Nakate lunged at the Enforcer, thrusting his spear toward its helmet. The Enforcer tilted its head aside, the tip missing by inches, then pivoted and struck with a kick to Nakate's stomach. The blow sent him rolling backward, the lift shuddering from the force.
Blindseer raised his arm and threw his lantern upward, the light brightening as it hovered above. His prayer beads unraveled, circling his forearm as if pulled by a current. He shifted his stance and moved forward, guiding the lantern with controlled sweeps of his wrist. The Enforcer deflected its strikes, but Blindseer closed in, his hands already igniting.
"Flaming Scourge!"
A rope of flame extended from his arms, wrapping around the Enforcer's body. Blindseer pulled sharply, using the tension to pivot and redirect its weight, then threw the creature upward before slamming it down. The Enforcer hit the floor hard, cracks forming beneath its feet.
Blindseer followed through, punching its helmet and sending a sharp shock through the armor before guiding the lantern for a quick follow-up strike to its torso, launching the creature back toward the wall.
Nakate gripped his spear and threw it toward the Enforcer, but the monster swung its warhammer in a wide arc and deflected it. The spear spun across the chamber, heading for Blindseer, who caught it mid-motion without looking.
Nakate drew his storm dagger and ran forward, his strikes meeting the Enforcer's hammer in a rapid rhythm of parries. Sparks and purple arcs of energy jumped with every contact.'It feels like I can keep up,' he thought as he shifted his weight to stay close. His movements began to sync with the hammer's swing pattern - low, mid, high - and he adjusted his steps with precision.
The Enforcer suddenly twisted its upper body unnaturally and spun its warhammer from the left. Nakate ducked under, but the tail of the strike caught his side, throwing him toward Blindseer. The impact nearly knocked him out, but Blindseer steadied him with one arm.
"Don't die yet," Blindseer said with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll manage, I think," Nakate replied, reaching for his spear again.
Blindseer's arms reignited as he stepped forward. "Flame Volley!"He fired a barrage of short, controlled bursts. The Enforcer blocked and countered by extending a chain from its left arm, hooking Blindseer and pulling him in. Blindseer shifted his legs and braced, catching the chain with his forearms as the warhammer came down.
He blocked, the bones in his arm cracking from the impact, but he used the force to turn the pull into lift. "Rising Flame!"
A burst of fire from his palms sent both him and the Enforcer upward. Blindseer twisted midair, keeping tight to the Enforcer's blind spot, then let his flames concentrate around his arms again.
"Relentless Flames!"
The flames formed short blades around his fists. He slashed quickly, two diagonal cuts across the Enforcer's upper chest, and used the contact to push off its armor.
"Flame Grab!" he called, reaching behind the Enforcer and catching its back with a grip of fire. The heat burst, propelling him backward as he shouted, "Fire Eruption!"
The explosion sent the Enforcer crashing downward. Blindseer landed low, rolled once, and extended his arm. "Fire Forge!"
Three flaming daggers formed and launched instantly, pinning the Enforcer's armor to the ground by its shoulder, hip, and leg.
Blindseer's fire shifted from red to a colder azure. "Ash Slam!" He dashed forward and struck twice, each punch forming a short eruption that lifted him slightly higher before knocking the Enforcer back into the ground.
Without hesitation, Blindseer formed a larger flame between his palms. "Flame Ballista!" The arrow of azure fire launched downward, exploding on impact and shaking the chamber. Nakate shielded himself as the heatwave rolled past.
Through the smoke, the Enforcer was still standing, with its cape torn, armor cracked but holding.
Nakate seized the opening and sprinted forward. His spear pierced through the creature's side with a clean thrust. The Enforcer twisted its torso, drawing its hammer back for a strike. Nakate withdrew his spear and ducked as the weapon swept horizontally.
He placed his foot on the hammer's shaft as it passed, using it as a moving platform to push himself upward. Balancing for an instant, he ran up the handle before springing over the Enforcer's shoulder.
He spun midair and drove his storm dagger into the gap at the back of its armor. The hit released a burst of purple lightning that scattered across the floor and threw Nakate several meters back, where he rolled and came up crouched, breathing hard.
The Enforcer, still wreathed in azure and violet sparks, twisted its neck toward Blindseer.
Without warning, it hurled its warhammer through the air and leapt high after it, the sound of chains rattling through the chamber. Blindseer caught the hammer mid-spin, his boots grinding against the floor as he absorbed the force, only to feel a sharp pull at his side.
The Enforcer's left arm flicked forward, and its chain lashed through the air, hooking Blindseer's lantern. It yanked hard. The lantern tore from his grasp and smashed against the stone floor below, bursting into shards of light before vanishing completely.
Blindseer's expression hardened. "Shit, Sightless Beam!"
He dropped his prayer beads, and the moment they hit the ground, threads of white light began swirling around his blindfold, coiling faster and faster.
Nakate saw it and ran forward despite the pain in his ribs. Blood spattered the floor as he coughed, but he didn't slow down. He jumped, planting a foot against the wall to gain height, then launched himself onto the Enforcer's back.
He wrapped his arm around the creature's neck and drove his dagger deep into its chest, the blade sparking with purple arcs that crawled through the armor's cracks. The Enforcer let out a metallic groan, thrashing as Nakate clung tight.
"MOVE!" Blindseer shouted.
Nakate didn't have time to think. He saw the blinding glow forming at Blindseer's face, then the world turned white.
A beam of pure light exploded from Blindseer's blindfold, tearing through the air with a shriek that split the chamber. Nakate twisted at the last second, pulling the Enforcer's body between himself and the beam. The impact hit like a wave.
The light seared through the Enforcer's armor, burning deep fissures into its chest. Chunks of molten metal tore free, flying past Nakate in glowing fragments. The creature's body convulsed violently, its chains snapping apart one by one as the beam carved straight through it.
Nakate ducked behind the collapsing frame, using the Enforcer's massive body as a shield as it began to disintegrate. White smoke hissed from the fissures splitting its armor, and for the first time, Nakate saw what was underneath burnt, twitching flesh bound by veins of molten light.
When the beam finally faded, silence swept across the chamber. The smell of scorched iron hung thick in the air, and ash drifted down like slow, gray snow.
Then the sound of cracking metal broke through the quiet.
The Enforcer's head jerked sharply to the side, then it twisted around with unnatural speed. Before Nakate could react, its armored leg snapped upward.
The kick caught him clean across the face.
His vision flashed white, the impact throwing him several meters across the stone floor. He tumbled hard, rolling until his shoulder slammed against a broken crate. His hand immediately went to his head, warmth flooding down his cheek.'My skull- it just!' Nakate's thoughts blurred into a raw scream as pain tore through him.
The Enforcer began its slow approach, each step ringing like a hammer against an anvil. Its six eyes flared with dim, hateful light, their glow reflecting across the chamber as it raised its leg.
Blindseer's voice cut through the ringing in Nakate's ears steady, commanding, but strained.
"Fire Repulsion!"
A small orb of azure light formed between Blindseer's index finger, compressed until it whined like a boiling kettle. Then, with a shooting motion, he released it.
The orb streaked through the air, hitting the Enforcer dead center.
For an instant, there was just silence. Then it erupted.
A blast of searing azure fire engulfed the Enforcer, the shockwave throwing a ring of dust outward like a wave. The explosion's core twisted into the shape of a blazing phoenix before dispersing into whirling embers that painted the chamber blue.
Nakate shielded his eyes, coughing as the smoke rolled past him. His ears rang, the air shimmering with heat. Slowly, the smoke began to thin.
Through the haze, he saw the Enforcer's body begin to crumble, its armor cracking apart as white light poured from within, the same divine glow that had consumed every monster they'd slain.
The creature froze mid-step, its body unraveling into shimmering motes.
And then it was gone...
Leaving behind only drifting ash.
Then Nakate heard it, a voice that made his bleeding lungs stop breathing.
It was familiar. Cold and absolute. The same one he had heard when he first drowned, when his body sank into the Depths for the very first time.
'Voice of Authority' — "THE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED. THEY ARE TO LEAVE UNSCATHED."
The words reverberated through the chamber, shaking the chains above and making the cracked glass of the dome hum. Nakate felt the weight of it in his bones, as if the sound didn't just echo, but commanded reality to obey.
A soft yellow light began to bloom beneath him, ascending and spreading in delicate waves that traced glowing patterns across the floor before gathering into a single ribbon of light that coiled around his body.
Blindseer knelt nearby, silent, the same ribbon unfurling beneath him, its glow wrapping gently around his frame until he too was concealed in gold.
Then came another voice, that same soft, motherly tone that seemed to stroke the edges of Nakate's mind.
'Voice of Sequestration' — "Be seeing you soon, my lovelies…"
The yellow ribbon brightened, wrapping fully around Nakate before stretching outward, forming a halo that pulsed once and then burst upward like a flare.
Everything was consumed by light.