As Lukas approached the clearing, he was greeted with the sight of an unconscious James 10 feet away from the Liger. The sight made his stomach drop and throat constrict as he knew what would occur next.

“No!” He screamed and thought almost simultaneously. His body moved seemingly at its own accord as he broke out into a furious sprint towards the Liger.  Time seemed to slow as he covered the ground at a breakneck speed. The world around Lukas faded to red as his eyes became glowing crimson orbs. Little by little menacing onyx claws began to grow from his nail bed.

‘What the...’ he thought but continued his pursuit.

 Lukas subtly noticed these changes in his hands and speed. However, the only thing on his mind was one word.

‘KILL’

After covering half of the distance to his prey in the blink of an eye. Lukas traversed the last 10 meters within a fraction of a second. With a powerful leap, he appeared on the back of the surprised beast. Wasting no time Lukas used his blade-like claws to mince the Ligers back to shreds. Swipe by swipe fur, flesh, tissue, and blood flew into the air, coating the two. 

“Hahaahaahahah” he cackled madly 

Lukas was lost in a frenzy as the metallic smell of blood awakened something primal in him. The poor Liger bucked and shook fiercely to free itself of its attacker. However, try as it might it couldn’t shake the perpetrator. By this point the Liger had become so desperate it decided to claw at its back, adding further injuries. Lukas kept up his barrage until he was knocked off with a paw swipe from the frantic feline. A resounding BANG shook the clearing as Lukas crashed against the ground meters away. So great was the crash even James was stirred a bit from the commotion.  A deathly silence soon followed as Lukas slowly regained his senses.

“Ugh... my head,” said a groggy Lukas 

Upon opening his eyes two things struck him immediately. 1) the Liger was coming straight for him. And 2) there was something shiny glinting nearby...

‘Oh! Dads sword’ he realized with a gasp 

Reaching his now clawless and bloody hands towards the sword 

Lukas grimaced and grunted as he ignored his injuries.

‘Just...a bit...more’ he thought 

As his dirt and blood caked fingers wrapped around the sword's hilt the Liger had already leaped for the kill. 

 

In a crumpled heap several feet away laid James. Raspy breaths and wheezes could be heard coming from his half-conscious figure. 

James lazily opened his eyes just in time to catch sight of a huge shadow swooping towards Lukas. He craned his neck upwards to catch a better glimpse of the airborne figure.

“No” he whispered brokenly as he recognized the beast. 

Realization dawned upon him at what would happen next. Moving his sore and beat up limbs, James  scrambled to get up. He tried his best to intervene somehow. Yet it was too late. Through tear and dirt clouded eyes James saw the Liger land on Lukas with a heavy thud.

“Lu-Lukas! Nooooo” he bellowed while stumbling towards the boy and beast

James carried himself on unsteady feet as he approached the corpse. 

Suddenly a river of scarlet liquid began to leak from beneath the hulking mass. 

An intense wave of nausea assaulted James as he hunched over and emptied his stomach

“Ew Dad,” said a familiar voice, interrupting his retching

Upon hearing the voice astonishment colored James’s face as he whipped toward the sound.

“M-My Son, You’re Alive! But how? I-“ he stuttered while pulling Lukas from underneath the beast’s bosom.

“Yeah, I would have been done for if it wasn’t for your sword,” Lukas said while gesturing towards the sword still Impaled in the beast.

Astonishment covered James's face as he opened and closed his mouth at the scene in front of him.

A flesh and blood magic beast was actually slain by his son.

“B-But how?” He finally struggled out, “what happened while I was knocked out?” He asked rubbing his sore head.

“Haha ow,  it’s a long story dad...” said Lukas 

 

 

After hearing the tale of his son fighting the beast James stood unblinking in front of the cooling corpse. “Hellooo, Dad...” 

“What? Oh yeah sorry. It’s just... a lot to take in” James finally said “hehe just wait till your mother hears this one” 

‘Ugh she probably won’t let me out of her sight for a month’ Lukas inwardly groaned.

 

“Welp we should be getting out of here before the smell of blood attracts more trouble,” James said suddenly serious, “but first....”

 

James grabbed the sword still left in the carcass of the beast and quickly got to work dismembering the remains. Stroke by stroke he made quick work of the hulking mass, taking special care with the most valuable areas. These included the parts of the beast that could fetch a high price for the shops in the city. Claws, teeth, eyes, and of course the beast’s small yellow core were all carefully stored away. 

Magic cores were scarce in the kingdom of Noat due to the danger of acquiring them. As such, they were worth way more than their weight in gold. A core from a Rank 2 beast was worth at LEAST 1000 gold coins alone and could fetch even more at an auction. And 1000 gold coins by itself was enough for a small family to live more than comfortably for a year. As such magic beasts were viewed as living fortunes.

 

“Did you get all the spirit grass you needed?” James asked after packing their spoils 

“Mhm I’m all set,” Lukas replied “I even grabbed a bit extra”

“Fantastic, let’s hurry out of here. I’m starving hehe” James chuckled while ruffling Lukas’ hair “and son I just want to say I’m so proud of you, if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead.” 

Lukas smiled shyly while receiving the praises. “It was nothing” he replied glancing at his nails.

‘Yeah, I just wish I knew how I did it...’ he thought discreetly

 

The journey back seemed far shorter to the pair. They managed to make it back to their home with hours of daylight to spare. 

Lukas and James trudged tiredly towards the house with smiles on their faces

“Hehe, home sweet home” exclaimed James as he pushed open the familiar wooden door. Once the door was opened various homely smells permeated outward.

A pleasantly surprised Mabel stood over a large black cauldron in the fireplace.

“Oh wow, how was your tri- My goodness what happened!“ she screamed as she saw their bloody and haggard appearance

“Hehe well, funny story actually...” 

“Are you hurt?! Let mommy see,” she exclaimed while frisking and assessing Lukas for injuries at the doorway

“Ughh mom I'm fine I swear” complained Lukas while trying to escape her grip 

“Yeah Mabel I’m hurt more than he is hehe,” said James whole gesturing towards several bruises

“You’ll survive” she replied to James not taking her eyes off Lukas,” is anyone going to explain what the hell happened to you two!”

The father-son pair exchanged a glance as Lukas grasped Mabel's hand while leading her to a chair

“Well, you see ... it’s a pretty long story, that you’ll probably want to be sitting down for” he slowly explained.

Mabel felt a  sudden sense of foreboding at Lukas’s words.

‘Well, how bad could it have been’ she thought, but little did she know...

 

James and Lukas took turns recounting their harrowing tale to Mabel. Several times during the story her face became white as a sheet as she’d wring her hands. The two took great pleasure in telling someone about their great adventure of the day. Though at the time they didn’t think they’d make it, being able to talk about the ordeal after the fact felt unbelievable. 

 

“....And that’s how we got away, a little bruised and beaten but 100 times richer than before hehe” James finished 

At the mention of the word “richer” Mabel's head suddenly whipped towards James, “R-richer?” She asked them

“ ohhhh yeah we made sure to strip the Liger of any spoils. Coat, teeth, claws, even the eyes hehe. Too bad we couldn’t bring back more though” said James while gesturing towards several stuffed leather knapsacks.

“And look Mom it even had a core!” Added Lukas excitedly while handing a small yellow crystalline object to Mabel

After receiving the core from Lukas Mabel held it up to her eye and inspected it closely 

“I- I can’t believe it, this...” she said shock evident on her pale face 

“Hehe believe it, that’s a genuine magic beast core and we’d never be able to get it if it wasn’t for our boy” James replied while placing a strong hand on Lukas’s shoulder

“You’re absolutely right, in fact...since this was technically Lukas’s first magic beast kill, we should celebrate and have a big dinner tonight!” she said excitedly, “how’s that sound?!”

Hunger and jubilation immediately appeared on the faces of the two before they nodded fiercely.

“Perfect I’ll fetch our finest chickens AND a goat from the pen” said Mabel

“Oh, I almost forgot I have to consume this spirit grass after it’s been boiled down, do you think you could do that for me first Mom?” asked Lukas

“Sure, whatever you want!” Mabel replied warmly before starting to take out cooking utensils

 

Lukas grabbed the bag that he’d placed the spirit grass in and emptied it on the table. The long strands of blue grass shimmered mystically on the wooden surface.

Wasting no time Mabel got to work quickly and before long had all the spirit grass broken down inside the bubbling cauldron. Lukas hauled the familiar old large chest from the wardrobe to the cauldron in preparation for the next step.

With a strong pull, the lid was lifted and the pearly surfaces of the eggshells he burst from 10 years ago were exposed to the world.

One by one Lukas broke the shells down in a large mortar and pestle till there were none left. As the cauldron bubbled and broiled Lukas ground and broke the shells until they appeared to be fine silvery dust. 

‘Ok so it should be done soon, and Selene said all I had to do was drink it all together. Hm simple enough...’  

Dumping the contents of the mortar into the cauldron as Mabel stirred Lukas observed as the previous plain azure liquid began to shimmer mystically.

Soon enough Mabel doused the flames under the cauldron before using a long ladle to spoon the shiny azure liquid into a big cup for Lukas.

 

“You may want to blow it, might be a little hot” remarked Mabel in a motherly tone 

Smiling upwards at his mother's warm advice Lukas took the cup into his hands before taking a tentative sip.

‘Here goes nothing...’

Once the azure liquid hit his tongue Lukas face puckered up into a strange twisted expression.

‘Fuck... Selene could’ve... told me... it would be ... so ... sour’

Tears sprung into his eyes as he hurriedly spits the liquid back into the cup under the eyes of his surprised parents.

“Not tasty?” James asked 

“Not at all!” Lukas said with a visible recoil away from the drink “But we went through too much to get this... so here goes nothing!” He said as he hurriedly chugged the drink.

To Be Continued...