Lord Of Beasts

Elara and Kaela were supposed to take down Mark together.

They had silently agreed on that plan, both understanding that Mark had become far too dangerous to handle carelessly.

But the moment Kaela moved, that plan went out the window.

She burst forward, her violet eyes locked onto Mark as her body accelerated. The ground cracked beneath her first step, but unlike before, her purple aura wasn’t flaring wildly around her body.

Instead, it remained close to her skin, almost unnaturally calm.

Mark didn’t retreat.

He stepped forward to meet her.

The two met in the middle of the ruined battlefield.

Kaela’s fist came first.

Mark raised his arm, and their fists collided.

KRAAAK!

A violent shockwave exploded outward, sending chunks of broken stone flying across the battlefield. Neither moved, their fists locked together as they stared at one another.

Then Kaela grinned.

Mark’s expression remained completely blank.

Kaela twisted her body and drove her other fist toward his face.

Mark ducked beneath it, allowing her fist to pass over his head, and immediately answered with a punch of his own.

Kaela leaned backwards, and Mark’s fist passed within centimetres of her face. The pressure alone whipped her hair backwards, but she recovered instantly and drove her knee into his stomach.

THUD!

Mark’s body bent slightly from the impact.

Kaela followed with an elbow, but Mark blocked it.

Even so, the force behind the strike pushed him several metres backwards before he dug his feet into the ground and stopped himself.

Kaela was already there.

Her fist slammed into his chest with enough force to make the air rupture around the point of impact.

WHAM!

Mark was launched backwards, crashing through a large stone formation before disappearing beneath the rubble.

Kaela stood where she was, rolling her shoulder as a grin spread across her face.

”Come on,” she muttered. ”Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got.”

The rubble exploded.

Mark emerged.

There wasn’t a word of response.

He simply charged.

His fist came toward Kaela’s face, and she raised her arm to block it.

CRACK!

The impact pushed her backwards, but Mark immediately followed with another punch. Kaela deflected it, then slipped beneath a third before twisting away from a fourth. The exchange became faster by the second, with Mark refusing to give her even a moment to breathe.

Then Kaela countered with a punch directly into Mark’s ribs.

THOOM!

Mark’s body shifted from the impact, his foot sliding across the ground.

Then he smiled.

It was barely noticeable, but Elara saw it.

Mark had learned something.

Kaela’s eyes narrowed.

”Oh?”

She moved again, accelerating until her body became a blur. Mark’s head snapped to the side as her first punch narrowly missed him, but her second punch connected with his jaw.

CRACK!

Mark’s head was thrown sideways.

Before he could recover, Kaela grabbed his shoulder and drove her knee into his stomach again.

KRAK!

Mark’s body folded.

Kaela immediately followed with a powerful uppercut.

BOOOOM!

Mark was launched into the air.

Elara moved instinctively.

She had been waiting for an opening, and now she finally saw one.

Her body vanished.

In an instant, she appeared above Mark.

A crimson Mana Construct formed around her fist as she descended, and she drove the reinforced strike toward him.

Mark twisted midair.

The attack grazed his shoulder instead of his chest.

WHUMP!

Mark was sent tumbling sideways.

Kaela was already moving.

She intercepted him before he could recover, swinging her fist toward his abdomen.

Mark blocked with both arms.

BOOM!

The collision sent another shockwave across the battlefield.

Elara appeared beside Kaela.

”Left.”

This time, Kaela moved with her.

Elara stepped in from one side while Kaela attacked from the other, forcing Mark between them. A crimson gauntlet formed around Elara’s arm as she prepared to strike the moment Mark reacted to Kaela’s attack.

Mark’s eyes shifted.

He saw it coming, and his body twisted.

Kaela’s fist passed by his head while Elara’s reinforced strike came in from the opposite direction.

Mark dropped.

Both attacks passed above him.

His hands slammed into the ground.

CRACK!

The earth ruptured beneath his palms as he propelled himself upward between them. His shoulder caught Kaela beneath the chin before he twisted and drove his fist toward Elara.

Elara blocked.

THOOM!

The force pushed her backwards through the air.

She recovered almost instantly, but Kaela was already attacking again.

”Can we-”

Kaela ignored her attempts to sync up.

She reached Mark before he could fully turn and slammed another fist into his chest.

WHAM!

Both of them dropped toward the ground.

Mark twisted in midair, his foot striking Kaela directly in the stomach.

KRAK!

Kaela was thrown away, but she recovered before landing and skidded across the ground.

Mark landed on his feet.

Elara moved to join them again, but she hesitated.

Something about Kaela had changed.

It wasn’t simply that she was stronger, which she definitely was. Each of her strikes contained enough force to damage and throw Mark, who had just defeated an A Rank Monster.

At this point, it was hard to believe that either of them was human.

But what concerned Elara most was the way she was fighting.

Kaela had never been one to shy away from taking damage to deal it, trading blows with most of her opponents. But now she was practically inviting them, even more than before.

Mark charged.

Kaela didn’t dodge.

His fist slammed into her stomach.

BOOM!

Her body folded around the impact, and she was thrown backwards.

But before she even stopped moving, the damage from the monster in human form had already disappeared. Her muscles shifted back into place, her breathing steadied, and the immediate pain had faded.

Kaela smiled.

She looked genuinely delighted.

”Again!”

Even Mark seemed taken aback by her almost masochistic combat style.

Kaela rushed forward.

Elara watched the exchange with growing disbelief as the two collided again.

They were humanoid disasters, fighting in close combat at unbelievable speeds and with extraordinary strength.

Kaela took another punch.

Then another.

She barely bothered to defend herself anymore.

Every time Mark struck her, her body simply recovered.

Bones that cracked snapped back into place, torn muscles restored themselves almost instantly, and bruising disappeared before it could properly form.

And her recovery was somehow getting faster.

Kaela had taken her own enlightenment seriously, and if she really was immortal now, then there was no reason to fear damage. There was no reason to dodge something she could simply recover from.

In fact, the more powerful Mark’s attacks became, the more Kaela seemed to welcome them.

Elara stared, deciding to sit this one out.

’It’s almost like she’s trying to mimic Mark’s adaptations.’

Kaela’s grin widened as Mark’s fist slammed into her cheek.

CRACK!

Her head snapped sideways, as though her neck had been broken.

A moment later, it returned to its natural position.

She laughed.

”That one actually hurt.”

But rather than moping, she returned with a punch of her own.

WHAM!

Mark’s head jerked backwards.

Elara sighed and slowly rose into the air as she watched them continue.

’I’ll just let them tire each other out.’

She hovered several dozen metres above the battlefield, folding her arms as she watched the two monsters below continue tearing the landscape apart.

”Knock yourselves out, literally!”

Though she couldn’t have predicted how things would actually end...