[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/WncCzTr/Image.png[/img][h3][color=ed1c24]Clearing, ???[/color][/h3][hr][sub]Mentions: [@Yankee][@OwO][/sub][/center]
[i]This was it, huh?

Dying beside your peers, against beasts beyond your comprehension. 

Life was pretty unfair, wasn't it? Being born in a backwater town where your only talent wouldn't get the recognition it deserved, covered in obscurity by a few jealous seniors.

You couldn't make your mark in the world, and now this is where life has lead you.

Dying in an unknown world, one where only a few will remember you...[/i]

Kogen's eyes fluttered as he slowly succumbed to his fate, the pain that radiated through his body becoming more unbearable as the bearwolf crushed him. Despite this, he still had some willingness to fight in him, the barest remnants of his instincts flaring from within.

Kogen launched an arm up, grasping hard on the bearwolf's arm. Maybe if he allowed himself to get torn up by this beast, if he squirmed just enough, Masato could crawl out from underneath him. It's the least he could do, after all.

He was too out of breath to really do anything else.

As he squirmed, Kogen noticed a glint in the sky. Was this a... hallucination? Were his delusions becoming real in his death throes? No, it couldn't be... is that Inaba, falling from the sky? Did a branch break, or... no. Her movements, stiff as they may be, seemed deliberate.

[i]... Are you just going to sit and watch, or are you also going to [b]fight[/b]?[/i]

The boy's body moved swifty, though he wasn't sure if it was entirely of his own volition. It's almost as if seeing his classmate's will to fight despite being totally dead filled Kogen with a deep-seated sense of resolve. He continued to grasp on the bearwolf's arm, digging his nails into its flesh as the pain that surged through his body began to disappear. His other hand clutched the hammer tightly, waiting for just the right opportunity to act. Fo fight.

The air that escaped his lungs was instead replaced with fire.

As soon as Inaba made impact, Kogen swung his hammer into the one of the bearwolf's elbows, throwing all his might into the blow. From its weakened grasp, Kogen used the counteracting momentum of his swing and the bearwolf's movment to throw his own body to the side while still clinging to the monster's arm.

[i]Nothing else matters anymore. The only thing you need to do is kill it.[/i]

And so, Kogen would do so, raising the hooked side of the hammer and jamming it into the bearwolf's neck, before ripping downward.