Chapter 492: Nikolai VS Black Bear!
"Don’t underestimate me! BOY!" Black Bear’s enraged voice echoed through the room as he threw a brutal fist at Nikolai.
Nikolai’s lips curved slightly, tilting his head as the beast’s attack missed by an inch at most, the wind following the punch prickling his skin. "You’re strong, huh?" He smiled back before stepping into the Bears’ range.
Bang!
With a sharp elbow, Nikolai’s arm smashed Black Bear back against the wall, shaking the entire room as he took a boxing stance. "Come on. Get up, I want to enjoy this."
Black Bear’s snarl split the air as he tore free of the cracked wall, rubble tumbling from his massive frame. His ursine claws scraped the stone, gouging trenches as he dragged himself forward. Eyes blazing red, teeth snapping like a maddened grizzly. "Don’t get cocky, boy!"
He lunged with the weight of a landslide, his clawed paw swinging like a tree trunk.
Whoosh!
His strike ripped apart the air with a snap, shearing the table in half and sending shards flying in all directions, but Nikolai dashed along it with agile steps.
The claws cut his black hair as he did. His grin widened before he lunged at the bear, driving his knee into its ribs.
Bang!
The blow rocked Black Bear sideways, drool and blood spraying from his jaw, but he snarled and caught Nikolai’s arm mid-swing. With a violent twist, he hurled him across the hall.
Crack!
Nikolai’s body smashed into the floor, stone buckling beneath him. Dust rose in thick clouds. Yet he rose immediately, rolling his shoulders with a calm smirk, as if shaking off a lazy shove. "Not bad. But if that’s your best, this’ll be boring."
The few remaining Silver Clan Elders shouted, rising from their seats, but Black Bear suddenly roared, the guttural noise causing them to flee in silence.
He thundered forward, each step shattering the stone tiles. His fists blurred, claws slashing in wild arcs, raw force overwhelming technique.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each strike detonated like a hammer blow, explosive and deadly, while splitting furniture and pulverising the stone floor. Nikolai weaved through the storm, letting claws graze his ribs, slice his arm, and nick his jaw. The impact rocked his skull as blood sprayed across the walls, but his black eyes only gleamed brighter.
Then... BANG!
A counter.
His clawed fist snapped into the Bear’s temple, rocking him sideways with a meaty crack.
The werebear reeled back, staggering like a boxer desperate to stand. He leaned against the wall, blood pouring from his snout. "You little...!"
"Powerful arms," Nikolai growled, licking the blood from his lip, "but slow, unbalanced feet." His flame flickered with a crackle along his forearms as he chased forward, precise and measured like a predator.
"Shut your damn mouth!" Black Bear spat blood and charged again, swiping wide with both claws.
Nikolai slipped inside the arc, his body twisting like a blade. His elbow crashed into the bear’s chest, followed by a brutal uppercut that rattled the beastman’s fangs and slammed him into a stone pillar.
The room quaked, dust showering from the rafters.
Black Bear clawed free, chest heaving, his fur matted with blood. He bared his teeth, a monstrous silhouette in the rubble.
Across from him, Nikolai stood tall, blood streaking his cheek, grin savage and hungry.
"This is fun," he growled. "Don’t make me regret giving you a chance."
***
Black Bear’s chest heaved like a bellows, each breath rattling the windows of the chamber. Blood dripped in heavy ropes from his split muzzle, but his fury only deepened. His massive frame straightened, towering even larger as his claws flexed, carving furrows in the polished stone floor.
"Enough games," he rumbled, voice guttural, layered with something primal. His muscles quivered, swelling grotesquely as black veins rippled across his body. His eyes rolled back, then snapped open, glowing crimson. "You’ll regret crossing me, pup!"
Crack! Crack!
His bones snapped like timber, limbs elongating. Fur erupted in thick black waves across his arms and shoulders, splitting his garments apart. His claws doubled in length, curving like hooked blades, while his fanged jaw extended into a monstrous ursine snout.
In heartbeats, the man was gone.
What stood in his place was a towering bear beast, over three meters tall, fur bristling, aura spilling like molten rock. Each exhale steamed, hot enough to warp the air.
"...Clara, Anya... take Sulley and have Ryan guard you to the exit."
Even the Elders of the Silver clan gasped at him and the destruction of their ancestral abode. Now the huge bear was almost nine feet tall.
Nikolai only grinned wider, his black eyes flashing golden rings in the gloom. "Finally... I get to see the real you. The power that lost to my father."
His words triggered something in the Bear. Because his eyes became sharp and he no longer waited quietly, but rushed at Asmodeus. Black Bear roared, the sound ripping through the chamber, rattling the chandeliers above. The force knocked papers from desks, cracked the plaster from the ceiling.
Then he moved.
Boom!
One colossal paw slammed down where Nikolai stood, stone exploding like glass. The shockwave blasted through the room, scattering chairs and forcing Anya and Clara to shield Ryan and Sulley.
"Hurry and Go!"
Rip!
Nikola slid across the broken tiles, blood dripping from his forehead, and his left hand transformed into a huge claw, the bear’s flesh hanging from them. On the way past the massive limb, he slashed upward.
A deep gash tore across Black Bear’s flank, blood spraying like a burst pipe. The beast roared in fury, swinging with the force of an avalanche.
Nikolai ducked, the claws whistling over his head and carving a crater into the wall. The hall groaned, dust cascading as the ceiling cracked.
"Too slow," Nikolai taunted, his voice calm, amused.
But the Bear followed up with a drop kick, slamming both feet into his chest, the force lifted and flung Nikolai several metres into the distant wall, almost hitting the Lamia that stood opposite Ryan and the girls.
"Ryan, I can’t transform if you stay here..."
Nikolai grumbled and lunged in, fists and claws hammering into the bear’s torso. Each strike thudded like a drumbeat, black flames searing fur and flesh. For every blow landed, however, another massive swipe grazed him, cutting deep into his shoulders and ribs.
Blood for blood.
The two clashed in a storm of claws, flame, and brute strength, their blows shaking the foundation itself. Pillars cracked, stone tiles shattered, windows splintered.
One Elder screamed, "Stop them before they bring the house down!" but no one dared to intervene.
At last, the two broke apart, panting, glaring at each other across the fractured hall. Black Bear’s fur smoked where it burned, his wounds raw but healing with terrifying speed. Nikolai stood bloodied, his chest heaving, but his aura only burned brighter, licking across his limbs in violent arcs.
He licked blood from his lip, fangs gleaming. "You just won’t go down!"
***
Black bear slammed his fist together, groaning like thunder. His sharp eyes burned with anger and frustration, locking on Nikolai with unyielding hatred. Every muscle bulged beneath smoking fur as he stomped forward, each footstep caving the stone tiles deeper into the foundation.
"Why did you have to cause trouble!?"
His booming voice shook the hall, distorted by the bestial snarl.
Nikolai wiped the blood dripping from his chin with the back of his hand, black flames dancing around his knuckles. His grin only widened. "Because I wanted to beat you!"
Angry at his answer, the bear flung at him, claws slicing wildly without discipline, causing the air to shriek as though torn apart.
Nikolai met him head-on, parrying swipes with burning forearms, deflecting enough to slip inside his reach. His fists smashed into the beast’s ribs, each blow sinking deep, each counter met with a punishing swipe that left burning lines across his flesh.
The room became a mess.
Furniture disintegrated. Pillars snapped like toothpicks. The long table that once separated them became nothing but splinters scattered across the blood-stained floor.
Anya tightened her grip on Clara and Ryan, dragging Sulley further back as cracks spiderwebbed up the walls. "If they keep this up, the whole mansion will fall!"
"But Brother..."
Ryan’s eyes fluttered, finally able to pull away from the Lamia who watched him with trembling hands, torn between her duty and feelings.
Black Bear swung again, but Nikolai ducked under the claw, gripping his muscles and swinging into his face with an uppercut. The monster’s head snapped back, saliva and blood spraying across the ceiling. But instead of falling, the bear snarled and lurched forward, teeth bared.
CRASH!
His skull collided with Nikolai’s forehead.
The impact stunned Nikolai, as if a bomb detonated inside his skull, a concussive blast of sound and force rippling through his grey matter. The shockwave obliterated what remained of the furniture, shattered the nearest walls, and tore the floor tiles into rubble.
"Urgkk...!" Nikolai stumbled back, vomiting blood and saliva, his expression feral, eyes sharp and out for blood. "Fucking Bear!" Blood running down his nose and lips. His black aura swirled violently, as though his body barely contained it anymore.
Black Bear roared in defiance, lifting his colossal head again.
Nikolai mirrored him.
"Come on then," Nikolai growled, voice guttural, low, vibrating through the crumbling hall.
They lunged again.
Their skulls smashed together once more, harder, louder.
BOOOOOOM!