Boom.
Kei's body twisted unnaturally through the air, sent hurtling like a ragdoll.
A moment later—
CRASH.
He struck a tree, the trunk splintering on impact before his momentum tore him free, flinging him through the air once more.
WHAM.
The rocky face of a mountain greeted him next, the impact forcing the air from his lungs as the stone cracked beneath the force.
Then—another hit. No moment to fall, no time to breathe—his body was wrenched from the rock and slammed downward.
BOOM.
The earth buckled. Soil blasted into the air. Trees snapped in half from the sheer force of his landing.
It should have ended there.
It didn’t.
The instant he hit the ground, a shadow loomed over him. A hand gripped his skull, yanking him up like he weighed nothing.
Then—
BAM.
His face met the ground again.
Then again.
And again.
A relentless cycle of impact and agony, his blood painting the dirt beneath him as his vision flickered in and out of focus.
His body was too battered to resist—he wasn’t just being beaten; he was being toyed with. Like a predator toying with its prey, enjoying the slow, drawn-out suffering before the inevitable end.
His head spun as he was lifted yet again—only this time, he wasn’t thrown.
This time, something pierced his abdomen.
He choked.
A thick, grotesque wetness spread down his torso, and it took a second for him to register—he’d been impaled.
His body spasmed involuntarily, pain blooming from the wound like wildfire. His breath hitched, but no sound escaped his lips. He didn’t even have the strength to scream.
He should have been dead by now.
He wasn’t.
[Kei Yuichi: Level 0]
[HP: 1/15]
Barely conscious, Kei remained acutely aware of how long his HP had stayed at that single, fragile point.
It should have hit zero.
Every blow, every strike, every time his body was tossed through the air—each one should have been the last.
But more than his HP, Kei tracked something else.
Every punch. Every kick. Every motion.
He couldn't move. He couldn't fight back. He couldn't even lift a single finger against his assailant.
But he could remember.
Every impact, every shift in movement, every way his body was thrown—ingrained deep into the fibers of his muscles.
Hopeless as this situation was, he took clear stock of everything he was experiencing.
Every broken bone.
Every torn muscle and ligament.
The frantic movement of blood rushing to bruised areas.
The rapid firing of his neurons, synapses signaling every aching sensation.
The surge of hormones coursing through his veins, forcing his body to endure just a little longer.
Even as he was being torn apart, Kei internalized his senses, his Will blaring at him to take note of every change and function happening in his body.
Then—
He felt it.
A presence above him.
Not his attacker.
The Fangcub.
Its frantic efforts to save him had failed—again and again, it had lunged, bit, clawed, and attacked with everything it had, only to be swatted aside.
Not even acknowledged.
A nuisance.
A waste of effort.
The cub’s once-violent growls, filled with defiance and aggression, had shifted. They were… quieter.
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Weaker.
Not out of fear.
Out of despair.
The wind surged around it, tossing it back—a merciless gale treating it as nothing more than an inconvenience.
The Fangcub fought against the force, its claws digging into the dirt as it struggled to regain footing. It tried again. And again.
Every attempt to reach Kei was met with the same result—flung aside, discarded, ignored.
A whimper—low, pained, almost pleading.
"Please don’t kill him… It’s my fault. He was protecting me."
It wanted to help. It tried to help.
But its Aether was gone. Its body was spent. It had nothing left.
And yet, even now—
It still threw itself forward.
Kei's bloodied, broken lips curled into a grin—missing a few teeth—before he muttered hoarsely,
"Hehehe… don’t feel bad, Bitey. This isn’t your fault."
His swollen eyes barely opened as he glanced at the cub—his blurry vision barely making out its trembling form.
"For what it's worth… a part of me kinda feels bad for taking out your eye."
Then—
BOOM.
His body was launched again.
Like a torpedo, he tore through the trees, crashing through them like they were made of paper.
Each one collapsed behind him like dominoes.
The Fangcub howled—not in pain, but in rage.
A primal, earth-shaking howl of defiance.
Its claws gleamed as it lunged—one last time—its razor-sharp fangs aiming for the enemy’s throat.
It didn’t care if it would be swatted aside again.
This time—It was going to bite.
[Fangcub: Level 3]
[Aether: 0/10]
Aether surged toward the Fangcub—not to replenish its energy, but to offer it access to command the Aether in the environment.
Its claws, already sharp, extended. Its fur waved through the air, taut and hardened.
Its eyes glowed.
Aether ready to beckon its command.
It lunged forward—
And an astral projection conjured from raw Aether split from its body, a spectral maw surging ahead independently.
"KREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"
A horrific screech tore through the air.
The assailant howled in pain.
Its fur—once pristine, once untouched—ripped apart by bite marks.
But the cause of the injury was still in the air—still lunging forward.
A gale-force wind howled in retaliation, surging toward the Fangcub.
Once, that wind had thrown it around like it was weightless.
Not this time.
The cub’s Aether-backed claws tore through the wind, though with difficulty—it lost some of its momentum.
Grunting, the Fangcub forced itself forward, slashing at its enemy—barely managing to inflict damage.
Suddenly, it ducked.
A tail whipped through the air, aiming to twist its neck off.
The Fangcub commanded the Aether towards its fangs.
And—
Crunch.
"REEEK! REEK! REEK!"
The creature shrieked, its cries growing more frantic, more frenzied.
Whipping its tail to the side, the creature flung the Fangcub off with sheer force.
The cub twisted mid-air, instinct kicking in, landing on all fours with a dull thud. Its breath came in heavy pants, muscles twitching with exhaustion, yet its stance remained firm.
Its fangs were bared, its claws digging into the dirt as Aether once again surged toward its body. The Fangcub realigned itself, eyes burning with determination.
The wind howled.
Power gathered within its tail, the fur bristling as latent Aether reinforced the limb with unnatural strength. The cub’s muscles tensed—coiling like a spring.
Then—
Boom.
A blur.
The Fangcub launched forward with explosive speed, its tail snapping outward like a whip, reinforced by sheer force.
CRACK.
The impact landed squarely against its opponent’s ribs, sending the creature sailing backward—crashing into a tree with enough force to splinter the bark.
The world trembled in response.
A deep, guttural shriek tore through the air, the once-calm winds spiraling into a violent frenzy. The air vibrated, rippling outward as the environment itself seemed to react.
The Fangcub’s sharp eyes locked onto its foe.
This wasn’t an ordinary Chitter Monkey.
The creature stood roughly the height of a grown man, much larger than the usual members of its kind. Its body was covered in dense, silky fur, but unlike the plain brown of its species, this one’s fur was a brilliant, ethereal sky blue, shimmering under the filtered forest light.
More than that—its crown.
Atop its head, the blue fur didn’t simply sit—it flowed, as though caught in an unseen breeze. The strands of hair didn’t just move—they shifted, swirling like the tail of a living storm.
It wasn’t just fur.
It was as if it crowned itself as wind incarnate.
Aether pulsed through the creature’s body in rapid waves, responding to its very presence.
The Fangcub’s stance lowered.
This was no ordinary fight.
Its opponent was watching now.
For the first time, it recognized the Fangcub as a threat.
[Zephyr Chitter Monkey: Level 5 (Mutated)]
[Force Alignment: Zephyr Force]
The wind coiled around its form, no longer subtle but outright raging, twisting in chaotic spirals.
Then—
It moved.
One moment, the monkey stood amidst the rustling leaves.
The next—
It vanished.
A zephyr-force wind blasted past the Fangcub, strong enough to send debris flying. Instinct screamed at it to move, but before it could react—
BAM.
The Fangcub was hit.
The Zephyr Monkey’s foot slammed into its ribs, sending it skidding sideways, claws tearing trenches into the dirt in an attempt to stop itself.
The moment it steadied—
Whoosh.
The wind howled behind it.
A second kick.
Too late to dodge.
The Fangcub took the hit—sent flying into a tree with a sickening crack.
It gasped, forcing itself to stand even as pain flared through its body. The monkey was already gone.
The wind twisted again.
A blur—then—
SLASH.
Three deep cuts slashed across the Fangcub’s side, invisible blades of compressed wind carving through its flesh. Blood sprayed into the air.
The monkey wasn’t just fast.
It was using Zephyr Force to compress the air itself, forming razor-thin currents to carve through its enemies.
The Fangcub's mind whirled.
It couldn’t keep up like this.
This wasn’t a fight it could win through brute force. It wasn’t just out-leveled—it was outmatched in speed, precision, and sheer control of Aether.
But that didn’t mean it would run.
Aether surged again, no longer focusing on claws or fangs—
Instead—
It focused on movement.
A burst of force gathered beneath its paws—not wind, but an extension of its will.
The moment the Zephyr Monkey vanished—
The Fangcub moved, too.
Aether exploded beneath it, launching the cub sideways, barely avoiding the next attack.
The Zephyr Monkey’s strike missed by an inch.
It noticed.
Its head snapped to follow the cub.
The Fangcub’s instincts screamed again—but this time, it was ready.
Its tail flicked behind it. The wind twisted.
It wasn’t as fast—but it didn’t need to be.
The Zephyr Monkey was already mid-attack, body fully committed to the motion.
And in that instant—
The Fangcub struck back.
Aether surged toward its fangs, forming an invisible projection—a spectral afterimage of its bite.
The moment the monkey’s blurred figure became solid—
CRUNCH.
Teeth sank into flesh.
A shriek unlike before erupted from the monkey’s throat, its body twisting violently as it tried to escape.
The Fangcub’s jaw tightened.
Not this time.
Wind howled, slashing through the air in desperation—but the Fangcub refused to let go.
Its opponent thrashed wildly.
And yet—even as it fought to shake the cub off—
The Zephyr Monkey’s gaze burned with something new.
Not rage.
Not hatred.
Recognition.
Off to the side, almost forgotten, a pair of weakly dancing feet wobbled in place.
"Two, four, six, eight. Who do we appreciate? That’s bbno$, he's always up to something…"
Using the last of his clinging awareness, Kei focused on keeping track of the cub and the monkey as they fought across the terrain, the wind whispering their movements to him.
To be completely honest—
The wind was the only thing keeping him sane at the moment.
