"It's using fear to control our bodies."

Brakhtar gritted out the words while straining against the bind that had turned his body rigid as stone.

Even saying it felt absurd. A Spark with a mind skill inside a Sanctuary where only Ignis Path beings should exist made no sense.

"Fear? How can an Ignis Path Spark have a skill like that?" Thalira forced the question through a mouth that barely obeyed. Terror felt seeded in every cell.

The bind itself was the kind of debuff only Aether or Nether Sparks should inflict, yet what they were witnessing refused to fit inside what their minds allowed.

Brakhtar stopped chasing answers and focused everything on breaking the bind cast over them. As an Aether Path, he understood mind skills, but even he was struggling to pry himself free.

"I'm sure now. This Spark is Rank 4." Brakhtar finally grasped the measure of the creature about to kill them.

At his words, Thalira and the others brightened. A moment earlier, the dread it radiated had made them fear Rank 5; learning it was Rank 4 gave them the thinnest hope of escape.

That hope grew with his next words. "I'll dispel the binding."

As his voice faded into the void, the flickering, illusory second head on his shoulders steadied and came to life. A bluish aura spilled from his body and spread outward, brushing anyone close enough to feel it.

"He is using his bloodline talent."

As they understood what Brakhtar was doing, relief broke from a few Practitioners. Others had no such luck. Several were already gone, swallowed by the giant serpent.

"Whatever you're doing, do it faster." Thalira, affected by the bluish aura coming from him, felt control returning to her body. But when she saw the giant serpent turn toward them, terror rose again, and she warned the ogre.

The serpent targeting Brakhtar was no surprise. It could sense he was doing something, and it was not in the creature's favor.

The warning sank in. The second head on Brakhtar's shoulders grew more solid, as if it were gaining flesh. His features tightened, effort carving lines across his face as he pushed himself to the edge.

"Hold on a little longer. Just a little more." Aware of how hard he was struggling, Thalira tried to cheer him up as she felt herself almost free of the binds; her hands could already move.

Even so, it wasn't enough; before she could move, the serpent was already in front of Brakhtar, a breath from swallowing him whole.

"Young Chief…"

The usually silent Gorathim cried out, dread breaking their voices at the thought of losing their future leader.

They struggled against the bind and threw everything they had into freeing their bodies to save their liege.

Nothing worked. All they could do was watch the giant maw descend to take him.

Then something changed.

A vast, deep pressure rolled across the region like a wave and settled like nightfall over everyone. The serpent's mouth stopped a breath from him.

The only thing they saw was a flash of silver across their vision. In that brief distraction, the serpent recovered, and its jaws snapped on empty space, tearing a bite from the void where Brakhtar had been.

"That was close," Thalira murmured, dragging Brakhtar's 4-meter body by the arm. If she had been a second later, the ogre would have been in the creature's stomach.

What had created that split-second opening, though, remained a question on their minds.

Just before the swallow, a heavy presence had settled over everyone, strong enough to make even the Rank 4 Spark hesitate and delay the strike. That pause was what spared Brakhtar's life.

"This feeling… it is him, right?" Thalira narrowed her eyes. She could still sense it pressing over her entire being, like a higher power making itself known.

"I feel like he is watching us." Brakhtar swept the void with his gaze, certain a pair of eyes were on him, yet found nothing and felt only confusion.

"Then he must be close." Some of the tension left Thalira's features. "If he is who he claims to be, we only need to survive long enough, right?" The meaning carried through the group.

They did not know Adyr's limits. They had never seen them. Still, knowing he was Elder Race and from the Central Region was enough to make them believe he could at least help them escape.

"I will try to slow its movements," Brakhtar said, steady and resolved.

He raised his hands to unleash a Spark skill. The second head above his shoulders still wavered with life; his bloodline talent remained active.

At the same time, he held the blue aura over Thalira and those near him, shielding them from the serpent's fear bind so they could fight without the debuff.

"Good. I will not go down without a fight." Confidence returned to Thalira. She lifted her silver rapier and charged it with light as silver and blue currents cracked across her body.

They knew they could not defeat a Rank 4 Spark, but even stalling their deaths for a moment would be enough if it bought a thread of hope.

By good fortune, that hope arrived sooner than they expected.

"Now or never. Go." A voice came from the distance, urgent and tight.

Heads turned toward the sound. A group of Practitioners was rushing in, aimed not at them but at the giant serpent, every weapon and skill ready to strike.

The mixed-race group? They were watching us? Thalira's surprise was brief. She had not expected them to come to assist.

Her doubts rose even more when she saw Maruun's fishlike features at the forefront, leading the small force of Practitioners.

Not long ago, during the Legacy Domain candidate selections, she had killed their 5-man team in the arena without mercy.

As their leader, Maruun should not have helped Thalira at all, especially not by risking his own life and his kin's.

Yet the proof was in front of her eyes.

"Look here, you giant worm. Want to test me?" Loudbark shouted from the back of his flying hound, loosing a bolt from his crossbow at the serpent.

The Aqualeth, the Obsidren, and others followed a heartbeat later, unleashing their long-range skills.

Nothing pierced the serpent's glossy, jet-black scales. Bolts and spells struck, sparked, and slid off without leaving so much as a scratch.

Even so, the barrage worked in one important way.

As they had planned, it drew the serpent's attention off Brakhtar and Thalira and turned its charge toward the newcomers.

"Oh, fuck, no one told me its scales were this hard." Loudbark yelped as his bolt clanged off and bounced away, his posture ready to flee at any second.

"Your courage does not match the path you walk, Houndkin." Rhadak planted himself before the group, a tall figure of dark stone, while his kin raised their defensive skills to meet the oncoming serpent.

"We only need to give them room to escape. Stay ready to run." Maruun spoke while spears of ice materialized one after another in his hands and hurled themselves at the serpent.

Their reasons were unclear, but the resolve in their faces was not. They meant to cut an escape path for Thalira and Brakhtar, even if it cost them their own lives.

***

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