SCARED BY BLOOD ( Beast, God, Man?)

The city of Zoria was on the brink of collapse.

The King's God battled Ezekiel, the Vox Sanguinis, in the distance, their power shaking the very ground beneath them. But on the streets, it was chaos—Malugna poured in from all sides, devouring everything in their path.

Samuel stood among the city's last defenders.

He had lost Lancelot.

He had sworn revenge.

And now, he had no choice but to fight.

---

Holding the Line

"Here they come!" Elaine shouted, her twin blades flashing in the firelight.

Samuel tightened his grip on his weapon. All around him, knights, mercenaries, and surviving soldiers formed a desperate defensive line. At their center, giving orders with unwavering composure, stood Lyra Edevane.

"Hold your positions!" she commanded, her voice cutting through the noise of battle. "Let them come to us!"

Her confidence was absolute.

Even with the city burning, even with monsters tearing through the streets, she stood tall—a noble above all this destruction.

Samuel felt drawn to that strength.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

A Land Malugna lunged toward him, its monstrous body covered in countless gnashing teeth. Samuel dodged, barely avoiding its snapping maw, and slashed his sword across its thick hide. Black blood sprayed onto the ground, but the beast didn't slow.

"Samuel, move!" Marianne cried, unleashing a barrage of arrows. The projectiles struck the beast's eyes, blinding it.

Samuel didn't hesitate. He drove his sword into its skull, twisting the blade until the creature collapsed.

One down. Dozens more to go.

The Malugna were strong, but the defenders held their ground. Every soldier knew that if they fell, Zoria would be lost.

And they refused to let that happen.

---

Samuel's Power Awakens

Despite their efforts, the Malugna kept coming.

For every beast they cut down, more replaced them. The knights were tiring, their movements slowing. Even Elaine, who had fought beside Samuel for years, was starting to show signs of exhaustion.

Samuel's grip on his sword tightened.

He had trained for this. Cultivated his power.

But it wasn't enough.

Not yet.

Then, a Ralugna swooped down from above—a flying nightmare of twisted flesh and jagged fangs. It let out a deafening screech before diving straight at them.

"Get back!" Lyra ordered, raising her staff. A barrier of golden energy erupted in front of her, barely stopping the beast's charge.

The Ralugna shrieked, slamming into the barrier again and again.

Lyra gritted her teeth. "I can't hold it for long!"

Samuel's heart pounded. There had to be another way.

A thought flickered in his mind.

The power his mother spoke of.

His breath slowed. His heartbeat steadied.

And then, he reached out.

Not with his hands.

With something deeper.

The world around him dimmed. He felt something stir in the air—a presence beyond the physical. Something ancient. Something waiting.

Then he saw it.

A faint outline in the darkness.

The soul of a beast long dead.

Samuel didn't understand how, but he called to it.

And it answered.

A ghostly wolf-like creature emerged from thin air, its spectral form shimmering with raw energy. It let out a low growl before launching itself at the Ralugna, colliding with the beast mid-air.

The impact sent the Ralugna crashing to the ground.

The defenders stared in shock.

Even Lyra, always composed, looked at Samuel with newfound curiosity.

"What was that?" she asked.

Samuel exhaled, his body trembling from the effort.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I think… I can do more."

---

The Battlefield Shifts

With the ghostly beast at his side, Samuel pressed forward.

The spectral wolf tore through the Malugna like a force of nature, its form flickering between reality and something else entirely.

The soldiers around him rallied.

For the first time, they had hope.

Even as the Malugna kept coming, even as the battle raged on, the tide was turning.

"Push forward!" Lyra commanded, seizing the moment. "We have them on the defensive!"

Samuel had never fought like this before.

He wasn't just a beast tamer. He was something more.

A Soul Tamer.

And for the first time, he embraced it.

---

The Final Clash

As the battle neared its climax, a sudden shockwave tore through the city.

Everyone turned toward the source—where Ezekiel and the King's God were still fighting.

The King's God was strong, but Ezekiel… he was something else entirely.

Blood-red energy crackled around him, his grin widening as he unleashed another wave of Malugna.

"Enough playing around," he said. "Let's end this."

A deep dread settled in Samuel's stomach.

Even after everything, Ezekiel wasn't done.

And Zoria's fate was still hanging by a thread.