We slammed into each other with such force the ground cratered beneath our feet.
It wasn't just blade versus claw anymore. It was soul versus void.
My Essence flared brighter than it ever had, the unseen barrier coating my skin now visible—flickering like translucent flame, every pulse matching the beat of my heart. Ren's claws struck my chest in a blur, but the Essence field absorbed most of the impact. Not all—my body still ached from every blow—but it kept me upright, kept me moving.
I twisted Voidscar mid-swing and brought the hilt down into his collarbone.
He growled, eyes glowing like dying stars, and retaliated with a rake of his claws across my side. I hissed, pivoted through the pain, and drove my boot into his knee. It buckled, but he caught himself—his hands forming another burst sigil of NULL.
I recognized the symbol just in time.
Teleport.
I didn't wait for him to vanish.
I lunged forward—into the sigil—and tackled him mid-cast.
The void warped around us, and for half a second everything twisted—our bodies spun through an incomplete space, pulled between two locations. It was like being yanked through a screaming vortex made of blades and whispers.
Then we exploded out of it, skidding across the sands fifty feet from where we were.
I rolled to my feet first, vision spinning, and charged.
Voidscar cleaved down—he blocked with a crossed guard of NULL-forged limbs, the force driving him to a knee. He roared and pushed me back, unleashing a point-blank shockwave of compressed NULL.
I threw up my arms, Essence forming a half-shell in front of me, and dug my feet into the earth.
The impact slid me back nearly ten meters, feet carving trenches in the ground—but I stayed standing.
Dust swallowed us again.
When it cleared, we were both hunched over—bleeding, gasping, barely holding our weapons.
But neither of us yielded.
He dashed in, faster this time—his claws lashing in a wild arc. I deflected, ducked, side-stepped. My body moved like water now, flowing around his strikes, the battlefield shrinking until it was only inches between us. Every breath was a risk. Every blink could be my last.
I slashed low—he jumped.
I punched up into his ribs mid-air—he twisted with the momentum, flipped over me, and came down with both claws aiming for my back.
I spun, raised Voidscar one-handed and blocked—
But the force drove me into the ground.
Sand exploded outward.
He stood over me, breath ragged, black ichor dripping from his mouth.
I twisted, kicked his legs out from under him.
We both crashed again.
It was primal now.
No strategy. No form.
Just survival.
I grabbed his wrist as he tried to stab down. He kneed my side. I elbowed his throat. He spit blood into my face—I slammed my head into his nose. His scream was muffled by my fist.
I scrambled up, reached for Voidscar—
He yanked me back by the ankle, dragged me into the dirt, and tried to drive his claws into my back.
I rolled. His claws bit into the sand beside my head.
My fingers closed around Voidscar's hilt.
I swung back without looking—caught him across the face.
He flew back.
Blood—real, red blood—flew from the wound.
He lay still for a breath.
Then he laughed again.
It was weaker now. Ragged. Half-choked.
But it was still laughter.
I stood, wiping the blood from my eyes. My lungs burned. My vision blurred.
He rose slowly, his body trembling. NULL flickered around him—but it was unstable now. Fraying at the edges. His form shifted between his own skin and something… not human.
"You're getting tired," he rasped.
"So are you."
He smiled, but there was sadness in it.
"I never wanted this."
I stepped forward, Voidscar dragging behind me.
"Then stop," I said. "Before it takes all of you."
His eyes dropped to the sand.
"Too late."
NULL burst from him in one last, desperate wave. But it wasn't an attack.
It was a summons.
From the dark horizon, a figure began to appear—tall, cloaked in shifting shadows. Watching.
The presence sent ice through my veins.
Ren fell to one knee, blood pouring from his side. His claws retracted, and his body began to shake—like he couldn't hold the form anymore.
"I… can't stop it," he whispered.
I raised my blade.
But my hands hesitated.
Because for the first time… I wasn't sure if killing him would save him.
And the figure in the distance?
It was still coming.
The figure in the distance didn't walk.
It glided.
Effortless. Silent. The shadows around it peeled back like reality itself was afraid to touch it. No wind. No noise. Just its presence—an ever-expanding void that pressed down on the world like an invisible weight.
The moment I locked eyes with it—even from this far away—my chest tightened.
Something ancient was looking back.
No malice.
No hate.
Just absence.
Pure, unfiltered void.
My grip on Voidscar faltered, my body instinctively stepping back. The Essence around me pulsed—not in strength, but in warning. It recognized that thing. And it feared it.
Beside me, Ren froze.
All the rage, all the madness that had warped him—gone. His expression changed in a heartbeat. From defiance… to terror.
He stumbled back, his claws retracting, the NULL around his body recoiling like it had been scorched by the figure's gaze.
"No…" he whispered. "No, it's not supposed to be here. Not now."
I looked at him.
"What is that?"
He didn't answer.
Just stared. Pale. Silent.
The figure stopped at the edge of the battlefield.
Then it raised one hand.
Not in greeting.
Not in warning.
Just up.
And the sky behind it—tore.
Not a sound. Just a long, jagged rupture splitting the heavens—bleeding a soft, violet darkness that bled into the stars. It looked like the sky itself was screaming silently.
I took a step forward, breath shaking.
Ren grabbed my shoulder.
"Don't," he rasped. "You don't look at it."
I turned.
"You brought it here—what is it?!"
He shook his head, backing away now, hand trembling as NULL flickered weakly around his limbs.
"It's not mine. It's not Dracus. It's older. Deeper. I felt it once before, during an Interlogue breach."
His voice cracked.
"It doesn't follow rules. Not ours. Not yours."
The figure took a step forward.
The entire battlefield tilted.
Just a step.
And the ground moved like the world had suddenly remembered it was floating in something much larger, something darker. I dropped to one knee, vision swimming, balance lost. My soul twisted—like something was reaching into it, reading it, dissecting it.
Even Voidscar dimmed in my hands.
Ren cried out.
He turned and ran.
No pride. No grace. Just raw survival.
He left his own blood trail behind, staggering through the broken ruins and vanishing into the storm beyond the dunes.
I stayed.
Kneeling. Gasping.
Staring at the figure that made both our powers feel like noise.
It lowered its hand.
The sky mended—but not fully. A crack remained. Thin. Waiting.
And though the figure never moved again…
I could feel it.
Watching.
Judging.
Waiting.
Something inside me—something I didn't know was even there—shivered.
Because for the first time since awakening,I realized I wasn't the predator here.
I was prey.