Inside the colpsed building, everyone else silently waited in anticipation as they all prepared for the run of their lives.

  The distance between them and the Ivory Tower wasn’t great, but it was just enough for danger to close in fast. If they weren’t quick enough, the chances of being snatched up by the giant bird were far too high.

  Lena extinguished her fme, and instantly, they were swallowed by a dim, shifting darkness.

  The group then silently slipped out of the building, their eyes locking onto the towering structure ahead. Storm Rider was nowhere to be seen. She was supposed to signal them the moment she located the Ice Bird.

  'Come on.' Luna’s gaze darted toward the clouds, searching for any sign of her mentor. Storm was powerful—almost untouchable—but she was still human. She could bleed. She could suffer and even die. It was natural to feel worried.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The sky ruptured as a series of explosions tore through the clouds, splitting them apart like fragile silk.

  Luna’s breath hitched as she caught sight of something above. Suspended in the sky, a massive floating ruin came into view—its structure eerily simir to the Ivory Tower itself, only broken and scattered as if it had been ripped from another world.

  “RUN!”

  Snow and Lena’s voices jolted her back to reality.

  She turned sharply, eyes locking onto the tower ahead before pushing herself forward. Her boots sank into the snow with every step, but her weight made it easy to plow through. She wasn’t slowing down.

  She risked gncing over her shoulder as they ran and saw something incredible. The clouds had thickened again, swirling around the ongoing battle. The Ice Bird cshed with Storm Rider at the base, sending powerful shockwaves through the world. However, despite the intensity of their battle, Storm hadn’t summoned her armor yet—a clear sign that, in her eyes, this enemy wasn’t worth the effort.

  From this distance, the Fire Keeper was a radiant force. A golden glow coated her skin like a divine mantle, and her long hair floated upward as if pulled by unseen strings. She looked like what you would imagine a god to look like.

  Explosions shook the heavens, each bst followed by the Ice Bird’s furious screeches. It was fully immersed in the fight, its power cshing against the Fire Keeper’s in a spectacle of raw might.

  Fmes and lightning carved through the sky extinguishing the twilight for brief moments.

  At the same time, the Ice Bird exerted its dominance, unleashing a storm of bitter cold. The winds howled, their strength rising, turning the kingdom beneath into a much worse wastend.

  Fortunately, Darkness shielded them from being blown away by pcing them in her gravity field, while Lena struggled to hold back the chilling winds. Even with her power boost, resisting the force of a Cursed Tyrant was no small feat--because she was still on her Second Gate.

  BOOMMMM!

  Another explosion shattered the air.

  Luna barely had time to react before one of the fighters came plummeting down like a meteor, crashing into the kingdom below and sending a powerful tremor through the earth.

  “Everyone, run past me!”

  Gail noticed and skidded to a halt. He hovered off the ground and let the others run past him as he raised a shimmering energy wall to block the bst. The barrier absorbed the brunt of the shockwave, shielding the group from the devastating impact that followed. But it immediately started cracking as he held it back.

  ‘Crap Crap crap….’

  Luna cursed under her breath, forcing more strength into her legs as she sprinted forward. A quick gnce over her shoulder sent a jolt of fear through her veins—a roiling cloud of darkness was closing in fast.

  But then, the shadows were torn apart with a single, powerful gust. Two majestic silver wings fred wide, parting the gloom like a bde through the mist. From within the dissipating shroud, a monstrous head emerged.

  SCREEEE!!

  Its sleek ivory beak opened, and a piercing scream ripped through the air, rattling Luna’s bones.

  In reaction to the scream, Luna covered both ears with her palm. But she cried out instead when she realized this wasn’t a normal monster scream.

  Gail was the second to cry out before falling out of the sky and crashing in the snow. His energy barrier colpsed right away as he put his hands over his ears.

  Valentine halted too and cried from the pain he felt right now. Blood was already flowing out of both his ears and his bloodshot eyes as the Monster’s cry continued.

  Luna found herself falling to her knees, trying to resist the high-pitched scream. This pain…this pain was something she had never felt before. Her entire body was burning as if someone had pierced hot needles into every nerve. The worst pain, however, was coming from her brain. If this kept on going on much longer, Luna would find herself trying to crack her skull open.

  She looked up at Lena and Snow. The pair had also stopped, but they were putting up a much greater fight while wearing tough looks.

  “D…Darkness!”

  Snow let out a roar, signaling the ascender to act.

  The sapphire-eyed woman gathered her strength and manifested a silver spear in her right hand. With her might in hand, Darkness unched it with all the strength she had in her body. The sound barrier was broken after that throw and the wind split to give way.

  The spear struck the Ice Bird’s wing, enhanced by gravity. And it burrowed deep, sending the massive creature thrashing through the frozen terrain.

  As soon as its screaming stopped, another figure emerged from the clouds, descending at an incredible speed.

  Storm Rider was holding a golden burning nce.

  Luna locked her eyes with her sister and quickly gathered her thoughts. The sound attack had stopped…but its effects were not done. She was still too dizzy to move. She was about to say something when she was hit by an intense pain in the chest. Her fingers dug into the snow as she endured with tears flowing down her pale face.

  Then, she retched and she vomited a pool of blood after her body gave up on enduring. The Qi in her body hadn’t helped to stop this. But it had done its best to reduce the effects of an attack like that.

  “Lu…”

  Luna put her hand up to stop her sister and coughed out some more blood. She was paler now after losing so much blood.

  “I’m fine…I’m fine. The primary goal is to leave this pce. I can still run…”

  ‘Gods. I need a vacation after this…’

  With a deep, painful groan, Luna was back on her feet once again. Soon, she was running again despite the pain.

  Valentine and Gail were also running. Though they were much slower now because of the grave internal injuries they had just experienced.

  The world kept on roaring as the fighters behind them moved their battle to the ground. Debris flew and nded nearby, but the group didn’t stop running for their lives.

  Luna was praying she made it to the tower alive because...bit by bit, she felt like she was dragging her body instead of running. Her mortal limitations were here to remind her of her weaknesses.

  Finally, after an eternity of running, the ivory tower was just a few meters away. But then, as they were still running, a sudden, sharp pain nced through her chest. Luna staggered, gasping, her vision blurring. This pain… she knew it. But how? She hadn't even used any essence yet.

  Nevertheless, she continued running till they made it to the white stairs leading to the grand doors of the ivory tower.

  Snow and Lena quickly opened them with their zenshi.

  Once they were sure everyone had made it through, the pair closed the doors with more zenshi and sealed them immediately. The magnificent structure continued to tremble as the battle outside got more intense. The shockwaves alone made the entire kingdom of ice tremble.

  Luna dropped to her knees, gasping for breath, her mind momentarily bnk from exhaustion. Once felt stable enough, she summoned the Sun Ember and gripped its hilt as if her life depended on it.

  She received the same shocked impressions from Snow, Gail, and Valentine.

  “Did you?”

  Luna knew exactly what he meant. She answered in a very tired tone, “Not really, cousin. This is simply a gift forced onto me.”

  Snow raised his left eyebrow and shook his head--deciding not to ask further questions. There were bigger things to worry about at the moment.

  “Wait…how are you summoning that without zenshi?”

  “I don’t think this is the time for questions, Gail,” Darkness cut in right before Luna opened her mouth.

  “Fine,” Gail muttered, clearly disappointed but not pressing further. His eyes lingered on the bde for a moment before he summoned his bow and followed Snow to the teleportation circle.

  They had no time to waste as they needed to go to the next floor before the battle outside reached them. When there, they could hide and wait for reinforcements as agreed upon.

  “This is gonna be a drag.” Luna sighed when she felt the pain the backsh caused slowly subside. Surprisingly, the pain from the bird's attack had also reduced to a point where it felt like it wasn't there at all.

  When she noticed this, Luna realized why she experienced the instant backsh.

  She had used it up when she unknowingly healed herself.