The sound of Soren's hands exploding sounded throughout the clearing
Metal snapped apart under impossible force as the mana-sealing cuffs tore open, their enchanted bindings failing as if something inside them had simply refused to remain contained. Blood sprayed across the dirt in thin, scattered arcs, not from a clean cut but from violent internal rupture. Soren's hands were left in ruin, flesh split and bone crushed from the sheer pressure of forced mana release. For a brief moment, even the firelight seemed to hesitate, as though the world itself had registered something wrong
Draven's head snapped toward the sound immediately. His expression shifted in an instant, not into confusion, but into something sharper, colder, more alert. Recognition came first. Then alarm. Korr, still pressing Thalen into the ground moments earlier, had not yet processed the change. Lightning still crawled along his blade, pinned near Thalen's throat, while Thalen himself remained mid-breath, his mouth open as if still trying to argue against a reality that was already collapsing
Soren didn't hesitate
Even with both hands mangled and dripping blood, he stepped forward into the firelight. The air around him changed immediately, not with heat like Draven's flames or crackling discharge like Korr's lightning, but with pressure. A dense, suffocating weight seemed to gather along an invisible line extending outward from his body, focusing down through his ruined arms and into something far more precise than a spell shape
Inside his body, blood surged violently through broken vessels, drawn and forced into a single compressed channel. It was not casting in any conventional sense. It was refinement under extreme pressure, mana stripped of excess motion and forced into a singular trajectory. His arms trembled slightly as the energy condensed further, tightening into a line so focused it felt less like magic and more like an inevitability
Draven moved
His voice cracked through the air. "GET DOWN!"
Fire erupted instantly from his palm, a burst of heat and destruction meant to intercept whatever was coming. The flame surged outward with violent speed, distorting the air as it raced toward Soren. But Soren was already finished before the warning had even fully left Draven's mouth
The railgun fired
Korr looked up too late
The crimson force struck him first. His body jerked violently as the impact tore through his stomach, lifting him partially from the ground. Lightning snapped uselessly across his weapon, dissipating mid-cast as his breath was violently cut off. Behind him, Thalen didn't even register what was happening. The same line of destruction passed through his chest a fraction of a second later
His body froze
The world around him seemed to slow, his expression locking into something distant and confused, as if his mind had not yet accepted the fact that it had already ended. His lips moved slightly
"I… told you…"
Then his knees gave out
Thalen collapsed backward into the dirt without ceremony, his body going still almost immediately.
Korr followed a heartbeat later, dropping forward as blood spilled from his mouth, his fingers clawing weakly at the ground. He was still alive, but only barely, his body refusing to respond properly as shock overtook him
Draven did not look at either of them
His eyes were locked entirely on Soren
Something inside him had shifted completely. Not tactical awareness, not caution, but something far deeper and far more unstable. His voice came out slower now, almost hollow
"You…"
Flames around his hands no longer flickered, now the mana around him started to condense
"I should have listened"
He took a step forward, the ground beneath him cracking faintly under the heat radiating from his body. Another step followed, then another, each one heavier than the last as rage replaced anything resembling restraint.
"I should have listened to him"
Fire spiraled upward along his arms, thickening, condensing, becoming denser with every breath he took. The air itself began to shimmer from the intensity building around him
Soren remained still
Blood continued to drip from his ruined hands onto the dirt below, each drop absorbing instantly into the ground as if even the earth recognized what had just been done
'I've managed to take two of them out now that only leaves him', Soren thought
Draven raised his hand again, but this time the fire did not immediately release. It gathered, compressed, folded inward like a collapsing star refusing to die quietly. The pressure in the clearing spiked again as heat distorted vision itself, making the trees bend and shimmer at the edges
Soren shifted slightly to the side
A thin ribbon of blood lifted from the ground near his feet, forming into a sharpened projectile that hovered in the air beside him. It was unstable, fragile compared to Draven's overwhelming force, but precise
Draven saw it
And didn't care
"I will burn you out of existence," he said
The fire erupted outward in a violent surge meant to erase everything in front of him
Soren released his blood projectile at the exact same moment
The railgun and Draven's fireball met in the centre of the clearing with a force that bent the air itself
For a moment, neither attack gave way
The crimson line of compressed blood magic pressed forward like a spear against the blazing mass of fire, both forces locked in a violent equilibrium as heat and pressure collided. The ground beneath them cracked outward in spidering lines, dirt lifting slightly as if gravity itself had loosened its grip. The trees around the clearing shuddered under the strain, leaves igniting and curling at the edge
The fireball surged again, expanding outward as Draven pushed more mana into it. The railgun line trembled under the pressure, its crimson edge flickering for the first time as it began to lose stability
Then the fireball exploded
The blast swallowed the centre of the clearing in an instant, a wave of heat and light that erased visibility entirely. Smoke and burning debris shot outward in all directions, and the force of the explosion knocked Soren back half a step as the recoil of his own spell dispersed violently
But Draven was already moving
He emerged from the smoke not where Soren expected, but slightly to the side, having used the explosion's cover to reposition. His sword was already drawn, and in the next instant, flame surged along its length, coating the blade in burning heat that distorted the air around it
Soren's eyes narrowed
'Shit, I still can't read his intent!'
Draven lunged and the first slash came fast, aimed directly at Soren's shoulder. Soren twisted his body backward just in time, the blade cutting through the air where his neck had been a fraction of a second earlier. He countered instinctively by forcing more blood from his ruined hands, compressing it into a burst of force that pushed his body further back, increasing the distance between them
Draven didn't relent his second strike followed immediately, a horizontal sweep that carried a trail of fire behind it. Even though Soren avoided the blade itself, the flame it produced extended outward like a burning wave. It struck him across the forearm as he raised it to block, and pain erupted instantly as the fire ate into flesh and cloth
Soren gritted his teeth
His forearm was not just burned. It was partially melted at the surface, skin blackening as the heat penetrated deeper than expected. The impact forced him to stagger sideways, boots scraping across the dirt as he absorbed the force of the blow
Soren breathing now started to speed up and his he gritted his teeth in pain
'My arms finished now'
'It hurts so much'
'I need to finish this fast'
Draven advanced again immediately, relentless, refusing to give space. Another slash came in, then another, each one layered with flame that extended the reach of his attacks beyond the physical blade itself. Soren was forced into constant motion, retreating, redirecting, and sacrificing more blood with each burst just to maintain separation
He could not predict Draven's rhythm, his swordplay of a meagre two years couldn't match that of a veteran hunter's
Draven swung again, harder this time, the blade coming down diagonally with enough force to split stone. Soren raised his arm instinctively, compressing blood into a thin barrier along his forearm just as the strike landed
The impact detonated against him
Flame surged outward along his guard, tearing through the improvised blood shield and forcing Soren to the ground on one knee. The heat burned deep into his arm again, and this time he felt the damage spreading further inward, muscles tightening under thermal shock
Draven stepped forward without hesitation
"You did this," he said
Another strike came down
Soren rolled sideways just in time, the blade carving into the earth where his head had been. Dirt exploded upward, and the shockwave pushed him further back into the clearing
After blocking the strike Soren forced himself upright again and started creating more distance
'I can't get too close, his sword will reach me. I can't compete in a close fight with my condition like this'
Now with the distance created Draven started condensing his mana again, a massive ball of fire started growing bigger and bigger and the skin on his hands started melting
Soren watched in silence
The fireball kept expanding, roaring louder as more mana was forced into it, the ground beneath Draven beginning to crack from the sheer heat pouring off the spell
Across from him, Soren slowly raised his mangled arm
Blood stirred
For a brief moment, neither of them moved
The next attack would decide the flow of the battle