Helios lay sprawled on the fractured sea floor, surrounded by the brutal wreckage of battle. The corpse of the Zy Vodianoy, a mythological terror now reduced to gore and ash, twitched in its death throes nearby—its scales shattered, eyes gouged, and throat torn clean by unrelenting teeth and claws. Its black ichor bubbled and boiled across the terrain, burning into the coral and stone like acid.
Kurai stood over Helios's monstrous form, clutching her injured side. Blood trickled down her temple, her breathing strained but steady. Around them, the sea was unnaturally still. The battle had silenced even the tides.
Helios's transformation slowly began to unravel, though his body remained in a half-shifted state—elongated shadows curled over his brow, and dark tendrils writhed across his limbs like parasitic veins, pulsing faintly.
One of the tendrils stirred again, seeking to reassert its claim.
Kurai's hand shot out. Her fingers clenched around the dark limb, squeezing it until it shattered like brittle glass. The fragnt dissolved into shadow, vanishing with a whisper.
She dropped down beside him, clutching her side. "Foolish boy," she muttered.
A pause.
"Why'd you let it take you? Especially at this ti."
Her gaze shifted from him to the scorched battlefield. Her mind raced, replaying the power Helios had unleashed. That wasn't just berserk strength or magical instability—there was sothing else. A corruption. A hunger.
It reminded her too much of her old form and that eye.
Did it leave sothing behind? Sothing inside him? Sothing inside her, too?
Her thoughts spiraled with worry, anger, and confusion. Then Helios stirred.
A groan escaped his lips, weak and pained. His body trembled as the transformation fully broke, restoring his human form. Pale skin marred by bruises, his eyes fluttering open. Blood still clung to his mouth, and his breathing was ragged.
"…Kurai?" he whispered.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she picked up a sharp fragnt of broken coral and flung it at him. It smacked him in the forehead.
"Next ti," she said coldly, "I won't hold back. I'll kill you."
Helios blinked, disoriented. "I… I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." She stood slowly, grimacing. "Just heal already."
He tried to push himself upright, but pain flared across his ribs. His arms buckled, and he collapsed again with a cough. "Give … a second."
Kurai sighed but knelt beside him, supporting him with one arm. "Idiot. You're supposed to be the calm and tactical one."
"I… didn't think it would go that far," he said through clenched teeth. "I just needed more power. I didn't even know it was possible for that to happen to ."
He raised a hand, and a dim green light sparked at his fingertips—but it flickered, unstable. His magic still resisted him. Still corrupted.
"Focus," Kurai muttered. "Use what you have. Stop the bleeding and reset the bones. That's it."
He obeyed. A soft pulse of magic flowed from his palm, not nearly as refined as the Curaga spell, but it was enough to nd the worst of their injuries. Bones knit together slowly. The bleeding stopped. Bruises faded.
But neither of them were fully healed.
Helios slumped back, exhausted. "It's like sothing's broken inside . I can barely cast anything right. And when I try to reach for the light or darkness, sothing else is there. Watching. Twisting."
He stared up at the warped ceiling of the temporal rift. "During the berserk state… I wasn't alone. There was sothing else. A presence, buried deep. It wasn't losing control—it was soone else taking it."
Kurai's expression tightened.
"I have a theory," he said. "What if that thing from before didn't just see us? What if, when we looked into that eye… it planted sothing inside us?"
Kurai was silent. She thought the very sa thing.
Then, quietly, "Yes, I believe that would explain a lot."
They sat in silence for a mont, letting the weight of that realization settle.
Eventually, Kurai looked over at him. "So… what now? You want to keep chasing the sea witch?"
Helios pushed himself upright. "We don't have a choice. If this thing really did anchor part of itself to , then I might be its target. It's not going to stop."
"Maybe," Kurai said. "But I want Thalen back and for us to leave this wretched world. And I'm tired of playing gas."
She stood again, stretching her arms slowly. "We're going to rescue him. Break down the palace gates if we have to."
"No," Helios said. "Even if we tried to run, I'm sure that parasite would track us. You know it. There's always soone watching, and portals are easy to trace if they're keyed to known locations."
Kurai grunted in annoyance. "Fine. So we stay. And what? Wait for round two?"
"No," he said, standing fully now. "We prepare. We rest. And when the ti is right—we strike."
The silence that followed was heavy.
But it was broken not by words, but by a thunderous crack that echoed through the rift.
The barrier surrounding them shattered.
A wave of pressure surged in, nearly knocking them over. They turned toward the breach—
And there she stood.
Ursula.
Her form had stabilized, regal and terrifying. She was taller, her silhouette grander. The parasite's influence had made her fra more elegant and less bloated—sleek, serpentine. Her eyes glowed violet, and the trident floated beside her like a loyal specter.
"Well, well," she said sweetly. "Don't you two look dreadful."
Helios stepped in front of Kurai, summoning what magic he could. Kurai raised her arm, a shadow blade forming in a flash.
Ursula smirked. "Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you. Yet."
"What do you want?" Helios asked coldly.
She floated closer, surrounded by black tendrils of water that coiled like snakes. "I just wanted to see how far you've fallen. My, that berserk form was sothing. Did you enjoy it? The power and ferocity?"
Helios said nothing.
Kurai took a step forward. "Try anything, and I'll cut that smug face in half."
Ursula laughed. "So much fire. So much darkness. And to think, it's still barely awakened. Imagine what you could do… if you just let go."
She raised the trident.
"We'll talk again soon. But next ti… I won't be so generous."
A pulse of magic engulfed her. The portal behind her closed, and she vanished.
Silence returned.
Helios lowered his hand, chest heaving.
Kurai exhaled slowly. "This is getting worse."
"Yeah," Helios muttered. "Much worse."
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