The ruins trembled.

  Red-gold lightning clashed with violet.

  Jarek and the Stormfang collided.

  The instant their bodies met, the air collapsed inward. A shockwave detonated between them, the force shattering nearby stone, sending debris flying. Jarek barely registered the explosion of noise—his world had narrowed to the beast in front of him.

  Their limbs tangled in a crackling storm of electricity. Pure speed. It wasn’t just about who was stronger, but who could process the fight faster. Jarek’s new perception snapped everything into perfect clarity, every movement stretched out into fragments of time.

  He twisted midair, raising his sword. Violet lightning danced across the blade’s edge. The weapon pulsed, absorbing the charge flowing through his body, and for a fraction of a second—

  The Stormfang hesitated.

  Jarek felt it in the shift of the air, the beast’s sudden moment of recalculation. It had never seen this before. It understood its own lightning, but not his.

  He used that hesitation.

  Jarek swung down. His sword carved through the space between them, a streak of violet crackling through the mist—

  The Stormfang wasn’t there.

  Jarek’s heart lurched. His instincts screamed.

  A thunderclap. Acceleration.

  The Apex was already behind him.

  Jarek twisted—too late.

  A claw raked across his ribs, carving through leather and flesh. Pain flared, raw and white-hot, but he had no time to react. The Stormfang was still moving, flickering like a phantom, streaks of red-gold lightning warping its outline.

  Jarek tried to pivot, but his footing barely adjusted before—

  The beast crashed into him like a bolt of living thunder. His body shot backward, slamming into the ruins with enough force to crater the stone behind him. The impact rattled his bones, his skull slamming against the rock.

  The world spun.

  Jarek tasted blood.

  The Stormfang didn’t stop.

  It was already attacking again—closing the distance in a blink, its golden eyes burning with predatory focus. Its instincts were relentless. It never let prey recover.

  Jarek had seconds. Less.

  His mind sharpened.

  Violet lightning exploded around him.

  He twisted his body, forcing himself into motion before the beast could land its next strike. His entire frame blurred, the Umbral Veil smudging his outline into the mist. He wasn’t just fast—he was shifting, his movements unnatural, unpredictable.

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  The Stormfang hesitated again.

  It had adapted to pure speed. But not this.

  Jarek pivoted, his blade flashing. This time, he didn’t swing for a killing blow—he aimed to disable.

  Steel met flesh.

  The sword cut deep into the beast’s front leg. A clean wound. Not fatal, but enough to slow it.

  The Stormfang snarled, its golden eyes narrowing. Electricity crackled along its body, its muscles tensing, coiling—

  It didn’t need to run.

  It needed to finish him now.

  Jarek saw it happen before it moved.

  His new perception let him process it—the subtle change in stance, the way its back legs bent, the flicker of charge along its spine.

  It wasn’t accelerating away.

  It was about to pounce.

  Jarek’s breath sharpened. He gritted his teeth, his vision locking onto every twitch, every micro-adjustment in the beast’s form.

  The second it moved—

  He moved too.

  They clashed midair.

  Lightning ripped the ruins apart.

  Jarek barely kept his sword in position, straining against the raw power surging through the Apex’s body. His violet arcs tangled with its red-gold charge, the two energies fighting, colliding in violent bursts.

  The pressure grew unbearable. Jarek’s muscles screamed. His sword vibrated, struggling to contain the power. The sheer force of their attacks distorted the mist, twisting the air into spirals of crackling energy.

  This isn’t sustainable.

  Jarek knew it.

  His wounds were catching up to him. His ribs were still cracked from before. His stamina was burning out faster than he wanted to admit. His body wasn’t made for drawn-out battles against something this powerful.

  And worst of all—

  The Stormfang wasn’t slowing down.

  Jarek could see it. It was using its bursts more often now. Not tiring. Not weakening.

  Getting stronger.

  Reiner had been wrong.

  This thing didn’t have a limit.

  Jarek clenched his teeth. He needed to end this now.

  He dropped.

  Letting himself fall backward mid-exchange, his body twisting into a controlled descent. The Stormfang’s claws barely scraped past his chest.

  Jarek’s boots hit the ground, skidding across cracked stone. His sword flashed upward.

  The Stormfang landed just ahead of him—

  —and Jarek struck.

  Lightning surged down his blade, violet arcs igniting the steel. The sword became a weapon of pure, focused energy.

  Jarek thrust.

  The tip found its mark.

  A deep gouge tore into the beast’s side. Sparks exploded from the wound, the lightning inside its body conflicting with Jarek’s own charge. Its muscles convulsed.

  The Stormfang staggered.

  Its golden eyes flickered. For the first time, the Apex looked—

  Off-balance.

  Jarek rushed forward.

  He wasn’t letting this moment go to waste. His body screamed in protest, but he forced himself into motion, sword already coming down for the final strike—

  The Stormfang reacted.

  Faster than it should have.

  Its entire body detonated outward with a burst of pure electricity.

  A last-ditch defense.

  Jarek’s instincts barely had time to scream before—

  Lightning hit him point-blank.

  Pain.

  His nerves lit up. His muscles locked. Every part of him screamed as the sheer force of the charge blew him backward.

  His back slammed into rubble. His vision flared white.

  For a moment, he couldn’t move.

  His body was still twitching from the residual charge, his limbs numb and unresponsive. He tried to force himself up, but his legs refused.

  The Stormfang stood over him.

  Blood dripped from its wound, its golden eyes burning, its entire frame still crackling with wild energy.

  Jarek grit his teeth.

  He had done damage. Real damage.

  But he wasn’t winning this fight.

  Not now.

  His injuries from before—the assassin, the constant battles—were catching up.

  He had pushed himself too far.

  Jarek exhaled, forcing himself up onto one knee. His body swayed.

  The Stormfang lowered its stance.

  Ready to finish this.

  Jarek stared back.

  His thoughts burned.

  Not today.

  This wasn’t retreat.

  This was strategy.

  He had something now. A piece of its power. A piece of what he needed to kill it.

  Next time, he’d be ready.

  Next time, he’d end this fight for good.

  Jarek’s fingers twitched. The Umbral Veil surged to life. His body blurred into the mist, vanishing into the shadows.

  The Stormfang lunged—

  —and bit into empty air.

  The Apex landed, claws raking the stone, sending cracks through the rubble.

  It lifted its head.

  Paused.

  And howled.

  A long, victorious sound—before it realized Jarek was gone.