Chapter 255: Moonless Hunt
NineLivesLeft dropped from the branch before the last word left Alexandra’s mouth.
She met him halfway.
His left hook struck her upper sword, while the right swept low toward her ribs. Alexandra turned with the first impact and let it carry her second blade through the opening beneath his arm.
NineLivesLeft caught the sword inside the curve of his hook and pulled.
Alexandra moved with him instead of resisting. She stepped inside his reach and drove her forehead toward his face.
NineLivesLeft leaned back, avoiding the hit by inches.
Kumoe’s curious head came in from below and closed her jaws around his wrist guard, making the hook slip free.
Alexandra cut across his shoulder.
[Pride Mark: 1]
NineLivesLeft kicked toward Kumoe’s injured leg.
The middle head strengthened the restoration around the damaged tendon before the blow landed. Kumoe endured the impact, stumbled once, then caught his boot between her teeth before he could pull it back.
Alexandra drove her second sword beneath his ribs.
[Pride Mark: 2]
NineLivesLeft tore himself free with a harsh snarl and planted one hand against the wet road.
He pushed off the ground, twisted over Alexandra’s blades, and struck a nearby trunk with both boots. Prowler’s Rebound carried him into the canopy before either of them could land another hit.
Kumoe’s right head barked toward the branch where he landed.
Alexandra shifted her guard but did not chase recklessly.
NineLivesLeft crouched above them, one hand pressed against the bleeding wound beneath his ribs.
Alexandra glanced at Kumoe. The middle head kept restoration moving through the wolf’s injured leg, while the curious one watched the blood dripping from NineLivesLeft’s armor. The right focused on the surrounding branches, ready for another false approach.
Alexandra no longer stood in front of her.
They occupied the same line, close enough to react to each other without blocking one another’s movement.
NineLivesLeft’s gaze traveled from one head to the next.
"The middle keeps that tendon stable," he said. "The right catches movement before you do, and the curious one commits whenever scent brings something close."
Alexandra’s grip tightened.
He had spent the exchange counting reactions instead of trying to finish either of them.
NineLivesLeft sprang from the branch.
Kumoe’s right head barked toward Alexandra’s left, but the curious head growled at the ground behind them.
Two warnings came at once.
Alexandra turned left with her swords raised while stepping backward into the space Kumoe guarded. NineLivesLeft appeared above her, one hook descending toward her shoulder.
She caught it.
His second blade curved toward Kumoe’s side.
The curious head snapped at his forearm and forced the attack wider. Kumoe shifted with the bite, keeping her injured rear leg from making a sudden turn.
NineLivesLeft landed between them.
Alexandra and Kumoe attacked from opposite sides. He ducked beneath Alexandra’s first blade and twisted away from Kumoe’s jaws, but avoiding both left his back exposed.
Her second sword scraped across his armor.
The cut was shallow, yet it refreshed the timer on both Pride Marks.
NineLivesLeft spun and drove his elbow into Alexandra’s chest. Without Wolf Pride reinforcing her stance, the impact forced her back.
Kumoe immediately filled the opening.
Her curious head attacked his wounded leg while the right barked to strengthen the damage amplification already clinging to him. The middle divided her restoration between Alexandra and Kumoe’s damaged tendon.
NineLivesLeft leaped away before the bite landed.
His boots touched a low branch, but he did not rebound at once. He scraped one hook along the bark above him, producing a sharp sound on Alexandra’s right. As he kicked away in the opposite direction, blood from his side streaked the branch.
The right head tracked his body, while the curious one turned toward the blood he had left on the first branch.
NineLivesLeft watched both reactions as he passed overhead.
Alexandra lunged for his landing point. Bloodscent Lock betrayed the change in her footing, and he twisted before touching the road. One hook caught a root, allowing Prowler’s Rebound to fling him beyond her reach.
Both Pride Marks remained above him as he rebounded into the trees.
"He isn’t retreating," Alexandra said.
Kumoe’s right head released a short bark.
NineLivesLeft struck another trunk and crossed above them again. This time, he showed himself long enough for the right head to warn Alexandra, then dropped behind Kumoe without attacking.
The curious head turned toward him.
Before she could bite, he drove a boot into the road and rebounded toward Alexandra’s wounded side.
She met both hooks with crossed swords.
NineLivesLeft pressed just long enough to make the middle head turn her restoration toward Alexandra. Then he released the lock, sailed over Kumoe, and slashed at her rear leg.
The curious head intercepted his wrist guard.
His blade still touched fur, but it never reached the tendon.
Alexandra’s sword opened his side as he withdrew.
[Pride Mark: 3]
NineLivesLeft struck the nearest tree and vanished into the canopy.
Alexandra did not follow. He wanted her to chase, and Kumoe could not match that pace while Torn Tendon remained active.
Rain struck the leaves hard enough to hide his landings. The right head searched for movement, the curious one tested every thread of blood in the air, and the middle resumed closing the injuries he had forced her to neglect.
NineLivesLeft had made all three heads change targets during a single pass.
The first Pride Mark dimmed.
Alexandra stepped closer to Kumoe, guarding the injured side without blocking her path.
NineLivesLeft moved from branch to branch without coming close enough to attack. His landings became quieter, while the gaps between them stretched longer.
[Pride Marks have expired.]
He settled onto a distant branch with his arms close to his sides. His slit pupils moved between Kumoe’s heads with careful attention.
Alexandra raised both swords. "You let the marks expire. Was that all you wanted?"
"I wanted to see which warning came first."
"What did you learn?"
"That you listen to the right head before you move, while the curious one keeps hunting fresh blood after the body has gone."
"And the middle?"
"I can keep her busy by reopening whatever she is healing."
Kumoe’s right head growled.
NineLivesLeft tapped the flat of one hook against his knee. "Three minds cover more ground, but they don’t choose the same thing first."
"You think you can split them."
"I think you’re about to help me test it."
He dropped without warning.
The right head barked as his body passed between two branches.
A dark bead fell from the wound beneath his ribs and struck a root several feet away.
The curious head’s muzzle followed the scent for an instant.
NineLivesLeft landed beside Kumoe, between those reactions. One hook threatened her shoulder while the other drove toward Alexandra.
Kumoe’s curious head recovered and snapped at him. Alexandra caught the second hook, then twisted her sword until the hooked weapon locked against her guard.
The middle head spread green light over Alexandra and Kumoe.
NineLivesLeft was surrounded, but his slit pupils flicked to the root where his blood had landed. He stopped fighting the lock.
Alexandra expected him to pull free, but he used their joined weapons as an anchor, planted one boot against Kumoe’s shoulder, and vaulted over her. The curious head’s jaws closed on empty air.
NineLivesLeft twisted his hook loose at the top of the vault and landed with both weapons in hand.
Alexandra dashed after him, but Bloodscent Lock exposed her path. NineLivesLeft changed direction from a tree and crossed above the road, forcing the right head to track him while the curious one still followed the blood from his earlier landing.
Alexandra’s sword missed his boot by inches.
She drew back beside Kumoe before he could make her chase farther.
The curious head finally found him. Her growl moved across the trees until it settled on the branch above Alexandra’s right shoulder.
NineLivesLeft crouched there, blood still darkening his side.
"She found me faster that time," he said. "She was still late."
Alexandra kept her attention on his hips rather than his smile. "Come closer and test that."
"I already did."
He crossed both hooked blades against his chest.
The markings around his eyes spread across his cheeks and forehead. Spectral fur rose along his shoulders, spine, and arms, swallowing the rain in trails of black mist.
A system warning appeared.
[Beast Inheritance: Duskmane Lynx has entered Moonless Hunt.]
NineLivesLeft’s body blurred.
His Agility rose so sharply that Alexandra lost sight of him before he even left the branch.
Kumoe’s right head barked.
The curious head growled toward a different tree.
Alexandra turned, but a hook had already sliced across the armor above her hip.
NineLivesLeft vanished again before her sword could reach him.
He appeared beside Kumoe and opened another shallow wound across her side. Bloodscent Lock pulsed through both of them, strengthening his awareness of their positions.
Then he retreated to the nearest trunk.
Instead of attacking again, NineLivesLeft crossed his hooks over his forearms.
The curved blades bit into his own skin.
Blood ran down both wrists.
Alexandra narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing?"
NineLivesLeft smiled and dragged one bleeding arm across the bark.
Then he disappeared into the trees, leaving the scent of his blood behind.