The claws were like scythes that slashed through the air with lightning speed. Going so far as to make Van worried about dodging them, even though he had gotten so much stronger.

The thorn bear reared on its hind legs and roared, a blast of malice engulfing the small group and making their hairs stand on end.

Van and Luna, along with the forest wolf and kobold were going about the forest and headed in the general direction of the witch's house when they were set upon by the thorn bear. But not just any thorn bear, but one that was twice the size of all the others he fought before, with redder fur and a horn on its head.

This red thorn bear was far faster than you would think for something that size. Coming at Van and his group the second it saw them, not even going so far as to give it a moment's thought whether it should or not. Which was why, while still being semi-prepared for it, they were still taken by surprise when it moved faster than their senses could keep up with. At least for the moment until they adjust.

More importantly, Van had a feeling that he was the one that the thorn bear was aiming for. Making him think that perhaps the bear was more intelligent than the others, or that maybe he must have the smell of its dead brethren on him.

Either way, he was going to have to go all out if he was going to survive this, and already began ordering the wolf and kobold back. But before he could do anything else, Luna had already made her move…

“Luna! Don’t!” Van shouted at her as she charged at the bear like an arrow released from a crossbow.

But she ignored him, charging at the bear with a bloodthirsty feral grin on her face, eyes wide in a maddening manner. Van had never seen that look on her before, and could only stop and stare in shock by the sudden change that took over his wife.

Luna’s body moved with such amazing grace that it was hard to keep track of her with physical eyes only. And yet, one could see even from a distance that every fiber of her being, and twitch of her muscle was being used, her entire body was in complete motion without a single part still.

She slammed her fist into the center of the bear, making sure to place her foot just right at the last second to give her support and tensing up her entire body for the blow.

The bear’s eyes widened as it felt pain for the first time in a long time. More than that, it was forced back from its position by an entire foot, its feet dragging dirt as it was pushed back.

Luna looked up at the bear with a passionate fire in her eyes, like a battle junkie finally given its fix after decades of abstinence. Her eyes pierced the bear's own, still with that feral grin, looking at it like it was some sort of new toy.

“I hope you can transform like those forest wolves can, because after I beat you, I'm going to make you into my husband's pet, and I really want to see him fuck you.” she then twisted her fist making the bear flinch. “But if you can’t…” her eyes said it all.

The thorn bear's eyes went red, clearly incensed by what Luna had said, and out of nowhere, it kicked Luna with one of its legs. Sending her flying so far and fast that Van could only watch in horror as she cratered into a tree.

“Luna!” Van yelled, fear pooling inside his chest, indecision racked him, even as his adrenaline finally began to kick in. Does he rush to see if his beloved was okay? Or does he fight the immediate threat of the bear? But before he could make a decision, Luna got out of the tree coughing.

“Luna!” Van now said with some relief as she brushed herself off from the attack. “Thank the gods. Now let's-”

“Shut up.” Luna cut him off coldly. She then looked at the thorn bear waiting patiently for her. Almost as if it knew that the kick it gave her wasn’t going to be enough.

“We're not going to run away… nor are we going to fight together… This is my fight. So sit there, look pretty, and keep your mouth shut.” not even bothering to look Van’s way as she slowly walked back over to the thorn bear, stretching her arms casually as she did so along the way.

Van didn’t know what to think about this situation. His mouth was hanging open in disbelief at the completely changed personality of Luna. though he didn’t want it to, and tried not to be, he was still a little hurt by what she said. But realized that the only thing he could do left was to stand, watch, and support Luna from the sidelines, hoping she would come out okay. Which was hard, because he saw that the fist that she used to punch the bear was already bleeding, perhaps from the small spikes on the bear's body. Filling him with worry about how she was going to come out of this, even if she did win...

Luna made her way to stand in front of the bear. The bear in question, waiting patiently for her to take her place, almost as if it acknowledged her power the second Luna took its kick and knew she would survive.

Once Luna was a few feet away she looked up at the bear with a confident smile. “Thanks for the wait. So… shall we get started?”

Silence took the clearing as Luna and the thorn bear stared off. For a whole minute, neither one of them moved an inch. Until…

The bear swung hard and fast, claws outstretched, ready to smack Luna into another tree, or dice her on the spot. But Luna saw it coming, and instead of trying to defend herself, dodge it, but forward. Taking advantage of the size difference between them and moving into its chest area where it wouldn’t be able to swing its claws so easily. Instead of landing another punch there and then, she brought her left foot down and with her right, gave a sidekick using her entire body, from the ground up.

There was a thud and a small shockwave as the kick landed. If one was not paying attention, they would miss the small cracks that could be heard from some of the thorns snapping off the bear's body.

The bear had already had to bend forward a little in order to make the swipe, but now it was slowly doubling over as a blow three times harder than the punch landed straight into its abdomen. Grunting in pain it took the blow and used the sharp claws on its feet to dig into the ground and anchor itself from moving, still clear-eyed it then moved one of its feet forward to regain balance and prepared to counter-attack with another claw.

But Luna saw it coming and had been expecting something like that. As the claw came in, she backward flipped over the strike. But her movement wasn’t done. After she landed on the other side, she jumped gracefully on the outstretched arm, then from there, jumped and somersault kicked the bear under the jaw with a bloody foot.

A dull crack was now heard throughout the clearing. But sadly, due to the fact that Luna didn’t jump off the firm ground and the distance it took for the blow to land, made it too shallow at best and did not knock out the bear.

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The bear for its part, even surprised and slightly dizzy, was a veteran. And instead of just taking it, immediately swung its head down.

Luna didn’t even need to dodge it. She was already halfway back to the ground after all. And she looked on with curiosity as to what it was trying to do, only for her eyes to widen, and immediately try to figure out how to dodge her opponent's next attack.

For the bear had curled itself into a giant ball, spikes sticking out everywhere. It spun momentarily in place and dashed towards Luna.

Luna was just barely able to dodge to the side. The bear collided with the trees behind her, leaving a trail of destruction. The ball of death then started to spin faster and turned around, locking onto her and charging at her with even greater speed.

Luna began to sweat a little, she knew she couldn't just dodge to the side like she did before. Her instincts telling her it would be pointless, and that the ball would simply swerve into her. So instead when the death ball was a few feet away, she used her aura to jump up high to avoid it. Only for the bear to uncurl at the last second.

Luna’s eyes went wide as she was smacked back down to the ground by the outstretched claw, she landed so hard she bounced back up. The bear didn’t miss the opportunity and followed it up with another kick. Sending her flying into another tree with a loud CRACK!

Making Van feel sick to his stomach with fear, worry, and panic. “LUNA!”

Slowly, Luna got back up from the wreckage of the tree. She snapped her dislocated arm back in place from where it was bent wrong. Staring daggers at the bear as she did so.

The bear harrumphed, and curled back into a ball, and dashed towards her. Ready this time to finish it for good.

Luna in turn ran forward and placed her hands on the ground. A wave of black inky tendrils was sent the bear's way. Slowing it down considerably. Panting now from that exertion, she charged forward as the bear was forced to uncurl itself and ripped the shadowy tendrils off of itself.

Luna ate up the distance and created a hammer of shadow. She jumped up and planned to knock the bear out once and for all. But again, her opponent would not go down easily. It looked up at her and roared a roar so loud and filled with energy that it sent a shockwave that not only rattled her eardrums but pushed her back just enough that she wouldn’t be able to hit with her hammer.

Or at least… that was the bear's plan…

Luna gritted her teeth, using some of her reserves she stretched out the handle of the shadow hammer. And using her entire body, twisting it and even going so far as to contort it, so as to put as much power as she could into her next blow while still mid-air.

The bear for its part had already gone back to getting rid of the last of the shadowy tendrils that held it down, not seeing Luna as a threat, at least for the moment, confident in its powerful roar. Which was why it was completely blindsided as something struck it. Its left side face contorted as the sound of its jaw cracking echoed through its head.

Luna landed safely, but tired. Panting heavily, she watched as the bear wobbled and looked like it was going to go down. But at the last second, it stood tall and roared in pain. It hazzely looked around for her but had some difficulty because its left eye was shut and swollen and it was seeing double.

Luna cursed her bad luck and tried to figure out what to do next. But her thinking was interrupted when the bear started to do something strange. Flexing its body harder and harder. Her eyes widened and she immediately ran for cover as a rain of spikes flew through the air. Shot out from the bear's own body.

Her training immediately took over, she charged herself with aura and did her best to dodge as many of the spikes as she could. Absentmindedly she gave a glance towards Van, and saw that he had erected a mana barrier with the help of the forest wolf to protect themselves and the kobold.

By the time the rain was over, she was exhausted, panting, and nearly out of breath, not to mention filled with many small cuts and slices. But she wasn’t going to give up. Using the last of her strength, she sprinted towards her opponent.

The bear looked around and slowly fixated on Van and his group, mistaking it for Luna in its dizzy vision. it roared in anger and pain and readied itself to go on a rampage to defeat its opponent once and for all.

But before it could take a step in their direction, it was enveloped by a battle cry from its side. Quickly it turned, but it was too late.

With a mighty yell, Luna used the last of her energy to jump, and putting her all into her fist, delivered a devastating blow to the bear's face. In the exact same area that the hammer had hit it before.

The bear wobbled once, then twice, a third time and it fell out cold on the ground. Luna spent, collapsing right next to it.

“Luna!” Van rushed to her aid along with the others. Checking if she was okay, he lifted her up in a princess carry and started to take her to a safer location for her to rest. But before he could take a few steps he was stopped by Luna.

“Not yet. I haven’t won yet.” she groaned, grabbing his shirt.

“What? Of course, you won!? Your opponent is out cold and clearly defeated!” he said incredulously.

“NO! Not until she submits and you fuck her.” her voice was a little hoarse but adamant, refusing to make any concession. “Failing that…” her tired-looking eyes turned hard. “I have to finish it…”

Van stared down at her like she was an alien. Was this the Luna he knew?

Seeing the blank stare of Van, Luna forced herself off him and up, ignoring his protests. Her pride was on the line, and she refused to leave with her demands not met.

Hobbling over, she stood tall over the fallen bear. “So, what do you say? Do you submit?”

Silence once more entered the clearing, as not a single blade of grass moved, or an insect chirped. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Until slowly, the thorn bear’s one good eye opened and she rose, sitting up straight and looking down.

Luna crossed her arms as she stared the bear down, the fire in her eyes still lit, conveying how ready she was to continue to throw down should the bear with it.

But the bear did not respond for another solid minute, and when it did, it let its shoulders relax and bowed its head. Admitting its defeat, after that, it turned to look at the forest wolf intently.

Bell gulped and nervously moved forward until she was next to Luna. She then looked back and forth between Luna and the bear. Then the bear nodded towards the wolf and looked Luna in the eyes.

Bell began the translation.

“S-She says that she acknowledges your strength, but wonders, why the prize for losing is to become mates with the, err- Van…” Bell said to Luna.

“I never said you will be mates… true he will fuck you… but you are to be nothing more than a pet for us.” her eyes turned hard. “I need strong followers to protect what's mine…” she said with emphasis. “You can be one of my followers… if… you can transform…” Her face was a hard and imposing mask.

Bell translated nervously. The bear seemed to give it some thought, turned to Bell, then back to Luna.

“She says while she would love to accept following someone with so much potential, she must apologize, for she is unable to transform. Such a thing is only given to individuals who have achieved great power, those who evolve into humanoids, or whose race is fae-ish in nature like- well- me.” Bell said. “She is sad to say that she will be unable to change her appearance for the foreseeable future, perhaps not even in her lifetime if done alone. Even with outside help, it would take much, and there would be no guarantee…”

“So... it will accept whatever punishment you deem for it…” Bell finished, looking worriedly between the bear and Luna. The bear looked like it had accepted its fate, and made no motion to flee or attack. It seemed to be very honorable in that regard.

Luna smiled. “How about this? I will accept you as one of my followers… but you have to swear that you will either learn how to transform… or make sure you start choosing more humanoid evolutions when they are presented to you. You must promise me you will one day be able to mate with my husband. Do I make myself clear?”

The bear nodded.

Luna smiled, some of her old self coming back. She used the dripping blood that was still on her to make a ball of blood and send it the bear's way. Which it accepted and ate, letting the connection form between them.

Luna giggled happily. “Yes! Now I have my own followers! I wonder what I should call you…” looking lost in thought.

Van for his part could hardly believe everything that happened. A part of him was worried, a part of him jealous for gaining such a powerful follower, and even a part of him mad… a desire to put Luna in her place. But he ignored all that and decided to sort his feelings out later. For right now… he just wanted to get Luna to a doctor… he was pretty sure she was secretly suffering from a few cracked ribs.

“Come on guys,” he said, getting their attention. “Let's head out to the witch's place. You both need to get looked at…” pointing out the damage of both the bear and Luna.

After that, the group moved out, with a new friend in tow. But Van couldn’t help but pensively wonder… where he and his beloved's new changes will lead them next…