Azurian, sprinting across the blood-soaked earth with Chidi slumped across his back, exhaled in relief the moment he saw August charging toward him. But that relief turned into stunned disbelief when August didn't stop – he didn't even slow – he bolted straight past, headed for the horde of gorillas just behind.
Before Azurian could react, Jabari's figure whipped past his other side like a streak of steel and fire.
"Drop Chidi off in the building behind us with the others and help us with these oversized apes!" Danso bellowed, thunder in his voice as he, too, stormed past Azurian, war hammer in hand, his eyes locked on the oncoming threat.
Azurian's instincts kicked in. He pivoted, rushing toward the structure in the distance, where the others had hidden, to deposit Chidi before returning to the fray.
Despite being the first to charge in, the first to make contact wasn't August – it was Jabari.
Though still not a full-fledged Beast-Warrior, Jabari's speed when unleashing his full strength was borderline superhuman. As soon as the first gorilla came into range, all distractions melted away. There was only the enemy – and the strike.
His glaive thrust forward like a bolt of lightning, tearing through the air and impaling the closest gorilla clean through the heart before it had the chance to react. Its eyes bulged. It crumpled.
The others saw the kill.
They roared as one, fury igniting their ranks. The scent of blood, the death of their kin – it triggered the primal rage of the troop. In an instant, their attention shifted from Azurian and Chidi to the lone human who dared strike first.
But before they could descend upon him, a hurricane of death slammed into them.
SWOOSH!
August's massive battle axe tore through two of them, slicing from waist to shoulder in a single blow, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake.
While the gorillas reeled from the confusion and fury, Jabari darted backwards, buying space with smooth, evasive steps. August, in contrast, barrelled forward through the horde rather than around it – an avalanche wrapped in flesh and iron.
One of the gorillas, recovering from the shock, lunged for August's exposed back.
CRACK!
Its skull was obliterated mid-swing by Danso's war hammer, the creature's body collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. Without missing a beat, Danso spun his weapon outward, the massive head of the hammer colliding with another beast's chest.
The impact caved in its ribcage and launched it backward, crashing into two more of its kin.
Another gorilla, seizing the opportunity, charged at Danso's blind side, using its massive fist like a sledgehammer to crush his skull. Danso turned just in time to realise he couldn't block in time.
'Shit. I won't make it-' he thought, helpless.
SHING!
A flash of steel swept through the gorilla's neck, cleaving it clean from its shoulders. The headless body collapsed beside him, and Danso caught a glimpse of Jabari already darting toward another enemy.
He exhaled hard. Relief flooded his chest.
Back at the building where the non-combatants had been ordered to hide, Azurian arrived and carefully set Chidi down, who was barely conscious, his face pale and battered.
Without a word, Azurian turned and raced back into the chaos.
"Chidi, is that you?" Malia asked, rushing to his side, eyes wide with concern. "How did you end up like this?"
"We fought…" Chidi rasped between breaths, his voice broken and dry. "A Magical…
Beast…"
"You as well?!" Joseph gasped.
"What do you mean as well?!" one of Danso's group asked, eyes widening.
"You're saying you guys fought a real magical beast – and escaped in one piece?!"
Gasps spread like wildfire through the students as they turned to Joseph, wide-eyed.
They had all grown up with stories – tales of Magical Beasts that could flatten villages, creatures equal in power to Mages and Beast-Warriors. Very few of them had ever seen one in the flesh, though – at least not cooked and placed on a dinner plate anyway.
"It wasn't us," Keaun clarified, shaking his head. "It was Jabari and August. That's how Jabari got injured!"
"Not against an ordinary wild animal, but against a magical beast?!" Gichinga asked, his voice brimming with disbelief – and a barely veiled edge of frustration.
"Yeah," Keaun replied hesitantly. "He was fighting it one-on-one unt-"
"HE FOUGHT IT ON HIS O-" Gichinga exploded, unable to contain himself.
Before he could finish, Malia swiftly clamped her hand over his mouth, shooting him a glare sharp enough to cut steel.
"Keep your voice down, or you'll get us killed!" she hissed, clearly irritated, despite the fact that Gichinga was still technically stronger than her. Still, that strength meant nothing if it brought danger to their doorstep.
Only when she felt him calm beneath her grip did she release him, returning her attention to Chidi, still lying weak and barely conscious. She began examining his injuries again, trying to see if there was anything she could do.
"He did at first," Joseph whispered, casting a wary glance at Gichinga, who was silently demanding that he continue the story. "Until the wolf avoided his last-ditch effort."
Malia might not fear Gichinga, but Joseph and Keaun – as ordinary students who originated from the slums – definitely did. Despite Jabari having beaten him in the assessment, Gichinga was still the strongest among their rank. His temper was not something they wanted to provoke.
"Then August tra-"
"When Jabari failed, August killed the wolf from behind while it was still focused on Jabari," Malia cut in coldly, giving Joseph a sidelong warning glance.
The others exchanged glances but said nothing. It was obvious there was more to the story than what was being told, but with Malia being a seeded student and tensions already high, none of them dared to push further.
The silence that followed was broken by the smooth, enchanting voice of Silver.
"I've noticed a bit of tension between you and that...
Jabari, was it?" he asked softly, brushing his immaculate silver hair aside with the grace of a dancer. The moonlight caught his features just so, and even the most stone-hearted of girls might've felt their breath catch.
"What happened there?"
The entire group tensed. They braced for an eruption – another storm of fury from Gichinga.
But what followed shocked everyone.
Gichinga answered. Calmly. Honestly.
With startling clarity, he described what had happened between him and Jabari, even going back so far as to trace it back to the time he'd inserted himself into a conversation between Chantelle and Jabari in a pathetic attempt to impress her. He spared no detail, laying out his own pettiness and how things spiralled from there.
"I see. How interesting," Silver said, his smile as soft as silk and yet impossibly sincere. It was a smile that gently pulled everyone in and made them feel safe – like they'd known him forever. A confidante, if you will.
Even Gichinga, despite himself, looked oddly lighter.
…
Back on the battlefield, the ground was slick with blood and strewn with the mangled bodies of dozens of gorillas. The air reeked of sweat, blood, and primal fury.
At the centre of this makeshift graveyard stood four young warriors.
Each of them was panting, bodies aching, muscles burning from the ferocity of the fight.
All except one.
August stood like an unshakable mountain, his breathing steady, as though he'd only just finished a light jog. His axe dripped crimson, but his eyes weren't on the carnage – they were scanning the corpses with unsettling focus.
"The endurance of Earth-Based Beast-Warriors is the real deal," Danso said between breaths, stealing a glance at August. But August didn't seem to hear him – his mind was elsewhere.
Jabari was silent too, caught in his own thoughts.
I've reached a bottleneck, he mused, replaying his performance in the recent battle.
Every strike he had delivered had killed. His glaive-work had been efficient, fluid – each motion purposeful. But even as he recognised the improvement, he sensed something else:
A limit.
'After my sudden enlightenment, my technique had been growing stronger with each battle. Every strike started to echo the feeling I experienced during my enlightenment more and more.'
He should have felt proud. Anyone else would've. But there was a slight frown on his face.
Toward the end of the fight, that feeling – that flow – had stopped progressing. The sense of breakthrough was gone. He was close...
so close…
Yet the path forward remained veiled.
'I guess I should just be happy with the progress I've made,' he told himself, a weary sigh escaping his lips.
But deep down, he wasn't satisfied.
"Why were they chasing you?" August asked solemnly, his low voice cutting through the stillness and snapping Jabari from his thoughts.
"Because… Chidi and I killed their Magical Beast leader?" Azurian replied hesitantly.
"Why does that sound more like a question than an answer?" Danso asked, finally catching his breath.
"Because, at first, after we killed their boss, the troop panicked and fled. But not even a minute later, they all came back – and there were more of them. Like fifty more." Azurian's expression darkened. "Originally, five other ordinary students were with us. They couldn't keep up, though. In the end, they got caught in the stampede."
The words fell heavy on the group.
Jabari turned to August, noticing the hardening of his features, the way his jaw clenched tighter with each passing second.
"What's wrong?" Jabari asked.
August's voice was cold and clinical, but there was a sharpness to it – a tension like coiled steel.
"Magical Beasts fear the strong and prey on the weak. That's doubly true for ordinary wild animals raised under a Magical Beast's rule," he said grimly. "When a Magical Beast leading a group of wild animals is slain, the others usually flee. If they're cornered, they submit – even to a different species. But to first leave only to return and chase down the one who killed their leader? I've never heard of such a thing happening before…"
Jabari's brows furrowed, but he didn't interrupt.
"They wouldn't come back unless a creature more powerful had told them to. Something far stronger. A leader above the leader."
It was the most August had spoken in one breath since Jabari had met him. But that wasn't what sent a chill through the young warrior's blood.
"You mean there could be another, even stronger Magical Beast behind this?" Azurian stepped closer, his voice calm and unperturbed.
"I don't kn-"
August's sentence was cut short as a gasp tore from his throat. Pain shot through his torso.
*SHLNK!*
Azurian's blade had pierced straight through August's chest, the tip glistening red as it emerged from his back. The strike was clean, precise – and utterly unexpected.
But August wasn't just any fighter. Even caught off guard, he reacted instantly, muscle memory overriding shock.
His axe swung out in a blur, fuelled by raw fury.
"DIE!" August roared, his voice like an earthquake as he brought the weapon down with murderous intent.
At the same moment, Danso – who had been standing beside Jabari – suddenly spun, his war hammer sweeping towards Jabari's skull.
Though Jabari had made many mistakes in his life, trusting too easily wasn't one of them – not since learning the truth about Oluwa's betrayal.
Despite looking relaxed, he had been ready from the moment this group gathered. Too many people in too close a range. Too many unknowns.
The moment Danso made his move, Jabari had already reacted.
He stepped out of range in a single fluid motion, spinning on his heel as his glaive flashed in retaliation. A burst of silver light erupted from the blade as it snaked forward like an arrow leaving the bow.
Danso's eyes widened, barely managing to dive to the ground in time, earning only a shallow gash across his shoulder – had he hesitated even a heartbeat longer, he'd have a hole in his head.
Jabari turned his gaze.
Blood poured from August's chest and back where Azurian's blade had struck, staining his uniform dark crimson.
Something snapped in Jabari.
His eyes went wide as Inayah's pale, frightened face overlapped with the image of August, wounded and betrayed.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Jabari bellowed, his voice shaking the trees as rage unlike any he had ever known consumed him.
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