"This pressure..." Eclipse gritted his teeth and looked back.

  Far off into the distance, two figures were blended in combat.

  A human and a large beast.

  He couldn't properly distinguish their features, but curiosity poked the back of his mind, and Eclipse decided to observe the outcome and ran slightly closer to another large tree and hid behind it cautiously. Of course, he didn't get too close to it. If he did, he was as good as dead.

  A giant demonic bear tore through the barren land in its tyrannical glory. It was at least five metres tall. The bear's brown fur was rough, matted in places and scorched in others. Two massive horns curved upward from its skull, each one engulfed in raging, molten flames that roared like a furnace. Heat rippled from its muscular body, distorting the air around it.

  An Inferno Bear!

  This beast was a blood beast! And it was obviously one which possessed great power - much greater than the Emberclaw he just faced.

  Rather than the monstrous Inferno Bear, Eclipse's gaze concentrated on the petite figure fighting the beast. Elegant long hair, the colour of chestnut, cascaded behind her in the roaring wind. Her delicate face, her determined composure, and her unyielding pink-colored pupils devoid of any fear deeply attracted Eclipse's gaze. She was wielding two daggers, and her momentum was graceful. But the reason why Eclipse was astonished was her age. Because... she didn't look any older than he was!

  The air rippled around the two as they violently exchanged blows at an inhuman pace. They were like fire and gunpowder, immediately detonating upon contact.

  The girl turned around for a wild slash with both of her daggers in hand, but the Inferno Bear easily countered with its sharp claws and sent the girl slightly staggering back, who then immediately charged in after a second's rest. The Inferno Bear accumulated its power and struck a meteoric blow onto the ground beside her.

  The girl, completely not expecting that move, was slightly disoriented as the dust engulfed her senses. She barely had time to recover as the Bear appeared beside her and lunged with sharp claws with the intent to impale. The girl rolled out of the scene, but seeing as how she was off guard, trying to snap out of her perplexity, the Bear found an opening and unleashed a barrage of attacks, repeatedly trying to slash.

  The girl snapped out of her bewilderment and continued dodging her opponent's strikes. Once she saw a flaw in the Bear's movement pattern, she lashed her hands out an instant, bright pink resonated around her before multitudes of cherry blossoms ripped through the air, straight towards the Inferno Bear. The cherry blossoms engulfed it, obstructing its path and blocking its vision in their humongous quantity, but they were not sharp enough to penetrate its thick skin.

  Staggering backwards, the Bear clawed at the cherry blossoms to no avail. Irritation flared throughout its being, and it let out a roar that rippled through the air, scattering the cherry blossoms away. It had just found a steady ground on its two feet just in time to block a maelstrom of attacks following on from the girl.

  Parrying one swift slash, the Bear roared and struck towards the girl. She saw the attack coming, but just about had time to respond and dashed back. The overbearing shockwave struck her left shoulder, and the girl stumbled back a few feet, heaving heavily and clutching her arm.

  Not leaving any chance to recover, the Bear continued to fire, constantly attacking with barbaric strength. The girl responded by evading and striking back with impossible agility. And yet, another fierce engagement unfolded in the battle. However, the girl, with an injury on her shoulder, was being pushed more and more back after each exchange.

  The Bear charged once again, this time attacking with a balled fist filled with vicious power. The girl's eyes widened, and she immediately pulled both of her daggers in front of her with the intent to intercept; however, when the blow arrived, she was sent flying and crashed heavily against a boulder. The girl didn't have time to recover as she saw the beast charging once again, this time, with more aggression and determination.

  A frail barrier of cherry blossoms surrounded her, and she pulled her daggers in front of her once again. The Bear's excessive strength easily shattered the barrier and clashed against her daggers, the astronomical power of the impact causing her body to sink deeper into the boulders while minor cuts kept opening around her body due to splinters from the rock. The girl gritted her teeth while rivulets of sweat trickled down her forehead. Her daggers kept inching towards her chest, heavily being suppressed by the mighty claws of the Bear.

  At wit's end, the girl pushed out her legs and landed a violent kick in its abdomen, causing it to stagnate. Finally seeing a chance, the girl used the daggers to direct the claws of the beast straight into the floor, causing the surrounding earth to tremble. She used the beast's arms as a lever to push herself off it. With inhumane speed, she spun around, and her dagger, now glowing a bright pink, cleanly cut one of the beast's aflame horns.

  At this moment, hellbent wrath burned within the Bear's scarlet pupils. A suffocating pressure - filled with blood lust suddenly exploded throughout the region, causing even Eclipse, who was a kilometre away, to shrink in fear.

  At this moment, Eclipse realised.

  The girl was in danger.

  Eclipse's heart thumped. His mind was in complete chaos. If he went out there, he would die for sure. Right now, his main priority was to get his hands on the Cryptic Amethyst for Duozian.

  Although the girl would probably meet her end here, she had nothing to do with him, so he should go while he still can.

  Finally finding the resolve to leave, Eclipse turned, his silhouette shrinking into the shrubs which lay ahead.

  The determination she once harboured, at this stage, had now completely shrunk into desperation as she frantically forced herself to move under the explosive pressure of the beast. Bellowing lividly, the beast charged in on her. Her resolve to live overcame her fear as she held out her hand, and a thick pillar of resonating cherry blossoms towards the Bear.

  When the claws of the beast met her attack, the petals were instantly scattered away into sparking light. However, the moment they scattered, a sudden surge of pink light burst within the vicinity of each petal, blinding the beast momentarily as well as deterring it by a great deal. The contrast of this light against the pitch black ambience, only illuminated by the red moon, was a sight to behold.

  The girl finally staggered up and tried to rush away in the opposite direction when she felt a sudden force slam against her.

  Blood erupted from her throat as she was sent flying in the air, making her crash violently and skid across the earth. Her vision was hazing due to the force, but she still managed to make out the descending tyrannical figure from above. She gritted her teeth, her eyes streaming with tears, forcing herself to calm down to accept her end. Despite this, her heart was shuddering with a plea to get out at all costs, which easily overcame her acceptance of death.

  At this moment, within the depths of her mind, a sudden surge of power imploded.

  Boom————

  The atmosphere instantly turned chilly, and the fluttering cherry blossoms almost tripled in number, encasing the girl. It was just an instant, but her pink-colored pupils glowed brightly before dimming back down. A strong wave of terrifyingly beautiful cherry blossoms broke out. Above this sudden energy wave, the force accumulated on the inferno Bear's momentum was instantly blown away. As though it had been struck by a heavy hammer, it was sent flying as it screeched in pain. Hundreds of pink splinters were encapsulated and sliced by the beast.

  Ripping through the land, the pink-coloured beam left a 10-metre mark on the earth, and finally crashed the dishevelled figure of the Inferno Bear onto a large tree.

  Although this had happened, the moment she executed this power, her remaining strength had also instantly crumbled. She slumped down on the solid ground and remained unmoving as her unearthly eyes gaped at the pitch black sky above her. She forced herself to move a few inches away, but before long, her body stopped cooperating.

  The flames surrounding its body had weakened a great deal, and its oppressive pressure, which had easily caused fissures on the earth, was no longer. It groaned in pain as it lay there, bleeding intensely. However, since the bear's body was composed of molten lava, the cherry blossom splinters caught up in flames and shrivelled up into ashes.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Its body twitched, and it slowly got up. It took its gaze to the girl, who was helplessly lying on the ground. As soon as it saw her, it trembled with indignation and fury and ran towards her once again.

  Although its speed and strength had decreased a great margin, its running figure created great pressure on the girl. Her heart tightened as she felt it getting closer to her.

  "RARRRGGHHHHHH!" The inferno Bear's roar had become completely distorted.

  Fear and despair filled her heart as she desperately tried to move her dormant body, but to no avail. She could only watch the beast zooming towards her.

  As it gained on her, she once again began to accept her fate, but this time, instead of her mind being chaotic, she only felt peace. It was more like a relief to her as several flashbacks from her past replayed vividly in her mind. A painful smile crept across her face, '...it's better this way…'

  Suddenly, the beast stagnated on the spot, its enraged roar weakened to a painful howl as its crimson eyes slowly started to recede into a fainter shade of red. It knelt down, moving its limbs grotesquely. Countless blood vessels were bursting throughout the Bear's body as it writhed on the floor, painfully.

  After what seemed like a couple of minutes, its pupils reflected devil's wrath. Its body still a complete mess, the inferno Bear suddenly turned around and let out a twisted roar which echoed throughout the Dark Autumn Region, before immediately scanning its surroundings. However, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

  Eclipse staggeringly held a tree for support. His face and back were drenched with cold sweat, and his arms and legs continued to shiver as if his high dose of adrenaline hadn't dissipated yet. On his back, the girl's body drooped down, and he placed her next to a tree.

  Her gorgeous pink pupils stared into Eclipse’s, waiting for him to say something. Her expression was filled with a mixture of feelings: gratefulness, fear and confusion. For quite a long moment, neither of them said anything, but then the girl mustered the courage to speak to this unfamiliar boy who had just saved her life.

  "…Who are you? Why did you save me?"

  "I'm just a villager." Eclipse turned his gaze away and said emotionlessly.

  The girl blinked, "Just a villager? If you're just a villager, how on earth did you manage to beat an A-class Bestia?"

  Eclipse recognised that word from Duozian’s ramblings. Apparently, Blood Beasts were divided into five distinct classes based on their power, and they started from Bestia.

  Each beast was further ranked by power, from C-class to the dreaded S-class. Eclipse wasn’t sure how the girl knew the creature’s rank, but the fact that she’d recognised it as an A-class Bestia wasn’t good news.

  Eclipse raised an eyebrow lazily, "I just threw my gourd of water at its skull."

  "Very funny."

  "But I'm serious..."

  The girl looked at him for a few moments, expecting him to admit his lie, but seeing as how his expression didn’t change, her mouth grew agape in disbelief, "You really beat an Inferno Bear by throwing a water gourd at its skull?!"

  "Well, it is a beast that is made out of molten rock, so wouldn't water cause it some damage?" Eclipse asked, his face deadpan.

  The girl was about to say something when suddenly a terrifying roar resonated from quite a short distance away. Fright flashed in the girl's face, and Eclipse's expression grew solemn.

  "It’s close! Let's get out of here before it catches up!" The girl struggled to stand up and tried to pull Eclipse along with her.

  Eclipse shook his head and stayed down, "We won't be able to outrun it, and it knows your smell..."

  “So you’re just preparing to die?” The girl frowned, “I can still go toe to toe with that thing, but I'll need some time to recover!”

  Eclipse picked up a small pebble and tossed it in the river in front of him. The girl's eyes subconsciously followed the momentum of the stone. He asked, "What's your name?"

  "Huh, does that really matter right now?!" The girl gritted her teeth desperately.

  Eclipse looked away coldly and kissed his teeth, “Tch.”

  The girl looked at him blankly.

  Seeing his face remain cold and his calm demeanour, something told the girl to trust him. She finally sighed, but her guard didn’t go down. "My name is…”

  A light breeze washed over them, casting the girl's chestnut hair over her face as her lips moved to utter her name.

  A few vibrant cherry blossoms settled in front of Eclipse, but his eyes were fixated on her. "I see."

  The girl frowned at his apparent pondering, "Well, aren't you going to tell me yours?"

  As Eclipse opened his mouth to respond, he was cut off by a sudden tremor in the earth. Both of them shifted their gaze to the direction of the impact. And around a hundred metres away from them, the inferno Bear stood. Thick black gas emanated from its nostrils. All around its body, it was bleeding with thick red fluid.

  Seeing as how there was another person other than the girl, the Bear managed to connect the dots and decided that the other person must have been the co-conspirator who attacked it earlier. Its wrath then exploded as it maniacally charged towards the two of them, the ground quaking with each step.

  The girl instinctively stepped in front of Eclipse to protect him and maintained a fighting stance with her dual weapons. Despite the severity of the current situation, she retained her composure.

  'When it's fifteen metres away...' Eclipse chanted in his mind, his vision focused on the incoming beast. Seeing it close in on them at an extremely acute pace, Eclipse waited for a moment before his eyes glinted with a fierce light.

  "...Now!" He shouted out loud, throwing his knife at a vine. The rope of thick forestry snapped, and the leaves around rustled loudly, soon making way for something seemingly large.

  As hoped, the beast was so completely blinded by rage that it wasn't fazed by his actions. A triumphant smile crept up Eclipse's face. His expression then grew serious, and he put up his guard, "What's taking you so long? I'm right here!"

  The girl frowned and looked at Eclipse like he had gone insane. Hearing these words, the beast went ballistic, and its speed almost doubled. It lashed out its claws and aimed straight for Eclipse's neck at a frightening pace. Eclipse flinched, subconsciously holding his breath.

  BANG!

  A loud sound resounded right in front of him, following a painful grunt. A giant log had smashed into the beast, supported by several vines. Under the massive impact, the beast, which was already severely injured, flew straight towards the stream… but to Eclipse's dismay, it managed to stop its momentum before plunging in.

  His heart immediately sank.

  Shit! He had miscalculated! Or precisely, he didn't have enough time to calculate everything from the get-go. Initially, Eclipse had planned to eradicate it entirely by flinging it into the stream, but now that things didn’t go according to plan, they were in trouble!

  Despite stopping itself, its arm slipped into the stream, engulfed by water, which immediately disintegrated it. This beast lived in lava so that the slightest contact with water would be lethal. The beast roared in agony as it struggled desperately. Meanwhile, the girl was examining her hands. She muttered, "I should have regained enough Qi by now to pull this off…."

  "Qi?" Eclipse turned to look at the girl who had a faint smile playing on her lips.

  Eclipse hadn’t really paid that much attention to her appearance, but he could definitely tell that her condition right now was a lot better than when he had taken hold of her for the first time.

  After thrashing about in agony for a while, it charged at them once again. Since its centre of balance was disrupted because it had just lost an arm, it ran towards them in a twisted posture. Even though it came towards Eclipse, looking as if it wanted to chew him alive. Eclipse took his eyes back to the monster and readied a fighting stance, all of the muscles in his lower body tensed to their maximum. However, before it could reach him, the girl suddenly made a move then struck a meteoric kick at its abdomen.

  BOOM!

  A deep hole was carved in its stomach as it was sent flying across the forest and brutally crashed into a tree. Eclipse's eyes widened, completely dumbfounded by what had just happened.

  She turned to look at Eclipse with a look of gratefulness. "Thanks to you, we might actually survive against this thing."

  The beast slowly staggered up, holding the tree for support. It looked very pitiful with only one arm and a gaping hole in its stomach, but its pride as one of the stronger beasts of the Dark Autumn Region wouldn't allow it to give up...

  All of a sudden, it stopped moving, then its body started quivering with savagery. It took its hands up and…

  SNAP!

  …forcefully broke its remaining horn!

  Eclipse's face suddenly turned grim as he stepped back subconsciously.

  The ground trembled as it let out a bloodcurdling roar, the fissure underneath its feet expanding constantly.

  "What's happening?!" she asked, frowning.

  "When an Inferno Bear loses a horn, it gets three times stronger.” Eclipse thought hard, as if trying to recall information from the scrolls correctly, “…but, I remember reading that when it loses both horns, it's destined to die and grow stronger fivefold or something."

  The inferno Bear stood upright as it demonically stared at the two, crimson radiation visibly emanating off it. Orange cracks had surfaced throughout its large body, and its muscles contracted, almost bulging out of its skin. Thick black smoke seeped out of its mouth before it readied its ground and bulldozed towards the girl in a final, suicidal rage. Each step it took caused small ravines to form on the earth, and the trees nearby trembled. Although it seemed tyrannically powerful, it was on its last legs.

  “Yeah, you're right. It's emanating Qi… so it's definitely stepped into the Monstra class.” The girl muttered.

  “Monster what, now?” Eclipse asked in confusion.

  A determined gleam flashed past her pupils, and she, too, charged. When the distance between the two of them closed up, the Inferno Bear clawed at her with its only arm. The girl's daggers suddenly spun in her hand, and she intercepted them.

  The two of them pressed against each other in a deadlock, but neither seemed willing to lose their ground. The Inferno Bear finally surged with power, causing a sudden shockwave to blast into her. She got pushed a couple of metres into the air, before she somersaulted back and landed softly, but the Bear was faster; it instantly appeared behind her and lashed out, its paws at her back. The girl, somehow expecting this move, bought one of her daggers behind her back, impeding the attack, then lashed out with her other knife and thwacked the beast on the head with the hilt.

  It staggered back, disoriented. Taking this chance, she spun around with inconceivable speed and grace and slashed it across the chest, carrying large bits of gore in that single arc. Before it even had time to let out a scream, she spun around and gashed again with her other blade, deeply lacerating its incredibly thick abdomen. Maintaining her momentum, she spun around once again and slashed the beast straight through its head, cleanly cutting it off.

  The Inferno Bear's head toppled to the ground, and after a while, its carcass also followed. The girl sheathed her daggers then looked down at the mess, seemingly proud of herself.

  Eclipse sucked in a breath of cold air and muttered in an inaudible voice, "Am I dreaming..."