In the Astral Plane, ghastly smoke streamed off its fangs and its skull, where its Sacred Bones lay.
The Panther growled and struck.
It moved blindingly fast, seeming to grow enormously as it did, the way shadows lengthened as sunset dipped below the horizon. Its harsher edges blurred, losing form, growing fuzzy in Zane's mind—impossible to trace or even hit.
Then it emerged in the fullness of its being—all dozen feet of sleek fur and coiled muscle and gleaming, smoldering claws, looming over him—right in Zane's face.
He barely had enough time to block.
Then its Sacred Bone gleamed—and those fangs raked heavily across his forearms.
They seemed to lengthen as they slashed; it was like their shadows were a part of them, shadows sharpened to an edge as thin as a shaft of light—and when they tore into him, they carved a good few inches into the flesh, nearly cutting to bone.
It wasn't a heavy blow, but it was wicked sharp, and it wounded him deeper than a heavier, duller blade. It felt like he'd been shanked by a thin yet long, excruciatingly sharp katana.
Sacred Bone, he thought with a grimace.
Blood burst from the wounds in thick streams.
Growling, he snatched for it. Tried to time it as it came—he swore he caught a tuft of fur as it passed, but it seemed to melt out of his fingers, going to shadow as it slipped away.
The beast had gone all murky again.
Then it was gone—blitzing into the distance with one Bone-powered kick. Its footsteps made no sound as it stomped down. It made no impact, either—like it wasn't kicking off the ground, but rather something in another world; it flitted away quicker, more gracefully, than anything that size ought to move.
It emerged under a Castle Baobab half a mile away.
He frowned.
Another slippery one, it looked like.
He got his Chains out. Unleashed his domain too. He figured if it was playing that way, he'd take it down the same way he took down the Sabertooth.
The next time it rushed in, speeding down that landing strip of shadow, it ran straight into a domain chock-full of Solar Flare.
Or—it should've.
Somehow the Flare didn't touch it, though; the shadow slunk through without touching it, as though it were hiding from the world—hiding from reality itself. But that wasn't what gave Zane pause.
Even his Radiation didn't touch the beast. Not at first, which shouldn't have been possible; Radiation blasted through everything.
Unless it wasn't there, he realized.
He blinked.
He could feel it in the Astral Plane, though—that fuzzy, blurry thing; he could feel it was somewhere near, but its precise location felt blurry to him—even its direction was unknowable. What was most clear about it was the Bone in its Skull. That was shining bright—powering whatever it was doing.
Then it emerged right behind him and lay into him.
Now the Radiation got to it—he heard the beast yowl, felt his Flares ripping its cloak apart. It sank its claws into him, got off a few scything shots, but those things weren't what he was concerned with. The Fangs—where the Sacred Bone was—shone with a deadlier power, and this time he made sure to jerk out of the way of those.
This time, he made sure to get ahold of it.
He let it have a bit of fun—let it get a few shots off with its claws, ripping down his back. They still hurt, shedding several %-points of Health each blow, but nothing like the Fangs.
In return, he'd gotten a Chain wrapped snug around one of its hind legs.
He felt a burst of satisfaction—the way he imagined those great pythons must feel when they had their prey snug in their grasp.
Just as he was getting ready to reel it in, though, the beast let out a full-throated howl. And it unleashed a torrent of power.
Dark essence, dark Bloodline, flooded the world. Shafts of shadow split the world, streaming off its frame, which suddenly seemed a featureless cutout in the world.
His Chains began to loosen around its leg—he frowned. That wasn't right. Its body was softening, slipping away.
He lunged after it, but he could no more catch it than he could grasp a shaft of shadow. He clamped down harder, on thin air. Then the beast was gone, melted away, faded into the shadows. And he was left there, bleeding heavily, breathing heavily, holding nothing.
"…"
He looked closer, chasing it with his mind as it fled.
The Panther was doing more than fading away.
He felt that quite clear now he was looking for it, sensing it clear with Great Sage Mind. He understood now.
To that beast the shadows were just doorways. He could feel its presence in the Astral Plane—it was akin to a creature dunked underwater, holding its breath.
That time he'd felt the shadows open. He'd felt it give way to its older cousin, the void. And he'd felt the Panther slip right in.
It was swimming through the void.
But like any animal held underwater, he knew it couldn't stay there long; he could feel that too. Could feel its form in the Astral Plane gaining definition, unbidden; nothing physical could stay in that spot long.
Sooner or later it had to come up for air. It was just about where it'd emerge.
And sure enough—about half a mile off, in the shadow of one of the great Baobabs, the darkness began to open. And out came the Panther.
Heaving, just like he was. And a little hurt in its own way—its sleek coat of fur charred in places. There was more anger, more frustration, in those eerie yellow eyes. But it was very much alive.
Zane considered it, brow furrowed.
So it was one of those.
…Bit annoying.
He stared it down, wondering how best to deal with it. It stared him down too as it licked its wounds; he could feel the Sacred Bone in its skull had dimmed, but it was fast recharging. Letting its powers come back, gathering its essence.
Preparing another charge.
That time it'd surprised him—but he'd surprised it too. He'd felt its mind up-close in the split-second it'd struck. Felt how surprised it was at its prey; how tough it was to sink its claws into his body. Its Fangs had shredded his arms up pretty well, but without the boost of a Sacred Bone its other weapons could hardly get half an inch deep. It'd need a lot of those to bring him down.
It was dawning on both of them this fight would be trickier than they'd thought.
At the same time he sensed something deeper in the beast. Could see it in the way its pupils dilated as it looked at him, the way it licked its lips, bared its fangs at him.
It'd drawn his blood. And something about it had roused a ravenous hunger.
Something about his life-blood seemed to do that to Monsters and beasts alike. It seemed to realize if it could bring him down, it'd have a great feast.
It was a bit strange for him to consider just what grade a treasure his body would make.
But the Panther was not about to back down—that much was clear to Zane. It'd come at him until one of them keeled over.
That suited him just fine.
He cracked his knuckles.
Fine, he thought. Change of plans.
This time he switched out his Chains for his hammers. He took note of the Everfrost Glacier's position—the Glacier being the overwhelming source of light on all the Plains. There were a few smaller shrubs, smaller trees, but the only things standing high in these Plains—the only things casting shadows big enough to fit a Panther through—were the Castle Baobabs. He took note of those too—there were only five in a mile's radius.
He raised his hammers, and stuffed them full of Heavenly Solar Flare. Loading them heavy with his raw power.
The Panther gave the hammers a look of pure contempt, then raised its head high at Zane, turning up its nose. It bared its teeth, like it was daring him to try to hit it.
Then it focused its eyes on him.
It settled into a deep crouch. And nearby darknesses started bending toward it, pooling at its feet—it stole all the little shadows cast by blades of grass. Its domain wrapped it in a tight sphere, growing denser by the second—stockpiling a thick cloak of the stuff.
Unlike the Sabertooth this Panther only burst into being when it attacked. It was only exposed to his Flare, his domain, for split-seconds.
It meant it could bring a whole lot more firepower.
When it came at him again, it brought its most devastating assault yet.
He slammed two hammers after it, but his blows came far too slow, careening far off-course; they made craters somewhere in the distance.
Then the beast was on him again, slashing so hard it ripped the fabric of reality itself, and long streaks of blisteringly sharp shadow ripped through his body.
𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘!
ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕙 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝟟𝟝%
This time the beast came with all its fury and he couldn't get out of the way of the worst blows.
The fangs seemed to lengthen as they sliced into him, falling like shadows, each like very long scythes ripping into him, ripping deep furrows, ground beyond—its Sacred Bone boosted its sharpness to heights even Zane found pretty painful.
It felt quite strange. The blades themselves felt light—almost as light as a shadow falling across him, unreal. But the edges were quite real. So sharp they didn't need to fall heavy at all; so sharp they could slice at the faintest touch. And when the Panther put its full heft behind them…
He felt long cuts opening up all over him; his blood fountained everywhere—he groaned, struggling to reel back his hammers in time.
Still, though, he felt a deep frustration settle into the Panther's mind. Even as it was shredding him.
Its dark cloak was fast burning away under the onslaught of Zane's domain, the burning of his Flares. Yet slicing into his body, it felt like it was trying to carve through a block of reinforced steel. He got the sense it was used to carving off entire limbs with a blow.
And though Zane roared, and yanked back his chains as fast as he could, angling for another shot in a clumsy, drunken move—though he sent his hammers flying back out again, sloppy-looking, far too wide, making two more distant craters—it couldn't seem to land a critical blow on him.
Soon it was forced to pull back again; its fur was singeing, its eyes bloodshot. But it felt nothing but contempt as it did, this sleek killing machine. As it watched Zane stumble about, swinging wide, he imagined it thought he seemed rather silly.
It melted away again. And there Zane was, left empty-handed again.
This time he hadn't even managed to grab ahold of the beast, much less land a blow on it. It'd all happened in mere blinks—even if he caught it he doubted he could've done much. On the other hand, it'd managed to shred well over 40% of his Health off of him, and he was bleeding from more wounds than he could count. When he looked down he saw bone in some places.
It also hurt quite a decent bit—something about these very sharp cuts. Less pleasant than being punched, even if it did the same damage.
From the outside it didn't look great, he had to admit.
There was just one thing he did manage, with all that wild hammer-flailing.
There were five Castle Baobabs nearby. Five places for it to scurry to. Only four of them were now flaming craters of Solar Flare.
The last shadow was just a half-mile out.
He turned to face it, eyes narrowed—and crouched.
His Bloodline exploded. So did his Asura runes, filling his thighs with a sudden rush of power. Building and building…
The moment he saw the shadows shift, even a little—the moment he saw them condensing—he roared and stomped with all his might.
The Panther re-emerged just in time to get plastered by several hundred pounds of slide-tackling Zane.
Distantly he heard a roar of laughter. "Hells yes! You take it to 'em, lad!"
The Panther let out a choked yowl; there was cracking as bones snapped on impact. Then they were tumbling over in a mess of heavy limbs. It tried to paw out, tried to melt away.
But it couldn't even do that anymore. It'd just used up its charge. The Bone in its skull had gone dull.
Zane was counting on it.
His fists closed around its neck.
The Panther reacted fast; in that instant it seemed to realize there was no slipping out this time.
The only way it could win was if it shredded Zane all the way through.
They locked eyes.
Then two deadly beasts—one raw strength, the other sheer viciousness—went for broke.