The serpent recoiled, the blast rippling through its scaled flank. Its body twisted violently, displacing waves large enough to slam against the barrier Moonbounce maintained—but the dome held firm, shimmering silver under the assault.

Sophia stepped forward, staff raised, her voice cutting cleanly through the chaos. "Secondary seal—bind and restrict."

Sigils spiraled outward from her, threading through the air in delicate arcs before slamming into the serpent's wake. Ethereal chains of light coiled around its midsection, slowing its next lunge.

Aria didn't waste the moment. Her spear flashed again, its tip glowing with a contained brilliance. She hurled it forward—not to pierce, but to mark. The weapon struck water and vanished beneath the surface, embedding itself somewhere near the creature's core.

A pulse of blue light flared beneath the water. "Mark set," she said. "Caria—ignite it."

Without hesitation, Caria adjusted her aim, mana twisting around her crossbow bolt like a spiral of compressed flame. "Flare shot, firing."

The bolt struck the water precisely where the spear's light had sunk. A beat later, the basin erupted. Blue and red light tangled beneath the serpent's body before bursting upward in a geyser of steam and energy, tearing through several of its protective scales.

Rhys shielded his face from the blast, eyes narrowing through the haze. "Direct penetration on the secondary core," he called out. "But it's regenerating already."

"Expected." Aria's tone didn't waver. "Sophia, maintain the seal. Rhys, on me. We're drawing its aggression away from Caria's range."

He nodded, mana surging along his blade. "On your lead."

The serpent turned toward them with a roar that rolled like thunder through the swamp, its eyes flaring crimson. Aria darted forward across the surface of the shallow water, every step bursting with controlled mana. Rhys followed, wind spiraling around his boots, his sword gleaming in rhythm with his heartbeat.

The serpent's tail swept across the basin like a guillotine.

"Jump!"

They leapt as one. The strike crashed beneath them, cleaving the swamp in two, black water exploding upward in a wall of spray. Rhys twisted midair, channeling mana into his blade.

"Swift Cut!"

He descended in a blur, slicing through the air. The impact left a luminous streak that split across the serpent's crest. Aria followed, her spear reappearing in her hand in a flash of blue light as she thrust downward.

Steel and light met flesh. The serpent's roar became a shuddering scream, a deep, resonant sound that made even the water tremble.

"Core reaction climbing!" Sophia's voice cut across the battlefield, her staff glowing with runes. "It's trying to disperse the overload!"

"Then stop it." Aria's words came calm and sharp.

Sophia nodded once. Her staff struck the ground, sending ripples of light radiating outward like expanding rings. "Mana Seal—compression field!"

The air condensed. The serpent's next roar was stifled, muffled by invisible weight pressing down around it. Even its thrashing slowed as the swamp itself thickened, trapping it within Sophia's spell.

"Now!"

Caria fired a triple volley, each bolt wrapped in raw arcane energy. They struck like lightning bolts—one after another—piercing the serpent's exposed flanks.

Rhys moved in again, his sword glowing white-blue. Mana surged from his feet into the water, forming a faint current beneath the serpent's body.

He drew a deep breath. "Water Blade."

Three cutting waves rose from the basin, sharp enough to slice through steel. They collided with the serpent's lower body, shearing through its damaged scales.

The creature convulsed violently, one of its three mana cores shattering in a burst of violet light.

Sophia's sensors flared. "Left core destroyed. Two remaining. Mana feedback increasing—watch the backlash!"

The serpent's body pulsed once, then unleashed a torrent of dark energy. The swamp ignited with violet lightning, shattering Sophia's compression field.

"Brace!" Aria called, slamming her spear into the ground. A protective barrier flared around them as Moonbounce's shell glowed, layering silver light atop Aria's shield.

The shockwave hit. Mud, water, and shattered mana surged in all directions, but the barrier held—barely.

When the chaos cleared, the serpent was still thrashing, but weaker—its movements less precise, its aura fractured.

Rhys exhaled slowly, smoke rising from the edges of his blade. "One down," he muttered, glancing at Aria. "What's the play for the other two?"

She grinned, calm and confident despite the destruction around them. "Same as before," she said, raising her spear as its tip reignited. "We cut them out—one pulse at a time."

Caria smirked, reloading her weapon with deliberate calm. "And here I thought this run might get boring."

Sophia adjusted her stance, runes already forming again around her. "Let's make sure it doesn't."

The serpent's glow flickered—its once-blinding aura now marred by streaks of unstable mana bleeding through its scales. Each pulse of its body sent ripples of violet light racing through the basin, like veins of corrupted lightning searching for something to destroy.

"Movement shift," Sophia warned, eyes flicking to the runes hovering above her staff. "It's funneling energy toward the right flank—one of the remaining cores!"

"Then we move," Aria snapped, already surging forward. The water parted beneath her steps, each stride leaving a faint trace of light. "Rhys, you're with me again. Caria—pressure fire, focus right! Sophia, countercharge when it cracks!"

"Understood!" came the unified reply.

Rhys tightened his grip on his sword, mana surging through his arm until the blade hummed with a faint, crystalline resonance. His heartbeat synchronized with the rhythm of the serpent's pulses—a warrior's instinct aligning with a predator's breath.

The creature reared back, mouth opening in a furious roar. Energy condensed inside its throat, a whirling sphere of black-violet mana that distorted the air around it.

"Breath incoming!" Caria shouted.

"Moonbounce—fortify!"

The silver dome thickened instantly, but even as the serpent unleashed its beam, the swamp shuddered beneath the force. The dome's surface rippled violently, silver threads bending and stretching as the blast slammed into it with a sound like shattering glass.

"Barrier integrity at forty percent!" Sophia called out.

"Not enough," Rhys muttered. He broke from Aria's side, sprinting along the edge of the fading barrier, mana swirling around his feet. "We're not taking that head-on!"

He leapt. The world blurred.

"Whirlwind Slash!"

A spiral of compressed air exploded from his sword, slamming into the serpent's jaw mid-breath. The blast bent its attack off course, sending a beam of dark energy carving through the swamp instead of the team.

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