Kael kept his eyes on the beast as the two stood several steps apart, the wound along his side still burning with every breath while blood remained dried around the cut on the beast's flank from their earlier exchange.
Neither moved for several seconds.
Then the beast lowered its body and charged.
Kael met it head-on, turning the first claw aside with his sword before shifting with Mirage Step and cutting toward its ribs, but the beast followed his movement and twisted away, its other claw sweeping across his chest as Kael leaned back and let it pass before stepping forward again.
Mirage Draw!
SHING!
The beast caught the blade with its claw.
CLANG!
Kael immediately changed the angle and brought the sword back, but the beast adjusted with him and blocked again, forcing Kael to retreat as it continued pressing forward without giving him enough room to settle.
Kael ducked beneath another claw and came back with Ripple Slash, the first strike crashing into the beast's guard before the second came from the opposite side, only for the beast to answer with Crescent Claw and meet the attack with its silver-coated claws.
CLANG!
Kael's boots scraped across the ground as the impact pushed him backward, but he steadied himself and raised his sword just as the beast rushed him again, its fist driving toward his injured side as Kael twisted away and avoided the worst of the blow before its claw followed immediately toward his chest.
Kael blocked.
CLANG!
The beast kept its claw against the blade.
Its muscles tightened.
"Double Impact."
Kael tried to shift away, but the first burst had already locked the weapons together and the second exploded through the contact.
BOOM!
The force tore through Kael's guard and knocked the sword from his hand.
The blade spun away across the clearing.
Kael didn't turn toward it.
He stepped straight toward the beast instead, his body shifting with Mirage Step as he vanished from its front and reappeared beside it, right at the wounded flank where the old cut from First Blood still stained its fur.
The beast began turning toward him.
Kael was already there.
He drove his fist directly into the wound.
THUD!
The beast's body jolted from the impact, and Kael remained close, a faint smile forming as he kept his fist against the injured flank.
"You're not the only one that can use a fist."
The black crescent on Kael's hand pulsed.
"I've got one too."
The blood around the old wound began to move, gathering against Kael's fist before slowly pulling away from the beast's body, thin streams of red crawling across his skin and flowing toward the black Mark as it absorbed the blood.
Kael's smile remained.
The Mark pulsed again.
More blood left the wound.
The beast suddenly realized what was happening.
Its expression changed.
It drove its leg forward.
"Double Impact."
BOOM!
The second burst exploded against the ground and sent the beast backward, creating distance between them.
Kael didn't chase.
He remained where he was, still smiling as he looked down at the Mark on his palm.
"I got enough."
The black crescent darkened.
The last traces of blood disappeared into it.
Kael's wounds immediately began to close.
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