> Perspective: Levi
> Time:3:40 AM
> Location: Collapsed Campfire Clearing — Deep Mountain Woods, Celestine Realm
I dashed forward, cutting through the heat. Flames tore across my face as I charged straight into the fire.
Elementals rely too much on 1 power, exactly how Ronan relies on fire. Fools try to match them in their own domain, but the smarter move is to fight them on your terms. For me, the battlefield bends to the greatest Sword Saint of all time—the wielder of God-Speed.
I closed the distance. For 1 heartbeat, fear flashed in Ronan's eyes. Then it vanished, replaced by an ugly grin. The moment I swung, he summoned a ring of fire around his body to block my black blade.
I jumped back, tracking his hands. His lips moved fast. He was already chanting another spell.
This 1 was not just for defense. It would burn anything nearby in moments. Ronan controlled his fire well, but none of that mattered against me.
"Alae caeli, praesta mihi celeritatem ultra tempestatem, velocitatem ad frangendum vincula temporis!" I whispered under my breath.
Wind whipped around my sword, spinning into a tight vortex that crashed against his shield. The pressure choked his flames, tearing the fire apart until the ring broke.
"Oh, you dare challenge the King of Flames head-on?!" Ronan's voice cut through the roar of the wind.
"Nah, I'll pass on that. I just need to remind you—there's no throne for you to sit on when I'm around." I slipped beneath a horizontal arc of fire and slashed at his ribs.
"Is that all you've got, Sword Saint? Pathetic!" Ronan barked.
He wasted 0 time unleashing another attack.
"Rogos antiquos, evigila et freme!" Ronan roared.
Cracks split the dirt beneath our boots, glowing red before erupting into a wall of flame. Fire wrapped around Ronan. The heat scorched the air 10 paces back. My wind slammed into the blaze, but the flames grew bigger, feeding on the blast and surging outward.
"Bold words from a dead man walking. Once I'm finished, they won't even remember your name." Ronan taunted through the roaring fire.
I exhaled sharply, steadying my grip on my sword.
Overconfidence. I've seen so many crumble beneath its sins. But I'm no stranger to it myself. The difference? I never lose.
"Umbrae aeternae, demergite solem!"
Black shadows rushed across the ground, swallowing the light. Ronan's dome flickered, fighting the sudden dark. I vanished into the shadows, moving at full speed through the heat. A black tendril shot toward Ronan as I stepped out right behind him.
"Ex tenebris, vincite! Umbra tua te prodat et te teneat!"
Shadow chains burst from the dirt, locking around Ronan's arms and legs. His flame dome broke. Before he could turn his head, my blade was at his neck.
"Your fire burns bright, but even the brightest flame casts a shadow. And shadows... belong to me."
Ronan did not flinch.
"Urite clarius, flammae creationis!" His voice rang out, steady and defiant.
Blinding light blasted across the clearing. The fire burned away my shadow chains, forcing me to jump back.
I pushed God-Speed harder, cutting straight through the smoke. Fire erupted around my boots, but I dodged the bursts and closed the distance again.
"Flammae, audite meum vocatum!" Ronan smirked.
The ground caught fire under our boots. Every step burned hot enough to melt leather.
This heat is slowing me down. If I lose my footing on this burning dirt, I lose my momentum.
"Exurge de cinere, ignis aeternus!" Ronan roared.
A wall of white fire crashed across the clearing. The blast swallowed every shadow on the ground, leaving 0 cover. I backed off 20 paces to avoid the heat.
The smoke cleared. Ronan and I stood 10 paces apart on the scorched stone. Neither of us had landed a clean hit yet. Every strike was met with a counter.
I hate to admit it, but we're evenly matched.
"What's the matter, Levi? Is that confidence slipping? I thought you were untouchable." Ronan locked his eyes onto mine, his voice dripping with mockery.
"Enjoy your little moment. It'll make your defeat that much more humiliating." I answered, locking him in an unblinking stare.
"Enjoy it while you can, Levi. I'll strip you of your God-Speed, your gifts—until there's nothing left. And then, I'll kill what's left of you."
"I don't need my talents to defeat someone like you, Ronan. You were always beneath me." I smirked, tightening my grip on my hilt.
Ronan threw both hands into the air. Hundreds of sharp fire lances shot into the night sky, curving down to blanket every inch of the clearing.
Clever. He's not trying to hit me; he's boxing me in, limiting my movements. He thinks he can wear me down. Laughable.
Before the lances hit the ground, Ronan slammed both palms onto the rock. Red-hot ember chains burst through the stone, wrapping directly around my shadow on the ground. The grip dragged at my speed, pinning my feet.
He's controlling the flow of the battle. I'm adapting, but he's already thinking steps ahead. Does he think strategy alone can defeat me?
I slashed through the chains with dark mana, but Ronan detonated them in my face. A cloud of burning ash exploded outward, stinging my eyes and blinding me.
Dirty tricks. The King of Flames resorts to traps and gambits. How predictable.
"Cinere ad ignem, alae volent!" Ronan shouted through the mist.
Flocks of burning birds shot through the smoke, exploding on impact. I twisted past them, but the heat scorched my skin.
My muscles are burning. Sweat stings the cuts on my face. He wants to drain my stamina and pin me down.
"Spectate finem, dum soles collidunt! Flammae decreto—Sunfire Annihilation!" Ronan yelled, pulling all his fire into a burning sphere above his head.
The heat melted the rock beneath our boots and burned away my shadow on the ground.
Is this all he has? Overwhelming force? It doesn't matter. I'll cut through it.
I charged, but Ronan unleashed the sphere in a direct beam. A blinding pillar of light swallowed the clearing.
I slipped past the center of the blast with God-Speed, my coat smoking and my ribs aching. I stayed on my feet.
"Still alive, huh? Then let's turn up the heat." Ronan taunted, smoke rising from his burned clothes.
"You've got me good," I admitted, lips curling into a bloody smirk.
"You're fading, Levi. You've got nowhere left to run."
"Is that what you think? Disappointing, Ronan. You've yet to understand. Now, it's your turn to burn."
I let the shadows weaken even more, faltering in places, making my movements seem sluggish. My heart beats faster, but it isn't from fear—it's from excitement.
And that's exactly what I want.
Ronan lunged forward, swinging a massive wave of fire. I stood still, letting his attack crash directly into my shadow decoy.
The fire tore through the decoy. For 1 heartbeat, Ronan grinned in triumph.
"Vincio Mortis!" Kiel's ragged scream echoed from the rocky ridge.
From the dirt beneath Ronan's right foot, 1 blackened thorn-vine shot up with the last drops of Kiel's cursed mana. It dug into his ankle tendon, yanking his heel back by 0.5 inches.
It was a small, desperate move, but at our speed, 0.5 inches decided the fight. Ronan's balance slipped. His flame spell choked in his throat for 1 heartbeat.
Good boy.
I stepped out of the dark right behind his shoulder.
"You know, Ronan, you're almost too predictable. So much power, and yet, your greatest weakness is your pride."
"Burnout, Ronan." I whispered into his ear.
I drove my palm flat against the center of his chest, forcing raw shadow mana directly into his burning core.
"Umbra Dominatus."
His fire backfired through his own veins. The flames turned inward, tearing through his chest. Ronan dropped to his knees, coughing up black smoke.
"Told ya." I muttered, resting my blade against his collarbone.
Before I could press the steel down, the rock beneath our boots began to crack.
----
> Perspective: Celia
> Time: 3:48 AM
> Location: Sheltered Stone Ridge — Edge of the Clearing
My trembling hands pressed a torn strip of cloth against Kaiser's bleeding temple.
His breathing was shallow. His skin was cold and drained of color, but under my fingertips, a steady, low pulse ran through his neck—the lingering protection from the words he muttered before the stomps hit.
Beside me, Kiel slid down the granite wall, holding his right arm and gasping for air. His fingertips were charred black and smoking from the cursed vine he had just fired.
"Why did you let Ronan go this far?! You spent days plotting with him, and you knew what was inside him!" I demanded, my voice shaking with tears as I pointed at Kaiser's battered face.
"I had to play along, Celia! If I triggered Ronan before this, the demon would've slaughtered all of us! I was trying to buy time to save you!" Kiel wheezed, blood dripping from his cracked lips.
"Then heal him! You lost an entire arm in your past fight and grew it back with cursed magic! You healed your own shattered bones earlier! Heal Kaiser right now!" I cried, grabbing Kiel's ragged coat.
"You think I can just regrow bodies for free?! Cursed healing takes massive mana! I just burned my last drop tripping Ronan down there! I have 0 mana left!" Kiel coughed violently, clutching his chest.
"Excuses! You can always find mana to save your own life, but when it's someone else, suddenly you're empty?!" I yelled, tears spilling down my cheeks.
Kiel opened his mouth to shout back, but his jaw suddenly froze.
A deep vibration rattled through the mountain. The stone groaned under my knees, cracking open in glowing lines across the clearing.
Down in the crater, Levi and Ronan both froze.
A roar shattered the air. The earth tore open, and a giant centipede covered in thick black plates surged out from the depths. Its hundreds of sharp legs dug into the stone as it reared up.
Behind the beast, a cloaked figure stepped out of the dust, wearing a white mask carved with a snake biting its own tail.
Kiel's face drained of every drop of color.
"No... it can't be them..." Kiel stammered, his eyes widening in pure horror.
"Kiel, what is that thing?!" I whispered, my chest tightening.
"The Cult of Nemesis! Levi, watch out! It's the Cult of Nemesis! I've seen their war bounties across the frontier guilds—they don't fight to kill! They use brainwashing parasites to steal your bodies and souls!" Kiel screamed toward the crater, his voice cracking with terror.
"Greetings, humans. Your minds will serve the will of Nemesis." The masked figure raised 1 slender hand, their voice echoing cold and hollow through the clearing.
Down in the smoking ruins, Ronan pushed himself up, his eyes flaring with demonic fury despite his burnout, standing shoulder to shoulder with Levi.
"A little late for the party, don't you think? We were just getting to the good part." Levi sneered, leveling his black blade at the cultist.
The pressure in the air froze my chest as the 3 powers faced each other.
Then, under my palm, something shifted.
I looked down at Kaiser.
His fingers twitched against the stone. His shallow breaths hitched, evening out into a slow, cold rhythm. The faint warmth in his skin turned into something freezing, heavy, and suffocating.
What...?
How was his body self-repairing...?