The next few seconds blurred together—too fast to think, too loud to breathe.
Nicolas was already moving. One blade flashed free, the steel igniting as if it drank the air itself. Flames swallowed the sword, painting him in a violent orange glow.
Then the serpent struck back. Its jaws split wide, spewing a torrent of blue fire that clashed against Nicolas's swing.
Boom.
The world detonated in color.
Blue and orange warred for dominance, heat screaming through the basin. The shockwave slammed into the squad, throwing dirt and ash across their armor, forcing several to stumble.
'The fun's really over. How the hell are we supposed to fight that thing?'
Despair crawled up from the back of his mind, cold against the heat. He forced it down, dragging in a breath and pushing to his feet in one swift motion.
Eyes scanning the chaos, Tarrin spotted Riko and Jayden lingering at the edge—hesitant, frozen between fear and instinct.
He sprinted toward them, pulse hammering, a plan already beginning to take shape behind his eyes.
He reached Riko and Jayden in a few quick strides, mind racing at breakneck speed. Dozens of plans formed and died in the space between heartbeats.
Nicolas could probably handle the beast alone—but what about after? When he'd burned through his essence, when the serpent's corpse drew scavengers from every pit in the Basin. They couldn't afford that.
They needed a clean victory. A team victory.
Thirty seconds it is.
Tarrin straightened, voice slicing through the chaos. "Get your head out of your ass and listen!"
The words hit like a slap. Both Riko and Jayden snapped to attention. A few rushed instructions later, their Gifts flared—Riko's fists hardening to stone, Jayden's shadow twisting into the shape of a spear. They understood. They were ready.
Next target: the infamous duo—Nick and Sabrina.
Tarrin sprinted toward them, every movement honed by urgency, the plan crystallizing in his mind. This has to work.
Before they could react, he had a hand on each of their shoulders, his tone low but sharp enough to cut through panic.
"At my signal—Nick, throw your dagger at its left eye. Sabrina, push it with your telekinesis. I'm counting on you."
No time for argument. He was already moving again. If either of them missed, the entire setup would crumble.
Klein and Olivia came next. Olivia was already mid-draw, her bowstring trembling with tension, the arrow glowing faintly from Klein's charge.
Tarrin grabbed her wrist before she loosed it, leaning in to whisper quick, efficient instructions—just how he liked it.
A glance at the battlefield told him Nicolas and the serpent were still locked in their fiery dance, each strike shaking the scorched earth beneath them.
It should be starting.
Celith hadn't received orders—he didn't need to. The man looked ready to dive in fists-first the moment he saw an opening.
The others, though—their parts were already in motion.
Riko roared, slamming his hardened fists toward the serpent's flank, eyes blazing with stubborn determination. Jayden lunged beside him, shadow spear drawn back and aimed straight for the serpent's left jaw.
"Toward its jaw, Sergeant!" Tarrin shouted.
Nicolas hesitated for a fraction of a second, then adjusted mid-swing, his flaming blade driving toward the creature's lower jaw.
Tarrin's gaze flicked toward Nick and Sabrina.
For once, they were perfectly in sync—Nick hurled his dagger with precision, and Sabrina's telekinetic force caught it midair, accelerating it to a blinding speed.
The serpent reacted, instincts screaming. Its head jerked up, then to the right, narrowly avoiding the coordinated barrage aimed at the left side of its face.
But even its monstrous reflexes couldn't predict what came next.
Tarrin looked toward the final step of his plan. Please work.
Whoosh—
An arrow ripped through the air, faster than Nick's dagger—Olivia's shot, supercharged by Klein's electricity. Lightning crawled along its shaft, hissing as it struck.
The serpent turned too late. The arrow buried itself deep into its right eye, the force enough to drive it halfway through the socket. Not fatal—but enough to make it scream.
The sound was agony made real. A shriek so sharp Tarrin thought his ears might tear open. The serpent thrashed, flames sputtering, pain radiating off its massive frame.
And Tarrin, panting, almost smiled. 'Not dead yet... but close enough.'
The serpent's shriek didn't fade—it deepened, rumbling through the scorched earth and into their bones. The arrow still hissed in its ruined eye, molten and smoking, but the creature's remaining eye didn't just burn with hate. It burned with something older. Something that belonged to the Basin.
The blue fire dimmed, snuffed out like a dying sun. In its place came a void-black flame, darker than the shadows it cast. Wherever its droplets fell, the ground didn't burn—it melted, dissolving into hissing pits of slag that screamed as they sank.
It wasn't using its full power before, Tarrin realized, dread freezing his veins. We just made it get serious.
Nicolas's shout cracked through the air like a whip. "Noah! Brace!"
The serpent struck. Its massive head—now wreathed in annihilation—lunged forward with terrifying speed. Nicolas met it head-on, both flaming blades clashing against the oncoming maw.
The world imploded.
Sound vanished in a vacuum of violence. The heat warped the air, the orange glow of Nicolas's swords bending against the serpent's crushing force. His boots carved trenches through molten soil as he held his ground—barely.
"It's stronger than him," Olivia whispered. The words landed like a death sentence.
Then came the tail. A massive blade of obsidian bone erupted from the ground behind them, slicing upward with impossible speed.
"NOAH!" Tarrin shouted.
The big man turned, bellowing as he slammed his shield into the earth. His shield gaining weight as his gift got to work.
CRACK!
The impact split the world in two. The shield held—but only just. A jagged fracture raced across its face.
The force didn't stop; it redirected. Noah was hurled backward like a ragdoll, crashing into Klein and taking them both down in a tangle of steel and dust. Neither moved.
They were being dismantled, piece by piece.
"Distract it! Don't let it focus on the Sergeant!" Tarrin barked, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Celith moved first. She didn't go for the head—she darted low, blade flashing.
Her sword carved a clean line across the serpent's flank, and before she even withdrew, she slammed her palm onto the wound.
The kinetic blast detonated point-blank.
The serpent convulsed, a fresh roar tearing from its throat. The strike wasn't fatal, but it hurt—and that was enough.
But before she could get out of its range completely, a small spark caught her leg. She hissed in pain, before gaining more space between herself and the beast.
Riko and Jayden followed in an instant. Riko roared, his stone fists crashing into the same torn flank, shattering scales with raw strength.
Jayden followed, a streak of shadow and essence, driving his spear deep into the wound Celith had opened.
The serpent reeled, thrashing violently. Its attention snapped away from Nicolas, head turning, void-flame swirling in its throat—aimed straight at Riko and Jayden.
They were cornered.
"Sabrina, Nick—now!" Tarrin shouted.
This was the gamble.
Nick moved first, daggers flashing like silver lightning. They weren't aimed at the eye this time—they went for the roof of the serpent's mouth.
Sabrina didn't push them forward; instead, she seized its lower jaw with invisible force, muscles trembling as she heaved upward with everything she had.
The serpent's own strength betrayed it.
Its head snapped shut. The void-fire detonated inside its mouth, a muffled cataclysm of black light and shattering bone.
The air pulsed with heat. Obsidian teeth exploded outward. The creature reeled, choking on its own fire, writhing in blind, searing pain.
There it was. The opening. A single, precious heartbeat.
Nicolas didn't hesitate. He didn't need a signal. With a guttural roar, he poured every shred of essence he had left into his chains and hurled both flaming blades.
They crossed the air like twin comets, streaking orange against the black.
Both struck home—right at the base of the skull, where the scales thinned.
The sound was wet, final.
The serpent's body convulsed violently, thrashing in one last storm of rage and pain. Its tail carved trenches in the ground, the air thick with ozone and ash. Then, with a final, earth-shaking tremor, the beast collapsed.
The void-flame sputtered, then died, leaving only the stench of ozone and cooked meat.
Silence followed. Heavy. Absolute.
Tarrin stood there, chest heaving, his heartbeat loud in the stillness. The dread drained from his body, replaced by the dull ache of survival.
Noah groaned, Klein pulling him upright. His shield arm hung limp, broken. Celith leaned on her sword, one leg slick with blood. Riko and Jayden were coated in soot and disbelief.
Nicolas retrieved his swords, the flaming chains retracting into his vambraces with a metallic hiss. The fire dimmed.
For the first time, Tarrin saw what the fight had cost—the exhaustion carved into the sergeant's face.
His gaze swept across the squad: Noah's shattered shield. Celith's limp. The exhaustion in their eyes. Then it found Tarrin.
He didn't smile. Didn't praise.
Just gave a single, slow nod.
It was enough. A silent acknowledgment—they had faced something beyond their reach, and somehow, they hadn't broken. They'd adapted.
The victory felt hollow. They were bruised, bleeding, barely standing.
But they were together.
And they were alive.