The sky above Orin was split in two.
On one side, the dense, purple darkness emanating from Tsukumo's presence; on the other, the pulsing, vibrant glow of the energy flowing through me.
The Last Forge hung suspended a mere two hundred meters in the air. The pressure generated by its colossal mass made the very air crackle, vibrating at a frequency so sharp it felt like it would pierce the eardrums and crush the chest of anyone breathing it.
I felt every ton of that ancient iron structure as if I were carrying mountains on my own shoulders.
The energy surging through my channels heated to the absolute limit, burning like lava beneath my skin.
I realized, with a painful clarity, that I couldn't keep the earthen hands steady and face a being like Tsukumo at the same time.
It was an unstable balance, ready to shatter at any moment.
Looking down through the rust-eaten beams and crevices, the scene below was bleak.
The imperial army advanced like a black tide, their tightly packed ranks blanketing the slopes like an unstoppable plague.
Closer by, Arthur traded earth-shattering blows with Vanki, every impact echoing like muffled thunder.
And a bit further away, Laura pushed herself up once more, trying to carve a path through Katarina's speed and relentless coldness.
*I can't stay up here. If I fall, everything falls,* I thought.
So, I began to gather the absolute peak of my strength, channeling the power drawn from the earth.
The green marks tracing my body glowed with an intensity so fierce it momentarily outshined the daylight.
Without hesitating, I made my move, and the massive structure began to shift.
The giant hands of stone and clay expanded, growing in size and thickness until their fingertips fused directly with the rocks and mountain peaks surrounding the valley.
They were no longer just temporary supports; they became natural pillars, roots of stone tethering the floating structure to Ruitan's very geography, creating an immense anchor that locked the forge into the mountains.
The entire construct groaned, creaking like an old, re-opened wound.
*Perfect,* I thought.
*Now they are safe.*
Once I felt my connection to the earth was secure enough, I shifted the focus of my energy.
The wind around me changed its pitch, shifting from a gentle breeze into a sharp, high-speed gale.
The deep green of my earthen power was replaced by glowing stripes of stark white that seemed to slice through space itself.
It was then that Tsukumo paused for a moment, watching the transformation with an expression ranging from restrained surprise to dark curiosity.
He narrowed his golden eyes, analyzing the energy now wrapping my body, and let out a low, deep chuckle that rumbled like distant thunder.
"Interesting..." he said.
"Much more interesting than I imagined. You aren't limited to a single element, are you? First, you command the earth—its roots, its weight, and its absolute firmness—like a guardian of the soil that holds up the world."
"Now, you master the wind—its speed, its freedom, and its power to cut through whatever stands in your way."
He took a step forward, and the air around him compressed even further, as if the atmosphere itself feared his presence.
"What kind of divinity, or what kind of ancient power dwells inside you?" Tsukumo continued, tilting his head slightly as if trying to decipher a riddle. "Who are you, Suki?"
I held my stance firm, sword raised and my gaze cold and resolute, refusing to let his words or his wisdom shake me.
*The truth is, even I don't know for sure. It's all still too new to me.*
"If you want to know what I am..." I answered, my voice steady and clear, cutting through the roar of the wind around me.
"Fight me, and you'll see exactly what I'm capable of."
I tightened my grip on the hilt, and the white stripes on my body flared with even greater intensity.
"And even if you figure it out in the middle of our fight... it won't change a damn thing between us." My tone deepened, heavy with all the accumulated rage and pain.
I took a step forward, and the winds swirling around me grew sharper.
Tsukumo listened to every word, and a slow, dangerous smile crept back onto his lips. It wasn't a smile of contempt, but of acknowledgment—as if he had finally found something worth facing.
And high above, suspended between heaven and earth, neither of us waited another second.
Tsukumo moved first.
For someone so quiet, his speed completely defied logic; it seemed to mock the very laws of motion.
He pulled his right arm back, clenched his fist, and coated it in a dense, dark energy—so heavy it warped the space around him.
On my end, I gripped the Kazekiba so tightly my knuckles turned white.
The blade emitted a sharp, constant hum, slicing the air before it even touched anything.
I funneled all my energy into it, letting the glowing stripes on my body merge completely with the weapon.
*I'm going to cut off your damn arm.*
Sword and fist met in the center of the void, and the impact made the entire world tremble.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A shockwave sphere expanded in all directions, so powerful it pushed the clouds kilometers away, kicked up walls of dust and debris on the mountain slopes, and widened the cracks in Orin's soil until they looked like open wounds.
For a split second, the wind stopped blowing, as if the atmosphere itself had fallen silent, terrified to interfere in that clash.
I fully expected what would happen next.
I expected to feel the resistance of flesh, of bone, or of some protective layer.
I expected to see the blade cleave through like it was cutting dry wood, just as it had done with iron beams, solid rock, and the thick chains of the forge.
I was certain it would pierce through without issue.
But what I felt was something entirely different.
The Kazekiba stopped.
It simply met an impossible barrier.
The blade capable of splitting mountains in half and turning steel to dust was deadlocked against the bare skin of Tsukumo's fist.
All that came from the clash was a high-pitched, ear-piercing screech and a shower of white sparks that left zero marks behind.
My eyes widened, overcome by a shock that turned my blood to ice.
I stared blankly at the point of contact, refusing to believe what my own senses were showing me.
That god's body felt harder than diamond.
Tsukumo's smile widened, clearly sensing my utter disbelief.
Slowly, he curled his fingers around the Kazekiba's blade as if he were just holding a fragile, dry twig.
"I expected more from you, boy," he said, his voice calm and dripping with overwhelming superiority.
I pushed with every ounce of strength I had left.
The veins in my neck bulged, my muscles screamed from the strain, and the luminous marks on my body flared to their absolute limit, nearly blinding anyone who dared look.
Before I could retreat or shift my stance, I saw Tsukumo's golden eyes flare with an even sharper gleam.
Without warning, the fist holding my sword stood completely still, but his other arm moved at a speed far exceeding his first strike.
The blow came loaded with pressure so dense it locked the air around me, making it impossible to use the wind to dodge or shield myself.
CRACK!!!
The punch slammed directly into the dead center of my chest, feeling like an entire mountain had been dropped on me all at once.
The impact was so violent I felt every single bone vibrate. The white marks covering my body desperately flared up to form a barrier, but it shattered like thin glass beneath a warhammer.
The air whizzed past my ears in a deafening roar. The sky, the clouds, and my very vision blurred into a tangled mess of colors and shadows.
I was launched like a ragdoll, completely out of control, crossing the distance between the sky and the ground in a matter of seconds.
I slammed into the side of a rock face first, carving a deep fissure into the stone before I kept skidding and bouncing for meters on end, scattering dust and debris in my wake.
Then I was hurled against the already-cracked earth of Orin, sinking immediately into the damp, packed soil.
The final impact gouged out a wide, deep crater with jagged edges, sending a massive plume of dust, dirt, and pebbles into the air.
I lay there motionless at the bottom of that depression for a few moments.
The taste of copper flooded my mouth and my arms trembled. The energy circulating within me felt entirely scattered and broken by the crash.
The Kazekiba had slipped from my grasp, vanishing into the haze of dust, and I could barely lift my head to see what was happening above.
Tsukumo began to descend. As he drew closer, his silhouette blocked out the remaining daylight, casting a shadow that swallowed the entire crater and its surroundings.
He looked down in my direction, those golden eyes seeming to peer right through me, and stepped forward once again.
His punch split the ground in a straight line, unleashing a shockwave so immense it tore up massive slabs of rock, ripping the path ahead of him open like a gaping wound.
When I saw Tsukumo's fist coming down to crush me, I rolled backwards, planting my weight on my hands, and vaulted my legs upward, delivering a sharp kick right at his forearm.
My leg snapped out with all the speed I could muster, knee bent and foot hardened, clad in a thin layer of wind energy to amplify the impact force.
But the very second the sole of my shoe met his forearm, it felt like I had kicked an unbreakable wall—hotter and far more solid than any boulder I had ever faced.
A sharp, stabbing pain instantly shot up my leg, traveling from my thigh to my waist like a surge of electricity.
My bones rattled so violently they felt like they'd popped out of their sockets. My momentum was completely halted; I hadn't pushed him back a single millimeter.
And that fraction of a second of hesitation was all he needed.
Tsukumo twisted his wrist and clamped his fingers around my leg, gripping it with a pressure so crushing I felt my muscles compress and my energy flow nearly sever.
He hoisted my body off the ground with terrifying ease, treating me like nothing more than a dried leaf.
He twisted his torso and, in one violently abrupt motion, hurled me away.
I was launched through the air like a stone from a catapult, clearing the distance in mere seconds.
I slammed into the ground multiple times, bouncing and scraping across dozens of meters, only coming to a stop when I crashed into a massive pile of rubble and twisted steel beams, kicking up a thick cloud of dust and debris.
"Come on, Suki... this isn't pleasing me in the slightest," he said, his deep voice heavy with a displeasure that sounded much more like a warning than a complaint.
Still feeling the throbbing pain throughout my entire body, I planted my hands on the cracked earth and forced myself to stand.
My knees buckled and my vision blurred for a moment, but before I could properly balance myself, my eyes caught something right beside me. The Kazekiba, lost in the previous impact, rested right there, its blade still humming faintly, as if it too were waiting for the moment to re-enter the fray.
I reached out and wrapped my fingers firmly around the hilt.
The second I touched the weapon, a fraction of my energy flooded back, as if it were answering my call.
From within the smokescreen, three invisible blades, forged of pressure and vacuum, tore through the space straight at Tsukumo.
The god blocked every single strike with his bare forearms.
Each clash generated a burst of force that carved smaller craters around him and whipped up miniature tornadoes, throwing debris in every direction.
I shifted position in a flash, propelled by the wind, and appeared right beside him, bringing the sword down as I aimed straight for his shoulder.
He leaned back to dodge, making me slice off nothing but a piece of his braid.
I leaped back before he could counter, and charged in once more, this time delivering two swift, cross-slashes.
He moved, shifting his torso just enough for both strikes to miss, and with his other hand, he delivered a dry, open-palm thrust.
The shockwave slammed into my chest, sending me skidding backwards for several meters, dragging my feet through the dirt until I collided with a pile of rocks that crumbled from the impact.
I went back on the offensive, aiming lower this time, targeting his legs.
The blade cut the air inches from the ground, kicking up a trail of dirt, but Tsukumo simply kicked the flat of the blade, completely shattering my stance and defense.
He used the momentum to take a step forward and threw a straight punch. The air ahead of his fist compressed so intensely it seemed to darken for a second.
I dove to the side, and the fist struck the empty space where I had just been, gouging out a massive crater.
I sprinted around him, spinning the sword in continuous motions, launching slashes from every conceivable angle.
Every single one was blocked or deflected by his bare hands. Every contact made the ground cave in a little more; every impact scattered shockwaves that tore chunks off walls and leveled whatever remained of the nearby buildings.
Stomping down firmly, sinking my feet into the soil as if trying to merge with it, I invoked the power of the earth.
The green marks flared up with blinding intensity, overriding the white stripes, and the earth answered my call.
Massive roots made of solid rock burst from the underground with shocking speed, coiling around Tsukumo's legs and torso, trying to bind him.
Tsukumo laughed.
"Your tricks won't work on me."
He simply took a step, casually shattering all the roots that held him with an absurd level of ease.
I watched that happen and understood, with a tight feeling in my chest, that this fight would drag on far longer than I could endure, and that with every passing second, my slim advantage was fading away.
Meanwhile, in another part of the ruins, the fight between Laura and Katarina raged on.
Laura roared like a cornered beast. Her eyes glowed blood-red, and her claws—now longer and sharper—clashed repeatedly against Katarina's swords.
Every blow Laura landed made the ground quake, and every defense Katarina mounted was executed with a cold, military precision, wasting zero movement, as if she had practiced those exact motions for centuries.
"You are exactly as I pictured, girl," Katarina said, her voice perfectly calm.
She tilted her torso merely a few inches to the side—with an agility that seemed to defy gravity itself—dodging a strike that would have split her skull in half by a hair's breadth.
Without missing a beat, she continued, "But you're still missing something. Something essential that you either haven't discovered yet, or perhaps refuse to accept."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Laura snapped back, spinning in the air with such speed she left only a crimson trail in her wake.
Her claws flared with intense energy as she unleashed a volley of cutting wind that carved deep trenches into the earth.
"I don't need any lectures from you. I'm going to finish you off quickly and get back to helping the slaves break those chains once and for all!"
Katarina shook her head slightly, like someone listening to a child spewing nonsense.
"No, no... that is not how a true beast is supposed to behave."
Laura landed on the ground so softly that not a single leaf rustled, not a single speck of dust was kicked up.
The muscles beneath her skin grew tense. She narrowed her eyes, feeling a strange, creeping restlessness spread through her chest, as if something deep inside her was being forcibly prodded.
"Tell me what you're scheming, or shut your mouth and fight!"
Katarina let out a low, dry laugh—devoid of joy, carrying only the tone of someone who already knew how the story ended.
She brought her fingertips to the eyepatch covering half her face, carefully scratching the edge of it, lightly rubbing the old scars extending past the fabric. Deep, jagged lines; the mark of a cut that hadn't just scarred her skin.
"My entire life, I have hunted beasts and monsters, tracking them down one by one until none were left," she said, beginning to slowly circle Laura, like a predator studying its prey before the strike.
"This fascination, this obsession with the hunt... it's all because of this."
She raised her finger and pointed directly at her eyepatch, her gaze growing even darker.
"The last sight this eye ever saw before being slashed was a creature that knew absolutely no mercy, that knew no bounds. And that is the image that drives me, even today, to slaughter every last one of you."
Laura felt her blood boil, but alongside the rage came a deep, inexplicable discomfort.
She ground her teeth together until her jaw ached.
"I am not an animal, Katarina. I'm far from it!"
Katarina's laughter grew louder, dripping with even more contempt and a bizarre sense of certainty.
"The only difference between them and you is that you speak with words and walk on two legs. But what I feel pulsing inside of you..." She paused for a moment, bringing the edge of her blade to her lips and dragging her tongue across it slowly, savoring the taste of the metal and the energy coursing through it.
"What I feel inside of you is an instinct so feral, so animalistic, that it makes me want to carve you into pieces just to see how far that beast can go."
The words hit Laura like physical blows.
She clenched her fists so hard that the claws extending from her fingertips bit into her own flesh, carving deep cuts into her palms.
Hot blood slid through her fingers, dripping onto the soil, but she barely registered the physical pain. The real agony was the sinking realization that Katarina was touching upon something she was desperately trying to hide.
"You know, girl... you know exactly what I'm talking about."
Laura averted her gaze, unable to maintain eye contact with that single, icy pupil.
Her eyes dropped to her own hands, to the claws still cloaked in energy.
For a fleeting moment—as fast as a vision flashing in and out of existence—she saw scattered bones covering the ground around her, and her own hands stained completely crimson, slippery and heavy with gore.
The metallic stench of blood and torn flesh flooded her nostrils, accompanied by a blind, overwhelming urge to attack, to rip apart, to dominate absolutely everything in front of her.
She forced her lungs to fill with air, letting out a shaky breath to banish the image.
With her left hand, she began to furiously scratch at her own arm, her sharp nails tearing her skin and leaving parallel bloody streaks behind, as if trying to physically claw that feeling out of her body.
"No... no, you don't know me!" she screamed, her voice coming out higher and more frantic than she intended, sounding as though she were trying to convince herself just as much as her enemy.
"I'm normal! I can control this!"
"I might not know you, girl, let alone your history," Katarina replied, stopping her slow pace and raising both swords, crossing them in front of her chest. "But that feeling you are trying so hard to suffocate... even you can't deny it's there. Just waiting for a single moment of weakness to take over completely."
With a sudden, decisive motion, Katarina surged forward.
Her blades flared with a venomous green and purple light, slicing through the air as she charged straight for Laura.