Bunny bit her lip hard, her small body trembling. She didn’t say a word, but large, silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She understood all too well. ’She might never see her father again.’

"Go!" Caden Albright gave Thorne a hard shove back, then turned and walked toward the Beast Tide.

He took only a few steps before a series of sharp cracks echoed from his bones. His frame suddenly stretched, transforming him into a giant white fox.

Caden Albright didn’t look back. With a graceful leap, his silver-white form traced one last arc of light before vanishing from their sight. In the distance, the rising and falling roars of beasts seemed to underscore the image of his resolute, unhesitating back.

His interception would buy them more time.

Thorne hesitated no longer. Holding Bunny and Genesis tight, he raced out of Blackwater Swamp.

Bunny clung to Thorne’s shoulder, trembling and sobbing, but she didn’t dare to cry out loud.

Hearing her suppressed whimpers, Thorne’s heart ached. The fear Beastmen held for Fallen Beastmen was bone-deep. Even though Caden Albright hadn’t killed anyone since leaving Thorncliff, the others would never let him go.

What’s more, there was Bunny.

Such a soft and tender little maiden, yet she too bore the mark of a Fallen Beastman.

If the Beast Tide discovered her, Bunny wouldn’t survive.

Thorne’s throat tightened. He held the two children a bit closer, his voice hoarse. "Don’t be afraid."

Shielding the two young ones even more tightly, he sprinted with all his might toward the coast.

*

By the time Caden Albright arrived, Loras was already exceptionally weak.

He knelt on one knee in a pool of blood, his pale skin split by a web of bloody gashes. He was too weak to hold himself up, and the sky-blotting barrier of vines looked withered, on the verge of collapse.

A light flashed in Caden Albright’s amber eyes. His snow-white fox tail wrapped around Loras, and his amber Beast Eyes reflected the other’s nearly shattered purple irises. His voice was soft. "You’ve done enough."

Bracing himself with a hand on the ground, Loras heard him and glanced up in the direction of Blackwater Swamp.

Caden Albright set Loras aside and circled him once, his fluffy tail swaying gently with his steps. "Don’t worry, Eva is fine. She’s already left with Danton. I’ll hold them off. You should go now, to the coast."

Loras watched the vine barrier slowly crumble, his voice raspy. "What about you?"

Caden Albright stood in the shadow of the vines, where the sunlight could not reach, nor could it pierce the growing darkness in his amber eyes.

A thick black mist surged from his body. His eyes reflected the frenzied Beast Tide, his voice laced with cold mockery. "Since they refuse to let me go, I’ll show them what a true Fallen Beastman really is."

The viscous black mist was almost tangible as it flowed from him, churning into a malevolent vortex.

He glanced back one last time toward the coast, as if his gaze could pierce the dense forest and see his female, along with the tiny figure wearing the black and gold ribbon.

He would become the final bulwark, holding back the Beast Tide for Thorne. His only hope was that Thorne could escape this place with Bunny and Genesis.

Loras pressed his lips together. Just as he was about to speak, his expression changed. Palm flat against the ground, his gaze shot past the crumbling vines, his focus cutting through the clamor. He raised an eyebrow. "There’s someone outside helping us. It’s..."

Before Loras could finish, the vine barrier disintegrated completely, vanishing into nothing.

In the blizzard, the scene beyond the barrier was A Hell of Carnage. The ground was littered with the corpses of Beastmen, severed limbs, and pooling blood. The thick stench of gore overwhelmed the smell of the storm.

A slender figure weaved through the Beast Tide at an astonishing speed.

The Snow Leopard’s agile form carved sharp arcs through the blizzard as he dodged the horde’s attacks. Every swipe of his claws raised a spray of blood. As if sensing their gazes, he looked over, his familiar grey-brown eyes perfectly clear.

Caden Albright let out a soft laugh and vaulted over the field of Beastman corpses to join Lachlan.

Loras forced himself to his feet. He watched Caden Albright and Lachlan fighting side by side amidst the curtain of snow, his purple eyes trembling.

With a flick of his wrist, a slightly dull bone knife appeared in his hand, still stained with old blood.

This was the same bone knife he had once plunged into Evangeline’s heart. Now, to use it to kill the Beastmen invading their home was a form of both atonement and protection. He was glad to be able to fight alongside Caden Albright and Lachlan.

The Tyrannosaur Beastman’s thick tail swept the ground, its scales flashing with a cold light. He stared at the pitch-black nine-star pattern on Caden Albright’s forehead, gasped, and roared, "It’s a Fallen Beastman!"

The roar exploded like a thunderclap, and the Beast Tide erupted. Countless bloodshot eyes locked onto Caden Albright, a frenzied light born of intertwined fear and killing intent gleaming within them. All the Beastmen began to press in on Caden Albright and Lachlan.

They knew, of course, that a Nine-Marked Beastman was no easy opponent, but their numbers were their greatest advantage.

The horde advanced in waves. The black mist swallowed the screams of the Beastman Warriors. The Snow Leopard’s sharp teeth sank with precision into an enemy’s throat. The bone knife whistled as it pierced a Beastman’s chest.

Rivers of blood snaked across the snow, yet no one retreated.

The Beastmen, fearless of death, surged forward without end, trampling the still-warm corpses of their comrades. Their eyes burned with a relentless obsession. The slaughter seemed endless; everyone became a killing machine, sworn to destroy the Fallen Beastman.

"Is Eva alright?"

Lachlan tore out the throat of a Wolf Beastman, and a spray of warm blood dyed his flax-colored fur red.

He shook his head and glanced at Caden Albright. The metallic tang of blood in his mouth stirred his bestial instincts, and golden rings spread across his pupils.

Caden Albright leaped nimbly away, his fox tail sweeping out to send a pouncing Beastman flying. His snow-white fur was soaked in blood, yet his movements remained graceful. Shaking his head, he said, "Eva is perfectly safe."

Lachlan shattered the skull of a Beastman attempting to ambush Caden Albright. Blood dripped from his claws.

Then he heard Caden Albright say, "I’m their prey. You and Loras should go."

Caden Albright’s voice was soft, nearly lost in the din of battle. The snow fell harder, blurring the ghastly wounds on his body. Only the Star Pattern on his forehead seemed to grow darker against the backdrop of blood and snow.

Lachlan stepped lightly across the blood-soaked snow. His grey-brown Beast Eyes were remarkably clear in the blizzard, and his resonant, ethereal voice was just as calm. "You are the partner Eva chose, which makes you a comrade through life and death. I cannot abandon a comrade."

Caden Albright froze, his fox ears twitching. Before he could speak, Loras’s breathless chuckle sounded from behind him.

His purple eyes were surprisingly soft as his fingertips gently stroked the bone knife. "There’s no leaving now. It’s just... I suddenly long to hear her voice. I miss her."

Lachlan glanced back at him. Loras was drenched in blood, fighting now on sheer brute force alone.

A flicker of emotion crossed his face, and a low purr rumbled in his throat. There was a complex look in his grey-brown eyes as he said quietly, "If you had said things like this in front of Eva, you wouldn’t have always..."

Loras flicked his bone knife upward. A bead of blood dripped from the blade, splashing into a small divot in the muddy snow.

He couldn’t help but smile, the expression reaching his purple eyes. "Yes. I should have said it long ago."

The words, tinged with the stench of blood, drifted away into the blizzard, yet they were more sincere than anything he had ever said.

The three of them stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, looked at each other, and smiled.