The night was black as ink, the desert wind carrying dry dust across the cracked ground. Above, no stars shone.... only a swollen moon, heavy and pale, spilling cold light over the wasteland. The air was thin, sharp, and it pressed against the lungs like glass shards.
Elior stepped out first, his boots grinding against the sand. His cloak snapped with the wind, half-torn from earlier battles. In both hands, he gripped the long iron chain of his "Solid Kusarigama", twin blades glinting at either end, their steel pitted and scarred from years of use.
Inside the broken bunker wall pressed out Sonia, her silhouette painted silver by the moonlight. She looked almost serene. Then, with a languid twist of her hand, she drew her own weapon, a "Kusarigama", nearly identical, yet sharper, crueler, as if the steel itself was thirsty. Its chain's two side were binded with scythe's blade part, it's shadow spreading on sand like a serpent.
Her lips curved into a mocking smile. "Oh, two killers with the same taste in toys." Her voice was smooth, honeyed, but there was rot under every word. She twirled her scythe once, its chain snapping through the air like thunder. "Elior.… why bother? Just give me the Lea Infra, and I'll let everyone go. You'll save them without lifting a finger."
Elior's expression didn't flinch. His grip on the kusarigama tightened. "If that were true, you'd already have it. You and your fanged friends would've spared them the moment I opened the door." He lifted the blade-end of his weapon, pointing it at her like a judgment. "No, Sonia. Even if I handed it over, they'd die screaming and you know it."
Her smirk widened, teeth glinting faintly under the moon. "Smart boy and noble." She tilted her head, violet eyes narrowing. "But nobility will shatter first in the dust. Let's test where yours shatters."
CLANG!
The two weapons clashed, chain against chain, sparks exploding as the desert night came alive. The impact shook the ground, sand leaping up in clouds around their feet.
Both fighters dug in, neither yielding an inch, chains twisting and snarling like furious serpents caught in each other's throats.
Elior gritted his teeth and broke away first, swinging wide, forcing Sonia back into the open dunes, away from the bunker. Dust spiraled up, forming a curtain between them and the survivors watching from the ruined wall.
Sonia licked her lips, twirling her weapon overhead with dancer's grace. "Ahh.… yes. Pull me further from your little sheeps. You don't want them to see what you'll look like when I'm done carving you apart."
Elior spun his kusarigama low, the blades cutting through the sand, leaving glowing arcs under the moonlight. His voice carried, calm but edged like flint. "I didn't drag you out here for their sake. I dragged you out here so you'll have no excuse when I break you."
The desert became a stage of steel and fury. Chains snapped through the air like lightning, the clash of iron vibrating across the dunes.
Elior launched first.
His kusarigama's blade whipping in a wide arc, low to the ground, sand bursting as it skimmed forward. Sonia spun midair, scythe flashing, her chain wrapping around his to catch it.
CLANG!
Sparks exploded and spread apart. The force rattled his arms, but he twisted, dragging her weapon down. Instead of resisting, she let it spin, using the pull to flip backward and fling her own blade like a comet.
The scythe whistled past Elior's cheek, grazing his skin. Blood trickled, warm against the cold air. He grunted, already stepping forward, already swinging his chain again.
"Sharp reflexes," Sonia taunted, her grin feral. She twirled her weapon in a blur, chain looping like a serpent ready to strike. "When was the last time you enjoyed killing? Or do you still pretend it's all duty?"
Elior ignored the jab. His kusarigama lashed out, one blade embedding into the ground. Sonia smirked, about to yank it aside for the second blade to come from below, cutting upward in an unexpected crescent.
She barely twisted aside, the edge slicing through her kimono, skin splitting open. Black blood hissed in the sand, already stitching itself back.
"Clever," she cooed, her wound sealing before his eyes. "It won't last, forever! You can't cut what won't stay cut."
Elior didn't answer. He yanked the chain, sand sliced and scattered, forcing her to leap back. The desert winds carried them further from the bunker exactly as he planned.
This time Sonia pressed forward, chain whipping in deceptive spirals. She faked left, scythe arcing, only for the blade to suddenly snap in the opposite direction, catching Elior's ankle. She yanked hard. He staggered, dragged forward, and her other hand thrust the scythe straight for his chest.
Elior anticipated. His chain tightened around his own arm, anchoring his body. Instead of resisting the pull, he rolled with it, swinging his other blade down
The desert floor gave way with a deafening crack sound.
Elior felt his footing vanish, the sand collapsing beneath him like water rushing through an open drain.
Sonia's grin widened as the two of them dropped, spinning weightless into an abyss. The air roared past their ears, but neither screamed, neither flinched. For them, falling wasn't terror, it was opportunity.
Below, a colossal white hall revealed itself, lit by an eerie glow that didn't come from torches or lamps, but from the walls themselves. Pillars stretched endlessly upward like the spines of giants. The sight made Elior's expressions changed into darker not out of fear, but from the realization.
This…. this is the place Azmaik stood in.
No time to think. Sonia's scythe was already in motion, her chain hissing through the air like a striking serpent. Elior snapped his own kusarigama forward, blades colliding with hers mid-fall.
CLANG!
The sound rippled like thunder, the clash so violent it shook their descent.
Both fighters understood a single truth. In this freefall, momentum was king. A missed strike didn't just mean injury—it meant death. No ground to brace against. No step to retreat. Every swing was a gamble, every block a razor-thin chance of survival.
Their weapons blurred. Scythe and sickle carved arcs through the empty air, sparks bursting like fireflies each time iron met iron. Chains twisted, looped, clashed, and uncoiled with deadly precision.
Elior twisted his body sideways, throwing a blade downward not at her, but beneath himself. Sonia laughed, realizing his plan. He hooked the chain on a falling pillar fragment, yanking himself to shift trajectory midair. Her scythe lashed out, snapping his anchor. He spun wildly but corrected, chain rebounding as his other blade flew upward, forcing her to block overhead.
Sparks rained across the abyss like shooting stars.
Sonia's voice cut through, mocking even while her weapon blurred faster than sight.
"Scared, Elior? Your strikes.… they're more effective now. You're not holding back anymore."
He didn't answer with her words. His kusarigama shrieked through the air, one chain curling around hers, locking them both for a split second.
Their bodies hung weightless, momentum tearing at their weapons as they struggled for dominance. Elior's teeth clenched his forearms burned but he refused to let go.
In that instant, their movements surpassed ordinary speed. Not faster than sound, nor faster than light—faster than time itself. To the untrained eye, the chains no longer moved.
For a ordinary person, it seemed like the chains weren't moving but freezing in a point. In reality, both fighters weaving dozens of strikes, parries, and counters within the span of a single heartbeat.
The clash ignited shockwaves that cracked invisible layers of air, a trembling pressure rattling through the cavernous hall. Pillars quaked down. The glow of the walls flickered, disturbed by the violence passing through the space.
Sonia's scythe grazed his cheek again, almost splitting it open. He countered with a downward twist, his blade slamming into her shoulder.
"Miss once, Elior," she purred, breathless. "That's all I need. One mistake, and you'll decorate the floor below with your noble flesh and blood!"
Her scythe split into two, chain unraveling further than before, her weapon snapping at him from both sides.
Elior felt his chest tighten but in respect. She was forcing him to fight seriously.
He crossed both blades of his kusarigama in defense, sparks flaring as her dual strikes hammered against him. His arms rattled, veins bulging. He forced her back, kicking off a falling stone fragment for leverage, chain swinging wide in retaliation.
The blade curved around her side like a crescent moon. She dodged barely. The edge scraped across her ribs, tearing black blood from her torso.
It was not a battle of endurance. It was not a battle of attrition. This was a duel of absolutes.
To misjudge an angle, to swing a fraction late, to blink at the wrong instant meant death. Only steel, instinct, and will.
Their chains coiled again, meeting in a storm of steel midair. Neither yielded. Both grinned with bloodied lips as sparks showered around them.
Both fighters roared as their weapons curved for a final strike. Elior's kusarigama blade streaked like a comet, Sonia's scythe carving a crescent of golden light.
The collision wasn't just sound. It was manifestation of violence, a thunderclap that shattered the silence of the hall.
CRACK!
The force split the air itself. Space rippled, jagged lines spread outward like fractures in glass. Dust spiraled up in waves. Elior was thinking the world itself might collapse under the pressure.
Sonia's scythe dug deeper, grinding against the kusarigama's blade, sparks searing their faces. Elior's teeth clenched as steel bent under the strain.
Then, with a deafening snap, both weapons gave way, shards scattering like broken stars across the abyss.
Elior didn't hesitate. He lunged, seizing Sonia's chain before she could recoil. With raw force, he whipped her downward, the chain snapping taut as he tried to slam her into the stone floor below.
Sonia turned over like a serpent, using his own momentum. She wrapped the chain around his wrist, her laugh resounded like a taunt. "If I go down, you're coming with me!" she hissed, yanking hard to reverse his throw.
Elior grunted, body lurching, but his strength didn't fold, it ignited him further. With a violent spin midair, he reversed her reversal, muscles straining as he tore her grip loose. He swung the chain like a hammer, flinging her with all his weight.
Her body crashed into the marble floor with the fury of a falling star.
BOOM!
The impact ripped the ground apart, floor exploding into dust and debris. Pillars trembled hard. A wave of destruction spread across the hall, clouds of white grit swallowing her broken silhouette.
Her ribs ached as she coughed dust from her lungs, the cracked marble floor biting into her palms.
Visions were blurry, ears ringing, but she forced herself up. Across the haze, Elior was descending fast, like gravity itself bowed to his will. The second blade of his kusarigama gleamed with killing intent, streaking straight toward her.
Her instincts screamed. She raised her clawed hand, fingers trembling but sharp, ready to tear into his chest if she had to. A growl ripped from her throat, halfway between fury and desperation. If I die here, I'll drag him with me.
The blade closed the distance. An inch away.
Her pupils widened. She blinked, didn't understood what happened. The blade had snapped mid-swing, shards scattering before they could ever cut her flesh.
What froze her wasn't the broken weapon. It was what appeared behind him.
Elior's shoulder spread something wrong....
A massive, demonic wing, like a branch carved from shadow and fire. Lilies are blooming all around the branches.
A living demon's limb, stretching and twitching, soaked in aura that reeked of both divinity and corruption.
Her breath caught. What…. is he?
He raised his hand, eyes burning with something unholy, and chanted in a voice that carried like a curse etched into eternity,
"Hybrid Bomb"
The words tore through the hall, and before Sonia could move, before she could even scream again....
The world disappeared into nothing.
Light devoured everything, not bright but violent, a bloom of raw annihilation. The hall, the pillars, the centuries-old stone, all vaporized in an instant. The destruction hit like the fury of five supernovae tearing apart the sky. It wasn't fire, it wasn't wind, it was an erasure, a nuclear hell magnified fivefold.
Sonia's body twitched where she landed, a charred heap on the far end of the collapsed hall. Her flesh was half-melted, hair burned away in patches, skin cracked and bleeding black.
Her regeneration did nothing. The explosion had broken her healing. She staggered, dragging herself up by one claw, eyes glowing with feral hatred.
"You…." she rasped, her voice raw and shredded. "I'll kill you. I don't care if I rip my own soul apart, I'll tear you open!"
Elior, floating down through the settling dust, only chuckled. A mad, careless laugh that echoed in the hollowed ruins. "Kill me? Sonia, Sonia…. don't you get it?" He stretched his arms out, as though embracing the void around them. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be ash on the wind. That little toy fight? That was me nerfing myself. Playing to be weak. Holding back with that kusarigama all this time."
The demonic branch that had sprouted from his shoulder was gone now, hidden as though it had never existed.Though, his shoulder was bleeding.
"You've been swinging to kill since the start," Elior said, smirking. "I was swinging to pass time and finding a chance to have a talk."
Sonia shook her head, snarling, spitting blood. Her body swayed, her knees nearly buckling, but fury kept her upright.
"Shut up!" she screamed. "Don't you dare mock me! Don't you dare stand there and pity me! I'll kill you! I'll—"
Elior cut her off with a raised hand. His voice turned low, almost sincere. "You can still stop. Sonia…. I'm giving you a chance. Be good. Walk away from this path. You don't have to rot in chains just because Azmaik promised you something he can't deliver."
Her lips curled back, trembling between rage and fear, maybe. Then she howled, the sound very inhuman, and charged.
"Never!"
Elior sighed. "God, may you give her spirit and lead heaven, don't forgive me...."
In one swift motion, he caught the chain dangling near him.... her chain. Sonia barely realized before it was too late. He swung her kusarigama with a brutal flick, and the scythe's blade pierced straight into her jaw, tearing through teeth and bone.
Her scream was muffled, choked on blood as Elior yanked the chain back, pulling her like a ragdoll. Her body slammed against stone, cracking the floor. He towered over her, weapon in hand, eyes glinting with dark humor.
"This is fitting," he whispered, pressing the edge toward her throat. "Killed by your own weapon. The poetry writes itself."
He raised the kusarigama high, preparing the final blow, but at the last moment, Sonia's body shimmered, transforming unnaturally.
Like fog in the dawn, she slipped out of the scythe's grasp, scattering into fragments of shadow. In the blink of an eye, she was gone and vanished into the cracks of the collapsing hall.
The chain dropped limp in Elior's hands, the sound resounded in the silence that followed.
He exhaled through a laugh. "Hehe, guess I was too slow. She'll crawl away, tail between her legs, great!" He dropped the kusarigama, letting it clatter against the broken ground. "Run, Sonia. Run as far as you can. Hope.... you never come back."