A serpent-like coil of lightning spiraled off Sosuke's arm, lashing at the air with violent cracks. The heat off his body burned his skin raw. His breathing came in short, ragged bursts.
Julius grabbed a nearby pillar and hurled it with monstrous strength. It slammed into Sosuke's side—and shattered like brittle stone.
Dust exploded out, but Sosuke didn't budge. Sparks flared from his back. His bare skin smoked in places where his lightning had scorched it.
Julius gave a low, amused laugh—strained, but real. "When did you get so durable?"
With a flick of his wrist, his blade appeared again. The silver sword was long and sleek, jagged along the edges like a broken fang. It gave off a strange pulse—faintly metallic, but somehow alive.
Julius lunged.
Sosuke met him mid-charge, grabbing the blade with his bare hand. Blood welled up instantly, running down his arm. He ignored it and drove a fist straight into Julius' jaw. The hit sent a jarring shockwave through the room. Julius staggered, and Sosuke tore the sword free.
The steel hissed in his grip, searing his skin like fire. Lightning sparked wildly across his chest—some of it uncontrolled, biting into him.
Julius flipped backwards and landed on his feet. He tilted his head, gaze locked on Sosuke. "Almost there. Just a little angrier, Estrella."
Twin beams of searing heat burst from Julius' eyes—too fast.
Sosuke barely saw the flash before pain ripped through his thigh. He collapsed to one knee, hand clenching the wound, lightning sparking furiously around it. He grit his teeth, trembling, but didn't scream.
Julius walked forward. His footsteps echoed on cracked stone. "I think I know exactly where to take you."
"You're not taking me anywhere!" Sosuke's voice erupted like thunder. His lightning surged out, coating the floor in a white-blue web. The heat rose sharply, blistering the air. Arcs of power singed his clothes and danced across his bare arms, leaving fresh burns in their wake.
Julius raised both arms and weathered the blast. "You really think you can stop me? This power—it's new to you. How long do you think you can actually control it?"
He grabbed Sosuke by the arm and slammed him into the floor hard enough to split the stone. Before the pain even registered, Julius summoned his blade again and stabbed downward.
Sosuke, still grounded, barely managed to summon his katana. Steel met steel with a flash, and the blow was deflected by inches.
"Oh, come on," Julius said with mock irritation. "I'm doing this for your sake, too. Just trust me."
But there was venom in his tone—playful, sharp, and cruel.
A roar left his throat. Another round of fire-beams burst forth, tearing straight through Sosuke's chest. Blood sprayed. His arms gave out.
The next strike came fast.
Julius' blade rammed through Sosuke's stomach.
His vision dimmed. Air rushed from his lungs in a pained choke. The sword felt like ice and fire at once—like his insides were being twisted, seared, and hollowed all at once. Lightning burst from him again, but this time it fizzled out—unfocused, faint.
"Alright," Julius muttered, satisfied. He stretched his arm and tore open a portal of swirling dark-red energy. It pulsed like a wound in space. "It's pretty far, so we're taking a shortcut."
He grabbed Sosuke by the throat and flung him through.
The world spun.
Sosuke tumbled out the other side and hit solid stone, rolling painfully across jagged ground. His katana vanished in a blink of violet sparks.
He lay still, chest heaving. His muscles felt shredded, skin raw. His lightning—once howling and wild—now only sparked weakly, crawling over his body in dying strands before vanishing altogether.
Above him was a sky he'd never seen before.
Thick red clouds churned like liquid. Beyond them, he saw… something. The sky itself stretched like a web of roots—glowing, pulsing veins that spread across the heavens like the insides of a giant beast.
Julius stepped through behind him, his voice light. "Beautiful, isn't it? Well—by Morvain standards."
"Mor…vain?" Sosuke rasped.
"Yeah. That's what we call this place." Julius walked forward, boots crunching on stone. "Not just 'Blight dimension.' We live here, you know."
He stopped. His tone darkened. "But your kind never bothered to ask."
Julius crouched beside Sosuke, his shadow stretching over the wounded. The air buzzed faintly with static—remnants of Sosuke's fading power still twitching across his skin.
"You still breathing?" Julius asked, tilting his head. "Can't have you dying just yet."
Sosuke didn't answer. His jaw was clenched, his hands twitching uselessly against the cracked stone. He tried to move, tried to rise—but his body refused to listen.
"Still got that fire in your eyes." Julius leaned closer, voice lowering. "Let's see if I can dim it a bit."
In one motion, Julius summoned a thin curved blade—shorter than his usual sword, more like a combat knife—and slowly dragged it across Sosuke's face, from his brow to his cheekbone.
Sosuke jerked, gritting his teeth as pain flared red-hot across his eye. Blood immediately poured down his cheek, blinding him on one side.
His vision spun. His heart pounded.
"You'll live," Julius said softly, voice now almost gentle. "Scars build character. Maybe this one'll remind you what losing feels like."
He stood up without another word.
Without warning, Julius kicked Sosuke in the ribs, sending him skidding toward the cliff's edge. His body dragged across the coarse stone, reopening shallow cuts and jarring the deep one carved over his right eye.
Sosuke groaned, a harsh breath escaping his throat. Blood blurred half his vision, stinging as it dripped into the corner of his eye. He tried to wipe it away, but his arm barely moved.
His head throbbed. The cut burned—deep and pulsing, as if his skull itself had been split.
He opened his left eye—and finally saw it.
They were on the summit of a jagged mountain, higher than any peak Sosuke had ever known. Far in the distance, piercing through the blood-colored sky, was the source of it all:
A colossal tree.
Its trunk was wider than cities. Its roots wound through the world like chains, crawling through rock, air, and time. Each branch reached beyond the clouds, pulsing with ancient light. It felt… alive. Like it was watching him.
"That," Julius said quietly, "is the Great Tree. The heart of all mana in Morvain."
He looked out over the horizon, voice now cold and clinical.
"Here, the closer you are to it, the stronger you get. Time slows. Power compounds. Unlike your world—where mana sleeps in your crust—ours breathes right at the surface."
Sosuke tried to move. He couldn't even lift his head.
Julius turned away. "I've seen enough. Maybe you just need time. Maybe he was right about you… maybe not."
Wind howled around the mountain peak. Sosuke's lightning was gone. All that remained was pain.
Julius didn't look back.
He simply vanished into the red mist.
Why… why couldn't I win?
I gave everything. Broke through my limits. Reached something new. So why wasn't it enough?
Sosuke's breath came shallow, rasping through clenched teeth. He turned his head slightly, just enough to see over the edge of the cliff where his blood had trailed. The stone was stained with streaks of red, each one a reminder of failure.
Is this where it ends? Am I just going to bleed out on this damn mountain?
I can't even heal myself… not yet.
Pain burned through his ribs with every breath. The right side of his face pulsed, vision half-covered in crimson from the slash over his eye. Wind scraped over his skin, cold and dry. His body trembled, but not from the cold. It was the helplessness. The anger he couldn't express.
Damn it. I got careless. I let him drag me into his rhythm.
His fingers twitched against the stone. His body screamed to stop moving, to shut down completely.
Why did he leave me here? What is he playing at?
He could have killed me. So why didn't he?
Sosuke shut his eye, jaw tightening. He was too beaten to cry out, too broken to vent the rage building inside.
Should I just close my eyes? Let it end here? No. I can't. I refuse to die like this.
A faint memory drifted into focus. Rin. He clenched his jaw harder, pushing back the weakness.
I want to see her again. I want to see them again.
A flicker of mana stirred inside him. Dull and faint, but alive. It crawled through his veins like a dying ember, barely there. But enough to guide him toward something.
Healing.
Water. Healing stems from water magic. I've studied it. I just… never figured out how to apply it to myself.
His star eyes flickered with weak light. He saw it now. The answer was in the water within him. Blood. Sweat. Cellular moisture. All of it could be moved, reshaped to aid in recovery.
It would cost him dearly. Dehydration, strain, risk of collapse. But he didn't hesitate.
There's no other way.
He focused. The pain hit instantly. Muscles spasmed. His skin burned from the inside. Water bent where it wasn't meant to. Healing forced its way through his cells like a current through shattered stone.
It worked. Slowly. Flesh knit together. The gash across his chest tightened. His ribs shifted back into place. The bleeding slowed.
But the cost came fast. Sosuke's breath caught. His vision dimmed. The pain carved through him, and he screamed inside his mind. He ended the spell before it killed him. Half-healed was better than dead.
He lay still, soaking in sweat. Blood still clung to his body. The slash over his eye throbbed with every heartbeat.
One last push.
He extended a trembling finger and carved a small sigil into the dirt. The last of his mana surged. A faint shimmer appeared in front of him, a swirling purple portal, barely stable.
He crawled. Hands dragging across the stone. Arms cut open by the rough surface. Inch by inch.
The pain in his eye made it hard to focus. His body wanted to shut down. But he pushed forward.
Just a little farther.
He reached the edge of the portal. It pulsed, ready to collapse. With one final breath, Sosuke threw himself into it.
He didn't know where it led. Only that it was close. A place where he could land, breathe, recover.
A place where he could survive.
A place where he could keep his promise.