Eirian swung her blade in a sharp upward arc.

  Starlight condensed along its edge before firing outward in a concentrated beam. The ray tore through the battlefield like a comet, scattering chunks of twisted shadow as it collided with the writhing dark roots threaded with pulsing purple veins.

  For a moment the sky cleared.

  Then the roots surged again.

  “Of course,” Eirian muttered.

  Another grotesque construct burst toward her—the same cursed #Hashtag attack that had ripped through half the battlefield earlier. Four jagged bars of violet-veined darkness crossed in midair, forming a grid that snapped shut like a cage.

  She dove.

  Her body twisted sideways as she let the first bar pass inches from her shoulder. The second line came screaming toward her ribs—she kicked off a floating slab of rubble, flipping over it as the dark energy sheared through the stone beneath her.

  The third bar followed instantly.

  She spun midair, blade flashing as she used the flat to slide along the edge of the attack, letting the momentum carry her through the opening before the construct closed completely.

  The final line snapped down from above.

  Eirian dropped.

  Her cape snapped behind her as she folded into a tight spiral dive, plunging straight through the narrowest gap before the crossing bars sealed together with a violent crack.

  She landed lightly on a drifting chunk of a shattered mountain.

  Breathing steady.

  “Ridiculous attack,” she muttered.

  Her golden eyes flicked toward her opponent.

  That woman.

  Purple and white monk robes flowing loosely around her body—though monk felt like a generous interpretation. The fabric was cut and wrapped in ways that revealed far more than most temples would tolerate.

  Eirian frowned.

  “What monastery would even allow that?” she murmured.

  The outfit looked less like religious attire and more like something a very classy whore might wear to a ceremony.

  But that aside, she was concerned for Caelus. That dreadful feeling that turned into an insane headache was concerning. But first, she needed to end this living nightmare before her.

  Across the battlefield, Ria watched the maneuvering with interest.

  The blue star of starlight moved elegantly through the sky, dodging constructs that would have crushed most fighters instantly.

  Ria smiled.

  “Yeah… you’re manageable.”

  Zequlot had mentioned this woman.

  Apparently she was strong.

  But manageable was still manageable.

  Ria’s yellow slit eyes scanned the battlefield again.

  There was someone missing.

  The male.

  The Calmbrand.

  She tilted her head thoughtfully.

  “I was hoping you’d bring him along,” she said softly.

  Taking them both at the same time would have been far more entertaining. And once she was done with them… she would seek out the other Sryun user.

  And it would do wonders for her brand.

  ————

  Crisper’s eyes snapped open.

  Her cockpit was tilted sideways, half-buried in rubble and twisted metal. Warning lights blinked uselessly across shattered panels.

  Her UI flickered back to life.

  [STATUS:]

  [Psychic trauma detected.]

  [Cause: Malefic Herald triggered. Extreme sorrow event → insanity cascade.]

  “Fantastic,” she coughed, kicking the cracked canopy loose.

  The cockpit door burst outward and she tumbled onto the ground, hacking as dust and the lingering emotional weight of the battlefield pressed against her lungs.

  “Despair and insanity back-to-back,” she groaned, staggering upright. “Yeah that’s great for the brain.”

  Her comm flickered weakly.

  She pressed it anyway.

  “Everyone alive?”

  A distant explosion rattled the ground.

  Static answered her.

  “…Of course the comms are dead.”

  She wiped soot from her face and looked up—

  A white streak landed in front of her.

  Ozzy.

  She blinked.

  He looked like someone had fed him through a wood chipper.

  His blindfold was gone.

  The white X carved in his head wasn’t pulsing as brightly anymore.

  His left eye socket was empty and leaking blood.

  His right eye remained shut.

  His white robe and hooded cape were barely recognizable—torn, soaked red. His right arm was missing entirely.

  Locs were a faint bluish color…

  And yet—

  That stupid smile was still there.

  He tilted his head slightly.

  “Something on my face?”

  Crisper stared at him.

  Then she burst out laughing.

  “What the fuck happened to you?”

  Ozzy shrugged casually.

  “A little bit of this and that… and then this.”

  He gestured vaguely at his missing arm.

  “Now we are here.”

  She stared at him again.

  “I don’t have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain.”

  “Shut up.” She chuckled.

  He grinned wider.

  “So is everyone—”

  “Everyone’s fine,” he cut in, already shifting his stance. “I’m about to go back and fight Jack.”

  Crisper blinked.

  “Jamal and S?urtinaui are about to run into Caelus again. I would definitely implore you to assist them.”

  She squinted at him.

  “Are you even able to fight?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sure?”

  Ozzy laughed softly.

  “What else am I gonna do? Rest?”

  He reached over and patted her rainbow hair with his remaining hand.

  “Don’t worry your noggin on me. I’m only out once I’m dead.”

  He gave the impression of a wink with the one eye that still worked.

  “And spoiler alert—I’m really hard to kill.”

  Crisper shook her head.

  “Well you did more than enough. Thanks for fighting the Malefic Herald.”

  Ozzy tilted his head.

  “Ooh, that’s her new name. Thought it was the Land’s Herald.”

  She stared.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Right… you’re not a UI user. But she seemed to level up I guess?”

  Around them, soldiers and combatants were slowly recovering as the psychic pressure lifted. Auras began flaring again across the battlefield.

  The war was restarting.

  Ozzy glanced toward the horizon.

  “Alright. Let’s cut this rat race short.”

  He stepped away.

  “I’m going to hold Jack off.”

  “But—”

  He continued speaking over her.

  “You summon that army and help Jamal and Naui. Tabia will join when she can.”

  His voice stayed calm.

  “North, Cawren, and Destiny will finish off the Herald.”

  Crisper blinked.

  “Cawren?!”

  Ozzy chuckled.

  “Yeah. Go figure, right?”

  She rubbed her temples.

  “Okay… fuck… that’s a lot.”

  Then she looked back at him.

  “You think in this state you could beat Jack?”

  Ozzy thought about it for a second.

  “Probably not.”

  Crisper stared.

  “But it’s worth a shot,” he added lightly.

  He began walking away again.

  “Besides…”

  He glanced back over his shoulder.

  “Have you ever played Jenga?”

  “What the hell?”

  Ozzy waved vaguely while walking away.

  “Well… think of me fighting Jack like that.”

  Crisper let out a long breath and rolled her shoulders.

  Her rainbow hair was frizzled, half-singed from the crash. Her combat jacket hung crooked and torn, and her boots were coated in soot and ash.

  But she didn’t waste another second.

  Ozzy had just walked back into a fight missing an arm and an eye.

  The least she could do was make the sacrifice count.

  Her UI flickered alive in front of her vision.

  [KILLSTREAK MENU — ACTIVE]

  “Alright,” she muttered. “Let’s spend these before I die.”

  Her finger flicked through the options.

  [SUMMON: NEON WARHOUNDS]

  The ground cracked with electric color as a pack of glowing neon dogs burst into existence. Their bodies shimmered with bright cybernetic outlines—pink, cyan, and violet lines pulsing through translucent forms as they snarled and snapped.

  “Go hunt,” she ordered.

  They sprinted off immediately.

  Next.

  [SUMMON: COMBAT SQUAD]

  A ripple of light tore open beside her.

  Fifty soldiers materialized in tight formation, weapons already raised. Their armor carried the same holographic glow as the dogs—combat-ready and awaiting command.

  “Clear the field,” Crisper said. “Enemy faction only.”

  The squad split instantly, spreading into the broken streets to finish off the disoriented forces still struggling to stand.

  Crisper wasn’t finished.

  Her UI flashed again.

  [SUMMON: HEAVY SUPPORT]

  Two massive tanks phased into existence with a thunderous metallic crash. Neon circuitry ran along their armored plating, cannons swiveling as targeting systems locked onto movement across the battlefield.

  Crisper nodded.

  “That side mission paid off.”

  The little raid she and Jamal ran before the attack had given her more killstreak charges than she’d expected.

  Now she was about to cash them all in.

  With the army still recovering from the psychic collapse, this was the perfect moment to wipe out the rest of the opposing faction. And she could support Jamal and the elf.

  She started moving forward—

  Then froze.

  A pressure slid across the battlefield.

  Her head snapped upward.

  Two flashes of movement tore through the air.

  Her chest tightened immediately.

  “No…”

  She summoned her sniper rifle in one smooth motion and dropped to a knee.

  The scope unfolded with a mechanical click.

  She looked through the lens.

  The zoom snapped into focus.

  There.

  A figure streaking across the sky.

  A cat-mermaid hybrid, red hair whipping behind her like flame.

  Civen.

  Behind her—

  Something taller.

  A skeletal monster wrapped in stitched robes, hollow sockets glowing green.

  Crisper’s stomach sank.

  AAA-Ka-Nier.

  She tracked their trajectory.

  Her UI projected the movement path.

  And her heart dropped.

  They weren’t heading for North.

  They were heading straight toward—

  “Shit.”

  Destiny.

  ————

  Dribble.

  Pass.

  Dribble.

  Pass.

  Dribble.

  Pass.

  Jamal and S?urtinaui blurred through the shattered district. Jamal’s chest burned as he sprinted across the cracked street, the glowing soul ball bouncing between his palm and S?urtinaui’s like a living beat.

  Dribble.

  He spun past a broken pillar.

  Pass.

  The ball phased through the rubble and snapped into S?urtinaui’s left hand.

  She didn’t even look at it.

  Her eyes were fixed on Caelus.

  And the look in them was unsettling.

  There was no fear left.

  Only calculation.

  For someone missing their right arm, she was doing surprisingly well.

  Jamal barely had time to process it.

  A blade shrieked past his face.

  Blue Ryun energy carved a glowing arc through the air where his head had been.

  “DAMN!”

  Caelus landed lightly on a broken wall across from them, long azure hair whipping behind him. His golden eyes were locked on the ball.

  On the trick.

  He had already figured it out.

  His armor shimmered with pale blue Ryun glyphs, phantom echoes rippling around his body like mirages preparing to strike.

  “Interesting,” Caelus murmured.

  He vanished.

  A flash of blue.

  He flickered forward like a ghost skipping frames in reality.

  His blade lunged straight through Jamal—

  —but Jamal pivoted.

  His body flickered between two micro-realities.

  The thrust passed through a fading afterimage.

  Jamal slid sideways and slapped the ball across the street.

  “NAUI!”

  The ball phased through a collapsed building wall and shot straight into S?urtinaui’s waiting hand.

  She didn’t slow.

  Caelus adjusted instantly.

  Blue afterimages split off his body as he began Spectral Sync, echo-motions duplicating each step and slash.

  Three Caeluses rushed them at once.

  S?urtinaui ducked under the first.

  The second swung low.

  The third moved to intercept the ball.

  Caelus had figured it out.

  Split them.

  The rhythm of the passes kept their movements linked—every dribble shifting their positions before Caelus could lock onto one target.

  If he separated them long enough—

  The ball connection would break.

  S?urtinaui jumped through a shattered window.

  Glass exploded outward.

  Caelus followed instantly.

  Three rapid slashes carved through the air.

  First diagonal.

  Second mirrored strike.

  The third—

  A delayed phantom echo.

  S?urtinaui twisted sideways just as the echo slash detonated behind her, carving the wall apart.

  Outside—

  Jamal caught the ball as it phased through the building again.

  “Ha! You thought this be sweet blood!” he grinned.

  He bounced it once.

  Twice.

  Then Caelus appeared directly in front of him.

  Golden eyes calm.

  Blade already moving.

  His sword dragged a glowing X across the air—

  Jamal cursed.

  “OH SH—”

  He pivoted.

  Crossfade activated again.

  His body flickered sideways between realities.

  The glowing cross exploded where he had been standing, a radial blue slash tearing apart the pavement.

  Jamal skidded backward—

  And tossed the ball behind him without looking.

  It phased through the street.

  Through a collapsed storefront.

  Through two walls.

  S?urtinaui caught it again mid-run.

  Caelus landed between them.

  He finally frowned.

  The ball didn’t care about distance.

  Didn’t care about walls.

  Didn’t care about obstacles.

  It only cared about connection.

  Jamal grinned breathlessly.

  “Yeah blood… fuck you thought .”

  Caelus moved again—

  Three phantom copies spun around Jamal in a circular slash pattern, blades striking with staggered delays.

  Jamal barely avoided the first.

  The second cut his sleeve.

  The third—

  S?urtinaui ran and kicked the ball straight through Caelus’s chest.

  It phased through him and snapped back to Jamal.

  Caelus turned.

  For the first time—

  He smiled.

  “Clever.”

  Blue Ryun energy flared around his blade.

  “Then I suppose…”

  Phantom echoes began surrounding him.

  “…I’ll simply attack you faster than you can pass it.”

  Dust rolled through the ruined street in slow choking waves.

  S?urtinaui crouched behind a fractured column beside Jamal, both of them breathing hard while blue Ryun scars still burned across the air where Caelus’s blade had passed.

  She wasn’t looking at the battlefield.

  Her mind was somewhere else.

  Then a voice.

  Faint.

  Distant.

  “…here…”

  Her brow furrowed.

  Dribble.

  The soul ball pulsed between her fingers.

  “…help…”

  Jamal snapped his fingers in front of her face.

  “Blood!”

  She blinked.

  “What?”

  “Get ya head in the damn game!”

  A blue arc ripped through the dust where they had been crouching a second earlier.

  They both rolled apart instinctively.

  Caelus burst through the haze like a specter, blade flashing in a ghostly chain of attacks.

  First slash.

  Second mirrored strike.

  Third phantom echo detonating half a second later.

  S?urtinaui kicked off the wall, flipping over the final strike as Jamal dribbled the ball beneath Caelus’s legs and snatched it back.

  Dribble.

  Pass.

  Dribble.

  Pass.

  They retreated deeper into the rubble until the dust finally swallowed them again.

  For a moment—

  Silence.

  Jamal leaned against a broken pillar, breathing hard.

  S?urtinaui’s head tilted.

  The voice again.

  “…closer…”

  “…here…”

  Her eyes widened slightly.

  Jamal noticed.

  “The hell wrong with you?”

  She looked at him.

  “I hear voices.”

  He stared at her.

  “…blood WHAT? This not the fucking time!”

  “They get stronger when we move toward this direction.” She pointed at a wall.

  Jamal blinked twice.

  “Or maybe,” he said slowly, “ya brain still scrambled from that earlier shit and you hearing god damn ghosts.”

  She shook her head.

  “No.”

  The voice pulsed again.

  “…this way…”

  Her eyes focused somewhere beyond the ruined street.

  “I need to check it.”

  Jamal wheezed out a tired laugh.

  “How you know that ain’t a trap?”

  “I don’t.”

  “You serious.”

  “Yes.”

  He rubbed his face.

  “Bro… what the fuck...”

  She met his eyes calmly.

  “With me gone you can actually fight.”

  He stared at her.

  “You think I can beat him?”

  She answered immediately.

  “No.”

  He laughed loudly.

  “DAMN.”

  “But you can stall him long enough.”

  Jamal looked toward the dust cloud where Caelus’s aura still burned like a blue star cutting through the haze.

  Then he grinned.

  “Shit.”

  He stood up.

  “Fuck it.”

  He spun the soul ball in his hand.

  “We ball.”

  S?urtinaui allowed herself a faint smile.

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet.”

  The dust exploded.

  Caelus stepped through the cloud, sword already mid-swing.

  Phantom echoes followed his blade like reflections across fractured mirrors.

  “Found you.”

  Jamal rolled his neck.

  “Yeah yeah.”

  He bounced the ball once.

  Then stepped forward.

  “Let’s dance.”

  The air warped.

  STEPBACK UNIVERSE.

  Reality snapped like a rubber band.

  Time froze.

  Caelus halted mid-slash.

  Phantom echoes hung in the air like shattered glass.

  Even the dust stopped falling.

  Jamal stepped backward calmly.

  “Appreciate the pause button.”

  The soul ball ignited with compressed Ryun in his hands.

  Energy spiraled inward.

  Gravity warped around the sphere.

  “Clock it.”

  He drove the ball into Caelus.

  SLAM DUSK.

  The street collapsed inward like a dying star.

  Gravity folded violently.

  Broken stone, steel, and Ryun shards ripped toward the center in a crushing vortex.

  Then—

  BOOM.

  Kinetic backlash exploded outward, launching debris and energy across the district.

  Time resumed.

  Caelus blasted backward through five walls.

  Jamal exhaled slowly.

  “Alright.”

  He cracked his knuckles.

  “That should piss him off.”

  Behind him—

  S?urtinaui moved.

  Ryun compressed into her legs.

  Then she vanished.

  A green blur tore across the ruins, leaping rooftops and shattered towers in a single chain of explosive movements.

  Her aura pulsed outward as she moved.

  Searching.

  The voice grew louder.

  “…closer…”

  “…please…”

  Her senses stretched across the battlefield.

  And finally—

  She felt it.

  It was further.

  Much further.

  S?urtinaui stopped atop the broken roof of a collapsed tower, wind tugging at her silver hair as the battlefield burned in every direction. Smoke rose like pillars to the sky while distant explosions flashed across Curtenail.

  She closed her eyes.

  The voice whispered again.

  “…farther…”

  Her brow tightened.

  That meant one thing.

  She looked across the wasteland beyond the city.

  No cover.

  No allies.

  Just ruined earth and shattered structures stretching into the distance.

  Her gaze flicked back toward the battlefield.

  Crisper’s aura burned somewhere near the central conflict. The girl’s energy was chaotic and bright—easy to track even through the lingering waves of despair.

  But the comms were dead.

  And the voice wasn’t near her.

  S?urtinaui exhaled slowly.

  “I see.”

  She needed transportation.

  Her eyes swept the skyline.

  No jets.

  No ships.

  Just wreckage.

  A few distant fires from destroyed aircraft smoldered across the plains, but they were too far and likely useless.

  She clicked her tongue quietly.

  “So be it.”

  If there was no vehicle—

  She would run.

  She dropped from the rooftop.

  Her feet hit the street in a controlled slide.

  Then she launched forward.

  Ryun surged through her legs as she accelerated, her body cutting through the ruined streets like a silver streak. Broken pavement shattered beneath each step as she vaulted wreckage, sprinted through hollowed buildings, and bounded across collapsed bridges.

  The city faded behind her.

  Veltrisse's outer ruins opened into a wasteland of cracked ground and scattered debris fields left behind by the tournament’s destruction.

  Still she ran.

  The voice pulsed faintly ahead.

  “…this way…”

  Her breathing steadied.

  Each step carried her farther from the battlefield.

  Farther from Jamal.

  From North.

  From everyone.

  The world around her grew quieter the further she went, the sounds of battle dissolving into distant thunder.

  For a moment—

  Doubt crept in.

  What if Jamal was right?

  What if this was a trap?

  What if her mind was still fractured from the Malefic Herald’s curse?

  She pushed the thought away and ran faster.

  Ryun gathered in her legs again, launching her across a broken valley of stone.

  She landed hard and continued forward.

  “I’ve come this far,” she whispered.

  She clenched her jaw and kept running.

  Praying to no god in particular—

  That she wasn’t chasing a dead end.