Just like any other power, Clifford's Bloodline ability came with limits, and right now those limits were not theory, they were pressing down on him in real time.
First, the energy he drained was not his to use. He couldn't convert it, couldn't refine it, couldn't turn it into strength for himself. The best he could do was Reflect it or release it. Anything else was beyond him.
Second, there was the strain. A hard one.
There was only so much foreign energy his body could hold before it started pushing back. Not gently, not slowly, but like something alive trying to break free from inside him. Up until now, Clifford had always kept it simple, one target, one stream, controlled and manageable.
Two targets was different.
He knew it was possible. He had tested it before. Briefly. Carefully.
But doing it in a real fight, without releasing the energy immediately… that was another matter.
As the two werebears charged him again, their heavy steps crushing into the snow, Clifford's eyes sharpened. The skill he had been forming reached completion.
His hand snapped forward.
Threads burst out.
Not one, not two, but several thin lines of glowing green energy shot from his palm, fast and precise. They spread out mid-air and locked onto both werebears, piercing into different parts of their bodies. Shoulder, chest, side. The connection was instant.
The pull began.
Energy rushed back through the threads like a current, violent and thick.
Clifford felt it at once.
A pressure building under his skin.
'Too fast…' he thought, his jaw tightening, but he didn't stop.
Instead, he moved.
He bent low, then pushed off the ground with force.
His body shot upward, cutting through the air in a clean arc. The ring on his finger dulled the pain that should have followed that kind of explosive movement, the strain in his muscles, the tearing tension in his joints. It was all there, but distant, like noise behind a wall.
Still airborne, still connected to both beasts, Clifford carried out what he had planned from the start.
He pushed the drain harder.
With multiple threads locked into both werebears, the flow of energy surged, thick and constant, rushing into him faster than he had ever handled before. It wasn't a trickle anymore. It was a flood, heavy and forceful, like something trying to force its way through him.
For a split second, Clifford paid attention to his body.
He expected resistance. Pain. That familiar tearing strain that came when he held too much.
But it didn't come.
His eyes sharpened mid-air.
'…It's not there.'
The pressure was still building, he could feel the weight of the energy inside him, but the pain that should have followed it was gone. Suppressed. Muted.
'The ring… it cancels it… even this.'
That realization clicked fast, and once it did, Clifford didn't hesitate.
He leaned into it.
He kept the drain going.
Below him, the two werebears had already adjusted. Their heads tilted up, eyes locked onto his falling body. They tracked him, muscles tensing, waiting for the moment he would drop back into their reach.
Clifford saw it all.
He adjusted his descent.
Qi gathered in his leg, tight and focused, his body angling mid-air as he picked his target.
'I land on one… break it… then deal with the second,' he thought, short and clear.
The werebears moved.
They swung upward, claws cutting through the air to intercept him.
But something was off.
Their speed had dropped.
Their strength wasn't there anymore.
The drain had already done its work.
Their claws came out slower, weaker, lacking the force they had just moments ago.
Clifford didn't avoid.
He went straight through.
Boom!
He slammed down onto one of them, driving it straight into the snow. The impact crushed the ground beneath, snow bursting outward in a wide spray as the force carried through the beast's body.
A broken cry tore out from it.
The shockwave pushed the second werebear back, its large body sliding across the snow before it managed to stop itself.
Clifford stood up from the impact point without pause.
Under his feet, the werebear twitched, its body barely responding. Not dead, but close. The energy inside it was thin, unstable, like a flame about to go out.
He could feel it clearly through the threads.
'Still alive… but not a threat,' he judged.
The second one stepped forward again.
Slower this time.
Weaker.
Its breathing was heavier, movements dragging as it forced itself back into the fight despite the drain.
Clifford turned to face it, threads still connected, still pulling.
As the remaining werebear approached, Clifford didn't move. He stood his ground and watched it come. The beast dragged its body forward, step by step, lifting its arm to strike, but halfway through the motion, the strength left it. The raised claw trembled in the air, froze for a brief second, then slowly dropped. Its entire body followed after, collapsing heavily into the snow with a dull thud.
The drain had taken everything.
The two werebears were no longer threats. One lay crushed beneath where he had landed, barely conscious, the other had fallen where it stood, its energy completely exhausted. Clifford had dealt with both of them faster than he expected, but there was no relief in his eyes, no pause to take it in.
"arhhh!!!"
The scream cut through the air.
Clifford's head snapped toward the sound immediately. His gaze locked onto the distance, and what he saw tightened his expression at once.
Gavalich.
Surrounded. Pressed. Barely holding on.
Claws moved in from all sides, large bodies closing the gap, each one aiming to tear into him. It wasn't a fight anymore. It was seconds away from turning into a kill.
"shit... they're going to tear him apart," Clifford muttered, the words coming out low and tight.
He judged the distance in an instant.
Too far.
Even if he ran at full speed, he wouldn't make it in time.
His mind moved fast.
'Think… don't rush… what can reach him now?'
His eyes shifted.
They landed on the fallen werebears.
The idea came quick. Rough, but it would work.
Without hesitation, Clifford stepped forward and bent down. Qi surged into his arms, tightening his muscles, reinforcing his grip. He grabbed one of the werebears by the leg, then the other by its limb as well.
For a brief moment, his body paused under the weight.
These were not small creatures. Each one was massive, easily larger than a normal bear, their bodies heavy and dense even in their weakened state.
But Clifford didn't let go.
His grip tightened.
Muscles pulled. Qi pushed through.
Clifford wasn't supposed to be able to do this. Not at his current stage, not with his normal limits. Lifting one of those beasts alone would already push him, talk less of grabbing two at once and holding them steady like that.
But the ring changed the equation.
The strain that should have slowed him down, the tearing pressure in his arms and back, it simply wasn't there. His body still carried the weight, but the resistance, the pain that would have forced him to stop, had been silenced.
He didn't waste that advantage.
With one leg planted deep into the snow, Clifford twisted his waist and shoulders, dragging both werebear bodies along with him. The movement built up force, slow at first, then faster as he committed fully to it, pulling momentum into the spin.
Then he released.
Both bodies left his hands at once, hurled forward with all the force he had gathered. They cut through the air in a rough arc, heavy and uncontrolled, but fast enough to matter.
They slammed into the battlefield ahead.
Not clean hits, not precise throws, but they didn't need to be.
The unconscious werebears crashed into the others from the front and side, breaking their formation, forcing them to halt and react. Snow burst up around them as their balance was disrupted, their attention pulled away for just a second.
That was all Clifford needed.
He moved.
His feet drove into the snow, pushing him forward at full speed, closing the distance without hesitation.
Ahead, Gavalich was still trapped in the middle of it.
One of the beasts had his arm clamped in its jaws, shaking and crushing down repeatedly. Each movement sent another jolt through his body. Blood had already soaked into the fur around the bite, and the force behind it was enough that, if he had been any weaker, his arm would have already been torn clean off.
Clifford saw it clearly as he ran.
'He won't last like this,' he thought, his mind tightening around the problem.
He reached inward, not physically, but through his ability.
The energy he had drained earlier was still there, stored within him, pressing against his limits. He couldn't use it to strengthen himself. That rule hadn't changed.
But he could move it.
'I can't use it… but I can give it,' he thought.
The option was there.
The problem was the connection.
He hadn't formed a sharing link with Gavalich. Not yet. Without that link, direct transfer wasn't possible.
Which meant there was only one path left.
Clifford's eyes sharpened as he pushed forward.
'Then I force it another way.'
Clifford didn't slow down as he ran. His eyes locked onto the ground ahead, already deciding his next move before his body caught up. In one motion, he dropped low and drove his hand straight into the snow, fingers digging deep as he forced the stored energy out of his body.
The release wasn't gentle.
The moment the energy left him, it turned wild, unstable, like it had been waiting to break free. It surged into the ground and then—
Boom!
The snow erupted.
A violent blast tore through the surface, sending snow and dirt flying upward and outward in a wide spread. The force traveled fast, cutting across the distance toward the werebears like a wave.
The one biting Gavalich was hit first.
The impact slammed into its side, forcing its jaws open as the explosion struck. Its grip broke instantly, its body thrown off balance as the blast carried through it.
The rest were caught in it next.
The explosion lifted everything.
Bodies, snow, debris, all thrown into the air in a chaotic burst.
Clifford didn't wait to see the full result.
The moment the blast went off, he pushed forward, using the recoil of the ground and his own momentum to leap. His body cut through the air toward Gavalich, closing the gap in a single movement.
He reached him mid-air.
One hand caught Gavalich firmly, pulling him in before both of them dropped back down, landing at a distance away from the center of the blast.
Clifford steadied him as they hit the ground, then let him down onto the snow.
"What did you think you were doing not using your ring!" Clifford snapped, his voice sharp and controlled, but carrying clear frustration.
Gavalich barely held himself upright. His breathing was uneven, his body shaking from the pain, the bite on his shoulder still bleeding.
"I… the ring… it needs beast blood to activate," Gavalich said, his voice strained, struggling to stay focused.
Clifford glanced at him, then at his face, at the blood smeared across it.
"Let me guess… and that isn't beast blood on your face?" Clifford said, dry and blunt.
Gavalich's eyes widened at once.
The realization hit him late, but it hit hard.
He had the condition met. He had the chance. And he missed it.
Before either of them could act on it, the ground shifted again.
The snow where the explosion had hit began to move.
It rose in uneven lumps, then broke apart as large shapes pushed through from beneath. One after another, the werebears forced themselves back up, shaking off the snow that had buried them.
They weren't down.
Not even close.
This time, their movements carried something heavier. Their bodies were slower, but their presence felt sharper, more aggressive. Low growls rolled out from them as they stood, their focus locking back onto the two of them.
"they're not dead…" Gavalich said, the worry clear in his voice.
Clifford didn't look shaken.
Instead, a faint smile formed on his face as his eyes dropped briefly to the ring on his finger, then back to the beasts ahead.
"That won't be a problem," he said calmly, his stance settling as he prepared for what came next.