The mont the last arc of her slash dissipated into vapor, Azulus lowered her katana, the blade pulsing faintly before it went dim.
Her eyes, which a mont ago radiated a terrible clarity, dulled instantly as she stepped back with no strength.
Sheathing the blade with one shaky movent, she let out a breathless sigh and collapsed backward, falling with no resistance.
Kivas stood frozen, her shotgun lowered, heart hamring in confusion and fear.
Words stuck in her throat, speechless and confused, to the point where she finally let go of her strength and grasped onto fatigue.
Her legs buckled and she stumbled forward, nearly tripping over uneven ground before catching herself.
Azulus lay there, barely conscious, arms slack at her side except for the one still gripping the hilt of her weapon like it was a lifeline.
Kivas dropped to her knees beside her. "Azulus... hey—are you okay?"
Azulus tilted her head slightly, eyes half-lidded and expression unreadable. Her voice ca slow, dry, as though each word cost her a breath she barely had. "Used all of it. HP, MP... might not be able to move much for five minutes."
"Five minutes?!" Kivas looked around the shattered floating island. "They might co back—"
"They will," Azulus confird. "Soon."
Panic perate Kivas’ face.
Her arms slipped beneath the much smaller fra of Azulus, who didn’t resist as Kivas lifted her off the ground. The weight wasn’t much, but the anxiety threading through Kivas’ body made her arms feel like lting wax.
Azulus still clutched her sheathed katana tightly as if she had forgotten how to let go.
A second later, Kivas felt herself lifted.
"Samael...?"
Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, hoisting both her and Azulus in one swift motion. Samael’s voice was low and decisive as she began to sprint.
"We’re leaving."
The ground blurred beneath them as Samael launched forward, each leap carrying them across the fragnted terrain.
Their montum turned from escape into an aggressive pursuit for survival, straight toward the glimring gate in the distance.
The boundary that marked the divide between this world and Fathomi, that should be their utmost priority.
As they raced forward, Kivas tightened her hold around Azulus, and glanced down at the rodent girl cradled in her arms. The exhaustion on her face was surprisingly casual, like a puppet whose strings had snapped, but also didn’t mind the helplessness.
"...Where were you?" Kivas awkwardly asked.
"Not sowhere far, but it took quite a while to get here since a giant monolith nearly crushed ," Azulus casually answered. "It took a while to relocate where I am and where I want to go with all the chaos."
Samael didn’t look at her but responded all the sa. "You were holding back from using that attack because no one was nearby."
Azulus confird with a slow nod. "That strike drains everything. If I use it when I’m alone, I’ll most certainly die. Cause I’ll be this vulnerable for at least five minutes."
"Well, at least you have so sort of secret and powerful technique in ti like this," Kivas said, trying to lighten the mood. "Honestly, I almost want to give up after I realized that eventually I will slow Samael down, and that I might be the fatal burden."
"You gave up too quickly," Samael sighed. "I might no longer be the sa powerful being as I was, but letting you escape is not an impossibility."
"But I will drag—"
"I don’t care about the rodent you’re carrying."
"Ouch," Azulus said with a poker face. "I thought that we’re close, Samael."
"We barely talk to one another."
A pause passed between them, filled only by the rhythmic sound of Samael’s leaping and the pulse of disturbed wind.
"I’m sorry," Azulus said after a mont. "For not arriving sooner. Before Joyhan and Toriq—"
Kivas tightened her grip around Azulus’ fra. "It’s not your fault...."
"I was the leader," Azulus sighed, albeit with little to no weight or expression. "And the recruiters. Technically, I brought everyone to this Xenorealm without confirming the hazard and danger."
"You weren’t the god of foresight," Kivas said with a wryly humored. "None of us knew it would escalate like this."
"Death is common, and you did inform us about the danger of this expedition before we departed already," Samael added from below, "Not to ntion, this realm was far more volatile than expected. The Xenos here hid their presence and intent too well."
The Xenos refers to the inhabitants of a Xenorealm.
"They were baiting us," Azulus whispered. "Letting us grow confident, huh."
Kivas could see the strain on Samael’s face now—her breathing rougher, her movents slightly staggered. Her grip around them remained secure, but the fatigue clung to her body like iron.
Still, she never slowed.
The faint shimr of the gateway ca into full view—frad by the ruined arches of the underground parking structure that once held it. The remains of the first outpost stood just behind it, still mostly intact.
Then the air warped again.
Dozens of monoliths plumted from the sky, surrounding them in a tightening noose.
Fog spilled from their impact zones, and tendrils slithered through the air like death incarnate.
"They’re closing us in," Samael said, her voice like steel. "We’re not stopping."
Kivas felt the Crumbling Judgnt regenerate against her back. She reached it out with her soul, and the missile responded instantly.
Its casing solidified in her grip.
"Just, let it be done with it, already!"
The missile roared to life.
She aid toward the densest wall of writhing tendrils and let the warhead scream.
The impact tore open a corridor through the death field, blasting a path clean toward the gate. The explosion cleared the way for re seconds, but that was all Samael needed.
She pushed off the cracked island with a final burst of speed and flew through the final gap.
They passed through the boundary between the Xenorealm and Fathomi like a spear of fla.
"Hurraaah!!"
"Yah!"
"Kuh!"
They landed hard on the concrete of the underground parking lot.
Shards of stone scattered. The air tasted different—earthier, denser. Real.
The world snapped back into its familiar weight and temperature.
Samael didn’t slow. She tossed Kivas forward, and in addition, Azulus rolling on the ground like a struck pinball.
Samael remained just on the threshold of the portal and imdiately turned.
Tendrils breached the gap between the two worlds behind her, twisting and lashing in silent fury.
Samael’s fingers twitched before she swung her arm. The space around the portal bent—then she clenched her hand and severed the connection entirely.
The entrance collapsed like a wound sealing shut. Or to be precise, sealed, in the sa manner of Azulus’ space manipulation skill.
The tendrils, mid-reach, were cut at the root and fell limp on the concrete, twitching once before dissolving into black ichor and evaporating.
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