Damien, Tkos, and Xander stood their ground, facing the beast as it radiated a suffocating, predatory aura. Damien raised his shield, his knuckles white, and leveled his double-edged sword.
The bear moved—a blur of grey fur and stone. Damien braced. The bear's claws slammed into his shield with the force of a falling building, cracking the earth beneath his boots. His entire frame shuddered, and a thin trail of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Unfazed, the beast struck again, the impact sliding Damien back across the dirt. But as the bear lunged for a third strike, Damien pivoted. He swung his sword in a brutal, heavy arc—no flashy technique, just raw, unadulterated strength and speed. The blade bit deep, tearing through the bear's stony hide and leaving a gaping, jagged wound across its chest.
Damien sidestepped a retaliatory claw and raised his shield just in time to catch a barrage of boulders. Each impact rang out like a hammer on an anvil. He held his ground for four strikes, but by the fifth, the sheer kinetic energy forced him backward.
"Starry Sky Spear Art!" Tkos bellowed. "Tenth Form: Silent Void!"
Mana surged around Tkos, his presence suddenly vanishing from the physical plane. He reappeared instantly in front of the bear, his spear burying itself deep into the beast's chest wound. The shaft snapped as it hit bone. The bear's claw caught Tkos flush in the chest; a metallic gleam flickered over his skin, dampening the blow, but the force still sent him coughing up blood.
The bear lunged, jaws snapping. Damien tried to intercept, but a sudden wall of earth erupted to block his path. The bear's teeth sank into Tkos's arm, grinding through muscle until his skin-hardening ability finally halted the bite mid-way. Tkos snarled, punching the bear's fractured jaw with his free hand. The beast flinched but refused to let go, slamming Tkos into the dirt before lifting a massive foot to crush him.
"Repel!" Xander roared, his staff glowing. The force blasted Tkos out from under the bear's shadow just in time. The bear immediately pivoted, headbutting Xander into a tree. Damien surged forward, aiming for the beast's eye, but the bear sank into the earth like water.
It erupted seconds later directly in front of a struggling Tkos, its maw wide enough to swallow his head whole.
"DOWN!" Xander screamed, pushing his ability past its safety limits.
The gravity was so intense it flattened both the bear and Tkos into the mud. Tkos felt his ribs groan and his lungs compress, the air vanishing from his chest. Xander cut the ability, his face pale and trembling, giving Damien just enough time to drag Tkos to safety.
The trio exchanged a grim look, knowing they were on their last legs. The bear charged, but before it could reach them, the air turned brittle. A massive cage of jagged ice erupted, encasing the bear in a translucent mountain of frost.
"Seriously? I leave you guys for a moment and you end up like this? How disappointing," a voice drawled.
They turned to see Hope standing there. Beside her stood a figure of ethereal beauty—Amil.
Amil swiped a hand, and glowing green vines snaked out of the earth, wrapping around the wounded trio. They flinched, but Hope held up a hand. "Don't resist."
A warm, revitalizing energy flooded their bodies. Injuries closed, and their depleted mana pools began to simmer with new life. Amil deactivated the spell, his expression bored. He clearly disliked healing future rivals, but Hope had convinced him they were necessary. Even through the thick ice, Amil could feel the bear's heartbeat; the wounds were deep, but not fatal and Hope had already told her about a certain student who was very powerful that they will need to wear him down if they were going to have a chance with him ,he doubted it but choose to trust in her this once. The ice was already beginning to spiderweb with cracks.
The ice shattered. The bear emerged, its roar shaking the very leaves from the trees.
"Hit me," Damien said suddenly, looking at Xander.
The others paused, wondering if the trauma had broken his mind. But Xander understood. As the others charged the bear, Xander lifted his staff and rained blow after blow onto Damien's shield. He struck faster and harder until the shield shattered into a thousand shards.
"Enough?" Xander panted.
"Perfect," Damien replied throwing away the shattered shield in his hand. He vanished.
Cracks spiderwebbed the ground as Damien rocketed toward the bear. They met head-on—claw against sword. Neither gave an inch. The exchange became a blur of wild, violent strikes. Damien managed to carve a deep furrow into the bear's lower body, but the beast's counter-claw shattered his sword.
Damien didn't retreat. He sidestepped, put his entire soul into his fist, jumped up and punched. A deafening shockwave exploded. The sound of cracking bone echoed—Damien's arm snapped, but the bear's ribs gave way with a sickening crunch. A vine instantly wrapped around Damien's waist, pulling him back as the green glow began knitting his bone back together, though his mana was now completely spent the was little Amil's ability can do for him at this point.
Spears of ice whistled through the air. The bear raised an earth wall to defend itself, but the barrier crumbled into rubble, which the bear then launched back at the group. Amil countered with a wall of frost. As the dust settled, ice began to creep up the bear's legs, freezing it to the very foundations of the island