Freddy's mind froze as he saw the scene, but he didn't panic.
He couldn't afford to.
Sophia's head was in one piece; there was a good chance she could still be healed.
The scorpion-tailed woman slowly turned her head to face him. While the man had been more like a wild animal, the woman was entirely in control of herself despite the incredible power pulsing through her body. On top of that, while Freddy had felt the man's power as a peak two-star, he didn't sense this woman's power at all.
She was a star above him. And if that wasn't enough, whatever this ritual had done to her, it didn't make her any weaker.
"You beat Damian...?" she asked, looking rather amused. "Fascinating. You were her friend, right?" she said as she turned to face Sophia's dismantled body.
He could hear the woman's voice, but it sounded slightly muffled, almost like she was talking through a wall. The woman seemed to be willing to speak. He lunged at the opportunity. "Why do you want to know?" he asked in turn.
He was exhausted both in body and spirit. He didn't have time to summon Bloodshed or enough blood to make it count, and he was missing an eye and a whole arm. The odds of him winning against this woman were hilariously low.
But maybe, just maybe... he could still find a way out.
The woman shrugged. "I'm just curious. She was always a lonely girl, this one," she said fondly, almost as if talking about her little sister. "Too bad she willingly reduced herself to this. Anyway, you seem oddly calm," she noted. "Do you not want to avenge her? Does your kind not feel such emotions, or are you just particularly barbaric in nature?"
"I could say the same thing about you," he said. "Are you not sad that I killed your friend?"
She snickered. "You are not the one who killed him. You merely hastened his death." She tapped the ritual circle on her forehead. "This power comes with a price."
"You people are fucking insane," he spat. "What are you waiting for, then? Shouldn't you go join your leader in his fight before your battery runs out?"
She smiled at him. "My role is to keep distractions away. I count myself as one of those."
Freddy felt sweat trickle down his back. He tried thinking of something to say, but nothing other than provocations came to mind. Unless a miracle intervened, it would come to a fight. And he would lose.
He looked at the pulsating stinger hanging above the woman's head. That thing could crush his head like a watermelon. Sophia had managed to keep her head. If he could fight her and get a similar result, maybe—
"Oh, and by the way," the woman called. "I'm aware that she's still alive." She moved her stinger over, caressing Sophia's mangled head with the tip.
Freddy's blood suddenly ran cold. Of course she was—she would have felt the influx of ether if Sophia had died. And she wouldn't be fooled by him, either. He stood frozen as the woman cackled, breaking into a manic laughter. Her shrill voice echoed in his ears.
"Think fast," she said as her tail suddenly whipped, sweeping Freddy off his feet, and then impaled him into the ground right through his navel.
He spat blood as he felt a chunk of his own insides rushing up his throat.
She raised his body off the ground with her tail and slammed him into a tree, which suddenly began growing thick branches that coiled around his body. "As I thought, you're undead, too," she commented, quirking an eyebrow. "What a coincidence. Where did you meet her; at a zombie support group?" Her stinger moved closer until it was an inch away from his eye. "I just have to crush your head, and that will be it..."
Then her stinger stabbed into his thigh, shattering his femur and almost severing his entire leg.
He groaned through gritted teeth, focusing on stopping the bleeding as best as he could.
"Quite the pain tolerance you have," she said, walking closer. "Must have lived a difficult life..."
At that moment, her placid mask of calm cracked, and an expression of rage flickered through her eyes. "Tell me... was she happy with her choice? Picking you pathetic beasts over a life for the greater good? Did she enjoy the fruits of what you people dare call a society?"
She flicked her stinger again, crushing Freddy's other leg. "Did she find the happiness and freedom she wanted?" She stopped in front of Freddy, grabbing his jaw and staring him down. Her green eyes were wide open, piercing deep into his soul. Pitch-black hair peeked through her hood, partly covering her face. "I will die so that your people can one day live in peace. Yet I see no gratitude in your eyes."
Her eyes shifted. "It doesn't feel as good as I thought it would. I almost feel like... I'm making a mistake." Her fist landed right on Freddy's mangled stomach. She slowly pulled it out and shook her hand to throw off the piece of flesh sticking to it. "I love my family, and I believe in our cause," she said, sounding almost like she was trying to convince herself. "But I don't want to die for vermin like you. So tell me, then—how did Sophia repel the ritual?" she asked with an intense madness so vivid that it nearly made him flinch. "Is it your talent?"
He had been wondering why the woman even bothered to keep him alive. Now, it finally made sense.
A soft whisper escaped his lips, too quiet for even a three-star to hear.
"Hmm?" She quirked an eyebrow.
Another whisper, barely audible.
The woman brought her ear closer and finally heard what he said.
"Leviathan's Fury."
Instantly, the branches keeping him restrained tore apart as a dozen bony protrusions formed hellish jaws rushing to impale the woman. She was way too close to either block or dodge, and every single one of them reached her skin, piercing through it and drawing blood.
The spikes retracted a long moment later, having severed the branches keeping him tied up, and Freddy's body fell to the ground, with many of his bones fractured—but the backlash wasn't as intense as he expected. A surprising—startling burst of lifesteal rushed in from the woman's body. It was enough to patch him up to the point where he could move again.
The woman screamed in rage as she thrust her stinger, but he used Hydraulic Flex to push himself out of the way. His legs hung uselessly, given that they were attached by little more than pink, deformed tissue. With only a single functional arm, Freddy could do barely more than desperately claw himself out of the way of the stinger's attacks.
The woman's assault was clumsy at first, but her nature affinity wasn't just for show—moments later, her skin was mending as her wounds closed back up. What looked like tiny roots of something growing an inch beneath the surface of her skin extended, pulling her wounds shut while her nature affinity hastened her recovery enough to get a hold of herself. But where her skin wasn't bloody, it was deathly pale.
Even a three-star couldn't afford such a sudden and great burst of blood loss. Her legs shook as she looked like she was barely standing on her feet, and her skin glistened with the shiny sheen of perspiration.
Yet she was still a three-star.
"Senseless allegations?" she spat, chuckling sardonically. "I think that's enough talking." She raised her sword, getting into a stance.
"Now, now," he said, waving her down. "You must be aware of the disadvantage you're at. I'm giving you the chance to live for another few minutes; the least you can do is humor me for a bit."
"You are overconfident."
"And yet you still haven't made your move. How curious."
"What do you want?"
"A debate, I suppose," he said, chuckling. "I want to see your point of view."
She smirked. "Please spare me the nonsense, Nathaniel," she said, slightly lowering her sword's tip. "Or do you still go by Silver Heart?"
"I go by Master Kirurg these days."
"Figures."
The tension between them grew. The eidolon of authority waited patiently as the two five-stars waited, seeing who made the first move. The seconds passed by, and soon enough, they turned into minutes. The sounds of fighting in the background gradually quieted as the conflict came to an end.
The crimson sky suddenly began fading.
Both of them knew how this realm functioned, so they thought it was merely the Crimson Twilight coming to an end. But then, something bizarre happened.
Blood from all throughout the forest started glowing. It lifted into the air, traveling towards the center of the realm. A power began roiling.
The eidolon of authority raised its sword—but not at the empress. It turned towards the strange source of power at the center. The overwhelming aura of blood grew concentrated, focusing on a single point. And a moment later, it vanished.
The two opponents couldn't afford to look away. They kept their attention firmly directed at one another, but as the seconds passed, the feeling that something was deeply wrong became undeniable.
And judging by the eidolon's reaction, something indeed appeared to be coming.
Nathaniel's eye twitched as both of them noticed that the eidolon was no longer paying attention to them.
Almost instantly, the empress raised a wall of earth as she activated all five stars and started running in the other direction. She tried slashing at the red barrier to free Leona, but...
Leona nodded with an expression of understanding. The barrier wasn't going to go down that easily.
"Stay alive," the empress commanded and continued running.
***
"Damn it!" Nathaniel shouted as he gritted his teeth.
Just as he had her in his grasp, the damn eidolon had to—
He turned around just in time to spot the shadowy figure, barely discerning its form in the darkness. It stood over four meters tall, glaring down at the eidolon of authority as it held its sword in its grasp. The eidolon couldn't even budge.
The creature's skin was a deep, crimson red, sleek like polished metal, and stretched tightly over its lithe, muscular body. Its face was like that of a demonic cat, with a grin spreading from one ear to another, massive, red, slitted eyes bulging wide open, and bat-like ears twitching in excitement.
Nathaniel watched in horror as the creature grabbed the eidolon's head and crushed it like an apple.
With the death of a powerful eidolon, the surrounding Netherecho briefly overlapped with reality, the two sides of the world interposing with one another, and a moment later, the world settled again, yet a few flickering wisps of ether remained in reality, fluttering through the air.
Nathaniel couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't suppose you're an asura of forgiveness?"
The creature spoke with a deep, raspy voice, a playful tone dancing through its words. "I bear no grudge against anyone. But since you asked so nicely, I suppose I could give you a chance." Its grin began spreading wider and wider as its eyes opened wider. "Run."
Nathaniel immediately turned around and bolted towards the nearest passage. He quieted his presence as much as he could, covering himself in thick shadows as he pulled himself forward with Black Whips.
Within less than thirty seconds, he was on the brink of stepping through a passage. A pleasant forest awaited him on the other side, but before he could make it, the asura peeked its head from within the passage, grinning widely at him.
Razor-sharp claws tore his entire body into shreds, and just like that, his legend would forever remain just another page of the history books.
***
Bloodshed kept the spark fed as it helped move Master's hand. The dagger pierced the mound of flesh, and with every swing, Master's complexion grew slightly brighter. But it was a slow process.
The damage Master's body sustained was fierce this time; only second to that time when he'd been reduced to a mere head.
Suddenly, the red glow of the sky blinked out, and the aura of bloodthirst disappeared. It was an odd phenomenon, but it was nothing Bloodshed could control. It had a task.
It would complete it.
It kept at it, swinging the dagger over and over.
Eventually, it was interrupted by a sound.
The leaves rustled as a strange, sleek, crimson figure stepped from between the trees.