Shattered steel.

  Rael barely had time to process the loss of his on before Anxas lunged again.

  The monstrosity didn't hesitate. It pressed its advah inhuman precision, skeletal limbs shing out iless succession. It moved faster now, each attack flowing into the , turning into an onsught meant to tear him apart.

  Rael threw himself into motion. Move, move, move. He had no on—only his instincts keeping him alive.

  The first cw came from above. He twisted his body, barely slipping past it as it cracked the temple floor. The sed came from the side. He ducked, rolling away just before it could cleave through his torso.

  No openings. No time to ter.

  Anxas had locked him into pure evasion.

  And it wasn't stopping.

  Arike—this oing. Rael reacted to the wrong attack. A bony limb smmed into his ribs, ung him backward. He skidded across the cold stone, armor scraping against the ground. His health dropped again.

  Worse, his vision blurred. Shadows flickered where his enemy stood, afterimages trailing behind its movements. Too fast. Too erratic. His eyes couldn't track the real strike.

  Rael gritted his teeth, f himself upright. His hands instinctively reached for his sword—only to close arouy air.

  He had nothing.

  The realizatioled in like io on. No way to fight bao time to think.

  Anxas moved again.

  But before it could close the distance, something else crashed into its path.

  Gale.

  The fighter hit like a force of nature, bde fshing as he swung his on in a brutal, two-handed arc. Steel met bone. A deep gash split through Anxas's side, the sheer impact sending the creature staggering backward.

  It tried to recover—only fale to follow up immediately.

  There was atioepped in, pivoting into another heavy ssh, his sword carving straight into the creature's torso. His raw strength alone forced Anxas onto the defensive, driving it back with each crushing blow.

  But eve adapted.

  The moment Anxas realized it couldn't match Gale in raw force, its body shifted. It twisted, limbs bending at unnatural ao avoid direct hits. Its afterimage sshes returned—deyed attacks materializing from thin air, f Gale to readjust his footing after every exge.

  "Tch," Gale clicked his tongue, parrying one of the ghost-like strikes. "It's like this thing ges how it fights every damn sed."

  Rael forced himself to stand fully, breath unsteady. He had to act. He couldn't just leave Gale to hahis alone.

  His eyes flicked down to his iory. He had a spare on.

  But it wasn't a sword.

  Hollow Requiem. The two-handed scythe he cimed after defeating Lu.

  The thought made his fiighten. A on he had never wielded. A pletely fn fighting style. This wasn't just pig up a new bde—it was rewiring everything he knew mid-battle.

  Was now really the time to take that risk?

  Another deyed afterimage attack clipped Gale. He staggered back, cursing under his breath.

  Rael's hesitation shattered.

  No choice.

  He reached for the scythe, fingers closing around its cold, midnight-bck handle.

  The moment he pulled it free—a shift.

  A pulse of energy rippled outward.

  Dark mist coiled around the on, curling in tendrils of abyssal energy. The air around him ed, like the space itself was bending us presence.

  Then—the system notification.

  [Two-Handed Scythe detected.]

  [User's css: World Ender reacts.]

  [New Ability Unlocked: Abyssal Harvest.]

  Effect: Drains Mana per sed. Attacks have a 10% ce to deal Pure Damage, ign all defenses. Sying an enemy restores Mana, with stronger foes granting more. If Mana runs out, HP is ed instead—but iurn, attacks gain Life Steal.

  [on Profilocked: Scythe Proficy (Intermediate).]

  The moment the notification appeared, everything clicked. The weight, the bance—what once felt awkward now felt natural. His hands adjusted without hesitation, his body shifting as if guided by instinct. Wide arcs, trolled momentum, precision over brute force.

  A pulse ran through the scythe. Abyssal Harvest activated. Purplish coils of energy spiraled around the bde, writhing and curling like living veins, drawn toward the life around him.

  His mana started draining.

  No time.

  Anxas was already moving again.

  Rael stepped in, pivoting low as he swung in a wide arc. Hollow Requiem sliced ly through the air, the purplish coils around its edge fring with energy. The bde met Anxas's side, carving through bone and ichor with practiced efficy.

  Anxas twisted, ribcage snapping open in response. A jagged limb shed out—fast, but Rael was faster. He shifted his grip and used the scythe's natural reach, twisting into a backward step as he brought the on around in a sweeping ter. The curved bde caught the limb mid-swing, shearing through it in a single, fluid motion.

  Anxas shrieked, staggering from the sudden loss of its limb. Rael didn't hesitate. He stepped in again, rotating his torso with the strike. A downward cleave—sharp and deliberate—drove the bde deep into Anxas's torso, splitting its skeletal form apart.

  The creature reacted instantly, its remaining limbs vulsing. Rael adjusted, spinning the scythe into a reverse grip and stepping into the attack. The shift in motio natural—momentum guiding his movements rather than brute strength. He reversed the swing, slig upward with enough force to tear through Anxas's shoulder.

  Bck ichor sprayed across the stone. Anxas reeled, its form shuddering uhe assault.

  Rael pressed forward. There was no room for hesitation. A missed strike was just another openiurhe scythe's motion into a teral sweep, f Anxas further back. A quick pivot, then a downward strike aimed for the core. The bde ected, carving a deep fissure into the monster's form.

  Gale seized the moment. The fighter surged forward from the fnk, his sword crashing down like a hammer. Bone cracked, pieces of Anxas's form breaking away uhe sheer force of the blow. The creature lurched, struggling to hold itself together.

  For the first time—it was losing ground.

  But then—

  A pulse of miasma erupted outward, thiough to distort the space around it. The temple floor cracked beh its weight, and the a walls groaheir murals darkening as if something unseen was swallowing the light. The oppressive presence grew, suffog, sinking deep into flesh and bone.

  And then—Anxas ged.

  Its body vulsed, grotesque limbs snapping into pce with a siing ch. The writhing form shrank, t, shifting. What had once been an amorphous mass of sinew and void-stitched flesh now pulled itself together into something humanoid. A spiraightened. Arms lengthened, fingers curling into cwed hands. Its torso hardened, ribcage stretg into a jagged carapace, as if it had reshaped itself from broken bones and scraps of the abyss.

  Last to form was its face. The empty void where its head had been now bore a mask of yellowed bone, cracked and uneven, its surface ed into a jagged grin. Two hollow sockets burned with cold, flickering blue fmes.

  And then—it ughed.

  A garbled, wheezing noise, somewhere between a chuckle and a death rattle.

  "Ngrahhhah... heheheheh..."

  Rael's grip tightened around Hollow Requiem, every nerve in his body screaming. His mana was already low, the stant drain from Abyssal Harvest weighing on him, and Gale wasn't faring much better. The miasma slowed their natural regeion, their bodies pushed to the limit.

  Anxas raised its hand.

  The temple shifted.

  A pulse of unseen force rippled outward. The world around them tilted—not iy, but in perception. Gravity itself twisted, ing their sense of space. The grou unstable beh Rael's feet, his body suddenly heavier, his movements sluggish.

  A Gravitational Field.

  The realization barely had time to settle before Anxas moved.

  It didn't vanish—it didn't teleport. It simply flowed forward, unnatural yet eerily smooth, closing the gap in an instant. A cwed hand shed out.

  Rael barely twisted out of the way, but the gravity distortion made him slow. The attack carved across his shoulder, tearing through armor and drawing a fresh spray of blood. His health dipped dangerously, a warning fshing in the er of his vision.

  Gale roared, charging in. He swung his sword in a massive, sweeping arc, the sheer force behind it splitting the stoh his feet. Anxas met the strike with its bare hand. Cw met steel—and stopped it cold.

  The force should have crushed bones, shattered limbs. Instead, Anxas held the bde mid-swing, its fingers ed around the steel as if it were no more than an invenies empty sockets flickered, and then—

  It twisted.

  A surge of force sent Gale flying. He crashed into a pilr, stone splintering on impact.

  Rael didn't hesitate. He lunged, Hollow Requiem carving through the air. The scythe's reach gave him the advantage—he struck from just beyond Anxas's immediate rahe curved bde met flesh, sinking deep.

  A burst of Pure Damage ig the point of impact.

  Anxas staggered. The wound burned, bed tendrils hissing where the scythe had struck. But the fmes in its sockets only flickered once before it ughed again.

  "Shall... null... hhhahh—"

  A new pulse of force rippled outward, dist space itself. The miasma swirled violently around them, thiing as if feeding on the unnatural energy. Rael barely had time to brace before the ground lurched beh him.

  Anxas lifted a cwed hand.

  The world pulled.

  Rael and Gale were both ripped forward, their bodies dragged through the air toward the waiting grasp of the grinning monstrosity. The sensation was overwhelming—not just a simple force pulling them, but something deeper, like their very essence was being drawn in.

  "—Tch!" Gale reacted instantly, twisting midair. He wrenched his sword free, stabbing it into the temple floor. The bde tore through stone, halting his momentum in an explosion of dust. His muscles trembled, but he held firm.

  Rael wasn't as lucky. His mana was gone. His body felt sluggish, unrespohe drain from Abyssal Harvest tinued, feeding off his HP. The moment his boots scraped the ground, his legs colpsed under him, sending him sliding forward untrolbly.

  Anxas moved in for the kill.

  The skeletal form lunged, cwed fingers stretg wide, ready to rip through flesh.

  Rael's instincts screamed. He had nothi—but he could still move.

  Soulstep.

  The st reserves of his stamina vanished as his body blinked sideways, narrowly avoiding the swipe. The sheer force of the missed attack ruptured the ground where he had just been.

  Gale acted in the same breath.

  He ripped his sword free and charged. His movements were heavy, but his raw strength carried him forward. With a roar, he swung—a devastating horizontal strike aimed at Anxas' ribs.

  The boss twisted unnaturally, jerking its body out of the way. The attack missed—but irely. The sheer pressure from Gale's swing split the air apart, sending out a cussive bst. Cracks webbed across the grouh them.

  Rael forced himself upright. He could barely stand. The pulling force had stopped for now, but that didn't mean Anxas was done.

  His fingers closed around his st potion.

  So did Gale's.

  A split sed. That was all they had.

  They dowhe potions simultaneously.

  Warmth surged through Rael's body. His HP ticked upward—not much, but enough to survive. He saw Gale's wounds close slightly as well, though her of them could rely on another potion. The cooldown was still tig.

  Anxas watched. The sockets in its skull flickered, its mask tilting unnaturally.

  It ughed.

  "P-Poi…Pointlessss—"

  The voice fractured, ing into something inhuman. A rasping shriek ced with manic ughter. Anxas vulsed, its skeletal frame twisting unnaturally, bone snapping and ref iic spasms.

  "Pointless! POINTLESS! Hkk—Ahaha—hahahaHAHAHA!"

  Its jaw unhinged, ughter spilling out in jagged, broken bursts, like a chorus of voices yered over one another. Ichor dripped from its maw, sizzling as it hit the ground. Its limbs twitched, fingers curling and unfurling as if it couldn't tain the madness g through its form.

  Anxas lifted both arms, and the world flipped.

  Gravity reversed.

  Rael's body wrenched upward. So did Gale's. The force yahem into the air, suspending them against their will. The temple floor—now below them—felt impossibly far away.

  And then, it reversed again.

  A brutal sm.

  Rael hit the ground with full force. His vision blurred from the impact. His HP plummeted. Somewhere nearby, Gale let out a pained grunt, barely managing to recover.

  Anxas was still ing.

  Rael's hands shook as he tightened his grip on Hollow Requiem. His breaths were ragged. O hit. That was all it would take.

  Gale staggered upright. His sword dragged against the temple floor, but he pnted his feet, eyes sharp. "One shot. I'll make the opening."

  Rael met his gaze. No words were needed.

  Anxas rushed forward.

  Gale moved first.

  With a final burst of strength, he heaved his sword overhead and smmed it down with all his power. The impact ruptured the floor—sending out a shockwave so fierce that even Anxas momentarily faltered.

  There.

  Rael lunged.

  His body felt like it was falling apart. But the scythe in his hands—it felt weightless.

  His st attack.

  The curved bde swung upward.

  Pure Damage ignited upon impact—

  And Rael got lucky.

  The bde tore through Anxas' mask, cleaving into its skull.

  The world froze.

  Anxas' body shuddered. Its sockets fred violently, the violet glow flickering in and out. A choked, distorted sound escaped it—half a wail, half a gargled ugh.

  And then, its body colpsed.

  Dark mist poured out from the shattered remains. The miasma recoiled, twisting violently before finally dispersing.

  The system notification fshed.

  [Elite Boss Defeated!]

  [Level Up!]

  [A Great Feat Has Been Achieved!]

  Rael barely processed it.

  He fell to one knee, exhausted beyond words. His HP was a sliver away from death. Gale was barely standing.

  A long sileretched between them.

  Then Gale let out a breathless ugh.

  "That," he muttered, running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair, "was the worst fight of my goddamn life."

  Rael didn't disagree.

  But at least it was over.