The Beast Tamer Clan's Monster Overlord

Axelius launched himself from a thick branch, his body light and fast. He twisted in midair, swinging his blade low to high in an upward arc.

Clang!

Vargosh blocked with his axe, but the force pushed him back a step on the wide tree limb. His boots dug into the bark, splitting it slightly.

"You move like wind," Vargosh muttered, swinging the blunt side of his axe at Axelius with brutal speed.

Axelius bent backward, nearly parallel to the branch, the axe whooshing past his face. As he rolled sideways, he grabbed a hanging vine, swung around the trunk of the tree, and kicked off it again using it as momentum.

"Take this!" Axelius shouted.

He dashed straight toward Vargosh's blind side.

But Vargosh grinned. The orc lord spun, dragging his axe in a wide circle. The air cracked from the weight of it.

Axelius ducked low, sliding on the branch like skating over smooth ice. Sparks flew as his blade scraped the wood for balance.

As he passed under Vargosh's spinning weapon, he reached up and slashed across the orc's thigh.

A sharp grunt escaped Vargosh's lips as blood spattered on the tree bark.

Axelius jumped again, backflipping up to a higher branch.

The boy crouched there, chest rising with effort, eyes sharp and focused.

"You're fast… and clever," Vargosh said, touching the wound on his leg with his thumb, smearing the blood across his skin like war paint. "You don't fight like a human Kid."

Axelius shrugged.

Then he vanished again—a blur.

Vargosh barely lifted his axe in time.

Steel rang!

Axelius struck from above, sword crashing down. The branch under Vargosh cracked.

The orc lord let it break. He dropped to a lower branch and then launched himself up, punching through the air with his axe like a cannonball.

Axelius spun sideways in the air, blade grazing Vargosh's shoulder. They passed each other both landing on separate branches, growling under their breath.

Thud! Thud!

Leaves danced. Trees creaked.

Then again they leapt, this time clashing midair. The sound of their weapons colliding thundered through the trees. For a second, both hovered feet off the ground locked in a brutal struggle of strength.

"Impressive," Vargosh growled, sweat and blood mixed on his skin. "You're not even using mana."

Axelius smirked. "And yet, you're bleeding."

With a sudden twist of his body, Axelius kicked off Vargosh's chest, flipping backward and landing gracefully on a branch above.

The orc crashed onto a trunk, leaving a dent where his back struck.

Vargosh stood motionless on a broken branch, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. The bark beneath his feet cracked from the pressure of his weight and the tension in his legs.

His muscles twitched. His fingers clenched tightly around the handle of his massive axe.

A strange sensation was running through his veins. A cold tremble at first… then heat. His instincts screamed.

Fear? No. It was something deeper. Foreign.

"What is this? It's not mana" Vargosh muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing as he glanced upward.

There, several branches above, stood Axelius—barely eleven, with tousled hair and a cocky smirk carved across his lips like he didn't have a care in the world.

His posture was relaxed. His blade rested casually over one shoulder, as if this wasn't a battle to the death but just another afternoon game.

He looked… entertained.

"What?" Axelius called out, noticing the shift in Vargosh's expression. "Realize something?"

He tilted his head, grin growing wider—mocking, playful, dangerous.

Vargosh's jaw tightened.

That grin.

That absurd strength without even a drop of mana.

He gritted his teeth. "You're not normal… You're far from it."

He straightened his back, towering over the trees, the wind brushing through his thick black hair.

The blood on his leg had dried, the pain ignored. But his heart was still pounding.

"You're a devil in a child's skin," he growled, his voice echoing across the treetops.

Axelius just grinned wider, raising his katana slowly until it reached eye level. His eyes gleamed beneath the shade of the leaves.

"You just realized it now?" he said softly, almost teasing.

For a moment, even the forest went still.

Vargosh's grip tightened on his axe, the veins in his arms pulsing. But this time, there was hesitation in his movements.

This wasn't just a fight anymore.

He had stepped into something else.

Something terrifying.

And Axelius… looked like he was just getting started.

A low hum vibrated through the treetops as Vargosh's feet sank slightly into the thick branch beneath him, cracks webbing out like lightning as raw mana surged around his body.

From his arms, his shoulders, even his tusks — faint glowing veins of crimson pulsed like fire running through his flesh.

The Highvorne Orc's grin stretched wide, his fangs gleaming beneath the moonlight.

His massive axe, now surrounded by a faint shimmer of warped air, lifted with terrifying ease.

"You're still a child," Vargosh said, "I'll end you before you grow."

Above, leaves rustled from the pressure of his mana. Even the birds had fled.

Standing on a thick branch opposite him, Axelius blinked slowly. His katana rested lightly against his shoulder.

"Less talk," he said casually, "more action."

Vargosh's muscles tensed.

In an instant, he vanished.

WHOOOOM—!!

A gust of air exploded as his axe tore through the space in front of him, not by touching it—but by slicing it.

The very air twisted in an invisible arc, a silent shockwave flying across the tree canopy.

Fwoosh!

Axelius's eyes slightly widened, not in fear—but in fascination.

The distorted pressure raced toward him, too fast for most eyes to follow. But Axelius didn't flinch. He simply stepped left—one clean sidestep.

BOOM!!

The branch where he had been standing erupted like it had been struck by lightning, splinters raining down through the air like wooden needles.

A nearby tree cracked and fell, cleaved halfway in two by the invisible force.

Still calm, Axelius landed on the next branch over, boots touching the wood without even shaking it.

He looked at the shattered remains behind him.

"Okay," he said, eyes narrowing with an excited glint. "That was pretty cool."

Across from him, Vargosh stood with his axe still mid-swing, his grin fading into something darker—focused. His prey hadn't even broken a sweat.

"And here I thought orcs only relied on brute strength," Axelius added, tapping his blade lightly against the branch. "Guess you're full of surprises."

Vargosh didn't answer. His feet shifted. His stance changed.

"He's not done yet" he Muttered

In the air around them, the silence was deafening… as the next move loomed.