Ren fought with every ounce of strength he had left. Every system in the Mark II had been pushed to its limit; the heat gauge on his HUD flashed red, warning that the armor wouldn't hold out much longer. But retreat wasn't an option.
The nine-tailed fox wasn't relying on brute force alone—it was a living storm. Each swing of its claws could level buildings, each lash of its tails shattered the ground and sent shockwaves through the air. Ren had tried to change the battlefield—detonating charges along the lake's edge to create muddy craters and pools, hoping to slow the giant's advance. The result? The creature simply leapt over them as if the traps were nothing more than pebbles.
His limited arsenal was its own burden. The remaining smart missiles were only enough for brief distractions, the micro-grenades couldn't punch through the fox's natural defenses. Even when Ren combined energy blasts from his gauntlets with light weapon fire, it all seemed to do nothing more than tickle the beast's skin.
Ultro kept feeding tactical suggestions into his helmet—from extreme evasive maneuvers to projected optimal firing angles. But every strategy lasted only seconds before the fox adapted. This wasn't just a beast—it had terrifying intelligence, reading Ren's movements and anticipating his attacks.
A wave of heat surged as the fox gathered energy in its mouth. Ren recognized the threat instantly—a concentrated fire breath, one of its species' deadliest abilities. He dove low across the water's surface, thrusters on his calves and back detonating together, creating a massive steam cloud to obscure his position. The beam of fire roared overhead, igniting the forest along the lakeshore into an inferno.
His breathing grew heavier, the ammo counter on his HUD sinking toward empty. Ren tried a risky maneuver—firing a grappling line toward a large boulder at the lake's edge, then whipping around to hook the cable onto one of the fox's tails. But the creature's strength was overwhelming—the steel line snapped in seconds, sending him crashing hard into the water.
[Internal radar detects 37% performance drop, Master.]
"Yeah… I can feel it," Ren muttered, his voice nearly drowned by his own ragged breathing. Water dripped from the Mark II's armor plates, now covered in scratches, dents, and streaks of lake mud. Every movement made the mechanical joints emit a faint creak, a sign of the system's growing strain.
His muscles screamed, his back throbbed from the earlier impact, but his eyes stayed locked on the massive creature. The nine-tailed fox closed in, its steps slow but deliberate, crimson eyes burning through the steam still hanging over the water. As if it knew its prey was at the edge of exhaustion.
Ren swallowed hard, his mind racing for an opening—a trap, a maneuver, or one last attack he could pull off. (If I'm going to die, I'll at least make sure it remembers me.) He steadied his breathing, forcing the tremor from his hands, ready to launch a final, insane strategy.
Then suddenly—[Incoming object detected at high speed, intercept in three seconds!]
"What—?" Ren's head snapped toward the dark forest lining the lake. From between the trees, a black silhouette shot forward like a bullet, tearing through mist and sprays of water. In an instant, the figure emerged fully: a towering warrior clad in blazing red armor, wielding a massive axe that gleamed under the moonlight.
Each step slammed into the ground, sending waves of mud outward. Without losing momentum, the giant leapt—high, far, and straight over the fox's head.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Enough with bare hands—let's feast with THIS!!" he roared, his voice thundering with a mix of rage and barbaric joy.
The huge axe spun in a half arc before slamming into the fox's body with crushing force. The impact sounded like a small explosion, the ground around them cracking apart as water and mud burst into the air. The fox snarled in fury, forced back several steps by the blow—something Ren hadn't managed to accomplish after dozens of attacks.
Ren blinked rapidly, struggling to process what he'd just witnessed. But the straight, towering horn on that helmet, the massive frame, and that laughter were far too familiar.
"…Trek?" His voice carried both surprise and disbelief.
The figure spun the axe, letting drops of black blood spatter onto the ground, then turned toward Ren. "Who else is crazy enough to join the hunt for this thing?" he replied, his tone dripping with pride.
Ren let out a long breath, half relieved, half concerned. Trek's arrival could be the salvation he needed… or the spark of fresh chaos that would make things spiral even further out of control.
In the distance, the nine-tailed fox lifted its head once more. Its long roar shook the air, echoing across the lake's surface, sending violent ripples through the water. The thin mist drifting over the lake was torn apart by the sheer force of the sound, as if the night itself shuddered. This fight had just changed—and the broad lakeshore was about to become its stage.
"Well, well… things are heating up," Trek said, spinning his massive axe, the red gleam of his armor reflecting off the shallow water. "Kid, what's your plan?"
Ren glanced over, stifling a weary groan. "Hey, you do realize we were enemies before, right?"
"Hahaha! Who cares about that!" Trek laughed heartily, his voice ringing like clashing steel. "Right now, we hunt this naughty fox first!!"
Ren just shook his head. What the hell happened to him? he thought.
Trek's gaze locked onto the monster, his tone turning suddenly serious. "Hmm… I'll be honest with you, kid. This is the moment I've been dreading. Even with my people's strength, if they jumped in now it'd be a slaughter. You know the nature of the Eks, don't you?"
Ren snorted. "Yeah, yeah… you're known as a race of lunatics, I'm well aware."
"Heh, exactly. So—got a plan to deal with this?"
Ren was about to answer when a large red warning flared across his HUD. "Wait… heads up!!"
Instinctively, both Ren and Trek leapt in opposite directions. The ground where they'd stood shattered under the crushing whip of the fox's tail, spraying water and mud high into the air, splattering their armor.
"Ultro, patch us through comms!" Ren shouted.
From the sky, a recon drone dove fast, closing in on Trek and dropping a small metal disk that immediately latched onto the red helmet.
"Tch, this guy never leaves me alone," Trek growled, feeling the foreign device attach itself.
Trek jerked. "Whoa! You're in my head?!" His voice carried genuine surprise, despite the fact they were now dozens of meters apart and both were busy dodging the fox's relentless strikes.
"Relax. Think of it as telepathy… well, direct comms, anyway. Point is—we need to find a critical moment!" Ren explained, twisting his body to dodge a burst of flame that nearly scorched his thruster wings.
"And then what?!" Trek roared back, swinging his axe to deflect one of the massive tails that tried to crush him.
Ren gritted his teeth. "I'm hoping there's someone who can seal this thing, or at least—wait… Miko! Can Miko do it?"
"Yes!" Trek shot back instantly. "Miko's whole purpose back when the fox god was still pure was to pacify this thing. They've got a sealing technique called the Three Laws Seal."
"The Three Laws Seal? What is that?!"
"Do I really have to explain it right now?!"
"Just give me the short version!" Ren replied, his eyes locked on every move of the towering enemy.
Trek spun his axe to block a third tail whipping toward him like a spear. "Listen closely, kid! The Three Laws Seal is a sacred technique only the direct bloodline of the Grand Miko can use. The three laws are—Will, Spirit, and Form. You have to bind all three at once, or the seal breaks instantly!"
Ren twisted aside from a claw swipe, then fired an energy shot that skipped across the lake's surface before striking the fox's face. "Will, Spirit, Form… meaning?"
"Will means unshakable resolve—total sacrifice!" Trek shoved his axe into the ground, splitting the water's path to disrupt the fox's leap, making it stumble briefly. "Spirit is the synchronization of the sealer's spiritual energy with the surrounding world. And Form… that's the physical manifestation of the seal, usually as an ancient symbol that traps the target."
Ren clenched his jaw, his mind working fast. "Then that means only Kumara can pull it off."
"Exactly! And the problem is, the seal needs total focus. One single distraction—failure!" Trek leapt, spinning his axe twice before slamming it into the fox's shoulder, cracking bone and releasing a terrifying burst of spiritual sparks.
The fox roared, the sound vibrating through the lake until radial waves crashed against both fighters. Ren staggered back several steps, knees nearly buckling, while his HUD lit up with dozens of red alerts.
[Master, Mark II's core energy has dropped to 42%.]
"Thanks for the reminder," Ren hissed, firing a mini-missile to break up the next incoming strike.
But that roar… it wasn't just a scream. The water around the fox began to churn, forming a massive whirlpool. From the depths of the lake, thick black energy welled up like ink, spreading fast until it stained the water in darkness.