The three of them collided in a single, thunderous bound—causing a shockwave that created a miniature earth quake throughout the entire estate.
They separated soon after the clash.
Sera struck first, swinging her ice spear in a wide, devastating arc. Tarantus twisted at the last moment, but the spear still carved a shallow groove across her reinforced exoskeleton.
"Tsk." Sera clicked her tongue in frustration.
Three shadow clones of Noctura materialized instantly, launching themselves at the demon from different angles.
Tarantus danced between their strikes, her web-edged blades slicing the clones into dissipating smoke. But she missed the fourth—the real Noctura appearing directly above her.
Noctura drove her shadow blade down. The strike sank deep into Tarantus's shoulder, shadow energy tearing through flesh and chitin alike, causing dark ichor to spray on the floor.
The demon snarled in real pain.
Noctura smirked—then froze.
A paralytic toxin from the wound was already spreading through her left arm. Though, she didn't care. The feral haze of Shadow Overload clouded her mind—she fought like a mindless predator, single-minded and reckless.
Tarantus noticed.
"Distracted much?" the demon hissed.
Her sword arced down in a lethal diagonal swing, aimed straight for Noctura's exposed neck.
Noctura, lost in rage, never saw it coming.
"Watch out!" Sera shouted, lunging between them. Her ice gauntlet intercepted the blade with a deafening crack.
"Mind your business!" Tarantus snapped.
Threads exploded outward, wrapping Sera in a cocoon of razor silk. The strands tore through her clothes, around stomach and thighs, before slicing off all four of her limbs.
But before the smile on Tarantus could fully form, it changed into a frown. Four ice limbs fell to the ground before they shattered into ice pieces.
"What? How?" Tarantus hissed in shock.
Before the limbless Sera fell to the ground, new limbs had grown in place of her servered ones. Fresh frost bloomed as her new limbs fully crystalized.
Sera smirked. "You should've gone for my head."
It's true that Sera was a glass cannon, but that only meant that she couldn't tank even the most basic spells in the form. To be specific, in her fully ice covered form.
Sera could transform either her entire, or parts, of her body into a full ice body or limbs. That said, she could also revert back to flesh and bone at will.
This meant that as long her the severed limbs were made of ice, she could just use her mana and regrow the ice limbs, and convert them back to flesh again.
This did take an egregious amount of her mana, but luckily for her, in her current form, she had more than enough to spare.
The reason she wasn't using the ice body to fight was because of how low its defenses are.
Exactly.
Unlike the ice formed when she uses spells—like Ice Wall and such, the ice used to make her ice body was much weaker. Hence why she couldn't tank basic spells when fully made out of ice.
It's also why Sera never fully transformed her entire body into ice, and only transformed sections of her body, and only when she felt that she was about to receive serious injuries.
It's a very effective use of the spell, if I do say so myself.
In short, as long as both her core and mana remained while she was in this form, then Sera was practically immortal, as she could just regrow any lost limbs.
Of course, she couldn't hold the spell that gives her the ability to turn herself into ice for long.
"Arrogant human," Tarantus snarled. "You'll die for that."
Noctura charged in again like a wild beast, shadow blade raised for a killing strike that made no distinction between friend and foe. Her black, pupil-less eyes burned with primal fury.
Sera reacted instantly, summoning a thick ice shield just in time. Noctura's blade slammed into it with terrifying force, cracks spiderwebbing across the surface.
Even if she herself had weak defenses, her spells were actually several times stronger and sturdier.
"Noctura! Snap out of it!" Sera shouted, her voice strained as she held the shield firm. "This isn't you!"
But Noctura didn't respond.
She unleashed a flurry of savage slashes, each one heavier and faster than the last. Sera gave ground, blocking and parrying every strike with ice constructs while still refusing to counterattack.
Her Glacier Overdrive-enhanced body held against the assassin's assault, regrowing a new ice limbs and reverting them back to flesh each time one was shattered.
But the relentless attacks from Noctura had forced Sera to focus entirely on defense—which was weaker compared to her normal state.
Tarantus's many eyes gleamed with cruel delight at the sudden chaos.
"Oh? How amusing," she purred. "It seems as though she has lost herself. Let me to help you!"
The demon surged forward, twin web-edged blades singing through the air toward Sera's exposed side while she was occupied with deflecting Noctura's frenzy.
Sera twisted at the last moment, catching one blade on her ice gauntlet and the other with the shaft of her spear. The impact jarred her bones, enough that they almost shattered, but she held.
"Get back!" Sera growled, shoving both attackers away with a burst of cold.
At this point, she was now fighting a desperate two-on-one—blocking Noctura's mindless aggression on one side, while fending off Tarantus's calculated, lethal strikes on the other.
Noctura's wild swings occasionally clipped Tarantus as well, forcing the demon to either dodge or parry. For several frantic moments, the room became pure pandemonium.
Shadow and frost clashed violently with hardened silk, the three of them spinning, leaping, and colliding in a deadly triangle of blades and spells.
Sera's breath came in ragged gasps. "Noctura! Remember your uncle! Remember why you're fighting! Don't let the power control you!"
Sera tried to reach her new ally, but her words seemed to have no effect on the frenzied assassin.
Noctura kept attacking anything that moved, forcing Sera to stay purely defensive. Tarantus laughed maniacally, pressing the advantage hard.
Every time Sera committed to stopping one of Noctura's overhead strikes, Tarantus would dart in with razor threads or sweeping blade arcs, bisecting the distracted mage.
Sera held her ground through sheer grit and enhanced stats, but the strain was visible. Sweat and blood mixed on her face as she danced between the two threats.
Most of her body—the section turned into ice, was either covered in cracks that threaten to completely shatter with one wrong step, or shattered completely.
Thankfully, she had a passive healing, which moderately reduced the cracks whenever they formed.
Then something shifted in Noctura's clouded mind. The feral haze momentarily cleared just enough for her predatory instincts to lock onto the biggest threat.
Tarantus.
She abandoned Sera and hurled herself at the demon with renewed savagery.
Tarantus met her charge head-on, their blades ringing violently. Noctura's reckless speed and shadow-enhanced strength pushed the demon back for the first time in the trump-card phase.
Sera immediately moved to intercept the two of them. "No—stay back!" She refused to let Noctura fight alone in her unstable state.
The moment Tarantus lands a clean hit or found an opening to use more of her toxin and swords, Noctura would die, and Sera knew that.
She threw herself between them again and again, blocking killing blows meant for the frenzied shadow assassin, as well as taking cuts and gashes that were meant to end the fight.
The three-way chaos continued, the ruined room shaking with every collision.
Finally, Tarantus had enough.
"Insufferable pests!" she snarled.
Thick layers of reinforced silk threads exploded outward in every direction.
Several strands caught Noctura mid-leap, wrapping around her arms, legs, and torso like living steel cables. The more she struggled, the tighter they cinched, slicing shallow cuts into her skin.
"You stay there," Tarantus ordered coldly, her eyes locked on Sera. "I'll finish you after I deal with this nuisance."
Noctura thrashed wildly against the bindings. The wires tightened further, blood trickling down her limbs. Rage and grief boiled over as Shadow Overload pushed her closer to the edge of sanity.
Kill… Kill!! KILL!!!
Then Sera's voice cut through the haze.
"This isn't you, Noctura! If you want to take revenge, at least stay sane enough to enjoy it. Not just for your uncle! But for yourself as well!"
Noctura froze.
She closed her eyes.
Memories flooded in, warm and bright against the darkness.
Her uncle's arms around her after a nightmare.
"It's going to be okay, everything's going to be alright. I'm here for you, and I always will be."
The gentle tease that always made her laugh.
"My brave little crybaby."
The quiet rooftop under the stars.
"It's because I have you. You are my reason. Every mission, every scar, every sleepless night—I come back because of you. Because seeing your smile, hearing your voice, watching you grow into the strongest, kindest woman I know… it makes every wound worth it."
His proud smile when he handed her the kunai.
"This was your father's, or was supposed to be at least. Regardless of that, it belongs to you now. Take it."
The feral hunger receded. Her black eyes flickered, pupils slowly returning. The purple aura around her began to stabilize.
She was still furious—but she was herself again. Then she took a deep breath, and started planning her next move, as her body slowly melted into an inky pool of shadows.
Sera and Tarantus clashed once more. Ice spear met web-edged blades in a storm of sparks—ice crystals mixing with silver silk. They danced across the ruined room, floor slick with silk, ceiling heavy with frost. Each collision rang like shattering glass and whistles.
I can't last much longer like this, Sera thought, her muscles burning. Hurry up, Noctura…
Her mana is nearly gone. Tarantus realized with dark satisfaction. The end is near.
They broke apart, both bleeding heavily, skin cracked and sliced. Blood pooled across the floor.
"Time to end this." Tarantus declared.
"Agreed," Sera replied, raising her spear. "Eternal Blizzard!" she thrust forward.
A blinding bluish-white beam of absolute cold lanced toward the demon.
Tarantus coated her blades with crimson toxin and swung down—making an X with the twin blades, attempting to bisect the attack.
The beam split in two, but the freezing pressure that emanated from it continued, slamming into the demon.
The temperature plummeted. Tarantus's swords began to crack. Frost raced across her limbs, crawling into open wounds and freezing her from the inside out.
Just as victory seemed within reach, Sera's mana ran dry. She dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
"Huff... Huff…" Tsk, I used too much mana...
Tarantus exhaled in relief. "It seems this is all you're capable of. Typical for a mere human." she said, her body trembling from the cold.
She advanced, one sword raised high.
"Any last words?" she asked with a satisfied grin.
Sera lifted her head, a confident grin on her lips. "You idiot... I was never... going to be... the one to kill you..."
Tarantus sensed the movement too late.
A girl in a torn dark ninja outfit appeared behind her, glowing purple pupils illuminating her narrow eyes. "Distracted much?"
Noctura moved like lightning.
The midnight colored kunai flashed in a devastating purple blur—stabbing every eye, slicing through web clothing and chest, carving deep into the abdomen, severing both arms and the remaining legs, then bisecting the torso from the lower body in one final, devastating stroke.
Tarantus collapsed in a twitching heap—a ruined torso and head, her chest exposed, blood pouring across the floor.
Her voice box had been the first thing sliced, and she could only gurgle wetly—attempting to murmur something, her eyes wide in shock and agony.
And then, something impossible happened. Tarantus smiled—faintly, almost impossible to tell whether she was smiling, or trying to speak.
Noctura stood over her with a cold, empty stare.
The demon's body slowly dissolved into drifting dark mana and vanished.
Revenge was finally hers, yet the victory felt hollow.
She had lost everything. Again. And no matter how many demons she killed, her uncle, her parents, will forever be gone. Taken from her.
"Good job…" Sera whispered, barely conscious. "I knew… you could... do it."
Noctura dropped to her knees, then fell onto her back beside Sera, utterly spent.
"I hope... the others... are okay." she murmured.
"I'm sure... that they're fine." Sera replied weakly, waving a tired hand.
The male silhouette settled silently between the two—legs crossed, hands neatly clasped, radiating calm curiosity.
That was a good rematch, the best fight I've seen yet. the male silhouette said with a nod of acknowledgement.
—Meanwhile—
Suddenly, every remaining spider monster convulsed and collapsed, dissolving into dark mana that drifted away with the wind.
Thomas lowered his fists. "Guess those two finally finished the job."
Vlad smiled. "Told you they could handle it."
"Still... I wish I could've smashed a few more of these spider monsters." Thomas grumbled.
Vlad laughed. "There'll be plenty more monsters on the road ahead. For now, let's go find those two."
The two warriors made their way toward the mansion to regroup with the others.
Grimveil—or what little remained of it, was finally free of demons.