[ Out of the night a dozen manthings ran forward dressed in the ragged skins of bears, their souless eyes burning red with rage and madness. Some ran on two legs while others scrambled forward on four. All the while behind them from the darkness a giant form stalked onward at a deliberate pace.

In the moon's waning light she could make out in the ethereal shape of a bear, it's blue glowing body didn't seem of substance, it's feet not seeming to mark the earth it trod upon. The only thing that stood out was the bear's head which was only a skull, the flesh had long gone and only pearl white bones remained, when it moved it cast the appearance of no more than a floating skull with hollow eyes.

She was a bit disappointed that while impressive in a gruesome way, it was somewhat lacking from what she'd encountered in the past. For a brief instance when first seeing the manthings dressed as bears, she hoped that they were the descendants or even just followers of Nanook, her old rival.

"Beserkers!!" One of the young creatures yelled in shock. The others simply glanced at her before letting the moment pass.

Regardless of the inadequacy of the trial she found herself delighted at the challenge no matter what form it took, the fact that they found a name for the madness was shocking but then manthings had the habit of naming things.

"That thing is enormous but this is your fight, if you need aid we will be here in the shadows." The manthing said watching the ghostly bear approach, the four then vanished without another word.

She didn't distract herself with his useless words, if she needed help then they would either prove their worth or their craven nature.

The cult of the bear, a familiar tribe of manthing, one that thought themselves brave hunters and warriors, she remembered them from her lands, when the bears in the ice and cold worshipped one higher than themselves and the manthings followed clumsily.

The ghost bear waited, its form still amiss the fury of movement that drove the enraged manthings with it forward. All aimed at her.

Raising it's naked skull back it stood tall on two legs, it's imposing visage mirroring the giants of old cast a grand roar across the field. From its transparent body more berserkers appeared, separated and ran on to join their allies.

She contemplated answering back with a roar in response but the act would imply that this was her territory which might put her at odds with the possible allies watching at the side. So she waited and then with sudden explosive force she struck.

In seconds she'd plunged into chaos.

The cult of the bear converged on her all at once, with no care of form or technique, they lashed out with only rage, madness and strength.

She answered back in kind, savagely, launching the closest one off with a backhand, bearly able to watch him land with a rolling stop before the next few arrived swinging wildly.

Dodging inbetween the furious attack of limbs and weapons, she swatted them in retaliation with open palms yet still ripped and tore flesh from bodies that refused to yield. Even the first one she had knocked away had rebounded back into the fight.

Another five went down hard and in the next moment another twelve had been blown away or gutted yet their numbers continued to increase further. Limbs were strewn about and blood was everywhere but they continued to fight even if it meant they had to drag their battered frames across the field.

With no room to maneuver amongst the sea of rage and fury and stuck in a body that frustratingly refused to move the way she knew, she was forced to quickly adapt to the strengths of her ward's body.

Seizing one berserker in a firm grip the sharp cracking of a skull to her skull sounded, it staggered as its head and eyes reeled backward before it fell limply to the floor.

The next closest one attacked with a powerful downward blow, a simple twist was all that was needed to avoid it however it's head then snapped to the side a fair bit too far as a fearsome kick was delivered to its jaw, slumping awkwardly to the floor it also did not move again.

A few of them flinched as their their fallen brethren flew past with a throw but only that.

It was enough.

She used that time gained from their hesitation to unleash similar tactics one after the other in a barrage hefty blows.

"CRACK!!"

Bone broke against her forehead as another one of the number that apposed her fell.

They suddenly seemed so slow. Annoyingly persistent but not enough to warrant, losing herself to the fight.

The bear roared again, emboldened by the noise the fallen rose again to their feet, more swiftly than she expected and returned to the fight.

《YOU SPINELESS, CORRUPTED CUR, STOP HIDING BEHIND THIS WORTHLESS SCUM AND COME FIGHT ME!!》

The fallen came back again like a wave and lurched onward.

Unlike the manthings of old who armed themselves with spears, corded bows and bolas. These new ones came with steel knives, wooden bats covered with bits of metal wire and the occasional large hammer, some merely used their fists or whatever they had picked from the floor.

As she fought her mood grew darker, she tried to find a path to directly attack the creature who'd found a way to harness the increasingly more violent manthings. But none appeared.

The horde continued their assault unabated for a long time but their numbers were slowly reducing, after creating an opportunity she tried to rip one of the souls from the manthings to empower herself but to her indignation, the soul was bound to the bear.

Her anger flared at the realization of what the creature before her had done to its own followers.

Necrotic magic, with the carcinogenic nature of that act, it had entered itself into the forbidden and was using that to bind the manthings to itself, everything about this was wrong to her on a primal level.

《YOU ARE A BEAR!》

《YET YOU COMMANDEERED THE SOULS OF MANTHINGS.》

《HOW DARE YOU SINK SO LOW! WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE!》

The ethereal bear's hollow eyes suddenly sparked with anger, it raised itself and roared loudly with fury then dropped back to four legs and charged forward knocking many of its own thralls out of the way while trampling others that didn't have time to retreat.

Snarling irritably, she batted away the cult members closest, while turning away from the charging beast.

Facing down a full grown bear caused a bit of nostalgia to well up as she tried to move into a more advantageous position, she had both fought them over prey and hunted them as food in the past.

She missed her tail and claws but although she couldn't do anything about her missing appendage in this form, claws were another story.

As if in response to their angered master's mood the remaining berserkers swarmed with renewed vigor, from their bloodshot eyes red blood ran freely and madness was all that remained of them.

They clawed and clung to her as best they could, each trying desperately to hold her down and attack but their broken bodies were forcefully pulled back by the power the bear exerted.

All on the field of Hackney marsh would bear witness this confrontation, the bear, the berserkers, the broken manthings, the others who watched from the shadows and even the ones who watched from byond that.

A ghastly glow emerged from the bear's ethereal form, It seemed to pulse with some bastardised amalgamation of necrotic and life energies as thick blue veins rippled across its hide, as it did so the manthings around both it and her fell to the earth, some struggling and clawing at the ground while others convulsed, foaming at the mouth. Watching them fall in disgusted silence she could feel the wrongness of it.

She despised the corruption of magic and the souls of manthings being used like fuel to bolster the beast power sickened her.

Vile unnatural power forcibly pulled the reamaining manthings under the bear's control into itself like drowning rats, the cult members struggled some bones breaking as a few tried to free themselves but to no avail, pure horror etched itself onto their faces as they were finally pulled into the ethereal form before her, the air around her somehow tasted foul in her next breath.

While not being the worst way for manthings to die, she didn't like that it killed it's own servants.

《Wasteful》

In the midst of the bear taking the bodies of its followers into its body and rampaging around the rain started to fall.

Under the moonlight in an open sky, the rain fell in silence.

She felt her fingers and toes itch as her nails darkened and grew longer.

The muddy earth squelched beneath her feet as she charged at the beas. Aiming for its throat only half a step too late she remembered that the creature was not like the bears she knew in the ice and snow.

With a sudden burst of speed that betrayed It's huge size, it pawed her out of the air sending her flying off into the now muddy ground.

The impact shook her to the core but as she bounced and slid across the floor the reality of the frailty of her ward's form became wholly apparent.

It was refreshing.

For a moment she laid there looking up at the moon-filled sky and let the rain wash over her as she smiled.

-------------

The small one rose to her feet just in time to be plowed into by the rampaging body of a bear and the onslaught of its teeth and claws soon followed, trying to pin, batter and bite without pause or hesitation.

The pain was real to her as she blocked and twisted away from the worst of it, keeping herself close she used her new claws to dig and tear at the ghostly flesh of the beast when she could.

Shock and pain from the assault were unexpectedly prevalent on the bear's skull as scratches and chips had appeared where previously there were none, the fact that she could rend its spectral body gave it pause for an instant as it pulled back for another swipe, she raised both arms and twisted as she blocked the blow of its massive forearm, which in turn sent her bouncing again through the mud covered field.

She quickly caught her balance and slid to a stop, her feet firmly planted into the soil, the toothy grin still remained.

It watched her rise, unbroken, unyielding matching it's beastly glare with her own, a jolt of uncertainty washed over the bear as it suddenly became more vigilant, defeating the foe before it should have been no more difficult than dislodging a loose stone yet it continued to persist.

For the first time in an eternity, the bear felt...... fear.

The muddy ground sunk behind her as the distance between the two shrank in an instant, her adversary closed in and tried to swat her away but missed as she narrowly dodged its sharp claws, another rush came moments later but that was a feint, the beast missed its mark completely and its paw once again slashed harmlessly throughout the air.

A large crack appeared on its weathered skull as a set of long claws tore into its hide.

Another slash landed, then another and another. All the while more cracks and chips appeared on its skull as the rain poured into them.

The distressed bear roared in anger but paused after realizing it could not hear it's own cry of challenge. It couldn't even hear the rain falling like a unending storm.

--------------

How she wished at this moment for a wider jaw, to go for the jugular, to rip and tear this corrupted creature apart without hesitation. She ran forward aiming for its throat, new claws gleaming in the rain with pure moonlight, she pounced.

The ethereal bear silently roared in confusion and pain, it thrashed around wildly as she approached, a blow landed on the beasts' neck but she's missed her target slightly and lost her balance, a clawed forearm sank into her and knocked her away as a result.

The blow didn't even phase her as she returned to the creature in a frenzy, dealing more damage to its limbs and center.

A heavy claw slammed into the ground sending water and mud everywhere, she'd just bearly avoided it with a quick sidestep then countered it with her own clawed right hand, the beast avoided most of the damage by lifting it's head out of the way but returned with a fanged jaw trying to bite her arm off, she twisted her body diagonally in response and landed a reverse roundhouse kick to its upper jaw. Her heel sunk into the bear's face with a crunching sound and a part of its skull shattered into tiny fragments, a silent scream erupted from the bear as it launched its body forward in a shoulder thrust, she tried to retreat but its body was too massive and it caught her midway.

She landed nearby with a splash.

Her smile only now beginning to fade.

Moments later she rose, finally realizing that she was becoming too confident, too eager to prove herself in this new land that she let the young one's body be harmed.

Several small cuts and a multitude of bruises covered her body, they may not be much of an issue to her, they were all earned in the trial of combat but the young one would certainly see it differently. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on what she had to do.

The bear ran twoard her with renewed fury in its eyes trying to use its massive size and weight to overwhelm, it's bone skull mouth opened with intent to maul her smaller body as soon as the chance arose.

Tucking her form in and launching herself upwards towards its head, her hand pulled back ready strike.

The suddenness of her jump surprised it as the ground exploded behind her, the impact on its face was immense as the punch delivered crushing forces to it's skull. The bear reeled backward in agony while loosing its footing, several more pieces of skull fell silently to the marshy floor.

She watched it stumble while she landed, the bear turned, slower than before and a fair bit uncertain but its rage pushed it forward again to attack.

Again she hit the bear with even more force and power as she slid underneath it and slashed its underbelly before moving to land two more powerful blows to its jaw, she worried she may have broken a hand against it's bone head.

The beast collapsed briefly then paused to reorganize itself, its silent painful world was the only reality it now knew, its confidence was shattered and only hatred, fear and agony remained, its underlings were gone, snuffed out by its own hand and its body stood battered and torn.

But this was not the end.

The bear rose to its feet and stood proudly, it's haggard breath pulsed with magic, not the the repulsive magic that it had embraced until now but something much more pure.

A last deep breath filled its body and a single line of silver energy rippled across its body and its madness relented.

Standing on its two hind legs a mighty roar was loosed upon the world. A roar so powerful that it threatened to tear the the space around it to shreds.

In that very moment.

The rain ended.

And sound returned.

For a brief instant it remembered it's name 'Riidan Rlkaja', it was a good name, filled with the dignity and authority of past achievement but it had long been lost to the world and that would not change.

She'd lost herself to the pain and furry of the fight the world around her was in waves of color and magic, feeling her bones pop and stretch beyond the scope of reason she unhinged her jaw to the widest it could go and went for the beasts' jugular.

By the time she stopped her repast all that remained was a broken skull.

At the end the bear had regained its prominence and salvaged some of its pride but its corruption was too far ingrained and redemption was impossible.

Half the bear's skull lie in scattered pieces strewn across the marsh, what wasn't covered in mud glowed with a shadowy blue tinge, small fragments driftted off like the embers of a flame.

The fallen bodies of the cult of the bear that had not been absorbed lay still, only their husks remained.

She stood basking in the moonlight, thoughts and memories that weren't her own flashed through her mind, the intangible spirit of the bear stood by her side in acknowledgement tell it's story and that of its kind. The bear it seemed was a legend made real, a soul trapped inside the bones of its own skull roaming the lands until now when it finally found its end.

She would let it finally rest.]