Magnus and Leiko found themselves trapped by the Beast King's Refraction Planes. Fighting back-to-back, the two princes struggled to land a hit on their elusive foe, who moved through a shifting maze of mirror shards. After a brutal exchange, Magnus injured the Beast King, allowing Leiko to land a devastating blow. However, the Beast King retaliated by shattering his own domain into a deadly hailstorm, wounding Magnus.
"Magnus!" Leiko cried out, though his own condition was dire.
The Beast King, seeing its opponents perfectly countering and cornering it, had lost all hope of escape. Driven by wounded pride and a desire for mutual destruction, it lunged at Leiko through the obscuring steam. Leiko sensed the 'rhythm,' yet the air, thick with shattered glass, impeded his reflexes. The Beast King's tail, now encased in razor-sharp ice, struck Leiko's ribs with a sickening crunch.
Leiko was propelled across the domain space, coughing blood, his exposed chest a mess of shallow, freezing gashes.
"Still... breathing..." Leiko gasped, forcing himself upright. A primal frenzy ignited within him, an innate response of the Björn people to the sight of their own or an enemy's blood. A smile touched his lips as the searing pain transformed into exhilarating pleasure.
Magnus, forced onto one knee, tore the shard from his shoulder with a snarl. He gazed at the dark blood on his hands, a stark contrast to the silvery light. "Leiko... the moonlight. Grant me your heat, and I shall reveal the way."
The two princes met each other's eyes. The rivalry had vanished, replaced by a singular focus on the kill.
Magnus raised his hand, and the Domain of Umbral Refraction responded. The moon above began to exert its pull, drawing the blinding glare from the atmosphere. It concentrated every stray photon into a single, needle-thin beam of pure light, aimed directly at the Beast King's vulnerable core.
"Now!" Magnus bellowed, his eyes streaming blood from the immense strain of maintaining the light.
Leiko eschewed a sword, his form erupting into flames that enveloped him.
He tapped into the 'rhythm' of Magnus's light. Utilizing the lunar path as a conduit, Leiko expended his remaining mana. He surged forward, a blazing streak of white-hot plasma. The Beast King attempted to erect a final, immense Refraction Plane, but the concentrated light from Magnus pierced through the ice before Leiko even arrived.
Leiko's fist, wreathed in fire, punched directly into the Beast King's chest.
The impact was met with a momentary silence before a thunderous boom followed, shattering the remnants of the tri-domain.
The Beast King's eyes widened, its reptilian pupils contracting to mere pinpricks as the intense heat vaporized its internal organs. It had no time for a scream. Fire erupted from its back, leaving a gaping, colossal hole.
The domain imploded.
The Icy Expanse reclaimed its territory, bringing with it the biting cold, the howling wind, and the swirling snow.
Leiko collapsed onto the ground, his skin smoking as the snow melted around him, his breaths coming in ragged, bloody gasps. A few yards away, Magnus leaned against a real stone pillar, his fair hair clotted with blood, his bow shattered into two pieces.
They remained there in the frigid silence, two broken princes amidst a desolate landscape of red snow, beside the slain body of the Beast King.
"I still..." Leiko coughed, a weak, defiant smirk playing on his lips, "...got the final hit."
Magnus emitted a dry, pained wheeze that might have been laughter. "Be quiet, Leiko. Just for once... shut up."
The two lapsed back into a heavy quiet, awaiting the replenishment of their mana pools and the slow, steady work of natural healing. It was during this lull that familiar footsteps echoed through the desolate landscape.
Lunara approached, accompanied by a diminished Nova. Her expression hardened as her gaze fell upon their battered forms. Without a word, she gestured, conjuring a shimmering mana bubble that enveloped both Magnus and Leiko, its restorative glow instantly alleviating their exhaustion.
Relief evident on their faces, Lunara let out a long, weary sigh as they stabilized. She then turned her attention to the fallen Beast King. Her eyes scanned the scorched aperture in its chest, a wound of such magnitude that she immediately knew its origin.
She began to traverse the beast's immense length, her focus searching for something specific. Eventually, she stopped at the very tip of its tail. There, almost imperceptible to the casual observer, was a ring-shaped marking. At first glance, it appeared to be a natural feature of the creature's hide, but Lunara recognized its true nature.
As Lunara reached out and touched the mark, the ring slid smoothly from the tail's extremity. The instant her fingers closed around the metal, her instincts flared, and she vanished in a swift blur, reappearing dozens of yards away, dragging the protective bubbles containing Magnus and Leiko with her.
Scarcely a moment passed before the Beast King's corpse began a violent metamorphosis. It groaned and swelled as if being infused with air, its scales creaking under the strain of rapid expansion. In mere heartbeats, the once-manageable serpent had transformed into a colossal titan, a mountain of flesh and bone that dwarfed the surrounding icy expanse.
Lunara remained unfazed, her anticipation having prepared her for this very moment. Her attention was wholly captured by the small object cradled in her palm, a specialized artifact meticulously crafted by the Menagerie, designed specifically for beings of such immense stature.
It served as a potent testament to a biological truth many had sadly forgotten. Beast Kings were renowned for their colossal physical presence; it was a widespread misconception among adventurers to mistake a slumbering Beast King for actual mountain ranges, given their sheer, natural scale. Without the ring to condense its essence, the king had finally reverted to its true, gargantuan form.
However, such immense sizes are largely relics of the past. The Menagerie had ingeniously devised a solution that acted as an irresistible lure for these wild rulers: "the ring." Through these artifacts, Beast Kings could drastically compress their massive forms, enabling them to traverse the world at a "normal" height and move with an unexpected, deceptive agility.
Yet, this convenience bore a grim consequence. The ring, easily obtained, unfortunately invited treachery. The fallen serpent before them was a stark illustration, one among many who had joined the Menagerie under false pretenses. They craved the power and the altered form, only to abandon their allegiance the instant their selfish objectives were achieved.
This particular scaled monarch had terrorized the Northern Continent for a significant duration. While the inhabitants of the North had always acknowledged the perilous nature of the Icy Expanse, the threat escalated dramatically with the emergence of this Beast King.
Reports of casualties began to deluge from every remote corner of the land. Crucial trade routes that snaked through the frozen wilderness were abruptly reclassified as high-risk zones, with entire merchant caravans and seasoned explorers inexplicably vanishing into the snow.
Initially, pinpointing the source of the escalating problem proved exceedingly difficult. The perpetrator operated with great care, leaving behind no discernible tracks or evidence that could be traced across the snow. A palpable sense of dread permeated the North as the grim reports continued to accumulate; fortunately, the Menagerie eventually intervened, bridging the void of uncertainty.
They provided precisely what was desperately needed: "Information." They elucidated the true nature of the terror plaguing the frost-covered lands and explained how a creature of such colossal proportions managed to circumvent border defenses and move between territories entirely undetected.
Naturally, this vital intelligence was not disseminated in the common taverns to the general populace; it was exclusively shared with those in positions of authority. In response, an immense, unified bounty was declared for the creature's demise, generously funded by the Menagerie and the various kingdoms that had suffered under its tyrannical reign.
Innumerable mercenaries, formidable mages, and valiant warriors embarked on the pursuit of the beast, which had developed a voracious appetite for human flesh. It had grown audacious, even venturing beyond the frigid borders into the Sunny Lands, where it had utterly obliterated a small village from existence.
Despite the considerable wealth expended against it, the Beast King remained elusive, like a phantom. Many hunters met their end during the pursuit, and the few who managed to survive returned empty-handed, their frustration mounting due to the creature's evasive tactics and its remarkable ability to melt back into the white wilderness at the slightest hint of an unfavorable engagement.
Even when cornered, the creature displayed an extraordinary capacity for survival. It would make a desperate dash towards the border, slipping across into another territory with a frantic sprint, acutely aware that its pursuers would hesitate to venture into restricted or sovereign lands.
Word of the Beast King's remarkable evasive maneuvers eventually reached the keen ears of Leiko and Magnus. To them, this represented a formal challenge, an endeavor they both concurred would be a hunt worthy of their considerable skills.
Their underlying motivations, however, were as divergent as their distinct combat methodologies. Magnus was driven by the substantial rewards promised by the Menagerie, recognizing the invaluable resources and connections that were far too tempting to ignore. Leiko, conversely, held little regard for monetary gain. He was drawn by the sheer challenge, seeking the primal exhilaration that could only be derived from tracking and ultimately vanquishing a predator of such formidable caliber.
Lunara stood before the colossal carcass, poised to become an enduring monument within the Icy Expanse. She expelled a deep sigh as she gazed upwards at the mountainous expanse of scales. It was a chilling realization; without the ring functioning as a constraint to suppress its size, a creature of such gargantuan magnitude should not have been capable of movement without triggering earth-shattering tremors, yet it had traversed the world silently and unnoticed.
