The moment the crystal core shattered and the siphoning ended, Eldrigan felt the surge of Divine Energy rushing back into his body like a dam finally bursting open. His muscles surged with vitality, his senses sharpened but he didn't allow himself the relief of release.
Something was wrong. Adelasta turned her head sharply toward the pillar.
"It's crumbling but something's off. That wasn't the end. That was the bait."
Before either could brace further, Eldrigan's instincts screamed.
He didn't hesitate. His Divinity activated in a split second, a field of invisible force cloaking both himself and Adelasta as a blast of pure energy erupted from the very base of the pillar concentrated enough to level a small island.
It slammed into them like a falling sun.
The shockwave shattered nearby coral ridges and vaporized parts of the seabed, sending a quake through the ocean floor and splitting rocks with a thunderous tremor. Adelasta gritted her teeth as the force hurled her backwards like a ragdoll but Eldrigan's Divinity shield barely held. They slammed into the ruins at the edge of the platform, the foundation cracking beneath them. Adelasta groaned, dragging herself to her feet, already looking up.
"That blast could kill a Divine. Who in the world made a pillar that self-defends like that?"
Eldrigan staggered upright, mallet in hand again.
"We need to move now."
No sooner had he spoken than the pillar pulsed. Veins of deep cerulean light snaked through the stone as if awakening and then, dozens of searing blasts of energy launched from all directions, arcing wildly through the water like chaotic lightning. They were homing beams.
"It's reacting like a guardian construct," Adelasta snapped, leaping back as a blast cut through the space where her head had just been.
Eldrigan ducked under a horizontal beam that sliced through a stone arch behind him, causing it to collapse into dust.
"So someone made a pillar that punishes you for completing the test? Are we calling this fair?"
"Nope. Not even a little."
The two split apart on reflex, using the full breadth of the crumbling arena. Adelasta's Mystic Eyes flared with each pulse, reading the trajectory of every incoming beam with chilling accuracy. To anyone else, the light show would be a death sentence with dozens of pinpoint bolts exploding in timed intervals, curving, zigzagging and overlapping through tight corridors of stone. She ran along walls, flipped over fallen columns and tucked beneath cascading rubble. Her daggers flashed only when she used them to push against a blast for momentum or to redirect herself.
Eldrigan, on the other hand, wasn't graceful. He was brute force and precision. He used the least motion possible but every movement was powerful and clean. When a beam came close, he invoked Dismemberment, splitting the energy apart just enough for it to pass beside him like a parted wave. But every invocation sent jolts of strain through his spine. It wasn't infinite.
"I'm counting thirty-two more," Adelasta called out between dodges, sliding across a slanted slab and using it to catapult herself away from a spiraling beam.
"Can't dismember all that!" Eldrigan shouted back, smashing a stone for cover just before another pulse obliterated it.
"You're not supposed to. Just survive long enough."
"For what? A miracle!?"
And then, almost as if answering him. The pulses paused. The pillar dimmed. The beams halted. For a moment of course. Adelasta crouched, panting, sweat and seawater clinging to her skin. Eldrigan knelt beside her, his mallet dragging as his arms trembled slightly. She looked at him.
"Whoever made this didn't want us to succeed. This wasn't a test. It's a filter."
Eldrigan spat blood, then grinned. "We're still here."
The pillar rumbled, cracks running up its length. It was dying but it was also preparing one final defense.
Adelasta rose. "Get ready. It's going to fire everything."
"Of course it is."
Crimson cracks surged across the base of the pillar and with a deafening, guttural echo, hundreds of those creatures they'd just barely killed began crawling from the crevices like insects birthed from the stone. But these weren't like the last ones. These stood tall at four meters each. They were towering masses of grotesque muscle, warped armor-like skin and glowing veins of sickly blue. Their maws were large enough to bite through steel and their claws gleamed as if soaked in corrosive energy.
Adelasta's Mystic Eyes widened. Her lips curled into a sneer.
"No more holding back. We use energy now. It's not absorbing anymore and if we don't, we die here."
Eldrigan didn't hesitate. "Agreed."
In the same breath, Adelasta raised her daggers to the air and exploded in a pillar of dark-crimson and black fire. Her form was enveloped as Divine Transformation overtook her. Her skin turned into a cascade of living flames, licking across her arms and back. Her silhouette remained feminine but wreathed in a terrifying beauty, her hair now an inferno and eyes glowing pure white. The daggers in her hands pulsed and extended, becoming crimson crescent blades wrapped in black fire.
Eldrigan turned and he actually took a half-step back.
"You're terrifyingly beautiful."
"You're lucky Vastarael didn't hear that."
"I'll take my chances."
And then he transformed.
Eldrigan's body surged with dark Divinity as his form shot upward to four meters, his skin turning into hardened obsidian-black matter streaked with flowing crimson. His eyes glowed an ominous scarlet and a black floating halo manifested not on his head, but encircling his neck and wrists. He summoned his morphing weapon, and it grew, no longer a mallet but a massive greatsword infused with his Divinity of Dismemberment. Even standing still, it cleaved through the air.
Adelasta whistled, flipping her twin crimson blades once.
"Not bad, Hanabas."
Then chaos erupted.
She launched herself into the air with a burst of flame, each wingless movement causing a sharp jet of crimson fire. She dashed through the first monster, her flaming blades slicing across its thick neck. But even with Divine Flames, it didn't die. It screeched and turned, its flesh seared but intact. She cursed under her breath and slashed again, this time driving it into its eye, twisting it hard as a surge of black fire ruptured the skull from within.
And that was one. As much as she wanted to nuke the place down, it would destroy the pillar as well and that was not an option unless they did it simultaneously.
Eldrigan met three at once, swinging his massive blade horizontally. The shockwave alone cracked the earth and flung two backwards but the third lunged. Eldrigan activated Dismemberment mid-swing and cut through the creature's shoulder and chest, sending an arm and half its torso flying into the mist. He snarled and brought down a barrier behind him just in time to block an incoming beast that had tried to ambush him. The red energy rippled as it collided and he pivoted with the sword, dismembering both the barrier and the monster trying to crawl through it.
Still, for every one they struck down, another five took its place.
Adelasta dove from the air, dodging claws and tails, her Mystic Eyes predicting attacks just seconds before they landed. But they were unnaturally coordinated. Each time she dodged, another would try to flank her and the moment she paused, two would leap in unison. The bastards were evolving, adapting and reacting to their fighting styles. She twirled between two, dragging one of her blade across one's throat and kicking off its shoulder to flip over the other, dragging a black flame trail through its back.
"We can't keep this up. Even transformed, it's not enough!"
"Then we fight smarter!"
He drove his blade into the ground and activated six barriers mid-air. They hovered like shields, rotating and pulsing red. He leapt into the fray, using the barriers like platforms. With a burst of speed, he launched himself from one to the next, slicing down from above and crushing three monsters beneath his falling blade. Even then, another roar echoed from the back. More were coming.
Adelasta landed beside him, panting, her body smoldering from minor wounds.
"Whoever designed this test is sick."
"No argument here."
They stood back to back, monsters encircling them in a wide ring, glowing blue eyes staring at them with the eerie patience of something that knew they'd tire eventually. Adelasta flexed her fingers.
"We need to thin them out fast or we'll be done before this pillar shatters."
Eldrigan gripped his weapon tighter. "Then let's raise hell."
And with that, they launched again into the fray.