In front of me, Garrum walked forward, his broken silhouette swaying beneath the torn light of the sky. His steps left smoking imprints in the ground, and the shadows behind him seemed to stretch open like a path. He wore that sick smile — the one men wear when they've lost everything and no longer seek victory, only the destruction of whatever reminds them they once failed.

I gathered what little breath, clarity, and mana I had left.

I knew there weren't many openings left, but I didn't need an opening — just a spark.

My fingers tightened around Lyseria. The staff trembled faintly, tired as well, as if it knew what I was about to do.

— "H₂… O₂…" I whispered.

Mana condensed in my palms, invisible at first, then the air began to glow around Garrum. He froze, wary, his gaze flickering between confusion and instinct. Too late.

The spark ignited.

A white light burst between us — soundless, shadowless. The shockwave that followed shattered the earth, upturned trees, bent mountains. Everything dissolved in a muffled roar. I had just enough time to meet his eyes before the blast swallowed him whole.

The explosion consumed everything.

The ground split open, a shockwave raced across the plain, tearing up rocks, roots, bones. For an instant, there was nothing but light — pure, total, absolute. Then silence fell again — a silence almost gentle, the kind that always follows disaster.

I no longer felt my legs. I think I fell without realizing it. My left ear was ringing — a sharp, unbearable whine — and my vision blurred. The world had become nothing but a trembling blur of dust and fire. The air still burned.

I tried to rise. The ground vibrated beneath my fingers. And that's when I saw it.

A movement.

A dark mass.

Something was stirring in the ashes.

Tentacles.

Thin at first, then thicker, coated with a glossy substance like living tar. They stretched out of a gaping hole, clutching at the scattered pieces of flesh around them. I watched, powerless, as each tendril snatched up debris — fragments of bone, scraps of skin — and dragged everything toward the pulsing center of that writhing mass.

A black heart was beating there — vile, obscene. And slowly, Garrum's form rebuilt itself around it.

Flesh reknit, bones reformed, metal and stone fused again. The tentacles withdrew into his back, leaving behind moving, glistening scars — like mouths waiting to open.

Within seconds, he was standing again.

But it wasn't Garrum.

Not anymore.

From his back, several misshapen tendrils still hung, swaying lazily in the air, dripping black fluid that corroded the ground wherever it fell. His eyes had lost all trace of humanity: two slitted pupils, sickly yellow, burning with something that didn't belong to this world.

I pushed myself up, unsteady, breath ragged. Lyseria pulsed, reacting to his presence as if recognizing something it had once faced long ago.

I drew in a slow breath, the taste of iron rising in my throat.

— "So… you really sold your body to demons, Garrum?" I said hoarsely. "What happened to your pride?"

His face twisted, jaws clenching until they whitened. The tentacles behind him writhed, reacting to my taunt.

— "My pride?!" he roared. "You trampled my pride every chance you got! You humiliated me, Kaito — again and again — until there was nothing left!"

His voice shook, torn between hatred and pain.

Then he spat the words like poison:

— "You even stole the woman I would've given everything for."

I froze, my heart skipping a beat.

— "…Sylvara?"

His laugh wasn't one — more a cracked sound, bitter, twisted by resentment.

— "Yes, Sylvara, Kaito. If you didn't see it, we all did. She only has eyes for you now. Always you. The human. The little hero. The perfect leader."

His eyes rolled back in fury. His skin cracked, and the tentacles whipped behind him like living scourges.

I stared at him for a long moment, saying nothing. The silence stretched between us — heavy, suffocating. Then a smile came to me. Small. Unbidden.

— "So that's it…" I said quietly. "All this. For a woman. And a duel you lost?"

A rough, broken laugh escaped me — uncontrollable. It echoed through the empty valley, bouncing off the rocks, grotesque. I couldn't stop it.

Garrum stared at me, confused, teeth bared, pupils trembling between rage and disbelief.

I lifted my head slowly, met his gaze, and answered in a calm, almost sorrowful tone:

— "You're so pathetic, it's almost funny."

His tentacles stiffened. The ground shuddered under his step. And in his scream this time, there was no hatred, no pain — only the promise of slaughter.

I rose, struggling, every muscle screaming, my knees trembling under the weight of a body already far past its limits. My fingers closed around the warm, living wood — a foreign heart beating in my palm. My breath faltered, blood pounding in my temples — and yet, around me, the world seemed to slow.

The ashes fell lazily. The flames barely swayed. And in that suspended instant, it felt as if even the wind held its breath. In front of me, Garrum advanced, more monstrous than ever. His tendrils stretched through the air, black and slick, leaving trails of corrosive steam. His skin pulsed with dark vibrations, and every beat of his heart made the earth tremble.

I lowered my eyes to Lyseria, brushed it with my thumb, and whispered softly, almost tenderly:

— "Let's go, Lyseria. Our last dance."

The staff vibrated faintly, as if in answer.

I raised my gaze. My breath steadied. My heart quieted. And in that absolute calm, a cold, clear certainty bloomed deep within my chest — unshakable, final.

— "This time," I breathed, "I'll kill you for real, Garrum. Even if it costs me my life."

I dug my heels into the earth. And the world snapped back into motion.

Garrum roared, his tentacles lashing toward me. I barely had time to bend my knees — the first one sliced the air a few centimeters from my head, whistling like a massive whip. Another grazed my shoulder, searing my skin. The stench of acid rose instantly — the black ooze dripping from his limbs was eating through stone, making the ground hiss.

I pivoted, rolled aside, and struck back. Lyseria arced perfectly, cutting through the air, deflecting the tentacles with a powerful sweep. The impact sent a rain of burning droplets hissing around me like toxic hail. Garrum barely staggered before lunging again, his limbs striking from every direction.

I blocked, dodged, countered.

Every blow rattled through my arms; every movement demanded everything I had left. Lyseria lengthened, contracted, vibrated to a rhythm only my body understood. We were bound — inseparable — one will animating two forms.

I called upon Genesis.

The air shimmered, thickened. Shards of light appeared suddenly, forming moving lines that danced between us. I shaped the energy — creating mirages, flickering motions, unstable reflections to disrupt his strikes. A burst of golden mist rose, blinding — I used it to leap forward and strike diagonally.

My staff hit his chest, releasing a shockwave that made the entire valley quake. Garrum bent under the blow, his tentacles recoiling for an instant — but he roared again, guttural, inhuman, filling the sky with sound. He struck back, his arm falling like a hammer of steel. I barely parried, knees sinking deep into the earth.

The fight became a torrent.

Our blows clashed endlessly — no breath, no pause, no mercy. Wood and flesh, light and shadow, colliding in a furious dance. The trees bent under the wind of our strikes, the dust turned to storm, mana thickened the air until it hummed.

I no longer thought. I no longer breathed. I was motion, rhythm, strike. Garrum kept advancing, tireless — and yet, I could feel his fury cracking, his pace slowing, his precision faltering.

We both stepped back, panting — one step, then two.

Silence returned — not true silence, but that of worlds ending. The kind where wind, fire, and heartbeat all fall quiet before the last note.

Our eyes met.

Everything froze.

I knew this was it — the moment. The one that decides everything. The one where life, death, hatred, and fate all merge into a single gesture.

My fingers tightened around Lyseria.

The wood thrummed, hot, ready.

Now's the time, I thought. The final blow.

I drew a deep breath. And in Garrum's eyes, I saw the same realization — that one of us would not see tomorrow's light.

I ran — as fast as I could, each step pounding the ruined earth like a bell of doom. In front of me, Garrum charged too, monstrous, his tentacles unfurling in a tide of rage and shadow. We were no longer men — just two forces, colliding, unstoppable. The air shook, the ground tore under our feet, and I felt the world itself hold its breath.

This was the end.

The final exchange.

One heartbeat left.

I raised Lyseria — the wood burning in my grasp — ready to strike, ready to end it all. Garrum did the same, his arm sheathed in steel, his eyes split with gold and hatred. And when our gazes met, there was no pity, no grudge — only that primal need to end what we'd become.

We charged.

And suddenly, everything froze.

The air folded. The light warped. And through the thunder of our steps, a calm voice cut in — sharp as a blade.

— "Enough."

I recognized it before I saw him.

Oratius.

He stood there, motionless, between us. Not a mirage. Not an illusion. Real. Tangible. His dark coat rippled in an invisible wind, his eyes glowing with a light even death would refuse. He hadn't taken a single step, yet the space around him warped, as if he alone commanded it.

— "The Demon King wants you both alive," he said simply, his voice resonating through my chest.

The world began to tremble.

A single, sharp snap rang out — and before us, exactly where our paths were about to collide, two portals burst open.

I tried to stop, to pull back, but it was already too late. Gravity shattered — my body lifted, drawn into the blue light spreading before me. Garrum screamed too, swallowed by the other vortex.

Our cries vanished into the distortion.

— "Oratius!" I shouted, voice breaking.

He looked at me without expression — his figure still, framed between the two abysses, like a god watching two insects he'd just condemned.

— "You both have a role to play," he said calmly.

Then the world tore apart.

I was swallowed by blue light — my body splintering, breath ripped from my chest. The last thing I saw was Garrum disappearing on the other side, his scream mingling with mine, and Oratius, motionless amid the ruins, his eyes turned toward the sky.

And then everything faded.

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