Watch the fight closely, Idalia told herself. Do not let yourself be intimidated!

  She steadied her breathing and let her claws sink deep into the dirt. The grove trembled with each blast of sound and wind from Rhaya and Hirohowl's clash. Leaves spun in a frantic spiral. The trees bent as if cowering. Hirohowl's roars shook her bones. She could feel his {Rage} in the air.

  She pressed herself against the outcrop, the surface was covered in jungle-growth that concealed her position. Kelix crouched beside her. Sparks crawled across his arms in thin yellow lines. His eyes darted from Rhaya to Hirohowl and then to Idalia, searching her face for direction. His breath came in tight bursts.

  "Ida. We cannot keep striking and dodging. Our hit-n-run tactics aren't working. Rhaya will wear out." His voice cracked with worry. "You saw what he did to General Raurgo. She will not survive a direct hit."

  "I know." Idalia's voice was low and full of grit. "We need to be faster. Meaner. Sharper. We strike together. We help her land something decisive."

  "How?" Kelix swallowed. The tension in his shoulders shook. "His hide is too thick. Even lightning barely fazes him. He eats momentum like air. Nothing pierces him."

  "Not if I warp him." Idalia lifted her head. Her eyes glowed with spatial light. "Not if I disturb his insides. I can make one spot softer. I can make one place vulnerable."

  Kelix stared. Shock and belief flickered across his face. "Ida. That is dangerous. Your mana is already low."

  The statement was enough to stagger Idalia. She did not find it absurd because he was wrong. In the contrary, she found it startling that he could have sensed her energy levels. Did Kelix have the {Sight} to peer her mana heat or was there something else that allowed him to comprehend her waning condition?

  Currently, her mana was below [30] percent and the potions he had given her were losing their potency. They weren't working as effectively and physical exhaustion was slowly rearing its grueling head.

  "Then stay close. If I fall you grab me and run."

  Kelix shook his head. His voice was small but fierce. "No. We fight together. We finish this together."

  A deep roar ripped through the grove again. Rhaya shot across the clearing with her wings buzzing like a saw blade. She struck Hirohowl's jaw with a spinning kick.

  The impact cracked the air and made stones jump. Hirohowl slid back a few paces but did not fall. His body was shaking with adrenaline. Foam gathered at the edges of his jaws. His claws raked deep scars into the ground.

  Instead of falling like any normal beast should, Hirohowl lunged again.

  Rhaya twisted aside, her vibrant wings humming as she shot upward. Hirohowl's claws sliced into the trunk where she had been a heartbeat earlier. The tree split open with a crack and toppled. Rhaya landed on a branch and threw another sonic burst. It slammed into Hirohowl's side and staggered him, but he kept advancing.

  He was trying to kill her.

  He was trying very hard.

  Kelix swallowed hard. His electricity flickered up and down his arms in shaky arcs.

  "Ida. He barely feels her strikes."

  "I know," Idalia growled. Her tail swayed with agitation. "He is resisting everything. I saw it. He pushes through portal gravity. He pushes through lightning. He pushes through sound. He should be dust after that last blast, but he is not."

  Rhaya flicked her head toward Idalia's direction as she rolled away from another swipe that could have taken her arm off.

  "I cannot keep this up forever," she mouthed. Idalia interpreted the vibrations of her words. It seemed similar to the Liorex's {Spatial Tongue}. "You two need to do something before he decides to turn me into a scarf."

  "We have a plan," Idalia called into the Kelix's earpiece. He had mentioned Yaella had given him the pebble-sized object that stuck in his ear. A very weird but effective communication pebble. "Buy us ten more seconds!"

  "Ten seconds might be my entire lifespan right now," Rhaya managed to muster against the strain in her tone, but she pivoted sharply and rushed Hirohowl again.

  Idalia placed a paw on Kelix's forearm. His lightning steadied under her touch. She whispered into his ear for the two Wanderans to hear. "Listen. When I warp the space around him his balance will go off for a moment. He will not fall. But he will lose the rhythm of his stance. When that happens your strike will push him sideways. Not hard. Just enough to force him to expose his chest."

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  Kelix nodded. His breaths quickened with excitement and fear. He nodded with a grim swallow. "Then I will draw his attention. He hates me enough already."

  Idalia grabbed his wrist. Her eyes glowed like wild embers. "Kelix. Do not throw your life away."

  "I am not throwing it away," he said. His voice steadied. "I am trusting that you will catch me if he tries."

  A soft beat thumped in Idalia's chest. She released him with a grunt, continuing with her plan. "We cannot overpower him. We have to disrupt him. Force an opening. Something that turns his strength against itself."

  Kelix stared at her. "You mean use your spatial distortion. The way you pulled his balance earlier."

  "Yes. But bigger. Deeper. I need to warp him at the precise point Rhaya strikes. Not shove him. Not crush him. Phase him. Thin his body for an instant. Only at one point. Only for one hit."

  She paused, hesitant to reveal the next step. "Then Rhaya finds the spot. She hits his heart. Directly. Through the chest."

  Kelix's eyes widened. "Through the chest. That will kill him!"

  "No. His heart is too strong. It will only knock him out. If we are lucky," Idalia replied. "But she probably knows how to knock someone out. She has to send a vibration to the heart. A shock. Not a rupture. It is our only chance."

  Kelix exhaled and nodded again. "I trust you."

  Idalia felt her throat tighten for a moment. Warmth flickered in her chest. She pushed it down. They had no space for softness. Not here. Not while Hirohowl howled with bloodlust and charged Rhaya again.

  Kelix braced. Electricity wrapped his fists in a tremendous white glow. The horn and antlers that distinguished his [Overdrive] form had returned. His mana heat surged and orange lightning crackled around his limbs. Without another word, he shot forward in a streak of lightning.

  Hirohowl saw him at once. His pupils shrank. His body twisted with frightening speed. He roared and charged. Rhaya tried to intercept, but Hirohowl barreled through her shockwave and focused only on Kelix. The boy zigzagged between roots. Hirohowl slammed after him, shaking the ground, splintering bark, crushing everything in his path.

  Idalia stepped forward. Her body lowered into a primal stance. Her tail rose like a blade. Her claws flexed. Her ears pinned back. She let her instincts climb up through her bones until her senses sharpened to a razor point.

  The world fell quiet inside her mind.

  Only Hirohowl mattered.

  Only the target.

  Only the moment.

  Rhaya darted in again. She landed three quick blows on Hirohowl's chest and ducked under his claws. His counter sweep tore a trench through the earth. She jumped back and hissed in pain when his tail clipped her shoulder.

  "Ida!" Rhaya shouted. "Whenever you are ready make it count!"

  Idalia inhaled. She felt the {Portals} behind her respond. Three opened at her sides like hovering jaws. A fourth shimmered into existence above her. She lifted her hand and the portals vibrated at different frequencies. Each tremor built on the other until the air twisted like ripples in a pond.

  Hirohowl turned toward her. His pupils constricted. He sensed the distortion. His muscles tightened as if bracing for an earthquake.

  Idalia growled and pulled.

  Space warped violently around Hirohowl. The gravity under his feet shifted. His stance faltered. His hind leg slid. His chest softened by only a fraction but it was enough.

  "Now!" Idalia roared.

  Kelix streaked forward like a bolt of lightning. His fist crashed into Hirohowl's shoulder. It did not injure him. It did not even make him grunt. But it forced his torso to twist just a little more.

  His heart was exposed. Rhaya saw it.

  Her wings ignited with power. The air around her fists hummed with vibrating energy. She rushed Hirohowl so fast that her flight cracked the ground.

  Idalia wrenched the {Portals} tighter. They distorted the air around Hirohowl's chest and made the space thin and malleable. His hide wavered like rippling water.

  Rhaya thrust her fist forward. Her arm phased through his chest. The vibration punch struck his heart directly.

  A single loud shockwave tore through the grove. Trees snapped in half. Rocks shattered into dust. Branches exploded into splinters that rained down like hail. The ground heaved. Air blasted outward in a violent ring.

  Idalia flew back into the dirt. Kelix skidded across the ground with sparks trailing behind him. Rhaya spun in midair and barely caught herself with her wings. She crashed down on her knees and gasped for breath.

  The grove fell silent.

  Hirohowl stood for a moment. His chest rose once. Twice. His eyes wobbled in their sockets. His claws curled. His breath hitched like a beast locked in a dream.

  He exhaled a long groaning rumble. His legs buckled. The giant body fell forward like a toppled mountain.

  He hit the ground hard enough to send dust shooting upward.

  Idalia pushed herself onto her feet. Her legs trembled. Her portals flickered and snapped shut. Kelix staggered to her side and braced her shoulder with his hand.

  Rhaya stared at Hirohowl's unmoving form.

  "That would have killed almost anything," she whispered, disbelief evident in her voice and eyes.

  Idalia swallowed and stepped toward the fallen Liorex. Her {Sight} scanned his insides. Hirohowl's heart still beat. No longer harsh, but now with a slow, steady rhythm. Her voice came out soft and raw.

  Relieved.

  "He is alive."

  Kelix nodded with wide eyes. "How? How is he alive after that?!"

  Idalia touched Hirohowl's jaw. His breath was slow but steady. His heart beat with the stubborn force of a creature born for battle. His body looked battered but not broken. She tilted her head, smiling as she listened to Hirohowl's snoring.

  "This was the only way," Idalia said. Her voice quivered like wind through leaves. "He fought to protect me in the worst way possible. He was wrong but he was still trying to shield me. We had to bring him down without killing him. Now he can be healed. Now we can find the truth."

  Kelix looked at her with awe.

  Rhaya simply slumped back and let out a tired laugh. "Next time. Let us all agree to fight something small. Something tiny. Maybe a rabbit?"

  Idalia did not laugh. She kept her head on Hirohowl's and felt her heart ache. This fight was over. But the war inside her tribe had only just begun. Were Mama, Pyra, Pyro, and Lyra okay?

  Smoke twisted from the crater that burrowed deep beneath her current pack. The forest lay in ruin. The air quivered with the last remnants of Rhaya's power.

  Idalia took a trembling breath. Her claws flexed at her sides. "We won… only because he refused to truly attack me."

  Rhaya stared at her. Kelix swallowed hard.

  Idalia lowered her head. "We need answers. We need them when he wakes."