Ali stood upright, motionless, his tall frame casting a long shadow across the sand-strewn arena as he turned to fully face the enormous wolf crouched a hundred meters away. The creature's silvery fur shimmered, its powerful limbs rippling with tension as it pawed at the ground, claws sinking into the sand.
Beside the beast stood its summoner—her hand pressed firmly into its coat. The glowing white energy that streaked along the wolf's body slowly seeped into her palm, streaking up her arm like veins of moonlight crawling across her skin, as if the summon itself were sharing part of its very essence with her.
Ali's fingers snapped sharply, the crisp sound echoing through the otherwise silent air. In an instant, the inverted spear of heaven materialised in his right hand, the sleek, dark weapon glinting ominously. Behind him, the long, unyielding chain trailed across the sand like the tail of some metallic serpent, carving shallow trenches with each subtle shift of Ali's stance.
GROOOWL
A thunderous growl erupted from the wolf's throat. The colossal beast lowered its head, ears flattening against its skull, its muscles flexing like coiled steel. The scar in the shape of a half-moon that marked its forehead ignited in a brilliant glow, casting radiant streaks of white across its fur.
"Shhhhh not yet, boy…," the instructor whispered, her voice calm and composed despite the storm of energy building under her. She gripped the creature's fur tightly and pulled herself atop its broad back, finding a stable position between the wolf's massive shoulder blades.
In the stands, Siline clutched Jacob's hand tightly. Her voice was a soft tremble, nearly drowned out by the excited murmurs of the surrounding crowd.
"Are you not worried for Ali? She looks strong…"
Jacob turned to her with a raised brow and scoffed, a half-smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "Worried for Ali? Are you serious?" He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms, watching the broadcast as if it were just a midday show.
'I made so much fucking money!' Jacob couldn't help but smirk as he opened his interface discreetly, skimming through the updates from his subordinates. Every message confirmed what he already suspected: the necklaces had sold out completely. Not a single one left. They'd gone at market-breaking prices, draining buyers of their PC.
"3…" Toto's voice rang out across the arena, cutting clean through the rising cheers. The crowd immediately responded with a roar of anticipation.
"2…1… Fight!"
"GO!" the instructor commanded, and the Half-Moon Wolf sprang forward like a missile launched from a ballista. Its paws slammed into the sand with enough force to leave behind small craters, the ground beneath it briefly compressing with each thundering step. Trails of moon-white energy exploded from its body, trailing behind like comet tails.
Ali didn't flinch. He began slowly, methodically spinning the chain with the inverted spear of heaven gripped firmly in his right hand. The chain sliced through the air with increasing speed, quickly becoming a metallic blur that whipped and hissed like a tempest made of steel. It surrounded him in a protective spiral, a deadly vortex of his own making.
'That weapon is a problem, I can't just break through head first,' the instructor thought, her sharp eyes calculating every aspect of Ali's posture and rhythm. She braced herself against the whipping wind produced by the wolf's rapid acceleration, her grip firm on its thick fur as she leaned into the wind pressure slamming against her face.
Ali's gaze remained calm, predatory, unfazed by the oncoming monster charging toward him with bloodlust dripping from its jaws. Drool stretched between the beast's elongated fangs, each tooth gleaming like a dagger soaked in moonlight. Its intent to tear him limb from limb was clear.
VOOOOOOOOM
The chain screamed through the air, the speed now well past the sound barrier. The ground vibrated with each revolution. Ali felt the mounting pressure through the chain link he held, the friction heating it to the point where it was growing uncomfortably hot in his palm.
Beneath his clothes, black veins spidered across his skin. His muscles tightened, preparing for eruption.
'Its speed isn't overwhelming—I can at least match it. Stronger than me for sure… The magic is a problem since I don't know what to expect from it… But its weakness is on its back…' Ali thought, eyes narrowing slightly.
"MOON BLADE!" the instructor bellowed from atop the wolf. The scar on the creature's head blazed like a star going nova, and all the white energy threading through its fur rushed into the centre of its forehead. In a violent burst, it released the energy in a gleaming arc—a crescent-shaped blade of radiant magic that tore through the air toward Ali like a celestial guillotine.
Ali's only reaction was the faintest smirk. 'My summon doesn't do that,' he thought, amused despite the lethal blast coming at him with breakneck speed.
BOOOM
A sudden gust of wind exploded from beneath Ali's feet as he dashed forward, his movement a blur even to the trained eyes in the stands. He had chosen not to sidestep, but to charge directly toward the wolf. The arc of moonlight narrowly missed him, slicing into the sand behind him and gouging out a deep, smouldering trench that hissed with residual heat.
Ali didn't slow. He sprinted at full speed, the chain still spiralling around him with impossible control. Spectators leaned forward, their mouths agape as they tried to comprehend how he maintained the momentum of such a complex weapon mid-sprint. It was a feat of genius dexterity.
"Jump!" the instructor shouted.
The Half-Moon Wolf obeyed without hesitation, leaping into the air with a deafening roar. It cast a massive shadow over the arena as it descended, maw open wide, ready to crush Ali beneath its weight and fangs.
The jaw snapped shut—
But caught nothing.
Ali had vanished from its trajectory, slipping past the beast's vertical descent like water flowing around a stone.
"MOON TAIL WHIP!" the instructor commanded.
The wolf's long tail whipped in a perfect arc, glowing brilliantly with radiant energy. It carved a complete circle in the sand around it as it struck, leaving behind scorched trails where the white flame-like power had burned away the topsoil.
'Oh no,' the instructor thought, her pupils dilating with sudden clarity.
Ali wasn't below them anymore. He had moved under and then vanished from their line of sight entirely.
'He's going to use the chain to bind the legs!!' she realised, already reaching for the next command.
'He's going to use the chain to bind the legs!!', she thought as she commanded the wolf to release a shockwave of white energy that sent all the sand around them flying along with Ali who slid back on the sand with finesse.
"Wrong", Ali said out loud as he used his entire body weight to fling the chain in his hand back.
It flew in a massive arc through the sky, trailing behind the wolf and wrapping around like a striking serpent.
SNAP
POOOOOOOOOOOOW
The chain recoiled from behind, snapping back like a whip. It struck the beast along its flank from its back down to its midsection. The impact rang out like a crack of thunder.
HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW
The wolf howled in sheer agony, its cry piercing and guttural. A thick, bloody line was left in the wake of the strike—flesh and fur torn open. The shimmering silver coat was replaced by a raw gash, deep enough to reveal shredded muscle beneath.
The crowd erupted, a mix of cheers and shocked gasps. Even though the attack had happened with blinding speed, the arena's screens ensured that not a single player missed it.
The white streaks of energy vanished from the scar on the wolf's head.
'I guess she used too much in that burst…' Ali noted as he exploded forward once again, body hurling ahead with the grace of a trained predator and the strength of a charging war machine. His thigh muscles burned and regenerated in microsecond intervals to keep up with the overwhelming strain.
"Come on, RUN!" the instructor shouted at her beast, urgency cracking through her composed voice.
To its credit, the Half-Moon Wolf obeyed, even through the pain. Its legs pumped with unrelenting speed, kicking up clouds of sand as it tried to escape. Despite the crimson streak down its side, it maintained balance and control—an obvious testament to years of conditioning and training. Any lesser beast would have turned on its summoner by now.
But even so, the predator had become the prey.
Ali was closing in—fast.
And as he chased, he noticed something else.
The streaks of white energy were returning.
The wound was slowly, almost imperceptibly, beginning to regenerate.
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