Lord Of Beasts

Ethan loved fighting Titled.

It was completely different to facing beasts, who almost always wanted only one thing...

To kill.

Everything they did revolved around instinct sharpened over countless generations. Their movements were brutally efficient, their reactions almost impossible to predict because they weren’t thinking - they were simply acting.

To defeat a beast, you either had to overpower it or understand its instincts well enough to exploit them.

Humans were different.

Every movement revealed intent, every habit became information, and every decision created patterns. Fighting another Titled felt less like surviving and more like playing chess at a hundred miles an hour.

As a general rule:

Against beasts, outsmarting them was easier than overpowering them, and against humans, overpowering them was easier than winning every exchange of wits. Beasts would almost always seek to overpower, and humans usually to outsmart.

Of course, there were always exceptions, and Ethan was a very unique case.

He found himself sitting somewhere between a human and a beast, and could both outsmart and overpower his foes. And this B Rank criminal was just another opponent to experiment on...

-

Ethan smiled even as the man before him unleashed more of his power.

’I’ve seen enough.’

He understood the man’s abilities very quickly, and aside from his explosive movements and physical reinforcement, there didn’t seem to be anything new. But it was hard not to notice that the man’s breathing had become noticeably heavier.

His skin had turned an unnatural crimson, every vein bulging beneath the surface as though his body was being cooked from the inside out. Tiny tears spread across his forearms and shoulders, splitting open each time his muscles compressed before sealing only halfway under the pressure of the next release.

It was as if his own flesh could no longer keep up.

’Makes sense why he chose to run first and didn’t overuse his ability when trying to escape.’

And yet he only smiled wider, a feral expression on his face, like that of a beast backed into a corner.

"I’m a superior being, and I should be able to live as such."

His voice had become hoarse.

"Why should I be penalised for plundering mere untitled? We were chosen by God to have these powers. We should rule the world, not serve them as soldiers."

Ethan laughed.

"I didn’t realise you were this crazy. Is that another side effect of your ability?"

The man shook his head dramatically.

"Just wait, you and all the other Titled who side with the mortals will come back begging to join us."

Ethan was confused. "Us? Who’s us?"

’He sounds like he’s in some kind of cult, but this definitely isn’t it.’

This man had gathered a ragtag group of rogue Titled and formed a crew seemingly to commit robberies, but it seemed as though there was something deeper going on.

’Another thing for the Enforcers to investigate.’

Ethan smiled.

He was already picturing all the crazy Titled he would end up fighting, and he couldn’t wait.

’But first, I gotta deal with this nutcase.’

The man’s knees bent again, every muscle across his body compressing simultaneously even more than previously.

For an instant, he looked smaller.

Then...

BOOOOM!!

The ground exploded beneath him.

But this time, instead of attacking Ethan directly, he ricocheted through the construction site like an enormous steel spring set loose. He slammed into the side of a concrete pillar only to rebound off it without losing speed, twisting through the air before launching himself again.

Every impact became another launch, and every launch became another acceleration. He no longer moved like a human; he was an elastic projectile bouncing unpredictably across the battlefield.

And as he attacked, he continued his deranged rant.

"Why should a pathetic man that I can kill with a single strike be our country’s leader? It should be Titan, or whoever is the strongest among us."

"By that logic, you should submit to me then," was the taunting response he received, which only enraged him further.

"Why do you think we were blessed with these abilities? It’s a sign to change the status quo and fix our crumbling society."

’I mean, I was just the lucky 999th Candidate for an insane trial.’

Ethan laughed to himself while slipping past another attack from the man who was only growing more powerful. A single one of those strikes, which were smashing through walls with ease, would deal some serious damage.

But he remained calm, and with his insane vision, he remained locked onto the man bounding around him. At times, the man was nothing more than a blur, but matched with his speed, that was enough to keep up.

And he wasn’t just dodging either.

Ethan answered each attack with Gale Rend after Gale Rend, constantly repositioning, refusing to let the man dictate the pace. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, Skyshatter Cry pierced the battlefield, disrupting his senses and forcing him to waste precious stored momentum recovering.

Even so, he wasn’t managing to deal any significant damage to his durable opponent.

Talon’s abilities specialised in speed while the man’s Ability specialised in explosive force that continually snowballed the longer the fight lasted.

Neither possessed a decisive advantage.

But Ethan could already see the cracks forming, literally. Each rebound split the man’s skin a little further, and each compression made fresh tears crawl across his arms, chest, and legs.

Blood stained his now crimson body, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Or perhaps he simply didn’t care.

’He’s sacrificing his own body for more power. Why’s he going so far?’

This didn’t have to be a life-and-death battle, not that Ethan minded it being one. It was almost as though the man knew there was no escaping from this, and had decided to take someone down with him.

’I’m sure as shit not dying here to some no-name psycho.’

No matter how strong his muscles became, his body had limits, and he was surpassing them without overpowering Ethan. Anyone in their right mind would be looking to escape or surrender, but the man seemed to have no intention of doing either.

’A spring can only be compressed so many times before it snaps.’

But before he snapped, the man continued unleashing more and more power, as a series of sickening pinging sounds echoed around them.

’Are those his tendons tearing?’

Ethan wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or disturbed by the man he was facing, who continued his onslaught of attacks. But that’s when things took an even stranger turn...