As the explosion of Samuel's flames took the island by cruel storm, Claude reacted on impulse. He threw his arms outward. His suit of forestry peeled off like an old shell, forming a wall of plantlife instantly rooted to the floor thanks to roots solidifying from his feet. It was like the nature had a mind of its own. SpellBlooms blossomed on the other side, making a second shield of regurgitated ambient mana to hold the flames.
Ursula cloaked herself in ice and ran around the shield, braving the flames as a steaming icy juggernaut.
The flames disappeared. And with it, the island morphed into a graveyard of dark-glass. Claude manipulated the wall of forestry. Instead of pulling it back onto himself, he threw bits and pieces of it onto his Island-Dogs and Ren, giving them all forest transformations fitting their forms. Ren had become a giant razor backed sprinter-beast made of roots designed like muscles sabered fangs. With his own green-blood the roots began to shift and bloom spellbloom sections that turned him into a high speed tank. He outdid Claude at his own game.
"Good." He was off, feeling the high cost of using the forest transformation with every step.
With the wall gone, he could see Samuel and Ursula battling. A fire and ice elemental in the shape of teenage students.
Ren moved in a blaze of green light, knocking the flames off of Samuel and running off before he could recover.
Immediately, Samuel exploded again in flames.
Claude jumped on Rivera's flowery back and jumped over the heatwave. He landed behind Samuel as he got to his feet.
He spun to kick the wind out of Claude. Claude ran— as if he didn't want to fight Samuel. Only he did. He was just waiting for Ursula.
She shoulder charged Samuel.
Claude turned on his heels and jumped, drop-kicking Samuel mid-air.
A blaze of heat nearly erased his eyebrows as his feet pushed into Samuel's stomach and knocked the superheated winds out of him.
Even so, Samuel grabbed his legs and landed on his feet.
Claude landed on his back, firmly beleiving he'd never drop kick anyone ever again.
"Shit…"
Vines suddenly wrapped around his arms and legs. All around Samuel, the Island-Dogs stood with their forested jaws opened and vine tongues extended. Holding him in place. Smaller vines flayed off from the ropes and punched past the glass grounds, soaking up nature from beneath.
Samuel opened his mouth. Dark-flames spun up his throat like bile. He braced himself.
Ursula came from the left, smashing her aura reinforced fist into his jaw.
A javelin of flames flew from his struck mouth like spit and hit the grounds a foot from Claude.
The collision was explosive. Due to Ursula's power, she made his head spin and send out the flames with even greater speeds. In the wind the flames grew more intense. When they hit the black glass, they melted through the first foot of it before erupting, causing the whole island to explode with corrosive shrapnel.
When Claude came to, he was sprawled over Ren under a barrier. At his paws, a spellbloom with a radius of two feet sat spitting defensive waves. The Island-dogs lay at the edge of the island, no more armor. Ursula floated in the water. Samuel was on the other side of the island, covered in splinters from the black glass. He whistled and Ren took off to retrieve her.
Due to how he was once laying over Ren, his eyes were glued to the leaderboard.
Ursula had lost all her points and now resided among the dozens of other zero pointers. Some dead, others dishonestly dead, and many more simply defeated.
Samuel looked like a god. The point difference was nauseating.
But if he was a god…..
What did that make Claude as him and his hounds stood over him? Ren dropped Ursula beside him.
The sun was beginning to rise in the distance.
He could win— with all zero percent of his mana and thirty percent of his health and stamina so low he felt like crying.
Wherever his friends were, they'd have to understand. They'd celebrate. They'd win. Heroism would win.
"My reality. Not Samuel. Not Sapien. Not the Hexblades and their….. whatever they got going on. Me."
Claude lowered his hand in position to flick Samuel's forehead and steal all his points.
"Hello again."
Claude turned and found Wraith-Brutal rising from the waves. Globules of water fell from his shaggy fur and dripped down his protruding gut. Tusks pushed past his bone white mask, giving the visage fangs, making him stand out from the others. Like a final boss.
One Claude didn't have to fight.
He was already spinning a plan into fruition. "Samuel's invincible in the Island-Gauntlet. But he can be punched. I can take him to the water— take an Eel's traits and out speed the wraith in my element. All id need to do is hit Samuel— steal his points, and run towards the rising sun. It'll be here in less than a ten minutes. I can still win….."
Wraith-Brutal took off its mask, revealing the Orc beneath. Dead eyed and controlled by another.
"Stuck between a rock and a hard place, beast-boy. Take the points— run. Please. I want everyone to see me crush you—"
"I can't outrun you." Claude said.
Horrifyingly, the Orc smiled. Its tanned deadened skin and pigish maw twisted stiffly. The stitched across its forehead bled. He could see the glow of the runes between the tears.
For a moment he was looking at the Elf again.
For a moment he was back with Ursula, wondering what a good monster and bad hero was. Wondering why everyone was telling him he was stupid for aspiring to save the world.
"Aim for the clouds, man. Then everything below is fair game."
Claude almost flinched at how real the memory of his father's voice was in those moments.
"Fuck it. If heroism is in the clouds, then today I fly." Claude stood firm in front of Ursula.
Ursula and Samuel as he assumed his fighting stance.
No weapons. No mana. No health. No plan. No powerful beasts tamed and ready for a war of this caliber.
The sun rose at his back, symbolizing the fire growing there as he lived his truth as a hero. His eyes watered as the Orc snorted and the sounds of a dozen voices laughing within bloomed. They were laughing. All of the hexblades in their bunker within the University where heroes were supposed to be born were laughing…. because he was standing up for those who couldn't.
"Cmon. Let me prove it one more time."
He had no idea who he was talking to.
But as the Orc opened its arms in preparation for a devastating thunderclap…..
Someone responded.
DING!
[You have been Chosen by Anubis, The Canine God of Death.]
"OUUUUUAHAHAHAHAHAH! BOY! HellllllOOOOO.... RrrrYouuuuu look like yyyyyouRrrr in a PINCH! Let's pinch back. Let's embrace the final cycle of life…. in death. Let's embrace the almighty conclusion of nature. Say the word, and every beast slain on this entire island is yours."
"Rise."