"MIZU!" Rika's scream ripped through the cavern, raw, panicked, nothing like her usual sharp tone. Her hands trembled as she saw him dangling in the serpent's jaws, blood dripping, his body limp.
"Move, damn it!" Sayos shouted, his own voice shaking. He tried to summon wind, blades spinning around his arms, but the serpent's crushing aura made it hard to breathe, let alone fight. His legs buckled under the pressure.
Lucy howled, launching herself at the beast again. She sank her teeth into one of the glowing runes, ripping into its flesh. Violet sparks sprayed across the bridge. The serpent roared, whipping its body violently. Lucy was thrown like a ragdoll, smashing against the broken bridge. She whimpered, but tried to stand.
"Lucy!" Rika gasped, torn between the wolf and Mizu.
Honkai planted his fists into the ground, lightning crackling across the bridge. "If we don't break the runes now, it'll kill him!"
---
Rika's fire flared in her palms, hot and wild. Her heart hammered so loud it drowned out everything else. She could barely see straight. All she saw was Mizu. His blood. His body hanging there like he was already dead.
"No," she whispered, tears stinging her eyes. "I'm not letting it end like this."
Her fire burned brighter. It wasn't the usual red anymore. The flames turned white, scorching-hot, so hot that the bridge itself began to melt under her feet.
Sayos's eyes widened. "Rika, stop! You'll cook yourself alive—!"
"Shut up!" she barked, her voice breaking. "I don't care what happens to me!"
She charged.
---
The serpent's head snapped toward her, its maw widening, ready to swallow her whole. But Rika didn't hesitate. She hurled herself up its coils, her fists blazing with searing fire. Every punch landed against a rune, each strike exploding in bursts of heat and light.
The serpent shrieked in agony, thrashing, trying to shake her off. Its tail slammed into the bridge, ripping another section into the abyss. Sayos barely caught himself on the edge, cursing.
"Rika, you're insane!" he shouted. "You'll die before you reach the top!"
"Better me than him!" she roared back, climbing higher. Her skin blistered, the heat scarring her arms, but she didn't stop. Her fire only burned hotter, leaving trails of molten light in the air.
---
Mizu stirred weakly in the serpent's jaws. His eyes fluttered open, unfocused. He saw her. For just a second, his lips moved.
"…Rika…"
Her chest ached at the sound of it, but it only fueled her rage. She screamed, slamming both fists into the rune on the serpent's forehead. The heat was so intense it cracked the rune straight down the middle. A shockwave rippled out, shaking the entire cavern.
The serpent howled, its grip on Mizu loosening. His body slipped free, falling toward the shattered bridge below.
"I've got him!" Sayos yelled, launching himself off the edge with a burst of wind. He caught Mizu mid-air, gritting his teeth as the impact knocked the breath out of him. "Don't you dare die on us, idiot!"
---
But Rika didn't stop.
She was past reason. Past control.
Her flames consumed her whole body now, a blinding white inferno. She climbed higher, screaming as she struck again and again, each blow tearing into the serpent's flesh, cracking more runes. The beast roared, convulsing, slamming itself into the cavern walls.
"Rika!" Honkai shouted, lightning bursting around him. "Pull back, you'll—"
"I said I don't care!" she screamed. Her voice broke, half fury, half anguish. "If this is the price, then I'll pay it!"
She slammed her fists down one final time.
The rune exploded.
The serpent shrieked, its body twisting violently as cracks spread across its entire form. Violet light bled out of it like veins bursting. Its coils thrashed, smashing against the bridge, tearing massive sections away.
The entire cavern shook, rocks raining down from above. The serpent collapsed into the glowing water, its massive body breaking apart into smoke and sparks.
---
Rika stood on the last fragment of the bridge, her body trembling, flames sputtering. Her arms were scorched, her skin blistered. She staggered, coughing, her vision swimming.
Sayos landed nearby, Mizu in his arms, his face pale and barely conscious. He looked up just in time to see Rika fall forward, toward the glowing abyss.
"RIKA!" his voice cracked, panic slicing through him. He lunged, wind bursting around his legs, but the ground shattered under his feet. Rocks and shards of the bridge rained into the water below.
Rika's eyes closed. Her lips moved faintly, like a whisper meant only for Mizu:
"…at least you're safe…"
Her body tipped forward—and dropped.
The serpent's broken corpse drifted in the glowing water below. Its body smoked, runes shattered, as if the beast was finally dead. For one breath, everyone thought it was over.
Then the water erupted.
The serpent's head surged up, half its skull crushed, flesh burning with cracks of violet light. Its jaws snapped open with a bone-shaking screech.
And it swallowed Rika whole.
Her scream cut through the cavern, raw and desperate, then drowned out by the sound of her body disappearing into the beast's maw. The serpent's eyes glowed once more, burning like fire in the dark.
Mizu stirred in Sayos's arms, his voice a hoarse, broken cry.
"Rika—!"
The cavern trembled. The serpent's coils began moving again. And the shattered bridge beneath them started to collapse completely.