I scrambled to my feet with Randall’s help, breath ragged but bones mercifully intact. The roar of battle pulled me forward before I could think, adrenaline surging, I hurled myself back through the jagged hole in the wall my body had created.

  Outside, chaos reigned. Balt stood his ground, staff blazing gold as barrier after barrier exploded against the beast. Each impact shook the air, but the creature barely flinched. Tale weaved through its reach, twin blades flashing like silver lightning. Sparks erupted where steel met hide, every strike a burst of light against the monster’s armored flesh.

  The ground shook with each exchange, the creature’s guttural roar rattling the air, Balt’s barriers cracking like glass under the strain, Tale’s blades carving arcs of light through the dust-choked gloom. It was no skirmish; this was the kind of fight where one misstep meant annihilation.

  The moment had come for me to go all out. I drew in a breath, heart hammering, and shouted:

  “Limit Break!”

  For an instant, my body felt weightless, light as a feather, and elation filled me, then the surge hit. My aura flared, flooding over Regalia, and blue flame erupted outward from me in a blazing corona. The world blurred, time itself seeming to stretch thin, and in the next heartbeat I came face-to-face with the behemoth.

  The monster’s massive fist, wreathed in red energy, came crashing down toward me—the same fist that had hurled me across the field moments ago. I recovered quickly from my sudden increase in speed and answered the strike back with one of my own.

  I swung out at his incoming fist with a Limit Slash, the blade biting deep into his knuckles. Ember felt light in my grip, but the strike carried the weight of my overpowered soul. Blade met energy fist with a thunderclap, driving the beast’s fist into the ground. The impact detonated in a shockwave around me, shards of rock exploding outward, burying half his arm into the ground and making a crater out of the landscape.

  I pressed the advantage.

  A Searing Sphere burst from my palm, slamming into the creature’s chest while its arm was pinned. The explosion lit the world with searing blue-white flame.

  Spinning into a whirlwind strike, I brought Ember down again, another Limit Slash, carving into the buried arm. Sparks and blood sprayed as the monster bellowed in rage, its roar shaking the walls. The limb didn’t sever, but it was hanging on with skin more than muscle now.

  The entire exchange unfolded in less than a heartbeat. Limit Break wasn’t just speed; it was momentum and power incarnate dialed to a hundred. It felt like I had drunk three back-to-back Red Bulls and pounded a five-hour energy for good measure.

  I was everywhere at once. not flash-stepping but driving forward with pure speed. I tore through the sword forms without pause, each strike flowing seamlessly into the next. I lunged under its legs and spun, carving sapphire into the backs of its legs. Darting back as he roared his fury, I jumped and slashed across his chest and drove Ember deep into his arms and torso every chance I got.

  My new power was a game changer, but in the corner of my vision, I kept a close eye on Limit Break’s timer. Soul backlash was the last thing I wanted in the middle of a fight. My chest tightened, an invisible weight crushing my core as blue fire burned out of my throat. I was breathing out blue fire, which would’ve been cool if it didn’t feel like a big rig was parked on my chest

  I could feel Resilience working against the strain, but my aura was barely controllable in this enhanced state. Still, I pressed forward, unwilling to yield to the pressure or Limit Break drop while time still remained.

  The behemoth lashed out, its other arm sweeping out in fury. I ducked low, slashing upward, blue fire streaking in my wake. Steel and energy collided again, the ground trembling under the force of our duel, but this time blowing him and his fist backwards.

  This was no ordinary fight.

  We were both overclocking our power, Limit Breaker against the behemoth’s raw fury and its red dagger enhancements and every strike carried the weight of survival for us both.

  The behemoth convulsed against the crater wall, and before it could rise, I was already on it. Ember crashed into its chest in an aura?charged strike, sending its massive frame jerking violently.

  It swung down, trying to smash me into the dirt, and I was forced to retreat. Then it threw back its head and bellowed, a guttural snarl tearing through the air like a curse:

  “Why won’t you just die!”

  A surge of crimson mist burst from its body, rolling outward in violent waves. I lifted Ember into guard, the blade braced as the vapor condensed into a barrier that shimmered like molten glass and drove me backward. Ember’s edge carved into the tide, holding it barely at bay while my boots gouged trenches in the stone beneath me as the energy pushed me slowly back. I clenched my jaw and hurled every ounce of strength forward, refusing to lose to the red mist.

  I watched the shockwave hurl Balt and Tale off their feet and out of the crater. They had been supporting me from range, weaving spells and strikes while keeping clear of the monster’s reach and of the inferno my new power unleashed.

  Crimson mist streamed endlessly into the wound where the dagger still jutted from the creature’s chest, feeding it like a grotesque siphon. I searched for an opening past the barrier … but then I saw it, the leg I had pierced earlier with the heirloom from the duke. The flesh there was blackening instead of healing as he took in more mist, huge veins crawling outward from the wound.

  The Twilight Dagger hadn’t been a failure after all.

  The wound pulsed once, swelled immensely, then detonated.

  The explosion ripped through the creature’s leg, arcs of red energy spiraling into the air like lightning. Kelv roared out in pain and disbelief, and collapsed to one knee. His good arm slammed against the ground to hold himself upright, while the other hung uselessly at his side.

  From within the mist, a voice rose, deep, guttural, and commanding.

  “Kill them all my army, protect your master!”

  The army responded at once, half the soldiers and monsters surging into the crater toward me and the rest breaking off toward the dukes' fortifications.

  I shouted over the chaos: “I still don’t know who you’re talking to, Kelv! They’re still dead, and you’re still a dipshit!”

  I redoubled my efforts, hurling myself against the magic barrier; blue flame tore through red fog. Each blow rippled across the crimson wall, but it held firm.

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  Monsters fell around me left and right. My breath burned hot in my throat as I shouted, “Tale, Balt, I’ve got this! Go protect the duke and those lanterns. If the army destroys them, this bastard will portal out and vanish to God knows where!”

  They didn’t argue with me. They ran.

  The horde surged past me and at me, a tide of steel and rot. I hurled Sphere after Sphere into their ranks, each blast tearing holes into the swarm, each explosion burying me inches of ground. My only thought was to reach Kelv again, to end this abomination before it could slip away. I let myself go and let Limit Break and instinct guide me.

  Time blurred. I couldn’t tell how long I’d been fighting only that when I came back to myself, Limit Break was on cooldown and corpses littered the surrounding ground.

  I looked up, and my heart sank.

  Kelv was knitting himself back together, flesh and bone reweaving with grotesque precision. The arm I had nearly severed flexed, fingers curling into a fist. The sight sent a chill through me, even as flame still roared across my aura.

  I risked a glance behind. Balt and Tale were a storm of steel and sorcery, their blades and spells lashing out in tandem. Barriers shimmered, cutting down anything that reached the fortifications. The Duke’s mages fought alongside them, weaving light and fire to hold the line, protecting the fragile lanterns that kept Kelv bound.

  Darkness was nearly upon us now, and I could see the lanterns glowing faintly behind the walls, locking Kelv in place, their fragile light the only thing keeping him from escaping.

  They were buying me time to kill this thing. Time, I had to use wisely. But that stupid-ass barrier he had was keeping me from ending him.

  Every step forward was a battle, monsters clawed at me from every angle, but I carved forward through them all with Ember and sheer will.

  My strikes lit the battlefield, blue aura colliding against the crimson mist that shielded Kelv. He crawled backward as I pursued, retreating onto the stone bridge where this nightmare had begun.

  The army surged around me, but I carved through them, desperate to shatter the barrier and reach him before his body fully restored itself. Kelv’s guttural roar tore through the air as he swung his head from side to side like a maddened beast, eyes burning with malice when they locked onto me. No matter how much mist he consumed, the wound in his leg refused to heal, the dagger’s strike had left a scar even his regeneration couldn’t erase.

  I cursed myself. If only I had driven the blade into his head, this might already be over.

  The battle balanced on a knife’s edge. Balt and Tale holding the back line, the Duke’s defenses trembling, and me forcing my way through the storm of bodies and energy to finish what I had started.

  I caught sight of the dwindling horde behind Kelv, and a smile tugged at my lips. I shouted over the chaos: “Looks like you’re running out of soldiers!”

  For a heartbeat, Kelv faltered. His eyes sharpened, the red mist stilled, and clarity flickered across his face. Just for that moment, the monster remembered itself.

  He looked at me, at Ember in my hand, then at the remnants of his army. His voice, suddenly his own again, rasped through the chamber:

  “If I’m going to die anyway… I might as well take you all with me.”

  Kelv closed his eyes. Both fists slammed into the dagger buried in his chest, driving it so deep the hilt vanished from sight.

  Crimson energy didn’t just stream into him now, it erupted as a pillar, barreling into his body with unstoppable force. The barrier that had held me back contracted inward, shimmering like a film stretched tight across his skin.

  I glanced around. The corpses were gone. The portal mage, once human, had twisted into something unrecognizable, a shape born of the mist and Kelv’s consuming power. His body now shifted in and out of space, flickering like he was trying to disappear but couldn’t.

  Kelv’s flickering form steadied and then he charged.

  I backpedaled across the crater floor, Ember raised, every step shaking under the force of his advance. His fist came down, wreathed in crimson energy, a blow meant to pulverize me.

  I met it head-on. Ember flared, Limit Slash igniting in a blaze of blue fire as steel and aura collided with raw fury.

  The impact was cataclysmic.

  The shockwave ripped through the crater, hurling me backward. Flames trailed in my wake as my body cleared the rim, before I slammed into the earth and skidded to a halt at the Duke’s fortifications.

  I forced myself upright, Ember still burning in my grip. I drove the blade into the ground, using it as a brace to stand. Pain flared through me; my left leg was broken, but I locked my focus ahead anyway.

  Balt appeared at my side, Tale close behind. And then, clear as thought, the Duke’s voice entered my head. “Can you still fight?”

  “I can” I replied. But I have an idea to end this, once and for all. “Can you lock just him down in space for any amount of time?”

  At that moment Kelv clawed his way out of the crater, crimson mist spiraling around him, his roar shaking the battlefield as he searched for something. His eyes locked on me and then he dropped low, moving like a beast instead of a man.

  One leg was gone, torn away, leaving him with only a single good leg and two massive arms. He lunged forward on three limbs toward me, dragging himself with raw strength, his arms pounding into the stone like war drums while his remaining leg kicked to drive him faster. Each stride-built momentum, his body jerking in a grotesque rhythm that somehow carried him with terrifying speed.

  The ground trembled under his charge as he barreled toward me, less man than monster, a predator that had learned to hunt even crippled.

  The Duke’s voice cut into my mind, hurried and sharp: “I can, but only for a second before the strain kills me or he breaks free.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Then connect me with everyone. “Now.”

  Randall’s voice answered instantly: “Done. You’re linked.”

  I drew a breath, forcing calm into the storm. “Alright. Here’s the plan.”

  The battlefield seemed to fade for a heartbeat as my thoughts spilled outward. Images, tactics, and orders flashed through the link, Balt and Tale’s faces hardened with resolve. The Duke’s mages raised their hands, light gathering. Soldiers braced themselves, their fear tempered into steel.

  When the vision snapped back, everyone was already moving, and the monster was on me.

  Balt and Tale surged forward, their spells colliding with the creature in a storm of light and steel. The Duke’s mages joined them, weaving volleys of fire and arcane bolts that hammered into Kelv’s frame. I hurled searing spheres into the fray, each blast forcing him to stagger, pinning him in place.

  Then Balt raised his hand. A crack split the sky, and a pillar of force lightning crashed down, spearing into Kelv’s chest.

  Tale’s grey mana writhed and lengthened, shaping into colossal weapons. With a roar, he brought them down on the exposed stump of Kelv’s ruined leg, smashing him into the stone. From the walls, soldiers and mages unleashed everything they had, arrows, spells, fire, until the battlefield shook under the combined assault.

  Kelv’s energy flared, crimson mist bursting outward in a violent wave. His armored limbs swept wide, clawing through the air, forcing everyone back for a heartbeat.

  The battlefield went still. Even the air felt heavy, charged with raw power. I could feel it, the moment before the end. Either we broke him now, or he’d break the world around us.

  I clenched my jaw and sent the thought through the link: “Now.”

  The Duke’s reply wasn’t spoken, it resonated.

  “Hold him.”

  The air rippled. Every rune across the fortress flared as one. The lanterns’ light twisted, collapsing inward. The world seemed to fold in on Kelv, his mist recoiling as if space itself had turned against him.

  I Flash Stepped.

  In an instant, I was above him. Kelv’s eyes widened, crimson mist swirling as he looked up and tried to move but was unable. Ember blazed in my grip, Limit Break igniting as I held my breath, hoping for no backlash, strength and speed surging through me like fire in my veins, and I mercifully felt no soul damage as my power surged.

  I roared and brought Ember down.

  The Limit Breaker Slash tore through his neck, aura and steel fused into unstoppable force. Ember bit deep, carving through bone and sinew. Kelv’s scream shook the battlefield as I forced the blade through, driving it with every ounce of power left in me, until his head finally severed, crashing to the stone below.

  The roar of battle fell silent. I collapsed onto the stone, Ember still burning faintly in my grip, and found myself beside the severed head of the portal mage, the traitor who had tried to sell out his own people for power.

  For a moment, all I could hear was my own breath and the crackle of fading flames. The monster was dead. The traitor silenced. And the day belonged to us. I kicked the head away from me and turned back towards Balt and Tale. “Fuck that ass clown.”