Sensing that it's its camouflage was disturbed, the Prowler abandoned its disguise and revealed its true monstrous form.
It was almost as tall Baor in his beastly form, its six massive legs were packed with powerful muscles. Almost every inch of its skin was covered in a rough plate, similar to that of a Stalker, but with a dark metallic sheen, the only vulnerable places were the joints and face.
The three horns on top of its head resembling a crown and the large ugly scar running from its chin to the corner of its eye gave the beast look like a fallen king. Its eyes contained nothing but pure, concentrated malice.
Not waiting for them to move the creature pounced at the closest target.
Baor managed to grab its front set of legs as the large beast barreled towards him, but the middle one was left unobstructed.
Sharp claws scratched against the druid's skin, leaving long red cuts in their wake.
Baor let the beast go, and kicked it with all the strength he could muster.
The monster was sent flying back, but it landed gracefully, and without making any sounds. The situation didn't look good.
As the blood seeped from the druid's wounds, the runes on his body, now hidden underneath coarse fur, began glowing.
His injuries stopped bleeding and began closing rapidly.
Unfortunately for them it was clear that this trick wouldn't work too many times, the wound might have been healed, but the area where it was turned pink and vulnerable.
The abomination and the druid were glaring at each other, but they weren't moving - now that they've tested each other they were carefully planning their next move.
Taking advantage of the beast's focus, Lydia jumped and smashed her axe into its side-
BOOM!
Splinter's of the bone like substance covering the monsters scattered everywhere, and a large crack formed in it's once impenetrable armour.
Lydia jumped back, before the abomination could retaliate.
"We need to keep hitting that place until we make a hole large enough to wound it directly." She pointed turned to Cassian. "The two of us have heavy weapons, as soon as the the thing is distracted by Ba, we strike."
"What am I supposed to do?" Asked Calen.
"Keep your distance, maybe try adding some illusions or traps, DO NOT use the flame, we don't want to suffocate."
The Prowler was getting ready to attack them, but suddenly-
Baor charged the beast pinning it to the wall, and beginning a vicious wrestling match.
The druid and his opponent seemed to be equal in strength, they both had sharp claws, pointed horns, six limbs and maws full of dangerous fangs.
As their tussle went on, the scales slowly began turning in Baor's favor - the druid was more agile, and unlike his opponent could grab into things with his hands.
Finally, Baor grabbed four legs of the creature and delivered a powerful headbutt, throwing the beast backwards.
The abomination let out a pained whimper, and then snarled.
It didn't receive any fatal wounds, but it wasn't unharmed anymore, couple of its claws were broken, it was bleeding from a few gaps in it's armour, and one of its eyes got gouged out by Baor's horns.
To be completely fair to the beast, the druid also looked worse for wear - he was covered in deep wounds, and one of his additional arms got nearly bitten off.
Not wanting to give the monster any respite, Lydia and Cassian attacked in tandem, aiming for the now heavily cracked side plate.
To make sure they succeed, Calen quickly conjured phantasmal chains to keep the beast in place.
Lydia lodged her weapon in the opening, and Cassian hit the butt of the axe with the flat side of his sword as hard as he could.
Their attack worked just as intended - the axe acted like a chisel, and split the armour in two, simultaneously dislodging a large chunk and revealing tender flesh underneath.
The beast jumped back immediately and roared with indignation.
"Ba, grab the monster and keep it in one place." Ordered Lydia
The large druid growled, seemingly in agreement.
"Calen, when he pins the beast down, you'll have to stab it, and use the flame to finish it." She added.
Calen nodded and braced himself to start running as soon as the abomination was down.
Baor jumped is to the air, and fell on the monster like a meteor, his four fists striking the spine of the creature and flattening it to the ground.
Before it could recover Calen made run for it, and plunged his sword deep into the monster's body.
He sent a mental command, and all of the flame available to him flowed though the blade and started consuming the beast from within.
It hissed, growled, roared and whimpered.
It trashed, spasmed and twitched.
But it could not escape it's fate.
Slowly but steadily, its movements grew weaker, and the noises it made stopped.
When Calen saw the light go out of the beast eyes, he noticed how different it was from his previous kills. The last two times he did this, his enemies burned to a crisp, the fire scorching their body from the inside.
But this time it was different, there wasn't a single sign of the flame being used, and Calen knew why.
Previously he ordered the flame to burn, to destroy and scorch.
This time he ordered to kill - to take every drop of lifeforce remaining in the creature, and that was precisely what the flame did. Instead of burning the flesh it burned the very life of the monster.
The abomination was finally dead, and as the flame returned to the lantern, Calen fell a significant change occur.
He felt power, the euphoric feeling of strength filling his entire body.
That feeling was stopped when he felt a searing pain in his left wrist.
He fell to his knees and screamed, pure white hot agony spread to every inch of his being. Calen curled and stretched into strange positions as his world was being lit on fire.
"Cal!" Cassian dropped his sword and run up to him. "What's happening to him!?"
Lydia kneeled next to the boys with a calm expression, and put her hand on Calen's forehead. A soft green glow emanated from her fingers, and his spasmatic movements slowed down, and then ceased completely.
"Don't worry, it's just a side effect of receiving too much divine power in one go." She calmed Cassian as she softly stroked Calen's hair. "I'll leave him with you, he should wake up in a minute or two. I have to take care of Ba."
Cassian didn't look at her, but silently nodded.
***
Baor was sitting near the entrance to the chamber back in his human form, most of his wounds completely healed.
"I know you disapprove of what I did." He said in a voice quiet enough so that the boys wouldn't hear.
His sister huffed in annoyance and sat next to him.
"That's an understatement of the century, what were you thinking!?" Her tone was accusatory, but still barely above whisper. "They're still children, they shouldn't be tested like that."
Baor chuckled.
"And yet you still went along with it."
Lydia quietly observed the boys at the other end of the chamber fir a bit.
"Because sometimes you have to do things you shouldn't for the greater good." she sighed. "Still, there was no need for you to pretend to be so weak!"
Baor grinned.
"Wasn't my acting superb? I bet you they actually think I had problems with that kitty."
Lydia could only lament her brothers personality.
***
Calen woke up with a terrible migraine and stiff muscles.
"What... happened?" He looked around, blinking owlishly.
Cassian was sitting next to him with his legs crossed.
"You got a big power boost and blacked out from the strain."
Then he remembered, even though he didn't particularly want to. The pain was unlike anything he ever experienced, and he wished to never go through something like that ever again - although deep down he knew it was a futile hope.
"Did your mark change again?" Asked Cassian with a hint of interest in his voice.
Calen looked at his inner arm - it was covered dust and dirt, so he tried to wipe it away.
As he rubbed the mark to reveal it current state, a piece of the charred skin fell of.
Underneath, instead of flesh and blood was golden light, giving off a soft glow in the darkness of the cave.
"Looks like your about a third of the way to inheriting the flame." Commented Lydia, who at some point has snuck behind them. "Also, get used to the pain - merging your soul with a piece of a divine domain is supposedly one of the most painful things a living being can experience."
Baor stood next to her looking completely healthy, as of he never fought a lethal battle in the first place.
"Are you alright kiddo? We can stay here a little bit, but I would prefer to get back as soon as possible. "Said the large druid
Calen shook his head.
"No, let's go. I'll rest when we reach the city."