The green mist swirled around the warrior woman’s chest, half flowing into her mouth and the rest suffusing into her dark tan skin, especially around her acid burned arm. The burly woman rose to her feet once it finished, flexing her mildly healed arm. Her eyes flamed with both rage and embarrassment at having to be saved by her leader. She must be the bodyguard in their relationship and was deeply upset that she’d failed. Her pride took a hit. Those raging eyes flung up and glared at the new target of her ire, me. The ever so lucky me.

  The fox woman leaned over and whispered something into the woman’s ear. The woman gave the briefest of nods, her eyes trained on me the whole time. The warrior lifted a foot.

  The moment it hit the ground , I shifted into Ursa. There was no time for monkeying around anymore. Apis didn’t stand a chance against her; the only problem was, I wasn’t positive Ursa did either. Any of my forms for that matter. My disheveled armor tightened around my shoulders as I grew. Dark claws sprouted from my hands as black fur puffed out of my arm guards and around my legs. The fur grew unimpeded on my bare leg where the boss had eaten my armor.

  Dirt and grass piled behind my oncoming foe as she dragged her axe along the ground, tilling the earth in a slight zigzag pattern, her steps uneven. Glass shattered in the distance, telling me that Daila’s battle with the leader had begun. But I couldn’t dare to look away from the warrior before me. That’d be a death sentence for sure. Or a capture sentence? I shook my head. Focus. Which element will work best on her? She’s strong. She wields an axe. Good. And she's tough? Damn it, give me more than that.

  The woman’s slow gait gave me a chance to plan so I wasn't going to waste it. Yet that proved to be a challenge on its own. I tried to recall what I’d seen her do, but my thoughts were garbled. Ursa dampened my mind’s sharpness, its battlestyle relied on instinct rather than planning.

  My foe apparently didn’t care about that though. She stopped a few feet away from me. I raised my arms up in a guarding stance, making sure to keep my footing light as Jaren taught me when fighting against an opponent much stronger than myself. And by god was she strong, throwing that huge axe around like it was a child’s toy. If only his advice was for fighting people and not monsters. A glaring hole in my training as it were.

  She lifted the giant axe straight into the air. I watched it, getting ready to dodge when it came down. When it lands might be the best chance to go for an attack as well. Soulslike logic I know, but that was the level of planning Ursa could handle.

  As I got ready to counter, the burly woman slammed the weapon into the ground in the blink of an eye. The earth shattered around us before I could even think about moving an inch towards her. Oh. I’m dead aren’t I? I stumbled backwards, patting my body down making sure all my bits were still connected. And to my surprise, they were.

  I looked back at the woman. She released her grip on the axe, leaving it standing tall in the ground. She twisted her neck and rolled her shoulders, pops and cracks coming from her movements like a rice krispies commercial. Snap, Crackle and Pop.

  She ended her stretches with a deep trunk twist, which I realized was my chance. If she was going to be this arrogant, dropping her weapon and underestimating me like this, I needed to punish it. Once she finished twisting from the left and shifted to her right, I pounced. I launched at her, small blue arcs flickered around my claws as they ripped through the air, aimed right at her twisted torso. I was unsure when I made the decision to use the lightning charged Elemental Claws but it was made either way; if only this wasn’t the first real battle I’d used them in.

  But as my claws were about to rip into her unprotected stomach, they stopped. The woman whipped around on her legs and grabbed one of my wrists. In the next second I was flying through the air. My back crashed into the ground, making me gasp.

  But it didn’t hurt that much. Odd considering how much power I’ve seen her sue up until now. Maybe I was just tough, but something felt off about that attack. It was weak, weaker than anything she threw at Daila.

  I got up in a rush and flung another swipe at her. She blocked with her forearm, throwing my blow off course and then slammed her side into me. I stumbled backwards for a moment. I looked at her, the fury in her eyes had died down, now replaced with annoyance. But it didn’t seem directed at me, but at herself.

  I took the chance to attack with a flurry of strikes, blue sparks bleeding off my hands. But she shrugged off the static discharge, blocking or dodging each blow with relative ease. I never gave her another chance to throw me at least, making sure to bring my arms back after each strike. I stayed on my feet and on the attack. Ursa fought best when it dictated the flow of battle. So I sent attack after attack, hoping to break her guard even once. But it never did. She even managed a few counters on me.

  After a punch to my gut, I backed away from her. Looking no worse for wear, she took a deep breath. She wheezed near the end of it, coughing something up and spitting it out. It was an odd colored ball of phlegm, a mixture of colors that looked slightly like the cloud Daila made a moment ago. That’s it, she’s not at her full strength. Whatever Daila did to her weakened the tough broad, and that might just be enough. A quick plan formed in my head. One I think would work well on someone like her.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I attacked with both hands, similar to my initial assault. She made the distinction immediately and grabbed both of them. With a pull, she tried to shift my weight again and knock me to the ground. But I planted my feet this time. I was not going to be her ragdoll to toss around. I threw her hands off and then pushed forward. She met my hands. I interlocked my fingers with hers, pushing into her as she pushed back. We stood at the same height when I was in this form, so the force behind our respective pushes was even in that sense, neither of us getting gravity to assist. But damn was she strong.

  It took every ounce of muscle power to match her own. And she was weakened. I looked into her eyes. They were dark brown, almost black. But they lacked the anger from earlier. I think she was even grinning a bit. She gritted her teeth and pushed even harder. “Bout time you showed some backbone. I’d figured you a pansy ass this whole time. But you’re about ten years too green to go toe-to-toe with me. Here, try twisting your shoulder a bit.” She flexed her hand in such a way that it forced my shoulder down, allowing me to push harder.

  Her words enraged me, and not because of their content. I couldn’t give a damn about all that. No, it was the fact she was talking at all. This hulking woman didn’t utter a single phrase while fighting Daila, but I got a freaking lecture. And worse yet, her little shoulder trick helped. It infuriated me. I felt the temptation to Ursa-Rage. And while I knew I would probably need it in this fight, I needed to see this plan through first. I doubt I’d have the patience if I raged right now.

  “Hehe, did I hurt your little feelings?” She giggled as she mocked. My indignation must have been plain as day on my face. Red aura flowed off her shoulders. “Here, I’ll end this quicker, save you some shame.” I felt my strength waning, where she found the strength to talk shit and do this was beyond me, but a simple test of brute force wasn’t my goal. I pushed harder. Now that she was locked in on the challenge presented to her, I activated Elemental Discharge.

  Lightning was the oddest of Ursa’s elemental powers. Whereas ice, fire, and earth shot out projectiles immediately, lightning needed to not only charge up the bolt of lightning, but also had to be aimed well in advance. Made it my least favorite. But this came with a caveat: it was way more powerful than the others.

  So I charged it up during our clinch. The arcs on my hands grew more sporadic as they eventually climbed up my arm. The arcs of energy sat on my shoulder before launching into the sky.

  “That tickles.” She said as she watched the arcs launch up above her. But instead of loosening her grip to escape the clearly telegraphed attack, she clamped down harder. I met her strength. My heavy claws dug into her hands, but even the skin on the muscle bound woman’s hands pushed back before they could draw blood. Just what did her Constitution score look like? 100+?

  “Boy, a little shock won’t scare me.”

  I strained, fighting with everything I had. “Good thing, Egh, heh, it isn’t, ack, little.”

  The blue bolt shot out of the sky, landing right on the woman’s head. Her body jerked left and right. Her fingers tightened even more as the electricity ran through her nervous system. The arcs ran up my arms, hurting me. Only my claws got resistance from the element, the rest of my body was still susceptible. My brain and body wracked with the electricity, but thankfully she took the brunt of the blow.

  After the bolt ran its course, she let me go. I released my grip as well, backing away on unsteady feet, eventually dropping to one knee.

  Yet she stayed still, so still that I wondered if I killed her. However, after an uneasy second, she opened her mouth and a small plume of smoke leaked out. She straightened her back, then looked down at me, her eyes raging once again.

  “Okay you little shit. That kind of hurt.” The red aura on her shoulders intensified. I recognized it. It looked just like when Ursa-Rage activated, meaning she was about to power up. She meandered back to her axe, gripping its handle with one hand. “I was told to go easy on you. To make sure you lived.” Her grip tightened. “And I will see that order through. But it just occurred to me that we don’t need you in one piece. And those hands are pissing me off.”

  She pulled the axe from the ground. I felt a tingle on my wrists. I pulled them back and rolled away. Dust and dirt exploded from where I was just kneeling. Once it settled, I saw the axe jutting out of the ground by itself. She must have thrown it.

  Then a hand rested on my shoulder. I went to move, but the hand both squeezed and pushed down, stopping me in my tracks.

  “Good Preflexes. Just not good enough.” Her hot breath tickled my ear. “Good night.”

  “Glenna! Enough!”

  I flinched at the voice. It came from behind. I wanted to turn and look, but a fist sat barely an inch from my face. It unfurled and moved from my face.

  A small hope blossomed in my chest. Did Daila win? Was she holding the fox lady hostage? Is that why she stopped so fast? The questions ran through my head, begging for an answer.

  Finally the massive woman let my shoulder go. I twisted around to see what was happening. My heart sank.

  The fox tailed woman stood above a bloodied and beaten Daila. Splotches of red blood dotted her normally pure white hair. The strange curved blade sat at her throat.

  The fox woman addressed me. “Now, Liam, will you please come with us?”