Both combatants staggered backward, eyes locked, neither willing to surrender even a heartbeat of caution.
Jared traded a quick glance with Sylvia. Resolve flared between them like flint against steel. They understood without words that only perfect unity could carve a path out of these treacherous ruins.
“Ms. Vale, flank him, left and right, strike before he resets,” Jared breathed, each syllable clipped, decisive. Sylvia answered with a sharp nod. Her slender sword quivered, releasing a flash of icy glare.
“Understood!” They sprang apart like twin bolts of lightning. Jared blazed to the right, his aura swelling into a miniature sun that scorched the shadows, while Sylvia vaulted left, a swallow in mid-winter, blade poised for the heart.
The unknown guardian sneered, flicking through hand seals faster than candlelight can tremble, muttering words that tasted of sulfur.
Instantly, the surrounding gloom thickened, birthing jagged spears of shadow that shot toward both attackers in a murderous storm.
Jared’s eyes hardened. He shoved both palms forward, and a colossal shield of molten gold erupted, swallowing every oncoming spike with a hiss of steam. At the same time, Sylvia slipped through the gaps, her footwork feather-light.
The sword traced a silver arc, beautiful, merciless, driving straight for the guardian’s chest.
He pivoted, cloak swirling, dodging by a whisper. His counter came as a sweeping wave of black energy that howled toward Sylvia like a broken stormfront.
Sylvia tapped the flagstones, body drifting backward as lightly as falling snow, the sinister tide crashing harmlessly where she had stood an instant earlier.
A ripple of mocking laughter broke from the shadows beneath the stranger’s hood. Moonlight caught the curve of his hidden mouth, revealing the upward twist of a cruel, knowing smile.
“Is that truly the limit of your talent?” he sneered, every syllable sharpened to a taunt.
Jared answered with a clipped, contemptuous breath, half snort, half warning, the sound of flint striking steel.
“Don’t celebrate just yet,” he said, voice low but thrumming with promise.
Jared’s hands blurred through labyrinthine patterns, each fingertip leaving a pale streak that lingered in the night air. Ancient syllables, heavy as stone tablets, rolled from his tongue.
The air convulsed around him. Strings of golden runes spilled from his chest, weaving above the battlefield until they formed a vast golden array that pulsed like a mechanical sun. A thunderclap seemed to answer him.
“Go!” he roared, flinging the newborn array toward his foe.
The golden array surged forward like a tidal wave of hammered light, bearing down on the hooded stranger with planetary weight.
Feeling the crushing pressure, the stranger’s expression faltered.
Dark energy coiled along his arms as he mirrored Jared’s movements, desperate to raise a shield of black light. Yet the array kept sinking, its radiance sharpening until every beam felt like a blade.
Sweat pearled on the stranger’s brow. His shadowy shield trembled, spider-webbing with cracks.
Seizing the breath of hesitation, Sylvia sprang forward, her long sword flaring with argent lightning. She invoked the Earth Fiend Sect’s ultimate skill, Earth Fiend Sword Shadows, a lethal ballet of spectral blades that split from her steel and streaked toward the stranger in shimmering torrents.
Caught between the descending golden array and the onrushing sword shadows, the stranger’s defenses splintered. Every escape line was already stitched shut with light and steel.
With a guttural roar, he detonated waves of black light, each pulse a convulsive heartbeat, fighting to blast a tunnel through the golden array.
Jared answered by pouring still more spirit into the construct. The array blazed whiter than noon, slamming the stranger back as though the air itself had turned to stone.
Sylvia darted beneath the radiant canopy. Her blade flickered once, twice, then shot forward, straight for the stranger’s heart.
“No!” The stranger’s cry ripped from his throat, raw and broken.
He jerked aside, but destiny was already inches away. The sword’s point burned toward its mark.
Steel met flesh. Sylvia’s blade punched through his chest plate, and a spurt of tar-black blood hissed into the air, sizzling where it struck the light.
The stranger swayed, arms flailing, then toppled to his knees and collapsed, robes billowing like a fallen banner.
As his body hit the ground, a faint, almost content smile ghosted across his lips, a detail neither Jared nor Sylvia noticed.
Jared dismissed the golden array. Its pieces dissolved into motes that drifted upward and vanished. He met Sylvia’s gaze, and together they released the breath they’d been holding.
Sylvia wiped a strand of hair from her cheek, fatigue softening her eyes.
“At last, he’s finished…” she murmured, a weary yet triumphant smile edging her lips.
Jared nodded once, composure returning.
“Come on, let’s claim those ancient records,” he said.
They crossed to the weather-worn stone pedestal. A single book rested there, its cover emitting a gentle golden aura, pages rustling though there was no wind.
Jared stretched out his hand. The instant his fingertip brushed the tome, a nova of light exploded, swallowing them whole.
“Ah!” The simultaneous cry tore from both throats. A colossal force surged into their bodies. The world wheeled in luminous chaos, and consciousness clicked off like a lamp.
