[Meanwhile...]
The Amazon rainforest was full of life, a cacophony of birds and insects, and the occasional growl of predators hidden within the green. Tigra crouched to the ground, her sharp eyes scanning the thick undergrowth. Her golden fur was streaked with black, blending almost seamlessly with the little sunlight piercing through the canopy. She was here on a mission. The message had promised hope: a chance to save the last of her kind. Instead, it had brought her here, into a trap.
A rustle of movement attracted her attention, and instinctively, her sharp claws sprang out. She wasn't alone. The hunter was near.
Kraven, the Hunter, moved with practiced silence. His body was trained with brutal efficiency. He had spent years inside a jungle filled with mutated creatures, isolated there until his senses and instincts reached razor-sharp clarity. This was his kingdom. The trap was laid beautifully, baited by what Tigra could not avoid—hope.
Through the knotted leafage, Kraven saw his prey, her powerful body tensed with anticipation. His lips curled into a killing smile. He admired her—Tigra was no mere prey. This would be a hunt worthy of his skills.
The first attack came unexpectedly.
Kraven hurled a weighted net from the shadows, its edges gleaming with steel hooks. Tigra twisted mid-leap, narrowly avoiding entanglement, and landed on all fours. With a feral snarl, she launched herself at Kraven, her claws flashing. He sidestepped with deceptive grace, the curved blades strapped to his forearms slicing through the air where she had been.
"You're fast," he said, his voice rich with admiration, "but not fast enough."
Tigra didn't waste breath on a reply. Instead, she faked left, then dove low, her claws tearing across Kraven's calf. "Arggg!" He hissed in pain and counter-attacked with a brutal elbow stroke that sent her crashing into the underbrush.
[Crash!!] "Rawr!!" She flipped back on her fours and charged again.
The forest became a battleground.
Tigra used the terrain to her advantage, darting between trees, scaling vines, and leaping from branch to branch. Kraven followed relentlessly, his every movement calculated to herd her into traps. The jungle itself seemed to conspire against her; snares lurked beneath the ferns, and tripwires strung between roots sent barbed darts whistling through the air.
Despite the odds, Tigra fought with the desperation of the hunted. She attacked Kraven from above, dropping on him with the force of a thunderbolt. They tumbled through the undergrowth, exchanging savage blows. Tigra's claws slashed across Kraven's chest, leaving deep, bloody furrows. He roared and delivered a hard punch into her ribs, the impact was hard enough for her to blackout for a flicker second.
"GAAHHH!" She coughed out blood.
Blood splattered the forest floor as their battle raged on.
Kraven kicked her off and rolled back on his right. There he had hidden his spear. He pulled it out from a bush. The blade-tipped with venomous poison, Kraven drew closer. Tigra was battered but still defiant and snatched up a nearby branch to use as a club.
"Come at me, hunter," she growled.
She feinted left, and then swung her weapon around to strike. Kraven ducked the swing, stepped inside her guard, and tried to stab her with the spear. Her agility served her well, and she sidestepped the thrust, twisting her body in an acrobatic move to land a solid roundhouse kick to his chin. Kraven stumbled back a step, his mind spinning. Tigra didn't miss her chance, bringing her club down on him with full force. He blocked the strike, but the impact reverberated through his arm and into his shoulder.
Tigra found a little opening and kicked the spear out of Kraven's hand. They circled each other warily, both bleeding from various wounds. She had taken a beating, but Kraven looked like he was barely able to stand. She was winning.
"You are good," Kraven said. "I can see why they call you 'Legendary'. But this is where your legend ends." He took out a potion flask and gulped the content in one big mouthful. The effect was instantaneous. Power flowed through his body, healing his wounds and making him feel invincible.
"Now, where were we?"
Kraven attacked, his movements faster and more powerful. Tigra blocked a vicious kick and retaliated with a claw swipe that would have ripped his throat open if he hadn't moved back in time. The hunter attacked with renewed ferocity. Tigra found herself on the defensive, barely able to keep up with his onslaught of punches and kicks.
The tide of the battle had turned.
Tigra fought with every ounce of her strength and skill, but Kraven's potion-fuelled assault was relentless.
'Damn it!' She decided to run away. Using the forest to her feline advantage, she fled, dodging and weaving through the trees, desperately trying to lose her pursuer. But Kraven was relentless, always a few steps behind her, his bloodlust driving him to continue the chase.
"You can run, but you can't hide!" Kraven taunted. "Haahahaha! Struggle more! It's entertaining."
Tigra's heart pounded, and her lungs burned with effort as she pushed herself to the limit. But even the Amazon's vast jungle couldn't help her escape from Kraven's unrelenting pursuit.
His laugh echoed through the jungle as he moved with predatory precision, his eyes locked on Tigra's retreating form. He knew the forest better than she did—he had spent years mastering its secrets. Among those secrets was a hidden stash of weapons, each carefully placed in anticipation of such a hunt.
Reaching into a hollow tree, Kraven retrieved a harpoon. Its shaft was forged from a rare, lightweight metal, its tip gleaming with a paralytic poison derived from jungle flora. He took a moment to steady his breath, raising the harpoon and taking aim at the fleeing Tigra.
Tigra's ears twitched, her sharp senses catching the faint sound of the harpoon slicing through the air. She twisted her body mid-leap, but the weapon grazed her side, leaving a shallow wound. The paralytic poison began to work immediately. Her muscles stiffened, her movements faltering as she crashed through the undergrowth, skidding to a halt against a gnarled root.
Kraven emerged from the shadows with an arrogant grin, "You've given me a remarkable hunt," he said, his voice tinged with genuine admiration. "But even the strongest fall when faced with a master hunter."
Tigra bared her teeth, forcing her trembling limbs to push her upright. "This... isn't over," she growled, her voice laced with defiance despite the poison coursing through her veins.
He chuckled, circling her like a predator savoring its victory. "I admire your spirit, Tigra. Truly, I do. But there's no shame in losing to the best."
Kraven kicked her hard which sent her crashing into a nearby tree. To his surprise, the wounded girl sprang up and grabbed the giant tree, "ARGGGGG!!!" With her raw strength, she ripped the whole tree out and jumped up high with the tree still in hand. "DIE!!!" She yelled as she slammed it down on Kraven.
The blow landed with earth-shattering force, sending a shower of dirt and debris into the air. Tigra stood over the crater, panting heavily, her eyes wild with rage. She waited for the dust to settle, but there was no sign of Kraven.
"That all you got??"
[Stab!] She felt something hot in her stomach and looked down to find a spear pierced right through her. She then looked at the hunter whose right arm was dangling lifelessly with bones and flesh sticking out and his left arm was the one that had stabbed her.
"Who would have thought you were this strong?" Kraven said as he took out a healing potion from his waist and gulped it down in one go. His broken limbs mended themselves in an instant. "Tigra... The legend falls to my spear." He pushed the spear and slammed it to the ground along with the girl.
"Cough! Cough!" Tigra spat blood as she tried to get back on her feet.
"Any last words?" He asked, placing his right foot on her head and putting pressure on it.
"Urggh!" She gritted her teeth in pain but managed to force out the words, "Motherfucker!" She grabbed his leg and crushed it with all of her might. "Arggg!" Kraven screamed in agony as his leg was turned into mush. She used her tail to wrap it around his other leg and crushed it too. Kraven fell on top of her.
Tigra didn't waste this opportunity...
"RAWRRRR!!" She opened her mouth wide and bit Kraven's neck, tearing apart his jugular vein in one savage bite.
Blood gushed out like a fountain, drenching both their bodies in red. Kraven gasped, clutching at his throat desperately, and trying to reach for his potion but it was too late. Tigra used her last bit of strength... "Who is the prey now?" She grabbed his head and squashed it like a watermelon.
The forest was quiet once more, with only the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves. Tigra lay there, breathing heavily, her body battered and bloodied.
"Well, that was brutal. You got guts, girl..." A woman's voice came to her ears. She opened her eyes, but they were too blurry. All she saw was a girl in a black suit standing before her.
That's the last thing she heard before darkness swallowed her.
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