"I'd rather fight an S-rank vampire than a corrupted goddess," Ryan muttered, dragging himself back onto his feet. His voice shook, but the attempt at humor couldn't hide the pallor on his face.
Luciana's lips curved in a bitter smile. "I didn't want to say it, but… I told you so."
Arthur's gaze never left the towering figure before them. His tone was flat, heavy. "That was only one orb corrupted. If it had been her full power, that scream would have erased us."
Ryan let out a dry, nervous laugh. "Great. I feel much better now."
"Everyone, use everything you have," Arthur ordered, his voice cutting through the tension like steel.
The air shifted as mana surged from him in a radiant wave. Two golden wings burst from his back, their light scattering the shadows, while a transparent armor of divine brilliance locked into place around him. In his hand, light itself condensed and stretched until it became a gleaming sword.
One by one, the others followed. Nature, shadows and blood flared into existence, their gathered mana howling together like a storm, whipping the air into a frenzy that rattled even the pillars around them.
Arlasan moved first, charging headlong, his blade a comet of steel. Luciana darted the opposite way, abandoning her usual distance. This time, claws as black as night grew from her fingertips, curving wickedly as she bared her teeth in something between a grin and a snarl.
The corrupted goddess stirred. A sound like stone grinding against stone slipped from her throat as her gaze fell upon them, silver eyes gleaming with malice, black sclera swallowing any trace of divinity. Then, with nothing more than a flick of her hand, a gale exploded outward.
The force slammed into Arlasan and Luciana mid-charge, tossing them like broken dolls across the hall. They hit the ground hard, skidding back dozens of meters before they could brace themselves, the floor cracking under their weight.
Behind them, Elna's blade of shadow streaked forward, carving arcs of black light, while Briva loosed a volley of arrows that burned with Edgarth's enchantments, each bolt whistling with lethal precision.
The corrupted goddess raised a single hand, almost lazily, shielding her face. The shadows cracked against her skin and the arrows shattered in midair, splintering harmlessly to the ground as if they were no more than twigs tossed against stone.
Leo seized the opening. Blood surged down his arm as he slashed, a crimson wave tearing toward her. He didn't stop there, his sword flared again, dripping with scarlet power, and he charged right behind his own attack, eyes locked on her chest where the orb pulsed faintly.
For an instant it seemed the strike might land. But the goddess's right hand twitched, already bound in Ryan's branches from Shifting Realities. She should have been restrained, yet impossibly her arm rose, ripping the bindings apart like brittle twigs.
Her palm met Leo's slash. The Blood Slash shattered. Before he could even adjust, her hand snapped forward and met his blade head-on.
The impact was catastrophic. A shockwave rippled out, the sound like steel screaming. Leo resisted for a heartbeat, then the goddess's strength blasted through. His body shot backward like a cannonball, crashing into one of the colossal pillars. Stone exploded, dust choking the air, his form embedded a meter deep in the wall before crumbling down.
She advanced, shadow spilling from her frame, but Arthur moved.
His golden sword, now the size of a tower, materialized beside him and lunged forward with divine force. He guided it with one hand, the other clenched at his side, light spilling off him in burning waves.
The blade struck down.
But her reflexes were monstrous. She twisted, her pale hand rising to meet the holy weapon. Fingers closed around pure light and, with an expression of irritation more than effort, she snapped the sword in two. Radiance shattered into fragments that rained down like dying stars.
Leo, blood dripping from his temple, dragged himself back to his feet. He barely had time to rejoin before the goddess's mouth opened.
Another scream came.
A raw, bladed sound, vibrating through marrow, tearing into ears, burning against skin. The ground trembled beneath the weight of it. They braced, but it wasn't enough. She slammed her fists into the stone floor, amplifying the shriek.
A red aura burst around them, Leo's power, wrapping them all, muffling the sound. But even that shield strained, the blood vibrating dangerously under the force.
And then the ground betrayed them.
A thousand desiccated branches tore free from the earth, writhing like skeletal serpents, lunging with killing intent. Ryan roared, stepping forward. His own branches surged, weaving into a barrier. Wood smashed against wood, the sound like bones grinding. He clenched his jaw, sweat pouring, as his shield began to splinter.
Just as the last of his defense gave way, another surge ignited, Luciana's blood flared outward, twisting into a tornado around them, crimson walls grinding the onslaught to a halt. The branches shrieked and shattered against the vortex, the storm of blood holding fast where raw strength had failed.
With the last branches splintering apart, the goddess came back into view, her form towering, her presence suffocating. She raised her arm for another strike, yet the ground shuddered beneath them, harder than before. Dust cascaded from unseen heights of the endless hall. Even she faltered, her gaze snapping upward, her expression twisting with confusion.
The air itself split with a shriek like glass tearing. A jagged wound appeared in reality, a scar of lightless void that widened, cracked, and finally shattered. From beyond stepped a figure draped in shadow and bone, the twisted revenant of Archmage Aran, now a giant skeleton wielding a scythe that scraped sparks with every swing.
The last of the shadow-formed humans clung to him, their twisted limbs grasping at bone and cloak, trying in vain to bar his passage. They clattered against him like broken puppets, screeching as the scythe tore through them in lazy arcs, scattering their bodies into dust and smoke. Yet still they hurled themselves at him, dozens at a time, as if the city itself sought to deny his entry.
Unstoppable, the revenant dragged himself forward, each step shaking the ground.
The goddess turned, her silver hair whipping around her as her eyes locked onto him. For the first time, she ignored the mortals. In an instant, she lunged with inhuman speed, her strike shaking the hall.
"Move away!" Arthur bellowed.
They scattered, just as her hand collided with the skeletal titan's blade. The sound of impact was thunder made solid. Blow after blow followed, each one enough to pulverize stone, each shockwave rattling their bones.
Ryan, crouched against a pillar, let out a low whistle. "He's actually more helpful than I thought." A grin tugged at his lips, though it was strained.
Leo's expression hardened. "No. We need to intervene."
Briva snapped her gaze toward him, incredulous. "Why? Let them tear each other apart!"
"The orb's inside her," Leo said, voice sharp. "What if that… thing destroys it first?"
The words sank into silence. None of them wanted to admit the risk, but it was too real to ignore.
Edgarth broke the pause. "Leo is right. Arthur, you and the vampire girl keep the skeleton busy. The rest of us, Briva, the three illusionists, and me, we'll drag her down."
"What about me?" Arlasan asked.
"You get Varic out of here. Hide him. Then return and hit where it hurts most."
Without hesitation, Arlasan slung Varic over his shoulder and vanished into the shadows of the hall.
Elna's voice was steady, though her eyes flicked nervously between the two titans clashing. "How do we separate them?"
"Leave that to me," Edgarth muttered, mana already rising off him in heat-shimmer waves.
The air warped, and a thousand doors blossomed around them, orbiting like a storm of mirrors. His domain.
"Arthur, push them apart! Just long enough for me to drop one!"
Arthur gave a curt nod, his form glowing brighter as his sword dissolved and reformed into a spear. With a cry, he hurled it high, and it burst into a rain of golden spears that rained down on both monsters.
Before either of them could react, Arthur's shield ignited in his grasp. He soared into the air and slammed into the skeletal giant's shoulder, driving him back several steps. The impact cracked the floor beneath their feet.
That was enough. Above the goddess, a massive door yawned open, swallowing her whole. She vanished in an instant, only to be spat out through another portal, further away, her screech of fury rattling the pillars.
Leo and the others were already braced for her return. The moment the corrupted goddess emerged from Edgarth's portal, Leo snapped his hands forward. A Shimmering Dome of crimson light closed around her, while the floor beneath her buckled under his Gravity Trap. At the same time, Ryan's branches burst upward, thick and coiling, and Elna's chains of shadow lashed out, snaring her arms.
Leo whispered an incantation, and the bindings warped under his Weight Enchantment. The chains sagged heavy as iron, the branches groaned like trees in storm, and for the first time, the goddess faltered. Her movements slowed, every step a grinding effort.
Near Briva, a colossal bow of green light unfurled into existence, taller than she was. At her command, an arrow formed within it, its shaft glowing. Edgarth extended his hands, two glowing circles locked over the arrowhead, layering it with fire and lightning. He flicked his wrist, and a door opened in front of the bow, another directly before the goddess's face.
"Now," Edgarth murmured.
Briva let go. The arrow blazed forward, vanishing into the first door. It reappeared point-blank, right before the goddess's head.
And then the sky fell.
Boom.
The explosion ripped through the hall, a storm of flame, lightning, and nature's fury erupting all at once. The shockwave drove the air from their lungs, and dust mushroomed outward, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. The pillars groaned, cracks snaking up their massive forms.
Then, out of the choking haze, came a scream. A sound that wasn't human. The dust scattered under the force of it, revealing her form again.
The goddess was still standing. Bruised, scorched, skin split in blackened lines, but not broken. The fury in her silver-and-black eyes burned hotter than the fire clinging to her skin. Her scream warped into a roar as she hurled herself forward.
"Let's do this," Ryan growled, a manic smile twisting his lips.
Around him, phantom houses sprang into being, walls, roofs, entire streets rising from the void. They pressed together, folding and twisting, merging into something vast. With a sound like stone grinding against stone, they took shape, a titan of shifting architecture, taller even than the corrupted goddess.
The two colossi clashed. Wood and stone met corrupted flesh, their first blow shaking the floor beneath the mortals' feet. The goddess swung an arm upward, and in front of her a magic circle snapped into being, mana spiraling into a dense core. A beam of raw energy burst forth, screaming toward Ryan's titan—
—but a door yawned open before it. The blast vanished, only to reappear above the goddess, crashing down onto her own head.
Her howl rattled the endless hall.
Seeing the chance, Briva, Elna, and Leo moved as one, fanning out to strike from different angles.
Briva drew another arrow of pure light, smaller than her last but fired in rapid succession, each shot exploding on impact, peppering the goddess in a storm of radiant bursts.
Elna surged forward from the shadows, her blade lengthening unnaturally as if darkness itself had sharpened into steel. She slashed in wide arcs, black trails carving through the air, aiming to sever the goddess's legs and keep her grounded.
Leo charged from the opposite side, Blood Aura igniting around him like a storm of scarlet flame. He spun his sword once, twice, before unleashing a crescent of blood that tore across the floor, then followed it himself, a second strike poised to land the moment her defense faltered.
The corrupted goddess turned, silver hair snapping like a whip, her blackened sclera glinting with malice. Her body moved with an unnatural speed, one arm sweeping Briva's arrows aside, another catching Elna's shadow blade, while a blast of sheer force ripped outward, threatening to throw Leo off his feet even before his attack landed.
…
On the far side of the hall, Arthur faced the avatar of death itself, his fifteenth golden blade gripped in one hand, its radiance burning like a fragment of the sun. Each sword he summoned before had been shattered in the clash, but his stance hadn't faltered once, his armor of light still gleaming, his gaze locked on the skeletal giant.
A few meters off, Luciana unfurled two massive bat-like wings, their leathery span stirring the dust into a whirlwind. Her fangs had lengthened, sharp enough to pierce steel, and her claws gleamed like hooked daggers. Her blue eyes glowed with hunger, her smile twisted with the thrill of the fight.
Both of them had shed restraint. This was their full power, holy radiance and vampiric savagery, united in the face of death itself.