Steel shrieked against wood, a raw, grating sound that vibrated through the air.

Merin’s twin daggers danced in a blur, each parry sending a jolt up her arms.

Tugnier’s massive club, swung with the force of a battering ram, shattering earth like glass with every missed strike.

A wave of raw, untamed aura slammed into Merin, pushing her back, dust swirling around her boots.

"Huff... uff..." she gasped, skidding across the uneven ground, her chest heaving, lungs burning.

"You seem to be on your last leg," Tugnier rumbled, his voice a low growl. He wiped a trickle of crimson from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, a fresh wave of blood welling up to replace it.

The wind slashes Merin inflicted earlier had opened a dozen shallow wounds, but the real enemy gnawing at him was the slow, creeping paralysis spreading through his limbs, a cold numbness that threatened to slow him down.

His breath hitched, a ragged sound, but his stance remained steady.

"You don’t seem to be in great shape yourself." Merin straightened, the twin daggers flashing as she shifted her grip.

Her eyes, sharp and calculating, never left his, even as her body screamed for respite. She took her stance, muscles coiling. If I wait for Oken and Fiona, this will—

"You still seem to be having hope." Tugnier’s lips curled into a predatory smirk, a flash of white teeth against his blood-smeared face.

He turned his back to her, a bold move, and pointed a thick finger towards the distant ridge of the valley.

"I think by now, it should have been started." He scowled, annoyed as more blood oozed from his mouth.

"What should have?" Merin’s gaze followed his finger, a prickle of unease crawling up her spine.

The valley, usually dotted with the white tents of the healing camps, stood starkly empty. No flickering campfires, no bustling figures. "What...?" Her voice, usually so steady, hitched. Her eyes widened, scanning the barren landscape.

The priests, the vital lifelines for her wounded warriors, were gone. She bit her lower lip until she tasted copper.

"What did you do to those servants of the gods?" Her voice, though low, vibrated with a simmering fury, a dangerous tremor.

"We did not do anything to them... in fact, we saved them from that poison." Tugnier spoke with an infuriating nonchalance, turning back to face her.

The blood, a dark smear on his chin, only enhanced the demonic cast of his features.

A tremor, cold and sharp, snaked up Merin’s spine. Fear began to eclipse her rage.

"Without healers... how long do you think your people will last against my commanders?" He took a slow step forward, his eyes burning with thundrous aura. "Let me answer it for you." His voice dropped to a chilling whisper, each word a hammer blow. "Not for long!"

Merin clenched her teeth, the metallic tang of her own blood filling her mouth. He was right. The realization slammed into her, cold and undeniable. The hours already stretched long. If she didn’t rush to them, if she didn’t find a solution now... they would truly die.

Her cold, analytical mind, crumbled under the fear.

There was only one way left.

Merin’s fingers trembled slightly as she reached to her belt and pulled out a small black marble, smooth as glass and darker than night.

Her eyes hardened. Aethercore. She had sworn never to use it unless defeat was certain. But right now, hesitation meant losing everything.

Tugnier’s grin widened when he saw the marble glint between her fingers.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath, rubbing more blood from the corner of his mouth. "The start of phase two." He lifted his club again, his muscles twitching from both anticipation and poison.

Merin brought the marble to her lips. Her soft pink lips closed around it, teeth crunching down until a faint crack echoed.

A thin mist oozed from her mouth as she swallowed the shattered pieces.

Her heart pulsed once, then again, harder. The veins across her neck glowed faintly. The air itself seemed to twist around her.

The Aethercore... a forbidden relic that forcibly squeezed the remaining mana from the user’s mana circles around the heart, converting every last drop into raw energy.

It oozes out every bit of mana required for functioning of circles. It rejuvenates maximum capacity of mana but at the cost of burning away the user’s very circles.

Broken circles meant a broken heart, quite often than not.

Only Merin could survive its toll; her revival toxins could mend the damage afterward. But even for her, it was a gamble. She could lose a circle. Or two.

Maybe even her life if her timing was off by a breath.

Debris around her lifted into the air, caught in invisible wind currents. Red sand, pebbles, and shards of bone spiraled around her form.

Her eyes gleamed, bright violet now, mana swirling behind her pupils like storms.

Dozens, then hundreds of distortions rippled through the air, as if the world itself was being peeled apart.

Tugnier’s lips curved into a half-grin. He stomped his foot. Thud! A thick wall of red sand surged up before him like molten stone.

Merin vanished.

The next instant, the wall exploded into dust as her daggers tore through it. Tugnier’s club came down like a falling meteor, a blur of force and weight. The ground screamed under its pressure.

Merin twisted, just barely dodging, her black aura trailing like smoke, cracking as she spun past him.

Air bullets rained toward Tugnier, but they hit nothing. His body faded into mist.

"An illusion," Merin hissed, eyes narrowing. "He made it when he blocked my view with that red sand."

She snapped her fingers.

BOOM!

Explosions burst across the battlefield, shattering the air like glass shards. Dozens of false illusions shattered and dissolved into smoke and sand. The sound of crackling aura drowned out the chaos until...

There. The real one.

Merin blurred forward, reappearing right before him. Her daggers met his club again, sparks scattering from the clash. The ground under their feet cracked apart.

If I can cut him even once, she thought, teeth gritted. Just one cut and the poison will finish it. With what he’s already inhaled, it’ll be over.

But Tugnier wasn’t giving her the chance. Despite his massive size, his movements were still quick and sharp. Every time she got close, that club was already there, blocking, twisting, striking.

Merin darted left, right, then high into the air, her feet pressing off invisible plates of condensed wind.

To anyone watching, she had become a blur, her body leaving streaks of black light that tore through the red sky.

Tugnier’s aura blazed blue and furious, thunder snapping across his body. The two colors, her black and his blue, clashed in wild flashes, lighting the battlefield in otherworldly hues.

To the few conscious guards watching, it looked like a battle between an angel and a demon.

Merin coughed. A harsh, wet sound. Blood spilled from her lips. Her hands trembled. The Aethercore’s side effects were kicking in, the mana inside her circles was burning out fast.

That tiny moment of weakness was all Tugnier needed.

He moved.

CRACK!

His club smashed into her stomach with bone-crunching force. Her eyes widened. The air left her lungs in a broken gasp.

She flew, like a doll thrown from a catapult, slamming into the rocky wall with a deafening boom

.

Dust fell from the cliffside as her body hit and rolled lifelessly to the ground.

Tugnier fell to one knee, coughing violently. "Ghhkk..." His chest heaved.

The poison was inside him now, crawling deeper every second. His skin was pale and trembling, veins darkened with black lines. Still, he forced himself to stand. He had to finish it.

He looked up, Merin’s body was twitching again.

Step by step, she rose. Her body swayed in the wind, but she stood. Her breaths were ragged, her chest rising and falling fast, but there was a smile on her face, small, tired, but dangerous.

Then she noticed it, Tugnier’s body shrinking.

Tugnier could make his body colossal by concentrating his aura.

But he could no longer maintain his colossal form. To keep his organs alive under the toxin’s assault, he was drawing his aura inward, losing his giant physique as a result.

He was weakening.

A faint twang cut through the chaos.

"Commander!" one of the SBV guards shouted.

The remaining conscious soldiers had drawn their bows. From the ridges, they loosed arrows toward Tugnier. The shafts whistled through the air, only to vanish into sparks as they met Tugnier’s aura. The thunderous crackle of his energy shredded them midflight, scattering ash and fragments.

"Ghkk..." Tugnier coughed again, blood dripping down his chin. His legs trembled.

That was when Merin appeared before him again, her daggers gleaming under the red light. Her smile widened.

"Shit," Tugnier hissed, his eyes catching the glint of her blades.

But before her daggers could strike, something flickered in her peripheral vision, two purple streaks.

Thwip! Thwip!

She spun in midair, crossing her daggers just in time to block the incoming strike. The impact sent her skidding backward, boots dragging long marks across the sand.

Her eyes narrowed. The daggers had purple aura cracking across them.

Then, a shadow rose behind Tugnier. Wooden spirals shot up from the ground, wrapping around him like roots, forming an oval-shaped barrier.

Merin’s grip tightened. "Who is.." she began, but then she froze.

Two objects rolled to her feet.

Thud. Thud.

Her eyes widened.

It was Fiona’s head. And Oken’s.

They lay side by side, eyes still open, staring blankly at the red sky above.

Merin’s breath caught. The world went silent.