The Ragged Malachite Fiend lunged.
The ground cracked under its weight as it surged forward, claws blurring with emerald fire. Amanda met it head-on, steel shrieking against jagged stone-flesh as her sword barely diverted the killing strike. The impact sent shockwaves through her arms, numbing them up to the shoulders.
She slid back three full meters, boots carving trenches in the malachite soil.
Brandon intercepted on the right, swinging his halberd low. The demon leapt effortlessly over the blade, twisting in mid-air like a blade of green lightning. Its tail lashed out, knocking Brandon's weapon from his hands and sending it clattering across the grove.
"Brandon!" Celis cried.
"I'm fine—!" he lied, stumbling.
Lysa blasted a volley of lightning into the demon's flank. White-blue arcs exploded across its ribs, momentarily halting its momentum. Steam rose from charred stone-flesh.
The demon turned its four eyes toward her.
All four narrowed.
"Twin flame…"
"One ember left."
Lysa swallowed hard, hand trembling around her staff. "Amanda—he's targeting casters!"
Amanda didn't hesitate. "Stick close! Eyes on me!"
She dashed forward, mana bursting from her core, the ground fracturing behind each step. As the only D-rank in the group, her speed alone created a sonic crack as she closed the distance. She swung upward at the demon's jaw in a clean, ascending arc—
The demon caught her blade between two claws.
Caught it.
Held it in place as if she'd swung a wooden stick.
Amanda's eyes widened—too slow.
The demon slammed its forehead into hers.
Her vision shattered. White light exploded behind her eyes. She stumbled back, dizzy, barely lifting her sword in time to intercept a follow-up swipe that would've bisected her.
"Amanda!" Brandon charged again, battered armor groaning as he put himself between her and the demon.
The Fiend's tail whipped toward him.
Lysa reacted on instinct. A lightning barrier snapped into place just in time—the tail slammed into it, sparking violently as the shield absorbed the blow.
"GO!" Lysa screamed. "Just hit him!"
Amanda needed no further encouragement.
She burst forward, sword blazing with raw mana. She slashed once, twice—fast enough to create streaks of light through the air. Sparks erupted with every strike as steel clashed against demonstone flesh. Each hit gouged deeper, carving shallow wounds that oozed emerald heat.
The Fiend hissed.
For the first time—it looked annoyed.
"Persistent flame…"
"Burning without light."
It stomped once.
The entire grove shook.
The shockwave blasted the team apart—Celis slammed into a tree, Brandon crashed onto his back, and Lysa rolled across the cracked ground, staff nearly torn from her grip.
Amanda skidded backward but stayed standing, panting, blood trickling from her scalp.
The demon blurred.
It appeared behind Celis.
Amanda reacted faster than thought.
"CE-LIS!!"
Amanda threw her sword.
It whistled through the air, slamming into the demon's shoulder just as its claws descended toward the healer. The impact forced its strike wide, carving a trench into the earth instead of Celis's spine.
The demon snarled, twisting its torso unnaturally to pull the blade out.
Amanda sprinted for Celis, grabbing her and rolling just as the demon's tail impaled the ground where they'd been.
Celis clung to her, gasping. "I—I can't… I can't get healing spells out fast enough—!"
"I don't need healing," Amanda said, voice low and fierce. "I need you alive."
Brandon reclaimed his halberd. "Amanda! Right flank!"
The demon rotated its entire upper body 180 degrees to face him.
Brandon froze.
Amanda didn't.
"MOVE!"
Brandon dove aside as the demon's claws slashed downward, cleaving a boulder in half. The ground ruptured beneath the strike as though the earth were clay.
Lysa fired a concentrated bolt of lightning straight into the demon's face.
The Fiend roared—more in fury than pain—but staggered back two steps, smoke rising from scorched stone-flesh.
Amanda landed beside Lysa. "Good shot!"
Lysa didn't look away from the demon. "Amanda… we can't beat this thing."
"We don't have a choice."
The demon's four eyes flickered with emerald fire.
"Four embers remain…"
"One must go."
It moved.
Lysa felt the shift in mana before she saw it—and she threw herself sideways just as a claw carved through the air where her heart had been. The demon chased her, relentless, ignoring Brandon's slash and Celis's weak stun spells.
It wanted her.
It wanted the last twin.
Lysa sprinted across the grove, leaping over debris, dodging swipe after swipe by inches. Lightning wrapped around her legs, boosting her speed, but the demon was faster—inhumanly fast, its body bending and twisting in impossible ways as it pursued her.
Brandon charged again, roaring, striking the demon's back with his halberd. The blade bit in—deep this time, cracking a plate of stone-flesh.
The Fiend whirled around, grabbed the halberd shaft—
And snapped it in half.
Brandon barely blocked the following strike with the remains of the weapon. The blow launched him backward like a ragdoll.
"BRANDON!" Celis ran toward him, healing light already spilling from her hands.
Amanda intercepted the demon again, tackling it away from Lysa. They crashed through a tree, splintering it into shards. Amanda rolled to her feet, breathing hard, her right arm numbing from the impact.
The demon rose with eerie calmness.
"Three embers."
Amanda tightened her fists around her sword hilt. "You're not taking anyone."
The demon tilted its head.
"Incorrect."
It vanished.
Amanda's eyes barely tracked it.
But Lysa saw everything.
The demon reappeared behind her, claws already raised for the kill.
She didn't scream.
Instead—she planted her feet, gripped her staff, and tore every last drop of mana from her core.
Lightning erupted around her like a storm collapsing, a sphere of white-blue brilliance.
"AMANDA!!" she screamed. "NOW!"
Amanda moved on instinct.
Her D-rank core surged—her blood ignited.
She sprinted, sword slashing upward with every ounce of strength she had.
The demon's claws descended.
Lysa drove her staff into the ground and unleashed a lightning explosion that detonated point-blank, engulfing both her and the demon in raw destructive force.
The blast shook the entire grove.
The Fiend reeled—its entire chest cracked open, emerald fire spilling like molten glass. One horn shattered. Its left arm hung uselessly.
But Lysa—
Lysa collapsed to her knees, smoke rising from her body.
Her eyes unfocused. Her lips trembled.
Amanda froze. Her world narrowed to a pinpoint.
"Lysa…?"
The demon staggered upright.
Its four eyes blazed with hatred.
"One ember… extinguished."
Amanda saw red.
She roared.
Her mana exploded outward in a wave of golden light. She shot across the grove faster than sound, grabbing her sword mid-dash. She slammed into the demon, driving her blade deep into its cracked chest.
The Fiend shrieked, claws flailing wildly—but Amanda held firm, pushing deeper, deeper, until emerald fire splattered across the ground like burning acid.
"THIS—" she shouted, "—IS FOR—LYSA!"
She twisted the blade.
The Fiend convulsed.
Amanda ripped upward, splitting its entire chest open. Emerald fire burst outward like a dying star. The demon collapsed, its stone-flesh crumbling into fractured plates.
Its last words slithered through the air like smoke.
"Paragon's… shadow… lingers…"
"He… will come…"
And then it died.
The grove fell silent.
Amanda dropped to her knees, gasping, blood dripping from her chin. Brandon limped toward her, half-conscious. Celis ran to Lysa, already crying before she reached her.
Lysa lay in the center of the scorched earth, eyes still open but fading like a candle losing its flame.
Celis clutched her hand. "Lysa… stay with me… stay—"
The girl smiled weakly.
"I'm… glad… I hel… ped…"
Her hand went limp.
Celis broke.
Brandon bowed his head.
Amanda closed Lysa's eyes gently.
For a moment, the world was only grief.
Then Amanda slowly rose, sword trembling in her grip.
"We leave," she whispered. "Now. This isn't over."
Grabbing the D-Rank mana stone left after the Demon died, she got up and started walking towards the portal that appeared.
The demon's words clung to Amanda's thoughts like a curse—
He will come.