Joy sprinted across the vast plain, the relentless rain pelting her green skin with cold, stinging droplets that trickled down in icy rivulets, soaking through her clothes and mingling with the earthy scent of wet soil churned beneath her pounding feet.

Her breath escaped in hurried gasps, ragged and sharp, tasting of metallic exhaustion on her tongue, her lips blurring with each exhale as she pushed onward, a fierce determination burning in her chest like a stubborn flame, resolute to reach Tyler no matter the cost, she ran and ran, concern twisting her stomach into tight, nauseating knots that made her insides churn with every stride.

Flashes of the woman confronting Tyler invaded her mind unbidden, vivid and relentless: the stranger's dominance, overwhelming him with ease, Tyler overpowered, seemingly mashed beneath her assault.

She had believed Tyler was strong, very strong, an unyielding force, but this shattered that illusion, revealing that others existed who could surpass him, who could truly hurt him.

The realization hit her like a sour bile rising in her throat, making her question her assumptions and amplifying her fear for him into a deep, gnawing dread that clawed at her heart, urging her legs to move faster despite the ache building in her muscles.

But as she charged ahead, a deafening boom shattered the air, a deep, resonant thunder that sent tremors rippling through the ground like a subterranean quake, vibrating up through her soles and into her bones.

It slowed her run to a hesitant jog, her momentum faltering until she came to a complete halt, her gaze locking onto a small black sphere hovering up ahead, its surface absorbing the light with an unnatural hunger that sent a chill skittering down her spine.

Then, abruptly, the sphere vanished, dissolving into nothingness as her breath heaved in heavy, labored bursts, her chest rising and falling with the effort, her eyes widening in stunned disbelief.

But something even more bizarre erupted then, in the sky high above, amid the roiling clouds, an explosion bloomed: a massive black sphere imploding outward before ballooning into the heavens, shoving the clouds aside with violent gusts that howled faintly, carrying the acrid scent of scorched ether.

It was a colossal orb of deepest dark, encasing a small, pulsating purple core that flickered with eerie light, vast enough to rival a moon plummeting toward the earth, transforming what had been into an all-encompassing void that seemed to swallow the sky itself.

Joy's face etched with raw fear, a wide-eyed terror that drained the color from her features and twisted her expression into one of primal alarm.

She stumbled backward, her legs buckling beneath her as she fell hard onto her butt, the damp ground squelching coldly against her, jarring her spine with a dull thud that echoed her pounding heart.

The sphere radiated with a low, humming vibration that thrummed through the air like an electric current, charging the atmosphere with a faint, buzzing tingle that raised the hairs on Joy's arms and carried a subtle, metallic tang, until it suddenly shrank with a speed that defied comprehension, collapsing inward in a blur of motion.

It vanished from sight as if it had never existed, leaving behind a sky already scarred by its absence.

No clouds lingered, the vast expanse reverting to a pristine, unblemished blue, almost as though the rain had been a fleeting illusion, the scent of petrichor fading rapidly into crisp, dry clarity.

The sun now blazed openly, its warm rays piercing down with renewed intensity, bathing the plain in a golden glow that felt both liberating and unnaturally abrupt, as if a shroud had been torn away.

Suddenly, an invisible force buffeted her, a gust of wind slamming gently but insistently against her body, carrying the fresh, invigorating scent of cleared skies mingled with the lingering damp earth.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the pressure, the rush whipping her hair and stinging her skin, then blinked them open, pushing herself up from the ground with palms pressing into the cool, squelching mud that clung to her fingers.

She gazed upward, surprise washing over her in a dizzying wave, widening her eyes and quickening her breath with a mix of awe and disquiet that fluttered in her chest like trapped wings.

she wondered if the woman was the cause, the thought twisting uneasily in her mind, but it couldn't have been, this felt different, beyond her grasp.

Nor was she certain it was Tyler; it seemed unlike anything he could conjure, too overwhelmingly powerful, too profoundly wrong, stirring a deep-seated unease that coiled in her gut like a shadow.

She took a hesitant step forward, the grass yielding softly underfoot with a wet crunch, then another, her resolve hardening amid the tremor in her limbs, before breaking into a run once more, her feet pounding against the slick blades, each impact sending jolts up her legs as the dry wind lashed her face with a brisk, invigorating bite that carried hints of distant wildflowers.

Meanwhile, Anna gripped her bow tightly, the smooth bone biting into her palms, her teeth clenched in a grimace that pulled at her jaw with tense frustration, her fingers hovering uncertainly over the string as doubt churned within her like a stormy sea.

*What do I do? Do I fire at him? But what if he catches it again and turns it against me?*

The questions raced through her mind, laced with a sharp edge of fear that made her pulse throb in her ears, her breath shallow and uneven. She had witnessed what Tyler was capable of, the way he had seized the arrow she fired before, twisting it with that alien power and hurling it back, missing her by a mere inch, yet imbued with a devastating force she couldn't comprehend.

Its dark energy left a lingering chill on her skin and an acrid aftertaste of ozone in the air that still haunted her senses.

Anna's gaze locked onto him, unblinking and sharp, as he took a deliberate step forward toward her, his eyes fixed on her form where she still hovered in the crisp, sunlit sky.

The air now carrying a faint, invigorating freshness devoid of storm's heavy dampness.

She gritted her teeth, the enamel grinding with a subtle rasp that echoed her inner turmoil, thinking to herself, *Damn it, do I call for backup?*

The dilemma twisted in her mind like a thorn burrowing deeper, stirring a bitter regret that soured her mouth and tightened her chest with a suffocating weight.

As the thought lingered, memories flooded back unbidden, the others' disdainful glances, their whispered doubts about her capability to handle missions solo, tasks befitting a pale reaper, each recollection hitting her like a cold splash of water, filling her with a hollow ache of self-doubt that made her fingers twitch restlessly on her bow.

She recalled how she could have ended Tyler right then, the instant their paths crossed, a swift and clean strike, but curiosity had stayed her hand.

A burning need to uncover the nature of his power that now curdled into profound regret, a nauseating wave that churned her stomach and heated her cheeks with frustration.

Her arrows, once her unerring allies, had been turned against her, a betrayal that left a lingering sting of vulnerability prickling her skin.

But Tyler advanced now, striding toward her with the shadowed sword in hand, its once-silver edge now steeped in darkness like viscous oil, yet flickering with the illusion of a living flame, tendrils of black undulating faintly, carrying a subtle, acrid whiff of charred ether that hung in the air with each measured step.

His footfalls were eerily silent on the damp earth, his movements controlled and unnervingly calm, exuding a quiet menace that quickened her pulse.

*If I have to kill him, there's only one thing I can think of.* With grim resolve hardening her features, Anna angled her bow skyward, the string taut under her pull, her eyes glowing with a faint, ethereal white that cast a soft luminescence on her skin, illuminating the faint scar from the earlier graze with a ghostly sheen.

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An arrow of pure light materialized between her fingers, pristine and radiant, already nocked as if summoned from the ether itself, its surface humming with a clean, invigorating energy that tingled against her fingertips like fresh snowfall.

She released it upward in a graceful arc, activating her skill, Archer's Domain.

The arrow fragmented mid-flight, blossoming into what appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands, of identical shafts, scattering across the heavens like a cascade of white shards that blanketed the sky, their collective glow diffusing the sunlight into a hazy, pearlescent veil and filling the air with a subtle, crystalline chime that resonated faintly in her ears.

Suddenly, as they hung suspended, each arrow multiplied once more, splintering into five duplicates apiece, the proliferation swift and mesmerizing, saturating the expanse above with an overwhelming density that pressed down like an impending storm of light, the air growing thicker with the electric buzz of amassed power.

The arrows saturated the sky like a canopy of gleaming white needles, their pristine shafts catching the sunlight in sharp, fragmented glints that cast a hazy, ethereal veil over the landscape, filling the air with a subtle, crystalline hum that vibrated faintly in Anna's ears, stirring a mix of exhilaration and tension in her chest.

Yet Tyler pressed on, his stride unwavering, the spectacle above seeming to leave him utterly unfazed, his expression a mask of focused calm that sent a flicker of irritation tightening Anna's jaw.

Her heart quickened with a blend of defiance and unease as she drifted backward slightly through the air, the dry wind tugging at her hair with a brisk, invigorating whisper.

Then she spoke, her voice cutting through the stillness with a taunt laced in steely resolve, "Let's see if you can catch something way faster and bigger than you."

She drew back the string of her white bow with a swift, practiced pull, the material creaking faintly under the strain, and an arrow coalesced into existence, forged entirely from deep blue, dark ice that gleamed with an inner frost, its surface slick and radiating a biting chill.

She released it with a snap, the arrow hurtling forward through the crisp air toward Tyler, expanding mid-flight with an ominous groan, swelling larger and larger until its shaft thickened to a colossal ten feet across, the arrowhead ballooning to match the size of Tyler's entire body.

A monolithic spike of frozen malice barreling toward him with a low, rumbling whoosh that displaced the air in gusts heavy with the sharp, metallic scent of impending frost.

Simultaneously, arrows from the sky plummeted toward him, not in rigid lines but in a chaotic ballet, dancing erratically, swarming in unpredictable clusters, twisting and veering as if alive with intent to disorient, their collective descent whistling through the atmosphere like a swarm of angry hornets, carrying a faint, icy tang that prickled the senses.

Tyler halted abruptly, his boots sinking slightly into the damp earth with a soft squelch, and gripped his sword with both hands, the shadowed blade humming faintly in his palms as he fixed his gaze on the oncoming behemoth, a surge of involuntary tension rippling through his trapped form, his muscles coiling like wound springs despite the force controlling him.

With a fluid arc, he swung the sword, unleashing from its dark edge a slash of pure shadow, a curved blade of inky void that expanded rapidly, growing in tandem with the arrow's scale, its surface writhing with tendrils of blackness that absorbed the light and exuded a subtle, acrid whiff of charred nothingness.

It collided with the arrowhead in a resounding clash, slicing clean through and cleaving it in two, but as the halves parted, the arrow shimmered with a blinding white luminescence, erupting into a vast blue mist that billowed outward like a frigid fog.

It enveloped the ground in a dense shroud heavy with the cloying, damp chill of glacial vapor that clung to the skin and muted all sounds to a muffled hush.

Anna stared at the swirling blue mist, its ethereal tendrils coiling lazily across the ground like frozen breath given form, and thought to herself with a grim certainty laced in doubt, *That alone should be able to kill him... but I doubt it.*

The realization twisted in her gut like a cold blade, her mind racing with the lethal promise of her creation,as soon as he breathed it in, the vapor would crystallize his lungs from the inside out, a searing frost that would turn every inhale into shards of ice scraping raw tissue.

Even mere exposure, standing enveloped in its chill embrace, would freeze anything solid, every fluid in the body hardening into unyielding crystal.

A figure burst from the heart of the mist, launching skyward with a resounding boom that echoed like thunder trapped in a bottle, vibrating through her bones and rattling her teeth.

It was Tyler, unscathed, his form cutting through the clear air with unnatural grace. Anna's eyes widened, a surge of shock widening them until they burned with the strain, her heart slamming against her ribs as Tyler hurtled toward her at abrupt, blistering speed, closing the gap in a blur that defied reason.

He swung his sword the instant he arrived mere inches from her, the shadowed blade whistling through the space with a low, ominous hum that carried the acrid scent of devoured light.

She gritted her teeth, the grind audible in her ears amid the rush of adrenaline, bending backward in a desperate arch that strained her spine with a fiery ache, the sword's dark edge brushing her nose in a feather-light graze that left a fleeting chill, like the kiss of midnight frost.

As Tyler's strike missed, a shadowy slash peeled away from the weapon, arcing off into the air like a detached crescent of void, slicing silently upward before dissipating into nothingness.

*What?* The thought flashed through her mind, sharp and bewildered, laced with a spike of frustration that heated her cheeks.

She dropped immediately to the ground, her feet hitting with a resounding thud that jarred her knees and sent a dull vibration up her legs.

*He was so fast, but it doesn't make any sense. He just jumped...*

Her thoughts fragmented, cut off abruptly as Tyler appeared to kick the literal air with his feet, the motion propelling him forward, the space beneath exploding with a concussive boom that rippled outward in visible waves.

He spun toward her like a ball, limbs tucked in a chaotic whirl, clearly losing control yet radiating an unpredictable menace that quickened her breath to shallow pants.

Anna leaped away in a fluid bound, her muscles coiling and releasing with honed precision, the wind of his passage whipping past her with a brisk sting as Tyler landed on his feet, driving his sword downward into the ground.

The strike unleashed a resounding explosion, a deep, earth-shaking blast that filled the air with the scent of scorched soil and shadowed ether, carving a crater in a wide, jagged circle, as if the very earth recoiled in fear from his touch, fracturing outward with brittle cracks.

Shockwaves surged through the air like invisible hammers, slamming into her with bone-jarring force and hurling her backward, tumbling through the crisp blue expanse, her world a dizzying spin of sky and ground.

As Anna steadied herself in the air, the cluster of arrows hovering in the sky surged forward.

They skittered through the sky in erratic, jerking rhythms, dancing and weaving to throw off any prediction.

The entity wearing Tyler's skin stood rooted on the frozen ground, his bare chest exposed to the biting wind. Shadow-smoke coiled lazily around his pants and boots as he watched the oncoming storm with a hollow, deadpan stare. As the first arrow snapped toward him, he whipped the blade up, a precise, mechanical blur intended to sever the projectile.

The arrow detonated inches from his face, a deafening crack of compressed air.

The sonic explosion hammered against Tyler's bare torso, the shockwave rippling through his skin. The force lifted him off his feet, flipping the body backward. He hadn't even touched the ground when the second arrow caught him right beneath the ribs.

BOOM.

The concussion blasted him sideways. The body absorbed the violence in absolute silence, limbs flailing only from the physics of the blast as he was juggled by the explosions. More arrows screamed in, detonating in a rapid, thunderous chain. He was tossed like a ragdoll, slamming into the dirt only to be hurled back into the air with the next eruption of pressurized sound.

High above, Anna watched the brutal display. She saw the enemy trapped in the chaotic rhythm, unable to find footing.

*It's working,* she thought, her eyes narrowing. Now.*

She drew her bow once more. This time, the string didn't hum with tension; it seemed to weep. An arrow woven from pure, ghostly white light materialized between her fingers.

"Mana Destructor," she muttered.

She loosed the shaft.

The arrow screamed toward him just as a final explosion left him suspended in mid-fall. The Entity's eyes remained wide and vacuous, tracking the blinding beam of light with the cold indifference of a statue.

The arrow struck Tyler's bare chest. The shaft sank smoothly into him, passing through muscle and bone as if he were made of mist, burying itself deep inside his core like a phantom returning to its haunt.

The Mana Destructor arrow hummed deep within Tyler's chest, a discordant vibration that Anna could feel even from the air.

She lowered her bow slightly, her lips curling into a breathless, triumphant smirk.

She knew exactly what was happening inside him. The arrow was dissolving his mana pathways, burning through his circuits like acid through lace.

It was a pain worse than amputation, a spiritual flaying that should have had him writhing in the mud, screaming until his throat tore.

"Collapse," she commanded, the word sharp with released tension.

Tyler's body jerked. A web of brilliant blue light erupted beneath his skin, tracing the lines of his veins.

Arcs of uncontrolled lightning crackled from his fingertips and ears, snapping against the air. The energy surge was violent, tearing at him from the inside out.

But he didn't scream. He didn't even blink.

The Entity wearing Tyler's skin simply looked down at its own chest, watching the blue lightning arc across its pectorals with the mild curiosity of a man watching a bug crawl across a table.

Anna's smirk faltered. "What...?"

The blue light didn't dim; it intensified. But then, the color shifted.

The pristine, destructive blue began to curdle. A deep, sickly violet bled into the light, swallowing the blue, corrupting it.

The lightning that arced from his body turned black.

*He's not breaking,* Anna realized, a cold spike of confusion driving into her gut. *His pathways... they aren't shattering.*

They're expanding.

The Entity rolled his shoulders, the movement accompanied by the wet, popping sound of mana forcing its way through flesh.

He wasn't just healing; the Void inside him was gorging itself on the disruption, stretching Tyler's limits to hold the excess power.

Just die!" Anna shrieked, the composure of the Pale Reaper fracturing into raw, confused fury. "Why won't you just die?!"

High above, a cluster of twenty white arrows peeled away from the thousands suspended in the sky.

They didn't fall; they accelerated, streaking toward him like orbital strikes. She didn't aim for a direct hit, she knew he might catch them. She aimed for the space around him.

The arrows converged and detonated simultaneously.

BOOM.

The sound was a physical hammer, a sphere of pure compressed air that pulverized the ground beneath him. Dust and mud vaporized instantly into a choking cloud.

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