“Rrrgh!” The savage man growled.


    Even without a sword of his own, the barbaric figure lunged forward, swiping with his hands as he utilized his sharpened nails like des.


    Emilio used his sword to block, deflecting the attacks, though the raw strength behind the being’s swipes were monstrous as well.


    At the very least, he found that there was at least some inclination for the savage man to evade his strikes.


    He’s notpletely immune then. I can hurt him! He thought.


    Though the figure was quick and aggressive, Emilio found himself at an advantage in skill and finesse, gaining a sense of how the beastly figure was attacking through his predictable swipes and ms of his knuckles.


    –There! He thought, finding an opening.


    Using his sword to cut into the figure’s forearm, he halted the wild haymaker as he reared his own fist back, focusing and amplifying the draconic force within before letting it explode forth through his knuckles, mming his fist straight into the chiseled twelve-pack of the beast-man.


    He knew there was no reason to use anything but lethal force, unleashing everything he had into the Dragon Strike as the forest-dwelling human gasped out before being sted back.


    “…You’re kidding me…” Emilio said in tired disbelief.


    The st that should’ve thrown the man across the clearing only slid him back a good few meters, leaving a steaming bruise on his abdomen, but nothing beyond that.


    Showing his sharpened teeth, the long-limbed savage almost seemed to mock him through a gravellyugh.


    That would’ve annihted the insides of a normal person. Is this guy made out of steel? He thought.


    SQUELCH.


    In the midst of his thoughts, before he could react, the figure dashed by like a blur, taking him by surprise as a warmth flooded through his side.


    “–Ngh?”


    As he looked down, an entire chunk was taken from his side, exposing his ribcage as he nced back in horror, seeing the savage man holding his flesh in his hand.


    …Alright, that settles it. He has to die, he thought.


    The ck threads of his undying blood mended his wound, though it didn’t stifle the pain as he turned to face the cannibalistic fiend.


    When watching the anomalous figure sniff the air, likely in search of Melisande, with his fingers dripping with blood, a certain sense of anger came over Emilio; pride wounded by the injuries healed and contempt for the monstrous force.


    This manifested itself in the form of a fireball he manifested not with his staff, but with his hand, holding it towards the beastly man.


    Melisande went in the opposite direction so…this should be fine, he thought.


    Swirling oxygen manifested through wind magic, he fed it directly to the orange me, causing it to flow and ripple with heat waves as its color shifted from yellow, green, blue, then finally to a gleaming purple.


    “Raagh–?” The savage man looked confused by the rise in temperature.


    The stream itself began to steam, evaporating from the presence of such heat before Emilio clenched his palm with a look of bloodlust in his eyes, unleashing the ungodly me forward in all of its destructive might.


    Roaring out, it ravaged the clearing, sweeping through it and engulfing the unnatural man in its heat, unimpeded in its wrath as it dug through the forest itself.


    –


    Above the Valley of Parmesus, the proctors of the trial spectated from an unseen observation room.


    “That boy–the young Dragonheart, was it? He wields a fantastic reservoir of mana,” a gray-bearded higher-up of the Foundation spoke, witnessing the purple mes ravage the section of the forest below, “I wonder if Fleisch has found his match.”


    “I doubt it. That man is one of the ‘Three Devils’ for a reason: he possesses a nearly unbreakable body,” another man responded, “Especially when ites to magic–it will not destroy that devilish physiology of his.”


    –


    After allowing the howling mes to desecrate the trees, leaving them charred and devoid of life, ripping up and melting the grass in the path of the wave of heat, Emilio closed the spell, breathing out as he looked towards the wake of destruction ahead.


    It was a unique creation of his own, using his knowledge from the modern world to manipte heat; a spell he used as ast resort as its capacity of annihtion was uncontroble, though he found his stomach dropping at the sight in front of him.


    In the smoke, the silhouette of the abnormallyrge, muscr man of savagery stood, revealed to be only partially burnt, perhaps only superficially.


    “…No way,” he mumbled.


    Fleisch stood there, unscratched and breathing out smoke with his canines on disy and his muscles bulging as if flexing; the otherworldly muscrity of the figure coiled, preparing tounch a counterattack.


    It was a rare thought, but this time, Emilio found himself relying on a different strategy:


    I’ve got to get out of here! He thought.


    Bolting in the other direction, he used reinforcement to increase his agility to create space between himself and the figure.


    He jumped over a fallen log, sprinting into the tree line as he delved into the depths of the mystical forest.


    Though he carried himself further, guided and unimpeded by wind, he nced back to see the monstrous figure giving chase to him, gaining on him despite him using everything at his disposal to increase his speed.


    “Ghh–!” He let out.


    Knowing he was inevitably going to be caught, he used one of the branches to swiftly flip around, subverting the brute that bouldered past him without any elegance.


    After swinging around, he used the momentum to flip through the air,nding on a higher branch just as the savage man turned around, sniffing him out.


    “Right here!”


    As he yelled out, he summoned massive fist-shaped formations of reinforced rock around him, sending them towards the massive figure. Possessing an enormous size, the stone hands swept through the forest grounds, surrounding the confused, beastly man who was on-guard.


    Emilio guided the fists with his staff, causing one of them to m into the man’s side, knocking him against the tree before immediately grasping him in therge grip of another stone limb.


    If I can restrain him…I should be able to get out of here and regroup with her! He thought.


    With that n in mind, he used the golem-like fist to carry the savage man back, restraining his movements by keeping his arms held in the stone grip of the limb before mming the man against a boulder.


    He could feel it through the stone he created: the savage berserker was resisting with strength that began cracking the strengthened rock even through simple struggling.


    I’ve got to bind him–now! He thought.