As I brandished Bloodrend in front of me, only one question echoed through my head.
How did I even get put into this scenario?
Seriously.
How?
I had killed Carlos.
Eaten the fruit meant to turn him into a vessel.
Fought for the rights to my own soul.
Almost got swallowed by an evil god's mouth.
Only survived because four dead versions of myself decided to split the corruption like a group project from hell.
And now I was fighting a griffin.
A tier-three beast.
Of course.
Because apparently the universe had looked at my week and decided it was too gentle.
I had just ascended to tier two and a half.
Do not ask me how.
I was still emotionally, physically, and spiritually bleeding from the explanation.
But being tier two and a half did not mean I could suddenly fight something above my weight class.
It did not mean I was a warrior.
It did not mean I understood battle.
It did not mean—
"DODGE, SEER!"
Sleazy's scream cut through the air.
The griffin shot toward my head in a golden blur.
I dropped.
I threw myself flat against the branch like a coward with excellent survival instincts.
The griffin's talons carved through the air where my skull had been a heartbeat ago.
The wind from the strike slapped my face so hard my cheek split.
For a second, I saw the talons bury themselves into the bark ahead of me.
Deep.
Clean.
Exactly where my body had been.
Ah.
So that was what dying instantly looked like.
Good to know.
This was my first real battle.
Ever.
What could I say?
I was a civilian in my old life.
I had never fought corrupted beasts head-on.
I had never hunted monsters.
I had never clashed blades with enemies or traded blows with things that could reduce me to red paste.
My greatest combat achievement before this week had probably been surviving academy stairs while sleep-deprived.
Knight appeared beside me, sword already raised.
"Hurry up, young man!"
His voice cracked like a command on a battlefield.
"Run!"
And that was what I did.
Because I was many things.
A murderer.
A coward.
An idiot with a magical blood cleaver.
But I was not too proud to run from a giant bird-lion murder machine.
I pushed every scrap of stolen strength into my legs and sprinted down the length of the branch, back toward the God Tree's inner paths.
The griffin chased me from behind.
Of course it did.
"AHHHHH! What the hell!"
"You have to run, Seer!" Sleazy shouted, somehow sounding both panicked and personally offended. "Running is traditionally the part that keeps people alive!"
"I AM RUNNING!"
"Run better!"
"I HATE YOU!"
Lazy floated beside me, lying on his side in midair like this was mildly inconvenient.
"Hm. Seems like this is the griffin that kidnapped you. It is probably coming after you because you left the nest."
I nearly tripped.
"That's your analysis?!"
"It is accurate."
"Can you analyze it into being dead?!"
Bloody threw his head back and laughed.
He wiped a fake tear.
"Oh, this is beautiful."
"Fuck you guys!" I screamed. "How about you help deal with this thing?"
The griffin crashed behind me.
The entire branch shuddered.
Chunks of bark exploded outward, splinters slicing across my arms, cheek, and shoulder as they flew past.
"Shit!"
Blood sprayed from the cuts.
Bloodrend pulsed in my hand.
The blade hummed.
Low.
Hungry.
Almost pleased.
Bloody floated ahead of me, upside down, grinning like a demon at a festival.
"Calm down, maggot."
"Do not tell me to calm down while I'm being hunted by a sky refrigerator with claws!"
"All you have to do," Bloody said, his grin widening, "is listen to the song."
I blinked.
"The what?"
"He's right," Lazy said.
I hated when those words were used together.
"It is time to use that."
"What is that?"
No one answered.
Of course no one answered.
Why would the ghosts explain the obvious secret technique while my lungs were trying to resign?
"The song?" I yelled. "Use that? What trump card are you people talking about?"
Knight's eyes sharpened.
"Dodge!"
I tried.
I really did.
But I was one second too late.
The griffin's talons dug into my lower back.
Pain detonated through my body.
I would have screamed, but the impact slammed me face-first into the branch and snapped my jaw shut.
My teeth cracked together.
"Ack—!"
The griffin pinned me down.
Its weight crushed the breath from my chest.
Its claws sank deeper.
Hot blood ran down my side and pooled beneath me.
"GRRAOOOOO!"
The griffin howled above me.
How did that even work?
Beak?
Throat?
Magic bird-lion nonsense?
I did not care.
I could only grit my teeth as blood leaked from places blood should absolutely stay inside.
Fuck this.
No.
Actually, truly, completely—
Fuck this.
Why did this keep happening?
This whole week had been starvation.
Survival.
Guilt.
Pain.
Pain in my body.
Pain in my soul.
Pain in my heart.
Pain in whatever part of me still remembered Carlos's eyes.
So much pain.
And it had really started to piss me off.
Why was I here right now?
Pinned to a branch god knew how high in the sky, bleeding under a monster I had no hope of beating?
I had just reached tier two.
Almost tier three.
And I still could not do anything.
I could not save Carlos.
I could not even save my own soul by myself.
And now I could not even beat this damn griffin?
My breath came out ragged.
My fingers curled around Bloodrend's hilt.
The anger flooded my body.
Not clean anger.
Ugly anger.
Hungry anger.
The kind that did not want justice.
Only something to hurt.
Bloodrend tugged in my left hand.
A pulse.
Then another.
Then sound.
The song.
I heard it.
Faint at first.
A low vibration from inside the blade.
Then deeper.
From the blood resting inside it.
From Carlos's stolen strength.
From my own open wounds.
From the griffin's claws buried in my back.
All of it connected.
All of it singing.
Blood.
Blood.
Blood.
It was not music.
It was a promise.
I was lured.
I fell into the song of blood.
"GRAHHHH!"
I twisted under the griffin and slammed Bloodrend into its leg.
The blade dug deep.
Meat opened.
Blood sprayed across my face.
The griffin shrieked.
Good.
Good!
I ripped the blade sideways.
Bone resisted.
Bloodrend laughed.
No.
I laughed.
Maybe both.
The griffin's leg buckled, and I followed the motion, hacking into the same wound again.
And again.
And again.
I cut.
Cleaved.
Cut.
Cut.
Cut.
A feral smile tore across my face.
"Yeah!" I shouted, my voice cracking with laughter. "You want to pin me to the floor and bleed me to death?!"
The griffin clawed at me.
Its talons raked across my back, then my shoulder, then my side.
Pain flashed.
Blood poured.
Bloodrend drank.
Heat surged into me.
My torn skin dragged itself back together in ugly, uneven lines. Muscle mended wrong, then corrected. My bones screamed and held.
The griffin tore pieces off me.
Bloodrend gave them back.
Not for free.
Never for free.
Each repair burned through stolen blood and strength.
Every healed wound made my body heavier.
Every surge of power made my thoughts thinner.
But the pleasure kept me lucid.
No.
That was a lie.
The pleasure kept me moving.
Lucid was long gone.
"If you want to kill me," I snarled, chopping deeper into the leg, "you're going to have to let me take something first!"
Blood sprayed.
The griffin screamed.
I grinned wider.
"At least a leg, you big ugly bird!"
"Kamrik!" Knight shouted.
His voice sounded far away.
Too far.
"Young man, control yourself!"
"Control is for people not getting stepped on!"
Bloody howled with laughter.
"There it is! There it is! Cut deeper, maggot!"
Lazy's voice snapped through the chaos.
"Do not listen to him completely. Partial savagery. Tactical savagery."
"Tactical savagery?!" Sleazy shouted. "That is not a strategy!"
"It is becoming one."
I sawed through the griffin's leg with everything I had.
Bloodrend reveled.
The blade gurgled.
The song rose.
Then the leg snapped.
"SKRRRRR!"
The griffin rolled off me in agony, its body slamming against the branch hard enough to crack the bark.
I sucked in a breath.
Then another.
My lungs burned.
My back screamed.
My legs trembled.
I stood anyway.
Blood ran from my mouth.
Probably mine.
Probably not.
I lifted Bloodrend and licked a streak of blood from the blade before I could think better of it.
It tasted like iron, lightning, and terrible, terrible decisions.
I smiled.
"I'm going to turn you into a nice turkey, you damn bird."
Knight stared at me.
Sleazy's smile froze.
Lazy blinked.
Bloody looked proud.
That was probably bad.
The griffin pushed itself upright on three limbs, one leg ruined and hanging by torn muscle. Blood poured down its feathers in sheets. Its golden body trembled with pain.
But its eyes stayed locked on me.
Still predatory.
And still furious.
Still tier three.
"SHRIIII!"
It screeched and launched itself at me.
I grinned.
"Come get me, you damn bird!"
The griffin slammed into me and took me into the air.
For the second time in my life, I soared.
I hated that this was becoming a pattern.
Wind ripped against my face.
The branch fell away beneath us.
The griffin snapped its beak toward my head, trying to tear my face off.
I grabbed the edge of its beak with one hand and pushed.
My fingers slipped on blood and feathers.
Its breath smelled like meat and stormwind.
I laughed in its face.
"AHA! You think you can kill me?!"
It snapped again.
I jerked my head back just enough for the beak to carve a line across my cheek instead of removing my nose.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Bloodrend sang louder.
"That's another limb I'm going to take!"
I slammed Bloodrend into its wing.
The blade punched through feathers and flesh.
The griffin screamed.
We spun.
Sky became branch.
Branch became sky.
Clouds blurred into gold.
My stomach lurched so hard I nearly vomited black sludge.
The griffin rolled in the air, trying to throw me off.
I held on.
Not because I was skilled.
Because Bloodrend was buried in its wing, and my fingers had clenched so tightly into its feathers that my nails tore backward.
Pain?
Yes.
Important?
No.
I had my claws in it now.
Bloodrend sang.
I listened.
And I laughed.
"Ahahahahahahaha!"
The plunge of flesh.
The tearing of tissue.
The wet resistance of something alive being forced open.
It filled me with uncontrollable euphoria.
Sentient mana was dangerous.
That was the theory.
That was what people said.
That was what criminals proved.
That was what Bloody had warned me about while grinning like a man who wanted me to fail.
And now I understood.
Because all I could think about was making this thing bleed more.
More!
More!
More!
"Kamrik!"
A voice hit me.
Knight?
Sleazy?
Maybe all of them.
I did not listen.
I was too absorbed.
Too deep in the song.
"Kamrik, pull back!" Knight barked.
"Seer, your body cannot keep repairing at this rate!"
"Brain function deteriorating," Lazy said sharply. "High risk of mana intoxication. High risk of personality drift. High risk of becoming insufferable."
"I was already insufferable!" I screamed.
"Yes, but now it may become permanent!"
The griffin dove.
Fast.
Too fast.
The branch rushed toward us.
"WATCH OUT FOR THE BRANCH!" Sleazy shouted.
That, I listened to.
Too late.
The griffin slammed into the branch at full speed.
The world broke.
Wood exploded.
My body bounced off bark, rolled, skipped, and crashed through a knot of silver leaves.
The griffin hit beside me and rolled the other way, carving a trench through the surface with its claws and broken wing.
For several seconds, everything was sound without meaning.
Light without shape.
Pain without location.
"Uhhh…"
Even Bloodrend's healing could not fix a concussion quickly.
The world spun.
Colors were too bright.
Sound was too loud.
The branch tilted when it was not moving.
My stomach twisted.
I tried to push myself up and almost fell sideways.
My hands hit the bark.
Blood dripped between my fingers.
Mine?
The griffin's?
Both?
Probably both.
The only thing I could make out clearly was the frantic waving of the ghosts in front of me.
Knight pointed with his sword.
Lazy shouted something.
Sleazy made a very dramatic gesture toward my front.
Bloody grinned and mimed an explosion.
Helpful.
I blinked and forced my eyes forward.
The griffin rose.
Barely.
One leg gone.
One wing shredded.
Blood pouring from slashes across its chest, neck, and side.
One eye ruined, leaking dark blood down its beak.
Its good eye fixed on me with an exhausted hatred so pure I almost respected it.
Its breathing shook its whole body.
Every inhale sounded wet.
Every exhale rattled.
The beast was dying.
Slowly.
Violently.
But not dead.
Not yet.
Had I done that?
Did I really rip that thing apart like that?
I looked down at myself.
My clothes were mangled.
My sleeves hung in bloody strips.
Dark red tattoos crawled across my arms and neck, threaded with blue-black veins from the corruption. They pulsed under my skin like something alive trying to read the room.
My body was still healing.
Still breaking.
Still healing again.
I laughed once.
It came out wrong.
The griffin staggered.
I staggered too.
Both of us were barely standing now.
Two ruined things on a branch in the sky, pretending one of us was still a predator.
"Kamrik!" Lazy yelled behind me. "It is time to use it now!"
"Blow that thing apart, maggot!" Bloody laughed, clapping like this was theatre.
Knight stepped beside me, his sword raised, eyes fierce.
"It is coming, young man."
Sleazy leaned close, smile sharp but strained.
"You've got this, Seer. I have not a single worry."
He paused.
"Several worries, actually. An entire estate of worries. But do it anyway."
Ah.
That.
That was what they were talking about.
The griffin lurched forward.
At first, it was a limp.
Then a stagger.
Then a sprint.
A terrible, broken sprint, its remaining claws ripping into the bark as it forced itself toward me with everything it had left.
I focused on it.
My breathing slowed.
Or tried to.
My lungs hurt.
My ribs hurt.
My brain felt like it had been cooked in hot oil.
Still, I closed my eyes.
Just for a second.
Bloodrend hummed in my hand.
The corruption pulsed under my skin.
Lazy's voice became very clear.
"Use only five times acceleration. No higher. Your brain is already damaged."
"That's comforting."
"It was not meant to be."
The griffin was almost on me.
One meter.
Less.
I breathed out.
"Thought acceleration."
My eyes opened.
"Times five."
The world froze.
No.
Not froze.
Slowed.
The griffin hung in front of me, inches away, one talon arcing toward my face.
Ever so slowly.
Feathers trembled in the air.
Droplets of blood floated between us like dark beads.
Splinters turned lazily beneath its claws.
I let out a chuckle.
It sounded distorted to my own ears.
Yes.
This was Lazy's ability.
Thought acceleration.
Exactly what the name suggested.
The ability to multiply my brain's functions by a specific amount.
Lazy could push it far higher.
Thirty times, almost.
Because of course he could.
Because apparently every version of me was absurd except the original.
Me.
The dying idiot borrowing everyone else's talents.
The downside was obvious.
My body did not become five times faster.
Only my mind did.
I could see.
I could think.
I could predict.
But I still had to move with the same damaged flesh and half-stolen power.
And speaking of my brain—
It was on fire.
Not metaphorically.
At least, it did not feel metaphorical.
Something inside my skull burned. Nerves screamed. Thoughts heated until they scraped against each other. I could feel the slow frying of my own brain.
Lazy's voice sounded distant.
"End it fast."
Good advice.
For once.
The griffin's attack unfolded in front of me.
Talon angle.
Weight shift.
Missing leg causing imbalance.
Right wing torn, making its left side overcompensate.
Its neck exposed after the strike.
Its momentum too committed to stop.
I saw the path.
For the first time in the fight, I saw the answer.
I bent.
Slowly.
The talon passed over me.
The griffin flew above my shoulder, its ruined body unable to adjust.
Its missing leg betrayed it.
The beast stumbled as it landed, tripping for one single second.
That was all I needed.
Thought acceleration snapped off.
The world crashed back into speed.
Sound returned like thunder.
Pain slammed into me so hard my knees nearly gave.
I pulled Bloodrend behind me.
The blade pulsed.
Red and blue-black veins flared across its edge.
I grinned.
"Blood!"
The blood stored in the blade answered.
"Slash!"
I swung.
A red-black arc tore from Bloodrend.
It ripped through the air like pressure released from a bursting vein.
The slash struck the griffin across the body.
For one second, the beast stood there.
Still.
Silent.
As if it did not yet know it had died.
Then reality followed.
A line opened across its body.
Feathers split.
Flesh parted.
Bone gave way.
The griffin fell in two pieces.
The sound was wet.
Heavy.
Final.
Both halves slid across the branch, leaving a long trail of blood behind them.
Then the pieces tipped over the edge.
The griffin fell.
Down through the open sky.
Down toward the mountains.
Following Carlos.
I stood there, arm extended, Bloodrend still humming in my hand.
Then the fatigue hit.
All of it.
The stolen strength drained out of me.
My knees buckled.
My vision blurred.
My brain throbbed with such force I thought my skull might split.
Bloodrend hummed once more.
Soft.
Satisfied.
Then it fell silent.
Seems like it was tired too.
Just like me.
The ghosts said nothing for a moment.
Even Bloody.
Especially Bloody.
I stared at the place where the griffin had fallen.
Then at the blood on the branch.
Then at my hands.
My shaking, marked, monstrous hands.
I had won.
Somehow.
I had won my first battle.
I looked down over the edge, where Carlos had disappeared.
The wind moved across my face.
I opened my mouth.
No joke came out.
No scream.
Only breath.
Behind me, Knight's voice came quietly.
"Young man…"
I did not turn around.
Lazy sighed.
Sleazy clicked his tongue.
"Seer, you look awful."
Bloody finally laughed.
But it was quieter than usual.
"Not bad, maggot."
I stared at Bloodrend.
The blade pulsed once in my hand.
Hungry.
Waiting.
I swallowed.
My throat tasted like blood.
"That," I whispered, "was the worst turkey hunt of my life."
No one laughed.
Not really.
Then the second griffin fell from the sky.
Seems like fate was not done until I died.
Probably because I had just messed with it.
Hard.
I could only stare in resignation as the creature descended.
The mate.
Of course.
Seems like I had killed its wife.
The ghosts clamoured around me in warning and distress.
Knight shouted something.
Lazy's eyes went wide.
Sleazy's smile vanished completely.
Bloody actually stopped laughing.
That was how I knew I was screwed.
The second griffin dropped toward the branch like a golden execution.
Its wings stretched wide enough to blot out the sun.
Its cry split the sky open.
I tried to lift Bloodrend.
My arm barely moved.
The blade flickered in my hand, half-formed, tired and hungry and useless.
My knees trembled.
My body had nothing left.
No strength.
No clever plan.
No stolen blood that could fix this fast enough.
No dignity.
Not even a decent final one-liner.
Well.
At least if this was where I was going to die, then I had changed the future.
At least for now.
The griffin opened its talons.
I exhaled.
Then the griffin exploded.
Not fell.
Not burned.
Exploded.
One second it was descending toward me, all feathers, claws, grief, and murder.
The next, its body burst apart in the sky like something invisible had closed a fist around it.
Blood and golden feathers scattered across the open air.
The shockwave hit the branch a heartbeat later.
I collapsed to one knee.
The ghosts froze.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
"Goodness me."
A voice drifted through the silence.
Calm.
Polite.
Completely out of place.
Then I heard it.
The clacking of shoes against wood.
The soft sway of medals.
Step.
Step.
Step.
"I should commend you, young child. You have endured this trip for far longer than anyone reasonably should have."
A man walked through the drifting feathers and blood mist as if he were crossing a clean hallway.
His uniform was immaculate.
His gloves were spotless.
His posture was straight, relaxed, and terrifying in the way only someone truly powerful could afford to be relaxed.
He passed by the bloodstain left from the exploded griffin and approached me.
I could not move.
Not because of the injuries.
Not entirely.
But because the person standing in front of me was simply too fearsome.
"Now," he said, adjusting one of his gloves, "allow me to take care of the rest."
He looked down at me.
His smile was calm.
Almost kind.
That made it worse.
"You did a good job. Get some rest, Student Kamrik."
The vice headmaster of Valthrune Academy.
William Al Vermont.
He smiled.
"Your trial will be held soon."
And then I passed out.