"You ready, Yhera?" said Hiori, taking a deep breath, her sharp eyes locked onto Uluccia—now nothing close to human.
"Yeah... I'm ready..." Yhera replied, her voice calm, though a slight tremble betrayed the fear beneath her resolve.
Without warning—DASH!
Hiori launched forward, her sword igniting with golden-red flames, spinning like a blade of the sun. Yhera followed close behind, casting light bolts—Sanctum Bolts—silver spells that streaked through the air toward Uluccia.
BLAZAM! BLAZAM!
The spells hit their mark—but barely made a dent. Uluccia's flesh absorbed most of the energy like a sponge soaking in water. She laughed, raising a shield made of ribs protruding from her arm.
"Hehe... You think taking down a herald of flesh is that easy?" Her voice distorted—like two or three speaking through one mouth.
CLASH!
Hiori slashed at Uluccia's chest, but Uluccia cracked her flesh-whip down—WHRACK!—slamming it into the ground and unleashing a shockwave that sent Hiori flying.
"GHAA!"
Hiori crashed into a crumbling wall, wincing from the blow.
Yhera quickly cast a barrier. "Sanctum Aegis!"
A burst of white light formed a protective wall before them.
But Uluccia was already airborne, her body stretching unnaturally, third mouth wide open.
"Offering Howl!" she roared.
A sonic boom, laced with flesh-energy, blasted outward—Yhera's shield shattered instantly, and both were thrown back.
"AKHH!"
Yhera slammed into a wooden post and hit the ground hard.
Hiori staggered to her feet, her knees shaking.
"Damn it… her physical power's increasing!"
Uluccia floated downward like a ghost.
"I love that pained expression... Come on, show me more agony~!"
Yhera rose slowly, trembling, but she raised both hands—twin magic circles glowing into form.
"Sanctum Lance!"
A radiant spear surged forward—
WHAM!
It pierced Uluccia's left arm—severing it completely.
But in seconds, new flesh sprouted in its place.
Yhera gasped.
"She's absorbing... even light..."
Suddenly—ZRAK!
Uluccia's right arm shot out like a whip, slamming Yhera into a wall with brutal force, shattering the stone.
"YHERA!"
Hiori rushed forward, only to have Uluccia block her path.
"Oh no, not so fast… I'm not done shaping her yet," she whispered, tongue slithering like an eel.
Behind the rubble, Yhera lay bleeding. Her hand trembled as she tried to push herself up.
"Can't stand, can you?" Uluccia's voice hissed at her ear—part of her body had teleported, emerging beside Yhera.
Her flesh formed into a serpentine coil and began choking Yhera slowly. Her face flushed red, eyes welling with tears.
"YHERA!!"
Hiori slashed downward from behind with a vertical blaze.
"Blazing Rift!"
An eruption of fire exploded around them, blasting Uluccia away and forcing her to release Yhera.
Yhera fell, coughing violently, collapsing to the ground.
"I'm sorry… I wasn't strong enough…" she whispered weakly.
Hiori looked down at her, fury burning in her eyes.
"You've done more than enough... Now it's my turn."
Her voice was cold. Fire surged around her blade like a living wrath.
"You've done more than enough… Now it's my turn."
Hiori's voice echoed through the roaring flames. Her breath was heavy, but her grip on her sword tightened. Fire cloaked her body like a living mantle, her sharp eyes locked onto Uluccia as the grotesque woman slowly rose from the wreckage.
"Ahaha… Getting serious now, are you? Good. I like it when humans show their fangs at the edge of death…"
Uluccia licked the wound on her shoulder, her flesh writhing as it regrew a new arm with a sickening CRRKKK.
"You... made a mistake touching my friend."
In a flash, Hiori shot forward, the ground splitting beneath her feet.
CLASH!
Slash after slash rained down. Uluccia countered with her flesh-whips and jagged bone blades sprouting from her body. Hiori's assault became wild—furious, explosive.
"Blazar Barrage!!"
A storm of flaming strikes erupted from her blade, crashing down like a meteor shower.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Uluccia staggered back, chunks of her body incinerated—yet her laughter only grew more maniacal.
"AHAHAHA! MORE! SHOW ME YOUR DESPAIR, HIORIII~!!!"
But then—
ZRAKKK!!
From behind her body, Uluccia launched a flesh spear—fast and sudden.
"Yhera—!!"
Too slow.
SHLUK!!
The spear impaled Yhera through the abdomen as she struggled to stand. Her eyes widened, and blood sprayed from her mouth.
"YHERA!!!" Hiori screamed, the world freezing around her.
Yhera looked at her, a weak smile trembling on her lips.
"Sorry... I wasn't strong enough… But... I believe in you…"
Uluccia yanked the tendril back, wrapping Yhera in a coil of living flesh like a serpent claiming its prey. Blood spilled as Yhera struggled, yet she still managed to raise one trembling hand—
"Sanctum—"
SMAACK!
A backhand from Uluccia cut the spell short. Yhera fell limp.
"Hehehe... Look at you... our little 'savior,' failing again. Don't worry, Hiori... I won't kill her—not yet. I'll offer her to Deus Carnis... in her most glorious form: transformed."
And with one final, shrieking laugh, Uluccia vanished into a spiral of blood-soaked mist—leaving behind only wounds, bloodstains, and silence.
"Yhera..."
Hiori dropped to her knees, fists clenched until they bled. Her breath ragged. Her heart aching.
"Damn it…"
She punched the ground.
"I... wasn't strong enough..."
But slowly, her eyes began to change. The flame within them reignited.
"No. I swear to you, Yhera. I will save you. No matter what it costs."
The sky rumbled. The blood-red moon loomed like a cursed omen.
The scene shifts to Barnard.
The air rang with the clang of metal and the hiss of steam.
"Is that all the skill a blacksmith from the Savior's era can muster!?" shouted Marhuzar—a tall, gaunt man cloaked in a bloodstained ritual robe that hovered eerily above the ground. His eyes glowed crimson, and from his back slithered three living flesh-whips, hissing like starving serpents.
Barnard stood amidst the ruins of a hidden church altar—his clothes stained with dust, one shoulder guard cracked, and the weapon in his hand flickering with faint blue flames.
"Heh... You sure talk a lot for a cultist who worships chunks of meat," Barnard muttered coldly, spitting blood onto the ground.
CRACK!
One of the flesh-whips lashed toward him with terrifying speed, but Barnard blocked it with his heirloom iron hammer—carved with ancient runes.
"RAAAH!"
He twisted his body and slammed the ground, unleashing a shockwave of Essence energy that blasted Marhuzar several meters back.
"You think I'm just a blacksmith? I'm a war-smith, you rotting meat sack!"
Marhuzar rose, half of his face peeled away, revealing writhing veins and sinew beneath.
"Hahaha... So it's true, what the High Priests said... You're the one who forged the Blade of the Lightbringer, aren't you? Fascinating. Truly an honor… to plant your heart on the altar of Deus Carnis."
Barnard smirked. He gripped a small pendant around his neck—the mark of the ancient forge.
"If you think you can take it, then try. But be ready to lose every ounce of flesh on your body."
BOOM!
Both lunged forward.
Marhuzar's flesh-whips spun in intricate patterns, forming cursed sigils in midair, while Barnard's hammer ignited—glowing with molten orange-gold energy.
"My Essence skill... Corebreaker Mode."
His hammer extended, transforming into a massive war maul—its head pulsing with anti-magic energy, crafted to shatter magical structures.
CLAAANK!!!
The collision shook the chamber. Rubble tumbled, and parts of the ruined church began to collapse. Barnard pressed forward, eyes blazing with the long-buried fire of an old warrior.
"The Savior may be gone, but the fire of our forge still burns in this chest!"
With a thunderous roar that rattled the bones, Barnard swung his weapon with brutal force.
"BUTCHER MODE!"
The hammer in his hands pulsed violently, its metallic shell cracking open to reveal a massive axe head—jagged-edged and glowing red like molten steel. Ancient runes lit up along the haft, and a wave of scorching energy erupted from Barnard's body.
"I've had ENOUGH of your rotten cultist nonsense!"
SWOOOSH!
His axe tore through the air—and Marhuzar's body was cleaved in two, from shoulder to waist. Thick, black blood splattered across the floor. But it wasn't just Marhuzar's body that was split—
CRRRAKKK!!!
The very air around them shattered like glass. The walls of the church fractured, and the blood-red sky above tore apart like a ripped canvas. From the gash in the sky, a blinding light burst forth.
WUUUUSHHH!!
In an instant, the entire structure collapsed into a void—and Barnard's body fell with it. But instead of hitting stone or rubble, he landed on something soft.
Wet grass.
"…Huh?"
His eyes blinked open. The sky above was bright. Puffy white clouds floated peacefully. A gentle breeze rustled his tangled beard.
All around him stretched a vast, open meadow, glistening with morning dew.
"This... isn't the real world?"
He slowly rose to his feet, his breath still ragged. His body was bruised and bloodied, but his eyes remained sharp as they scanned the horizon.
"Last night... that fight... it wasn't a dream. But why—wasn't I in that blood-soaked church?"
He turned—no ruins, no village, nothing remained. Just a lone, weathered stone pillar in the middle of the field, engraved with the symbol of a bleeding, closed eye.
"The symbol of the Deus Carnis cult..." Barnard muttered.
Then he noticed it—despite the beauty of the meadow, something was off. It was too quiet. No birds. No animals. The wind, though gentle, felt like it cut straight to the bone.
"So this is… a pocket dimension? An illusion? Or a leftover fragment of the cult's spiritual domain?"