The Ravager pulled the ice blade from Garrin's body.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Garrin collapsed.
Lyra screamed and charged forward, with Orin following close behind.
The Ravager turned toward them.
Shad moved at the same instant.
Its arm slammed into the ground.
The chamber exploded.
A wave of force tore through the ruins and lifted Lyra from her feet. Shad caught her before she struck the wall, then released her almost immediately.
"Stay down."
Another shockwave followed.
Orin activated Anchor and forced himself against the ground, but the force still drove him backward.
Shad stepped across the space between them and planted his foot against the cracked floor.
Cold spread beneath the stone.
The ground hardened.
The next shockwave struck.
The frozen section fractured, absorbing enough of the impact to keep Orin from being thrown through the wall.
Then Fray collided with the Ravager.
The sound was enormous.
Their first exchange tore apart what remained of the chamber. Fray's fist struck the creature's chest and folded its body around the impact before another blow sent fragments of ice across the room.
The Ravager answered with a sweeping ice limb.
Fray crossed his arms and took the blow.
He was sent through a wall.
The entire outpost shook.
Lyra remained crouched behind the broken stone.
Orin stayed beside her.
Neither dared move.
Fray emerged from the rubble.
Blood ran from his cheek, and his coat hung in torn strips from his body. He looked toward the Ravager, and the last trace of amusement disappeared from his expression.
Then he moved.
The distance between them vanished.
Fray's fist struck the Ravager's jaw and launched it through what remained of the outpost. He followed immediately, appearing above the creature before bringing his heel down into its chest.
The ground erupted.
The Ravager disappeared into a widening crater.
Fray landed several meters away.
The Ravager emerged.
Ice spread across its wounds and rebuilt the damaged sections of its body. One arm reshaped itself into a massive blade before it swung at Fray.
Fray ducked beneath the attack.
The blade passed over his head and cut through the remaining structure behind him.
Stone collapsed.
The upper portion of the outpost finally gave way.
Fray clenched his fist.
A small amount of Strength Flow reinforced his body.
His next punch struck the Ravager in the abdomen.
The creature was driven into the earth hard enough to create another crater.
Lyra watched from the ruins.
She had known Fray was strong.
She had never understood the scale of it.
Every serious exchange between the two Realm Three beings changed the landscape around them.
The Ravager emerged again.
Its body opened, and ice erupted in every direction.
Spears tore through the ground. Blades rose from the earth. Pillars burst upward around the ruins while walls of ice formed and collapsed almost as quickly as they appeared.
The attack spread far beyond the outpost.
Trees snapped.
Stone shattered.
The road disappeared beneath frozen earth.
A distant ridge cracked under the pressure.
Lyra and Orin could only endure it.
Lyra used Vector Shift whenever something came close enough to redirect, while Orin anchored himself to whatever ground remained beneath him.
It was barely enough.
A pillar crashed down several meters away and sent debris across the ruins.
Lyra shielded her face.
Orin dropped lower.
Neither had the strength to follow the battle anymore.
They could only survive it.
Across the battlefield, Fray saw them.
His eyes briefly shifted toward the two fighters.
Then back to the Ravager.
He understood what his next mistake would cost.
The Ravager charged.
Fray met it.
Their collision produced another enormous shockwave.
This time, even the ruins around Lyra and Orin shifted beneath them.
Shad watched the ground tremble.
He did not move toward them.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the fight.
Fray had already adjusted.
He was keeping the creature's attacks angled away from them whenever he could, forcing their exchanges toward the open forest rather than the ruins.
The destruction continued.
But the worst of it moved with the two Realm Three beings.
The Ravager understood.
It began deliberately attacking toward the ruins.
Fray intercepted every attempt.
His movements became faster.
His strikes became heavier.
He allowed more of his physical strength into each exchange, but every time he increased his output, he carefully controlled where the force landed.
He could have fought without restraint.
He did not.
Not here.
Not with them so close.
The Ravager's body was beginning to deteriorate.
Its regeneration slowed.
The construct core beneath its shoulder flickered through the broken ice.
Fray saw it.
The creature charged.
Fray stepped forward.
One blade cut his arm.
Another grazed his ribs.
A third shattered against his shoulder.
He continued advancing.
The Ravager swung.
Fray caught its arm.
Strength Flow surged through his body.
The creature's limb cracked beneath his grip.
Fray pulled it forward and struck its chest.
The blow sent a tremor through the ground.
The second shattered its armor.
The third cracked the construct core.
The Ravager released a shriek that shook what remained of the outpost.
Fray seized its head before it could regenerate and drove it into the ground.
The earth shook.
The Ravager stopped moving.
Silence finally settled over the ruins.
Lyra tried to stand.
Her legs failed.
She collapsed.
Orin lasted a few seconds longer before the accumulated force and exhaustion finally overwhelmed him.
He fell beside her.
Shad turned toward them.
He walked over and checked Lyra's breathing.
Then Orin's.
Both were alive.
He straightened.
Across the battlefield, Fray stood over the Ravager, breathing heavily as blood dripped from his fingertips.
The creature's body had begun to dissolve.
Its physical form broke apart into Flow, and blue-white light leaked from the cracks in its body.
The remaining energy gathered around its chest.
Shad crouched and placed his hand against it.
The remnant resisted him for a moment.
Then it entered his body.
The sensation was familiar, like the remnants he had absorbed from the bear-like creature and the large snake.
A final spark of Flow remained inside the dying body.
Shad absorbed it.
The last trace of the Ravager disappeared.
But the cold remained.
Shad slowly looked across the ruins.
A faint blue light shone beneath the rubble.
"Fray."
Fray followed his gaze.
"That wasn't there before."