Shino's body starts breaking down in purple light.
She is not human here. She is slime. Her form shifts, melts, and tries to rebuild itself over and over.
Her arm twists first. It collapses into liquid, then snaps back into shape wrong. Her shoulder follows. Then her torso. Each time she tries to pull herself together, the Abyss magic drags her apart again.
She drops to her knees.
A sharp sound fills the room. It is not one scream. It is layered. Like her body is screaming in multiple places at once.
Black magic leaks from her skin in pulses. It hits the floor and hisses like it burns reality itself.
"I can fix it," she cries. Her voice shakes. "I can fix it. I can fix it. I can fix it! I can fix it!"
She tries again.
Her arm reforms, then collapses halfway through. Her fingers form, then melt. Her face flickers between stable and broken.
The Abyss orb keeps working inside her.
Every pulse makes her recoil.
Her body jerks like something is pulling strings inside her.
Valen's voice cuts through it all.
"If she dies…" Valen says, calm and controlled, close enough for Adrian to hear every breath, "I'll replace the familiar your guild lost."
His presence shifts. No rush. No panic. Just pressure.
"I watched you hesitate," Valen says. "I watched you stand still when it mattered. Why would I trust you with my sister"
A soft snap of his fan opens. The sound is precise. Clean. Final.
Adrian grits his teeth. "I stayed patient," Adrian says. "When you hurt my friend, I stayed patient. When you hurt Teruki, I stayed patient. When you put me in a barrier, I stayed patient. I was willing to make amends."
His voice rises.
"You said you'd deal with the consequences … SO DEAL WITH THEM!"
Silence hits for a fraction of a second.
Shino's broken form twitches behind them.
Adrian's hands shake.
"And Sho," Adrian says, turning his head slightly, eye burning. "I promise I'll pay you back."
Valen tilts his head. "You're still talking .. "
"Huh - ?"
Shino lifts herself weakly, voice barely holding together. "Wai …"
That is all she gets out.
Adrian moves.
The shift is instant. No warning in his stance, no buildup in his breath. Armor tightens around his frame as he launches forward, joints locking and releasing in a controlled burst. Metal plates scrape and click against each other, a harsh rhythm that cuts through the room.
His speed bends the air.
Valen starts to react, weight shifting back, but it is already too late.
Adrian closes the distance in a single drive step. His right hand comes up first. I catch a flash of metal as his fingers open. Five rings sit on his right hand. One on each finger. Dark metal with faint light catching on their edges as he moves.
Then his hand clamps down.
He grabs Valen by the head.
The grip is solid, fingers locking in place with no hesitation. Valen's body stiffens at the contact, a delayed response trying to catch up with the speed of the attack.
Adrian does not pause.
He drives forward.
Valen is pulled with him, dragged through the air for a split second before impact. Adrian slams him into the glass wall.
The window gives way immediately.
It shatters outward in a violent burst. A full explosion of glass. Fragments scatter in every direction, catching light as they spin through the air. The sound is sharp and wide, like the room itself is breaking open.
Cold wind rushes in through the empty frame. It fills the space where the barrier used to be, dragging papers, dust, and loose debris toward the opening.
Both bodies are already falling.
One story drops away beneath them.
Then another angle of impact forms as Adrian adjusts mid air. His grip does not loosen. He rotates his body and uses Valen's momentum, turning the fall into a controlled descent of force.
They hit the ground.
Stone cracks on contact.
The impact spreads outward in fractures, lines running across the floor like a web snapping into existence. The sound is heavy and final, a deep break that echoes through the space.
Adrian stays on him.
He punches.
Once. Twice.
Again and again.
Again and again.
Each hit lands heavy. Each hit shakes dust from the ground.
"I hate inventory magic," Adrian says through clenched teeth as he rises.
Valen vanishes.
A blink of movement.
He reappears behind Adrian, a fan raised, expression unreadable behind it.
Adrian exhales once. He starts removing his armor piece by piece.
Metal hits the ground with loud, final clanks.
One by one.
He reveals the sword he used against the Slime Queen.
He draws it.
The blade sings as it leaves its sheath.
Mr. Sato exhales.
"I knew this would happen again."
"Sera," Shino says again, voice breaking through the slime. "Please bring …"
She stops mid sentence.
I don't know what she wanted to say. She never finishes it. Not like the earlier fight, where she adapted instantly. Something is different now. Slower. Weaker.
I think about what I read earlier on abyss magic. It doesn't just damage the body. It targets the soul directly. That explains why Shino isn't healing right. It's not just reconstruction. Something deeper is being torn and held open.
I move toward the broken window, stepping through the shifting wind.
Sho speaks behind me.
"Mrs. Sato. Why do Valen and Adrian hate each other so much?"
"It's best we don't get involved," Sato answers.
Anya leans forward. "You worried he'll get hurt?" she asks Sho.
"Who?" Sho says, smiling slightly. "Valen?"
I reach the front near the shattered opening, still holding Shino's slime form together.
Valen's voice cuts through the air below.
"Why are you so attached to my sister?" he calls. "Why do you care about G2's affairs?"
Adrian doesn't answer.
"If we're going to fight," Valen says, "then let's fight properly."
Adrian says nothing.
"Why don't we fight like men," Valen replies.
Adrian won't speak.
"You're still a kid," Valen says. "Men don't fight children."
"None of you respect me," Adrian says. "Not my power. Not my abilities. All you respect is mana and magic."
"Of course," Valen says. "That's what this world is built on. Those without magic, those bound to it, and those who refuse to use their true power. All of them die."
Adrian laughs.
It's loud. Unstable. Almost excited.
"Alright," he says. "If all you respect is mana, then I'll show you mine."
He throws his swords aside.
Then he raises his hand.
The rings catch the light.
"Enough of the dramatics," Valen says. "Get on with it."
Adrian smiles. Like he's been waiting for this.
"Go," Shino whispers. "Please stop this."
"I'm sorry, Sera," Adrian says. His voice is steady now.
I jump down from the window.
"Stop," I shout.
I haven't done that in a long time.
Shino doesn't want this.
Guild leaders start talking behind me. Fast. Quiet. Calculating.
"Do you really think Adrian can win this?" Yin says.
"If he wins this," Arthur says, "I'll pay everyone one platinum."
Pendant lands beside me with a light step. She watches the fight with a small smile.
"Be honest," I say. "Is this the real you or a copy?"
"What would I gain from coming as a copy?"
"Then why come down?"
I don't get a clear answer.
I look back at Adrian and Valen. They stand facing each other now. Still. Focused. Like the world around them has already disappeared.
Adrian removes one ring.
The air shifts.
A soft wave of mana spreads outward. Not loud. Not violent. It moves like open air over water. Calm. Wide. Unrestricted.
He removes another ring.
The feeling changes.
Heavier now. Like snowfall pressing down on everything at once. The mana grows dense, layered, unstable. Focus slips become dangerous. Control feels like it could break at any second.
Valen doesn't react.
That's when I understand.
This isn't normal mana.
Adrian's presence isn't just power. It presses against the space itself. Like gravity built from intent.
I've never felt anything like it before.
Not even from the Slime Queen.
Even a boss struggled to understand how much mana a mere human holds. I wonder how lucky an enemy must be.
I look at Shino in my hands.
Golden mana starts forming around her. It gathers in uneven waves, then sinks into her slime body. Self healing. Not stable. Not clean. More like forced reconstruction through raw absorption.
Adrian notices.
A faint smile appears on his face.
I can't tell if it's relief or something else.
Shino jumps from my hands for a second. Her body fully reforms, then immediately melts again. The cycle repeats. Reform. Collapse. Reform again. Each loop faster, like her form can't decide what it is supposed to be.
Adrian takes off a third ring.
Everything changes.
My body reacts before my thoughts do. My insides twist. My vision pulls inward. My head goes light. The world feels inverted, like reality flips its structure. My stomach tightens hard. I feel sick. Close to collapse. Close to losing consciousness.
I drop to one knee.
I look up.
The others react differently.
I can still see them, but it feels distant. Like I'm separated from the space itself. The effect doesn't hit them the same way. It hits me harder. Too close to the source.
Pendant stands there.
She doesn't move away. Doesn't tense up. Doesn't brace herself like the others.
She smiles.
It isn't fear. It isn't discomfort either. It sits somewhere else entirely, too calm for panic and too sharp for normal excitement.
Relief.
Her shoulders loosen slightly, like something heavy finally stops pressing down on her.
Then her cheeks shift color. A faint red spreads across her face, slow and noticeable, like the feeling builds from inside her rather than appearing on the surface.
"This is wonderful," she says.
Her voice comes out soft at first, then steadier.
"Ahh."
She exhales through a smile that doesn't fade. It stays fixed, almost locked in place, as if the pressure in the air fits her body perfectly instead of harming it.
The mana around her keeps moving.
It presses outward, thick and unstable, but she leans into it. Her expression sharpens with it. The smile grows wider, more focused. Less like reaction and more like recognition.
Like she's not resisting the pressure at all.
Like she's taking it in.
Valen watches her. Then he looks at Adrian.
"Now this is interesting," Valen says. "Are you going to use magic, or is this just a performance?"
"I'm healing my friend," Adrian says. "Taking you through that window was just a bonus."
Valen smiles wider.
He releases his mana.
Blue pressure floods the air.
It collides with Adrian's golden presence.
The two forces push against each other. Blue mana flows in structure, clean and controlled. Golden mana spreads without shape, raw and untamed. The clash fills the space between them like a pressure field building toward collapse.
Adrian smiles again.
He removes a fourth ring.
The world breaks for me.
Sound thins out. Sight fragments. My senses fail in pieces. I can't track words anymore. I can't track movement cleanly. Everything becomes unstable.
Then I lose it completely.
Black fills my vision.
A voice cuts through the dark.
Sho appears between them.
Not walking. Not jumping.
Just there.
Like the wind moved her into position.
"As much as I'd like to watch this," Sho says, calm and flat, "we're not doing this in my city."
Valen exhales.
"Worried about Adrian?" he asks.
"I'm worried about my city," Sho replies. "I spent hundreds of gold rebuilding it. Settle your fights elsewhere."
Adrian starts to speak.
Sho raises a hand slightly.
"Enough."
The air tightens.
Adrian pauses.
Slowly, he puts the rings back on.
My senses return in pieces. First sound. Then weight. Then breath. The pressure eases but doesn't disappear fully. The memory of it stays in my body.
Valen shifts his stance.
Then he slashes the air.
A bolt of light snaps forward.
Adrian moves to dodge.
Too slow.
The strike hits him clean. It drives him back into a nearby tree with brutal force. Bark cracks. Wood splits. Blood spills from his mouth.
Shino has completely reformed by this point.
She moves straight into Adrian's arms and hugs him tight. The contact looks natural on the surface, but it hits a strange note in the air, like something in the scene doesn't sit right.
I feel uneasy watching it. I don't know why.
Shino smiles.
"Thank you," she says.
Her voice stays soft, almost shaky.
She repeats it.
"Thank you. The pain is gone."
Again.
"Thank you."
Her grip doesn't loosen. Her body stays close to Adrian, like she's anchoring herself there, holding onto the moment as proof she's still intact.
"Adrian," Valen says.
His tone doesn't change.
"If you're so confident about beating me," he continues, "then listen. Once the colosseum is built, you and I fight there. Second match after Arthur and Sho."
His eyes narrow slightly.
"I'll show the world what those without magic can do," Valen says. "And what you fail to understand about it."