CLANG!

SKREE-CHHH!

SHRA-KLRRR!

Tasora masterfully swung her obsidian blade, aiming to slice the Aberrant in half.

Abalam caught the edge with her palm, but the sheer power behind the strike sent her through the air.

She hovered there, genuine shock written across her face.

The power gap between this girl and the other children was immense.

"How old are you?"

"How can you be this strong at such a young age?" Abalam hissed.

"Old enough to kill an old hag like you!" Tasora barked, charging back into her.

Abalam flapped her wings, dark energy coiling around the flaps. With a simple snap of her wings, she regained her balance mid-air.

Tasora, seeing this, didn’t flinch. In fact, she already expected her to do so.

She hated the charge and gestured with her hand a mocking "bring it on" motion, radiating pure confidence.

Enraged by the insult, Abalam lost her cool and dived blindly.

POW!

Suddenly, a fist encased in dark gloves slammed into her cheek mid-descent."

?! Again?! Where did you come from?"

"You had something in your face," I mocked, already priming the gauntlets for another detonation.

KABOOOOOM!

"And it was pain!!!"

The blast sent Abalam crashing into the ocean, and the recoil threw me thumbling back onto the sand.

"ugh..."

"Verde, any tips or tricks on how to control this blessing?" I wheezed.

"Because I’m breaking my own ribs to tickle her nipple here."

"I have many," Verde replied coldly and disgusted.

"But none will help you in the face of life and death combat. Your best bet is to focus on the monster in front of you."

The ocean surface split apart like a Moses’ miracle, and Abalam rose from the surf, her face turning a deep, furious red.

It was clear she was being consumed by her rage.

She lunged again before the waves could even fall back down, but Tasora intercepted her once more, her white hair highlights and eyes glowing with an intense light.

How are these infants keeping up with me? Abalam thought

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Abalam shrieked.

"Don’t wanna!" Tasora sneered.

"I’ve been cooped up for days with nowhere to vent my frustrations—you’re the perfect punching bag!"

CLASH!

CLANG!

SHRA-KRRRNG!

The air became a blur of steel and shadow. I felt like a true sidekick watching the main character carry the show.

Tasora’s broadsword whistled through the air, leaving trails of white light that collided with Abalam’s wings.

The Aberrant fought like a beast. She used her wings as shields, her tail as a whip-like spear, and her claws to parry the heavy blade.

THUD-THUD-CLANG!

Abalam spun, her tail snapping toward Tasora’s throat, but Tasora caught the tip with the flat of her blade, pivoted, and delivered a heavy kick to Abalam’s ribs.

Abalam barely felt a thing and countered by snapping her wings shut, creating a wall of black aura that Tasora’s sword sparked against.

But while her guard was front-facing, a palm touched the back of her head.

"Be careful of intrusive extras."

KABOOOOOOM!

The explosion rattled her skull, and as she recoiled.

I did not give her time to breathe and sent out a volley of ice spears launched toward her face.

Aware of her previous mistake back in the shelter, she moved to block, but she felt no resistance. The spears were merely normal ice spears constructed out of thrum.

"You brats!" Abalam screamed.

Suddenly, Tasora appeared in her blind spot, taking advantage of her injured eye socket.

With her broadsword erupting in flames, Tasora swung downward.

Abalam performed a desperate mid-air somersault.

The blade missed her neck, only shearing off a clump of her hair. She lashed out with a retaliatory kick, which Tasora parried with her forearm before swinging again.

Abalam snapped her wings shut once more to shield herself, but another ice spear was whistling toward her opposite side.

"Tch! Is this one real, or is it another fake..."

With no time to choose, she tried to flick it away with her tail. But as she shifted her weight, the sand beneath her feet suddenly liquefied, dragging her down and breaking her balance.

!?

"Thanks for the support, Emma," Tasora mumbled.

She didn’t miss the opening and continued her slash, the obsidian blade biting deep into a wing flap.

Instead of pulling away, Tasora drove the blade in, carved through the joint, and ripped the wing away with her bare hand.

"ARGHHHH!" Abalam screamed in agony.

In a fit of retaliation, Abalam punched Tasora.

Tasora, caught off guard, still clutching the wing flaps, took the hit, half-assedly blocking with her sword hilt, but the sheer force was enough to send her flying.

At the same moment, the ice spear hit Abalam’s side.

"Ak!..."

It shattered on impact, instantly freezing her left chest and freezing her left foot still deep into the sand.

Cough! Cough! Tasora was coughing up blood as she was flung through the air.

I reacted immediately, throwing out a chain that wrapped around her hips, and I yanked her down to safety and caught her in my arms.

"So, you were hiding here," Abalam’s voice hissed, dangerously close.

Tasora’s hair highlights flared again.

"Idiot! Why did you show yourself?" she screamed, shoving the severed wing into my chest.

Abalam’s hand reached out for me, but Tasora blocked it.

Expecting the move, Abalam coiled her tail around the broadsword and wrenched it from Tasora’s grip, tossing it aside.

Caught off guard, Tasora took a punch to the face, barely managing to soften the blow with her remaining hand.

Abalam’s attention snapped back to me, but she froze instantly.

Tasora had no choice but to activate her conceptual ability.

I can hold her for long! Tasora screamed.

In this silent world, where nothing moved, everything was laid bare.

Cwal was positioned right behind me, with Maku and Emma clinging to his shoulders like glue to keep their presence erased. Cwal was mid-chug on a thrum recovery vial, with three more cluthed in his hand.

Only Tasora and I could move.

"She is as strong or stronger than Professor Heather. I can’t hold her for long!" she screamed, her face contorting from the strain.

"Unfreeze Maku! We have the wing. We can finally go home!" I called back.

Maku, suddenly released from the stasis, looked around in a daze.

"Did we get her? Why is she not moving?"

"No time to explain! She’s going to break free any second. It’s your turn!" I urged.

"Tch". Maku grumbled.

I plucked a glowing strand from my hair highlights and handed it to him. He clutched it, coating the hair in his violet thrum.

His facial features shifted and blurred until he was a perfect double of me.

We swapped places.

Seeing the plan was set, I ran toward Cwal and Emma just as the waves began to move again.

Abalam lunged, her hand clamping around Maku’s neck.

"Caught you..."She paused, her brow furrowing.

"Your scent... It’s fainter?"

"Let go of him!" Tasora screamed, playing her part to perfection.

With the distraction in place, Cwal, Emma, and I slipped back toward the safety of the barrier.

Once inside the indigo veil, Nagi greeted me with a frantic hug.

"You’re finally awake! Are you okay? And what is that... that gruesome thing you’re holding?"

"I’m fine. Thanks for worrying," I said, my voice heavy with exhaustion.

"More importantly, how is Finster?"

She stepped aside, and I finally got a good look at him.

I rushed to his side, checking his pulse with trembling fingers.

Feeling the faint, steady thrum of life beneath his skin put my remaining worries at ease.

"What now, Matt?" Nagi called out from behind me.

"The space isn’t distorting yet. We still can’t go home."

I set the severed bat wing on the ground and stood up to face her.

"Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine." I said, patting her head.

"Fine? Does that mean you guys actually defeated the Aberrant!?" She asked innocently.

"Yeah..." I gave her a small, sad smile as I saw a figure behind her.

"Yeah.... we did."

Twack!

"Thank... god..." Nagi whispered. Her body went limp as she lost consciousness, falling into Cwal’s waiting arms.

"Now everyone is finally safe," she mumbled in her sleep.

I looked at the row of my unconscious friends.

Azalea, Solaris, Fanna, Finster, Waffel, Emma, Kenth, and now Nagi.

"Thank you. I’m sorry for making you do this, Cwal."

Cwal, who had already systematically knocked out the others to ensure no one witnessed my methods, simply nodded.

I crouched down beside the severed bat wing and tore off a piece of raw, dark meat.

I moved to Finster’s side, my hands shaking.

"I’m sorry for making you do this again, protagonist."I mumbled, my voice barely a whisper.

I forced the chunk of meat into his mouth and manipulated his throat to make him swallow.

"It’s time for the hero to take the stage."

Finster began to struggle immediately. His body rejected the foreign essence, and he fought to swallow the mass.

Cwal watched me in my struggles as he slowly walked towards me.

"Do you need help?" he stoically asked.

I stared at my blood-stained hands and contemplated them for a moment, but I ultimately shook my head.

"No. This is my sin. I need to do it myself."

The moment Finster managed to swallow the chunk of meat, his entire body began to convulse violently.

His hair, once a vibrant green, began to lose its color, turning a haunting, bone-white as the Aberrant’s essence fused with the protagonist’s core.