The battlefield simmered with heat. The air itself seemed to ripple around Nara as her essence flared wildly around her.
Across from her, the towering creature stood battered and scorched. Its arm that was sliced off had already regrown. As its last remaining wounds healed, small drops of green blood sizzled as it hit the burning ground. But it wasn't the pain that fascinated him. It was her.
"…Interesting." The creature muttered, as his jet-black eyes studied Nara with sharpened curiosity.
"This one's essence is a bit stronger and much wilder."
Nara grinned, her long sharp teeth barely hidden behind lips. It wasn't the grin of someone excited for a challenge, it was the grin of a predator finally let off its leash. She wanted this.
Sylas's voice rang out from behind her.
"You got two minutes mini destroyer. If it's not dead by then, I'm stepping in."
Without looking back, Nara responded.
"Don't get your hopes up, goldilocks. I'm not planning to share my food."
The creature's head tilted slightly at their banter, amused.
"No answers then. Only blood." He paused, his eyes flicking upward as if it was looking through the clouds, to something unseen.
"Still… I can sense it. The one I seek is coming. The being who will arrive soon to give me all the answers I need…"
Its legs tensed, muscles bulging.
"But until then… I'll kill the rest of you."
The ground shattered beneath him as he vanished, reappearing in a blur in front of Nara, his massive arm cocked back for a monstrous punch. Finn's eyes widened.
"So fast—!"
The blow landed square against Nara's face with a boom like a bomb went off.
A ripple cracked across the ground, fissures spiderwebbing from beneath her feet. Dirt shot up like geysers, smoke billowed, and yet… she didn't move.
Not even an inch.
The creature's fist trembled against her face, his expression shifting ever so slightly as his mind tried to reconcile what it was witnessing.
Even Finn was stunned.
"She… tanked it?" He whispered.
Nara's hand crept up slowly, gripping the creature's wrist like a vice grip before she peeled his fist from her face. Blood trickled from her nose and down her lips, but her demonic smile only widened.
"My turn." She whispered.
She twisted the creature's arm backward with a sickening crack, his elbow bending the wrong way. Her sword slammed into his midsection and launched the towering alien across the battlefield.
As his body sailed through the air, he caught a glimpse of her already standing far ahead in his flight path.
She met him with a vicious uppercut.
The impact sent him rocketing skyward.
Her wings burst open before she disappeared in a streak of fire, reappearing beside him, above him, around him… everywhere.
She struck from every angle, juggling him in the air like a pinball machine before sending him screeching down to the ground after kneeing him in the face.
Finn stared in stunned silence.
"She's toying with him…"
As if she heard him, she glanced over to Finn making eye contact with him for a short moment with a smirk.
Her attention quickly snapped back to the crater where the alien creature was and the scales along her neck began to glow.
Her chest swelled before…
"Draconic Inferno!"
A massive fireball, almost as large as the battlefield, cascaded down to the ground like a collapsing star. The impact sent a shockwave of heat across the wasteland.
The crater below erupted in flames.
There was nothing but silence.
Nara hovered there for a moment, wings flapping as she began her descent slowly.
From within the inferno, the creature—its grey flesh charred, began to move then slowly sat up.
It sat there silently for a short moment as if it was completely speechless and having a hard time processing what was going on. That was until it heard a crunch.
It lifted its head up to see Nara walking through the fire toward him.
Her bare scaled feet stomped the scorched ground with every step. She dragged her jagged behind her leaving a trail of molten dirt.
Not only that, the flames… they began to bend… toward her sword.
All of it.
It's as if they were drawn into the blade like offerings to a hungry god before being devoured.
The creature's breath trembled. He tried to speak.
"Wha—"
But Nara was gone.
And then reappeared right in front of him.
SHK!
The next moment, his lower jaw hit the dirt.
"What's that? Didn't quite catch that." She said, tilting her head curiously.
Her leg snapped forward, burying into his chest. The alien flew again crashing into a boulder.
Finn watched from the ridge, his brows furrowing.
"…600,000… 605,000… 610,000…?" He muttered aloud, more to himself than anyone else.
"What's going on? It's… getting stronger?"
Sweat rolled down the side of his face.
"That doesn't make sense. It's supposed to be a C-ranked head guardian, right? Just a few of those attacks from Nara should've wiped it out completely. Why is it still—?"
"You're mistaken." A voice interrupted, but it wasn't Sylas.
It echoed with an ethereal clarity, almost regal in a way.
Finn blinked, scanning the area.
"Who—?"
"It's me." The voice replied again, this time clearly coming from Sylas's sword on his back.
Finn's head whipped toward Sylas.
"…Did your sword just talk!?"
Sylas didn't react nor respond to him. His red eyes narrowed slightly.
"So… you're certain then?"
"I am." The sword replied.
"There is no doubt. Every guardian, no matter its rank, resonates with the essence of the well from which it was born. Each cosmic well has a unique spiritual frequency and that one… does not belong to this well."
Sylas's jaw tightened.
"You're saying…"
"Yes." The sword confirmed.
"That guardian… is from a completely different well."
Finn's heart skipped.
"How is that even possible!?" He blurted out.
Sylas glanced over his shoulder at him.
"I don't know. But it goes against everything we've ever known about the guardians and the nature of the wells."
He turned back toward the battlefield, beginning to descend the rocky slope toward Nara and the mysterious guardian.
"And that means—"
He gripped the handle of his sword.
"—we can't let it live."
On the licensing station,Astra leaned closer to the screen. Her crimson eyes locked onto the guardian now kneeling and panting, its grey skin cracked and steaming.
Ari'Va nervously approached from behind.
"Ma'am…?"
But Astra raised a hand to silence her. She was deep in thought.
"…A different well?" She muttered under her breath.
Her mind raced. Her data pads had never shown anything like this. A guardian from another well manifesting… unbound by local essence? That was unthinkable. Impossible.
And yet…
She stared deeper at the screen.
"…Fascinating."
Back on the battlefield, the guardian shakily got back to its feet. Its head rose slowly… just in time to see Nara descend from the air and land several meters in front of him.
She looked like a creature that just escaped from hell, steam rising from her body, a demented smile still etched across her face.
The guardian watched as she raised the sword high above her head.
"Sorry, Kaito…" She muttered, grin widening.
"But I'm ending this now."
"Wait." Sylas's voice rang out.
Nara's eyes shot wide open and her head whipped back so fast it nearly snapped her neck.
"HUUUUH!?"
"What do you mean!? I've still got a whole minute left!"
Sylas walked beside her, calm and composed.
"Yes… but the situation has changed."
He stopped beside her, eyes locked on the guardian.
"That thing… needs to die now."
Nara stared into his eyes. For once, her grin faded. There was no teasing. No sass.
"…You're serious." She muttered.
Sylas nodded.
"Analyze it. Use your scanner."
She turned slowly, narrowing her eyes at the guardian.
????: 720,000… 725,000…
Her expression shifted.
"…It got stronger again?"
????: 730,000… 735,000…
"No… It's still climbing…" Her voice was quieter now.
"That's almost B-rank…"
She lowered her sword.
"What is this thing?"
The guardian, now standing fully upright, turned its gaze toward Sylas.
It paused, eyes narrowing as if it was studying him. Then it looked at the sword on his back. Its stare deepened.
"…You." It muttered, voice deep and raspy.
"Your essence is different… purer. And that blade…"
It took a step forward.
"…That sword has the same essence as me. But… why has it taken that form? Why does it fight with you?"
Its voice was filled with a childlike curiosity despite its monstrous tone.
"I don't understand these things—these thoughts. But I… I want to understand more."
It clutched its chest.
"This thing you call… life."
Sylas unsheathed his sword slowly, golden essence surging around him. His voice was calm but stern.
His essence burst outward.
It seemed as if this air began to scream.
The ground cracked. Rocks lifted from the ground. Lightning danced across the sky.
Finn stumbled back, shielding Luis's unconscious body with his arms as his scanner went wild.
Sylas: 900,000… 1,400,000… 2,100,000… 2,700,000…
Finn's mouth dropped open.
"This rise in essence… it can only be—!"
Sylas and his sword both spoke in unison, voices overlapping like a chant from two souls merged into one.
"Resonance."