Ronan's eyes narrowed until the flames dancing within his irises sharpened into thin slits of molten light. Sweat ran down the side of his face, tracing over cuts and dirt before dripping from his jaw. His chest rose and fell heavily, every breath scraping against his lungs like sandpaper.
"Now." His grip tightened around his sword until his knuckles whitened. "Let's end this."
Beside him, Orin spat blood onto the stone floor and rolled his shoulders, though Ronan caught the slight tremor in his arm. He saw it, but Orin still grinned.
"Took you long enough."
Then they moved.
Twin storms crashed into motion.
Ronan's flames erupted around him with a deafening roar, heat flooding through the cavern as he swung downward. At the same moment, lightning exploded around Orin's legs, blue-white sparks snapping violently against stone.
BOOM!
The Shocklash Viper hissed as steel and power struck its body from opposite sides.
Ronan's sword carved a burning trail across its scales, the metal grinding against hardened hide. Orin flashed beneath its coils, his blade striking with ruthless precision.
The cave shook beneath them.
Flames rolled across stone walls.
Lightning cracked overhead.
The beast's once-pristine scales had become a charred nightmare of burns and gashes. Blackened flesh split apart where Ronan's flames bit too deeply. Blood mixed with scorched scales dripped heavily onto the ground.
The tide had shifted.
But monsters that survived this long did not fall easily.
Time lost meaning.
Minutes stretched like hours.
Every exchange blurred together into flashes of heat, steel, and pain.
Ronan barely remembered half of his movements anymore. His body moved through instinct and exhaustion. His arms felt heavier with every swing. His muscles screamed with protest.
Half an hour later, the once-majestic predator had become a broken thing.
Its hisses had weakened.
Its massive coils no longer moved with terrifying speed.
Its breathing had become ragged.
Ronan and Orin stood several meters away, swaying where they stood.
Their clothes hung in torn strips.
Blood and sweat soaked their bodies.
Small cuts crossed exposed skin while bruises darkened beneath the grime. The cavern floor beneath their boots had become slick with the viper's thick, dark ichor.
Ronan wiped blood from his eyes.
Then froze.
The Aether inside his core flickered.
No...
His expression darkened.
"We need to finish this soon!" he shouted.
Then—
"RONAN, LEFT!"
Orin's voice ripped through the cave.
Ronan turned.
His pupils shrank.
The Shocklash Viper's tail had already arrived.
It blurred through the air like a black thunderbolt.
Death itself.
Instinct screamed.
Ronan raised his sword.
CLANG—
For half a second, resistance held.
Then—
CRACK!
His sword shattered.
Fragments of metal exploded outward.
Ronan's eyes widened.
The tail crashed into his left forearm.
CRACK!
Pain detonated through his body.
No pain.
Obliteration.
A scream tore itself from his throat.
"AAAAAGH!"
His arm bent at an impossible angle.
He heard bones breaking.
Felt them splintering.
His vision blurred instantly.
Then the impact sent him flying.
The world spun.
Stone.
Dust.
Darkness.
He slammed into the cavern wall hard enough to crack it.
BOOM!
Jagged rock split apart around him. Chunks of stone rained down, burying him beneath dust and debris.
Everything rang.
Everything hurt.
Somewhere in the haze, he heard Orin scream.
Not in fear.
In fury.
Wind exploded across the cave as Orin lunged.
Lightning snapped violently beneath his feet.
"You damn snake!"
His sword cut through the air in a frenzy of precise strikes.
But the Shocklash Viper twisted.
Dodged.
Shifted.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Its movements had changed.
Ronan's stomach dropped beneath the rubble.
It adapted.
It had taught them.
The realisation hit him just as the viper's body shifted.
Its tail blurred again.
Orin's eyes widened.
"Thunder Step!"
Sparks exploded around his body.
For a moment, his figure flickered—
But a moment wasn't enough.
SNAP!
The tail collided with his leg.
Orin's scream echoed across the cavern.
Ronan watched helplessly as his friend's leg twisted grotesquely beneath him.
Orin crashed onto the stone floor.
His sword slid from numb fingers.
His body convulsed once before going still except for shallow breaths.
No...
No—
Under the rubble, Ronan forced his eyes open.
Blood dripped from his forehead.
"Orin..." His voice cracked. "...hold it..."
His body screamed as he pushed aside shattered stone.
His left arm dangled uselessly.
Every movement sent waves of agony through him.
But he stood.
Slowly.
Shaking.
With his good hand, he reached into his storage ring.
A dark sword appeared.
Purple flames wrapped around its blade like hungry ghosts.
The air around it immediately felt wrong.
Heavy.
Distorted.
Ronan stared at it.
"...Void Overdrive."
His voice dropped.
"Hundred percent."
Crimson cracks spread across his skin.
Across his neck.
His arms.
Around his eyes.
Aether surged violently from his core.
The ground beneath his feet cracked.
The air rippled.
Across the cave floor, Orin lifted his head weakly.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His vision swam.
Still...
He raised his hand.
Fingers trembling.
He whispered an incantation.
A faint blue light shimmered into existence.
Ethereal chains materialised around the Shocklash Viper.
For a moment, they looked almost unreal.
Then they slammed downward.
BOOOOM!
The viper crashed against the cavern floor.
It hissed violently.
Thrashed.
Screeched.
The chains trembled.
Cracks spread across them immediately.
"I..." Orin coughed violently. Blood splattered across his hand.
"...can't hold it long..."
Ronan's gaze locked onto the viper.
It's neck.
A deep gash.
The weak point.
Everything narrowed.
Everything else disappeared.
The pain.
The exhaustion.
The blood.
Only that point existed.
With a roar that barely sounded human anymore, Ronan moved.
"SKY SPLITTER!"
Purple flames devoured the blade.
The sword screamed through the air.
SHRRRIIIIIING!
The slash tore across the cavern like a falling star.
Silence.
Then—
The Shocklash Viper's body convulsed.
Its neck split apart.
Blood erupted.
Its massive body trembled once...
Twice...
Then collapsed.
Still.
Dead.
Ronan didn't stop moving.
"Ashen Bloom!"
Purple fire surged outward.
Two cloaks of shimmering flame wrapped around him and Orin.
Warmth spread through their bodies.
Ronan dropped beside Orin.
"Drink."
Neither argued.
Shaking hands, he pulled out healing flasks.
They drank.
Warmth spread through broken bones.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Bones shifted back into place.
Pain dulled.
Movement returned.
Not healed.
Just enough.
Barely enough.
Ronan exhaled heavily.
Then his expression froze.
The flame cloak flickered.
Once.
Twice.
"No—"
The flames vanished into smoke.
His sword clattered onto stone.
Instantly, fire exploded inside his chest.
Ronan collapsed to one knee.
Beside him, Orin screamed.
It felt like molten iron had been shoved directly into their cores.
Ronan's vision darkened.
Not now—
With shaking fingers, he gathered what little Aether remained.
A tiny willow wisp formed.
Weak.
Unstable.
He threw it toward the cave entrance.
FWOOOSH!
Flames erupted across the opening.
Stone glowed red.
The cave is sealed.
Sunlight filtered through cracks overhead, thin rays piercing through dust.
Then darkness swallowed them.
Morning passed.
When Ronan opened his eyes again, sunlight had shifted.
Noon.
His entire body felt like shattered glass held together by a thread.
He winced and instinctively grabbed his left arm.
Still stiff.
Still broken beneath the healing.
Beside him, Orin groaned.
"We're alive."
His voice sounded rough.
Ronan let out a dry laugh.
"Barely."
Silence settled.
Then Ronan looked upward.
Something crawled across his instincts.
A prickling sensation.
Like unseen eyes resting on his skin.
"...Orin."
"Hm?"
"Do you feel like we're being watched?"
Orin frowned.
"No."
Ronan stared at the ceiling a little longer.
His fingers twitched uselessly.
His broken hand couldn't even properly form signs anymore.
"We need rare herbs," he muttered. "Otherwise we're stuck like this."
Orin silently waved his hand.
The viper's monster core and harvested materials vanished into his storage ring.
No words.
Just understanding.
They had known each other long enough.
Orin dragged his injured leg beside Ronan as they left the cave.
Slow.
Unsteady.
But moving.
—
Elsewhere, inside a temporary command tent, three figures stared at the projection screen.
Alden slammed a hand against the table.
"I don't care about the damn competition anymore." His jaw tightened. "Bring them back. Alive."
Gideon snorted.
"Giving up before they do?"
He pointed lazily toward the screen.
"Look at them."
Alden frowned.
"What for?"
Gideon leaned back.
"For your pride, maybe." His lips curved slightly. "You've spent years without a team. The other instructors never stop reminding you."
Alden's expression stiffened.
Guilt flashed briefly across his face.
He said nothing.
Then Alaric spoke quietly.
"Look."
Onscreen, Ronan suddenly stopped walking.
Then slowly—
Very slowly—
He looked directly upward.
Directly at them.
"...Do you feel like we're being watched?"
Silence.
The three instructors froze.
No one beneath Master Tier should have sensed projection magic.
Alden stared.
"Keen Eye..." he muttered.
His eyes narrowed.
"Even shattered... his perception is still this sharp?"
—
Outside the cave, Ronan and Orin eventually found a clear spring.
Cold water flowed over smooth stones.
They washed blood from their skin.
Dark red swirled into the current and disappeared downstream.
Ronan hissed quietly as water touched the cuts across his back.
Nearby, Orin grimaced while changing clothes.
"Damn..." he muttered. "I think that snake hated me more."
Ronan snorted.
"It broke your leg."
"It broke your arm."
"...Fair."
The corner of Ronan's mouth twitched.
By the pond's edge, they found bitter medicinal herbs growing between rocks.
Not ideal.
Not even close.
Still, medicine was medicine.
They chewed them slowly.
Immediately, their faces twisted.
Orin nearly gagged.
"By the heavens—that's disgusting."
Ronan swallowed painfully.
"...Tastes like wet dirt."
"You're insulting dirt."
For the first time since entering the cave, they laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough.
Then silence returned.
They sat beside the water and closed their eyes.
Slow breaths.
Controlled circulation.
Tiny streams of Aether moved through battered pathways.
Ronan exhaled slowly.
"The competition ends tomorrow... around five."
Orin nodded without opening his eyes.
"We still have time."
A pause.
Then—
"Let's just survive till then."
Their bodies ached.
Their cores burned.
Their spirits had been ground down and dragged through hell.
Yet beneath closed eyelids—
Their eyes still burned.
Still waiting.
Still refusing to go out.