His hand snapped forward, fingers moving faster than Raelyn could track before a Glyph Bolt tore through the air toward her. She met it with a quickly conjured Shield of Light, the collision flaring in her face. She could feel the impact in her bones.

Benji closed the gap between them, mud spraying underfoot. Folainn responded, conjuring a Sword of Light mid-stride, the blade materializing from spinning glyphs in his palm.

The two clashed.

Sparks burst as steel met summoned light, and the ring of their blades cracked through the storm. Benji pressed hard, driving Folainn backward with a flurry of practiced blows. Raelyn used the moment to crouch and sketch a glyph into the churned mud between them, tracing the lines carefully even as her fingers trembled with adrenaline.

Benji and Folainn moved around her like a storm and its counterforce—Benji's strikes fast, relentless; Folainn's defense tight, calculating. Benji had the upper hand, clearly the better swordsman of the two. Until Folainn changed the tempo.

He jabbed a glowing finger into the air, a shimmering rune igniting between them. It pulsed once—then detonated. Raelyn recognised the spell from Corix' book, though she hadn't attempted it herself; The Runebreaker Pulse.

It hit like a silent explosion. Benji cried out as he was flung backward, boots sliding through the muck. He landed hard. Raelyn gasped, rushing toward him—

—but Folainn was already closing in, sword raised high.

"No—!" she shouted, weaving glyphs in the air.

A Glyph Bolt shot through the air and struck Folainn's sword just as it came down. The summoned blade shattered on impact, splinters of light scattering into the night.

Folainn staggered and sneered, the amusement gone from his eyes. "You're really starting to get on my nerves," he snapped, voice low and sharp.

Then he raised both hands, palms outward, and conjured a single, large Glyph Bolt—but this one pulsed, alive and vibrating with energy.

It split.

Dozens of smaller bolts burst from the larger glyph, streaking toward her like a swarm of arrows.

Raelyn didn't have time to think.

She summoned a Refraction Field, glyphs spinning rapidly into a dome of distorted light around her. The incoming bolts slammed against it, ricocheting off with sharp zings and slicing through demons behind her. The force of impact rattled her body—her knees buckled, arms straining as she held the barrier.

One by one, the bolts faded. The last few bounced uselessly into the storm.

Raelyn gasped and dropped the shield. Her vision blurred from the effort, arms trembling.

And then she saw it.

A glowing Chain Glyph, flickering and serpentine, launched from Folainn's outstretched hand. It slithered through the air and latched around her ankle with a snap of radiant energy.

She cried out as it yanked hard, dragging her to the ground. Mud splashed into her face. The chain coiled tighter, burning cold against her skin.

Benji surged to his feet and launched himself at Folainn. Blade met Shield of Light, and the two locked together again, weapons clashing, the rhythm furious and raw.

Raelyn's palm pressed into the slick mud as she tried to push herself up. Her breath came in shallow gasps, magic still thrumming under her skin. She was just finding her footing when a low, guttural growl froze her blood.

She looked up.

Baragor's direwolf stood at the edge of the chaos, its hulking frame silhouetted by lightning. Its glowing eyes locked onto her, burning with predatory intent. It lowered its head, teeth bared in a snarl.

Then it lunged.

Raelyn scrambled backward, slipping in the mud, fingers reaching for a glyph that wouldn't come fast enough. Her breath caught as the beast's jaws opened, too close, too fast—her Shield of Light wouldn't appear fast enough.

A blur struck from the side.

Rakz slammed into the direwolf with a thunderous impact, the three large scales on his forehead catching the beast just below the ribs. The direwolf let out a bark of surprise as it was knocked off course, its jaws snapping shut inches from Raelyn's arm. She hit the ground hard, heart hammering, but alive.

She looked up to see Rakz already between them, snarling fiercely, his blood-slicked scales shimmering in the stormlight. He looked small next to the direwolf—so much smaller. The beast towered over him, its massive frame easily twice Rakz's size, its muscles rippling beneath matted fur, fangs bared in a snarl that could split bone.

Raelyn's breath caught.

She knew Rakz was fast, fierce—but the sheer size difference made her stomach twist. The direwolf could crush him with a single blow.

But Rakz didn't flinch. Not even a step of hesitation.

His growl deepened, vibrating through the air like a warning bell as he braced himself. Unshaken. Ready.

Raelyn pushed herself to her knees, her voice caught in her throat. Her fingers trembled as she readied another glyph to aid Rakz in his fight, but her eyes flicked to the side—

Benji was struggling against Folainn, his foot slipping in the mud as he deflected a strike. He was losing ground. Her heart tugged violently between them.

A snarl dragged her attention back.

The direwolf tensed—and charged.

Rakz didn't hesitate. He dashed forward to meet the beast head-on, claws tearing into the mud, teeth flashing. The two collided in a violent tangle of fur and scale, rolling through the filth with roars and yelps. Rakz snapped at the direwolf's neck, dodged a bite, and countered with a savage tear at its shoulder. They spun, slammed into the ground, tumbled again.

Before Raelyn could help Rakz a demon lunged at her from the side, claws swinging. She cursed under her breath and fired a flurry of Glyph Bolts, each one slamming into the demon's torso and limbs. The final bolt struck it square between the eyes. It collapsed into the mud, twitching.

She turned back to Rakz just in time to see the direwolf shake him free.

Rakz's body was flung through the air like a discarded doll and crashed into the dirt with a squelch. He tried to rise, but the direwolf was already on him. Its massive jaws closed around his neck and with a snarl, it lifted him from the ground.

"Rakz!" Raelyn screamed.

The direwolf shook him violently—once, twice—then a third time, snapping its massive head side to side like Rakz was nothing more than a rag doll. Rakz let out a series of sharp, pained yelps that sliced through the storm like blades.

"Rakz!" Raelyn screamed, her voice raw, broken.

She raised her hand, magic already flaring at her fingertips—but she hesitated. The direwolf's grip on Rakz was too tight, too erratic. One wrong shot, and she could hit Rakz instead. She couldn't risk it.

So she ran.

Her boots slipped and skidded through the muck, her breath tearing in her lungs—desperation drowning out all sense. She didn't think. She couldn't. She just ran for him.

She was almost there when a shadow surged in from the side.

Thomrik exploded out of the battle like a cannon shot, warhammer already mid-swing. With a roar, he drove it into the direwolf's exposed belly. The impact struck with a crack like splintering rock. The beast snarled and staggered, jaws wrenching open in reflex as it released Rakz, who dropped limply into the mud with a wet thud.

Raelyn's heart seized.

Thomrik didn't give the beast time to recover. He pivoted on one heel and brought the hammer down again, this time smashing into the direwolf's shoulder with a deafening crunch that drove it stumbling several paces back.

"Back off, mutt!" Thomrik bellowed, positioning himself between Rakz and the direwolf.

Raelyn dropped to her knees beside her companion, hands shaking as she reached out, terrified to touch him, terrified not to. Blood seeped from the puncture wounds in his neck, staining his scales dark. He whimpered, barely conscious.

"Rakz, no, no—stay with me," she whispered, her hands hovering helplessly.

Danio skidded into place beside her, kneeling in the mud. "I've got him," he said, carefully sliding his arms under Rakz's limp body. "He's still breathing. We'll keep him safe."

Raelyn was reluctant to leave the dragons side, but Danio met her gaze. "Go." He said urgently. "Benji needs you."

That snapped her out of her worry for Rakz and made her turn to the battle she had abandoned.

Across the field, Benji was down—mud-slicked and scrambling for his sword. Folainn towered over him, a Sword of Light raised for the killing blow.

There was no time.

No time to grieve. No time to think.

Rain lashed against Raelyn's skin as she forced herself upright, heart pounding, body screaming. Her fingers curled into the air, drawing a deep breath.

"Válo!" she cried.

The word tore through the storm, and the wind answered.

A surge of force erupted from her outstretched hand, howling through the air in a sharp, concussive blast. Folainn stumbled back, his wet robes whipping as the gust slammed into him. Around them, nearby demons were knocked off balance, some tumbling over each other, others slipping in the mud.

Benji seized the moment. He lunged forward, snatched his sword from the muck, and stumbled upright. Raelyn reached out, steadying him as he swayed slightly from the effort.

"He's too strong," she said between breaths. Her voice cracked from strain, from the mounting drain of magic. "He's a better magus than me. I don't know how we beat him."

Benji turned to her, eyes fierce beneath the mess of blood and rain. "He's alone," he said. "You're not."

His words resonated within her. The biggest difference between her and Folainn was that she had the support and trust of her friends. She turned her gaze outward.

Hovan and Sylvy were locked in brutal combat against the guards surrounding Abigor—the demon commander looming just beyond them like a mountain of shadow and steel. His twisted armor gleamed like wet obsidian in the stormlight, a massive cleaver resting across his shoulder as he watched the fight unfold with eerie patience. Hovan fought with grounded fury, the gods' weapon carving through snarling fiends that rushed to block their path. Sylvy moved like a phantom beside him, her twin blades flashing in deadly arcs as she darted through the chaos, cutting down anything that got close. Together, they pressed forward, inching toward Abigor through a wall of claws and fangs, determined to reach the beast at the heart of it all.

Lira stood with arms lifted skyward, stormlight dancing along her skin, directing torrents of elemental force into the enemy lines. Even Danio, still clutching the limp body of Rakz, was swinging his Snapstaff with all the fury of a man with something to lose.

And Thomrik still stood against the direwolf and several demons, shouting with every swing of his warhammer, his runes pulsing as he held the line.

They were all still fighting. Still standing. And she couldn't let them down. She wouldn't.

Raelyn nodded once to Benji. "Let's finish this."

But before they could move, a scream ripped through the rain.

A tendril of shadow had snaked from the edge of the battlefield, coiling around Danio's ankle. It yanked him off balance, dragging him through the mud. His arms locked tighter around Rakz, shielding the limp body with his own.

"Danio!" Raelyn whirled.

More tendrils spread across the ground like cracks in stone, writhing through the rain—black, sinuous things that slithered with eerie grace, ignoring mud and blood alike. They moved fast, almost too fast to see, weaving between corpses and wounded alike, hungry.

One streaked toward her and Benji.

"Move!" she shouted.

They both leapt aside just as the tendril snapped up from the ground where they'd been standing, slicing the air with unnatural speed. It coiled back, then vanished into the writhing mass, disappearing beneath the churned earth.

Raelyn's eyes followed it, heart pounding, tracing the sinuous path backward—past fallen demons, past a cleaved corpse twitching in the dirt—until her gaze landed at the source.

There, at the heart of the darkness, stood Fiovana.

Her eyes were pitch black, her skin pale as bone. Her arms spread wide like a conductor calling forth a symphony of shadows. Darkness pulsed and shimmered from her fingertips, warping the battlefield into something grotesque, unnatural. The shadow tendrils burst from beneath her feet like roots of some unholy tree.

Raelyn's breath caught. Last time she had driven the shadows back with her locket's light—but this place was far too open. It wouldn't work on an attack this large.

"Élaien!" She heard Lira call.

Puddles and rivulets surged upward, drawing from the soaked battlefield and the rain itself. Water twisted into long, fluid tendrils that coiled and snapped like living ropes. Lira's hands moved in tandem, guiding them.

The tendrils of shadow clashed with the water mid-air, colliding with violent force. Steam hissed between them. Lira's water tentacles wrapped around Danio and Rakz, pulling them from the clutches of darkness, dragging them to safety behind her.

Fiovana's head snapped toward Lira, her black eyes narrowing. Rain streamed down her hollow face, her skin nearly translucent beneath the shadows pulsing at her feet.

"You should have stayed in your forest," she hissed, voice unnaturally calm, as if the chaos around them were nothing more than passing weather. "This world doesn't need healing. It needs to be cleansed."

Lira didn't flinch. Her eyes met Fiovana's with steady, unwavering fire.

"We can agree on that," she said, her voice low and sharp as flint. "But it is you that it needs to be cleansed of."

She lifted her arms.

Tentacles of water lashed out. Some coiled to block or push back Fiovana's darkness, others swept wide across the battlefield, crashing into demons in great sweeping arcs, lifting them off their feet and slamming them into the mud with crushing force.

Fiovana let out a guttural hiss, her shadows surging to meet Lira's summoned tide. The ground shook beneath their feet as dark and water-bound magic collided, forming a storm within a storm. For a moment, it was as though two gods had descended onto the battlefield, their wills clashing through the elements.

And neither would yield.

Raelyn could see the strain it cost Lira to maintain her magic and keep the wild element under her control.

From behind, Folainn's voice rang out again.

"I'm not done with the two lovebirds!"

Raelyn turned back to see him stalking toward them, another Sword of Light crackling into existence at his side.

Benji stepped forward, blade ready. "About time we shut this arrogant prick up."

Raelyn narrowed her eyes. "I have an idea. Follow my lead."

Benji gave a curt nod, and they moved together.