"On your left, Caelus!" Kain shouted.
Caelus finished off the incarnation in front of him, spun on his heel, and cleanly decapitated the one Kain had warned of.
When Kain finished off the one in front of him, he swung around and noticed another one creeping up on Caelus.
"Hey! Behind you!" he cried out.
Caelus turned, but it was too late. The incarnation already had its fangs drawn.
A streak of white light blurred between them.
Rosalina cut through the apparition in a single stroke, her sword flashing like a trail of snow. The incarnation burst into black dust before it was scattered by the wind.
"Phew... Thanks," Caelus exhaled.
Rosalina said nothing, only sliding her sword back into its sheath as she kept her gaze on him.
She still didn't understand how this man was standing here.
On the surface, he wasn't extraordinary. No remarkable technique or refined stance. Admittedly, he simply had battle sense — the gut instinct to move and swing when it mattered.
However, instincts alone can't keep a man alive for five years on the battlefield. So how did he do it? How did he survive after facing the Archdemon himself?
Cautious though she remained, she could no longer dismiss him.
"Be careful," she murmured, moving ahead. "I won't underestimate you... but don't expect me to place blind trust in what little I know."
Kain edged over as she disappeared through the trees.
"She says she's not doubting you, but she's totally doubting you, right?"
"Who knows?"
They pressed onward. Through trees, over roots, around jagged boulders, and shallow streams. There was no destination. Only forward.
After what felt like hours, they came upon a small clearing tucked beneath the branches of a colossal tree. Vines hung like curtains all around, swaying in the wind.
Caelus paused, recognizing it almost immediately.
One of the World Tree's offshoots.
He'd seen it before, years ago. Back then, it had been a place of rest, a sanctuary amid bloodstained soil. Now, it was just another landmark in a world of endless strife.
He placed a hand over his chest to pay his respects.
"I give you my greetings, Madam World Tree."
A faint groan reverberated through the earth.
"Did you say something, Caelus?" Kain asked, glancing over.
"No. In any case, we've been moving for a while. Let's rest here."
Rosalina gave a nod, wiping sweat from her brow. Kain immediately flopped onto a patch of dirt with a dramatic groan.
"Finally," he sighed. "If I have to take another step with that witch breathing down my neck, I'm gonna have a stroke."
"Seriously?" Rosalina muttered. "Can you go at least two minutes without throwing out some nonsensical remark? You're a noble, so act like one."
"Aw, come on. You should be thanking me for keeping morale up."
"Well, you're doing an extremely poor job."
"You just have no sense of humor. I bet the little princess has never left the safety of her family estate before."
Caelus lifted his head at that statement.
"Didn't she kill that massive incarnation all by herself last night?"
At that, Rosalina shot Kain a wicked smirk, which immediately shut him up. For a moment, no one spoke. They were left alone with their own wary thoughts.
Then, quieter this time, Kain spoke.
"I wonder how they're even keeping track of points. They've gotta be watching us, right? I'm probably way ahead in kill counts."
"Doubt it," Rosalina replied flatly.
"Oh yeah? And how many do you have? I'll go first. Twenty-three. Feel free to keep your silence if you're embarrassed."
"...Nineteen."
"Ha! See? Knew I had you beat!"
"But the incarnation I took down yesterday? It was higher-ranked than the ones you've faced. Realistically, it should count for five."
"Eh?!"
"Which puts me at... twenty-four."
Kain shot up aggressively.
"How the hell does that math work?! Who made you scorekeeper?!"
"I did. Just now."
"That's not fair! You can't just decide on your own that one's worth more than...?! R-Rosalina! Watch out!"
"Huh?"
A looming figure of darkness stood behind her. She barely had time to register it before it lunged.
The next second blurred.
Rosalina felt a sudden pull, and then she was in Caelus's arms. A searing pain burned his forearm as three jagged gashes tore across his skin, but he didn't so much as flinch. His gaze remained locked ahead.
An Incarnation of Strife, but not one of the lesser kind they'd encountered before. This one wore a tattered cloak, a single eye gleaming like a star beneath its hood. Its arms hung low while its bladed arm twitched.
Kain leapt between them, raising his blade defensively.
"Shit... And where the hell did this guy come from?!"
But Rosalina's attention was elsewhere. She stared at Caelus in disbelief.
"You... W-why did you—?"
Before the words left her mouth, Caelus released her and stepped forward. He raised his good arm, gesturing for Kain to fall back.
"Wha— Hey! You're not seriously thinking of taking that thing with one arm, are you?!"
Caelus didn't hear him. His world had narrowed to the creature before him.
He recognized it.
Among the Incarnations of Strife, there were ranks. Lord Arkus had taught him to recognize them and understand which to face... and which to flee. This one was the kind you killed immediately, because if you didn't, be prepared to watch your peers fall one by one.
The creature howled and lunged.
As expected, the first move will always be a stab.
Caelus sidestepped the thrust, catching the monster's wrist as it passed. With a sharp twist and a brutal wrench, he tore the limb clean off. The piercing shriek that followed split the air.
Incarnations of Strife are forged from Ebondust. Divine, corrosive, and lethal. But for Caelus, who had many years to get used to it, severing them had become second nature.
The creature lunged again with its remaining arm, but Caelus ducked low, trapping the limb between his elbows. With a sharp, violent twist, he snapped it free.
It shrieked in agony, but even without its arms, it barreled forward relentlessly.
Caelus braced himself, but he didn't expect what came next.
In a blink, one of its massive arms regenerated, weaving itself back together. Before he could react, the creature's claw clamped around his head like a vice, lifting him clean off the ground.
His skull began to cave under the pressure. A hot trail of blood spilled from his mouth, then his nose.
"Caelus!" Kain shouted, breaking into a dead sprint.
Suddenly, a blinding golden ray raced through the air, piercing straight through the demon's torso and leaving a crater in the earth behind it. The force knocked the beast back, forcing it to release its grip.
Caelus hit the ground hard but didn't waste a second.
"Kain!" he barked.
After a split second of daze, Kain hurled his sword in a gleaming arc of steel.
Caelus caught it mid-spin, pivoting on his heel in one clean motion. The blade whistled through the air, severing the incarnation's head. The body dropped to its knees, then collapsed with a dull thud before dissolving into mist.
For a moment, silence reclaimed the clearing.
Kain let out a low whistle.
"Holy shit... is it over?"
Caelus's breath came in ragged, uneven pulls. He turned his head toward the treetops where the golden beam had come from, but there was nothing. Unseen to him, a lone figure moved away along the thick branches, disappearing into the forest.
As the last of the adrenaline drained from his system, Caelus's vision blurred at the edges, and with it came the pain.
"Gh...!"
He dropped to his knees, clutching his left arm.
"Caelus!" Kain shouted, bolting to his side. Rosalina followed instinctively, but the sight of his arm stopped them both in their tracks.
The three jagged gashes ran deep, and from them, a creepy black glow pulsed in time with his heartbeat. The veins around the wound were already darkening with thin tendrils of corruption webbing out from within.