~LoneJones POV~

"Brothers." He finished.

I smiled at him. It was about time someone up and said it out loud. Typical brothers trying to act cool. If it wasn't for the situation we were in I would have mentioned a while back. See when we all just happened to start the game at the same time AND took the hardest available Challenge Start, well let's just say alarms went off in my head. But add to that being able to keep up with me in sparring? Yep that was definitely Derjar. When I asked Cobb to punch me it was only to confirm my hypothesis but the speed of his punch was just as surprising as every other time. There was no argument, these were my brothers.

"Yeah? Realize that right now? Was it the sparring or the punch?" I baited him.

It was obvious Derjar - no JST - didn't know who we were up until a few moments ago. I was trying to get him to lie so I could call him out on it. His face watching me kill the first Shade Panther was evidence enough. If he knew it was me he wouldn't have been surprised.

"Huh, what? No bro." He chuckled. "Its the fucking chair!" He pointed to the sandstone chair Cobb sat on. "That's the same fucking chair from his room!" He laughed.

"Wait. Hold up. Who the heck are you guys?" Cobb asked dumbly.

I facepalmed and dragged my hand down my face. This was just like him. Cobaj, master of magic, precision and control. The same guy who deduced the abilities of the Shade Panther's just from the name alone. Who, in that short time he recieved the prompt, had already devised a plan of attack, luring the panther out into the center of the arena with the promise of weak prey effectively negating any advantage the panther had in the fight to begin with. His mind was like a sponge that absorbs everything. This same dude and he doesn't realize how strikingly similar our skills are to his brothers. He spends so much time thinking, planning and going over every detail he doesn't see the big picture.

God, sometimes..I just can't.

"Dude its me? Nojas? 15 years old, 5'7, dark brown hair. Lives with you? Ring a bell ya dingus?" I said with a mocking grin. I wiggled my eyebrows too.

"Oh." He leaned forward in his chair to look at both of us more closely. His speckled black eyes gazed at us until his eyebrows raised. "OH! Goddammit, hey guys." He said, getting mad at himself. The usual, getting mad at himself for overlooking something. He seemed to be wracking his brain for the relevant details, a variety of emotions flashed across his face, ranging from consternation to realization. His mouth was shaped in an O as he looked at us.

~Jennifur POV~

Of course Jennifur did not spend this time idling. He stalked his prey and noticing that his prey was distracted he decided to intervene. He submerged himself in shadow and circled his prey, they thought they were out of his range but they were sorely mistaken. Although the other two are dangerous the one with scales actually stopped him. He would be the first to go down if he had any chance of winning this hunt. His focus was entirely on the tall, brown scaled humanoid, his scales were clearly visible to his red cat-like eyes. His pupils narrows as he focused on him. He would use everything in his arsenal to take care of these threats, his lax attitude had cost him his arena partners. The prey in the arena was too easy of an hunt so much so that he had become careless. His instincts warned him off the second they stalked forward, fearless and unlike any other prey before them. He decided to call upon those instincts now.

Lightly hissing, he stalked out of the shadows. Both the strong one and the fast one were communicating with the green one who seemed distracted. The strong one was to the left of the fast one. Jennifur lunged and with a deep roar, opened his maw and aimed for the warriors neck. Suddenly the green one regained alertness and gestured sharply, hard packed sand thumped Jennifur's side throwing him off course slightly. He craned his head in order to still catch the scaled one's neck in his jaws but was met with an athletic kick to the face. Jennifur noticed a flicker of golden yellow hair behind the kick that grinned at him, the fast one had kicked him in the face and pushed off, pulling the warrior out of reach in the process. His face followed the rest of the body as he flew to the side. The green one formed a huge ball of rock that the strong one threw. The sun was setting and the sandstone boulder cast a long shadow across the arena as is passed over the sun. Immediately he dived into the shadows.

Leaving them no respite he attacked the the green one, only to be forced back by the strong one. His superior instincts gave him the advantage and allowed him to see moments where the strong one was vulnerable. But always, the fast one was there to deflect or discourage. It was exteremely irritating, the strong one made no effort to correct his movements, he relied on his pack with an absolute trust, a luxury Jennifur had lost. Any attempt to try something differently mid hunt had high chances of error, his trust in his pack member never gave Jennifur a chance to capitalize on that. Jennifur backed slowly into the shadows, yielding for now. This was not working, something must be done, they cannot take the lives of my pack for nothing. They will pay their weight in blood. He gave way to his animal instincts, leaving his tendencies from a comfortable life behind in the shadows.

What was left was a predator designed to live in the Uncharted.

And thrive.

~Cobb~

A howl could be heard from somewhere in the shadows.

Jesus Christ when that thing moves in there I can barely keep track of him.

"I'd make us walls but with the sun where it is the shadows would be too long. There's no telling how the panther would use them." It would be easy with my new skill after all. I got it mid fight while reaching for the earth.

Earth Magic - Intermediate 7

Your innate sense for the Earth has awarded you with ability to manipulate it. Earth magic is the most practical of elemental magics. Earth Mages are sought out often for the pure utility they bring to the table. Unlike the other elemental magics Earth is solid and with the ability to manipulate something solid comes the ability to create.

+51% effectiveness of offensive magic

+ 21% effectiveness of contructs of Earth

Every magic is different but after a few dozen or so VR games searching for a 6th sense becomes a routine check. However from the 54 or so VR games that i've played I have never felt magic like this. Most VR games go for the same type of sentiment, aiming for mysticism and abrstractness. Normally it's a feeling thats hard to describe, it's a ghost of a sense and it can be felt from any location and be felt differently each time. The magic in the ground i'm feeling from Twoen isn't as hard to describe or mysterious as other games make magic out to be. I could FEEL the earth. It was beautiful in it's simplicity and pleasant refreshment from what i'm used to.

"Ok can we name the fucking panther? It's been lasting in a fight with us for at least 40 minutes. US. It deserves a name." I said.

Really though it shouldn't have been a surprise since, assuming we share experience equally then were all level 20 or so. Meaning we were effectively 35 or so levels below the Shade Panther.

Inform

Shade Panther - Level 58

Shade Panther's are apex predators found in the Uncharted. From previous knowledge they are normally territorial, yet this one was leading others of it's species. They are able to merge with the shadows when there is sufficient darkness.

"Well I definitely saw it's penis. When you pulled me out of his reach it was like right there. So it's definitely a guy." JST informed us. "Which kinda sucks cuz I already kinda named it." He muttered. "Why'd you have to go and have a penis Jennifur?" He whispered inaudibly.

"Oh well whatever. What'd you name it we'll use that." Jones said, scanning the darkness behind JST. He returned the favor.

"Jennifur. That's with a U so it's like a pun. Get it? Because they have fur? I thought it up when I saw the sun reflecting off ones fur." No shame could be detected, nothing that indicated he knew he was an idiot. I'm never sure whether he has some comedic angle or he's just a genuine idiot.

"Dammit Derjar we don't have time for this. Your'e acting like one of those fucking geckos. Jesus Christ." I massaged my forehead. Discreetly keeping an eye out behind me.

"The howling stopped." Jones said quiet and sudden. His posture was light, his septules were gently raising. "Something's different. Care." He warned.

Abruptly a guttural howl echoed across the colliseum. A dark figure leaped out of the long shadows cast by the overhead trees. Every minute we wasted gave Jennifur the advantage. Something definitely was different, up till now we only ever saw Jennifur rise and fall into the shadows. Never did he outright leap from it. His eyes were crimson, a slight change in color that I did not let go unnoticed as soared toward me. Perhaps it indicated something? I noticed other things too.

Oh he does have a penis. Should I....cut it off..?

I gripped my sword and shivered, no, not even to my worst enemy. I felt a phantom ache.

As he impacted me I absorbed his momentum with a loose wall of sand. I caught view of JST flying to the left, he must've gotten hit, hopefully those scales I spotted on him weren't just for show. I rolled backwards, compacting the sand behind me and launched myself further back on a short pillar of sandstone. I sunk my feet into the sand and wasted no time in traveling to JST, leaning slightly forward I rode the sand to him, trusting Jones to handle that panther. As we are now he would last the longest. As I escaped I crouched and dipped my left hand into the sand and pulled out an identical gladius to my own. Our frontline wouldn't be unarmed for this final battle.

Sandstone Gladius

A temporary contruct. Created without attention to smaller details but it matters not. The control and precision poured into this blade gave it a sharp, honed edge that sandstone should not be able to achieve. What matters is that this blade can cut.

Effects:

Damage: 40-52

Time Remaining: 1:00:00

"Yo bro! Catch!" I flipped them both in my hands and caught them by the blade then tossed them up and towards JST. "Fresh out the oven!"

"PLEASE. Tell me you did the cooking by the book!" He shouted over his shoulder. He caught them deftly by the handles without pause as he dashed forward.

I circled around, still not used to making sharp turns. Jones was keeping busy with Jennifur he dodged, ducked, sidestepped and twirled. But it was apparent his stamina was getting low, he was slowing down. The speed was too much for Jones but just barely he managed to dodge each swipe or snap of the jaws earning only light scratches. The short seconds I watched the exchange seemed like minutes. At one point Jennifur led him through a series of dodges that forced his back towards the beast and yet he managed to avoid major damage as he deflected the incoming with a blind, hard right elbow. It earned him a deep red groove on his lower back but he lived. If he chose a different race he might not be with us right now. I could see his septules and they were working overtime.

I formed two daggers made of sandstone just below the sand and popped them upwards into the air horizontally. I caught them by the handle as I passed and threw them forward into the panthers back. It interrupted an attack by making him flinch, but such a short time wasn't enough to escape Jennifur's reach, I don't think the daggers pierced very deep either. He was upon Jones again and I wracked my brain for a way to save him some time. His gash in his lower back was affecting his movement, ducking became less frequent and deep gashes appeared regularly. Encouraged by the smell of blood Jennifur's attacks intensified.

"DERJAR THROW YOUR SWORD!" I yelled to him. He was 20 meters and closing but it wouldn't be enough.

With an impressive throw the sword spun hilt over blade before embedding itself into Jennifur's shoulder. With a yelp his left foreleg buckled. Jones retreated as far as he as allowed, he took swift steps back. His chest pumped up and down in the fading sunlight. Not one to give up, Jennifur coiled his back legs and leaped high into the air. His arc was perfectly lined up and from my position it looked like Jones was in trouble. Jones had officially run dry, he was crawling away using what was left of his stamina. I had no idea what his health was at but it wouldn't matter this leap could probably have killed him at full health. There was nothing I could do from here.

I steeled my eyes and Hyperfocused. Never give up, always plan, there's always an out.

I can't do that i'm not close enough. What if I...? Yeah, yeah that could work!

I wasn't sure what the time slow effect was at but everything slowed considerably. I quickly thought up a shield that would be suitable for throwing. I settled on a disc similar to to Captain America's shield, gave it a handle, and started to form it.

8 meters.

I split my focus to call JST. "DERJAR ONE MORE TIME, CATCH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

6 meters.

I gripped my feet with sand rotated myself, fast. As I felt I had built enough speed I propelled myself upward, still spinning I probably looked like a figure skater. At the same time I popped up the disc shield to level with me. I grabbed it with an outstreched hand as I spun, held it for the duration of two rotations before releasing it at a blinding speed. The shield shot past the panther as he reached the apex of his jump. I landed, dizzy but quickly refocused on my throw.

3 meters. My shield was incoming but it was too close to the ground and slightly ahead of schedule.

JST dived forward and caught the shield's edge in his right hand. The blunt force pounded against his palm and sent tan scales flying. He grimaced before masterfully changing his grip on the shield mid air. He landed in a roll as time sped up again. JST got his legs under himself as the huge panther came crashing down. He deflected the force of the panther's left paw with his shield arm causing it to yelp as it's shoulder muscles grinded with the embedded sword. He used the sandstone gladius he still had to stab into the heart of the beast. But he was too close and couldn't get a good angle to pierce the thick hide. However he managed to keep it at bay.

I arrived and quickly slid Jones off to the side and into the small remaining pocket of sunlight using a pile of sand. I positioned myself behind my older brother and took a basic boxing stance. Arms up, head low, shoulders hunched, eyes forward.

"Back up." I said slowly. "Now!" I said abruptly.

I caught Jennifur as he lunged forward jaw snapping. His teeth caught JST's shield and after a few moments my brother disengaged and gave up the shield. Before he dropped the shield I swung my left arm upwards. A thick pillar of sandstone blasted upwards and collided with Jennifur's jaw at a speed to match my uppercut. His teeth broke and shattered as his mouth shut closed on hard sandstone. His body was lifted into the air following his head upwards and I had a full view of his injuries, various deep cuts across his forelegs, superficial cuts all over, major bruising on his torsoe, a sword in the shoulder and two daggers in its back. I lowered my arms a tad and relaxed my neck, I looked at Jennifur straight in the eyes. As his head turned to face the heavens, Jennifur closed his eyes.

Someone like Jennifur doesn't need to suffer any longer. His friends were dead, it was then I realized he was fighting for the sake of fighting. There was nothing left for him, his lifelong friends were dead. It must've been years he spent in life and death situations with those other panthers, and bonds were the strongest when forged in the heat of combat, the struggle for life. Who could say what drove him to fight when there was nothing left? Perhaps it was a request to fight to his last breath by the other two?

I snapped out a right hook in a deadly display of speed. A similiar pillar came out of the ground and curved to intercept Jennifur's skull.

There was no pain.