They rested for four days, longer than Jacob would have liked, but there was no other choice. The coming fight would demand everything from them, and if they were going to hold that creature back long enough for Joey to ascend, then they needed to be in their best condition, both in body and mind.

Ascending inside the chamber was impossible anyway; the oppressive divine presence that lingered there would interfere with the process and likely destroy Joey's body before it even began. That meant they would have to go outside, back into the dark halls where the monster waited, and Jacob and Mathew would have to buy him the time he needed.

Jacob stood in front of the warped wooden door, hand resting on the handle, the air heavy with tension. Joey stood beside him, face drawn and pale but his eyes sharp, focused, already thinking several steps ahead. Mathew, meanwhile, glared at Jacob from outside the barrier, his arms folded, his expression filled with resentment he didn't bother to hide.

"Ten minutes, right?" Jacob asked, his tone steady but low.

"If I rush through it, yes," Joey replied, adjusting the straps of his satchel. "But understand, doing that will cripple my future potential. So if you want this to be worth it, you'd better make sure I get that book when we're out of here."

Jacob gave a small nod then tightened his grip on the handle. He drew in a slow breath, exhaled once, and pushed the door open.

The change was immediate.

The stale air outside hit him like a wall, and standing just beyond the doorway was the monster, its massive frame hunched forward, claws twitching, its ragged breath leaving trails of steam that curled into the air.

The thing looked half-feral, its flesh quivering with madness, its now healed eyes fixed entirely on the door. When Jacob stepped out, its gaze snapped to him. It made a guttural sound, half-growl, half-speech, and through the broken noise Jacob could make out two distinct words: die and kill.

The creature lunged forward in an instant, its body moving with impossible speed. Jacob barely managed to raise his sword before the blow connected. Sparks erupted where metal met claw, and the sheer force of the impact sent him skidding backward, his boots scraping along the stone floor as his arm trembled from the shock.

Before the monster could follow up, another figure shot past him, a flash of steel and a blur of aura.

"I'm back, you bastard!" Mathew roared, his katana slicing through the air, a bright trail of aura following its path. His eyes, for the first time in four days, were steady, his movements sharp and deliberate.

The monster turned, its regenerated eye locking onto Mathew with an almost human malice. In an instant it dropped Jacob from its attention entirely, caught Mathew's blade in its bare hand, and swung its other arm forward, striking him squarely in the face with a heavy, wet crack.

Mathew's vision spun. He stumbled, dazed, his thoughts scattering, and before he could recover a massive clawed hand wrapped around his leg. His body was lifted effortlessly into the air, upside down, the world tilting violently as the monster raised him higher. Even in that disoriented state, Mathew knew what was coming. He clenched his jaw, crossing his arms to brace himself for the impact that never came.

Several seconds passed. The hand holding him trembled, the monster frozen in place.

He opened his eyes slowly, his vision still hazy, and the first thing he saw was the monster, its entire body wrapped in dozens of flaming chains that writhed and hissed with heat, biting into its flesh as it struggled against them.

The creature's muscles strained and bulged, its veins glowing faintly beneath the skin, and every time it pulled, the chains shuddered and groaned as if on the verge of breaking. Behind it stood Jacob, his expression drawn tight with concentration, one hand extended toward the beast while the other was raised high above his head, a rune forming slowly in the air above his palm, each glowing line etched with deliberate precision.

The rune completed itself with a sharp flash, and at that same instant a wave of energy pulsed through the corridor. Mathew, still lying on the ground a few meters away, turned his head toward the source.

Joey sat cross-legged, his body surrounded by a violent swirl of mana, the air around him trembling with the force of it. From the small white stone hovering just above his hands, threads of energy unraveled, coalescing around him in spiraling layers until they formed a cocoon-like shell of pale blue light.

At the same moment, ten flaming spears materialized in the air above Jacob, each one humming with suppressed energy, their tips gleaming white-hot, their heat warping the air around them. They hovered for a heartbeat before surging forward in unison, streaking toward the beast's joints, its elbows, knees, and shoulders, moving so fast they left trails of fire in the air.

The beast only sneered. It ignored the incoming attack, tightening its body even further, and the chains screamed as they reached their limit.

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Chink. Chink. Chink.

The sound of shattering filled the air as the chains broke one after another, each one bursting into fragments of light. The backlash hit Jacob immediately, he stumbled back, gritting his teeth as a wave of pain tore through his chest, the rune in his hand flickering and threatening to dissolve. The momentary lapse weakened his spell; the spears dimmed slightly, their edges dulling before impact.

They struck the beast's flesh but did little more than pierce the surface, their momentum dying almost instantly. The monster didn't even flinch. It grabbed Mathew by the leg, and slammed him into the ground with a violent crack that echoed down the corridor.

Jacob reacted before it could lift him again. The rune under his feet flared bright, his mana surging at a ruinous pace as the world seemed to fold for an instant. He appeared directly before the creature, grabbed Mathew's limp body from its grasp, and vanished again in a blur of light, reappearing several meters away.

He didn't waste a second. Two new runes blazed to life, the first expanding into a shimmering barrier that enclosed both him and Mathew, the second summoning a fresh barrage of flaming spears.

The beast's roar came a split second later, its claws crashing against the barrier with enough force to make the air quake. At the same moment, the ten new spears shot forward, all aimed at the same point, its abdomen.

If all of them struck in the same spot, the accumulated force might be enough to break through, to cause real damage. That was the plan.

But when the spears landed, the result was disappointing. Each blow barely added to the last, the creature's hide blackening slightly but showing no real sign of injury. The heat dispersed uselessly across its skin, the energy fading as though absorbed.

Jacob grimaced. It was hard to do meaningful damage, fire meant nothing to them. The very element that defined his strength right now, that made his magic deadly, was simply ineffective. And in a fight where even his full power might not have been enough to win, losing that advantage was nothing short of fatal.

The beast's fists slammed into the barrier again, each strike heavier than the last, and Jacob could feel the structure weakening through the flow of his mana, it wouldn't last beyond two more hits. He glanced inward at his reserves and frowned. Pitiful. Barely half his energy remained, and the fight had only just begun.

Most of it had been drained by the teleportation rune; that spell, though invaluable, devoured mana at a terrifying rate, and the technique he'd been working on to draw ambient energy from the air still refused to obey him at will. It only activated in moments of exhaustion, and even then it was limited, three uses, no more. Beyond that, his body simply collapsed.

The barrier shuddered again beneath a fourth blow. Cracks spread across its surface like splintered glass. Jacob steadied his breathing, crouching slightly as he prepared for the inevitable. He knelt beside Mathew, poured a potion down his throat, then dragged him to the side, placing him against the wall before turning back toward the beast.

They locked eyes through the failing barrier. The monster's expression shifted, its lips peeling back into something that might have been a smile if it weren't so twisted. It raised its arm slowly, clawed fingers curling into a fist, preparing for one final strike.

Jacob raised his own hand in response, channeling the last of his focus into the rune that burned to life above his palm. He poured mana into it recklessly, feeling his veins tighten and his skin prickle from the pressure.

From the rune, a sword began to form, massive, elegant, its entire body composed of fire so dense it glowed white at the edges. The heat that came off it was suffocating, but there was a clean sharpness to its shape, a deliberate design that spoke of lethality.

'Faster. Stronger. Sharper. Deadlier.'

Jacob layered enhancement after enhancement upon the weapon through will, feeling the strain crawl up his spine as his mind fought to maintain control. For the first time since his mental fortitude had improved, he felt it start to falter, his head pounding, a thin line of blood leaking from his right eye. The air warped around the sword, the light bending in unnatural ways, its energy so concentrated it threatened to come apart at the seams.

He could push further, he knew that, but the risk was obvious. A little more and he might not survive the aftermath. It wasn't worth dying for, not yet.

The beast's fists came down again. The barrier shattered with a sound like glass breaking underwater, the force exploding outward in a wave that threw dust and fragments through the corridor.

The backlash hit Jacob like a physical blow, pain spiking through his chest and arms, but he didn't flinch. He brought his raised hand down, and the sword descended with him, slow at first, then faster, cutting through the air in a blazing arc that left a trail of molten light behind it.

The beast lifted its arm to meet the descending blade, claw and flame colliding with a sound that tore through the air. For the first time, its composure cracked, its knees bent slightly, its weight shifting backward under the pressure, and its expression twisted in a way that almost resembled strain. Yet that was all. The fiery sword had managed to carve a shallow line across its skin, and the force of the strike had made it falter, but not enough. Not nearly enough.

Jacob's jaw tightened; he could already feel the mana within him thinning, the edges of exhaustion creeping closer. He was about to trigger another teleportation rune when a sudden blur cut across his vision.

Before either he or the beast could react, Mathew appeared in front of the creature, his katana raised high, a grin spreading across his bruised and bloodied face. His body moved with reckless speed, a desperate, furious momentum that didn't care for the consequences.

"You're mine again, bastard!" he roared, the blade flashing downward.

The katana met its target, the beast's eyes, slicing through them once more.

For an instant, there was silence, the world hanging still as if in disbelief.

Then came the screech.

It was a sound that wasn't merely heard but felt, a shrill, violent burst of agony that pressed down on the air, shaking the walls and forcing both Jacob and Mathew to their knees. The flames from Jacob's sword flared uncontrollably, reacting to the distortion of mana in the room.

Seizing that moment, Jacob pushed forward, driving the flaming sword down. The burning edge met the beast's raised hand, cutting through flesh and bone just enough to leave a deep, smoking gash. The impact forced the creature down onto one knee, its blood dripping in slow, heavy drops onto the floor, each one hissing as it touched the stone.

It lifted its head again, one ruined eye fixing on Mathew with a look that was pure hatred.

Jacob, panting, took a quick glance toward Joey's position and felt a dull ache settle in his chest.

'Two minutes,' he thought grimly. 'It's only been two minutes.'

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