"Ivy staggered backward, her hooves trembling beneath her."
"So… Claw's gone, huh?"
"That makes me alone… trapped between two beasts," Ivy thought.
She looked around , no voices, no warmth, only the weight of silence pressing against her chest, broken by the mad laughs of the leopards.
When she staggered backward, her body stopped her; she froze in place.
She felt something.
"Huh…?" She felt warmth spreading down her legs.
"So it happened to me too… not just you, Claw." Ivy swallowed hard as urine spilled from her.
Her breath caught in her throat. Shame and terror tangled until she couldn't tell them apart.
She pressed her knees together, trembling , the body's betrayal sealing what words couldn't say.
Vein's eyes locked on Ivy, a predator about to attack its trapped prey.
"Gash, just look at this beautiful scene… Where's your courage now, deer?" Vein smirked.
Gash let out a mocking laugh.
"So, Vein… which part do we start with?!" Gash said, drool dripping from his mouth.
Vein's tongue slid over his fangs as he took a step closer.
His eyes sharpened.
"Head."
Ivy's breath hitched. She couldn't move — her legs were stone.
"LET'S EAT, THEN!" Gash leapt toward Ivy.
Ivy clamped her ears and curled into a trembling ball.
Thud!
Vein stepped between them and shoved Gash aside. "No—the deer is mine!"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, VEIN?!" Gash shouted.
"So that's it… I just wanted to understand." "I have no regrets," she whispered, as though surrender itself were peace.
Her body gave in at last, vision swimming as the world dissolved into the sound of beasts fighting.
She let out a faint smile.
A lone figure watched from behind, the three shapes ahead barely stirring.
His body staggered twice, first to the right, then to the left, then he stepped, collapsed, and rose again.
Her heart stuttered as she saw them, every breath thinner than the last.
"Ouch, Vein! Don't be cruel! We decided half and half!" Gash said, his voice trembling with hunger as he shoved Vein away.
"Half and half? Don't make me laugh. You've devoured more humans than I ever have!"
"Vein!!" Gash's voice cracked, fear bleeding through the sound.
The figure advanced, its shadow swallowing Gash inch by inch.
Vein turned and moved toward Ivy. Her gaze lifted, was the mountain moving, or was she trembling?
"What do you want now?" he growled.
Dust rose with each step, curling around their feet like smoke.
For a moment, time stopped.
Thud!
Gash's body was sent flying.
The ground quivered where he fell, a cloud of dust swallowing his shape.
Silence followed—heavy, absolute.
"Gash… s-stop your foolish games…" A bead of sweat traced down Vein's temple.
Vein didn't dare to turn.
Ivy's eyes widened; the massive bear loomed behind Vein, its arm rising like a shadow ready to strike.
A pressure built behind him, thick and suffocating , the kind that makes even predators freeze.
Vein's ears twitched, his instincts screaming before his mind caught up.
A chill crawled down his spine , then came the weight.
"Grizzler, don't you think—"
Thud!
The sound split the air ,bone, dirt, and silence colliding as one.
Before he could finish, the world went black with a single crushing blow.
Ivy staggered back, her gaze fixed on the bear as it heaved for air.
Ivy's hooves sank into the dirt, trembling beneath her weight.
She didn't know if the sound she heard was his growl ... or her own heartbeat.
Each breath the bear took sounded like thunder, yet Ivy's voice was barely a whisper: "Grizzler?"