Asher clenched his jaw, muscles trembling.
His palms dripped blood, veins popping. He had to swallow it. His anger. He wasn't in the position to argue with her right now.
He couldn't change the fact that Nephis was here. Not anymore.
"Nephis! Don't kill the Terror — under any circumstances!" he shouted, voice cutting through the chaos.
Nephis's brow furrowed, confusion flickering across her face—but she didn't argue. She simply nodded, just as another blinding beam of light tore between them, splitting the air like molten glass.
Turning back, his eyes locked onto the abomination. Hundreds of faces stared back, each one contorted in agony, black eyes following his every move.
But the creature wasn't moving much anymore. Its vast body trembled, frozen mid-motion.
A clear sign that it was definitely evolving.
Still, its tentacles and light beams showed no sign of stopping. The battle raged on, each slash or parry more desperate than the other. Asher and Nephis fought side by side, cutting down tentacles as fast as they spawned. Every swing, every dodge, felt heavier, slower.
Then he noticed it—the tentacles retreating into the floor, melting into crimson veins that pulsed beneath the coral, funneling flesh and sinew back to the Terror.
Asher grimaced. The pattern… it was too familiar. The endless limbs. The regeneration. It was like his first Nightmare all over again.
That meant the entire Spire—the floors, the walls, the sun itself—was connected to the creature.
He couldn't manipulate it. Not unless it was completely severed from the Terror's control.
His eyes darkened.
'Shit.'
Nephis and Asher were forced onto the defensive, even as the Terror's massive body hung exposed before them. Every second, a new strike came—each faster, heavier, more furious than the last.
A tentacle whipped past, grazing Nephis's cheek. She hissed, a thin line of crimson tracing down her face. The wound shimmered faintly, her flame quickly mending it.
Her eyes widened. "The tentacles… they have soul-destructive properties?" The words slipped out half as a question, half as a statement.
Asher parried another blow, his blade fending off coral and flesh. "How the hell should I know? I'm immune to soul attacks!" he shouted back, gritting his teeth as a tendril nearly caught his leg.
Nephis didn't say anything else as Asher took over more tentacles.
Asher was struggling. He could feel it in every step. His ankles weren't augmented like the rest of his body—his control over the ground was slipping. Each impact sent pain lancing through his legs, each dodge felt slower than the last.
He bit down hard on his lip, tasting iron. Every fiber of his being screamed under the pressure.
'How much longer…?'
He exhaled shakily, tightening his grip on the blade.
'Just a little more…'
—BOOM!
The entire chamber convulsed as the ground split beneath them. Asher and Nephis leapt instinctively, landing atop chunks of shattered coral suspended midair.
Asher flinched, his gaze snapping to the Cicada's Cry twirling the air faintly in his grip. Then—his eyes widened. The Terror wasn't targeting them anymore.
Below, the monstrosity howled, releasing a wild, uncontrolled ray of light carving through the chamber walls, vaporizing coral, air, and shadow alike. It was aiming at nothing.
Asher's stomach dropped.
"Shit…"
He dismissed the Cicada's Cry in an instant, but the damage was already done.
The Terror writhed, tentacles thrashing against its own body. Evolution was a process where a being is the most vulnerable, mentally and physically.
And dang did Asher mess up.
The Cicada's Cry is a blade with a particularly strong enchantment.
[Crack in the Silence]: Repeated exposure to the cry weakens mental defenses, making the target more vulnerable to illusions, fear, or emotional and mental instability.
Asher had been using it for twenty—no, thirty minutes straight. Against a being that already balanced on the razor's edge of madness.
Now, the result was clear.
The Crimson Terror was mindless at the moment. Attacking whatever was causing it pain, which happened to be its evolution at the moment.
Massive chunks of coral and rocks tore free from the roof, crashing down like meteors. Each one weighed at least fifty kilograms—smashing into the floor, crushing the shell of the Terror.
For all its power… it was still a Fallen Terror. It wasn't going to die that easily.
Asher caught Nephis's grim expression and felt his stomach twist.
They were too late.
A blinding flare ignited to their left—far brighter than any beam before. The Crimson Terror tilted its head skyward, its remaining eyes dilating.
It was aiming at the sun.
For a heartbeat, Asher's thoughts scattered.
Would the beam destroy the Terror?
He didn't get the chance to find out.
The creature's maw snapped shut, light searing through its neck.
There was no need for words.
Nephis moved first.
"Asher!"
He was already there, summoning Cicada's Cry into his hand.
He could still sense it—the gate flickering somewhere beyond, Dreamers pouring through. The spire trembled under the Terror's unstable pulse.
If they didn't kill it now, everything would collapse immediately, breaking the gate.
There was no choice left. They had to kill it.
Asher lunged first, driving the Cicada's Cry deep into the Terror's neck. The flesh fought him, sinew tightening like cables. Beside him, Nephis's blade flared white-hot, burning through corrupted tissue.
The neck was too thick.
Asher gritted his teeth, forcing gravity itself to bend, dragging the blade deeper with every ounce of his strength. Nephis's flames intensified—white fire charring through the wound, vaporizing blood before it could spill.
Both of them screamed—voices lost to the deafening roar of collapsing coral—as the crystal in the Dawn Shard flared to life.
Their blades met within the Terror's throat.
Nephis heard the soft whisper.
[You have slain a Fallen Terror: Crimson Angel]
[Your soul grows stronger.]
There was no time to process it.
Asher lifted the severed head with a desperate roar, hurling it upward with gravity as blinding heat flooded the chamber. They split apart instantly—Nephis leaping left, Asher to the right, ducking low behind broken stone.
—BAAANG!
Light consumed everything.
The world turned white.