Arkas rushed forward again, his body wrapped in flickering strands of lightning. He swung wide with his right fist, thunder screaming behind the strike. The tiger caught it without blinking.
"Still no brains," the tiger muttered.
He twisted Arkas’s wrist mid-air, bent his arm backward, and kicked him square in the chest. The hit landed like a battering ram.
Arkas flew back through a layer of clouds, lightning trailing behind him.
Cilian moved quickly.
A circle of sharp, spinning frost formed under the tiger’s feet. It latched onto the air around him, trying to freeze his motion in place.
It lasted half a second.
The tiger took one step forward and the ice shattered beneath him.
He looked at Cilian now.
"Let me guess," he said, voice cold and sharp. "You’re the support. Ice and tricks. No backbone."
He blurred forward and drove a fist into Cilian’s stomach. The sound cracked across the sky.
Cilian coughed blood, staggered back, but didn’t fall.
Instead, he clapped both palms together and screamed:
A sphere of jagged ice erupted around him, freezing the air in every direction. The temperature dropped instantly, clouds turning brittle and white. Tiny shards floated around them like snowflakes made of glass.
For the first time, frost clung to his fur. His steps slowed.
Arkas returned in a blur.
He shouted, "[Million Volt]
Lightning coiled around his arms and legs like serpents. Sparks leapt from cloud to cloud. He dashed forward and punched again, this time faster, more focused.
The hit landed clean across the tiger’s jaw.
The beast stumbled back, the glow around his chest flickering.
Arkas followed up with a knee strike, then a backhand wrapped in thunder.
But the tiger didn’t fall.
He roared, grabbed Arkas’s head with both hands, and slammed his forehead into Arkas’s face.
Arkas reeled back, blood flying from his nose.
"Not bad," the tiger said, wiping a trail of frost off his cheek. "Still weak, though."
Cilian lifted both hands and fired another wave of sharp ice spears but the tiger waved his hand and a burst of golden Essence flared outward, melting them mid-air.
He raised both arms to the sky.
"[Feran Law: King of the Wild.]"
The sky turned gold. The air thickened around him, and something primal filled the clouds. His body grew slightly larger. His claws shimmered. His fur hardened, now glowing faintly under the golden light.
Arkas tried to move but the air around him was heavy.
Like gravity had doubled.
Cilian tried to summon a frost platform, but the ice cracked before it could hold him.
Then, from behind them, voices called out.
"Need a hand?" Cassian.
"Or four," the wind Grandmaster added.
The group arrived all at once Edgar, Cassian, the wind user, and the earth-wind hybrid who had shattered the Heavens Blade. They circled in, surrounding the tiger mid-air. His golden aura clashed against theirs, sparks flying as Essence gathered once again.
"Six against one?" he spat. "What is it with you humans and ganging up like rats?"
"You’re not worth the risk," Cassian replied calmly. "We kill threats. Fast."
Edgar was already moving, sliding through a shadow behind the tiger’s back. The earth-wind Grandmaster raised his hands.
Stone chains burst from the clouds and wrapped around the tiger’s legs.
The wind Grandmaster followed.
Dozens of spinning wind blades launched at once, carving into the tiger’s aura. The tiger swung wildly, breaking the chains and batting away some of the wind, but not all. His suit tore open. Blood traced a line across his chest.
Cilian placed both hands together, closing his eyes as the clouds around him turned colder.
Frost gathered beneath his feet, spiraling through the air in sharp flakes. Essence churned madly around him, colder than anything he’d ever drawn before. While the other three clashed with the tiger, he kept drawing, kept shaping, until the storm itself seemed to freeze around him.
His lips moved softly.
The clouds beneath them exploded.
A jagged pillar of pure white ice burst upward like a spear from the heavens. It caught the tiger mid-lunge, piercing through his back and pinning him in the air. For the first time, the tiger stopped moving. His gold-and-white fur turned pale under the sudden frost. His limbs twitched, mouth frozen half-open.
Cassian fell back, blinking.
"Nice of you to show up," Edgar muttered, his shadow forming twin sickles in his hands.
With the tiger locked in place, Edgar moved.
His body vanished in a blur of darkness, trailing lines of black across the clouds. In a flash, he reappeared above the tiger and swung multiple times.
The twin crescent blades of shadow carved through the tiger’s chest and stomach in a wide X-shaped slash. Blood sprayed like ink, twisting and turning in midair. The tiger howled in rage.
He broke free of the ice in a burst of golden power.
But this time he was injured.
His suit was in tatters. His stripes flickered like a dying flame. Deep cuts crossed his body, blood dripping into the clouds below.
Arkas who was silent and was gathering power roared loudly.
His entire body erupted in lightning. Sparks danced over his shoulders, down his arms, into his hands. His eyes narrowed. The air grew dry. The clouds trembled.
He pulled his arm back, lightning coiling around his fist.
His whole body disappeared into lightning as he surged forward, faster than the eye could follow.
The tiger’s eyes widened.
That’s all he managed.
A single, perfect arc of lightning split the sky. Thunder roared louder than ever before.
The blow struck the tiger from the top of his skull, down through his face, chest, and spine, straight to his tail.
A wave of light burst out from the impact. The sky shook.
The tiger’s body didn’t fall right away. For a moment, it simply hovered, cleanly split into two glowing halves.
Then the steam hit. The Essence crackled apart.
Both halves dropped like stones through the clouds, vanishing into the mist below.
Arkas hovered in place, shoulders rising and falling with each breath. Then suddenly, he coughed and blood sprayed from his mouth. Dozens of thin, deep cuts opened across his chest, arms, and legs. Crimson streamed down his robes, and he staggered mid-air.
Before he could fall, Edgar flashed to his side and caught him by the shoulder.
"Easy," Edgar said, tightening his grip.
Arkas tilted his head, eyes half-lidded, and let out a shaky laugh.
"Bald idiot, huh?" he muttered, his lips curling into a grin despite the blood.
Edgar scoffed. "You really had to use that?"
"I wasn’t about to let that striped bastard walk away with the last word."
Cassian floated up beside them.
"There was no need for that. There were six of us."
All six stood together, wind howling around them, lightning still crackling in the sky from the aftermath of the fight.
Cilian drifted over, eyes scanning Arkas. "You’re hurt."
"I’m fine," Arkas grunted, clearly not fine.
"Rest. We’ll handle the rest from here," Edgar said.
Arkas shook his head and responded.
"We haven’t heard back from Dante."