The beast stepped into the light.
Three heads, each with jaws wide enough to bite a man in half. Its four wings stretched and scraped the cathedral ceiling, shedding white feathers like fallen prayers.
Every breath that left its throats was hot and sharp, carrying a stench of rot masked by something sweet and almost holy, but wrong.
Its eyes locked on him. Six points of burning gold. Unblinking.
Tom tightened his grip on the trident, his pulse thudding so loud he could hear it over the thing's breathing.
The lion moved first. A blur of muscle and claws. Tom rolled aside, the floor splintering where he'd been. Glass shards from the mirrored tiles sliced his coat.
Too slow. His Face's voice brushed against his mind like a whisper.
He dodged again, barely. A paw slammed down, sending a shockwave through the cathedral. The walls groaned. Tom staggered, knees bending hard to keep balance.
The lion roared. All three mouths in unison. The sound wasn't just loud but also it crushed. His bones felt it. His thoughts shook loose like dust.
He spun the trident, letting water surge along its edge, and struck. The blade met fur. Sparks flew. It didn't cut deep did a scratch barely. The lion didn't even flinch.
It lunged, faster than his eyes could track.
Tom reacted late. Always late, " Agility – D "
the screen burned in his mind. He crossed the trident like a shield. Claws hit metal. The force blasted him across the floor. His ribs screamed. His breath came out broken.
The lion prowled closer. Its three mouths curled back, grinning like death itself.
"Not…dying here," Tom muttered, spitting blood.
He planted the trident. Rotated the shards of broken glass around him as his Face answered his call. They spun into a storm, razor edges slicing through the stale air. The lion hesitated for a fraction. Then it leaped anyway.
Tom sent the shards forward, screaming like knives, and dove sideways. The beast crashed into the floor, smashing pillars, throwing fragments everywhere.
Dust swallowed the hall. Tom coughed hard, eyes stinging. He barely had time to breathe. Six glowing eyes cut through the haze, watching him.
The heads rose, slow, deliberate. Its wings stretched again, feathers glowing faintly, as if the creature itself was a fallen god reclaiming its throne.
The next roar shook the entire cathedral.
The fight raged on in the cathedral's hollow chest.
Tom kept moving thinking, adjusting, carving space with his trident and Face. He learned the lion's rhythm,
left head snapped first, then the right, then the middle delayed before lunging with terrifying precision. He baited that sequence, stepping late, forcing its jaws to crash against the trident's steel or slam against pillars.
Every strike wasn't about killing, it was about bleeding seconds out of this monster.
He rotated broken columns into its path, spun shattered stone like orbiting moons, and used water to sharpen the trident's thrusts.
When the beast leapt, Tom dove beneath its chest and sliced across its belly. Thin trails of blood dripped. The lion roared, shaking dust down from the cathedral roof.
Tom didn't smile, but he knew he was beating it.
Until the light came....
A vast, angelic sigil burned into existence on the middle head's forehead. Its lines twisted like living fire, neither holy nor unholy, but something beyond both.
The lion let out a roar unlike the others, a sound that split the cathedral air like glass.
Its wings burst outward, feathers crackling with light. A single flap launched shockwaves that rippled across the floor, cracking mirrored tiles like ice.
Tom braced. He didn't think, his Face moved first. His body leaned back, but his Face stepped forward, a shadow of himself layered over flesh. It raised its pale hand and punched the air while sitting on the chair.
The shockwave slammed into that ghostly figure, not him. The force still shredded his nerves, blood dripping from his nose, but he stood. His Face had tanked it.
The lion didn't stop. Light gathered in its throats, white beams burning from each mouth. Tom rotated the debris, forming whirling shields, but the beams cut through like paper. He threw himself sideways, heat singing his coat.
Another wingbeat knocked him into a wall. His trident clattered, but he pulled it back with a rotation before the lion crushed him.
He lunged, stabbing into its flank, water surging from the weapon like a burst dam. The impact staggered one of its heads, and Tom twisted, forcing the blade deeper.
Just for a blink—just one—the lion faltered. Its wings folded, its roars uneven.
Tom's breath came ragged. His arms trembled. I can do this, he told himself. I can break it.
Then the sigil on its forehead pulsed again, brighter, crueler. The cathedral shook, mirrors cracked wider.
The Lion's three heads moved as one, light spilling from their mouths, wings raised for something greater.
The cathedral's air was thick with dust and light. Tom's body shook, his trident nearly slipping from his grip. He exhaled slowly, mind racing. Something gnawed at him.
Then, like a slap, he remembered.
His system slot. His reward.
The trident shimmered, vanished back into storage with a flick of thought. Tom laughed under his breath dry, mocking himself.
"How the hell did I forget a damn weapon?"
He willed the other item forth.
A long polearm materialized in his hand. Polished steel shaft, blade glinting like moonlight, far heavier yet smoother to grip than his trident. He read the system's words as they burned into his mind,
[ Kakin Kingdom's Yari ]
[ Effect: This spear can wound both flesh and spirit. Every strike weakens the target's connection between body and soul. ]
[ The more hits landed, the more the spirit slips away from its vessel. ]
[ Special Clause: Each strike has a 50% chance to completely sever spirit from body, resulting in instant death for beings with souls. ]
[ This Clause only remains active for 1 minute. Can be used only once in a Hunt ]
Tom's fingers tightened.
"Detach spirit from body… fifty-fifty…"
A half-chance at ending this in a single thrust. But he knew it wasn't about gambling. It was about landing a hit.
The lion roared, divine light blazing from the sigil on its forehead. Its wings spread, crushing the air.
The first clash was brutal. The Yari's steel blade sparked against divine feathers. The lion's paw slammed down, shaking the ground.
Tom rotated broken marble upward, forcing the paw back an inch. Not much, but enough for him to roll and slash. The Yari grazed one flank.
The lion screamed.
It wasn't like before. The wound was shallow, but something deeper rippled. Its light flickered, its divine aura dimmed just slightly.
Tom saw it. This weapon works.
He pressed then feints, rotations, calculated slips. Every move was to create a single opening. His Face mirrored his motions, doubling pressure, distracting the beast with ghostly presence.
Another strike landed, then another. Each blow made the lion's power stutter, its three voices no longer perfectly aligned. Its wings shivered; its roars lost their gut.
The sigil on its forehead tried to flare but instead of strengthening, it faltered. The divine light broke like smoke.
The lion staggered, claws scraping the mirrored floor. One more thrust straight through the chest.
The Yari sank in, gleaming white. A shudder rippled through the beast.
Its body held… but its spirit unraveled. Like threads pulled from a cloth, its divinity bled into the air, fading, dissolving.
The three heads lifted one last time, roared without sound, then melted into pale dust.
The Yari hummed faintly in Tom's hand, almost alive. He stood still, chest heaving, watching the lion's presence vanish completely, leaving behind only the broken cathedral and its endless mirrors.
Tom slumped to the floor, sweat dripping down his jaw, chest heaving like he'd just run across three deserts without shoes. His back hit one of the cracked pillars, Yari clattering beside him.
The System's screen blinked open.
[ Reward: 1000 EXP ]
[ Note: This battle was not part of your Personal Quest. ]
Tom blinked twice. "…Wait… what?"
Another screen slid down, almost smug.
[ Additional Info: The entity you fought was classified as a Multiversal Being. Congratulations on surviving. ]
For a moment, Tom just sat there, lips parting slowly. Then he barked out a laugh, half hysterical, half insulted.
"A Multiversal being. Yeah. Sure. Why not. Of course. Why wouldn't the oversized housecat with angel cosplay be some cosmic-level boss?" He slapped his face lightly with both hands. "And me? What am I? Some D-rank agility scarecrow. Wonderful balance, Tom. Truly peak strategy take on a lion that eats stars while forgetting you even had a weapon."
He leaned forward, tugging at his hair, grin spreading like madness. "System's probably up there rolling dice. Oh, should we give him rats? Nah, let's give him a multiverse lion. Surprise, idiot!"
Another screen politely popped up.
[ Tip: Please remember to check your inventory regularly. ]
Tom threw his hands up at the empty cathedral. "Thank you, almighty spreadsheet in the sky. Truly the guidance I needed. Next time, maybe also remind me when a three-headed god-beast is about to turn me into ground meat, huh?"
Despite the sarcasm, a chuckle escaped his throat. He leaned back, staring up at the mirrored ceiling, still laughing to himself, the Yari glinting faintly at his side.