It could still sense them within the forest, but its visual feed was severely compromised.
Its best option was to remain wary of a sneak attack, since the humans showed no intention of fleeing.
The blades themselves weren't a threat, they were merely a means of blinding it. They shattered under sufficient force, so maneuvering through them to reach the humans should be simple.
As soon as it sensed one of them, it turned to see their defender charging forward, a bladed shield in his hands.
He was deliberately drawing attention to himself, most likely a diversion.
Someone else would strike, but from where?
It scanned its flank, kept its eyes on either side, waiting for an ambush that never came.
"Thanks for taking your eyes off me!"
Dylan's shout came just before he crashed into it.
The Shadowbeast reacted quickly, but when it tried to overpower him, it found the task unexpectedly difficult.
Somehow, Dylan could almost match its push. The barrier he'd formed around himself was cracking, but far too slowly.
That should not have been possible.
And the moment the air barrier finally shattered, Dylan leaped out of range of its bite, abandoning his shield in its jaws.
It crushed the shield into scrap and lunged after him, baited by the apparent futility of his plan, only for its legs to be sliced open by the blades beneath it, sending it crashing onto its stomach.
That should not have happened either. The blades shouldn't have been strong enough to inflict such damage. Yet when it cautiously rose and took another step, it hesitated, while Dylan continued retreating.
Not all the blades had pierced its hide, only a select few had. But there was no way to distinguish which were dangerous, so it had to limit its movements.
However, that was the wrong decision.
A shallow cut suddenly revealed itself along its neck.
Unmistakably, a blade had shot out from the ground on its own and sliced across its flesh.
This meant they had a method of attacking from long range. Staying still would be fatal.
It immediately turned toward the first signature it sensed and leaped high above the forest again.
This time, it ensured its trajectory would follow the red-eyed girl no matter where she tried to escape.
When it crashed through a row of reinforced blades, each angled deliberately toward it, it found itself face‑to‑face with the girl, who held two blades tied to her hands with strips torn from her jacket.
She was prepared to meet it head‑on. Her level seemed higher than before, and her determined eyes were locked onto it.
They both paused, each for their own reason.
She was waiting for her teammates to assume their positions.
While it tried to decipher how they intended this battle to unfold.
Then she charged without hesitation, sparks erupting as steel clashed against claws.
Its short arms were still dangerous, but it relied more on its legs to strike. Those were not something she could match directly. Even with her grip reinforced by Tzuri's scales, she struggled to deflect its kicks.
Litho's not retreating. I can't get cocky yet.
Its sole caught her forearm the moment she slashed its thigh, making it obvious that she had been baited.
Then, it yanked her to the ground and tried to tear her apart, but a combination of a barrier and an invisible force slowed its jaws just long enough for her to sprout an umbrella of blades that launched it off her.
I can't sprout as often as usual. Dylan won't be able to reinforce all of them. It'd just be a waste of authority.
She vaulted back to her feet and pursued, unleashing a storm of slashes that tore into the Shadowbeast as it tried to reorient itself mid‑air.
The moment they both hit the ground again, a barrage of crimson blades rained down from one direction, while Blue created distance once more.
"Do not let up! It's nowhere near going down!"
She shouted as Jínxī used the inertia within his domain to hurl every blade in range toward the beast.
To keep himself safe, he kept his domain close to his actual position. The beast could sense him anyway, so he needed to be able to defend himself in time.
When the rain of steel finally ceased, all they could see was a cloud of dust.
No sound followed, and for a moment, their anticipation faltered.
However–
BTOOM!
–A thunderous boom erupted as the Shadowbeast launched out of the dust cloud toward a distant point.
Far from its previous target.
It had identified the one supporting the group from behind the scenes, the one who had not yet revealed herself.
It had finally figured Whitney out.
And it had resolved to kill her first, above all else.
"Where do you think you're going?"
A voice came from its right just as its shoulder was pierced clean through, and the weight and momentum of a reckless body slammed it off its feet.
"You might be faster and stronger than me, but I've had to deal with a harsh Captain who's way more powerful than you!"
The moment it tried to retaliate, she vanished from its reach.
"So you can bet I can keep up!"
Her landing was messy.
She had to twist away to avoid being skewered by her own blades, but despite the heavy thuds and rolls, she was eventually back on her feet.
As she fought, frustration simmered beneath her focus. A feeling that made her understand Tyson a little more.
That Captain of theirs had brutalized her during her training, letting her be shredded by her own authority until she learned to create the crimson forest with every blade's position engraved into her mind.
It had also given her the ability to sense every piece of steel she sprouted.
Only now did she realize that he had been teaching her how to fight against impossible odds.
How to fight like a coward.
That was what allowed her to keep the Shadowbeast at bay now, but she didn't feel even remotely grateful.
Maybe it was because she felt the ends didn't justify the means. Or maybe because she never wanted to survive this way.
She wasn't sure. But she made a silent promise.
When I get stronger, I'll make him apologize.
CLANG!
As Blue kept it occupied, Jínxī provided cover fire, giving Whitney a chance to reposition.
Blue wasn't normally a close‑quarters fighter, but manually wielding her blades was a habit she'd picked up after running out of authority far too often over the last seven months.
Her only reference was when she intently watched Yon fight. And it was a stretch to jump from one blade to two so quickly.
But with her awareness of every blade at all times, they felt almost like extensions of her limbs.
That let her avoid injuring herself during complex movements while dealing twice the damage she normally could.
However, her left shoulder blade throbbed with every second since the moment she'd been slammed into the ground, forcing awkward compensations into her movements.
And with Whitney's boosts amplifying her physical ability, she hadn't fully mastered the heightened state she was in.
But those excuses weren't enough to stop her.
"Whitney! I swear I won't let it touch you, so give me every last bit!"
Because the truth of the cannon story had finally clicked into place sometime during the cycle.
Two years ago, the reality must have been this.
Litho went after Dylan first. He didn't survive because, just like Blue's situation at first, Rita's authority was built for destruction.
Then, as it went after Whitney, Jínxī's artifact stalled it, drawing its attention. And without the physical gifts of the others, he fell.
Then, as it closed in on Whitney, she spent every last drop of authority she had left and bestowed it all on Rita.
That was how Rita survived. And that was why she carried the guilt that haunted her.
It was why she became someone who valued her life above all else.
But that still didn't explain why she joined Veil.
"This is the last push! I'll make sure it goes down–"
She suddenly felt like her body was floating. A sense of weightlessness, as if carried by the wind.
I… feel so light.
"Do it… Blue!"
She was called by her name. And only then did Blue realize something she'd overlooked.
Whitney had acknowledged her story. And acknowledged her, Blue Acciari.
At first, Blue thought Whitney was just humoring a wild tale or a delusion.
But she was the only one whose mind didn't reset when Blue told her her true name, or about Red.
Of course, she hadn't mentioned the Nebula branch or the cycles, but even as much as she did should have been enough to trigger a reset.
"You–"
"That's your name, right? Go ahead, and win!"
Whitney called out from her hiding spot, slumped on the floor in exhaustion.
And even though she couldn't see it, Blue nodded and charged the Shadowbeast.
In response, it kicked a bush of steel toward her, forcing her to shield her face with her arms. Then it opened its strongest weapon for its final gambit.
Its jaws closed in on her, ready to break her.
Until–
CRACK!
An arm wedged itself between those rows of razor‑sharp teeth, protected by a dense barrier of air.
"Dylan!"
"Ngh! Go for it!"
He yelled through clenched teeth, giving Blue the opening she needed.
She didn't waste it.
She targeted the same spot, ripping and tearing at the neck they'd already weakened.
But it didn't make it so easy
The Shadowbeast fought savagely, then ended up slashing Blue across the torso.
The wounds would have been fatal if not for a certain boy who leapt from cover and misdirected its strike at the last moment.
"Stay still, you ugly piece of sh*t!"
"Rryyaahhh!"
Even as her blood blended into the crimson of her steel, Blue pushed through and continued maiming her new friend.
She hacked and slashed, slashed and mutilated. Until she was tearing at nothing but the red in her vision.
She might have accepted that it was finally dead if she hadn't been surprised by it twenty‑one cycles in a row.
She didn't know how long she would have kept going if not for the voice.
"Stop it, Blue. It's over."
At her moment of hesitation, the timer on Dylan's reinforcement expired, and the blades in her hands crumbled into pieces.
What remained was the black dust that had been the Shadowbeast, now dissolving into the air.
It's… gone.
As the realization hit her, a cold breeze washed over her, and she fell to her knees.
Arms limp. Face toward the sky.
She panted for what felt like minutes as the crimson forest collapsed around her.
"Blue!"
Whitney ran out and threw herself into an embrace, far too aggressively for Blue's condition.
"Ow! Ow! Calm down…"
"Whitney, get off."
"I think you should restrain yourself."
"No! Let me go!"
Dylan had to physically lift her away as she cried tears of relief.
"Are you alright, Leader?"
Jínxī knelt beside her, concern etched on his face.
"Yeah."
His eyes narrowed skeptically as he gestured to her white jacket, now soaked entirely red.
"No, I'm actually fine."
She wasn't lying.
The scales were already mending her wounds, so she'd be better soon enough.
The only issue was that they couldn't do anything about blood loss. Her clarity was fading, and she'd need time to recover her circulation.
"You knew way too much about that shadowbeast for us to keep ignoring it. Are you finally going to tell us what's going on?"
"Jínxī!"
"It's fine," Blue said before Whitney could protest. "Honestly, I don't know much either. All I knew was when and how it would attack."
"For sure, it's not a Shadowbeast that's ever been classified. Could it have been a mutation?" Whitney asked.
"That's not possible," Jínxī replied. "Mutations only happen on the Shadow Continent. A Shadowbeast can't be shifted from its root if it's not there."
"That's wrong."
"What?"
"Shadowbeasts aren't from the–"
Before she could reveal the truth she'd learned half a year ago, a shadow passed over them, blotting out the sun for a moment, and a figure dropped from the sky.
A man in grey armor, with a long black‑feathered coat billowing behind him, landed with such speed that it stole their breath, yet the ground didn't crack or make even a sound.
He walked toward them, and when he was close enough for them to see his face clearly, he spoke.
"My master's new pet escaped through the foils, and I suspect it arrived here. Have you seen it?"
Pet? Does he mean Litho? But he's a Shadowbeast. That's impossible.
Blue rose to her feet and stepped between him and the others.
"I'm sorry, but we have no idea."
"I see…" he replied. "So you have crossed paths with it."
!!!
"Tell me where it is."
Blue's heart sank.
The command hit her with incredible force, with an inclination so overwhelming that she couldn't even consider refusing.
"We neutralized it."
The words left her mouth against her will.
In response, he suddenly pointed at her.
Then, with the same finger, he pointed down.
…
A Captain had two cubs clenched by the collar, chastising them for an almost unrecoverable mistake.
Then, as if something sharp had pierced straight into his mind, he abruptly released them, his face drained of all color.
"No… that's impossible."
"Captain? What's wrong?"
Despair washed over him first, then confusion, then a grim, hollow contemplation.
"Cosmo…"
"I think… our Blue… just died?"