The green lights moved. Circling. The breathing sound got louder.
Oscar's hands tightened on the branch.
It followed me.
The corrupted monster that killed Arthur wasn't gone.
It had been hunting him the entire time.
The bushes exploded.
A mass of black fur and teeth launched through the undergrowth. No warning. No hesitation. Just raw killing intent compressed into four hundred pounds of corrupted muscle.
Oscar threw himself sideways.
Claws raked the air where his chest had been. He hit the ground rolling, came up running, the branch forgotten somewhere in the leaves behind him.
Oscar ran.
No thought. No plan. Just the primal, animal understanding that staying still meant dying.
His legs pumped beneath him, longer and stronger than they should be, carrying him through the forest faster than he'd ever moved in his life. Arthur's body knew how to run. Oscar's brain was still catching up.
A branch whipped across his face. He ducked too late, bark scraping his cheek. His foot caught on a root, and he stumbled, arms windmilling, barely staying upright.
Behind him, something crashed through the underbrush.
Not trying to be quiet anymore. Just hunting.
Oscar risked a glance back.
Mistake.
His shoulder slammed into a tree trunk. Pain exploded down his arm. He spun off the impact and somehow kept his feet moving.
The forest blurred past. Silver moonlight and black shadow. His breath came in ragged gasps, misting in the cold air. How long had he been running? Thirty seconds? A minute? It felt like hours.
The sounds behind him were getting closer.
Breaking branches. Heavy breathing—wet and wrong, like air forcing through a punctured lung. And underneath it all, a low continuous growl that vibrated in his chest even at this distance.
Faster. Move faster.
His legs obeyed. Arthur's muscle memory is kicking in, finding the rhythm of movement through rough terrain. His feet started landing on solid ground instead of roots and loose stones. His centre of gravity dropped without him thinking about it, making him more stable.
The body knew what to do.
Oscar just had to not fuck it up.
A boulder loomed out of the darkness. He veered left, his shoulder grazing stone, the branch still clutched uselessly in his hand. What was he going to do with a stick against that thing?
The breathing behind him got louder.
Closer.
Oscar's heart hammered against his ribs. His lungs burned. How much farther could he run? Arthur's body was trained, but he'd been slacking. The entrance exam had exposed that. One week of training harder hadn't been enough to—
Something whistled past his ear.
He jerked sideways on instinct. Claws raked the air where his head had been a half-second before.
Too close, too close, too close—
Oscar threw himself forward into a desperate sprint. His foot landed wrong. He felt his ankle roll, pain shooting up his leg, but he didn't stop. Couldn't stop.
The ground sloped downward. He took the hill too fast, his momentum carrying him forward in barely controlled chaos. Branches whipped at his face and arms. His torn tunic caught on thorns and ripped further.
Then he heard it.
Water.
Running water, somewhere ahead through the trees.
Oscar aimed for the sound, legs burning, ankles screaming protest with every step. The slope got steeper. He was half-running, half-falling now, using tree trunks to keep from eating shit completely.
The monster crashed down the slope behind him. Faster than it should be. Too fast.
The trees broke.
A stream cut through the forest floor, maybe ten feet across, with water moving quickly over smooth stones. Moonlight reflected off the surface, turning it silver.
Oscar didn't slow down.
He hit the water at full speed. The shock of cold stole his breath. His boots found purchase on slippery rocks. One step, two, three—he was across, scrambling up the opposite bank, grabbing at exposed roots to pull himself up.
He cleared the top and kept moving. Twenty feet. Thirty. His legs felt like jelly, but fear kept them pumping.
Then he heard it.
Silence.
Oscar stumbled to a stop, his back hitting a tree. He pressed against the rough bark, gasping for air, trying to quiet his breathing enough to hear.
Nothing.
No crashing through undergrowth. No wet, broken breathing. No growling.
Just the sound of running water and wind through leaves.
He waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. His heart gradually slowed from its panicked sprint. The burning in his lungs eased to a dull ache.
The monster had stopped at the stream.
Why?
Oscar's mind raced through possibilities. Lost the scent? Injured too badly to cross? Territorial boundary?
Didn't matter. He had time. Not much, but enough.
He slid down the tree trunk until he was sitting, legs splayed out in front of him. His whole body shook. Adrenaline crash is hitting hard.
Okay. Okay. Still alive. That's something.
His ankle throbbed. He reached down, fingers probing gently. Swollen but not broken. He could still move it. Barely.
The stick he'd been carrying was gone. Lost somewhere during the run. Great.
Oscar leaned his head back against the tree, staring up at the canopy. Stars winked between the gaps. Beautiful, in a detached sort of way. Nice to look at when you weren't running for your life.
I need to know what I'm working with.
The thought surfaced clearly through the fading panic. He had Arthur's memories. Knew he'd passed the entrance exam with lightning affinity and a sword technique. Had two spells. But knowing about them and being able to use them were different things.
He needed information.
Oscar closed his eyes, reaching for that instinct he'd felt before. That pull toward something floating just out of reach.
The Nova System responded immediately.
A translucent blue screen materialised in the air in front of him, glowing softly in the darkness. His eyes snapped open.
║ NOVA SYSTEM ║
NAME: Arthur Reinhart [Dual Soul - 22%] AGE: 17
RACE: Human
CORE INFORMATION - Rank: Lower Apprentice - Core Colour: White
└─ Max Potential: Lower Master
AFFINITIES - Lightning
MARTIAL ARTS:
└─ Thunder Blade Style (Uncommon) ├─ Mastery: 28% └─ A sword technique that channels lightning through the blade, increasing speed and power.
MAGIC SPELLS:
Lightning Bolt (Common) ├─ Mastery: 61% └─ Fires a concentrated bolt of lightning at a target.
Spark Shield (Common) ├─ Mastery: 43% └─ Creates a brief barrier of crackling electricity.
SKILLS: [None]
TRAITS: [???]
Oscar stared at the screen.
Lower Apprentice. Same as the corrupted monster, if the novel's power scaling held true. Wolf-type corrupted were usually bottom-tier, novice or lower apprentice rank at most.
But the original Arthur had fought it before dying. The thing had to be injured. Weakened.
That was the only reason Oscar was still alive.
His eyes tracked down to the spells. Lightning Bolt at 61% mastery. Spark Shield at 43%. Arthur had trained these. Oscar had the muscle memory for casting them buried somewhere in this borrowed brain.
Thunder Blade Style at 28% mastery. Barely practised. Arthur had been slacking for months, coasting on his father's legacy training.
And that [Dual Soul - 22%] tag next to his name. What did that even mean? Twenty-two percent of what?
Oscar reached toward the tag, his finger hovering over it.
A growl echoed through the trees.
His head snapped up.
The monster hadn't left. It had been waiting. Circling.
Oscar scrambled to his feet, pain shooting through his ankle. The system screen vanished with a thought. He pressed his back against the tree, eyes scanning the darkness.
Green light flickered between the trunks. Two points of sickly luminescence, low to the ground. Moving.
Not toward the stream. Paralleling it. Looking for another way across.
Finding one.
The breathing sound started again. Wet. Wrong. Getting closer.
Oscar's hand went to his hip instinctively, reaching for a sword that wasn't there. Right. No weapon. Lost the stick. Just him and spells he barely knew how to cast.
The green eyes emerged from the shadows thirty feet away.
Oscar finally got a good look at it.
The wolf was massive. Easily the size of a motorcycle, with shoulders coming up to Oscar's chest. Its fur was matted black, with patches missing to reveal skin that pulsed with dark veins, like corruption had infected its blood. The mouth hung open wrong, the jaw dislocated or broken, revealing rows of teeth that gleamed in the moonlight.
And it was bleeding.
Three long gashes across its side, still weeping dark fluid. A chunk is missing from its hind leg. One ear was torn half off.
Arthur had hurt it before dying. Hurt it badly.
The wolf's eyes locked onto Oscar. Intelligence flickered there. Recognition.
It knew this body. Knew it had killed this person once already.
The wolf's lips pulled back in something that might have been a smile if smiles weren't supposed to have that many teeth.
Then it charged.
Oscar's mind went blank. Pure animal terror flooded his system.
But Arthur's body remembered.
His right hand came up without thinking, fingers forming a pattern. Mana surged through channels Oscar didn't know he had, following paths carved by months of practice. The mathematical formula flashed through his mind—complex, beautiful, meaningless to him but known by Arthur's muscle memory.
Lightning crackled between his fingers.
"Lightning Bolt!"
The spell erupted from his palm.
A bolt of brilliant yellow electricity screamed across the distance, illuminating the entire clearing for a split second.
It caught the wolf mid-leap.
The creature convulsed, its charge turning into an uncontrolled tumble. It hit the ground ten feet away, momentum carrying it forward in a rolling mass of fur and limbs.
Oscar didn't wait to see if it would get up.
He turned and ran.
Three steps and his ankle gave out.
He went down hard, shoulder hitting the earth. Rolled. Came up on his knees just as the wolf found its feet.
Smoke rose from its fur where the lightning had struck. The smell of burnt meat and ozone filled the air. But it was standing. Still alive. Still angry.
The wolf shook itself, electricity still crackling across its matted coat. Its eyes found Oscar.
No more running.
No more hiding.
Oscar pushed himself upright, favouring his good leg. His hands came up in a guard position he didn't remember learning.
The wolf lowered its head. Blood dripped from its jaws onto dead leaves.
Neither moved.
The forest held its breath.
Then the wolf lunged.