Chapter 11: Silverblood Shadows
The jungle air was thick with tension, the scent of damp leaves and distant blood soaking into Lucas's senses. Branches creaked under weight not his own. Somewhere above, birds scattered. Zephyra circled once, her body tense. Umbra, ever silent, slinked forward and lowered into a crouch.
White-furred shapes moved among the shadows.
"They're circling," Lucas murmured, hand tightening around the hilt of his Twin blades fusion weapon and a Black-gold gauntlet with claws streaked with emerald lightning and shadow veins. Beast Fusion had reshaped Umbra into the weapon's form while Zephyra infused its edge with storm essence. The gauntlets pulsed in his grip, alive, an extension of himself.
Across the clearing, Elira mounted Luna, her longbow already drawn. The lynx tensed, paws silent on the forest floor, the silver runes on its bracers faintly glowing.
Then, the apes emerged.
Seven feet tall. White skin stretched taut over rippling muscle. Their jaws gaped too wide, filled with jagged teeth. Eyes like molten bone. Six of them total.
Three rushed Lucas.
Three veered toward Elira.
"Now!" Lucas barked.
He dashed forward.
The first ape came at him like a battering ram. Lucas slid under the claw swipe and came up spinning. The blade hummed as it slashed upward, cleaving into the creature's side. Windblades surged into the wound, and the ape howled, stumbling.