MHA Paragon

Kenji snapped out of his torpor as the ground rumbled, heaving a great sigh felt for miles from the vibrations passing through the earth, 'One more day and you would have been spared.' 

For the first time in days, Kenji started to reform his body, which had dispersed into a barely noticeable cloud of black fog clinging to the thick forest canopy. Moving slowly so as not to give away his location, Kenji's awareness concentrated as he took a physical form, with his head appearing first, followed by the rest of his umbral body and then finally his abyssal armor and cloak. 

With unnatural stillness, Kenji stood perched on the tree tops as he stared down at the fallen tree, which had been hallowed out by its current occupant to the width of a subway tunnel. A deep rumbling growl echoed from within the tree, making the canopy around Kenji tremble and sending the few birds lingering in the branches taking off into the air. 

Still, Kenji remained motionless as a massive beast emerged from the depths of the fallen log. Even in the thick forest, with trees close to three hundred feet tall and twenty feet across, the prehistoric-looking monster still seemed to tower over its surroundings. 

Its body was covered in a thick, leathery hide, natural armor studded with sharp, jagged spikes that ran along its back and limbs and glinted in the sunlight, ready to impale anything that ventured too close. The creature's head was large and angular, crowned with a dense cluster of curved horns that added to its menacing appearance.

Its beady and fierce eyes glowed with an alert and predatory gleam, constantly surveying its surroundings. Its neck and shoulders were thick and muscular, leading down to a massive torso that rippled with strength and ended in a dangerous tail, long and muscular, tipped with a cluster of hardened spikes. Thick, stocky limbs and massive feet supported the beast's enormous weight, but it also sported razor-sharp claws capable of gouging deep into the earth or through the hide of its prey. The sheer size and power of the creature made it an apex predator, with every part of its body serving as a tool for destruction.

Kenji stared at the force of nature that he had taken to calling, 'The Thornback Behemoth.' It was no doubt the strongest Dread Beast Kenji had ever set eyes on and was, at the very least, a fraction away from becoming a Dread King if it wasn't one already. Kenji was first made aware of the Behemoth's presence when he was chasing a herd of elephant-like dread beasts, but his hunt was interrupted by the apex predator. 

At that very moment, Kenji knew that he had to fight the Thornback and to give himself the best chance of killing the monster. Kenji had spent the entire week killing every dread beast that had entered his sight, harvesting a bounty of Alpha Particles. 

Now, it was the final day of Kenji's two-week examination. He had long ago forgotten the number of points he had scored, but killing the Thornback would undoubtedly put him over the required amount. 

As the Behemoth yawned, its massive jaws opened, revealing countless rows of serrated teeth, and Kenji felt his anticipation reach an all-time high. There was no denying that Kenji had become somewhat addicted to the thrill of the hunt, with his active thoughts on a single track of hunt, kill, devour, repeat. 

With a snap, the Thornback closed its mouth and shook its entire body, dislodging a few loose spikes that flew through the air and embedded in the ground or an unfortunate tree, each one causing space to tear from the laws of sharpness coating the spines. 

Kenji chose that moment to strike, ignoring any trepidation, dropping from the canopy without a whisper. Falling through the air, Kenji picked up more and more speed, arriving at the Behemoth's back only to be greeted by a ridge of razor-sharp spine. 

Before Kenji was impaled, he suddenly burst apart into a miasmic cloud, drifting through the dense weave of spikes before manifesting on the back of the Behemoth as a pitch-black tanto appeared in his right hand. The flat of the blade was etched to resemble a feather, while the razor-sharp edge glowed coated with purple acid. 

In the blink of an eye, Kenji carved into the Behemoth's back the combination of the blade's razor-sharp edge and flesh-eating acid, managing to overcome the beast's thick hide. 

A deep, rumbling roar echoed through the air with enough force that Kenji felt his entire body shake along with the forest of spines covering the Behemoth's back, causing them to smack against each other in a deafening cacophony. 

Then, without warning, the Thornback flattened every spike against its body, scoring a shallow cut down the length of Kenji's left arm. Instead of blood, dense black fog spilled from the searing line of pain, but Kenji didn't have time to worry about it as he was forced to jump off the Thornback as the creatures rolled over, trying to flatten Kenji underneath its immense weight. 

As he jumped, Kenji's body broke apart again, and he turned into an abyssal phantom flying high into the air before snapping back into shape. 

Before gravity could affect them, Kenji thrust his hand down at the earth. His palm spat out a sphere wrapped in chains that quickly unraveled as the occupant inside was unleashed upon the world. 

An ear-bleeding screech echoed through the air, followed by a gust of gale-force wind as Styx's wings flapped furiously, sensing the inherent conflict in the air. 

Standing on Styx's back, Kenji couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as he marveled at just how powerful his oldest prisoner had become. 

While Kenji had invested a significant amount of Alpha Particle into all his abyssal companions, Styx had undergone the most shocking transformation. 

The vulture had turned into a griffin, rippling with powerful muscles visible even underneath Styx's thick coat of feathers that seemed to gleam like metal in the sunlight. 

But the Thornback was undaunted by Styx's sudden appearance, only enraged further by another challenger intruding on its domain. 

The Behemoth settled on its haunches like a cat getting ready to pounce, only for its tail to lash out like a whip, sending a storm of hardened spikes flying up at Kenji and Styx. 

Styx screeched, and Kenji grabbed a handful of feathers as the griffin folded in its wings and dropped out of the air like a stone. 

While Styx managed to avoid the hailstorm of spikes, the tree behind them was as lucky. In an instant, the top half of their trucks was shredded, punching man-covered-size holes through twenty feet of solid hardwood. 

But the Thornback didn't stop with its initial bombardment, instead waving its tail back and forth, sending a seemingly endless barrage. 

Styx snapped out his wings, gliding only a few feet above the ground before flapping furiously to outrun the Thornback's turret-like firing rate. 

As Styx focused on evasive movements, Thane took every moment, his hands turning into little more than dark blurs as he threw blade after blade, firing them as straight as arrows. While many were deflected by the thick coat of spines covering the thornback, some managed to sink into its leathery hide. 

Styx screeched softly, and Kenji felt the faint exhaustion coming from his companion, 'Conserve your strength. This fight is going to be a battle of attrition.' 

Styx bobbed his head, and suddenly, he dropped in speed. Kenji watched the predatory gleam ignite in the Behemoth's eyes as it raised its tail again. 

Somehow, in the chaos and racket of the fight, Kenji's snap echoed clearly through the air as a ring of purple light followed, and the Thornback was enveloped in a massive cloud of indigo fire.