A hand clamped around my head. Before I could react, Dell slammed my face through the wooden table.
My vision went black.
---
I woke in the watery realm.
The jaguar stood beside me, its body much larger than before. It hissed and roared at something in the distance. I followed its gaze.
Dell. Standing over my unconscious body. Studying me like prey.
That bastard.
Draka's words echoed in my mind: You can control the berserker state. If that was true, maybe—just maybe—it could save me now. I didn't want to lose myself again. But at this point, I had no choice.
I turned to the jaguar. "I don't know what you are. But I need your help."
The hissing stopped. It looked down at me, studying my face. My determination. Slowly, it lowered its massive head.
Purple flame pulsed from its body.
I reached out and placed my palm on its skull.
The fire transferred—flowing from the jaguar into me. Through my arms. Across my chest. Into my core. The flames were powerful, but they didn't burn. They filled me. I didn't understand the power I was accepting.
But if it helped me survive?
I'd take anything.
---
My eyes snapped open.
I was back. My body thrummed with strength I'd never felt before. I pushed myself up, grasping my claymore. Blood trickled down my forearm—I hadn't even noticed the wound.
Dell turned.
His massive axe hung at his side. His helmet tilted.
"You've changed."
I looked up at him.
And the world shifted.
Purple. Everything was purple. Dell was just a silhouette against an ocean of white. But this time—this time my mind was clear. Fully in control. My instincts and consciousness existed together, perfectly balanced.
Was this it? The controlled berserker state Draka promised?
Purple aura pulsed from my body, steady and strong. Dangerous. But also... calm.
I smiled.
"Ready for round two, Dell?"
My claymore ignited with purple flame. The sensation was intoxicating. I'd never felt so alive.
I dashed forward, bouncing from wall to wall, closing the distance in heartbeats. I aimed my blade at his helmet.
"SCREAMING BOAR!"
I lunged.
Dell's barrier flared just in time. He parried. I backpedaled instantly, blade raised.
His voice carried grudging respect. "Not only have you changed—you've grown stronger. I'm impressed."
He charged.
I raised my blade and threw three air slashes. Purple crescents screamed toward him, each one stronger than anything I'd thrown before.
Dell slashed through two of them, his axe cleaving through compressed wind. The third he dodged—barely.
I watched him move.
Everything seemed... slower. His strikes. His footwork. Even the air slashes I'd dodged felt sluggish.
Is this the berserker state?
I leaped from a table, throwing another purple air slash. His barrier caught it.
I landed behind him.
Lumin surged through my legs. Through my core. Through my blade—it felt less like a weapon and more like another limb. Purple energy gathered around me, forming a shape.
A boar.
Massive. Raging. Made of fire.
I lunged.
BOOM.
Dell crashed through a table, splinters exploding around him. I pressed the attack—barrage after barrage, each slash forcing him back. His once-overwhelming strength now felt manageable.
This state had pushed me beyond anything I'd ever known.
But Dell wasn't finished.
His own lumin blazed outward, denser than before. Thicker. My instincts screamed warning.
He summoned his barrier again—but different this time. Concentrated. Forming not just a shield, but armor. Thick. Powerful.
My legs trembled. The berserker state was strong, but it was draining me fast. I couldn't hold it much longer.
Dell charged.
I dodged. Weaved. Leaped. His strikes carved through tables and chairs, but I was always a breath ahead.
I landed in the crater where this fight began—the hole in the wall where he'd first sent me flying.
I can't beat him.
The truth settled cold in my gut. He was too strong. Too experienced. Stronger than anything I'd ever faced.
But maybe I didn't need to beat him.
I just needed to throw him into the crowd. Let someone else handle him while I recovered.
Should I use it?
The technique Draka showed me. The one that could break armor. The one that would leave me completely drained.
If I used it now, I'd be helpless.
If I didn't, I'd be dead.
No choice.
---
One year ago. Drakva.
Draka stood before me, his expression grave.
"This technique will shatter armor. But it will also shatter you—if you're not ready." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Use it only when death is the only other option."
---
Dell charged again, his barrier armor blazing.
I stopped running.
I stopped dodging.
I planted my feet and pulled every drop of lumin from my core. From my limbs. From the jaguar still purring somewhere deep inside me.
The energy responded.
It surged outward, taking shape—not as a boar this time, but something else. Something older.
A bear.
Purple lumin wrapped around my forearms first, forming massive claws. Then my shoulders—a pelt of pure energy draped across my back. Finally my head—a bear's skull materialized over my own, luminous and terrible.
The weight was immense. But so was the power.
Demon Bear Pelt.
Dell slowed, his barrier armor flickering. "What—"
I raised my clawed hands.
Berserker State + Demon Bear Pelt = Shaman of War.
He recovered quickly. His barrier armor surged, growing larger, denser. He wasn't just defending now—he was preparing to crush me.
I threw two air slashes.
Purple crescents—bigger, sharper, more concentrated than anything before—slammed into his armor. They didn't break through. But they scraped it. Weakened it.
I dashed forward.
Faster than before. Stronger. More instinctual. My claws met his axe in a barrage of strikes—each one calculated, each one pushing him back.
Our blades collided. Lumin exploded around us.
Then a massive hand made of pure barrier energy grabbed my entire body.
"I FINALLY HAVE YOU, BOY!" Dell's voice boomed.
I struggled. The grip was absolute.
"Any last words?" He leaned closer, savoring the moment.
I looked up at him. Through the bear skull. Through the purple haze.
"The only one who gets to call me 'boy'..."
I raised my claymore. Every last drop of lumin I had left poured into the blade. It blazed deep purple—nearly black.
"...IS MY MASTER!"
"SCREAMING BOAR!"
A boar erupted from my blade. Not the small version I'd used before. This one was massive—tusks as long as my arm, body wreathed in flaming lumin, expression twisted with primal fury.
It crashed into Dell.
His barrier armor shattered. His metal armor cracked. A gaping hole opened in his torso.
FINALLY. AN OPENING.
I gripped my claymore with both hands. My arms were lead. My vision blurred at the edges. This last move had to count.
"AIR SLASH!"
A purple crescent leaped from my blade.
Time slowed.
I watched it fly—closer, closer, closer to his exposed core.
Then—
It hit.
The crescent carved through him. Through the hole in his armor. Through flesh and bone. Out the other side.
Dell's body split in half.
Blood sprayed.
He stood frozen for one heartbeat. Two.
Then he crumpled.
The barrier hand dissolved. I dropped to my knees, gasping. The Shaman form melted away—bear pelt, claws, skull—all fading into nothing. My veins stopped glowing. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
I staggered up. Each step was a mountain. My boots splashed through the pool of blood spreading across the deck.
I reached down.
Tore the silver ribbon from his arm.
And finally—
Finally, I let myself breathe.
---
I won.