Timothee could feel the wet blood streaming down the back of his neck. The shirt binding his arms was fully soaked red as blood continuously poured from the massive gashes.
The overly straining activity was forcing his blood to sprint through his veins, making his blood leak from his wounds at a terrifying rate.
He could feel his body slowing as dark specks danced around his blurring vision. The boy's hope of victory was waning as he felt his body growing more and more sluggish with every second.
Just then.
"I got it!" A cheerful voice called out.
Cain stretched his hand out toward the beast, his piercing blue eyes closing gently.
He could feel the familiar energy coursing through the creature's veins, present in every fiber of its being.
Until now, even though he felt the energy, he couldn't do anything with it. But now, Cain believed he had figured out a way to manipulate it.
Time seemed to slow as Cain's hand reached into the air, his open palm facing the tiger, like he was trying to grab it. His handsome face was serene as a lake, his eyes closed to the world around him.
A visible ripple of energy pulsed from Cain's form, quietly spreading throughout the clearing.
Everywhere the ripple passed seemed to draw toward Cain.
The grass stopped blowing with the wind, prostrating toward Cain. The branches of the trees stretched out for the boy, like beggars reaching for aid.
When the ripple passed through their bodies, Timothee and Aisha could feel themselves becoming agitated. The energy within them pulsing, flowing at a far faster rate than normal.
The raging energy within their bodies refreshed them, rapidly boosting their physical bodies past their pinnacle state.
Timothee had yet to truly cultivate so he couldn't tell what was happening.
But Aisha could feel the vortex swirling within her chalice faster than ever, devouring the energy around her like an insatiable beast. Her previously drained chalice was filling rapidly as the tubes hungrily devoured the gathering energy, endlessly pumping it throughout her body.
Even with the tubes devouring energy as fast as they could, Aisha's chalice wasn't draining in the slightest. Instead, her chalice was rapidly filling, to the point that soon it would overflow!
Timothee didn't know what was happening. Only a second ago, he could hardly stay on his feet, and now his body was brimming with energy, more than he had ever felt in his life.
Timothee could feel his tired muscles gaining renewed vigor, practically begging him to use them.
The dark spots overwhelming his vision vanished entirely as his gaze became sharper than ever, locking onto the tiger. His heart pumped enriched blood through his veins, bringing him to a higher state than he'd ever experienced.
"Hahahaha!" Timothee couldn't contain his laughter, releasing all of the pent-up stress that was threatening to crush him. "That's what I'm talking about, Cain!"
Cain didn't listen as he stood, serene as a lake, his eyes still closed. Beads of sweat forming on his forehead, running down his back.
His concentration reached its peak as he focused. Controlling so much energy was a taxing endeavor, and he was currently dedicating everything he had to the task.
The tiger had a confused and terrified look in his eyes. It could feel the energy that was always present within being siphoned out from its body.
The scariest part was that the energy that had enhanced its body was currently locked, completely unusable. The energy that flowed in every muscle fiber was shifting wildly, seemingly corrupted by something.
The tiger could feel that its combat ability had at least been halved, striking a devastating fear into its very being.
Fervently surveying the clearing, the tiger spotted the strange human reaching toward it. Feeling that something was off with him, its instincts screamed that he was the problem.
The tiger made a split decision, abandoning the fight with the other hated humans and sprinting toward the strange human boy.
But, with its speed so drastically reduced, could it really outrun an agitated Timothee?
Timothee understood the situation immediately.
Seeing Cain completely vulnerable and the tiger sprinting in his direction, Timothee beamed a brilliant smile. "BOW BEFORE YOUR NEW KING!"
Timothee's body exploded out like a rocket, debris launching from the ground where he stood. He flew forward like a spear, intercepting the pouncing tiger in mid-air.
BOOM!
A powerful impact shook the air as the boy's foot impacted the beast's head.
This gave way to a comedic scene of a shirtless young boy kicking away the massive tiger like a soccer ball.
The tiger landed harshly, rolling across the ground for several meters before finally coming to a rest. A divot was ripped out from the soil where the tiger's body had slid.
"Hahahaha!" Timothee's joyous laughter rang through the clearing. It was clear that he was very much enjoying himself.
Timothee felt like he had just taken the most powerful fast-acting steroids in existence. His body burned with energy raring to escape confinement.
And he was all too keen on letting it run free.
Aisha gazed at the agitated boy, seeing how excited he was to fight.
Feeling the vast amount of energy pouring into her body and seeing the tiger's sluggish movements, Aisha knew Timothee would win the fight.
Rather than getting involved and stealing the child's thunder, Aisha decided to cultivate using the agitated energy.
She sat cross-legged, feeling the vast energy pouring into her body.
Aisha controlled the energy in the way of the cultivation technique, focusing her mind within.
Little did Aisha know, she immediately fell into a trance-like state, losing her perception of the outside world.
The tiger looked on in fear, clearly feeling how quickly the situation had turned around. It glanced at the trees surrounding the clearing, its intentions clear.
"Oh, no you don't!"
BOOM!
Before the beast could even rise to its feet, Timothee appeared above, executing an axe kick down onto its head.
The kick smashed the tiger's head into the ground, creating a crater with its chin.
The tiger felt its brain rattle around in its skull, but it wasn't enough to cause serious damage. The beast was, after all, the pinnacle of pinnacle tier-one beasts. Without proper weapons, it would be very hard for Timothee to cause fatal damage.
From its laying position, the tiger snapped its jaws at the small boy in retaliation.
But could the nerfed tiger really reach the juiced-up young boy?
Timothee easily dodged the beast's futile attack, looking like it was in slow motion. Seeing how slow the tiger seemed to be moving, a devilish grin spread over Timothee's face.
"Haha! You seemed to enjoy bullying me! Now, let's see how you like it!"
Timothee launched a powerful kick into the side of the beast's head, snapping its head to the side. If it was any other Elementary Beast, that kick might've taken their head clean off.
Even though the kick didn't snap its neck, the tiger's body was still thrown across the dirt, sliding for several meters.
Timothee didn't hesitate a moment, rushing forward and proceeding to make good on his promise.
Jenna just sat cross-legged on the ground, elbows propped on her knees and her hands under her cute chin.
She watched with interest what was probably the most one-sided beatdown she had ever seen. The scene was so depressing that Jenna even began to feel sorry for the once magnificent creature.
After almost a minute of a depressing one-sided massacre, the spiritual energy in the clearing had been completely dried up. Cain finally collapsed in exhaustion, falling unconscious before he even hit the ground.
Jenna moved quickly, catching the falling boy in her arms.
She stroked the boy's silky black hair lovingly, feeling the vast amount of sweat brought by his concentration.
"You did good, Cain," Jenna whispered, pressing her tender cherry lips against Cain's clammy forehead. She laid the boy gently onto the soft grass, looking over at Timothee.
The massive power boost and infinite stamina that Timothee was feeling suddenly fell away, making him feel lightheaded.
The energy lock that had been affecting the tiger also disappeared, but the damage was already done. The tiger was mentally and physically spent, without any energy to boost its body.
Timothee staggered for a moment, trying to keep his balance. "Why am I so tir-."
Timothee's vision went dark, his body collapsing unconscious onto the ground.
Seeing the demonic, small human that had been abusing it, the tiger suddenly received a final burst of hope. Even if it died, it was going to drag that human down with it.
The tiger called upon the last of its energy, rising unsteadily to its feet. The tiger's body ached all over, and even just standing was a grueling task. But all it needed was to kill that damn human.
Zeroing its gaze onto the unconscious human, the tiger executed the slowest pounce of its life. But it didn't matter; Timothee was completely helpless.
The unconscious prey grew in the tiger's eyes as it neared its goal. The tiger's beaten and bloody maw began salivating, knowing its meal was coming.
The tiger's momentary elation was instantly shattered as the human it had ignored appeared between it and its prey. The tiger's surprise turned to devastation, and then to horror as it felt something sharp pierce the flesh of its underjaw.
The object continued piercing through its flesh, punching straight through the bony jaw and ripping through firm muscle.
The life rapidly drained from the tiger's eyes as the object pierced into its brain, cracking through the strong bone of the beast's upper skull.
The strong skull that had saved the tiger from all of Timothee's fierce attacks was punched through just like that.
As the tiger's vision faded to black, the final thing the tiger saw was the doll-like face of the blonde female human.
"Tsk. Tsk. Bad Kitty~."