, slavering, fanged maw. The beast's hot, foul breath blew his hair back. At that very moment, Lanert lunged for Touya's leg, grabbing and pulling him down, saving him from the wolf's grasp and closing jaws by a split second. Touya flowed like water out of its grip.
Lanert was forced to perform his dance-like defensive art in a cursory, desperate manner. The creature's movements were unpredictable, wild, and chaotic. Touya was far from a martial arts master, he could only react, hopping around Lanert like a helpless insect, utterly dependent on him. Every attempt he made to attack only dug him deeper, fatigue trying to pull him into the arms of blissful unconsciousness.
A scream echoed in Touya's mind: 'Why is this damn thing's hide so tough?!'
The wolf caught the weak moment in their bond. It feinted a lunge with its paw towards Touya, a masterful deception. Lanert fell for the trap, moved to pull Touya from danger, and left himself exposed. The real attack was a lightning-fast, bone-shattering tail whip; it struck them both, separating them. The monster focused on Touya, now alone and vulnerable. Strangely, it seemed to be shrinking with every passing second. It was now about three and a half meters, having shortened by a meter, but still colossal compared to Touya's 1.68 meters. It pinned Touya underneath, crushing him.
Lanert finally managed to get up and tried to run, but the pristine, deep snow swallowed him like a swamp. Progress was impossible. Touya thrashed, the creature crushed him more, Touya's strength was failing. Finally, the lethal paw rose to deliver the final blow. Touya didn't even have time to think of whispering his Name.
At that moment, Lanert, with one last desperate move, charged at the wolf with all his body weight. Due to Lanert's curse, the shoulder charge passed right through the beast, emerging on the other side next to Touya without any effect. He grabbed and pulled him. The lethal paw sank into the ground where Touya's head should have been. Lanert's awareness, depleted from this constant phasing, was at critical levels, nearly extinguished; flickering like a pale gas flame.
Touya was free. He grabbed the dagger from the ground and, with a scream filled with the alien sensation of the awareness he had just stolen from Lanert, drove it into the creature's already wounded eye. The icy iron plunged into the orb, searing flesh and nerve. With a mad strength, Touya wrapped his legs around the beast's neck. The creature roared and shook, one eye completely ruined, turned into a bloody wreck. It was shrinking further, its form becoming less monstrous. The dominant darkness even began to lighten, as if clouds were parting. The creature was now only about two meters thirty, its muscle mass significantly reduced.
It finally threw Touya off, sending him away from Lanert. Upon contact, Touya once again felt the essence of Lanert's soul—in volumes and layers, just as he had described: a calm river, a serene meadow, a protective tree. A gentle, lovable soul. And in his desperation, Touya tore off, stole, a large, raw piece of it. Lanert could still use his power, but now... so could Touya.
Touya pulled the dagger from its eye and swung it to stab again with greater fury. The werewolf, with its increasing humanity, weakly threw him off into the distance.
Touya didn't even feel the pain. His mind was broken. All thought, all fear, was wiped away by a single, primal, burning desire: 'I'm going to tear out that fucking little dog's brain.'
He pushed himself up from the ground. Fatigue pulled him back down. He stood up again. Fell again. Finally, on all fours, he lunged forward with a primal hunger, just like his enemy. The werewolf attacked too. A claw shot forward to pierce him, but Touya, using the stolen power instinctively, flowed through it. He drove his fist into the beast's stomach. His newly acquired awareness and grasp of the Third Dimension had given him considerable physical strength, but not enough for his punch to impact the wolf's still-hardened torso. His finger bones cracked, he howled in pain. He ignored the pain, plunging the dagger in his other hand into the same wound. This time it went deeper.
It was no longer a fight, but a cycle of brutality. The creature was now almost one meter ninety tall. Every one of its attacks passed through Touya, every one of Touya's attacks made it a little more human and a little weaker. When Lanert finally caught up to the conflict, the scene was pitiful. Touya had destroyed the second eye with the dagger, adorned the wolf's body with stab wounds, bite marks, and a torn-off ear. But Touya was in a terrible state too; he was barely standing, his fingers were shattered, and his body was covered in claw marks. Strangest of all was a paw that had entered Touya's abdomen, just like his own, passing through immaterially and leaving no wound, just a breathless, intact stomach.
The dagger in Touya's hand looked like a gravedigger's tool; bent, notched, and coated in clotted blood.
The werewolf... looked almost like a dying man.
Wait. It looked far too much like a man.
The creature had slowly transformed into a naked man, about 1.70 meters tall, with slightly bushy hair. Both his eyes were bloody sockets. He had a terrible wound on his neck. He was crying pleadingly, trying to defend himself with trembling hands. "Please! I didn't mean to! My curse... it turns me into a monster at night! Please, have mercy! I tried to hold back! Don't scorn me!"
Lanert's voice was weak and half-conscious, his awareness almost gone. "Touya, enough. It's enough now. He's a human. It's over. Let's go. Please."
When Touya spoke, there was no humanity in his voice, only the wild snarl of a shattered mind. "He- he tried to kill us. To separate you from your sister. To throw me off my path. I'm going to tear his head off."
And he raised the hand holding the dagger.
Lanert stopped. He turned his face away, unable to watch.
Touya, his voice mocking with madness and contemptuous hatred, sneered, "You got pinned down by a chained dog. How does it feel, little bow-wow?"
"Stop, don't, what are—" The man's voice was instantly cut off by the treacherous blow of the dagger shredding his throat, severing vocal cords and spine.
The head separated from the torso and fell to the snow-covered ground. The silence was broken by the rustle of a final breath and the sound of hot blood melting the snow.
---
Liesta had learned the information she needed. She knew where she was. And the real problem was just beginning. She was facing an insurmountable wall, and this was the worst nightmare she had ever seen, the most skillfully laid trap she had ever fallen into