Elsa stood tall, her pupils glowing, the veins in her arms lit with a vibrant green light.
"Holy shit. She did it," Erik muttered under his breath.
Elsa is using Core Activation.
"Wind Blade!" she shouted, slicing the air with her hand. A razor-thin arc of wind surged forward, slashing through the Karken's fang—the same one old man Val was clinging to. But it didn't stop there.
The blade carved across the Karken's face, leaving a deep gash. Blood poured out like a waterfall. The monster's attention snapped toward Elsa.
"Wind Blade!" Another one. Stronger than anything she had cast before. Erik could feel the pressure of each attack. The wounds she inflicted weren't just surface-level anymore—they were biting deep.
She didn't stop. One after another, she kept slamming wind blades into the monster. Erik watched in awe, but something tugged at the edge of his awareness.
There was something else…
Something powerful.
Clinging to her mana like a shadow wrapped around her soul.
She wasn't alone in this power.
"Wind Blade!"
After the sixteenth spell, Elsa collapsed to her knees.
Erik surged forward. "You did great."
He leapt past her, driving his sword into the wound she'd made. The Karken swung to grab him, but Erik jumped back, dodging and diving, keeping his attacks focused on the weakened area.
Then a massive swing came hurtling toward him. He didn't flinch.
"Thunderbolt Spear!"
A crackling lance of lightning crashed into the Karken, sending it stumbling backward. It was Loki.
Half the Karken's face was gone. It let out a deafening scream, blood gushing from its wounds.
"All of you did well," a familiar voice rang out.
"Now leave the rest to me."
Aron stepped forward, radiant, his sword pointed toward the beast.
"I've had enough of your insolence," he said coldly.
He raised his blade skyward.
"Purification Rays of Heaven!"
A beam of golden light blasted from his sword, punching clean through the Karken—and even slicing through the canyon wall behind it. The attack faded, dust settling.
And there it was.
The Karken, what remained of it—half its body gone—finally collapsed to the ground.
"Yah!" Cheers erupted around him.
Erik rushed toward Val, who lay near the cliff wall, blood soaking his cloak. He knelt down and quickly applied pressure to the wounds.
"He's breathing," Erik said, relieved.
A healer from the White Calvary rushed over. "I'll take it from here."
Erik stood, turning to see Elsa and Eri sitting beside each other. Both were battered but alive. He let out a deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
A few soldiers carefully picked up Val and carried him away.
But the relief didn't last.
A sudden aura pulsed through the canyon—twisted, familiar.
Erik froze.
He turned toward the place where the Karken had fallen.
And there it was.
Standing again.
Smaller now—but unmistakably the same monster.
"What the hell… why won't it die?!" Aron shouted.
The Karken lunged, leaping over Erik, bypassing Aron entirely, and crashed into the White Calvary ranks behind them.
It went berserk. Swinging wildly, it sent soldiers flying, smashing bodies against stone.
Erik turned in horror as cries of pain filled the canyon.
Blood sprayed across the rock.
Guts spilled into the dust.
And Aron—too drained to stand—leaned against Loki, helpless, watching the slaughter unfold.
Even if he wanted to move…
He couldn't.
"Well… it's better than dying by that bastard's hand. Let's finish what I started."
Using Core Activation without a full—or even half-full—mana pool came with risks. Severe ones. It could damage the core itself. Leave him unable to wield magic ever again.
But now wasn't the time to worry about consequences.
"Whatever happens, happens."
Core Activation!
Erik threw off his coat. Flames erupted—curling up the right side of his chest, engulfing his right arm and the right side of his face. His body blazed.
He lunged in, delivering a fierce kick to the Karken's chest that sent the monster flying. Before it could land, it twisted in the air—but Erik was already at its feet. He slashed through the Karken's right arm.
The monster swung back with its left. Erik ducked under it and launched into the air.
The fangs shot forward—two black spears, like lightning.
Erik stepped on one mid-air, using it to propel himself to the Karken's back. His flaming sword lit up the night.
He drove the blade deep into the Karken's back.
"Inferno!"
Flames burst from the wound, burning it from the inside. The Karken howled, flailing, then grabbed Erik by the head and slammed him into the ground—once, twice—then hurled him across the canyon.
Erik skidded but landed on his feet.
No pain.
None.
But the flames were gone.
"Shit. I don't have much mana left."
He forced Core Activation again. The pain was immediate, but he didn't stop.
The Karken charged.
Erik slashed, releasing a wave of fire. The Karken leapt over it, diving toward him.
Erik rolled to the side, sent another fiery slash that struck its leg. Then another. He charged in. The Karken punched—Erik dodged, sliding beneath it, stabbing upward.
"Infer—!"
Before he could finish, the Karken grabbed him and yanked him overhead. Erik reached for the sword, but missed—his fingers slipped off the hilt.
He was airborne now.
The fangs shot toward him.
He punched the left one away.
The right pierced through his stomach.
But it didn't go all the way through.
Something had caught it—a dagger. Erik's dagger. The one he'd used earlier. It had gotten stuck in the fang.
The Karken pulled him in, dragging him toward its mouth.
Erik braced his legs—one against the top jaw, one under—keeping the beast from clamping down.
With a scream, he yanked the dagger from the fang, pulled himself forward, and stabbed it straight into the Karken's skull.
"Inferno!"
The flames roared.
The Karken screamed again as Erik ignited its brain, fire searing through its skull.
It collapsed to the ground.
But Erik didn't stop.
He pressed the blade in deeper, over and over, even as the flames flickered.
"Just a little more…!"
And then the fire sputtered out.
"Shit!"
He could feel it—the regeneration beginning. The Karken's body was repairing itself from the inside.
He was out of mana.
He stabbed again. And again. Desperation in every thrust. It wasn't enough.
The Karken's eyes opened.
Erik stared into them.
"Well… I hope the others got a chance to escape."
And then—he felt it.
A surge.
A link.
Someone had connected with him. Sent their mana to him. He didn't question who—it didn't matter.
He accepted it.
The power rushed in like a tidal wave.
Core Activation. Again.
"INFERNOOOOOOO!"
With a primal roar, Erik unleashed everything.
Flames poured from him like a second sun. The Karken's body ignited completely. Its insides burned, bones cracking, limbs flailing.
Erik didn't stop.
He poured in every drop until—
The flow of mana from the Karken vanished.
It was over.
The Karken was dead. Almost only the bones of the monster is what's left of it
Erik, still clutching the dagger, stumbled back. One of its fangs was still lodged in his gut.
He could hear faint voices… people shouting… someone calling his name.
"We won, right?"
Then everything faded.
Darkness took him.