The runes on the arena walls pulsed like a heartbeat slow at first, then faster.
Then the cage vanished.
What emerged was not a beast. It was a nightmare given shape.
The Duskfur Simian stepped from the void of the teleportation array, massive and hunched like a beast born in war. Its fur was black smoke stitched to muscle, and its molten-red eyes glowed with eerie calm. Not rage. Not hunger. Just… calculation.
I barely had time to gasp.
Then it moved.
"Right flank!" I yelled.
Mariette dashed forward, her sword unsheathing in a blur. A swirl of shadow surged around her legs and arms—her dark affinity strengthening her muscles, feeding her speed.
I raised my hands and cast the first spell. "Shadowlance!"
A spear of pure shadow tore across the field and pierced clean through the simian's shoulder. It staggered. Blood—black and steaming—splattered the ground.
But then, the simian's body shimmered.
Right before our eyes, muscle knit itself back together. Skin grew over it. The hole was gone.
Gone.
"No…" I breathed.
Mariette clashed with the beast just as it blinked forward again.
Sparks screamed from the contact of claw and sword.
"It healed?" she gritted.
"Instantly. It healed instantly."
She ducked another swipe. "Then we don't have time for pretty attacks."
"Nightveil Dome!"
I raised a barrier as the simian turned toward me. The dome absorbed the impact, sending a shock up my arms—but it held.
For now.
"Ebon Chain!"
Black chains erupted from beneath it—but the simian shimmered again, vanishing an instant before they wrapped around its legs.
Fast. Too fast.
And smart.
It moved in silence, blinking through shadows, never staying in one place long enough to be punished.
"It's watching us," I said aloud. "It's learning."
The simian attacked again this time, Mariette blocked three hits in rapid succession. Her blade cracked under the pressure.
I dodged a blink-strike aimed at my side, rolling across the stone floor as claws scraped just behind me.
"Obsidian Rain!"
Dozens of dagger-like shadows rained from above. They tore into the simian's back, opening several wounds.
They sealed shut two seconds later.
"Gravebind!"
From the ground, skeletal arms of shadow grabbed at its legs, dragging slowing then gone. The simian warped straight through.
Nothing held.
Nothing stayed.
The mana it took to cast those spells burned like fire in my lungs.
Each one cost me seconds I didn't have.
"Midnight Spike!"
A large shadow spike launched from the ground and impaled its thigh. The simian stumbled. Blood pooled.
But then again—shimmer. Flesh twisted. Repaired.
"Nothing's sticking," I gasped. "Not even third-grade spells."
Third-grade.
Professor-level.
That last one should've broken a boulder in half. It barely made the creature flinch. And it took a fifth of my remaining mana.
I was panting, dizzy. The stone beneath my boots felt slippery with sweat. My fingers trembled.
Then, I raised my hand one more time and nothing came.
No shadow. No spike. No spell.
Just emptiness.
Mana: depleted.
Mariette turned in the middle of her sprint.
"Celia!"
I shook my head, trying to speak
She stopped. "Link with me! Use Shadowlink!"
I shut my eyes. I could feel it still—some sliver of mana, buried deep.
I called to it. Not to cast. But to connect.
"Shadowlink!"
The spell lit from within me like black fire,
and tendrils of magic erupted from my chest.
They slithered through the air and latched onto Mariette's back.
Her body jerked like she'd been struck by lightning—then she stood straighter.
Her aura darkened, sharpened. The air bent around her like a blade.
"Whoa." She flexed her fingers, eyes wide.
"That's… new."
"Dark affinity link," I gasped. "If two of us are users… I can boost you. Strength, speed, and mana flow."
"I can feel it."
She lunged forward again and this time, she kept up.
Each clash echoed louder now. Each blow forced the simian back. Mariette's movements blurred, and her blade started to actually bite.
Deep wounds opened.
But again—
Flesh healed. Muscle returned.
The simian never roared, never raged. It simply kept coming.
I staggered, almost collapsing, as I dodged another blink-strike. I could barely move but I kept the link steady.
That was all I could do now.
Hold.
I edged closer. Too close.
Trying to keep the link stable trying to push just a bit more power through.
And then
I felt it.
A shimmer behind me.
I turned—
But my mana was too low. My limbs too slow.
The claw came for me.
Mariette screamed—
—and dove.
The strike meant for me landed squarely in her ribs.
Blood sprayed like ink across the floor. Her body hit the ground with a sound I would never forget...
"Mariette!"
She gasped, trying to sit. "Still breathing," she rasped, blood bubbling at her lips. "You okay?"
No. I wasn't.
She was bleeding because of me.
Because I tried to help. Because I wasn't enough.
I dropped to my knees, everything spinning. "This wasn't supposed to happen," I whispered. "I thought I had time. I thought it was just fiction. I didn't think—"
She clutched my hand weakly. "Celia—"
"No!" My voice cracked. "I didn't think someone would bleed because I wasn't strong enough!"
And I saw it then—her body still. Her chest barely rising.
I broke.
"I don't want to die," I whispered. "But I'm even more afraid of you dying. Because of me."
Then—
Something answered.
The shadows didn't just swirl now.
They called.
I didn't awaken some new tier of power.
Nothing elegant. Nothing glowing.
But something inside me—my fear, my guilt, my helplessness—summoned magic I didn't know I still had.
Dark. Raw. Hungry.
Not for power.
But for survival.
I stood again.
Not because I was brave.
But because I refused to let her bleed alone.
Not again.
Not this time.