Micheal’s buff gleamed over Steven like hazy armor, its strength and power a comforting weight in his mind.

He could feel the difference, too. The Skill felt sturdier, more solid, as if the Trait had made it more real somehow.

He took a deep breath, the winter air tingling in his chest.

“Everyone ready?” He got a round of nods.

“Let’s do this.”

Steven walked into the park.

A prompt filled his vision. You have entered the domain of a regional Boss. If you flee from this domain without killing it, the Boss can track you indefinitely and may hold a grudge.

The prerecorded feel of the prompt faded. “In your case, it’s already holding a grudge, so no point worrying, right?”

Steven sighed as he scanned the park.

Bullwinkle had vanished, leaving paranoia to creep in.

Markus brought up their rear, with Margie and Micheal in the middle and Steven and Del leading with the dogs.

“He’s bigger than us, almost certainly stronger too. So we need to be the wolves chasing the deer.”

Markus’s words echoed in his mind. The man had pulled them aside as they worked on activating Micheal’s Skill and given them a rundown.

Steven didn’t know what the man had done before the System, but he was glad to have him on their side.

As they made their way deeper into the park, a sinking feeling grew in Steven’s stomach. The way the snow drifts pulled around them, towering over their heads, while the immediate area was mostly clear…the System had made an arena.

They stopped as they reached the middle.

Spruce trees towered in the distance, green and white mixing with the falling snow to create a disorienting wall. It was hard to gauge how close everything was, and Bullwinkle was still nowhere in sight.

Steven strained his ears, desperate for any hint.

Buford and Noodle began to growl, and the scent hit Steven a moment later.

Musk.

The moose was close.

Steven slowed his breathing, clamping down on his rising panic.

His hands twitched at his sides, and he kept part of his attention on his Tower Shield. If they were too slow to dodge its charge, that shield was their best bet.

Another deep breath. Then another.

Come on, quit making us wait.

If they had been making even a little noise, Steven wouldn’t have caught it. But in the dead silence of the clearing, the whistle of something tearing through the air was like a shout.

He spun, a hand shield snapping out before he consciously registered what he was seeing.

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The chunk of ice was bigger than his closed fist and struck the shield at an angle.

It glanced off, but the shield nearly burst from the force.

They all turned in the direction the ice had come from. Which was when Bullwinkle charged through a snowbank in the opposite direction.

Steven swore as the massive moose bore down on them. Blue mist trailed off him as he closed in, a living wall of muscle, fur and antler.

“Scatter!” Del barked.

They did, splitting to the left and the right.

The moose went for Steven, unsurprisingly, and he tossed a shield at it as he ran.

The Hand-Shield slammed into Bullwinkle’s temple. And did nothing.

The moose didn’t even blink as the shield struck.

Steven dove to the side, narrowly avoiding Bullwinkle’s bulk.

He hit the snow and rolled. He sprung to his feet, power coursing through him.

Passing through another Threshold and Micheal’s improved buff made him feel superhuman.

Not feel like, I literally am. Not on the level of Spider-Man or anything, but Steven was past the limits of a normal human body.

Bullwinkle wheeled around, his hooves digging into the snow.

Noodle rushed at him, his jaws flashing for his hind leg.

Bullwinkle kicked out, and Noodle barely danced back in time.

Steven slammed a Hand-Shied into the moose’s hind leg, but he ignored it again.

Dammit!

Markus came in, amber wrapping him from head to toe. Bullwinkle ignored him to focus on Steven. Blue light began to gather between his jaws, the mist swirling faster.

Markus slammed a punch into the moose’s flank.

And Markus could hit a lot harder than Steven.

Bullwinkle staggered, the ice forming in his jaws shooting into the distance.

Markus drew back for a second punch when Bullwinkle leaped, covering ten feet in a single bound.

He bellowed, the mist and snow shaking around him.

Buford charged, and Bullwinkle charged right back.

The dog cut his momentum, a gesture from Margie helping the dog run.

The mist hanging about Bullwinkle gathered over his antlers, a separate ball forming for each point.

Oh shit!

They condensed, crystallizing into balls of blue ice bigger than Steven’s fist.

Blue light flashed, but not from the moose. “See me!”

Bullwinkle snapped its head around to stare at Micheal. The ice began to move, and Steven’s world slowed to a crawl.

At least twelve projectiles, each one strong enough to shatter a Hand-Shield head-on.

Tower Shield? No. Even if I could call it fast enough, it’s out of range.

Which left him with Anchor Shield.

“Micheal, down!” Steven bellowed. Micheal dropped into a crouch as Steven seized the Skill in his mind and called.

Energy, physical and mental, pour out of Steven, crashing into place before Micheal in a solid green wall.

Light washed over the snow, staining it green.

The volley hit, slamming into the shield like a storm of bullets. The sound was deafening, and the impact left shards of ice flying. But the shield held strong.

Bullwinkle turned a baleful eye to Steven and snorted, mist billowing with the motion.

He flipped him off.

The moose continued its charge, but it wasn’t aiming for any of them. It crashed through a snowbank, completely vanishing from sight.

They looked around frantically, but there was no trace of the Boss.

Margie stared at where the moose had vanished. “…Fuck.”