Lunara turned to Kaelira with a blank expression, speechless. Seeing Kaelira's serious look, she sighed in resignation.
"Lunara, now focus!"
Kaelira tossed the name around in her head for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. Refocusing on Sylas, she yanked her halberd from the ground and took her stance.
"Think you can keep up, Squirt?"
Lunara rolled her eyes, but a gleam flashed through them. She spread her arms wide, summoning a massive wave of water behind her that gradually coalesced into the shape of a dragon. Switching her sword into a backhanded grip, her body tightened in preparation.
"You should worry about yourself. Don't slow me down."
Sylas, watching their exchange, felt as if they were looking down on him—treating him like air, as always.
At that moment, what little remained of his fractured psyche finally shattered.
He unleashed a scream that fractured the ground in waves, the sonic blast rushing toward them.
As if cued, both women vanished, blitzing toward Sylas from two directions at terrifying speeds.
Sylas sneered. Emboldened by his superior cultivation and the raw power flooding his veins, he launched two tendrils of shadow toward their legs, aiming to maim.
Kaelira let out an ecstatic laugh as she twirled her halberd. As the tendril whipped toward her, she dodged aside and a jagged pillar of ice erupted beneath her feet. Using it as a foothold, her muscles flexed—then she rocketed forward even faster.
Startled by the sudden burst of speed, Sylas turned toward her and raised his arm. Hundreds of black wisps rose from his shadow, forming spikes that shot out, sealing every escape route.
A smirk curled his lips—for a single heartbeat.
Then his hair stood on end.
He had forgotten someone.
Or rather—ignored her.
He whipped his head around. The tendril he had sent toward Lunara earlier was pinned to the ground beneath her water dragon. But Lunara herself was nowhere in sight.
His frantic gaze swept the battlefield.
A sharp whistle beneath him forced his eyes downward—his pupils constricted into pinpoints.
Lunara stared up at him, expressionless, sword inches from his eyes as she thrust upward. Fueled by the power surging inside him, his reflexes sharpened—he jerked his head aside just enough to avoid instant death and counterattacked with a vicious sweeping kick.
Lunara didn't even blink. A veil of water formed before her, taking the brunt of the blow. Sylas' kick tore straight through it, slowed only slightly by the absurd water pressure within. The control and talent required stunned him for an instant—but he immediately increased his force.
Before the strike connected, an icy chill crawled up his spine.
His neck tingled.
Abandoning his pursuit, he jerked up his arm to defend.
CLANG!
Kaelira's halberd crashed into his forearm, intending to sever it.
She clicked her tongue when the sneak attack failed and twisted away, dodging another tendril aimed at her abdomen.
All three separated, reassuming their stances.
The entire exchange had lasted less than thirty seconds.
Drip, drip.
Sylas stared at his arm in disbelief. Two Core Formation cultivators had managed to injure him—him, a genius of the Peak Soul Expansion stage.
"Aweee~, Luna, I think we hurt his feelings~."
The blatant sarcasm and mocking smile made Sylas' eyes turn blood-red.
Lunara, however, ignored him. Her expression shifted, becoming contemplative. Something was off.
A Soul Expansion expert should have been able to crush them under overwhelming soul pressure, severely hindering their combat ability. Even with their incarnate sources opened, they should have been heavily suppressed.
But Sylas hadn't used soul presence even once.
That discrepancy wasn't lost on her sharp mind.
'Hey, Beastie. Sylas can't use soul presence.'
Kaelira was momentarily stunned before responding to the game-changing revelation.
'Who are you calling Beastie, Squirt!?'
'We don't have time for this. I don't have enough qi for a drawn-out fight, and you're too injured. One clean blow and you're done.'
Being ignored again, a vein bulged on Kaelira's temple—but she forced herself to focus on Lunara's words.
As they communicated, Sylas—burning with impotent fury—roared at the heavens. His hair finally fell back, revealing the horrific damage from the Nether Yin Water Lunara had used on him.
Rotten, gray skin.
Patches of flesh falling from exposed bone.
A stench of decay rolling off him in waves.
His crazed emerald pupils swirled with feverish insanity as he glared at them.
"I'll kill you… Kill you! Kill you! KILL YOUUUU!"
With a bloody shriek, he launched himself forward. Hundreds of tendrils exploded from his shadow. Earth qi surged into the ground, sending jagged spikes erupting upward.
Both women reacted instantly.
Kaelira cleaved apart the stone thorns with lethal grace, forming ice pillars to stall the encroaching tendrils. She held out long enough to escape the barrage—only for a hidden tendril to whip out and slam her toward the earth, another spike rising to impale her.
At the last instant, she twisted, narrowly avoiding skewering herself before crashing into the ground and vomiting blood.
Lunara didn't fare much better. Her water dragon collapsed after barely three seconds under the relentless pressure. A tendril crashed down from above, smashing her into the earth before wrapping around her and constricting.
Vision fading, Lunara sent Kaelira one final transmission.
'If you've got anything left, now's the time. I've got one last move before we both die.'
Kaelira lay on the ground, her body heavy as lead. Her soul flickered like a dying candle, each ragged breath searing her mind with agony.
But her eyes—
Her eyes burned with a fire she'd always possessed.
A fire no amount of ice could extinguish.
Her will surged. Ignoring the screams of her body, she rose once more, determination carved across her expression.
A biting cold spread from her body. Ice formed into a crown above her head as her eyes ignited—literally—two globes of blood-red flame, brimming with annihilating intent.
And as she faced Sylas, she answered Lunara.
'Yeah… I've got a nasty little surprise for our resident creep.'
Her manic smile bloomed.
'Let's finish this with a bang, yeah!?'