Focus. The battle had begun.

  Tave grit his teeth, smming his left hand into a rapid hand seal sequence. At the same time, his eyes caught Theo dashing to the side. Swift, precise, and surprisingly, he sheathed his sword, shifting into his own dual-hand seal formation.

  Wait… two hands? That wasn’t right. Theo was known for mastering one-handed seals early in his path. Why now…?

  No time to hesitate.

  Tave surged forward, fmes fring subtly around his limbs. His body felt lighter and sharper. The effect of his new Fire Element Affinity was immediate. Every step felt faster, every move more controlled. The healing boost from his recent level-up and the aura from the Relic gave him just enough recovery to go all in.

  Theo had already unsheathed his sword again. He spun, a sharp pivot in the dust.

  Both closed the distance, and then came the csh.

  Steel met steel.

  The sound cracked like thunder in the chamber.

  Tave had meant only to gauge Theo’s strength… but surprisingly, the blow wasn’t as overwhelming as he had expected. Still strong. Strong enough to force Tave to brace, stepping back slightly as the shock traveled up his arms.

  A few more cshes followed. Quick, brutal exchanges.

  Tave broke away, gaining distance to regroup, bde poised.

  His arm was already numb. Just from those few strikes.

  And then, he noticed it.

  Water. The elemental trace in Theo’s attacks… Why water?!

  Theo was supposed to use Earth Element in his early development. Tave had written it that way himself!

  Did he have two elements? Or… had something changed?

  Tave’s mind raced. His body burned. Something about this fight wasn't following the story anymore.

  “Is that all, Tave?!”

  “Is that really all you’ve got?!”

  The man’s voice rang out, sharp with provocation.

  Tave didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Instead, he focused, drawing every ounce of strength, every memory, every spark of purpose left inside him.

  Then… He charged.

  Csh! Csh! Csh!

  Bde met bde, again and again. Sparks and pressure exploded with every strike. Their movements blurred, only the sharp ring of steel revealing where they were.

  They exchanged blows, retreated, circled. Searching for openings. But the man moved like his sword was alive. Faster than sight, every motion precise and devastating.

  Tave held his ground as best he could. But one strike hit with a bst of elemental water, exploding upon contact.

  “Hkk—!”

  Tave grunted as he blocked it, but the force was monstrous. It sent him flying. Smmed into the cavern wall.

  “Gah!”

  Pain shot through his spine like lightning. His back felt like it had cracked in two. The burns from earlier were still healing. It felt like he was fred in agony, and now this?

  The man didn’t pause.

  Another hand seals. His bde ignited. Not with fme, but with a cold, dense water aura. And then he vanished. A blur of movement, afterimage trailing behind him.

  Ssh!

  He swung his bde through the air. And from that arc, several crescent-shaped water bdes unched forward, glowing, sharp, fast.

  Tave’s eyes widened.

  He knew this attack.

  It was familiar. Too familiar.

  Instinct screamed at him. He forced his body into motion, pain be damned.

  He ran. Dodging left, then diving forward. Just as the first crescent exploded behind him.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The chamber lit up in a wave of water-based destruction, each crescent shattering on impact.

  Tave stumbled but kept moving, lungs burning, vision flickering. Theo’s power… it wasn’t simple.

  He had to be at least Gaia Guardian level. That would expin his ability to project elemental attacks beyond his body.

  And if that was true. Then Tave wasn’t that far behind.

  But even a short gap… could be fatal.

  As if refusing to give Tave even a moment to breathe, Theo moved again. Fast. Ruthless.

  In an instant, he was right in front of him. Tave barely had time to register the movement, let alone react.

  A sharp swing from Theo’s sword came down. Tave blocked. Csh! Sparks flew.

  But Theo didn’t stop. A vicious kick smmed into Tave’s left side, the impact so strong it sent him sprawling across the ground, nding hard against the bzing stone.

  Tave scrambled, forcing his body to rise! But just as he got his footing, Theo was already there.

  The hilt of Theo’s sword drove hard into his ribs.

  Tave gasped, pain ripping through his side.

  “This is what you call fighting?” Theo sneered. “Pathetic.”

  Tave staggered, body barely holding up. And then another kick, this time to his fnk, threw him down once more. Dust rose as his body hit the earth, his breath hot and ragged in his throat.

  “Come on, Tave!” Theo’s voice rang, merciless.

  “You act like you’re something more now. Like you’ve changed. But all I see is the same weak coward hiding behind other people’s strength.”

  Another strike. The hilt. Again. Right into his shoulder.

  Theo crouched beside him, a twisted calm in his gaze. That cold, calcuted grin never left his face.

  Another shove. Hard. Tave’s body flopped back like dead weight.

  “You can’t even handle a fraction of the pain you put me through.”

  Tave tried to push up again. But Theo grabbed him by the colr, jerked him off the ground, and flung him aside like he meant nothing.

  “You thought you could step into this world and py along?”

  “You thought you’d get stronger and just rewrite your fate?”

  A final kick. Brutal. Right into his gut.

  Tave curled in on himself, breath stolen from his lungs.

  “You don’t get to escape, Tave.”

  "ARGH…!"

  Tave’s scream tore from his throat as he forced every fiber in his body to move. To fight back. But that strength he was up against…

  It was overwhelming. Crushing. Like being hit by a force ten times stronger than anything he had ever trained to endure.

  Theo stood tall above him, gaze cold, condescending. Like Tave wasn’t even worth finishing off properly.

  To make things worse, the brightness inside the cavern. Lit by the va pool’s burning glow. Completely drowned out the shadows. His Dark Element was nearly useless here. And his body… it still hadn’t recovered from the binding with Kaelira.

  He clenched his jaw, blood dripping from his mouth, and looked up at the man before him.

  “How does it feel?” the man said. “To stand before someone you have no chance of defeating?”

  “To stare into the face of death itself… knowing there’s no way through?”

  "Pathetic." A voice rang out. But not Theo’s.

  This one came from inside his head. Cold. Unforgiving. Female.

  Kaelira.

  "Pathetic. You’ll die before you even prove your words.”

  Her voice blended with Theo’s. One outside, one within. Both pressing down on him.

  Demanding. Judging. Breaking.

  Tave’s breath shook as he pushed his palms against the ground. His arms trembled, but he grit his teeth harder.

  He would not stay down.

  He forced himself up, barely. Standing with nothing but sheer stubbornness. His body screamed, his vision blurred, but his will. His will refused to break.

  The enemy before him was too strong. Far too strong. There was no path to victory. Not without doing something beyond normal.

  And if he didn’t take that path…

  He wouldn’t survive.

  Theo was still watching him. His head slightly raised, expression cool and dismissive. Like he was giving his prey a few seconds to cling to a false hope of winning. A final, hollow illusion before being crushed.

  But Tave… He wasn’t moving blindly. He wasn’t fighting out of pride.

  He calcuted everything. And he knew. He had a chance.

  He reached into his storage ring and slid his sword away. Not to surrender. But to prepare.

  There’s always a way to push something beyond its limits.

  Even if it came at a cost.

  A heavy cost.

  But if the price was the death of the greatest threat he had ever created. Then the price was worth it.

  Tave moved.

  His fingers blurred through a rapid sequence of complex hand seals. Ancient, forbidden. And then…

  [ Elemental Merge Initiated. ]

  [ You have forcefully activated an advanced element merge. ]

  [ Elements: Fire + Dark ]

  [ Processing… ]

  [ Forcing a merge beyond your current capacity may result in: Core Exhaust. Core Colpse. Irreversible internal damage. ]

  Tave gave a faint, crooked smile. One core breaks? He still had another.

  The moment the merge completed, a violent surge of power burst through his body. He gasped as it tore through his muscles, igniting every nerve.

  His upper right arm burned. His sigil fred, glowing bright with swirling fire and shadow. It pulsed with something new. Something raw.

  Theo’s eyes widened. Truly widened, for the first time. And then… a slow, wicked grin spread across his face.

  [ New Merged Element Created: SOULFIRE. ]

  [ Soulfire: A fusion of Fire and Dark elements. ]

  [ This fme does not burn the flesh alone. It consumes the soul. It will not extinguish until the target is utterly destroyed. Cursed, relentless, and pure. ]

  Bck fmes ignited in Tave’s left hand. At the same moment, his sword reappeared, forming in his grip.

  The bde was instantly engulfed in that same dark fire, pulsing, alive.

  Tave’s stance straightened.

  No more hesitation.