The darker werewolf moved first...A blur of black fur and muscle tearing through the air.
Lucien raised his sword just in time.Steel met claw. The impact rang out like a bell, the shock running up his arms.He twisted, redirecting the beast's strength to the side, using its momentum against it.
The second wolf came from behind.Lucien ducked, feeling the wind of its claws slice the air above his head.He rolled forward, kicked off a rock, and spun... blade first.A clean cut across the shoulder of the black one.
It roared, more enraged than hurt.
Lucien landed, breath steady, eyes locked on both beasts circling him.They moved like predators that had hunted together for years...one feinting, the other striking.
He deflected another claw, parried the next, twisting his body to minimize impact.Every move was precise and controlled. But every second slowed his reactions and drained his stamina.
The darker wolf lunged again, faster this time.Lucien blocked but barely. His sword cracked under the pressure, fragments of steel scattering into the grass.He jumped back, panting, eyes narrowing.
"Not again..." he muttered.
The second werewolf took that opening, its claws raked across his arm.Blood sprayed, red against silver moonlight.Lucien staggered, gripping his wound.
They were closing in.Each step they took was a countdown.
Lucien exhaled sharply.He reached behind his back... his hand closing around the rough handle of Orc Cleaver.
As he drew it, the air itself seemed to tighten.The silver moonlight caught the jagged edge of the blade, its surface faintly glowing with red mana.
The werewolves slowed because their instincts recognized the shift.Lucien stood taller, both hands on the weapon, the wound on his arm still bleeding.
"No more holding back," he said quietly.
The darker one roared and charged again.Lucien stepped forward to meet it head-on.Steel and fang collided in a burst of mana and fury... each strike heavier, faster, deadlier.
Now, every swing of Orc Cleaver carried purpose.Each impact bit deep, leaving trails of burning light where it passed.Lucien pivoted, dodging a claw and countering with a precise upward slash that split the beast's jaw open.
The second werewolf leapt from behind but Lucien spun midair, meeting it with a horizontal arc that sent it crashing to the ground.The air trembled with the force.
Lucien landed, knee bent, both hands gripping Orc Cleaver as its faint red glow pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.
The two werewolves rose again... wounded and furious.Lucien straightened, exhaling a slow, measured breath.
"Let's finish this," he whispered.
The clash resumed.No words. No sound but the ring of steel and the guttural growls of beasts.
Lucien moved like a shadow between giants.Each exchange was faster, heavier with his breath burning in his chest.He deflected one blow, stepped aside, countered with a cut to the ribs.The blade bit deep, but the werewolf barely flinched.
The second one lunged, claws flashing.Lucien twisted, blocking the strike, but not cleanly... three lines of blood bloomed across his shoulder.He gritted his teeth and countered, his sword tracing a red arc across the creature's abdomen.
Two, three exchanges later... another cut, this time on his thigh.He stumbled back, forcing his stance to hold.Pain burned, but his eyes never wavered.
They pressed him harder now, using their speed, their numbers.Lucien shifted his weight, timing their rhythm.A claw missed his face by inches... he dropped low, slid under a swing, and drove his blade upward.
The steel met bone.The darker wolf howled as Lucien's strike tore through its arm, severing it clean at the shoulder.
It fell back, bellowing in rage.The lighter one hesitated... just long enough.
Lucien stepped forward, his movements sharp and precise despite the exhaustion.He struck once, twice, then pivoted into his final cut a diagonal slash that cleaved through the wounded werewolf's chest.
The creature staggered back, eyes wide, and fell to its knees.For a brief moment, the forest went silent.Then the beast collapsed into dust, fading into the shadows of the rift.
Lucien lowered his sword, chest heaving.Blood dripped from his wounds, mixing with the dust at his feet.
A deep, guttural growl shattered the silence.He looked up.
The last werewolf stood there, trembling... not from fear, but fury.Its fur bristled, eyes glowing with crimson light.It slammed its claws into the ground, cracking the stone beneath.
The system's message flashed before Lucien's eyes:
[Boss enraged – Twin Wolf remaining][All stats temporarily increased by 50%]
Lucien tightened his grip on Orc Cleaver, breath steadying once more."You're angry... I understantd... Then come," he whispered.
The last werewolf moved like a storm.Every blow carried crushing power, each strike forcing Lucien back another step.His breath grew short, his vision blurred at the edges... but his stance held.
He tried counter after counter, but his blade barely left a mark.The creature's hide was like iron, its wounds sealing almost as fast as he could inflict them.Lucien's mind raced as his grip was tightening around Orc Cleaver.
"Why won't you fall?"
He though about utilising the skill etched into the blade.[Final Severance] pulsed faintly, calling to him.He hesitated, feeling the vibration of the mana within.One swing, and it would be over.One swing, and his sword could destrtoy the beast, is vow would make the monster disapear in one breath.
His jaw clenched."No… not yet."
The werewolf charged again, faster than before.Lucien twisted aside, barely dodging a claw that tore through the trunk behind him like paper.He retaliated with a cut to the creature's side, then another... each blow calculated, desperate.
The beast roared, swiping wildly.Lucien ducked under one strike, pivoted, and slashed across its chest.Blood sprayed... but again, the wound sealed.
Pain flared through his leg as he was caught off balance and thrown to the ground.The werewolf loomed above him, drool and blood dripping from its fanged mouth.Lucien's heartbeat thundered in his ears.He could see the reflection of the twin moons glinting on its teeth.
He reached for Orc Cleaver, feeling the weight of every breath, every moves.The beast lunged with its jaws wide, eyes blazing.
Lucien didn't retreat.
He pushed forward instead, driving his entire body upward with the last of his strength.The sword met flesh and bone.A deafening crack echoed as the blade pierced straight through the creature's gaping maw, impaling it to the hilt.
The werewolf convulsed, claws flailing.Then, slowly, its movements faltered.It let out one last low growl before its body dissolved into ash, scattering into the night wind of the rift.
Lucien stood still, panting, his hands trembling around the hilt.Blood ran down his arm.The blade of Orc Cleaver dripped with dark blood, its edge shining faintly under the light of the twin moons.
A system window appeared before him:
[Boss defeated: Twin Wolves of the Twin Moons Rift]Lucien exhaled, lowering his weapon.He looked up at the sky, at the twin moons watching in silence.
"Rest now, beasts," he murmured."Your fight is over. Mine isn't."
As he says these words, another system window appears.
Lucien blinked at the hovering window.The line of question marks pulsed faintly before dissolving into mist and then, something inside him shifted.
A dull ache pulsed behind his eyes.His vision blurred...and a faint notification appeared, flickering in gold.
[Skill ??? – Progress: 3.5%]
Before he could even question it, the world around him fractured again.The forest, the moons, the blood, everything... it all vanished.
He was somewhere else.
Smoke and fire.A fortress engulfed in flames.The clang of swords and the screams of dying men echoed through the stone halls.
"Lucien!"The voice cut through the chaos, familiar, commanding."We can't let him escape with the Grail! Go and run him down!"
Lucien turned toward the cry, his armor scorched, his breath ragged.He sprinted through the inferno, boots slamming against stone steps slick with ash and blood.Below, a figure cloaked in black leapt onto a horse and vanished into the night through the shattered gates.
He reached the edge... just in time to see the rider disappear into the smoke.The same symbol the red cross of the crusaders he faintly saw on the fleeing man's back.
The vision shattered.Lucien fell to one knee, gasping for air."The Grail…" he whispered between breaths, his voice hoarse.His fingers dug into the dirt, trembling with fury and confusion.
He pushed himself upright, using Orc Cleaver as a crutch, the blade still slick with blood.The twin moons above the fading rift cast their cold light on his face... on eyes burning with purpose.
He stepped through the collapsing gate of the rift...and on the other side, the light of dawn greeted him.
Waiting there stood several figures... members of the Hunter Association, flanked by armed Hunters.Their expressions were tense, weapons drawn, the air thick and cold.
Lucien met their gaze, his own still glowing faintly red from battle.Dark dust and blood covered him, but his posture was steady, unyielding.
He tightened his grip on his swords, one broken and the other dripping with blood.The silence between them was heavy, broken only by the hiss of the closing rift behind him.