A thunderous punch slammed into the Strayed tyrant, sending it tumbling to the ground. It seems Alter had begun the battle by landing a decisive blow.
Realm Thread surged forward. Twelve identical slashes formed and split the air as they charged towards their target; three of which landed against the Strayed Demon Ira and Bariealla were going to dance with, nine landed against the Strayed Tyrant, and the remaining three bit into the other Strayed Demon.
A tired gasp left the violet-eyed girl, "Cover me, Ira…" she said, her breathing shallow and rough.
The young girl could only grit her teeth in frustration and press on. Her lethal blade shot forward, whistling quietly with unnatural sharpness.
The beast lunged forward, too. Unlike the Strayed Fiend, it did not have a certain Grayish hue to it—rather, it was a deep dark shade of blue, allowing for a deadly capability to blend into the night sky—however, the False Sun shone brightly above their heads, providing it no cover to camouflage.
Not only that, but its eyes seemed to be a shade of murky gray, insinuating that they had horrendous eyesight under the light of "day".
They possibly relied on vibrations in the ground similar to the Dune Lord—or maybe they relied on hearing. Either way, a foe that relied on sound was a powerful yet pitiful being.
One could not confidently sneak up on such a being that relied on sound unless they were a master; and to a lesser extent, vibrations.
'Regardless of what it uses to sense me, I will still cut it down with my own hands!' Fury ignited inside her soul once more. A narrow dodge from the abomination's clawed hand later, her blade bit deeply into the creature's patella, one of the most important sections near the knee cap.
Quickly, it fell to its knees; at the same time, Bariealla was on the brink of recovering.
In retaliation, the Strayed Demon slammed its abominable hand into Ira's shoulder, her body flying dozens of meters away. Her body slammed into the ground and rolled across the floor, before finally crashing into the wall of a building.
◇
Leaning up against the wall, the young girl took in deep, struggling breaths; her mist flowing from out of her body and onto the ground. It swiftly moved towards Bariealla like a slithering snake, before coiling around her body and seeping into her being. Bari could feel her strength increase ten fold, nearly to the point it escaped human limits.
Now, Bariealla could feel the blissful augmentation Ira had been basking in. Although the mist transferred was the exact same, it did not apply the same effect.
Unlike Ira, who had Soul Resonance, an attribute that granted her both increased Echo proficiency and overall strength—Bariealla did not have the same.
She only had a single attribute to her name that had been practically useless since the moment of her awakening. 'Soul-Bound Tenacity… How useless.' The violet-eyed girl thought to herself.
Lunging forward at an inhuman speed, she herself was left startled. Her blade was not ready to strike her opponent down, her stance on the ground was horrid, and her breathing was not yet stable.
She was simply moving too fast.
Crashing into the Demon. They both were sent tumbling to the ground, one landing much heavier than the other due to its enlarged size.
Ira on the other hand, was clutching her chest as she struggled to stand. The air in her lungs had been stolen by the blow she had received, yet her mind remained sharp. Her first course of action was to determine whether or not the injuries she had received could prove fatal.
Embarrassingly, she lifted up her shirt and exposed the skin under. Dark bruises were apparent on her skin, encompassing three of the nearby ribs.
'My ribs feel as if they are bruised… At least they are not cracked—or worse.' A shallow breath escaped her wind-chapped lips.
Forcing herself upright, she gripped the blade in her hand tightly. 'Bariealla cannot win this alone… But what am I without my mist? Just your average Dormant Beast.'
Her grip on the blade faltered slightly. Her eyes dimmed with a feeling of wavering. She possessed no other mystical ability that granted her strength, only a few attributes that would not aid her much without her mist.
A ray of light slammed into a building a hundred meters away from her, snapping the young girl out of her thoughts. Its overwhelming destruction would soon reach her, and then it would reach the others. Even the Purge Beasts began to retreat.
Now was not the time to hesitate.
The ray of light was akin to extinction to all those in its range. Death held no mercy, and neither did the False Sun.
Leaping forward the silver-haired girl began to run away. The shock wave hit her first, her ears rang like a bell, and her body was sent tumbling to the ground—but that did not matter. Soon, a wave of hellish fire would engulf her body. And when it did, skin would melt, flesh would burn, and bones would char.
'Will this be how I die?! By a fellow human who could not control their aim!? I think not! Get up, Ira! Get up; god damn it!'
Despite the ringing pain she felt, and the aching pain in her side—she forced herself up once more, her teeth gritting together painfully.
Bariealla had somehow managed to body-slam the Strayed Demon onto the ground. Her body shot forward and away from the expanding mass of flames. The other Dormants had also begun to sprint away—although their speed was pitiful to that of Bariealla's enhanced body; Ira included.
The mass of flame had finally reached them, everything going black.
◇
When Ira woke, her body ached and stung in places it had been slightly burned in. Her ankle, too, was plunged into a sea of pain.
Glancing behind her, the young girl saw the sight of her twisted ankle. Perhaps she had dislocated it? Or maybe she had only damaged it slightly, and it would recover soon.
Whatever the case was, she would die if she could not even run away from her opponent.
Her gaze began to scan her surroundings. She saw the sight of Purge Beasts groaning and writhing in pain, dazed and injured. The Dormants, however, were relatively fine. The Strayed Demon they had been battling took the brunt of the damage. She could practically smell the scent of charred flesh coming off it.
Bariealla was in the best condition. With her enhanced body she had easily managed to avoid the ball of flames. 'That could have been me!' Ira thought to herself, a tinge of jealousy in her heart.
Finally, she saw the sight of the blade she once held a few dozen feet away from her. It was neither too close to reach but also not completely out of the picture.
Quickly snatching the mist from Bariealla's body, she augmented her own. 'I am not doing this out of jealousy—it is just that I need it more than her!' She told herself.
The Purge Beasts all around them began to slowly pull themselves to their feet—or whatever they used to stand. The humans only had a moment before they would be assaulted and possibly obliterated.
'Great… What amazing luck I possess! My ankle is possibly broken and these wretched beings are giving me no time to recover!'
The young girl needed to put more thought into her words. If these abominations had been Wretched, no being in all of Enlightenment could contend with them.
Decaius possibly could have, but he was from an era long ago, and most likely dead. He had challenged a Vile God born from the death of a different one, after all.