Ryn's hand dropped.

"Now."

Everything happened at once.

Fritz roared as his Blessing erupted, radiant force flooding his body in a blinding surge.

[Determination] flared like a second heartbeat as he launched forward, stone cracking beneath his boots from the sheer force of his charge.

At the same time, flame erupted around Amelia.

Heat warped the air as she shifted into Flame Queen stance, fire coiling tight around her limbs instead of exploding outward. The water around her began to boil, steam rising all over the floor.

Taylor's eyes snapped open as phantom chains curled around Kharvos, binding him to the ground.

Jay was already moving backwards.

He didn't look at Kharvos. He watched everyone else, hands glowing a faint green as he prepared to support the others.

And Ryn—

Ryn saw death.

Too many versions of it.

[Limited Foresight] screamed to life as the future fractured in front of him, branching timelines tearing across his vision in violent overlap. Blood spilled instantly from the corners of his eyes, vision blurring as he forced it into focus.

Blood spilled instantly from the corners of his eyes, vision blurring as he forced it into focus.

"Left—NOW!"

Fritz twisted mid-charge, radiant force tearing sideways as a blade of water carved through the space his neck had occupied a heartbeat earlier. The shockwave alone blasted him off his feet, skidding across boiling stone.

"Amelia—down!"

She dropped without hesitation. A pressure wave burst overhead, ripping through steam and mist before detonating against the far wall, stone exploding outward in a spray of molten fragments.

"Taylor—cut it!"

The phantom chains snapped apart just as Kharvos moved.

He stepped forward, and the battlefield rearranged itself.

The water surged violently, steam collapsing into a blinding fog as his blade flashed. Taylor reacted instantly, chain flaring as she tried to pull Fritz out.

But she was too slow, as Fritz still slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the floor beneath him.

"Still alive," Kharvos remarked calmly.

Ryn's breath hitched.

His vision fractured again, futures overlapping, of Amelia laying in her own pool of blood.

"Back—three steps—NOW!"

Amelia retreated just as Kharvos's follow-up strike obliterated the space she'd been standing in, fire and water detonating together in a violent eruption.

They weren't fighting at all.

They were trying their best not to get killed.

Ryn wiped at his eyes with shaking fingers, vision swimming.

"Again," he rasped. "Same plan."

Too fast.

The futures came apart as soon as he touched them, splintering and collapsing before he could sort one from another. Every outcome ended the same way.

Death.

Kharvos moved again.

One instant he stood where the water pooled deepest, the next he was already in motion, blade flashing through mist and steam alike. The surge came without warning, power flaring so violently that even Ryn's foresight lagged behind it.

"Shit—!"

The strike landed first.

Ryn was hurled aside, Snow came up just in time to keep his ribs from caving completely as he skidded across the flooded floor, armor screeching against stone.

Jay hesitated—only for a heartbeat. He had just finished healing Fritz and was running toward Ryn to do the same.

Amelia reacted on instinct, conjuring a large wall of fire to gain space between them and buy time.

But Kharvos had went right through it.

He reappeared behind her, blade descending in a brutal, efficient cut that left no room for hesitation.

"DOWN!"

Amelia dropped flat as the strike tore through the space above her, carving a trench through the floor and sending water exploding upward in a violent wave.

Steam still churned through the chamber as Jay skidded to a stop beside Ryn.

"Hold still," he snapped.

Green light flared, pain receding just enough for Ryn to draw a full breath. His vision steadied, still bleeding but usable.

Just in time.

Kharvos shifted his momentum to go for a wide overhead swing.

Ryn saw the opportunity.

"Amelia—NOW!"

She was already moving.

Fire condensed around her palm, heat screaming as she drove forward and released it point-blank. The detonation thundered through the chamber, a compressed blast of flame and pressure erupting between them.

Kharvos crossed his blade instantly.

The flat met the explosion head-on.

KK—BOOOM!

The impact launched him backward.

Water exploded upward as he skidded across the flooded floor, plunging his sword into the ground to slow the momentum before he rammed into the nearby pillar of stone.

Silence followed.

Just the hiss of steam.

Amelia staggered back, smoke curling from her arm, breathing hard.

Ryn's heart pounded.

That had worked.

…But why?

Even if her firepower was impressive, someone on Kharvos' level would've been able to dodge it easily.

After all, he was a whole two Realms above her.

Nonetheless, distance opened between them for the first time since the fight began.

Kharvos straightened slowly, rolling his shoulder once as if testing it.

Ryn wiped blood from his eyes, forcing his thoughts to line up.

Fast.

He stared at Kharvos, at the way his stance had shifted, the way he was breathing heavily, and the way he hadn't surged forward immediately.

And then Ryn remembered.

Kharvos Bloodmane, a champion in both this life and his previous. King of the beastfolk and uniter of Dheam through blood and conflict.

But the one thing that every had revered him for, was his speed.

Specifically, his Blessing:

[Adrenaline].

A forced acceleration, compressed into a moment and pushed past the body's natural limits. Enough to bypass reaction…to decide fights before they properly began

Every strong Blessing always had its downside, and Ryn knew what Kharvos' was instantly.

The time was now.

"Don't let him recover!"

The battlefield erupted.

Fire crashed down from above as Amelia launched herself upward on a pillar of flame, hurling compressed fireballs in rapid succession. Each explosion detonated in quick succession, almost like a chain reaction.

Kharvos twisted, dodging just narrowly as each blast exploded just by his feet. He weaved and dodged, each attack getting closer and closer to his body.

But that was when Ryn appeared behind him.

With Snow in hand, he swung upward toward Kharvos' head, forcing the champion to block using his blade.

But once again, it was only a distraction.

Chains slammed down.

Taylor's phantom bindings wrapped around Kharvos' limbs, holding him in place. It wasn't long, not even a second, but just that one fraction was enough.

That was all it took.

An alchemical bomb sailed in from the side, targeting not Kharvos himself, but his feet.

The explosion thundered, sending shockwaves through the water and launching debris upward as Kharvos was forced back again.

However, Amelia was already there, waiting.

Another round of fireball detonated point-blank, the blast slamming into the flat of his blade and sending him crashing through a curtain of steam.

The barrage continued. Ryn followed up with his blade. Taylor, her chains. And Jay, his bombs.

Kharvos cut down one attack only to be forced into the next, every defense demanding more speed, more power.

Just as Kharvos expected the next beat to come, Jay's thunder pot to explode…something else happened.

Instead, crystal shrapnels burst forth from the small canister. They fast, and in such a way that they completely surrounded his legs, holding him in place.

But that wasn't the problem, out of the corner of his eye…he saw it.

Gremory's Hero Candidate stood at the edge of it all.

Sword held still.

Eyes closed.

Radiant light bled from his body, steady and unyielding, as if it had decided to exist there no matter the cost. The air around Fritz warped under the pressure of it all.

Kharvos laughed.

A low, amused sound, even as crystal restraints locked around his legs and pressure crashed down from all sides.

"You think this is enough?" he said calmly. "I can break this before he ever reaches me."

Radiant light surged as Fritz stepped forward, blade trembling under the weight of his Blessing.

Kharvos shifted his stance, power coiling tight—

And then, he noticed it.

For the first time since the fight began, the champion looked up.

Something small spun in the air between them.

A coin.

So ordinary that it almost didn't register. Small and dull, tumbling end over end as it fell.

Ryn vanished.

One moment he stood below, blood streaking down his face—

—the next, he was beside Fritz.

Kharvos' eyes widened.

Before he could react, space folded again.

They disappeared.

And reappeared.

Right above him.

For a single, frozen instant, the scene locked into place: Kharvos at the center of the chamber, restraints cracking around his legs; Fritz suspended overhead, sword blazing with condensed radiance; and Ryn—

Ryn let go.

He dropped away, vanishing downward in a blur of blood and motion, leaving Fritz alone in the air.

The light around Fritz surged, blade pointed straight at Kharvos like a falling meteor. The pressure warped the air itself, tearing through the chamber as [Determination] finally unleashed everything it had been storing.

Kharvos looked up.

For the first time, there was no time to move.

He tore free of the restraints in a violent snap and hauled his blade up with both hands, [Adrenaline] detonating as he met the descent head-on.

Steel met light.

And the impact exploded, seemingly hard enough to slow down time, before it finally remembered what had happened and decided to flow again.

A blinding shockwave of radiant force tore through the arena, light screaming outward in a perfect ring as water was blown flat against the walls.

Pillars cracked, stone groaned. The chamber shuddered violently as the ground beneath them buckled.

For a heartbeat, it held.

Then the floor split.

Cracks spider-webbed outward from the point of impact, racing across the chamber faster than sound—then the stone gave up entirely.

The ground shattered completely.

And everyone fell.

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