The massive figure nded soon after, cracking the ground and spreading tremors past Edmond and Tatyana. Even with the dust and shards of rock flung around, its brutal form was easily discernible.

  … What is… How did…

  It did not resemble a human at all, but rather a crystalline purple skeleton. It may have been better to describe it as some sort of crude sculpture, if not for its unnervingly ‘living’ movements.

  It stood on four rge legs that spread out terally before bending down, somewhat like a lizard with unusually long limbs. The cttering tail that followed its jutting, sectioned spine made for further parallel, before it was torn to shreds by the tattered, wing-like spikes raised opposite to a twisted ribcage.

  Even in that quadrupedal position, its gargantuan head rested a whole four meters above the ground. With an elongated snout and fangs that seemed to crack from their own grinding and irregur protrusion, the skull looked oddly canine despite the sparse ‘horns’ growing on several spots.

  When the hollow, dark eye sockets turned forward, clearly acknowledging their presence, Edmond felt as if his entrails had become a freezing void. Not just from the harrowing sight, but also from what was likely behind it all; a fact that he had become aware of far too te.

  Even if he can’t adapt for defense anymore… there’s still everything else to work on.

  Hellbound’s ability to endure any harm after enough time, exposure or whatever he needed was frightening on its own. Just the fear that the enemy may very well become invincible if they could not defeat him in a certain time was enough to overwhelm his mind, so when Tatyana unveiled Areadbhair as something the Unmasked could not build a defense against, Edmond had rexed without realizing to what extent.

  But now, it was beyond clear how stupid he had been. It was obvious across the entire battle that Hellbound was not limited to only evolving his defenses, and if that proved to be a fruitless effort, then it was no surprise his transformations could go into overdrive for all other things.

  The proof stood before them, without a hint of human flesh no matter where one looked.

  Unwilling to wait any longer, the ‘new’ Hellbound took a step forward, causing the ground to tremble once more. As he did, Edmond noticed another source of shivers coming from very close by. Despite the immediate threat before them, he could not help but turn to Tatyana at that moment.

  Her visible eye was unblinking, wide open in a shock that seemed to take away any control over her own body, no matter how briefly. Lips tight as she likely bit hard to recover some composure, it was not enough to stop the faint, but evident shaking that continued even now.

  He did not have to ponder at all over such a reaction. Tatyana had not only handled the brunt of the fight against Hellbound, piling up heavy exhaustion and increasingly serious injuries, but she had also just unleashed a spell as demanding as it was powerful. If she had failed to merely maintain her footing earlier, how long would it take before she could walk, let alone fight?

  Especially when the one she now faced was a Hellbound who not only had endured that spell, but become even more fearsome for it.

  … No.

  Edmond instantly knew what he had to do.

  Without hesitation, he slipped one arm under Tatyana’s legs, another under her back, then stood up.

  “…!? Edm—!”

  Her words did not reach him, no matter how close he heard them. It only mattered to get somepce safe now, and thus he ran off as soon as he could turn, sprinting so desperately as to be painful.

  Even if they failed to stop the rift from forming, there was a chance that the instructors or some other backup may arrive to finish the job. So long as they survived, then it was all—

  Edmond’s train of thought was cut off, just how his own legs nearly were by the huge, bde-like spikes of purple crystal that suddenly sprouted in his path. A sharp chill rippled across his body as he felt Hellbound approaching fast.

  Shit! He can just grow those anywhere now!?

  The inevitability of the fact, being stopped at the worst possible time by an ability he could not know of, led to frustration that almost matched his growing dread. Edmond turned as fast as he could, hoping to slide through the gap between the spikes if necessary, but the sight barely caught by the corner of his eye tore down any hopes like that.

  Hellbound’s hand, or rather the cw from his front leg, was now close enough to reach them no matter where he tried to escape. Once again, it became clear that no increase in size would ever compromise his speed.

  There was no time to even think. That brief interruption from the spikes had been all Hellbound needed to seal their fate. If he was still trying to escape, that is.

  Instantly giving the doomed option up, Edmond gritted his teeth and hurled Tatyana away from the approaching crystal cw. Crude, rash, and pathetic most of all; but she could endure a rough nding and slide.

  While the much more dangerous cw from Hellbound, faster than a speeding car, would reach only him.

  “—!”

  There was barely any time between him throwing Tatyana and the impact of the sharp, uneven crystal, far from enough for her to reach the ground. And yet, for part of an instant as brief as that, Edmond noticed so much.

  Ripping of flesh, cracking of bones, stomach contents turning violently and maybe even the bruising of organs. But despite all that, and what was about to come, he became most aware of something completely different.

  You… You’re not even noticing me now… Are you…?

  Edmond knew from the start. If Hellbound truly intended to strike him, his body would have been torn to pieces without issue. These injuries, as severe as they felt for him, had been merely incidental as the Unmasked reached for Tatyana.

  Pathetic…!

  Feeling as much ache in his heart as pain in his body, unable to properly see or even hear the frantic voice that dimly called out, Edmond felt his fingers graze those of an outstretched hand for one st moment as his vision went white, then pure bck.

  Tatyana reached out as far as she could, forcing enough prana into her unresponsive arm for it to feel like a fire ant infestation. Quickly dropping Blutgang, her fingertips touched Edmond’s, but that was all she could manage. Within a fraction of a second, he shrunk massively in her sight and she hit the ground ft on her back.

  “Fuck…!”

  Pain like an electric shock rippled outward from her shoulders and hip, intensifying that which was already present all over her. The air was knocked out of her, forcing instinctive, panicked gasps out of her.

  Move! Move, damn it!

  Worse than any of the pain was her frustration, the intense rage Tatyana felt at how difficult even the simplest of actions were. Still, it was that frustration that allowed her to maintain focus, enough to grasp as much prana as she could and inject it not into her body, but the Dulhan she was cd in.

  It was an awkward and visibly clumsy attempt, but even if her own body would barely respond to her wishes, she could still ‘move’ by forcing the armor to do so. The feeling of remote control was strange, more uncomfortable than she expected and no less intense in the ache it produced. However, she managed to sit back up and even began to stand.

  She saw Edmond again almost immediately, and her heart sank.

  He y well over twenty meters away, face-down at the end of a ft trail of blood. One of his legs had bent in a very bad way, one that should have been so painful until he adjusted his position, and yet he did not appear to move the slightest bit.

  Unconscious, or perhaps…

  … No, no way. This is really not the time, asshole!

  Covered in dirty injuries that seemed to burn her all over, Tatyana still felt a terrible cold surge within her.

  Do something! Get up, scream! Run the fuck away, I don’t care if you leave me here! Please, just show me you’re still al—

  The shadow of a massive cw over her snapped Tatyana out of her panic.

  As impractical as her current way of moving may have been, she had become ‘comfortable’ enough to at least rush away on reflex. The bristling crystal arm swept through empty space, and she felt the wind blowing violently past her as a result.

  This is the worst. I need to get him, then hide somewhere!

  But how could she get Edmond when unable to even spare him a look?

  While barely able to avoid the gargantuan Hellbound’s attacks for some time, she was undeniably slower and needed every bit of attention to not only react, but also predict what he would do.

  Sharp cws gouged several meters of ground, a jaw with fangs the size of her forearm cmped down with an ear-splitting crash, while more crystals sprouted before her if she managed to move a bit too far.

  She held on tightly to Areadbhair, with both the Dulhan’s strength and however much of her own she could muster, but there was no opening to even attempt a counterattack, let alone rescue Edmond.

  However, the worst was yet to come.

  Wh—!?

  At a time when every moment was crucial, jolts of sharp pain pierced Tatyana from every direction, like countless white-hot screws.

  Dulhan. The armor’s resentful prana, something she could usually subdue without much issue, spiked briefly due to the extraordinary focus required by her unusual movement. It may have been manageable under normal circumstances, but not now.

  She managed to contain it quickly, but the damage was done. Her movements scked noticeably for that brief instant, and Hellbound did not waste the chance.

  A giant cw descended upon Tatyana, and she could do nothing to prevent it from swatting her down like some bug.

  “…!”

  She barely suffocated a scream as the ground broke under her. More pain than she recalled ever experiencing started at her back, with only the agony on her hip and legs serving as an unsettling assurance that her spine had not shattered. There was no guarantee it would not happen any moment now, though.

  Her eyes shut and teeth still gnashing to suppress her voice, she had not stopped pouring prana into her armor at any moment. This time, it barely managed to shake, moving no more than she could on her own.

  I’m… pinned down?

  The mere thought of being rendered so helpless was beyond frightening. To be at the complete mercy of such a beast.

  But for some reason, she still lived. She could still feel her legs, barely flexing her knees as she struggled to break free. Her neck was as fine as it could currently be, and her head was still on her.

  In the midst of such confusion, Tatyana finally opened her eyes.

  All she saw was that huge, crystalline skull. Its scraping fangs, the spikes around it, and those pitch-bck orbits, which she knew to be staring at her no matter how lifeless they seemed.

  “… What… What the…”

  Tatyana’s words spilled amidst shivers, but before she could finish anything coherent, there was somehow a reply.

  “Hro krow.”

  How could he even produce such a sound? It was no actual voice, and its structure was shoddy, but there was an undeniable form to it.

  Enough for Tatyana to understand what Hellbound tried to say.

  Go down.

  “… You…”

  Her trembling intensified, accompanied by a chuckle she had no intention of restraining.

  “… You’ve lost your mind already? Is that what this is about?”

  Hirious; hysterical, even. To think her words would have such an effect on him, as lost as he clearly was now.

  Against such a pathetic enemy, she would never despair. She would gdly be crushed before giving him the satisfaction.

  “You rabid mutt!”

  She yelled to the extent her throat seemed to tear and thrashed about with renewed vigor. Not only through the Dulhan, but from her own will forcing her body beyond what she thought to be its limits.

  Arms, legs, shoulders, neck, waist. Everything pushed and rattled against the cwed hand holding her, Areadbhair still in her hand as if stuck there, no matter the little use she could make of it.

  But Hellbound, without a single other sound, forced Tatyana back with far more strength than she could muster.

  And she quickly noticed he did not merely press against her. The more she writhed and struggled, the more she became aware of several points across Hellbound’s hand. Increasingly rge, sharp points, jabbing at her body bit by bit.

  … You…!

  Forced to hold back her struggles if only for safety, it barely mattered. The new spikes on Hellbound’s hand continued to grow, steadily cracking the Dulhan armor until piercing it… Then reaching her flesh, where they continued to slowly pry their way forth.

  Tatyana’s hands went tight, gripping a painful fist on one side and only stopped by Areadbhair at the other. She shut her eyes once more, grit her teeth and instinctively attempted to flex her legs.

  Colrbone. Shoulder. Forearm. Waist. Thigh. He may have been piercing more than that, but those were all she could remain aware of as her mind went increasingly bnk in a white hell.

  Hot tears spilled past her shut eyelids. When was the st time she had cried from pain?

  Thick blood pooled around her, and before too long, the spikes breached bone.

  Tatyana screamed.

  Edmond awoke.

  Not from the pain in his leg, nor due to ck of breath. Instead, it was a faint but unignorable voice that proved the most unbearable.

  Such a brief moment was not enough for him to retain consciousness, but that was where the pain proved somewhat useful. His chest and throat felt like they had been sshed, and when he gasped desperately to escape the crawling darkness, it was as if he swallowed a votile acid.

  His leg was even worse. While the pain from its terrible position continued to keep him conscious, how could he hope to—

  —Another scream.

  I… I need to…!

  He tried to move again, knowing that the voice might die down for good at any moment, but his own body stopped him from doing anything significant once more.

  A cracked femur? Maybe his hip and some ribs as well, but he could not be sure at all. It hurt too much for him to think clearly, let alone identify such details.

  Need… to… what?

  For a second, Edmond managed to somewhat raise his upper body and briefly open his eyes. His hands slipped immediately though, unable to so much as bear that weight.

  His chin hit the hard ground, and he briefly noticed another fracture on his chest area before the fiery pain filled his sight with blinding white.

  There was nothing he could identify now. Everything hurt so much.

  Even if I stand up… What will change?

  In such a state, against Hellbound who had trounced him in one blow even before transforming, who had now left him utterly broken without so much as a gnce… What difference could he make?

  The answer was obvious. Even in top form, he was no match. At his very best, he still would be unable to help Tatyana, and once that rift opened, he would be unable to help anyone.

  … What a knight…

  The girl he owed his life to screamed again, and he cursed his helplessness. More than the Violet Thorn, more than Hellbound, it was his own incompetence that he despised.

  Days upon days of training and preparation. Months, years even, all for nothing when it mattered the most. He almost wished he had stopped at some point; if that was the case, he could have at least bmed ziness, a ck of responsibility.

  But now and long ago, things remained the same. There was only himself.

  Not strong enough. Not smart enough.

  Not good enough.

  If only… If I was—

  Stop that.

  Edmond’s eyes went wide open. Somewhere in his mind, far and faint, he heard a voice like a reprimand.

  Do I really have to tell you this again?

  No… Not a voice. A memory.

  One he failed to initially grasp in his stupor, and yet remained firmly within him. Unable to leave, no matter how much time passed.

  How could it, when he had built so much of himself around it?

  I’ll say this one st time, Edmond. So please, don’t forget it again.

  The summer sun had arrived, giving her untidy, strawberry blonde hair a fttering, yet regrettable shine.

  She still wore such dark clothes despite the heat. If she cked style before, then now it was just pitiful.

  There’s no need to ment what you’re not. Focus only on what you can do.

  One eye bandaged up, the other one narrowed in annoyance for just a moment.

  Her hand drew forward, resting clumsily on his shoulder as if she did not know how much strength to use.

  But he could never be upset, not when after seeing her kind smile and expectant look.

  So long as there’s something you’re still capable of, there will always be a reason to keep going.

  Her hand left him, as did she soon after.

  But those words stayed, ready to answer him at any time. Now, and forever after.

  … Miss Lunaris… Thank you.

  Before he knew it, despite everything, Edmond found himself smiling.

  That’s it… Yes, there’s still so much I can do!

  He pushed a forearm against the floor once more, causing the aches that had settled into a steady flow to rampage once more. His shoulders buckled and bile mixed with blood threatened to escape his throat.

  But he stayed firm, and did not fall even as he raised another arm to his face. He wiped any remaining tears, then reached out for the surrounding prana.

  It was still beyond plentiful, and he only needed to strengthen whatever was strictly necessary for movement. That much he could identify and target.

  At this point, the pain from spellcasting was hardly a concern. As was the technique itself.

  Compared to Tatyana’s exercise, this is easy!

  Femur and hip. So long as those were accounted for, many possibilities would open up.

  The swirling prana entered his body, focused within his leg. Almost instantly, the pain of the fracture spiked, then gradually grew tamer.

  At st, Edmond found himself able to adjust his position, managing to get up on all fours. The next step was standing.

  How much time do I have?

  He had by no means healed himself. The prana infusion may as well be an overdose of performance enhancers, allowing for greater exertion but unable to truly change one’s limits. Any stressful action would cause the pain of his injuries to return in brutal spikes and likely lead, sooner or ter, to their worsening.

  But there were much more present concerns to deal with. Ones that he could now finally attend to.

  No matter the situation, no matter my weakness… There’s always something I can still do.

  Shock after shock assaulted Edmond’s body. Even after reinforcing all he needed to take action, the pulses from his injuries as he strained himself further were almost unbearable. His skeleton like fire, the ground almost bdes; every single action was so difficult.

  But ‘difficult’ would never mean ‘impossible’.

  Even if it’s small, even if it’s insignificant… So long as I can still think of something within my reach… I’ll keep going.

  Edmond stood up.

  Somehow, his gear was still with him. An inkling of a relieved chuckle escaped his lips, now knowing he would not have to look around for it.

  All his focus could now y on the target of his gre. The demonic man of purple crystal, Hellbound.

  Like a superhero.

  Tatyana’s reason would break soon.

  At least a part of her wished so. Compared to knowing what she slowly drew closer to, it could be preferable.

  But more than a simple, primal attempt to survive, her frantic breathing was a dispy of conscious resistance. The warmth of her dripping blood and the cold of her weakening body were now meaningless, mere distractions from the raspy, dry feeling in her throat.

  If she allowed that focus to waver, how long would her mind st? The thought alone was somehow more repulsive than that of finally losing consciousness, to never recover it again.

  She forced her eyes to open once more. Feeling them stop at some half-lidded farce, her frustration was renewed. And with frustration, came rage.

  Rage she could use.

  “… Y-You… are worthless…”

  Her words were a bze, and her gre sharp steel. Even now, those pits of bottomless bck on the crystalline skull remained on her, like something deep inside Hellbound’s hopelessly broken psyche was still bothered by her defiant actions.

  The satisfaction she got almost soothed her wrecked body. Defeating Hellbound was no longer an option in her mind, but if she could still affect him, leave some sort of effect in whatever bits of his consciousness still remained… That was enough for her to keep going until the very end.

  The enormous cw pressed on her once more, its spikes digging cruelly into her body. Tatyana barely managed to drown a third scream, unwilling to show the monster any more weakness, but she knew it would only make him push further until she finally broke. It had happened twice already, so this was nothing new. Her fate was inevitable.

  Or so she thought, before the ‘popping’ sounds and hot air drew her attention out of sheer strangeness. Her eyes could barely open now, and whatever vision she retained was blurred with tears, but that much was enough to notice that Hellbound’s empty orbits and much of his skull were now covered in equal parts light and smoke.

  She doubted the beast had received any meaningful damage, and his reaction cking any hints of pain only served to confirm those doubts. But whether it was the mere surprise or his weird vision being suddenly blocked, he had stopped trying to crush her any further.

  It may have been a mere instant, less than a second, but it was still a time frame Tatyana Nesterova could make use of.

  For the first time since they had appeared, she forced her body against the spikes, taking on the hurt that Hellbound had stopped dealing by her own will. More than terrifying, it was abnormal, on another level even compared to the self-inflicted damage of a spell beyond her means.

  But she could still take some more, for just a little longer so that when she found the slightest sck in his grip, she could move her arm.

  Her hand which had still not let go of Areadbhair.

  Its size was not even close to the same, this time coming from the nce itself rather than the sky, but it was undeniably the same silver light that was unleashed at that moment. A light that pierced right through Hellbound’s crystalline hand, and this time, he clearly felt it.

  The demonic beast reared back, frantically pulling his arm well over the ground. Tiny shards of crystal, some more cracked and others more melted, fell off his mangled hand onto the finally freed Tatyana.

  Freed, but nothing else. Her body had not recovered in the slightest, and her numerous injuries were nearly crippling.

  Damn it… I have to… Even if never again, now I need to stand up and…!

  She forced her arms to move, forced her legs to flex. Every bit of her body that could muster any strength was either trying to lift itself off the ground or push against it, to varying degrees of inefficacy if not failure.

  There was no time for either. The smoke around Hellbound’s head would clear up, the crystal on his hand had already begun to reform, and then there would be nothing to stop him from—

  “I got you!”

  Tatyana did not expect to hear that voice, nor the sight of the recovering Hellbound to disappear at the same time, briefly overtaken by the blur of fast movement across the crater.

  She did not get to turn properly until her surroundings stopped, another reminder of her current state. She felt her body being gently id down in the meantime, her back resting on what may have been rock or debris, and finally she got to see the one behind it all.

  Edmond, in just about the worst state she had ever seen him in. Stained with dirt and sticky red from his hair to his legs, he painted a hardly better picture than that of his unconscious form.

  “… You look like absolute shit…”

  While she could feel more relieved to see him back on his feet, that very fact was still baffling to her, even without detailed knowledge on how far his injuries went.

  Still, they were not enough to stop him from replying with a dirty look and grin.

  “I would’ve said you look like crap, but it’s just a difference in manners at that point.”

  “… Pfft.”

  His words somehow dug chuckles out of her. Painful, difficult, and yet inevitable ughter.

  I really should hit him for that…

  There were priorities to deal with, though. The solid pile Tatyana y against must have also worked as a hiding pce, if Edmond had seen fit to stop by it. Of course, there was also the possibility he simply could not move anymore, but their immediate concerns would not change in that case.

  Whatever time Edmond had bought them, Hellbound would not take long to find them. And once he did, there would be no more miraculous chances like this.

  “Edmond, you’ve got to escape. Run up the crater, and don’t look back.” Tatyana muttered, her smile quickly vanishing as her brow furrowed. “I can’t thank you enough for getting me back there… But I’ll just weigh you down as I am.”

  “… You want me to leave you here?”

  She looked down, unable to meet his shock head on, or confirm the implications of her request. Obvious as they were, there was still no way she could say something of the sort out loud.

  But even if she would never readily accept it, the likeliness of the worst scenario was something she was undeniably aware of.

  “There’s no way I’m doing that.”

  His rejection was immediate, as expected. Though that did not make it any less infuriating.

  “Look, we’ve done all we could! Nothing but Areadbhair can hurt him anymore and—”

  “Can you still use it to attack? Enough gas in the tank for you both?”

  Edmond interrupted her, seemingly unbothered no matter their clearly horrible circumstances.

  What’s with him now!?

  Still thinking about a more successful way to convince him, Tatyana found herself responding honestly from sheer exhaustion.

  “If it’s to hurt him bad, I can probably still go for two or three shots. Not that it matters when I can barely move.”

  “Wrong; that’s all that matters. As long as I’m here, I’ll make that count.”

  Edmond stated with a voice that left little room for retort. Not through loudness or persistence, but rather because of confidence that did not appear to come from either fantasy or delusion.

  Tatyana’s eyes went wide as she struggled for words, seeing him stand back up, seemingly scouting for Hellbound. Fully willing to engage once more.

  “Don’t forget you saved my life, that much is enough for me to never give up on you. But more than that, there’s still so much else we can do.”

  His tone had not changed, and neither did his ridiculous words. Maybe she had indeed gone crazy? What other expnation could there be for how he seemed utterly lucid to her, despite everything?

  “Just what do you mean!?”

  “Don’t think we can keep him waiting enough for an expnation, but it’ll be very obvious when the time is right.” Eyes settled away, most definitely on Hellbound’s massive form, he readied the shortsword in his hand. “Great to have you yelling again, though!”

  Baring a wild smile, he set off with such a rude remark.

  That… asshole!

  He came so close to making her ugh a second time, and the resulting smile was simply impossible to restrain.

  Edmond could not have been in much better shape than her. The shivering grip on his weapon belied undeniable fear, and unlike her, he possessed nothing that could actually damage Hellbound.

  But even so, Tatyana finally accepted a reality she could no longer run away from.

  She believed everything he said.