The Defiler stepped out from the broken stone, his movents no longer as effortless as it was before. Rubble rolled off his shoulders as he straightened, the twisted form of his half-lion, half-goat Bloodline still dominant behind him.
But Aren noticed that the wound he’d left via Dragon’s Claw on his chest hadn’t healed. From here, he could see that sothing within the man’s body was trying desperately to heal, yet when skin started stitching itself back, it was like it’d forgotten how to in the first place.
Seems like I can do real damage to him, I can probably—
Aren tried to step forward. But not even a step in and he’d dropped down on one knee, coughing. He covered his mouth with his hand, only to see that it was riddled with blood.
What the hell—?
"Aren! You okay? What’s happening?" Luna panicked from beside him, seeing the blood.
But she saw it from the side as well. Aren’s side, where he was grazed by the flas, started bubbling and boiling, almost like his body was being cooked from the inside.
The Defiler saw it too. The mont Aren dropped, the man’s eyes locked onto him as he chuckled softly to himself.
"...So it finally caught up to you."
The man finally stepped free from the rubble, walking ever-so-closer to them with each step.
"Don’t you dare," Luna said through gritted teeth as she stepped in front of Aren without hesitation.
The temperature of the cavern dropped instantly as she conjured her Art.
"Hailstorm!"
Ice ford in overwhelming quantities, far more than before, filling the space above the Defiler. But from here, Aren could see that each one was weak individually, so were chipped and cracked while others weren’t even sharp.
But that hadn’t stopped Luna from launching the barrage altogether. Instantly, the spears of ice rushed forward to et their target, crashing down all at once onto the man.
The Defiler raised his hand, dark flas roaring outward to et it—
But Luna followed up imdiately while he was distracted.
"Ice Lotus!"
The ground beneath him froze over in an instant, a massive bloom erupting upward, its jagged petals spreading wide as they trapped him mid-motion. Frost crawled up his legs as they snapped and broke, turning into a thousand smaller pieces that pierced into his skin.
The Defiler’s expression twisted in pain as the smaller needles drove into his skin. There were simply too many shards for his healing factor to stitch them altogether.
"Nice! Luna, it’s working! If you do one more, we could probably—"
Aren stopped mid-sentence, as the Luna he was talking to had suddenly fell forward, her body pretty much limp.
Shit!
Aren barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground, pulling her into his arms as her weight gave out beneath her.
"Luna—!"
Her face was pale even under the dim light and her body was cold to the touch. Luna’s fingers trembled softly, frost forming along her skin in uneven patches, spreading without her command.
"Luna! What the hell is happening?"
"...Sorry—I couldn’t...control it..." she breathed unsteadily, forcing the words out.
"What? Control what?" Aren started.
But that was when his eyes widened as he looked closer. Her ether wasn’t gone.
If anything, it was still there...too much of it. Sohow, just a second ago she was bottoming out—but now, a relentless cold had accumulated past the point her body could handle.
"He...hehe..."
Aren snapped his head toward the noise. The Defiler stepped out from the collapsing bloom, ice shards now falling off his body as the wounds managed to push them all out.
"...You’re both falling apart."
"Everyone dies soday, little one," the man continued, hysterical. "But you...at least you’ll die knowing you were used to achieve a greater cause..."
Again with this greater cause shit... why do they keep saying that?
Aren didn’t even have the energy to respond. His grip tightened slightly around Luna as he forced himself to stay upright. The heat inside his body was even worse now, like it was eating him from the inside.
Now with his hand wrapped around her, and the Defiler approaching...the weight of his dampener suddenly felt heavier than it ever was before.
Fuck...I have to risk it. If I don’t...we’ll all die here. Screw the consequences.
His thumb pressed against the dampener, slowly loosening it before...
BATHUMP...
A deep steady pulse resounded within his chest like a second heartbeat.
The mont the damper loosened, the Fertile Core responded—its presence flooding his body with a familiar feeling.
He’d felt this sensation before.
Inside the Core...when his hands were intertwined with hers.
Even now, with her pressed against him, he could feel it again. Their ether moved between them without resistance, without conflict—without the violent rejection that should’ve existed between two different bodies.
That was when he rembered it..patibility.
Aren let go of the dampener, propping her up a bit more before looking into her eyes.
"Luna...do you trust ?"
Her eyes opened just slightly as a small smile appeared on her face.
"Always."
He took her hand once more, their fingers intertwining together. Her hands were soft. Even if they were cold, a small warmth still remained within them.
Aren leaned forward and placed his forehead on hers. For a brief mont, the world seed to quiet. Their breathing fell into rhythm without either of them realizing it.
And he saw...everything about her.
Expectations, the weight of being perfect...of never falling behind, of always being the ’prodigy’. He felt it in the way her ether surged, like it was trying to prove sothing even now, even when her body couldn’t keep up anymore.
Aren’s grip around her hand tightened slightly.
"You’ve worked hard..." he murmured. "I can see that."
Luna’s eyes softened faintly.
"...Yeah."
But she saw him too....everything about him.
The constant tension of holding everything together, buried so deep that it had been second nature. That if he didn’t...soone he loved would’ve been lost. The fear of being weak, of not being there when it mattered...and failing the people behind him.
"You won’t lose ," she said softly. "Not now. Not ever."
Aren’s breath hitched slightly.
"...Yeah."
And in that shared silence...their ethers fused
A surge of spiritual pressure erupted outward, so violent it felt like the cavern itself rejected it. The ground trembled beneath them as a shockwave tore through the space, ripping upward until the entire ceiling exploded.
Stone shattered and blasted upward in an instant, the entire top of the cave blown open dim light poured from above, quickly swallowed by the gathering storm clouds."
The Defiler stopped midstep, his pupils shrinking as he looked up at the destruction. "...What the hell is—!"
His eyes landed back onto the two kids on the floor, golden energy radiating from them as they both stared at him.
The man finally lost it.
"NO! STOP IT! WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING, YOU CAN’T HANDLE IT!"
It was a desperate bluff, one made from pure survival instincts. Seeing that it had no effect, he abandoned all reason.
Dark flas and black ice wrapped around his body as he charged forward at the two, intending to end it before whatever was forming could fully manifest.
But he was too late.
A surge of absolute cold blast through the space, racing across the ground in every direction and swallowing everything in its path. The ice claid his legs, freezing upward with such force that it completely locked him in place.
"...What—?! I can’t break out?! What is this?!"
He tried to burn through it with his fire, but whatever he did...he was stuck. That was when he looked around, only to find himself at the center of a perfectly still frozen spring...waiting.
Aren’s grip tightened around Luna’s hand as he slowly lifted his gaze. Storm clouds condensed above, already waiting for the last confirmation.
The chaos that had once surrounded them was gone, replaced by sothing...indescribably whole.
"...Together?" he asked quietly.
"Together," she echoed it softly.
The frozen spring beneath the Defiler rippled before it blood. A massive frost flower erupted upward from the surface, its petals unfolding slowly as each of them locked around him like a cage.
"...No...no, no—!"
But his fate was already sealed.
"Fusion Art: Dragon Descends..."
"On The Frozen Spring."
The clouds parted as the heavens answered. Water spiraled upward, drawn from the very spring below as lightning threaded through it to finally form the shape.
A massive dragon, made of pure flowing water and crackling lightning locked its gaze below.
The Defiler looked up. And for the first ti in his life, he’d finally felt it...
Fear.
The dragon plunged straight down into the bloom, its mouth open wide before—
—swallowing the man whole.
The entire cavern shook as lightning exploded outward from within, the petals trapping every bolt of lightning inside.
For a mont, the world seed to stop as it tried to correct itself.
But the storm that had gathered above began to drift, slowly parting as sunlight broke though. Light poured into the cavern, cutting through the chaos below.
At the center of it all—there was nothing left.
Not even a trace. Only scorched marks etched into the ice where sobody once stood.
The frozen spring beneath them began to lt at the edges, the perfect surface breaking apart as water slowly reclaid its form, spreading into gentle waves.
Still seated where they had been, Aren and Luna hadn’t moved. Ther hands were still intertwined as though the world beyond that point didn’t exist.
"...We made it."
Luna’s fingers tightened softly in response, the smallest hint of a smile forming despite the exhaustion weighing her down.
"...Yeah."
Only quiet remained.
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