The forest was silent.
Not the peaceful silence of an empty place.
The silence of something waiting.
The students stood frozen.
The creature before them no longer wore Mia's face.
The disguise was gone.
The familiar expression.
The familiar voice.
The familiar memories.
All of it had been a mask.
Standing before them was the creature they had encountered earlier.
The horse.
The strange beast that had attacked them when they first entered the forest.
The creature they had mistaken for another monster wandering the forest.
They had been wrong.
It was never just a beast.
It was a Tikbalang.
Jack slowly raised his sword.
The others followed.
Their weapons were not legendary blades.
They were not enchanted weapons from ancient heroes.
They were the standard swords provided by the academy.
The first weapons given to students before they became true climbers.
Reliable.
Balanced.
But against the creature standing before them...
They felt painfully small.
The Tikbalang stood several meters away.
Its horse-like head looked down at them.
Large ears twitched.
Its burning eyes watched every movement.
Jack noticed the difference immediately.
The distance between them was dangerous.
Their swords were shorter than the creature's limbs by several centimeters.
A frontal attack would be a terrible decision.
The Tikbalang could reach them before their blades could reach it.
They would lose before the fight even began.
Oliver stared at the creature.
"So..."
He swallowed.
"The horse from earlier was this thing?"
Thomas kept his sword raised.
"Looks like it."
Oliver looked at the Tikbalang's towering body.
"I really hate that we were right."
Nobody disagreed.
The Tikbalang lowered itself slightly.
Its clawed hands touched the ground.
But it did not attack.
That was what disturbed Jack the most.
A normal monster would charge.
A normal beast would rely on instinct.
But the Tikbalang was watching.
Thinking.
It understood them.
It understood their fear.
It understood their hesitation.
Jack realized the truth.
They were not facing a monster that simply wanted to kill them.
They were facing a creature that enjoyed controlling the situation.
Thomas glanced at Jack.
"The clothes."
Jack looked at him.
He remembered.
The moment he tried to turn his shirt inside out.
The Tikbalang attacked immediately.
Not to kill him.
To stop him.
Which meant the old stories were not completely wrong.
Before anyone could move, Oliver suddenly spoke.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at him.
"If that actually works..."
He grabbed the edge of his shirt.
"Then we should all do it."
The others looked at him.
Oliver pointed toward the Tikbalang.
"It stopped Jack because it knew what he was doing."
A pause.
"So if all of us do it at once, it can't stop everyone."
For a moment...
The idea made sense.
Then Thomas shook his head.
"No."
Oliver looked at him.
"What?"
Thomas kept his eyes on the Tikbalang.
"Think about what happens after one person succeeds."
Silence.
Thomas continued.
"Let's say someone turns their clothes inside out."
He pointed toward the creature.
"The illusion breaks for them."
A pause.
"But the Tikbalang is still here."
Everyone understood.
The creature was faster.
Stronger.
Its arms were longer than their swords.
It did not need to stop everyone.
It only needed to stop one person.
"If it prevents even one of us from finishing..."
Thomas said.
"Then the others escape while that person remains trapped."
Oliver lowered his hand.
"So..."
His expression darkened.
"Someone gets left behind."
Nobody answered.
Because that was the truth.
The escape method existed.
But it came with a price.
Jack stared at the Tikbalang.
Then he remembered something else.
The stories.
Not just the stories about escaping.
The stories about overcoming.
One thing about Philippine folklore had always stood out to him.
The creatures were terrifying.
Powerful.
Strange.
But they were rarely without rules.
There was always something.
A weakness.
A condition.
A way humans could survive against something stronger.
Jack looked at the Tikbalang.
"There is another way."
Everyone turned toward him.
Thomas frowned.
"What?"
Jack looked at the creature's mane.
"Some stories say..."
He paused.
"A Tikbalang can be tamed."
Oliver blinked.
"You mean..."
Jack nodded.
"Not escaped from."
"Defeated."
The Tikbalang's ears twitched.
Jack noticed.
But he continued.
"To tame it..."
The creature stared intently.
Everyone prepared.
But Jack kept speaking.
"You have to mount its back and—"
The Tikbalang disappeared.
Nobody saw it move.
One moment it was several meters away.
The next...
It was already in front of Jack.
CLANG!
Jack barely raised his sword.
The impact sent him sliding backward.
His boots carved lines through the dirt.
His arms went numb.
Everyone froze.
Not because of the attack.
Because of what it meant.
The Tikbalang could have done that at any time.
From the beginning.
It could have ended the fight.
But it didn't.
It had been holding back.
Playing.
Watching.
Oliver stared.
"It..."
His voice shook.
"It could have killed us whenever it wanted."
Nobody responded.
Because the truth was terrifying.
The Tikbalang had not been struggling.
It had been studying them.
Jack forced himself back onto his feet.
The Tikbalang lowered its body.
Its eyes remained fixed on him.
Not the strongest.
Not the fastest.
Jack.
Because Jack understood its rules.
Thomas immediately noticed.
"It's targeting you."
Jack nodded.
"It knows I know how to deal with it."
The realization spread.
If Jack died...
They had nothing.
His knowledge was their only hope.
Even if the chances of surviving were almost impossible.
Thomas stepped forward.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"We protect Jack."
Oliver looked at the Tikbalang.
"Against that?"
Thomas raised his sword.
"Yes."
A pause.
"It only has two claws."
The others looked at him.
"We have four swords."
Oliver understood.
"We don't beat it."
He moved into position.
"We survive it."
The three moved.
They did not spread out.
They did not surround the Tikbalang.
That would only give it more openings.
Instead, they formed a compact diamond formation.
Thomas stood at the front.
Oliver and Mia guarded the sides.
Jack stood behind the three.
Protected.
The formation was simple.
Three swords facing the threat.
One person behind them.
The one person who could give them a chance.
The Tikbalang stared at them.
It understood immediately.
They were not trying to fight it.
They were protecting the one person who understood it.
Then the creature lowered itself.
Slowly.
Its body folded unnaturally.
Its long legs bent.
Higher.
Higher.
Until its knees rose above its own head.
Even while crouching...
Its legs were taller than its skull.
The students felt a chill.
The creature was not built like them.
Its long limbs.
Its thin arms.
Its strange posture.
Everything about it showed that it was something that did not belong.
Oliver tightened his grip.
"Okay."
He stared at the crouching creature.
"That is somehow worse than when it was standing."
Thomas did not answer.
Because he agreed.
The Tikbalang looked smaller.
But it felt more dangerous.
Like a predator preparing to strike.
Oliver glanced at their formation.
"We're using academy swords against a monster whose knees are taller than its head."
A pause.
"This feels like our free trial against the Aswang King."
Everyone looked at him.
Oliver gave a nervous smile.
"You know..."
"The part where we're supposed to survive as long as possible against something completely beyond our level."
Nobody laughed.
Because it was too accurate.
Thomas faced forward.
"Less talking."
He tightened his grip.
"More surviving."
The Tikbalang suddenly moved.
Not toward them.
Into the forest.
Oliver blinked.
"Did it just leave?"
Thomas shook his head.
"No."
The sound of hooves echoed.
Left.
Right.
Behind them.
The Tikbalang ran through the forest.
Circling them.
Moving between trees.
Searching.
Testing.
Looking for a weakness.
Its speed was terrifying.
They could barely track it.
But Jack understood what it was doing.
It was not attacking the formation.
It was waiting for the formation to break.
The creature was not trying to overpower them.
It was trying to make them panic.
A sound came from behind.
Everyone turned.
Nothing.
Then a branch snapped above.
Mia raised her sword.
But the Tikbalang was already gone.
Oliver swallowed.
"How are we supposed to fight something we can't even see?"
Thomas answered.
"We don't chase it."
He tightened his grip.
"We make sure it cannot separate us."
Jack's mind raced.
They were running out of time.
The Tikbalang was patient.
But they were not.
If they waited, eventually it would find an opening.
Jack looked at the creature moving between the trees.
They needed a plan.
Now.
He shouted.
"Listen!"
The others looked at him.
The hooves continued moving around them.
Jack spoke quickly.
"To tame it..."
A shadow moved between the trees.
"You have to mount its back."
Oliver's eyes widened.
"What?"
Jack continued.
"You hold on."
The sound of hooves grew louder.
"It will try to throw you off."
A branch snapped.
"Running."
Another sound.
"Bucking."
The forest shook.
"Everything it can do."
Jack looked toward the creature's mane.
"You endure until it becomes exhausted."
The Tikbalang stopped.
The forest became silent.
Jack finished.
"Then you take three golden hairs from its mane."
Everyone stared.
Jack continued.
"After that..."
He looked at the Tikbalang.
"It submits."
Silence.
The plan was absurd.
Almost impossible.
But it was a plan.
Thomas immediately began thinking.
"Someone has to get close enough to mount it."
Oliver stared at the creature.
"And survive long enough for it to get tired."
Mia tightened her grip.
The Tikbalang watched them.
It had heard everything.
The rules were no longer a secret.
Jack had shared them.
And now they could start planning.
That was the problem.
The creature lowered itself.
Its hooves dug into the ground.
Its burning eyes focused on the group.
It had allowed them to understand the rules.
But it would not allow them to use them.
The forest went silent.
Then the Tikbalang charged.