The clash in front of the altar only grew fiercer.
The Slime Witch's giant arm had grown thicker, but the pressure from the ritual and the leader's axe forced her to split her strength.
Part of her power held the stone sword down.
The rest had to meet the axe head-on.
The blood axe fell again.
The slime arm rose to block.
Red and green light burst outward, shaking the cliff.
BAM!!!!
The fat sorcerer slid back a full step on her slime disc.
Her robe tore at the shoulder where a blood sword had grazed her earlier, and more blood seeped down her side.
"Stubborn woman," the masked leader said, voice cold. "You are only dragging out the inevitable. Surrender. I might leave a complete corpse."
"Please," the Slime Witch answered, breathing a little heavier but still smiling.
"You are using borrowed power from a half-baked gate. I have carried mine for forty years. Let us see whose strength runs out first."
The leader raised the axe again.
Another wave of blood surged up from the sacrificed cultists and flowed into the weapon, thickening it, darkening it to almost black.
The slime under the witch's feet trembled.
Several slime tendrils shot out from her sleeves, grabbing scattered unconscious students and dragging them away from the center of the ritual circle one by one, even as she held the barrier.
She could not abandon the altar.
She also could not ignore the children.
The next clash shook the entire valley.
The stone around the altar cracked deeper.
Dust rained down from the cliff walls.
Even the chains on the crosses rattled.
On the altar, the white tiger's eyes moved.
Beneath her chest, the egg shook.
Fine cracks spread across its surface, thin lines of light leaking out from within.
Ethan, pressed against the stone beside it, felt the change clearly.
'It is working,' he thought, forcing more mana into the shell.
'That is it, breathe in, breathe out, keep pushing. I am actually playing birth coach for a egg now.'
The power inside the egg surged again.
The cracks widened, and light began to leak out, bright and thick like molten silver.The white tiger lowered her head.
Her breath was shallow.
Her body trembled as she kept herself between the egg and the swords that still hung above.
A faint, melodious voice brushed across Ethan's mind.
"You smell like another world," the voice said, gentle and tired. "But you reached my child first. That is enough."
Ethan's thoughts froze.
'She is talking directly into my head?'
"I will give you a part of my power," the tiger's voice continued. "So take care of my child. Tell her… her name will be Lunara."
Before Ethan could answer, the tiger's body began to change.
Her muscles withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Her once thick fur dulled and dried, as if the strength that supported it was being pulled away.
She raised her head one last time and let out a roar that shook the ground.
Light burst from her body.
A sphere of pure white radiance tore itself free from her chest and floated upward for a brief moment, lighting the altar like a second sun.
Several examinees who had been hiding behind rocks or trees stared with wide eyes.
Greed flickered in some of their gazes.
"T-Tier Five beast core…" one boy whispered, throat bobbing.
"If we could take even a fragment…" another muttered before his friend elbowed him hard.
"Are you crazy? You want to go there ? You are tired of living?"
On the cross, Fiona stirred again.
Her eyelashes trembled.
Her fingers flexed against the chains.
Oliver, who had been focusing on breaking her bindings, could not help glancing toward the altar below.
His chest tightened.
"Senior," he muttered, voice low. "What is happening down there? Is that… a beast core?"
"I don't know it seem so" Ethan replied in his mind
"The tiger gave what is left of her strength to help the egg hatch."
Oliver's first instinct was simple.
A Tier Five beast's last strength and a Tier Six egg.
In any other situation, this would be the kind of opportunity people killed each other for.
But one look at Fiona's face killed that thought.
Even half conscious, her expression twisted when the cultist mark flashed.
Her breath turned sharp and uneven.
The memory of blue flame and her mother's scream still chained her heart.
If he dragged her into the middle of that ritual, she might lose control completely.
He did not want to leave her alone either.
'This is bad,' Oliver thought. 'If I rush down, Fiona will chase me. If I break her chains, she will probably goes on rampage.'
He clenched his jaw.
"Senior," he said, keeping his eyes on the altar but his hand still pressed to the frozen chains around Fiona.
"Can you handle it alone? If I go down, I will drag her into it too."
"Handle it alone?" Ethan repeated in his mind.
"I am a sandal sitting on an egg in the middle of a cult ritual under a giant blood axe. Of course I cannot handle it."
He paused, then sighed inwardly.
"But don't worry I have a plan. You stay there and focus on freeing people.
Especially Fiona. When things go wrong, you will need to run."
Oliver's grip tightened.
Below, the Slime Witch and the masked leader clashed again.
The slime giant's arm, now packed with broken stone swords, swung from the side and smashed into the blood axe.
The impact sprayed red and green light all over the cliff face.
The witch's feet slid back another two meters.
Her face had lost its earlier lazy smile.
Sweat mixed with rain on her forehead.
"Give up," the leader called out, voice steady despite the strain.
"You talk too much," she replied, breathing hard. "Your current power is borrowed. I don't know where you get it, but you will run out soon."
As if to answer her words, cracks in the air above the altar, letting out thin strands of cold, distorted light.
The cultists' chanting grew louder to hold it steady.
Then the beast core dropped and sank straight into the cracking egg.
The egg beneath the tiger glowed brighter.
Ethan could feel the creature inside pushing harder than ever, using every drop of energy the tiger had given it.
The shell creaked.
"Oliver," he said. "No matter what happens in the next moment, do not look away. If this goes badly, you move as soon as I tell you."
Oliver nodded slowly.
He broke another chain on Fiona's arm.
She finally raised her head fully, eyes clearer now.
Her gaze followed his, down toward the altar.
The sphere of light inside the egg swelled.
A sharp, cracking sound rang out across the entire valley.
Lines of golden-white radiance burst from the shell, piercing through the air like tiny blades of light.
The masked leader's head snapped toward the egg.
The Slime Witch's eyes narrowed.