The image of Lykas, impaled and tossed aside, fused in Austin's mind with the memory of the smoking ruins of Ashworth.

This thing—or others like it—had brought the meteor, had taken his mother, his father, and Ava.

A white-hot wave of fury and pure hatred surged through his veins, extinguishing the last remnants of his fear.

He wasn't just watching a fight anymore; he was witnessing an extension of his own catastrophe. He had to act.

He broke cover, darting past the startled elders, and grabbed the nearest warrior—it happened to be Balvan, who was momentarily retreating to catch his breath.

"Balvan! The legs aren't enough! It won't die!" Austin hissed, pulling him low toward a patch of shadow. "The heart! We have to hit the Shadowheart directly!"

Balvan's eyes, still wild from the fight, snapped to Austin's face, surprised by the boy's sudden, cold clarity. "We know, but it's too guarded! Varek can't get the angle!"

Austin spoke quickly, pointing to a patch of ground recently cleared for a fire pit that was now covered with thin soil.

"We need a trap. A spike. If we can get it to run over a spot, we can pierce the heart from below."

Balvan's eyes widened, recognizing the brilliant desperation of the idea. "It's reckless, boy. Highly reckless."

"It's faster!" Austin insisted. "They'll die distracting it otherwise! Give me three warriors and the longest sharpened logs you have. I'll be the bait. I bring it over the spot, you pull the rope."

Balvan hesitated for only a heartbeat, seeing the sheer, suicidal conviction in Austin's gaze.

He glanced at the collapsing shield line, where Varek was now dangerously close to the beast's swinging claws. "Two warriors. That's all I can spare."

Balvan immediately rallied two of the younger, faster warriors—a pair named Joran and Rix.

While Varek and Bor maintained the perilous frontal distraction, keeping the Shadowheart engaged and enraged, Balvan directed the quick operation.

The clan's supply of firewood contained several long, thick, sharpened stakes used for perimeter defense.

Joran and Rix quickly and silently dug a shallow trench in the soft earth near the edge of the light.

They laid two of the long, sharp wooden logs horizontally, concealing them just beneath the surface, ensuring the sharp tips were aimed upward.

Balvan quickly tied thick lengths of rope to the ends of the stakes, running the ropes tautly through the darkness to the perimeter where Joran and Rix would hide.

The entire operation took less than a minute. The only sound louder than the beast's roar was the frantic pounding of Austin's heart.

"The heart must be directly above the trap, Austin. If you misjudge the distance, you're dead," Balvan warned, handing Austin a salvaged, fire-hardened length of wood to use as a makeshift club.

Austin only nodded, his face pale but resolute. "Tell the Chieftain to be ready."

Austin took a deep breath, the chilling moonlight illuminating his small frame.

He looked back at the beast, which was currently trading heavy blows with Varek's axe.

He sprinted away from the group, running toward the area behind the Shadowheart, and then, screaming, he cut back, deliberately positioning himself between the beast and the main body of the clan.

"HEY! YOU FUCKING THING TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! COME TRY ME! I'LL GAUGE YOUR HEAT OUT!!" he shouted, the sound cracking with raw hatred.

The beast, already heavily wounded and fixated on the human targets, instantly registered the small, defenseless figure screaming defiance.

It saw easy prey. Ignoring Varek's next axe swing, the Shadowheart pivoted with a screeching roar and began to chase the young man.

Austin ran, weaving between the debris, leading the Shadowheart on a direct path.

He felt the ground tremble with every heavy footfall of the pursuing monster. The smell of its blood and the heat of its fury washed over him. He raced straight toward the hidden trap.

Now. Not too soon, not too late.

Just as the beast's massive forelegs stepped over the barely covered wooden spikes, Austin dove violently to the side, rolling out of the Shadowheart's path.

"PULL!" Balvan screamed, his voice ringing with desperate finality.

Joran and Rix yanked the ropes with all their combined strength. The sharpened wooden stakes, held under tension, sprang upward with terrifying speed.

They shot through the thin layer of soil and hay, their razor-sharp tips striking the Shadowheart directly beneath its massive chest.

There was a wet, tearing sound, followed by a rush of heat. The purplish, pulsating Shadowheart was impaled.

The Shadowheart didn't roar; it simply stopped. A final, high-pitched, choked gasp escaped its throat as a horrifying wave of dark, sickly energy visibly pulsed through its entire body, like a shockwave.

It staggered backward, its glowing heart now bleeding a noxious, corrupted ichor.

Chieftain Varek, who had been waiting for this exact opening, charged forward with a triumphant bellow of vengeance.

His massive, twin-bladed axe flashed in the Eclipsed light.

He brought the weapon down with the full force of his body, cleaving the beast's head from its neck in a clean, decisive strike.

The Shadowheart collapsed onto the ground with a thunderous thud, its massive bulk shaking the clearing one last time.

The sickening purple light immediately faded, and the beast, finally still, began to rapidly decompose, its corrupted flesh shriveling and turning into a foul, dark sludge that quickly fell off the skeleton.

The Ironwood warriors lowered their weapons. Silence, deep and total, fell over the camp, broken only by the heavy, ragged breathing of the survivors.

The beast was dead.

All of them slumped on the ground, gasping for breath, thier chests heaving.

Thier eyes staring at the limp body of the eclipse beasts that was slowly turning into dust.

They still couldn't believe that they really were able kill this beast, the disaster that was thought to be impossible to stop.

"Wwaaahhhhh!!" Valek screamed towards the sky, releasing that frustration with a victory cry.

The cry spread like an infection as all the warriors screamed together as the nighy sky reverberated with the excited screams of the victorious warrior.

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