Branches snapped and leaves burned as they sprinted after Eli, the smell of smoke thickening with every stride. His trail was impossible to miss a crooked line of fire carving through the dark.
"Of all the things he could've done," Kael muttered, vaulting a fallen trunk, "charging a Nebula wasn't on my list."
"Less complaining, more running!" Celeste shouted, green light already flickering around her hands.
Nhilly followed close behind, heart pounding, half-amused and half-terrified. He really went for it. Idiots got a death wish.
Seris pushed ahead, her cloak snapping behind her. "Listen once we reach him, Celeste keeps the barrier up! Kael, stay in its shadow until it commits to a strike! Nhilly, you use your gravity to disrupt its footing don't overextend!"
"Sure," Nhilly called back, dry as dust. "I'll just wrestle gravity itself while everyone else gets the glory."
Celeste shot him a look. "Focus."
"He's drawing its attention," Kael said. "If he lives long enough, we can flank it"
A roar shattered the air, rolling through the forest like thunder. The ground quivered under their feet.
Seris's voice hardened. "That was too close. Move!"
They broke through the vines, light from the flames throwing wild shadows across their faces.
Eli was on one knee, blood streaking his arm, the soil around him scorched black.
Celeste's eyes widened. "Eli!"
He turned toward them, flames guttering weakly from his fists. "Yeah," he rasped, "that's definitely not stellar."
The ground shook as the guardian beast lowered itself to strike again, its many eyes flaring in unison.
Nhilly's grip tightened around Draco's Shroud, pulse hammering. Nebula rank, he thought grimly. And it's just the gatekeeper.
Celeste raised her hand, light bursting from her palm. "Positions!"
The beast roared a sound so deep it seemed to tear the air itself
The Wyrmclaw lunged, the impact tearing through the forest like thunder. Kael vanished into its shadow at the last instant, but the ground where he'd stood split apart, trees toppling in a burst of debris.
Celeste's light flared bright and desperate as it wrapped around Eli. The Wyrmclaw's claw crashed into the barrier, sparks of energy erupting outward. The blow should have flattened him into paste, but the barrier held, pure and absolute. The air rippled around it, space itself warping before snapping back.
But Celeste's hesitation cost them elsewhere.
The creature's other arm swung wide, catching Seris and Kael in the shockwave. Kael managed to roll aside, but Seris was flung across the clearing, slamming hard into a tree. She hit the ground with a ragged breath, leaves scattering around her like ash.
"Seris!" Celeste shouted. Her eyes darted between Eli and Seris, torn between who to protect. The glow flickered one heartbeat of indecision.
The Wyrmclaw took it.
It vanished. One blink, and it was gone.
Nhilly's stomach dropped. "Where?"
A blur. The sound of something massive splitting the air. Then Kael reappeared mid-step, blades crossed over his chest, barely deflecting the strike aimed for his throat. The force hurled him sideways, embedding him in the base of a tree with a sickening crunch.
Celeste redirected her light at him instinctively, the glow locking around Kael's form. He gasped, alive but stunned.
The Wyrmclaw reappeared behind Seris.
She turned too late. Its claws came down like a guillotine. The ground exploded beneath her feet as she threw herself backward, light bursting from her hands not as a weapon, but as a flare of pure survival. The explosion of brilliance blinded it for a moment, searing its nearest eyes shut. She landed hard, half-kneeling, her breath ragged.
Celeste's voice trembled as she shielded her again. "You're overdoing it again"
The Wyrmclaw's head twitched toward the movement. It lunged again. Celeste barely had time to flick the shield away from Kael and toward Seris before the beast's claws crashed against it. The shock of impact rattled through her entire body, sending her stumbling backward.
Nhilly darted in using Swift, the gravity around him intensifying, muscles trembling from the pull. He seized Eli's arm and dragged him clear of another swing, Celeste's shield flaring to cover them both.
Eli was still panting, flames flickering weakly around his knuckles. "I'm fine," he lied, voice shaking.
"No, you're not," Nhilly snapped, shoving him toward Celeste. "Stay alive try that for once."
The Wyrmclaw moved again so fast the trees bent in its wake. Celeste tried to shift her focus back to Kael, but Seris cried out, and her barrier instinctively swung toward her instead.
A misstep. The creature punished it instantly.
It slammed one claw into the ground beside Celeste, the impact splitting the earth like cracking glass. She staggered back, gasping, as the monster's roar thundered across the clearing.
Seris forced herself upright, one eye swollen shut, blood streaking her temple. She extended her hand, scattering small motes of light through the air. They shimmered, hovering like drifting fireflies, tracing the beast's outline wherever it moved.
She saw its motion before it struck barely enough to dodge but every counter burned more of her strength. The light trembled around her, dimming with each breath.
Kael emerged from a shadow near the creature's flank, slashing for its leg. The blades cut deep this time finally drawing a dark, thick ichor but not enough. The Wyrmclaw spun faster than it had any right to, tail-like limbs striking him in the ribs and sending him sprawling.
They were being shredded. Even with Celeste's protection, there was too much chaos, too much speed. Every second, she had to choose who lived.
Nhilly stood at the edge of the chaos, sword drawn but unmoving. Sweat rolled down his neck, but his eyes were steady. Every motion of the beast the twitch of its claws, the rhythm of its turns, the sequence of its strikes he was tracing them all.
It didn't move like an animal. It moved like gravity itself pulling, snapping, rebounding with terrifying rhythm.
He exhaled slowly. Its weight isn't in its limbs. It's in its timing.
The Wyrmclaw swiped again, missing Seris by inches but knocking Celeste flat with the shockwave.
Nhilly didn't rush in. He couldn't. Not yet. His body tensed, his eyes following every subtle flicker of motion.
One breath. Two.
The Wyrmclaw paused, crouched low, the ground quivering beneath its claws.
Nhilly saw it its rhythm breaking. The onslaught was working. The smallest fraction of hesitation.
There.
He gripped Draco's Shroud tighter, lowering his stance. Not yet to strike just to prepare. To wait for the one moment, he could turn its own movement against it.
Its shoulders twitching, claws flexing like drawn blades. Celeste staggered to her feet, chest heaving, her barrier flickering weakly between Kael and Seris.
"Nhilly don't just stand there!" Eli barked, voice raw.
Nhilly didn't answer. His eyes stayed locked on the beast's stance, the way its weight shifted through the soil, the subtle tension coiling along its limbs before every strike.
He had seen movements like that before, not from monsters, but from men. Training halls smelled of sweat and oak; the clang of steel still haunted the edge of his memory. Each motion, each feint, each flicker of balance...
The Wyrmclaw lunged.
Nhilly's muscles moved before thought. He stepped left small, efficient, almost lazy and the monster's claw shredded only air.
The others barely saw him move.
Too fast to watch. Not fast… precise.
He felt gravity coil around him like breath itself. Swift. He pivoted, his blade tracing an arc that bit deep into one of the creature's tendons. Sparks flew, black blood spraying across his arm.
The monster recoiled with a shriek that split the clearing.
Kael blinked. "When did?"
Nhilly landed lightly, knees bending to absorb the weight, every motion efficient and measured. For an instant, the years of weakness, of exhaustion, of nihilistic stillness all of it vanished. His body moved the way it used to.
The Wyrmclaw snapped around, enraged, claws whipping through the air in a blur. Nhilly ducked the first strike, twisted under the second, and parried the third with the flat of his sword. The impact rattled his bones, but the angle was perfect. The blade didn't break.
He rolled aside, panting, gravity pressing heavier against him as he steadied his stance. His body ached already too slow, too weak but his mind was razor sharp.
"Celeste!" he shouted. "Focus your shield on Seris she's hitting it harder than anyone!"
Celeste hesitated, eyes flicking between Kael bleeding and Seris charging another burst of light.
"Now!" Nhilly barked, his tone cutting through the chaos like steel.
She obeyed, light snapping around Seris in time for the monster's claw to slam against it. The ground rippled under the force, but Seris stood unharmed.
Blinded by fury, the beast reared back, exposing its chest.
Nhilly saw it the opening he'd been waiting for.
"Kael!" he shouted. "Its centreline strike when it lands!"
Kael vanished into its shadow as it dropped to all fours again. A second later, he emerged from the darkness behind it, his blades plunging into the exposed joint Nhilly had opened.
The Wyrmclaw roared, stumbling forward, half its weight collapsing.
Nhilly rushed in, every nerve on fire, sword raised. He timed the swing perfectly too perfectly for chance and brought Draco's Shroud down in a clean, efficient slash that severed one of its limbs.
For a moment, silence. Then a gush of black ichor splattered the leaves, sizzling where it touched the ground.
Celeste stared at him, wide-eyed. "You never said you were a fighter."
Nhilly's breathing came ragged, sweat streaking his face. He gave a faint, crooked smile. "Didn't say I wasn't good with a sword either."
The monster bellowed again, thrashing, its movements becoming even more erratic. Seris's light faltered, Kael was forced back into cover, and Eli staggered up beside Nhilly, flames flickering from his mouth.
Nhilly tightened his grip, watching the creature's rhythm reset, its fury distorting the pattern he'd learned.
He muttered under his breath, "Come on then… show me the next step."
The Wyrmclaw's eyes flared, its claws digging deep into the dirt.
And it charged.
Claws tearing through the ground, its roar shaking the trees.
Nhilly braced himself, body trembling, the rush of adrenaline drowning out the pain. For once, he felt something close to confidence a dangerous spark he hadn't felt in years.
You're big… not unstoppable.
He planted his feet and triggered Overload.
Gravity crashed around him. The world folded inward. Every movement became a battle against invisible weight, but it also propelled him forward with terrifying force.
He struck like a bullet, blade flashing. The hit landed clean his sword driving deep into the creature's chest.
For one heartbeat, it worked.
Then pain exploded through his arm. The recoil ripped through his bones like lightning, his shoulder tearing as the strain became unbearable. He couldn't hold it. His blade jammed in the wound.
The Wyrmclaw's retaliatory strike hit before he even registered the motion.
The impact sent Nhilly flying, crashing through the undergrowth until he slammed against a tree. The world went black for a split second. When his vision cleared, he was on the ground, coughing blood, ribs screaming.
"Nhilly!" Celeste cried.
Her barrier flared instinctively, wrapping around him as another claw slammed down where he'd fallen. The shield held but she faltered.
The creature's rage turned on the others. It twisted, impossibly fast for its size, claws sweeping sideways in an arc that split trees like straw.
Kael appeared out of shadow mid-dash, blades glinting as he struck the monster's exposed flank. The wounds Nhilly had opened earlier were bleeding thick, black ichor, and Kael drove his blade deep into the softer tissue there. "No limbs here!" he shouted. "It's weaker on the sides!"
Seris rose shakily, her skin glowing faintly as she extended one trembling hand. Tiny motes of light drifted outward, painting the monster in soft illumination. Every point of brightness clung to a wound, marking it, focusing its weak spots for the others to see.
The Wyrmclaw thrashed wildly, blinded by bursts of reflected light.
Celeste's glow brightened, not as a weapon, but as a pulse of protective energy. She cast her shield again and again, saving whoever the beast's claws reached for next Eli, then Kael, then Nhilly but she was falling behind.
"Celeste, focus on Eli!" Seris shouted.
Eli nodded once, drawing in a massive breath.
He stepped forward, chest swelling, and exhaled a torrent of fire erupting from his mouth. The blast hit like a hurricane of heat, roaring across the clearing and swallowing the Wyrmclaw in a wave of orange flame.
The creature shrieked, its body twisting violently as the inferno clung to its flesh. The air warped, the temperature spiking until Nhilly's skin prickled even behind Celeste's barrier.
Eli forced more air from his lungs, the flames thinning as his breath began to fail. His face reddened, veins standing out on his neck, the sound of the fire sputtering as oxygen ran out. He gasped mid-stream and staggered forward, chest heaving, smoke billowing from his mouth.
The Wyrmclaw still moved half its torso ablaze, claws raking the ground in fury.
Kael darted forward from the shadows, blade slicing across the monster's weakened joints, severing tendons one by one.
Seris scattered another burst of light across its head, each pulse searing an eye shut, blinding it further.
The Wyrmclaw stumbled, its enormous body jerking violently as its balance gave way.
Eli was still breathing hard, nearly collapsing but he didn't stop. He staggered closer, grabbed the hilt of Nhilly's blade still lodged in the creature's chest, and with a furious yell, drove it deeper straight into the monster's heart.
The Wyrmclaw convulsed. Its entire frame locked up, muscles tensing as a guttural sound escaped its throat a mixture of rage and surrender. Then, slowly, it slumped forward, the ground shaking as it crashed down in front of them.
Silence.
The forest stilled, smoke curling into the air like sighs.
Celeste ran forward, dropping beside Eli and Nhilly. Her hands trembled as she pulled a small flask from her belt, the faint blue liquid inside shimmering.
"Drink," she said, pressing it to Nhilly's lips first, then to Eli's. "It's water with a healing enchantment it'll help stabilize you both."
Nhilly swallowed weakly, grimacing as warmth spread through his chest and the ache in his ribs dulled. Eli coughed but managed a smirk. "Didn't even need it. Totally fine."
Celeste frowned. "You nearly stopped breathing."
"Details," Eli said, voice raspy.
Kael wiped black blood from his blade, eyes scanning the creature's corpse. "Dead?"
Seris nodded, lowering her sword. "Only our weapons can end them. It's over."
Nhilly stared at the Wyrmclaw's body, its dozens of red eyes dimming one by one, until only empty sockets remained.
He exhaled shakily. "Good."
For a long moment, no one spoke. The only sound was their uneven breathing and the soft crackle of burning bark.
Then Celeste finally let out a sigh of relief, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "We're alive."
Nhilly leaned back against a tree, sword still in hand, eyes fixed on the carcass. His body ached, his lungs burned, and his arm felt half-broken. But for the first time in a while he didn't feel alone.