The Flesh Golem groaned again, a sound like grinding stone and torn canvas. Its stitched-together limbs scraped along the ground, each step a sickening thud. The thing was a grotesque mosaic of body parts, a mockery of life itself. The air around it warped with dark magic, the very trees wilting in its presence.
"This is not in my textbook," Alyssa muttered, her usual regal tone replaced by a note of sheer terror. "Its mana core is a vortex of corrupted energy. It's not just absorbing my magic, it's devouring it."
Danny drew his katana, its polished surface reflecting the sickly green glow of the Golem's eyes. "It doesn't care about your textbooks. It just cares about smashing us into a pulp."
He lunged first, a blur of motion. His katana slashed at the creature's thick hide, but the blade only bit a few centimeters deep before it was stopped by an unexpected resilience. The golem roared, and a dozen of the human arms stitched to its back lashed out. Danny dodged, twisting his body with practiced ease, but one of the arms caught him, sending him careening into a tree with a sickening thud.
"Danny!" Alyssa cried out.
"Don't call my name," he grunted, shaking his head. "It's bad luck."
The golem turned its attention to her. Alyssa raised her hands, trying to conjure a wall of water, but the polluted air choked the spell before it could form. "I can't purify it! The density is too great!" she yelled, stumbling back.
The golem was on her in an instant. A single, ape-like fist, clotted with mud and gore, swung at her head. Alyssa closed her eyes, bracing for impact. The blow never came.
Danny was there, his katana locked against the golem's wrist. The blade was humming with a low vibration, straining against the brute force. His arm muscles bunched, a testament to his Mageslayer training. "Think, genius!" he spat, his face inches from the golem's grotesque hand. "You're a water mage, right? What happens when water gets hot?"
Alyssa's eyes snapped open. "It turns to vapor… or steam!"
"And what happens when you hit something with a sword that gets hot?"
"It cuts through it!" she shouted, a spark of inspiration finally igniting. She knew what he was asking. She had to make his sword a medium for her magic. This wasn't about her protecting him; it was about her empowering him.
The golem's brute strength was too much. The sword bent and Danny was forced back, stumbling to one knee. "Now!" he yelled.
Alyssa focused her mana, not on a whip or a shield, but on the connection between herself and Danny. She poured her energy into him, bypassing the corrupted air and channeling her water magic directly into his blade. The katana began to glow, turning from steel-grey to a shimmering blue as the water within it was superheated. A low hiss filled the air as the steam began to rise from the blade's surface.
"This feels... weird," Danny said, a strange mix of awe and discomfort in his voice. "Like I just swallowed a hot spring."
"Just swing the sword!" she yelled back.
He didn't need to be told twice. The golem charged again, its arms flailing. Danny, now energized by Alyssa's mana, met its attack with a single, sweeping motion. The superheated katana sliced through the golem's thick hide like it was butter. Steam erupted from the wound, and the golem screamed, its monstrous form beginning to break down.
They kept up the combined assault. Alyssa would send a surge of her pure, cleansing mana into his sword, and Danny would use that energy to tear through the golem's corrupted form. It was a bizarre, almost beautiful dance. The Mageslayer, an embodiment of raw, physical strength, was now a conduit for the mage's elegant power.
Finally, with one last, desperate effort, Danny channeled every bit of Alyssa's power into a single blow. The blade glowed a brilliant white-hot, and with a primal roar, he plunged it into the golem's mana core. The creature shrieked, a sound of agony and finality, before it burst into a cloud of steam and a torrent of muddy water, leaving behind a foul-smelling swamp.
Alyssa, exhausted, collapsed to her knees. Danny leaned on his sword, his body trembling with fatigue. He turned to her, his usual impassive mask gone, a look of pure exhaustion on his face.
"Well," he said, his voice raspy. "That was… educational."
"Educational?!" she huffed, wiping a smudge of mud from her cheek. "I'm pretty sure I just invented a new form of magical alchemy!"
Danny just looked at her, his lips twitching in a rare, genuine smile. "I'm pretty sure you just made my sword really, really hot. Now help me up, Princess. We've got a swamp to wade through."