The Radbeast’s screech ripped through the fog, rattling Ash’s bones.

  Its body was a nightmare stitched from muscle and tar-black hide, every movement warping the air with radiation. Its glowing saliva sizzled on the ground, leaving pockmarks in the soil.

  Adam froze. His jagged blade trembled in his grip, but his legs refused to move.

  “W-we can’t fight that,” he stammered, retreating into the shadows. “You’re insane if you—”

  But Ash was already moving.

  The radbeast growled at weakest among the two before it’s attention was instantly stolen–,

  Ash lunged forward, machete arcing.

  ‘’I’m your prey now you bastard!!’’ Ash roared.

  The blade scraped across the beast’s flank, sparks spitting from the impact as though he’d struck stone. The Radbeast barely flinched before it swung a forelimb the size of a battering ram.

  CRACK!

  The blow caught Ash in the ribs, hurling him across the forest floor. He slammed against a tree, bark splintering. Blood filled his mouth, warm and coppery.

  Ash spat it out, grinning through broken teeth.

  “Ugh..That just happened.”

  As ash was recovering from the first attack, its massive club like tail came down at him like a cannon ball, ash weaved under the beast’s

  strike at the last second. His machete stabbed into its thigh, digging deep enough to make the monster roar — but the weapon shuddered, the rusty metal groaning under pressure.

  The beast’s flailed around shaking ash off and tried to impale him, Ash barely ducked, its claws carving open his shoulder in a spray of blood.

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  Still he pressed forward. Slash, stab, dodge, stab — the machete hacked into the Radbeast’s hide again and again, carving shallow grooves. Black blood hissed as it hit the ground, acidic smoke rising.

  Just as when ash thought he was doing something, it happened fast and unexpectedly, with a final parry gone wrong, the beast’s claw’s bursted forth from its ribs and came down.

  Ash raised his blade to block—

  SNAP!

  The machete shattered, shards of rusted steel scattering into the dirt.

  Ash skidded back, chest heaving, blood soaking his shirt. The Radbeast loomed, one glowing eye fixed on him.

  Adam’s voice was a faint whisper in the distance.

  “Run… run, you idiot…”

  But Ash didn’t move. He tossed aside the broken hilt, flexed his bloodied fingers, and cracked his knuckles.

  “The hell did I expect?, fine.’’ Ash steamed his resolve once more and with a glare he growled.

  ‘’My turn.”

  He charged bare-handed.

  The Radbeast roared, jaws snapping wide. Ash dove in, fist slamming into its jaw. Bone crunched, teeth cracked. He hammered blow after blow into its face, skin splitting across his knuckles.

  The beast retaliated, claws raking across his chest. Flesh tore. Blood sprayed. Ash didn’t even blink. He drove his thumbs into its eye sockets, ripping until warm fluid gushed down his wrists.

  The Radbeast screamed, thrashing wildly, but even blind it fought like a devil. Its claws found his back, tearing strips of skin. Its tail slammed into his legs, bones cracking as he dropped to his knees.

  Ash coughed blood, vision blurring. He forced himself upright, swaying on ruined legs. The beast’s senses were sharper than he expected — it stalked him by sound, by the tremor of his breath, by the heat of his blood dripping into the dirt.

  “Persistent bastard,” Ash rasped.

  The Radbeast lunged, claws outstretched—

  Ash couldn’t move in time. The strike gutted him, blood pouring freely. His body gave out, collapsing into the black pool of the beast’s own spilled ichor.

  The match had concluded, and as the law of the jungle states, eat or be eaten, ash lost to the radbeast and as a result he shall be eaten, at least that’s what was supposed to happen,

  As the monster loomed closer to ash’s broken body, Adam came out of nowhere and threw his dagger at the beast’s back,

  And for a moment, everything slowed down as the beast turned around, it glared at Adam fiercely.

  ‘’FUUUCK, WHY?!’’ Adam screamed at himself internally, he didn’t know why he had done that, Adam had always been one to put his own safety before even an old lady or a new born child, but now, he put himself on the line for someone he never knew. He didn’t know why but he did it and he immediately regretted it. But for that small moment of distraction, ash had survived a little longer, enough for a miracle to happen.

  Ash’s face pressed into the warm, metallic blood. His instincts screamed. His vision tunneled. His body was breaking — but the fire inside him wasn’t done yet.

  Without thinking, Ash drank.

  The taste was agony — metallic, bitter, alive with radiation that burned through his throat like fire. His stomach lurched, veins searing as though molten iron was coursing through them.

  He should have died.

  But instead…

  He rose.

  The Radbeast froze mid-step.

  Ash’s aura shifted — no longer human, no longer prey. His expression was unreadable, a mask of calm. His eyes were cold, depthless, burning with something primal.

  The beast — blind, bleeding, still snarling — suddenly hesitated. Its chest heaved. Its claws twitched but didn’t strike.

  For the first time, the predator felt fear.

  Ash tilted his head, blood dripping from his chin. His voice was low, guttural.

  “My turn.”

  He stepped forward, and the Radbeast flinched.

  The chapter ended with the fog thickening, Adam watching in wide-eyed horror as Ash loomed over the monster — not as man, not as null, but as something far worse.

  Something the island itself seemed to recoil from.

  The birth of Thanoros’s abomination.