The colosseum was no longer a battlefield.
It was a warzone.
Smoke clung to the shattered stone pillars.
Explosions echoed from every corridor.
And through the haze, two silhouettes pushed their way through an onslaught of Arbokh's-marked B-Ranks.
Lume's wings blazed like lanterns against the dark.
Each beat sent shimmering trails of gold
and green scattering across the battlefield, searing the eyes of the attackers.
Her skin flickered with radiant sigils, pulsing with a queen's fury.
"Rin!" she
shouted, breath sharp. "They just keep coming!"
Rin didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
His blades spoke for him.
His raptorial legs made silent silver arcs that cut through the dust—precision so clean the air didn't even have time to whistle.
One B-Rank fell without a sound.
Another crumpled, throat sliced in a single ghostlike motion.
His hood fluttered, revealing cold blue
eyes—eyes that saw everything, calculated everything, felt nothing.
Not until—
A tremor shook the arena floor.
Far in the distance…
a roar tore through the smoke, deep and monstrous—
Rin's eyes snapped toward the source.
Toward Arbokh.
Toward Kongu.
He froze for half a second.
"…Kongu."
Lume glanced his way. "What?"
Another shockwave rippled through the colosseum.
Dust rained from the broken archways above them.
"He's fighting the mythic," he muttered, voice low, strained with something dangerously close to emotion.
He took a step back—ready to sprint toward the main arena.
But three more B-Ranks leapt from the shadows.
Lume snapped her wings forward, releasing a
blinding burst of radiance that threw them back.
"Rin, don't even think about it!" she shouted.
Rin slashed down another attacker, teeth clenched.
"But Kongu needs me."
His voice was sharper than his blades.
"I'm an Enforcer. That's my captain—my partner. I have to—"
Another explosion.
This time closer.
A beetle A-Rank landed in front of them, aura rippling with arrogance.
"You're not going anywhere," he said.
Lume stepped forward, wings glowing hotter, almost burning white.
Rin exhaled slowly.
The battlefield reflected in his
eyes—fires, corpses, smoke, endless enemies.
He wanted to help Kongu.
He wanted to break through the horde and stand beside him.
"I can't get to him…" Rin whispered, breath heavy.
"They… they won't stop coming."
Lume placed her back against his, wings shielding them both
"Stop acting like a kid!" she yelled. "We survive this first, then we help them."
Rin didn't respond.
But he didn't need to.
His silence was an agreement.
A promise.
On the other side of the arena.
Gaja
and Vorran were still fighting.
The ground cracked beneath their feet.
Gaja swung first—an enormous, earth-shaking blow that sent a shockwave roaring across the floor. Vorran caught it with both
forearms, muscles bulging, the impact exploding into a burst of dust and shattered stone.
They slammed into each other again.
One fist.
Two fists.
Three.
Each impact sounded like a cannon firing point-blank.
The colosseum walls trembled.
The metal gates rattled.
Even the dust in the air vibrated from the force.
Vorran drove a knee into Gaja's ribs so
hard it cracked the ground beneath them.
Gaja answered with a headbutt that would have split a truck in half.
Neither fell.
Neither even stepped back.
"This is real strength," Vorran snarled, saliva mixing with blood.
"Not those little games the others play."
Gaja spit to the side, golden aura pulsing brighter.
"Funny. I was thinking the same thing."
They charged again—two titans colliding,
muscles trembling, veins bulging, the air exploding around them. Raw power in display.
But slowly…
Painfully…
Vorran began to push Gaja back.
One step.
Then another.
His grin widened, showing rows of sharpened orca teeth.
"I told you," he said, voice thick with satisfaction.
"An elephant can't compare to an orca.
The ocean is deeper… heavier… stronger."
Gaja wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Don't worry."
He lowered his stance.
His tusks gleamed with a white glow.
"We're just getting started."
He charged.
Full speed.
Full weight.
Full strength.
The arena floor cracked under the force of his sprint as he aimed both tusks directly at Vorran's chest—an attack strong enough to skewer a tank.
Vorran didn't dodge.
He didn't flinch.
He caught both tusks with his bare hands.
The impact tore through the air, a blast of pressure ripping dust into a vortex around them.
Gaja's eyes widened.
Vorran's grin widened.
"You think that can pierce me?" the orca growled.
"You haven't had the Ascension yet."
He leaned in, voice dropping.
"I have."
And then—
CRACK.
A sound that silenced everything.
One of Gaja's tusks snapped in half.
The broken shard skidded across the arena
floor, leaving a streak of white against the stone.
Gaja roared, collapsing to one knee as pain tore through his entire body.
"My… tusk…"
Before he could recover, Vorran drove his knee directly into Gaja's shin—
a brutal, bone-crunching strike that sent a shockwave through the elephant hybrid's entire body.
Gaja fell hard, slamming into the ground.
Vorran stepped forward, shadow falling over him like a tidal wave.
"It's not your fault," he snarled.
"I'm basically an upgraded version of you."
He opened his jaws wide— rows of orca teeth gleaming— ready to deal the final blow.
And then—
A sound split through the chaos.
A deranged, hungry, animal laugh that froze Vorran mid-motion.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—"
He turned his head in confusion.
And that split-second of hesitation was his
mistake.
A blur lunged from the rubble—
Waraabe.
His mouth open wide, jaw stretching unnaturally, eyes wild with murderous joy.
He clamped down on Vorran's exposed shoulder—
CHOMP.
And tore.
A chunk of flesh ripped free with a sickening, wet crack.
Blood sprayed across the arena floor like a burst of red mist.
Vorran roared—
a deep, agonized bellow that shook the entire colosseum.
"Sorry, big guy," Waraabe said laughing, blood dripping from his mouth, eyes wide and chaotic.
"You just looked so tasty."
© 2025 Moku. All rights reserved. INSTINCTBOUND is an original work by Moku. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited.