On a cloudy night in the ruined heart of Grimveil, Vlad stood at the center of the shattered square.
"Holy Flare!" Vlad shouted.
A blinding white radiance exploded outward, flooding every alley and rooftop. Vlad, Sera, Noctura, and Thomas remained unaffected, as those standing close to him were shielded from the spell's effects—temporary blindness, ringing ears, and loss of balance.
"This is our chance!" Sera voiced.
"Got it!" Noctura replied.
The two women sprinted toward the demon's lair, leaving Vlad and Thomas behind to handle the smaller spider swarm.
It took the monsters nearly a full minute to recover their senses.
Thomas cracked his knuckles, flashing a toothy grin. "Let's enjoy ourselves."
Vlad mirrored the smile. "This will be fun."
The two men charged bare-handed into the horde. No weapons, no spells—just raw, disciplined physical power.
Against such weak foes, going all-out was pointless. This was a perfect opportunity for the two to train and hone their pure martial technique, testing limits, and burning off frustration.
Meanwhile, Sera and Noctura reached the ruined mansion.
"Before we go in…" Noctura quickly recounted everything she knew about Tarantus—her appearance, her threads, her cruel games, the statement of her master's orders.
Sera nodded grimly. "Maximum caution, got it."
The two women slipped inside the mansion like shadows.
"She's in the room ahead." Noctura whispered.
"Understood." Sera's instincts prickled. No guards at all? Either she's overconfident… or she's luring us in.
They stepped into the room.
Tarantus waited exactly where Noctura had last seen her. A mischievous grin split her fanged mouth, as she laid her massive eyes on the pair.
"Welcome back. I see you brought a new playmate this time."
"You vile creature—" Noctura snarled.
Sera caught her arm. "Easy. We need to play this smart."
Noctura exhaled sharply. "You're right. Sorry about that."
Tarantus tilted her head. "Are you finished?" she asked rhetorically. "Good, then let's begin. Silk Threads."
Silvery filaments shot from her fingertips like living needles.
"Ice Wall!" Sera thrust her palms forward.
"Shadow Clones!" Noctura echoed.
A thick barrier of ice erupted—only to be diced into glittering cubes in an instant. The threads continued onward, slicing clean through the two women.
However, instead of blood dripping and limbs falling off, dark smoke billowed where the duplicates had stood.
"Nice try," Noctura declared, stepping out from the shadows with her real self. "but that won't work on me twice."
Tarantus's grin widened with genuine interest. "You've learned a new trick. This might actually be entertaining."
"Don't forget about me." Sera interjected coolly.
"Two against one?" Tarantus laughed. "This could almost be called fair."
"Tsk." Sera clicked her tongue, her pride stung. "Big talk," she taunted. "but can you back it up?"
Tarantus's eyes slid to Noctura. "You should be asking her."
"That's it!" Noctura snapped. "Shadow Bind!"
Dark tentacles erupted from the floor, lashing around Tarantus's legs and arms.
"Frost Bite!" Sera followed instantly.
"Cute," Tarantus sneered. "Silk Cocoon!"
Thick layers of webbing exploded around her, enveloping her entire form. Sera's ice struck the cocoon and only softened the outer shell.
Noctura didn't hesitate. "Shadow Mutilation!"
She slashed viciously at the webbing. Each strike carried shadow energy that ate through the silk like acid. Threads began to fray and tear.
"How foolish." a voice purred from inside the cocoon.
Noctura's instincts screamed.
She leapt back just as a razor-sharp blade of condensed silk whipped through the air where her neck had been.
"That was close." she muttered, sweat beading on her brow.
"You okay?" Sera asked.
"I'll live. But we need to end this fast."
"Agreed. Dragging this out would only put us at a disadvantage."
Tarantus emerged from the shredded cocoon, now wielding two long, curved blades formed from hardened silk. Her lower spider body had also shifted—more compact, crab-like, armored in glossy chitin.
"Now," she declared, spinning the blades, "come at me!"
—Meanwhile—
Vlad and Thomas tore through the endless spider swarm with nothing but their fists and raw power. Spider limbs flew, and dark blood splattered the ruins.
The male silhouette—another copy, darted excitedly through the scene, flitting from Vlad to Thomas and back again, always gravitating toward whoever was currently the most entertaining for it.
Thomas slammed both fists into the ground, creating a crater and shockwave that crushed dozens of spider monsters.
"Not bad," Vlad said with a smirk. "but try this."
He launched forward in a fluid, almost dance-like barrage—arms and legs striking with pinpoint precision. Spiderlings fell in heaps until their corpses formed small mountains.
The two men paused for a breath, clearly not worried about the swarm surrounding them.
"You think the women are doing alright?" Thomas asked.
"I'm sure they've got it handled," Vlad replied. "but let's stay close by just in case."
"Got it." Thomas gave a small nod in response.
I like the method these two chose for dealing with these monsters. Who knew that a human could reach this level of pure unbridled strength.
—Back at the mansion—
The once-elegant room had become a battlefield of frost and silk. Ice coated the walls in jagged sheets, and silver threads crisscrossed the air like deadly lace.
Sera and Noctura had fought with brutal coordination, severing several of Tarantus's legs. The demon now stood on only four, her humanoid arms still gripping the twin blades.
But victory had come at a cost.
Sera bled from dozens of shallow cuts, with a deep puncture in her thigh oozing steadily.
Noctura was worse—panting, drenched in sweat and blood, her mind fraying from casting spell after spell she barely understood.
Only her Shadow Clones had kept them both from being sliced apart.
"Had enough yet?" Tarantus taunted, her fangs bared in a vicious grin.
"You wish." Sera spat, wiping blood from her forehead.
"I swear I'm going to kill you." Noctura growled, crimson dripping from her brow into her left eye.
For a split second, something dangerous flickered in Tarantus's many eyes.
Sera tensed. "Be careful. She's about to do something."
Noctura nodded, breath ragged.
"It seems it's time to end this." Tarantus declared, her voice dropping to a deadly purr.
Noctura drew a steadying breath. "Prepare to die."
All three leaped at once.
"Shadow Overload!"
"Glacier Overdrive!"
"Webedge Cataclysm!"
Shadow Overload is Noctura's ultimate trump card, taught to her by her uncle in secret. It allowed her to chain multiple spells together with reckless disregard for her mana reserves.
Her mind and body would even cast protective spells on their own, if her life was in immediate danger. Basically, her body would be an autopilot. But it wasn't without its flaw...
"Only use this spell when you have no other choice," her uncle had warned her. "It is extremely dangerous—especially for assassins. If you lose control, it could take your life."
That warning echoed in her mind as she activated it. For someone as inexperienced as her, this spell was little more than a death sentence.
A flicker of regret passed through her before the power consumed everything.
Dark purple aura exploded around Noctura's body. Her eyes turned pitch black, pupils vanishing completely. The kunai in her hand flared with the same violent energy and elongated into a kunai-shaped short sword wreathed in shadow. Overwhelming mana flooded her system, tearing at her sanity.
She became something primal—a hungry predator with only one thought left in her shattered mind.
Kill!
Glacier Overdrive, is Sera's own trump card. The spell temporarily multiplied her physical and magical stats several times over. It was an all-or-nothing technique that sacrificed most of her endurance for raw, explosive power.
In short, she was basically a glass cannon. Literally. The purpose of this spell was to end fights quickly, because the moment her mana ran dry, she would collapse unconscious from the backlash.
Sera judged the risk worth taking. She believed that she and Noctura could kill Tarantus before the backlash hit.
Crystallized mana erupted from Sera's body in a freezing storm. Her eyes turned pure, shining white, pupils vanishing. Her hair stiffened and glittered like frost, radiating bone-chilling cold. In her right hand formed a double-edged ice spear, while her left arm was encased in a thick ice gauntlet for defense.
Webedge Cataclysm is Tarantus's trump card. It's basically just a stat boost, much like Sera's and Noctura's. Mana, speed, and strength, all those things.
Her lower spider half transformed further, now layered in a gleaming steel-like exoskeleton. Her speed and strength skyrocketed, and thick red toxin dripped from her curved fangs.
And with that done, you can get on with the fight.