Kevin's hands moved as he stared at Kelya's eyes.
He grabbed Kelya's armored tail where it impaled his chest.
Kelya's eyes widened.
"What—?"
She tried to drive the tail deeper, forcing more voltage into the strike. The electricity intensified, crawling along the length of the tail like living serpents. Stone shattered behind Kevin as the pressure increased.
But Kevin's strength did not remain ordinary.
A violent surge of shadow energy erupted from his back, and his body was covered with mist, it was combination of green and silver, the merged residue of Black Rabbit's might and Sallie's essence. His muscles tightened, bone grinding against bone as raw power poured into his frame without restraint.
Cracks formed along Kelya's tail.
Fine at first.
Then spreading rapidly.
Kelya felt it—and panic crossed her face for the first time.
She attempted to withdraw the tail, but Kevin's grip tightened like a vice forged from will and shadow.
The electricity surrounding Kelya's body redirected violently, surging toward the tail in Kevin's chest in a last attempt to fry him from within.
In that instant…
Kelya forgot Black Rabbit existed.
And that was enough.
The humanoid shadow moved like a guillotine.
Black Rabbit appeared at the fractured joint, claws glowing with compressed shadow. With a sharp, fluid motion driven by coiled strength, he severed the armored tail cleanly before the lightning could reach Kevin's core.
The violent discharge exploded into shattered stone.
Kelya screamed.
A thunderous, feral roar tore across the temple as the five-meter tiger leapt backward, skidding across broken floor, staring in horror at the stump where one of her sacred tails had been.
Kevin tore the remaining jagged length of the tail from his chest and hurled it aside. It struck a wall like a fallen siege weapon.
Green light surged over his wound.
Flesh stitched.
Bone aligned.
Blood evaporated into steam.
He rose unsteadily—then firmly.
Kevin picked up his fallen dagger, rolling it once across his palm.
"…Care for round two?"
Kelya stared at him in disbelief.
Moments ago he had been dying.
Now he stood stronger than before.
She could not understand it.
And that terrified her.
Kevin placed his hand on Black Rabbit's shoulder.
"Cover me."
Green enhancement light bloomed again—faster, sharper this time. Shadow compressed around both of them like living armor.
Kelya snarled and surged forward in response.
And the temple became a battlefield of lightning and shadow.
Kelya struck first.
Her remaining two armored tails lashed outward in a cross-pattern, ripping trenches through the stone floor as they scissored toward Kevin and Black Rabbit. Kevin dropped low, sliding beneath one tail as it cracked overhead, while Black Rabbit vaulted over the other, using the sweeping momentum as a sudden launch.
Black Rabbit came down on Kelya's shoulder with a double-clawed strike.
Sparks exploded on impact.
The claws cuts, but only shallow. The Storm Tiger twisted violently, electricity surging outward in a radial burst. The shockwave hurled Black Rabbit into a shattered column with bone-rattling force.
Kevin charged from the right.
He kept low, zigzagging through arcs of lightning that smashed into the floor ahead of him. His footwork stayed light, using collapsed stone as cover as he closed distance in bursts.
Kelya reared up and brought her paw down like a thunderbolt.
Kevin planted his left foot and twisted—barely avoiding the crushing impact as the paw annihilated the ground where his head had been. The shockwave blasted him sideways, but he rolled with it and came up slashing.
His dagger carved across Kelya's foreleg.
For the first time, blood sprayed.
Kelya hissed in disbelief.
Her fury exploded.
Lightning erupted in wild sheets from her body, turning the temple floor into a web of live current. Kevin was forced back by the electrical pressure alone, his muscles locking as voltage crawled toward him.
Black Rabbit struck from behind again—this time targeting the exposed joint of Kelya's hind leg.
Kelya spun with terrifying speed, catching the shadow mid-air with a tail whip that sent him tearing through a stone archway.
Kevin used the opening.
He sprinted straight into the storm.
Electricity tore into his enhancement aura, burning it away in layers. Pain exploded through his nerves, but he pushed through it, teeth clenched, shadow reinforcing muscle and bone with each step.
He jumped.
Kelya surged upward to meet him.
They collided mid-air.
Kevin drove his dagger downward with everything he had.
The blade plunged into Kelya's shoulder—buried to the hilt.
She screamed, lightning detonating wildly in every direction as she threw him off with brute force. Kevin crashed across the floor, skidding to a halt against shattered stone.
But he was already moving again.
Black Rabbit returned, black blood dripped at his shoulder, but alive. He dived from above like a living missile. Kelya turned her head a fraction too slow.
His claws struck her face.
Not deep enough to blind.
But deep enough to enrage.
Kelya's remaining tails wrapped around Black Rabbit mid-air and slammed him repeatedly into the temple floor like a rag doll. Each impact pulverized stone.
Kevin ran.
He climbed the debris like a stairway.
He leapt from the highest broken pillar.
And he drove his dagger straight toward Kelya's exposed throat.
Kelya sensed the killing intent.
Lightning converged in a blinding flash.
Kevin vanished into it—
—and emerged through the storm, the dagger piercing clean through the soft joint beneath her jaw.
Thunder exploded.
Kelya's roar split the mountain.
Kevin was blasted away again.
But this time, she was bleeding heavily.
And for the first time…
Kelya retreated.
Kevin slid to a stop beside Black Rabbit's fallen form. The shadow staggered to his feet, black armor cracked, mist and blood leaking from his wounds—but still standing.
They faced Kelya together.
Kelya's breathing came in ragged thunderous bursts. Blood streaked her white fur. One tail was gone. The other two twitched erratically under unstable voltage.
Her eyes burned with hatred.
"You… you'll pay for this," she hissed.
Kevin wiped blood from his mouth and grinned faintly.
"Good. Let's end it. I was running out of options."
Lightning surged again as she prepared to charge for the final exchange.