Two-star (4)

Shui was honestly unsure of how he would beat this beast now, but there was no time for him to come up with a decent plan. The tiger sneered after the aura surrounding its body repelled the sword, and charged at him once more. Shui knew he couldn't resist its charge, so he jumped out of the way when it came at him again.

'What!'

However this time, his three hundred and sixty degree vision caught sight of the tail of the tiger extending towards him. He barely managed to shift the shield in a position to block the tail, but he was still flung away. When he finally stopped after rolling across the ground, he could no longer be called unharmed. Bones were broken and the taste of iron was filling his mouth. Beast spirits generally had around three inherited arts or spells, but having four wasn't impossible either. Shui cursed himself for not being on guard for the tiger's art.

'Damn it! How could I forget how much beasts like using their tails as weapons?! With such a perfect whip like that, it would be weirder if they didn't use it.'

Having a break would have been better, but the red tiger would no longer graciously give him time to ready himself. By the time he could stand once more, the red tiger was too close for him to dodge. Since he realised this, Shui planted his right foot back and lowered his posture. With the shield in his left hand waiting for impact, he stayed.

BAM!

The collision was much worse than he expected. Not only was he pushed back, but he was pushed back so hard that he was slammed against a tree that was previously a cale away. Furthermore, even that tree was pushed back with him until they were stopped by another tree.

Luckily, he was able to divert the force of the collision or else he would already be dead, but the red tiger was still using its power to pressure him. He didn't think it could push back the second tree that was behind him; he would probably die before that. Though he was able to limit the amount of force, he still had to directly resist majority of it.

Without letting up for even a second, the red tiger pressured him in an attempt to crush his resistance. With both of their time limits in consideration, this was a very passive state, however both of them were determined to continue this. The red tiger tried to crush him while he tried to push it away. This stalemate continued even as his blood vessels began to burst.

Despite the worsening of his condition, Shui felt a constant stream of power flow into him. This power gave him the resolve to stand firm. He shouldn't have been able to resist for as long as he did, but by dragging out the power inside him, he was constantly staying above his limits. Still, it didn't stay like that forever.

At some point, he could no longer drag out any more power. He was sure it was there, and yet there seemed to be some sort of wall stopping him from taking it. Due to this wall, Shui began losing the confrontation against the beast spirit. Shui couldn't accept it, but the tiger saw this as natural. How could a mere human compete against it in strength?

A beast spirit winning against him in strength was nothing to be ashamed of, but not now. Shui refused to accept this loss.

"Ahhh!!!"

The sudden cry from Shui sounded like a scream of pain that was music to the red tiger's ears. But that was because it was fully captured in its berserk mindset. If it still held rationality, it would have felt the danger of this warcry.

This outburst was something that came subconsciously to him. When he tried to break down the wall stopping him from the power he needed, he released all of his weakness through this cry.

At first it was too small to be sensed, but eventually Shui felt it. He felt the wall crumbling. He stabbed the sword into the ground and used his entire body to resist against the beast spirit. As the wall reached its limit, Shui announced his resolve through a shout that shook the forest and stomped with his right foot. It shouldn't have made a difference, a futile effort, but it produced a force that flung the red tiger back. The frightened beast spirit didn't even stand back up. It stayed planted on the ground, fearfully watching the bloodied human.

His body was now full of vigorous power but investigating it was not on Shui's mind. He had to finish the beast spirit before it regained its wits. He picked up his sword and swung it at the red tiger. This time, though it didn't reach the beast spirit's skin, it still shaved off quite a bit of its defensive aura. Shui then repeatedly whacked it with his sword and shield. This force fixed the red tiger in position. As even the ground underneath it broke apart and a crater was eventually formed, the red tiger began feeling the urge to retreat. With its heart full of fear and its body suppressed, the fire in its heart was being extinguished.

"Hu, human, stop! Stop!"

However the tiger's surrender made no difference to Shui, he was determined to kill it. Finally, his sword got rid of the last bit of aura protecting it and he slammed the shield into its head.

The red tiger immediately lost teeth and blood poured out of its mouth. It couldn't tank these attacks anymore.

Since he knew he couldn't waste any time finishing it off, he then raised his sword into position. When the red tiger saw him raise the sword, it knew it wouldn't be spared, and so it decided to drag him along with it. Before he could deal the last blow, Shui suddenly felt a shock throughout his body.

'No, not now!'

The time limit was up and this caused his body to freeze up in pain. It was so bad that he could only scream to distract himself.

"Ahhh!"

But not only was he hindered by his own body, the red tiger had also noticed his trouble and a sharp glint appeared in its eyes. Its jaws clamped on his left side and he could do nothing to stop it. The jaws engulfed almost all of his abdomen but it also left the red tiger's neck wide open. With the oppurtunity right in front of him, Shui forcefully ignored the pain and rotated the sword to reserve grip and pointed it towards the target.

"Ahhh!!"

Shui thrusted the sword through the neck of the tiger, and twisted it to the ground. Even as light faded from the eyes of the beast spirit, its jaws remained tightened on him. This wound was easily enough to kill him if he left it, but his consciousness wasn't going to last much longer. He used his remaining focus to retrieve his cloak and satchel with martial intent, and put the cloak over him. He then took a talisman with the symbol for 'Stasis' and placed it on his body before flopping to the ground.