Ariel didn't hesitate. Her expression was unnervingly calm—too calm for someone facing a horde of monsters. She raised both arms, her hands glowing faintly with golden energy as the wind stirred her hair. Dust swirled at her feet, kicked up by the heat rising from the cracked earth.
Then she spoke.
"Walls of stone, stronger than iron or steel,
Encircle my foes, their movement I seal.
Let none escape this crushing clasp—
Terra Domain: Stone Grasp!"
Her voice echoed unnaturally, as if amplified by something ancient and powerful. At her command, the ground rumbled violently. Cracks spider-webbed across the terrain as chunks of earth burst upward, reshaping into thick, jagged walls. They rose like fists from the underworld, curling inward and slamming shut around the snarling Geminis.
The creatures roared, caught off-guard as the rocky prison closed in around them, each stone shifting with an unnatural precision. Their claws scraped and slashed at the walls, but the rock didn't even chip. The ground itself seemed to reject their existence.
Ariel didn't stop.
She narrowed her eyes and raised one palm toward the sky, her fingers curling with purpose.
"Flesh and bones shall burn with fire.
Flames untamed consume them in mire.
Ash to ash, the end is near—
Fire Domain: Lilith's Tears."
The moment the last word left her lips, the sky above the stone prison darkened as if swallowed by a stormcloud. Then came the fire.
It wasn't a simple flame—it was a curse. Burning drops of crimson flame rained down, slow and deliberate like the heavens had chosen execution. Each drop hissed as it fell, carving through the air like molten daggers.
As the fire hit the trapped Geminis, screams erupted—horrid, beastly shrieks that pierced the ears and rattled the soul. The flames didn't just burn, they clung, spreading like venom. Flesh sizzled, twisted, and peeled. Bone turned black, brittle, and then to dust.
The smell of scorched meat and sulfur filled the air, thick and choking. The light from the flames bathed the battlefield in a hellish glow.
One by one, the Geminis collapsed, charred beyond recognition. Their regeneration couldn't keep up. Their monstrous forms—once so terrifying—were reduced to ash.
Behind Ariel, the others could only stare.
"W-Wait," Darren muttered, pointing with a trembling hand. "She's a mage? I thought she was a frontliner. How come her attacks are so powerful? Look—the Geminis aren't regenerating!"
The scorched earth where the monsters had stood now smoldered. Smoke curled into the sky. Their bodies were scattered piles of cinders.
Mario, still carrying Leon on his back, stepped forward. His eyes darted between Jasmine and Ariel. "Teacher Jasmine… if you knew someone this powerful, why didn't you call her sooner?!" he said as he recalled all the things they went through. If the girl had been present, none of those people would've died.
Jasmine said nothing for a second. Her lips parted, her eyes wide. She looked shaken. "I didn't know she was this powerful," she whispered. "I knew she helped Zane in the past... but this is something else entirely."
Mario's voice cracked as he stared at the girl. "Who the hell is she anyway?"
Celine, still watching Ariel in awe, answered slowly, her gaze never leaving the girl. "I checked the news earlier to know what was going on around the world. Her image appeared with four others as the only known Awakened Primordials—the highest known rank so far."
Mario recoiled slightly. "That puny kid?"
"Did you say Primordial?" Darren and Malric both stepped forward, eyes wide, mouths slightly open.
The battlefield was silent now—except for the crackling of lingering flames and the faint hiss of cooling stone.
[System Notice]
Total Mana Points Used: 6,000
Mana Points Remaining: 9,000
'So each incantation consumes three thousand mana points? That's insane... I can probably manage three more incant—'
Before Ariel could finish her thought, a deep, thunderous roar split the air. It wasn't like the earlier shrieks and growls of the other Geminis. No—this one was different. Heavy. Menacing. Ancient.
The sound rolled across the crumbled landscape like a wave, silencing everything in its path. The survivors turned their heads sharply, fear crawling up their spines like cold fingers.
The roar came from the Scarbone.
It had been lurking on the edge of the battlefield all along, watching. Calculating. Judging the strength of its new opponent. Its skull tilted slightly, as if processing information no one else could see. Then, without warning, it let out a second roar—this one far louder and more terrifying than the last. The broken windows nearby shattered into pieces, raining shards onto the cracked pavement.
[System Notice]
Scarbone has activated the skill: Berserk
The change was immediate.
Scarbone's eyes, already dark, turned into swirling pits of deep crimson. Its body, tall and gaunt, seemed to swell with pressure—bones bulging unnaturally as veins of red energy pulsed beneath its fleshless form. It wasn't looking at anyone in particular, but everyone could feel the weight of its hunger. The kind of hunger that didn't care for reason, only destruction.
Suddenly, it moved.
Faster than before. Faster than anyone expected.
With a deafening crack underfoot, Scarbone launched itself across the ground, the concrete beneath its feet exploding in a burst of rubble and dust. Each step left behind deep, clawed footprints, as though the earth itself struggled to withstand the force of its rage.
It barreled toward Ariel.
Its skeletal fist, harder than stone and the size of a boulder, was aimed directly at her head.
Ariel barely had time to react.
She raised her arm, trying to block the incoming strike with a glowing barrier of mana, but the impact came like a wrecking ball. A sickening crunch echoed as the force of the blow shattered her forearm bone and sent her flying backward like a broken doll.
She crashed into a half-collapsed building, bursting through the outer wall in an explosion of brick and dust.
"Ariel!" Jasmine screamed, heart leaping to her throat.
For a second, everything was quiet. The dust cloud rose like smoke from a bomb strike. Then—
Ariel stood.
Blood ran down the side of her face, her arm bent unnaturally, but her eyes were steady. Focused. Defiant.
"That girl…" Malric muttered, stunned. "She just took a direct hit from that thing and still got back up."
Mario's jaw clenched. "Damn it… That bone-head's not playing anymore. It sent a Primordial flying like she was made of feathers."
It was clear that Ariel possessed immense power—but she lacked something just as important: experience.
She didn't fight like a trained warrior—there was no strategy, no finesse. Her punches were wild and raw, swung with the same reckless abandon she used when roughhousing with her big brother, Zane. But even so, there was something frightening about her.
She was learning.
Fast.
A genius in motion.
If someone with real combat experience had been blessed with her abilities, the Scarbone might've been reduced to dust in under a minute. But Ariel was still new to this. Still trying to understand herself… and the monster standing before her.
The building she had crashed into earlier groaned as a piece of the upper wall caved in behind her. Clouds of debris swirled in the air like mist. Then, without hesitation, Ariel stepped out of the rubble, her silhouette glowing faintly through the settling dust.
She raised her broken arm, now hanging uselessly at her side—and activated her healing attribute.
A soft golden light wrapped around the limb. Bones snapped back into place with sharp pops, muscle and skin regenerating at an unnatural speed. Within seconds, her arm looked completely unscathed, like the brutal blow had never happened.
Now she stood tall once more, her eyes locked with Scarbone's glowing crimson gaze.
The wind howled past the hollow street, kicking loose bits of ash and paper across the broken concrete.
From a distance, Malric couldn't hold back his disbelief.
"How the hell is she so calm?" he muttered, sweat trickling down his temple. "No matter what kind of crazy powers she's awakened with, she's still just a child. I nearly pissed myself the moment that monster looked at me."
His voice cracked with a mixture of awe and frustration, hands clenched tightly at his sides.
Ariel stood firm, unmoved.
Her heart pounded, but her face showed no fear. Only focus.
'The system didn't say it has no weakness,' she thought, eyes narrowing as she analyzed the beast. 'It said it couldn't detect any. That's not the same thing… which means its weakness must be hidden—even from the system. If I had to guess… it's tied to its abilities. Specifically, the Berserk state.'
She could feel the pressure radiating off Scarbone like heat from a furnace. Every second it stayed in that mode, its power surged—but so did its instability. She had no proof, but her gut told her to take the chance.
It was her only shot.
Buy time.
Wear it down.
Force it to burn out.
"If you decide on something, don't include the possibility of failure."
Zane's words echoed in Ariel's mind like a mantra carved into stone.
She remembered that day clearly. She had tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Does that mean I have to be perfect at everything?"
Zane had smiled, not mockingly, but with the calm wisdom of someone who had already seen far too much. "Of course not. There are lots of things you'll mess up—on your first try, second, maybe even your tenth. But that's not what matters."
He crouched beside her then, resting a hand on her shoulder. "What I meant is this: even if you fail ninety times, as long as you succeed when it truly counts—when everything's on the line—then you haven't failed at all. But if you succeed a hundred times, and mess up only once… and that one time is when it truly mattered… that's when you've really failed."
Back then, she hadn't understood.
But now… standing in front of the Scarbone, a creature of death and malice, she finally did.
Right now wasn't just any moment. This was the moment. The one that mattered.
Her eyes widened. In the chaos, in the adrenaline, she had almost forgotten—
Zane.
He was still out there. Somewhere. Maybe in danger. Maybe dying. And here she was, wasting time with a single Gemini.
A burning urgency surged in her chest.
She turned to face the towering beast, her eyes narrowing into sharp daggers. Cracks spread across the asphalt beneath her boots as she stepped forward, her mana stirring like a storm inside her veins.
The Scarbone stood still, hunched and unmoving, its crimson eyes locked on her like a beast sizing up its prey. Flames from the earlier battle flickered in the background, casting long shadows over its bony frame. Its hulking silhouette towered above her, surrounded by rubble and broken walls.
Ariel's voice was calm, almost quiet—but it cut through the air with razor clarity.
"Let me ask you something," she said, raising her chin, her fists tightening at her sides.
"Are you trying to stop me from saving my brother?"
Her tone dropped, laced with anger. "My older brother?"