Kyle stood before the pulsing stone pedestal, its surface neither warm nor cold against his fingertips, while blue energy coiled through channels etched deep in chamber walls that stretched high enough to swallow moonlight. The transformation had left him raw—muscles burning beneath skin that fit too tight, bones dense enough to sink him in water, thoughts crystallizing with clarity that scraped his consciousness like glass shards. He drew slow breaths, tasting stone dust and ancient magic and decay and triumph and the metallic aftermath of slaughter.

  "You gonna fondle that rock all day, or you gonna do something useful with it?" Dex's voice reached him from across the space where they'd divided enchanted treasures, the sound deeper now, reverberating differently through chest expanded by whatever the cakes had done to their bodies.

  Useful. Always about useful with him. Never about understanding.

  Marcus stood silent guardian nearby, frost energy spiraling unconsciously from fingers that stroked the cub's midnight fur. The creature had grown too—not dramatically but noticeably, muscles more defined beneath sleek coat, eyes sharper, movements more measured. It watched everything, learned everything, absorbed everything—including violence that should have terrified natural beasts.

  "Not sure what it wants," Kyle admitted, silver spatial energy gathering instinctively. "Feels like it's...waiting. Measuring."

  "Feed it," Marcus suggested, analytical even after bodily reconstruction. "It wants power. Same as everything in this place."

  Kyle nodded, a decision formed without conscious thought. He pressed palm flat against stone's surface, cosmic energy flowing from core through arm through hand into pedestal that drank violence-bought power with thirsty eagerness. The connection snapped into place with physical jolt that wasn't painful but wasn't gentle either.

  The stone flared, blue light intensifying until shadows retreated to corners where they cowered like beaten dogs. Kyle's vision blurred, doubled, fragmented—reality in chamber replaced by projections that appeared not before his eyes but behind them, images burned directly onto his consciousness without stopping at retina or optic nerve.

  Four doorways materialized in his mind—not physical portals visible to others but mental constructs only he could perceive. Each bore symbol that refused translation, that existed outside the linguistic framework that had converted other Cosmore script to understandable text.

  "Four choices," he said aloud, voice reaching his brothers while his vision remained filled with spectral doorways. "Four paths. Four symbols that won't translate."

  "Which one has the strongest energy signature?" Dex asked immediately, stepping closer. "Let's go where the power is."

  Kyle focused, trying to perceive differences between mental doorways that wavered like heat mirages in his consciousness. Each radiated distinct energy signature—vibrations and frequencies.

  The first pulsed with steady red-orange rhythm, heating mental space around it like forge ready for steel. The second hummed cool blue-green, its energy coalescing around edges like frost forming on windows. The third shifted constantly, energy signature changing between heartbeats, between breaths, between colors that shouldn't exist together yet did. The fourth burned steady gold, its energy signature simplest yet somehow largest, like bass notes felt more than heard.

  "They're all...different," Kyle explained, struggling to convert perception into language. "First is heat. Second is frost. Third keeps shifting between energies. Fourth is just...big. Powerful but simple."

  "Fourth feels strongest?," Dex asked, already leaning forward as though physical proximity might influence decision only Kyle could make. "Raw power. That's what we need."

  "Something's off about all this," Marcus observed. "The undead guardians were too easy for our level. This feels like the real test."

  Dex laughed, the sound bouncing across chamber walls like bullet ricochets. "Everything's easy now. We've outgrown this fucking place."

  "The third," he announced, silver spatial energy gathering around fingers still pressed against stone pedestal. "We take the third path."

  The choice registered instantly—not through verbal confirmation or visual cue but through direct neural connection between Kyle's consciousness and ancient mechanism's purpose. Pedestal sank into floor with geological patience, stone melting around it like ice surrendering to flame. The walls shifted, panels sliding against each other with sounds that scraped against eardrums like steel across concrete.

  Here we fucking go. Another test. Another slaughter.

  The chamber reconfigured itself around them—floor expanding outward until it formed perfect circle eighty feet across, ceiling lifting higher until shadows claimed its upper reaches, walls rippling with blue energy that concentrated in patterns resembling lightning strikes frozen mid-bolt. The architecture transformed with deliberate purpose, with unmistakable intent, with function that declared itself through form.

  "It's an arena," Kyle noted, Swift Fang already in hand, The Spine secured across back where new muscles could draw it in heartbeat's fraction.

  "Again," Dex added, excitement rather than dread coloring the word as he tighten his grip on Soul Splitter in his right hand, Windreaver Lance in left. Red energy gathered around him like a battle aura.

  Marcus created a frost shield that expanded outward from the center point between them, its surface crystalline enough to refract blue light into rainbow fragments that danced across their transformed faces. The cub pressed tighter against his neck.

  "Incoming," Marcus warned, frost energy thickening as the shield expanded.

  Kyle slipped into combat stance perfected through jungle hunts and enhanced through cosmic energy manipulation—weight balanced between balls of feet, knees slightly bent, weapons held neither too tight nor too loose. Silver spatial energy flowed through muscles, tendons, nerves—ready for Double Speed activation, for Warp Jab execution, for Cosmic Pull initiation, for Shadow Snap deployment.

  The wall panels slid open with stone-on-stone grinding that vibrated through their bones, through the arena floor. The sound scraped against their eardrums like dull knives. Sixteen black rectangles gaped around the arena circumference—each doorway eight feet tall and nearly five feet wide, evenly spaced along the circular wall that towered thirty feet overhead—sixteen portals into darkness, sixteen sources of imminent death.

  The arena itself stretched nearly a hundred feet in diameter, its stone floor worn smooth in the center where countless battles had played out, with concentric rings etched into the surface that caught the harsh blue light from overhead fixtures suspended from the domed ceiling fifty feet above.

  They emerged simultaneously—sixteen beasts padding from darkness on paws that made no sound despite their massive bulk. Their forms resembled hounds but twisted, enhanced, weaponized—each standing as tall as a man's chest, bodies stretching seven feet from snout to tail. Metallic plates covered vulnerable areas—throat, chest, joints—while electricity crackled between armor segments, blue energy arcing from plate to plate like miniature lightning storms. The air filled with the sharp tang of ozone, metallic and bitter on the tongue.

  "Finally something fucking interesting," Dex murmured from Kyle's right, barely ten feet away, red energy intensifying around his weapon grips, around forearms visible beneath armor plates, around his neck where veins bulged against darkened skin.

  The beasts moved with coordinated purpose—fanning outward from entry points, forming a loose circle that contracted steadily inward. They maintained equal spacing between them, roughly twenty feet apart, creating an impenetrable perimeter that shrank with each passing second. Their muscles rippled beneath short, coarse fur that stood static-charged on end. Razor-sharp claws of black steel scraped against the stone floor, sending up sparks with each step. Yellow eyes tracked them with cold calculation.

  "Stay tight," Kyle ordered, silver spatial energy surging as he took a position at the center of the arena where a faint circular depression marked the epicenter of the combat space. "Triple formation, backs to center."

  They shifted without hesitation—street-born instincts translated to arena tactics. Kyle, Marcus, and Dex formed a triangle with each facing outward, backs nearly touching at the center point, shoulders almost brushing, each covering a 120-degree arc, each protecting the others' blind spots. They stood barely five feet from each other, an island of resistance at the heart of the vast circular battlefield.

  The beasts paused twenty-five feet away, adjusting their formation—shifting positions to focus more numbers toward Dex, recognizing the greater threat. Seven creatures now faced his direction, while Kyle and Marcus each confronted four or five beasts spread across their defensive arcs.

  "They're not fucking stupid," Kyle muttered, fingers tightening around Swift Fang's grip. The spear's weight felt reassuring, its enchantment humming against his palm.

  "Still dead meat," Dex replied, red energy radiating heat that Kyle could feel against his back, warming the six inches of space between them.

  The attack came without warning—no growl, no build-up. Sixteen beasts launched forward simultaneously, crossing the thirty feet of open stone in seconds. Their silent charge brought electricity with it, blue energy crackling between armored plates, illuminating the arena with harsh, flickering light that cast erratic shadows across the weathered floor. The stench of burning air filled Kyle's nostrils.

  Double Speed activated with a thought.

  The world slowed around him, his perception accelerating until beast movement became glacial, until Marcus's frost shield expansion became visible crystal by crystal, until Dex's red energy gathered slow enough to track individual tendrils. Kyle lunged—Swift Fang leaping forward to meet the nearest beast, its tip aimed for the vulnerable eye socket above the armored face plate. He closed the twelve-foot gap in what felt like slow motion, the beast now close enough for Kyle to see his own reflection in its yellow eyes.

  Reality snapped back to normal speed as Kyle's attack connected. The beast twisted with impossible agility, head jerking sideways. The spear tip scraped across metal with a sound like nails on slate. Electricity jumped from armor to weapon to Kyle's hand, pain searing up his arm in a white-hot path that stole breath from his lungs.

  "Fuck!" Kyle yanked his weapon back, staggering two steps toward the center formation, fingers temporarily numb from electrical discharge. The bitter taste of copper flooded his mouth as he bit his tongue.

  Dex roared a challenge from eight feet to Kyle's right, Wraithbound Fury manifesting spectral duplicates. He thrust Windreaver Lance forward, the weapon punching through air toward the nearest beast, which had closed to within five feet of their defensive perimeter. Metal plates intercepted the blow with a resounding clang, electricity conducting through the weapon into Dex's arm. The smell of burning flesh wafted through the air.

  Marcus launched three frost shards toward approaching beasts from his position ten feet to Kyle's left. The projectiles streaked fifteen feet through the air before connecting with a crystalline sound, momentarily disrupting electrical fields. The creatures slowed briefly, frost crystals forming on armor plates, then resumed their advance as electricity intensified, melting the ice coating with audible hissing.

  The beasts retaliated as one. Electricity leapt from their bodies in concentrated bolts that struck with heat and shock, arcing across the open space between attackers and defenders. The sound cracked through the air like a bullwhip.

  Kyle jerked backward as lightning struck his chest, his body convulsing and disrupting the tight formation as he stumbled three feet back. The momentary falter created an opening that the nearest beast exploited—closing the gap with a single bound and sweeping claws forward in a perfect arc that connected with his thigh, tearing through leather armor. The sound of ripping flesh was wet and obscene. Blood sprayed across the arena floor in a fan pattern, gleaming black in the blue stormlight.

  Pain burned through his leg, but Kyle compartmentalized it. He triggered Double Speed again. Swift Fang hummed against his palm as yellow-silver time energy merged with the weapon's enchantment.

  The beast that had wounded him slowed to near-motionlessness, its massive form now less than two feet away. Kyle struck with cold fury, driving the spear tip into the gap between chest plate and throat guard. The weapon plunged through leathery skin and muscle, meeting resistance briefly before punching through with a wet, sucking sound.

  Orange blood fountained from the puncture, steaming where it struck the arena floor. It smelled like hot metal and rotting fruit. The beast convulsed once, electricity intensifying momentarily before fading completely. It collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, claws scraping against stone as its legs gave way, its massive body creating a temporary barrier four feet high between Kyle and the next approaching enemy.

  One down.

  Kyle's energy meter: 660/742 remaining after Double Speed and Swift Fang's combined drain. He deactivated enhanced speed, conserving resources while searching for the next target. Sweat stung his eyes, salt mixing with the metallic taste already coating his tongue.

  Dex had waded deeper into the beast formation, now nearly fifteen feet from the center point, surrounded by five creatures that pressed their advantage with coordinated attacks from multiple angles. They formed a ring barely six feet in diameter around him, closing the distance to striking range. Electricity arced constantly between their armored plates, creating a web of blue lightning that cast harsh shadows across Dex's blood-streaked face. The air around him crackled, making hair stand on end.

  "Come on!" Dex shouted, voice raw with pain and exhilaration. Blood leaked from a puncture wound in his gut where a claw had found a gap between armor segments, from a slice across his thigh that painted his leg crimson from hip to knee. Red energy flared brighter with each injury, with each electrical shock.

  Wraithbound Fury manifested with increasing intensity as Dex's injuries accumulated—his physical strikes followed by spectral duplicates that grew stronger rather than weaker. Soul Splitter arced through the air in a vicious slash, finding vulnerable throat beneath the armored jaw of the nearest beast standing just three feet away. Blood sprayed in a crimson fountain, pattering against the stone floor like sudden rain. Windreaver Lance followed, Dex lunging forward and driving the weapon through metal plate protecting another beast's chest. The sound of cracking armor echoed through the arena, bouncing off the high domed ceiling.

  Two beasts collapsed, their electrical auras extinguished. The remaining three adjusted positions to maintain formation integrity, creating a triangular pattern around Dex with each creature about seven feet from him. Their strategy shifted, electricity intensifying until air around Dex crackled with ozone-heavy discharge. The smell burned Kyle's nostrils from across the arena, even twenty feet away.

  Three down.

  "Dex, energy check!" Kyle called, pivoting to support the flank while surveying the arena for Marcus's position, who had drifted almost twenty feet away to the eastern quadrant of the circular space.

  "I'm good!" Dex lied, blood bubbling from the corner of his mouth where internal damage had ruptured something vital. The metallic scent carried across the arena.

  Kyle thrust his palm forward, targeting the nearest beast with Cosmic Pull. Purple-silver gravity energy erupted in a concentrated surge that should have dragged multiple targets into a compact mass. The creatures resisted—feet bracing against arena floor, claws scraping stone for purchase, bodies leaning against invisible force. The effect reached eighteen feet out, encompassing four beasts approaching from the western arc.

  "They're resisting!" Kyle shouted a warning as the gravity well failed to compress targets as expected. The strain of maintaining the ability sent tremors through his arm.

  Marcus battled four beasts simultaneously near the eastern wall, thirty feet from the arena's center. Frost barriers creating temporary shields that rose five feet high and stretched in a semicircle around his position, shattering beneath concentrated electrical attacks with sounds like breaking glass. Icicle Volley launched repeatedly, frost shards finding vulnerable points between armor plates of beasts that prowled just beyond striking distance, seven to ten feet away. Two beasts lay motionless nearby, orange-blood pooling beneath bodies still occasionally twitching with residual electrical discharge, creating slick patches on the stone floor.

  Five down.

  The cub remained hidden within the reinforced pack on Marcus's back, protected from direct combat through Marcus's constant positional adjustments. Each movement placed his body between danger and pack, between electrical discharge and vulnerable companion.

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  A concentrated lightning bolt struck Marcus's chest with a crack that echoed off the arena walls forty feet away. Stone floor beneath him frosted over in random patterns with a sound like crackling ice, creating a slippery surface.

  Three beasts seized advantage instantly, launching a coordinated attack. They charged from different angles, approaching at intervals of 120 degrees. Marcus parried the first strike, blade scraping against metallic claws with a shower of sparks. He blocked the second attack with his forearm guard, the impact reverberating through his body. The third caught him unprepared—claws raking across his abdomen from less than two feet away. The sound of tearing flesh mixed with Marcus's sharp intake of breath. Blood sprayed across ice-covered stone in a crimson slick that steamed in the cold air.

  Kyle abandoned his current target, Double Speed activating once more. The world slowed enough to count heartbeats between beast movements. He was twenty-five feet from Marcus, separated by the full radius of the arena.

  Warp Jab manifested at thought's speed, silver spatial energy gathering around Kyle's clenched fist. Reality bent between his position and the beast attacking Marcus—distance becoming irrelevant. His fist connected with the beast's skull from nine meters away, the impact transferring through spatial distortion as though he stood right beside it.

  Bone cracked audibly, the sound somehow accelerated despite time dilation affecting everything else. The beast collapsed instantly, electricity extinguished before its body struck ice-covered stone with a wet thud, sliding three feet across the slick surface.

  Six down.

  Reality snapped back to normal speed. Kyle's energy reserves plummeted—512/742 and falling as enchanted items continued draining resources alongside active abilities. His leg wound throbbed with each heartbeat, blood loss accelerating despite enhanced healing attempting repairs. The copper taste in his mouth intensified.

  "Marcus, status!" Kyle shouted across the twenty-five feet that now separated them, Swift Fang already seeking the next target. He thrust the weapon forward toward an approaching beast, the blade skittering off armor plate with a screech of metal on metal.

  "I'm hurt bad," Marcus replied, frost energy gathering for a concentrated burst. "Energy low. Using potion." A Minor healing potion materialized between his fingers, red liquid catching blue lightning in strange contrast.

  Before Marcus could drink, five beasts converged on his position from all sides, closing to within a ten-foot radius. Electricity intensified until the air itself cracked with discharge. The smell of burning ozone filled the arena. Lightning struck from multiple sources simultaneously, blue-white energy finding paths through armor, through flesh, through bone.

  Marcus convulsed violently, the potion vial slipping from nerveless fingers to shatter against ice-covered stone. The sound of breaking glass was unnaturally loud in the momentary silence that followed. Crimson liquid spread outward in a puddle, healing potential wasted against arena floor instead of wounds. His frost energy flickered, dimmed, faded.

  A beast lunged forward, claws extended, electricity concentrated around metallic tips. It crossed the six feet between them in a single bound. Marcus managed a partial block, frost energy forming a momentary shield that dulled the attack's impact. The claws punched through his abdomen from the side with a wet, tearing sound. Blood sprayed across the ice in expanding patterns, crimson against white against blue.

  Marcus dropped to one knee, frost energy flickering around hands pressed against his gut wound. Liquid seeped between fingers—both blood and something darker, viscous and foul-smelling.

  "Fuck! Coming to you!" Kyle shouted, already moving, calculating, knowing the thirty feet of distance might prevent intervention arriving in time. The taste of fear was ash on his tongue.

  Dex had slain Three beasts surrounding him, their corpses forming a macabre circle around his blood-soaked form. The bodies created a ring of obstacles approximately twelve feet in diameter. His energy reserves fell with each heartbeat—yet red rage energy intensified rather than diminished with Unyielding Wrath.

  Eight down.

  Kyle assessed the battlefield with clarity born from cosmic energy manipulation, from street survival instincts. Sixteen beasts had entered.

  Eight remained, scattered across the arena floor.

  Marcus's eyes rolled backward, blood bubbling from his lips—death approaching at terminal velocity. He knelt against the eastern wall, thirty-five feet from the arena's center. Kyle activated Double Speed again, the world slowing to underwater motion while his body burned through core energy.

  The distance between him and Marcus stretched endless—ten meters that might as well have been ten miles. His hand plunged into the Ring of Minor Holding, thought commanding storage dimension to release a healing potion. The vial materialized in his palm, red liquid sloshing inside crystal walls.

  Kyle threw it, sending it flying across space, landing in his outstretched palm inches from Marcus's face. He tore the stopper free with his teeth.

  To the right of him, Dex unleashed Haunting Roar—sound made solid, made weapon, made barrier between beasts and brothers. The sonic wave expanded outward in a 8 meter radius enhanced by Unyeilding Wraith, affecting all remaining creatures. The beasts slowed their advance, muscles locking as sound waves penetrated nervous systems.

  Kyle deactivated Double Speed, reality snapping back to normal flow. His core energy meter: 310/742. No time to recover.

  Black void energy erupted from his palm to engulf the nearest beast in sensory deprivation. The creature, just five feet away, shook its head violently, muscles twitching under short, coarse fur. Kyle thrust Swift Fang forward, aiming for the eye socket. The blade found its mark but penetrated only shallowly—metal scraping against bone rather than piercing brain matter. The sound of steel on bone sent vibrations up Kyle's arm.

  The beast roared—first vocalization from any of them since battle began—and swung a massive paw that connected with Kyle's back and side. Claws ripped through armor with a sound like tearing canvas. Blood dripped warm down his leg, pooling on the stone surface with soft patters, creating a small puddle that widened with each heartbeat. The wound burned like fire poured into his flesh, each movement sending fresh waves of agony outward.

  Warp Jab remained unavailable, cooldown stretching endless seconds while death approached on clawed feet and electrical discharge. The weight of a potion in his storage dimension taunted him—healing separated from hurt by thirty seconds' cooldown.

  Only option. Only chance. Only play left.

  Purple-silver gravity energy surged from Kyle's palm toward the cluster of beasts advancing on Dex's position twenty feet away. The creatures resisted—muscles straining against unnatural force, claws digging into stone with a sound like nails on chalkboard, bodies leaning against invisible current dragging them centerward. Their resistance weakened as energy drained, fur standing on end with static discharge. The gravity well pulled them inward, compressing five beasts into a tight cluster barely ten feet in diameter.

  Dex attacked with fading fury—each strike weaker than the last. Soul Splitter slashed in a wide arc, blade connecting with beast armor. He took wounds with stoic silence.

  Five seconds passed like geological time slices—measured not in heartbeats but in blood droplets falling from open wounds to stone floor below. Kyle fought against darkness gathering at vision's periphery, blinking away sweat that stung his eyes.

  The last vial of purple substance—mysterious liquid harvested from corpses—waited in the Ring of Minor Holding, separated from desperate need by cooldown timer that ticked with torturous slowness. The bitter taste of anticipation mixed with blood in Kyle's mouth.

  Dex took a lightning strike directly to chest, his body arching backward as electricity coursed through his nervous system. The smell of flesh filled the air, detectable even from fifteen feet away where Kyle stood. Dex collapsed to one knee but refused to fall completely, red energy flaring brighter.

  The cooldown timer reached zero.

  "Fall back!" Kyle shouted, hand already retrieving the final vial from storage dimension. The crystal container felt cool against his palm, purple liquid swirling inside. "This is the last one!"

  The vial left his hand in perfect arc, sailing across the thirty feet of open arena toward clustered beasts still fighting against the gravity well. Dex, understanding instantly, gathered remaining strength into legs that propelled him backward in a desperate leap that carried him beyond splash radius, putting fifteen feet between himself and the targeted creatures.

  The vial struck beast's armor plate and shattered—crystal fragments dispersing in all directions. The sound of breaking glass was drowned by the sizzle of purple liquid transforming into vapor upon contact with electrified metal. The reaction defied expectation.

  Electricity and mystery liquid combined, creating something entirely new. Purple energy distortions rippled across beast armor, metal plates losing cohesion where vapor touched, electricity dying where distortions passed. The effect covered a circular area nearly twenty feet in diameter. The beasts staggered, movements suddenly uncoordinated. Their armor plates corroded visibly, metal flaking away like dead skin.

  Kyle examined his wounds with detachment—blood leaking from chest, from arms, from legs. Dex looked worse—multiple punctures visible through shredded armor, bone gleaming white through parted flesh at shoulder, throat working visibly to swallow blood. They stood less than ten feet apart now, having regrouped in the arena's center.

  "I need one too," Kyle said, accessing the mental interface connected to Ring of Minor Holding. Cooldown: 30 seconds remaining.

  Marcus pushed himself upright, healing potion having closed the worst of his abdominal wound though blood still seeped sluggishly around edges. He had managed to crawl back toward his companions. He accessed his own storage, retrieving a potion for Dex whose injuries now surpassed both of them in severity.

  Kyle began counting internally while maintaining defensive position—enemies temporarily confused but not defeated. Double Speed activated in microburst, conserving energy while providing advantage milliseconds at a time.

  Shadow Snap targeted the beast nearest Dex, binding it in place seven feet away. Cosmic Pull gathered three creatures into tight formation, compressing them into a space just eight feet across, preventing coordinated attack while the timer counted down.

  Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven...

  A beast broke through Kyle's defensive perimeter, claws extended toward his throat. It closed the six-foot gap between them in a single bound. He twisted frantically, feeling air displace across his skin as the attack missed by millimeters. Kyle countered instantly—Swift Fang driving upward into the creature's jaw. The weapon punched through with a wet, crunching sound that reached his ears even over battle's chaos.

  Twenty, nineteen, eighteen...

  Dex rejoined combat—healing incomplete but sufficient. He moved to Kyle's side, putting their backs against each other with just inches between them. His attacks lacked previous power but carried desperate effectiveness. Soul Splitter slashed in quick succession, blade finding gaps between corroded armor plates of a beast just four feet away. Orange blood sprayed with each hit, painting the arena floor with abstract patterns.

  Ten, nine, eight...

  Kyle's hand dipped into storage dimension, retrieving the healing potion. The vial felt cool against his palm, the liquid inside vibrant crimson.

  The potion tasted of egg and strawberries and survival, burning a trail down his suddenly dry throat. Warmth spread outward from his stomach—first tingle, then river, then tsunami of sensation that swept through his system to knit flesh, to close wounds, to restore.

  Marcus retrieved a Will potion from his own storage, drinking bluish-green liquid that sparkled even in ambient light. He had managed to slow walk to within five feet of his companions.

  Kyle staggered to his feet, pain retreating like a tide. His core energy meter: 220/742.

  "Together," he commanded, voice resonating with authority born from streets, from jungle. The three fighters formed a tight triangle, barely three feet separating them, at the arena's center where they had begun.

  Cosmic Pull activated with a surge of purple-silver gravity energy that gathered remaining beasts into a compressed ball of fur and armor and electricity dimmed by purple substance still clinging to metal plates. The energy field extended twenty feet out, pulling five creatures into a tight cluster.

  Warp Jab followed instantly—Kyle's fist connecting with beast skull from ten meters distant. The impact transferred through spatial distortion. The armor plate cracked beneath assault with a sound like breaking ice, metal fragments embedding themselves in flesh beneath. Orange blood sprayed outward in arterial fountain that painted arena walls feet away.

  The beast collapsed without sound, without resistance.

  Kyle drew The Spine from the back sheath where it had waited. The weapon left his hand in perfect arc—spear spinning through air to find gap between armor plates of a beast twelve feet away. The blade sank deep with a wet thunk, finding heart beneath.

  Another beast fell—legs buckling beneath weight suddenly too heavy to support, eyes dimming from yellow to amber to nothing at all, electricity fading from blue-white brilliance to absence.

  Eleven down.

  Dex unleashed Haunting Roar for a second time—sound weaponized against creatures. The sonic wave expanded, affecting all remaining beasts. The creatures froze momentarily, nervous systems overwhelmed by auditory assault that bypassed physical defenses.

  Soul Splitter cleaved through paralyzed beast with contemptuous ease, blade finding gaps between armor plates. Dex closed the eight-foot gap in two strides. The weapon sliced through with a sound like wet silk tearing. Blood sprayed in wide arc, splattering across Dex's face and chest.

  Marcus executed Glacial Ambush—disappearing from physical view while cloud of ice particles obscured his exact location, creating a frosty haze. The sound of crystallizing air filled the arena. He reappeared behind a beast, spear driving into kidney region where armor thinned to permit movement. The weapon plunged deep with a wet, squelching sound,.frost energy conducting through metal to flesh beneath. Orange blood froze mid-spray, droplets hanging in air briefly before gravity reclaimed them for stone floor with tinkling sounds like breaking glass.

  Thirteen down.

  Kyle activated Double Speed once more—the world slowing to crawl while his perception accelerated beyond normal parameters. The Whispersting blade found a target —wind energy creating almost imperceptible breeze that guided blade past defensive movement to find exposed throat. Kyle thrust the weapon forward, closing a six-foot gap in what felt like slow motion, feeling it slice through flesh with minimal resistance. Blood sprayed outward in slow-motion fountain—each droplet visible during formation, during flight, during impact.

  Fourteen down.

  His core energy plummeted: 70/742, reserves depleted beyond reasonable safety margin.

  The chamber walls shuddered suddenly—stone grinding against stone as panels slid open to reveal entrance previously hidden. The doorway appeared in the northern wall, a gaping fifteen-foot archway that had been invisible moments before. The sound reverberated through arena floor, through combatant bodies, through air charged with ozone and blood.

  A shadow filled newly revealed doorway—larger than previous beasts, more heavily armored, standing nearly nine feet tall with a body mass twice that of the earlier creatures. Electricity crackled between plates with blinding intensity, blue arcs jumping six inches between armor segments. The creature emerged slowly, deliberately, its massive paws leaving depression marks in the stone floor.

  It roared challenge that shook dust from walls high overhead, that rattled teeth in skull sockets. The arena's very air seemed to vibrate with the sound. The remaining beasts responded with renewed vigor.

  "Fuck me," Kyle muttered, Double Speed activating. The beast lunged. Kyle stepped left, pivoted his torso forty-five degrees, and slashed Swift Fang horizontally. The blade caught the beast across its throat, opening a clean six-inch gash. Kyle switched weapons mid-motion, left hand dropping from Swift Fang as his right pulled Whispersting from its sheath. A quarter-turn of his wrist sent the blade into the beast's eye socket with a wet puncture. The creature stiffened, then crumpled, its momentum carrying it past Kyle's feet.

  Fifteen down. Energy meter: 52/742.

  Dex dropped to one knee as a beast pounced. Its shadow passed overhead, claws whistling inches from his scalp. He thrust Windreaver upward, using the beast's momentum against it. The spear point struck between two corroded chest plates, the impact reverberating up Dex's arms. He twisted the weapon ninety degrees clockwise with a sharp snap of his wrists. Something vital ruptured inside the creature—a wet, tearing sound followed by a gush of orange fluid that splashed across Dex's face, dripping from his chin in thick globules. He licked it.

  Sixteen down.

  The leader charged toward Marcus, claws extended. It crossed fifty feet of arena in seconds, its mass creating small tremors in the stone floor. Marcus raised frost shield that shattered instantly beneath electrical discharge with a sound like breaking glass. The beast crashed into him, slamming Marcus against chamber wall with force that cracked stone behind him with a resounding boom. The impact created a spiderweb of fractures six feet across in the solid rock wall.

  The reinforced pack on Marcus's back tore open from the impact. The cub tumbled out, landing six feet away with a loud thud.

  The beast's claws extended during follow-through, finding gap between armor plates protecting shoulder. The sound of tearing flesh and snapping bone filled the arena as limb separated from body—arm flying across arena to land with wet slap against floor thirty feet distant. Blood sprayed from the wound in rhythmic pulses, creating a crimson arc that painted the wall and floor in a six-foot radius.

  Marcus screamed—sound dragged from throat by pain too intense to contain. Blood pulsed from shoulder stump in rhythm matched to heart still beating, right hand clutching his severed limb.

  Kyle checked his energy: 47/742. Fingers trembling, he activated Cosmic Pull. Purple-silver energy stretched toward the beast, dragging it backward three feet. The creature's claws scraped stone, fighting the pull.

  The cub scrambled toward Marcus, ears flat against its skull.

  "Dex, now!" Kyle shouted, releasing Cosmic Pull as his energy hit 12/742.

  Dex unleashed Haunting Roar. The sonic wave struck the beast, freezing it mid-lunge. Its muscles locked, eyes dilating.

  Kyle circled right, switching Swift Fang to his left hand, drawing Whispersting with his right. He drove both blades simultaneously into the beast's flanks. Swift Fang pierced a kidney. Whispersting found lung. The beast roared, electricity intensifying.

  The beast broke free of paralysis, swatting Kyle aside. He struck the wall, air punching from his lungs.

  Dex drove Soul Splitter through the beast's throat. Orange blood cascaded over his arms. The creature collapsed, electricity fading to nothing.

  All Down

  The battle ended with anticlimax—no dramatic declaration, no triumphant statement, no recognition that victory had been achieved. Only three men breathing heavily, bleeding freely, standing despite everything.

  Kyle staggered toward Marcus, movements uncoordinated from blood loss and energy depletion. The distance between them—twenty feet of blood-slicked stone—seemed endless. Marcus lay propped against wall—skin pale as the frost covering his wounds, eyes unfocused, frost energy maintaining minimal life-preserving shell around wound that should have killed him.

  "Hold on," Kyle commanded, voice rough with thirst and exhaustion. He knelt beside his fallen companion, their faces now just inches apart. His jaw tightened, eyes narrowed in focus. The potion materialized directly in his palm, summoned by thought from the ring's storage dimension.

  Marcus grasped the bottle with trembling hand—grip uncertain, coordination compromised, determination undiminished. He swallowed the yellow-green liquid that smelled of spring and rebirth.

  The scream that followed transcended pain previously expressed—sound torn from soul rather than throat. Marcus's back arched against stone as new bone erupted from severed shoulder—white spear pushing outward with geological patience yet biological impossibility. The regrowth extended inch by excruciating inch. The sound of forming bone filled the arena, wet and organic and wrong.

  Muscle formed around skeletal framework—red fibers spinning themselves from nothing, from magic, from whatever power Growth potion commanded within body adapted through repeated exposure. Nerves grew visible briefly—electric blue lines tracing patterns more complex than city transit maps. The smell was copper and ozone and life itself.

  Skin flowed last—closing over newly formed structures like water filling depression. The process completed with sudden silence that felt louder than scream preceding it—absence more noticeable than presence, recovery more miraculous than injury.

  The cub returned to Marcus with slow, cautious movement, crossing fifteen feet of corpse-strewn ground. It climbed onto his chest, golden eyes examining regenerated limb with feral interest.

  Kyle sank to floor beside them, energy reserves depleted beyond immediate recovery possibility, consciousness threatening departure without permission. His last thought before darkness claimed him temporarily:

  We survived. Again. Always. Forever.