Rocks exploded as the beast crashed into the wall behind them.
'It's fast!'
They barely managed to sidestep the charge. The monster moved at an astonishing speed—far too fast for something this large, yet it moved with terrifying agility.
"How do you kill a mana beast?" Damon asked as the two of them backed away to create distance.
"Just like any other living thing. The core is in its abdomen, but it will be hard to reach—that's where its hide is thickest."
'Abdomen...' Damon echoed the words in his head as he studied the beast. Its midsection was at least a meter wide, covered in dense muscle and matted fur. Finding a core within that mass would be nearly impossible.
"Take the lead," Elise said.
Damon turned to glance at her, but before he could question the plan—not that he wanted to—the girl spoke again.
"Trust me!"
The beast didn't waste any more time. It lunged again, even faster than before, its red eyes burning with feral rage.
Following Elise's plan, he went forward to meet it head-on, adrenaline surging through his entire body. His senses ran at their limit, every muscle coiled and ready.
The beast's claw came at him with deadly speed. He sidestepped, but the creature was relentless, a berserker swinging again and again. Each strike missed him by a hair's breadth, claws carving through empty air where he'd stood a heartbeat before.
His shoulder burned with every movement, the earlier wound screaming in protest. His lungs demanded more air than he could give them. But he couldn't slow down. Not for a second.
Only after he avoided a fifth swing did he catch a glimpse of countless web-like silver strings connected to every part of the beast, its legs, claws, head, even its tail. He saw them for only the tiniest moment with each lunge, like spider silk catching light, before they vanished from view.
'Elise... she's making it miss!'
Still, even with the beast's strikes going wide each time, he had no window to counter. The creature was too fast, too aggressive. All he could do was dodge and pray his luck held.
At that moment, a sudden roar echoed through the battlefield.
The second twin, the one who'd been sent flying earlier, came charging back at the mana beast, his hammer raised high. His body was bloodied, ribs clearly broken from the impact against the rock wall, but rage kept him moving. Kept him fighting for revenge.
His hammer struck the beast's side with devastating force. The impact sent the creature stumbling several steps before it twisted back toward this new threat.
'This is good!' A sudden hope ignited in Damon's chest. Having another person fighting beside him—even someone who'd tried to kill him moments earlier, gave him the opening he desperately needed.
His blade began to connect, cutting deep across the beast's body. Dark blood, thick and viscous, oozed from the wounds. But the monster didn't slow. Its movements remained just as fast, just as vicious.
During one enraged lunge, the beast's claw caught the hammer-wielding twin across his chest, tearing through flesh and bone. The man's scream cut short as blood sprayed across the muddy ground.
Damon used the opening and dashed forward, driving his blade deep into the beast's abdomen. The sword tore its full length into the creature, and vile green ichor spilled across the ground, hissing where it touched stone.
The mana beast swayed, but didn't fall.
Then it raised its claw high once more—but this time, the limb froze mid-strike, as if blocked by an invisible wall. Damon caught another clear glimpse of silver threads wrapped around the beast's foreleg, holding it in place.
He didn't waste the moment.
He plunged his sword deeper, twisting the blade, searching. Then he felt it—a hard, crystalline resistance. Something solid within the soft tissue.
He pushed harder.
CRACK!
The sound echoed like breaking glass. The beast's entire body shuddered, then went rigid.
In an instant, the creature collapsed. Its massive form hit the ground with a thunderous impact that shook the earth beneath their feet.
Damon stood there, breathing raggedly, staring at the fallen monster. Blood that was both red and green blood covered his entire body.
'It worked...'
He then turned to see the hammer wielding twin forcing himself upright despite the gaping wound across his torso. The man's face was pale with blood loss, his movements slow and unsteady.
But before he could even straighten his back, Elise was already there.
With a single, precise slash of her dagger, she opened his throat.
The twin's eyes went wide with shock. He clutched at his neck, blood pouring between his fingers until he collapsed face first into the mud.
Damon stared at her.
She was nothing like the timid girl from before. Even the way she moved, the way she'd killed without hesitation—there was no mistaking it. She had combat training. Real training.
And she was one of those sorcerers everyone kept mentioning. She had an ability, one that allowed her to manipulate others through those silver threads.
"You're a sorcerer," Damon said, his voice flat. It wasn't a question, he was now certain.
"I am," the girl replied coldly, meeting his gaze without flinching.
"Since when?"
"I awakened right before the woman stabbed my eye." She paused, her hand unconsciously touching the blood-soaked bandage. "She was aiming for my neck. I accidentally redirected her blade at the last moment, made her hit my eye instead."
The explanation made sense on the surface, though something about it felt... convenient. But then again, why would they put someone who was already a sorcerer into a game meant to force non-sorcerers to awaken? That wouldn't make any sense.
Unless she was lying. Or unless there was more to this than he understood.
Damon nodded slowly, his grip tightening on his sword.
"Any more secrets?" he asked.
The girl opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, a voice called out from behind them.
"Excuse me... but did you perhaps see my pair? He was a scruffy kid with a bow. Not much of a fighter."
Their heads whipped toward the sound.
The man stood tall, with the proud elegance of royalty. His blonde hair swayed gently in the wind, immaculate despite the ash and smoke that filled the air. He held a blade that looked nothing like the crude weapons from the armory racks, this was crafted by a master blacksmith, its edge gleaming with perfect balance. Even his clothing was finer than anyone else's in the arena, relatively clean and well-maintained.
'He's looking for that archer?' Damon thought, his mind working through the implications. 'But didn't he just come from that direction? He must have passed by the body... Wouldn't he already know he's dead?'
Why would he answer them something he already knew.
"No—" Elise began, but Damon cut her off.
"He's dead," Damon said, his voice cold and direct.
The blonde man lingered for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then his lips curved into something that might have been a smile.
"I see," he said softly. "In that case, I shall return the favor."
The moment he finished speaking, something in the air shifted.
The temperature dropped in an instant. Damon's breath became visible, white mist curling from his lips. Frost began spreading across the ground from where the man stood, creeping outward in delicate crystalline patterns.
And around the man's sword, ice materialized from thin air, covering the weapon with a deadly, elegant shard of ice.
Damon didn't need his memories to recognise that what stood before them was a sorcerer.
Not a random prisoner with no combat training but a man who awakened the power to wield ice itself. And now they watched as everything around them turned to that very ice.