Shoreline

Cwal’s Domain

"How are Finster and Khent?" Tasora asked.

Waffel was hunched over, desperately patching the gaping hole in Finster’s chest.

She was deathly pale, sweating bullets, and blood had begun to drip from her nose.

Khent patted her shoulder, his other hand clutching his own freshly healed stomach.

"No, you did more than enough. Learning even minor healing magic in two days is a miracle, Waffel,"

"No, I’m useless!" her voice rose.

"As your class representative, I should have led you better. I should have protected you. Instead, I just got sick and became dead weight. I kept quiet about my condition because I was too selfish to be left behind, and now look at you both. All I do is watch the people I care about bleed because I’m too weak to act sooner."

"Waffel, Finster, and I would be dead if not for you," Khent reassured her, but she did not but it one bit.

Waffel’s eyes and ears were bleeding now as well. She was draining her thrum completely dry.

"B-But..."

She sobbed, tears and snot mixing with the blood on her face.

"You almost lost your lives over measly school points. It’s always like this... people die because of my selfishness. I’m always too late."

Khent noticed Finster’s injury had already healed.

"Waffel, stop..... Finster is already patched up. You’re draining yourself for nothing. He’s already fine, we are all fine thanks to you."

"Shut up!" she screamed, her thrum flaring wildly.

"I won’t let it happen! I will not allow another Knight under my command to die in vain!"

"Knight? What is she talking about?" Khent asked, looking at Tasora.

Tasora just swayed her head left and right, implying she did not know what she was talking about.

Chop!

A hand struck the back of Waffel’s neck.

Her eyes rolled back, and she slumped forward instantly. Khent caught her, gently laying her down beside the unconscious Finster.

A figure emerged from the shadows of the purple domain.

It was Cwal, sweating profusely, with Solaris cradled in his arms and Fanna clinging to his back.

He laid all of them down beside Finster and Waffel. After that, he chugged a blue vial, which he tossed into the sand the moment it was empty.

"Solace?" Khent asked.

Cwal nodded as more figures stepped into the hidden space.

Azalea sprinted toward Finster, her face pale.

"Brother! Are you alright?"

Nagi dropped to the sand beside Khent, checking his injuries.

"How are you still fine? You were saved much later than Finster," she asked.

"Perks of being a Drakemont," Khent grunted.

"As long as our hearts are intact and we have thrum to supply them, we have full control over our body. Regeneration is beyond my current rank, but I can manually seal off blood vessels and slow my heart to play dead. I just had to wait for Cwal to bring me back into the domain."

Nagi, who had been about to check the wound on Khent’s abs, suddenly paused and retracted her hand, blushing.

"Oh... um... good for you?"

"But seriously, Cwal, a domain at Pawn Rank? That has to be a first in history." Khent said, looking around.

Cwal looked at the flickering, hazy indigo barrier and touched it.

"This flimsy thing? It’s hardly a domain. It’s just an imitation, an extension of my presence erasure. If a high-ranked aberrant like her focused, they’d see right through it. That’s why I needed you guys to draw all the attention."

He drew two more vials, drank them, and tossed them aside.

"Tasora. It’s time."

Tasora stood up, patting the sand off her denim shorts.

She stretched for a bit and tapped her bracelet, and instead of the wooden practice sword, a massive black broadsword loom materialized.

The blade was a slab of obsidian-dark metal, etched with glowing white runes. Its hilt was wrapped in dragon-scale-like leather, and the guard was shaped like two crescent moons.

"Finally," she said, swinging the heavy blade effortlessly.

"I’m tired of eating coconut and fish all day. Let’s finish this."

BA-THOOOM!

.....

BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOM!

.....

KABOOOOOOOM!

The massive detonations outside the domain sent violent wind shockwaves rippling against the indigo barrier, making the fuzy interior shake.

"Oh, right on cue," Tasora said, a smirk playing on her lips.

"He sure loves to make things flashy. Let’s go help Mister Sleeping Beauty, shall we?"

She extended her hand toward Cwal.

He nodded silently, his fingers locking around hers.

A thick wave of indigo thrum surged from his body, coating them both in a ghostly veil. Within seconds, their forms blurred and dissipated.

_________________________________

Above the Shelter

Matt POV

The remnants of the shelter were completely obliterated in a single, violent blast. I was sprinting away as fast as my legs could carry me.

BOO000000OOOOOM

Dammit, she recovered already?!

"Behind you!" Verde screamed in my head.

Fuck! I didn’t have time to look, nor did I have time to think.

But I knew this character. I knew how this Aberrant fought and her backstory from the novel.

The next step was obvious.

I twisted my body mid-run, crossing my arms over my chest and layering my chains over my stomach as a makeshift shield.

POW!

I felt the impact rattle my teeth. I blocked it, but the raw momentum sent me skipping across the sand like a stone thrown on a lake.

blocked.....

"Focus!" Verde urged.

"Tch, easier said than done!" I hissed back.

I whipped my chain toward the ground, desperate to catch a rock or an anchor to stop my momentum, but there was nothing but useless sand.

"Stop relying on that toy and use my blessing!"

"I can’t control it yet! That’s why I’m trying not to use it!"

But she was right. Since there is nothing to grab onto, I grit my teeth, enhance my palm with thrum, and triggered a blast.

BOOOOOOM!

The recoil slammed me back toward the ground. I stuck the landing, but I felt my leg groan under the weight.

"Urk... I hope nothing broke."

"How did you know where I would strike?" Abalam’s voice hissed through the dust.

I looked up and extended my middle finger. "Like I’d tell you, dumbass."

"You vermin..."

She vanished.

A split second later, her foot connected with the side of my face.

I was sent tumbling like a ragdoll, spinning through the air until she appeared beside me again, moving with terrifying speed.

"Shit, she’s too fast!"

"Lesser beings like you need to be educated," she sneered.

She caught my foot mid-air and slammed me into the sand with enough force to leave a crater in it.

Cough!

"Thank god this was sand....huh?"

"Schwartz!" Verde yelled.

She raised me, ready to swing me down again, but I didn’t give her the chance.

I invoked a will for her to eat shit, and my energy responded and conjured a massive downward force, pinning her body straight to the dirt.

"Unfortunately for you, I have some pretty bad memories of being thrown around by a powerful psycho girl." I wheezed, wiping blood from my mouth.

"Stop talking nonsense and run back toward your group!" Verde snapped in my head.

"Oh—oh yeah!"

I spun around, enhanced my palms and feet, and triggered another detonation.

BOOM!

Abalam, pinned against the earth, gritted her teeth in fury.

"How shameful. To be wounded and pinned around by a measly human and a child, at that."

But the confusion had been eating at her after torturing Solaris.

"Why does he possess the conceptual power of Space? That authority was only possible because it was passed down by the original King of Sinners..."

"No... that’s not what matters right now. What matters is capturing the Prince candidate and following Lord Paimon’s will. Even if it is a scar on my pride, I must succeed."

She stopped resisting the downward pressure and let herself be buried even further.

A sickening, wet sound echoed from her back. Suddenly, two massive bat wings erupted from her shoulder blades.

With one powerful flap, she shattered the crushing force holding her down.

She flew to the sky, chasing me down with insane speed. It didn’t take long for her to close the gap.

"My orders were to bring you back alive," she hissed, closing in behind me.

"But he never said you had to be in one piece."

She pulled her hand back, her fingers stiffened into a blade, fully intending to sever my legs.

Hup!

CLANK!

The strike was intercepted by a massive, pitch-black broadsword.

"You really need to stop getting beaten up all the time, Matt," a familiar voice teased.

"Tasora!" I called out, extremely relieved that my strongest ally was here.

"This is the final boss, right?" she asked, leaning into the blade to hold Abalam back.

"Once we beat her, we can finally eat donuts and ice cream when we get home, yes?"

"Uh... yes!" I half heartedly agreed.

Abalam recoiled, staring at the newcomer in utter confusion.

"Where did this girl come from?"