Joshua's stomach turned as he watched it unfold like someone was peeling back reality to reveal the rot underneath. It was easily fifteen feet tall, but its size wasn't what stopped him in his tracks–
But the faces.
Joshua saw his father's cold disappointment pushing through the creature's shoulder. His eldest brother's sneer twisted across what might have been a knee.
Worse… Lysandra's trauma was there too— with demon nobles questioning her every decision, her father's perpetual dissatisfaction, and humans with expressions of accusation.
"LOOK AT YOU," the Amalgamation said its voice like a choir of the damned trying to harmonize. "STILL PRETENDING YOU'VE GROWN."
It moved faster than something that size had any right to, with one massive arm writhing with faces sweeping towards Lysandra as fast as death.
She was already moving, crimson mana flaring around her as she twisted away. But the thing was learning. Claws erupted from nowhere, raking across her ribs and drawing blood that hissed when it hit the platform.
"Shit—Lysandra!" Joshua's blood moved before he did, yanking itself from cuts on his palms and hardening into a dozen spears.
[HEMOKINESIS - OVERCAST]
[Vitality - 89.5% (RAPID DECREASE)]
[Warning: Casting beyond recommended limits]
The spears punched into the creature's arm with wet, meaty sounds, but it didn't even flinch.
"PATHETIC," it roared, and Joshua recognized his father's voice buried in the cacophony. "YOU THINK YOU WILL SAVE HER?"
The backhand came out of nowhere. The impact sent Joshua ragdolling across the platform, his ribs screaming as he slammed against the ground.
[DAMAGE CONVERSION ACTIVATING]
[Physical Damage: NULLIFIED]
[Pain Threshold: 31%/100%]
The agony hit like molten metal being pumped into his blood. Joshua's vision went white, then red, every nerve screamed at once.
And he started laughing—not because it was funny, but because the situation was utterly insane. Because he was lying in a pool of his own blood, grinning like a maniac while a literal manifestation of trauma tried to kill him.
Maybe it would've been better to die easy and quick but—
"Who says I need saving?" The Princess' voice washed over the area, a sick amusement in her voice. Her face twisted into a grin, and holding up one hand she let out a calm exhale.
"I wasn't going to use this. But you—" her grin widened—"you deserve it."
***
"What the hell," someone whispered.
Spectators lined around the Rift of Severence, uneasy murmurs filling the air.
The scrying crystals captured every detail in perfect, horrifying clarity. The human prince dragging himself upright, bones clearly broken and being put back together by damage reversion, blood streaming down his face—and smiling.
"He should be unconscious," a councilor said. "That impact should have liquefied his spine."
King Darius leaned forward, amber eyes narrowing. "Vaelthar. What am I looking at?"
The High Counselor's knuckles were white around his staff. "I... I'm not certain, my lord. His magic signature…"
Tonic walked up with a smirk. "Out of the four elements of Magic… I don't think we are witnessing any of them. Fire… Bodily enhancement and raw destruction. Void… Fast, silent, and deadly. Earth… Slow, Sturdy, and Immovable… And Essence… Magic drawn from the Gods."
"Then what the hell is it?" Darius questioned his lips tight.
"It looks like blood. Look at his eyes," he said quietly. "He's not resisting the pain at all. He's almost feeding off of it."
"That's not how magic works," another noble protested.
"No," Tonic agreed. "It's not."
***
The Amalgamation turned toward Lysandra, who was clutching her bleeding side.
"THEIR LAST CRIES STILL FOLLOW YOU, DON'T THEY?" it asked with the voice of the human mother. "REMEMBER HOW THEY CALLED YOUR NAME AS THEY BURNED?"
"It's getting old now." Lysandra said, voice laced with a venomous hate.
The creature's arm elongated impossibly, wrapping around her throat like a noose. "YOU CHOSE TO HIDE. TO SURVIVE. TO LET THEM DIE."
Lysandra's feet left the ground, but instead of struggling, her lips curved into something feral.
"I've had enough of you." she rasped through the crushing grip.
Her scarlet eyes began to bleed. They were actual crimson tears that steamed when they hit her cheeks. The air around her started to crack like brittle glass.
"Soul Burn."
The mana that erupted caused crimson energy to explode around her. It moved like liquid but devoured like acid, eating through the Amalgamation's arm in jagged chunks. Where it touched, reality itself seemed to fray at the edges.
The creature shrieked and released her, stumbling backward as its arm dissolved into nothing.
"IMPOSSIBLE! THAT TECHNIQUE IS FORBIDDEN!"
"There's a reason for that," Lysandra spat. Blood ran from her eyes, her nose, even the corners of her mouth.
The crimson energy wrapped around her like living smoke, eating small holes in her armor, her skin, anything it touched.
The Amalgamation roared, regenerating its lost limbs from pure malice. It brought down both fists where Lysandra stood—
She rolled aside, leaving a trail of crimson energy that ate through the platform. When the creature's fists hit the corroded stone, they punched straight through.
"I HAVE OUTLIVED WORLDS. YOU ARE NOTHING."
"I'm done listening to you," Lysandra snarled, whipping a tendril of Soul Burn across the creature's chest. It carved a deep gouge that refused to heal, the edges continuing to dissolve.
But the technique was killing her. More blood ran from her eyes with each attack. Her movements became sluggish, unsteady.
The Amalgamation caught her with a fist larger than a boulder that sent her skidding across the platform.
"YOU STILL COLLAPSE THE MOMENT YOU'RE TESTED."
That's when Joshua dragged himself upright, his pain threshold past 70% and climbing. His vision was more black than white, but he could see Lysandra struggling to stand.
"Hey!" he wheezed, blood pooling at his feet.
[HEMOKINESIS - DESPERATE OVERCAST]
[Vitality - 76.2% (CRITICAL DECREASE)]
[Warning: User approaching dangerous blood loss levels]
Every drop of blood in a ten-foot radius responded—his blood, Lysandra's blood, even the ichor from the Amalgamation. It rose in a crimson storm, forming into dozens of jagged weapons.
"Lysandra!" he shouted. "Whatever that thing is you're doing… do it again! I'll give you an opening!"
She looked at him through blood-streaked vision, saw him swaying on his feet, barely conscious but still fighting.
"Such a… strange man." Her voice was a whisper, but the sheer rage was unmistakable. "Soul Burn."
This time, the frantic red energy didn't just wrap around her—it exploded outward in all directions. Joshua's blood weapons were instantly consumed, but instead of disappearing, they became something new. Crimson constructs of blood and flame that thought for themselves as they cut through the air.
The Amalgamation tried to dodge—
But
Her Soul Burn wrapped around the creature's torso like hungry serpents, beginning to devour its essence. Not burning it—unmaking it, one molecule at a time.
"STOP! I AM YOUR PAST! YOU CANNOT—"
"We're not destroying you," Joshua gasped, more blood weapons forming around him despite his critical state. "We're consuming you."
The creature thrashed, trying to escape the overwhelming energy. But every movement drove it deeper into the web of crimson hunger that Lysandra had become.
"THIS WILL KILL YOU BOTH!"
"Then we'll take you down on the way." Lysandra agreed, blood now streaming from her ears.
She made eye contact with Joshua and with a subtle nod they moved in perfect synchronization—Joshua driving the creature into Lysandra's attacks, Lysandra creating openings for his blood weapons. Both of them dying by inches, both of them refusing to stop.
The Amalgamation grew smaller, its thousand faces screaming as they were consumed by Soul Burn's relentless hunger.
The final moments were chaos. The Amalgamation, reduced to a fraction of its size, made one desperate lunge at Joshua's throat—
Lysandra's Soul Burn caught it mid-air, consuming the last of its essence in a burst of crimson light.
Then the technique collapsed.
Lysandra hit the platform face-first, unconscious before she landed. Joshua managed two more steps before his knees buckled, painting the obsidian with his blood.
But they were alive.
Barely.
The Amalgamation's death throes echoed across the void as its form dissolved into nothingness. Joshua felt his knees buckle, the obsidian platform rushing up to meet him as darkness crept into his vision.
[TRIAL OF FLESH - COMPLETE]
[COMBINED TECHNIQUE MASTERED: BLOODY HELLFIRE]
[+2,500 XP BONUS]
[LEVEL UP!] x 4