A transparent dagger appeared in Saquin's right hand.

[ Crystalisse. ]

And a black one in his left.

[ Black-Ink ]

"Besides, it would really look good on my resume... To have killed five Divines."

Boom!

He and Viva shot at each other at the same time.

In no time they met as the surrounding bore witness to their fierce strength and lethality.

BANG!

Saquin's crossed daggers, one crystal-clear, one liquid shadow, met Viva's descending claw in a shockwave that flattened the grass for twenty meters. Purple-black energy crackled against the cold poison of Black-Ink and the pristine lethality of Crystalisse.

Saquin skidded back, his boots carving trenches in the soil. His arms sang with a numb vibration. Stronger. Again.

[ This is your last opportunity to reconsider, Young Master, ] the World Will's voice cut through the combat haze, calm and intrusive. [ Subduing a Divine asset is a strategic victory. Wasting it is a child's pride.]

"Wasting it?" Saquin gritted his teeth, using a micro-**Blink** to sidestep a follow-up lunge that cratered the earth where he'd stood. He reappeared and slashed, opening a thin line across Viva's muzzle. "This thing tried to bury me. It's a rabid animal. The only thing it's good for is my kill count."

Viva shook its massive head, the wound sizzling with ice before the purple aura swarmed over it, sealing the flesh. Its eyes, twin pools of ancient malice, never left Saquin.

[ Your 'kill count,' ] the World Will echoed, a hint of dry scorn in her tone. [ 'Five Divines.' You are fixated on the number. I advise against pursuing that particular milestone just yet.]

Saquin danced back from a whip-fast tail strike, the air cracking like a gunshot. "Why? Afraid I'll get a big head?" He launched forward, not to strike, but to weave, his Martial Body Movement turning him into a ghost between Viva's swipes. He was conserving energy, studying the new rhythm of its attacks.

[ The reasons are my own for now. But consider: you did not truly 'kill' Mia. Nor did you kill yourself. Your tally is, by any rigorous standard, three. A respectable number for an Initiate. Greed for a higher score is unbecoming.]

"Three, five, what's the difference?" Saquin scoffed, his focus split between the conversation and the lioness whose movements were becoming terrifyingly efficient. No more wasted motion. Its pounces were calculated, its swipes aimed to corner him, not just hit him. "The difference is a statement. I'll make one."

[ You are stubborn. ]

"I'm decisive."

A heavy silence followed, filled only by the sounds of combat: the whoosh of massive limbs, the shink of claws tearing air, Saquin's own controlled breaths. He was a leaf in a hurricane, but a leaf that chose exactly where the wind would take him.

[ Very well, ] the World Will conceded, her finality like the closing of a vault door. [ I shall watch. Let us see if the predator is capable of killing the storm. Remember, the Divines you slew in the Trial were infants, cut off from the Senar that is their birthright. This… is different.]

"I've noticed," Saquin muttered, watching a claw graze the spot his chest had occupied a nanosecond before. The displaced air felt like a punch.

[ Her inheritance awakens, ] the World Will observed, as if commenting on the weather. [ Much like your Unliving Ability whispers secrets of the grave, her blood sings with the art of the hunt. Every exchange teaches her. Every evasion schools her. You are not fighting a beast; you are fighting an evolving library of violence.]

Saquin felt it. Viva was learning. Faster than any creature had a right to. Its attacks began to flow, to feint, to use its bulk not as a blunt instrument but as a wall to limit his space. The mindless violence was crystallizing into a savage, primal combat style.

Fine. If you can learn, so can I.

He stopped attacking entirely.

His world narrowed to motion. To the flow of Senar in his muscles, to the precise angles of dodge and weave. He pushed his speed, not with raw power, but with efficiency. He channeled strength not into his whole body, but in bursts to specific muscle groups—a micro-explosion in the calves for a sharper juke, a tightening of the core for a impossible mid-air twist.

He was being pushed, and in the pressure, he found new edges to his own form. He became faster.

Viva, in response, became faster still. Its purple aura pulsed with a hungry light, its body growing denser, more potent. It was a feedback loop of escalating power, and Saquin was feeding it with his own evasion.

He saw the moment its instinct shifted, predicting his next dart to the left. Time to break the pattern.

"Phase two," Saquin whispered.

He changed tactics immediately.

{Blink}

He vanished from her vision.

He went on the offensive.

In his right hand, a dagger of pure, oily darkness materialized. [ Black-Ink ].

It was shaped exactly like his other dagger, Crystalisse, but its nature was fundamentally different. As Saquin gripped it, the {Cold Fist} skill active on his hands bled into the weapon. The black blade frosted over, taking on the Ice Poison attribute.

But that was just a bonus. The highlight of Black-Ink was its density—or lack thereof.

Saquin appeared by Viva's flank. He slashed.

Shhhink.

There was no sound of tearing flesh. No resistance. The dagger moved through the Divine Beast's hide smoother than a hot knife through butter.

Saquin didn't stop. He moved in a furious, untraceable blur.

Shhhink. Shhhink. Shhhink.

He carved huge, gaping gashes into the beast's legs, shoulders, and ribs. Blood sprayed, freezing in mid-air due to the cold aura.

Viva roared, beaten down by the sudden, overwhelming offense. She staggered, her massive body twitching as the damage mounted.

Just as her Damage Absorption Ability flared to life, trying to knit the flesh back together and convert the pain into power, Saquin appeared by her exposed neck.

He dismissed Black-Ink.

In his hand, the transparent, glass-like dagger appeared.

[ Crystalisse ]

He stabbed it once. A single, clean puncture.

Then, he retreated.

Saquin blinked twenty meters away and simply sat down on the grass, crossing his legs. He watched the beast twitch in agony with utter indifference.

"Game over," he muttered.

Crystalisse was not like Black-Ink or the Ice Poison. It didn't deal damage that could be absorbed. It dealt corruption.

The Senar poison seeped through Viva's entire body, corrupting the blood and fluids, turning them into crystalline structures. It was a guaranteed death sentence. One cut was all it took. Any more would be redundant.

Saquin watched, waiting for the light to leave those malicious eyes. He waited to prove the World Will wrong.

But then, he realized that Divines were truly built different.

The purple aura around Viva didn't fade. It spiked.

It erupted from her body like a geyser, thick and violent. Saquin watched in awe as the massive purple energy separated entirely from the beast's twitching physical form.

The energy swirled, condensed, and then took shape.

It took Viva's form.

A ghostly, purple lioness stood next to the dying physical body.

As the purple aura-twin stood there, the physical body of Viva—the one filled with Crystalisse poison—began to decay rapidly. The flesh turned grey, then dust, crumbling away in seconds as if aged a thousand years in a heartbeat.

Poof.

The body was gone.

And the purple aura coalesced, solidifying into flesh, bone, and fur.

A new Viva stood there. Perfectly healthy. Unscathed. Her murderous eyes trained on Saquin with renewed hate.

A notification appeared in Saquin's vision born of his skill [ Observe ].

[ Ability Witnessed: Life Exchange (Divine). ]

The World Will's sigh was the sound of cosmic patience worn thin.

Saquin's mouth hung open. He slowly climbed to his feet, staring at the reborn beast, then at the pile of ash that was his certain kill.

A low, incredulous laugh escaped him.

"Well," he said, the word filled with a newfound, grudging respect. "I'll be damned."

---

Meanwhile, in the skies above the ruins of Oke City.

Shalis hovered effortlessly, her silhouette cutting a sharp, elegant figure against the grey clouds. Her eyes looked down with a mix of boredom and amusement.

Below her, the activity in the human encampment had reached its peak. Engines roared to life, and armored vehicles began to roll forward, kicking up dust as the expedition force prepared to breach the city limits. They were seekers, scavengers, and soldiers, all drawn by the vacuum of power left behind, hoping to pick the corpse of the city clean.

Shalis waited patiently.

She let them gain momentum. She let them believe the city was theirs for the taking.

Only when the lead vehicle was mere meters from the boundary line did she finally move. A small, chilling smile graced her pale lips.

She did not shout, yet her voice, laced with Senar, resonated clearly in the ears of every single human and Empowered below, drowning out the roar of their engines.

"Orders from Divine Saquin: no living being shall step foot in this city."

The convoy ground to a halt. Confusion and fear rippled through the ranks as they looked up, trying to spot the source of the voice.

Shalis tilted her head slightly, her smile widening just a fraction.

"Of course," she added, her tone light, almost helpful. "If you wish to go against the order, I can help you. By making you a non-living thing."

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