Leo had no idea how long he had been running at this point. At first, he tried counting the seconds in his head, but with lightning trying to hit him from every side, this task proved a lot harder than he expected. And so, he put all his focus into moving his limbs, escaping from one corner of Wolford to another.

Explosions echoed all around, some caused by the Myrdrak and others by Lily and Nyx, who used everything they could to damage the Nightmare's skin. Yet, despite all of that, the beast remained mostly unharmed from their attacks. Its scales were just too tough, and if not for the constant sunlight, they would have stood no chance.

This is such bullshit.

Leo growled, jumping out of the way of another stray lightning. During his flight, he took a quick glance at the massive beast, scanning its molten scales that got worse with each second. If not for the Myrdrak getting slightly slower, he would have thought that even this damage didn't matter.

Nyx, how is it going with the spot I uncovered? He asked through their link.

'Well... it's bleeding. Like a lot,' the feline stated while providing him with an image of the crimson fountain sprouting out of the wound. 'There's not much more we can do about it. Hitting it also isn't easy. It’s moving way too much... Do you think you can use Ruination on it again?'

Leo frowned. Maybe? Can't hurt to try. My Essence is mostly regenerated anyway. Just please, try to get Lily out of the way. I can't promise my aim will be accurate with how things are going.

'Got it. Give me a moment. I will let you know when it's clear.'

With a nod, he let the Essence in his soul surge out again, transforming it into the Void's true affinity. Each second, the output grew stronger, gathering a mass of red and black power along his arm. Unlike before, he didn't craft it into an orb but a blade as long as a spear. It lacked any sharp edges, but Ruination didn't really need them.

'You're good to go, Leo. Be careful.'

Even though he acknowledged Nyx's signal, he didn't give any response beyond a light tug on their link. Most of his focus remained on the dark spear in his hand while the rest waited for the perfect moment to strike, a moment that came in the form of another lightning bolt hoping to fry him alive.

Not that it ever happened as Leo jumped high and spun in the air. He took a swing, aimed as best as he could in his current position, and threw the mass of Ruination at the Myrdrak slithering on the streets below.

He hoped to hit its head, or more precisely, its wide open mouth. However, the Nightmare reacted in time and twisted out of the way, letting the spear sail past its head and strike the middle of its torso.

The construct of Ruination went right through the damaged scales, burning them even further as it went deeper and deeper. Soon, the entire spear vanished from sight, but it wasn't gone for long. Within a blink, its dark glow appeared on the other side as it shot out of Myrdrak's body, leaving a gaping hole behind.

The beast suddenly stopped its chase and let out a wailing cry that shook the entire earth. Sparks of lightning began to gather across its molten skin, growing in intensity with each second. Their color even changed, going from soft blue to dark purple.

Then, as it lay in the middle of the street, the beast coiled around itself like a snake. Somehow, that action made the lightning even stronger as it slowly covered the Voidling's entire body, almost hiding it from view.

Uh, oh. This can't be good. Nyx, if you two are close. Get the hell away from here!

Leo didn't wait for the feline's answer and just ran in the opposite direction of the Myrdrak. It was a good decision, too, as a few seconds later, the world behind him exploded. The blast of air hit him mid-jump, sending him flying much further than he wanted.

With his flight out of control, he faceplanted right into a wall, grimacing as he went right through it. Crack of bones echoed in his ears upon impact, letting him know just how bad the landing was.

Ouch...

'Leo?! Are you alright?' Nyx's panicked voice reverberated through his head.

He coughed, picking himself off the ground. Just peachy. Only a broken rib.. or three this time. I will be fine. What about you two?

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'We were far enough. The blast didn't reach us.'

Good. Good. He grimaced, leaning on the wall of the small room he had landed in. Can you take a look at what happened to the Myrdrak? I need a short breather.

'On it. Give us a second. I'm sending you the feed.'

Right as she said that, the image in his right eye changed to what Nyx saw. She nudged Lily, who stood next to her, and then pointed towards the source of the explosion with her other tail. The woman nodded and followed after the feline.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the site and when they did, Leo felt his shock combine with Nyx's own.

Everything within a certain radius from the Myrdrak's position got pulverized to dust. Voidlings, buildings, Vetilim, or remnants of the old world were gone. Nothing aside from some debris remained.

As for the monster that caused this?

It still lay in the middle of it all, coiled around itself as sparks of lightning continued to flicker across its body. However, its scales were no longer molten from the sunlight. Now, they were all charred black, with violet glowing lines running in between them.

Yeah, I was right. This can't be good.

Yet, despite the change to the Nightmare's appearance and its renewed resistance to light, it refused to move from its position. Not even a single sound left the beast, and for a moment, Leo thought of asking Nyx to attack it from range, but he quickly dismissed the idea. He had to get there first before they tried anything.

I will be there in a moment. Don't move.

----------------------------------------

"It's like a statue," Lily commented as they all watched the frozen Myrdrak from a safe distance. "Maybe it died?"

Leo shook his head. "Identify wouldn't work if it did. There is something fishy going on here. The sun isn't doing anything."

"Anything new in Bestiary?"

"No."

A blanket of complete silence fell around them. They couldn't even hear the Voidlings in the distance as those monsters also didn't dare to make a sound. Leo wasn't sure why that happened, but considering the events of the last hour, he had an idea.

Suddenly, Nyx nudged him with her tail. 'What if you just obliterate its head? It should be easy to hit it now.'

Leo furrowed his brow. It wasn't like he didn't think of this already. He just had no clue if destroying the Myrdrak's head would even kill it. He had seen plenty of Voidlings that survived without it.

"I think I'm gonna make a call first," he muttered, summoning the TEK transmitter into his hand.

"Really? Now?" Lily said, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, whatever. Do what you want. I'm gonna sit down for a moment. My back is burning..."

Leo snorted and proceeded to press the button on the transmitter. He quickly selected his only contact and waited for the call to connect.

"Young Akirian?" The familiar voice of Naz'Tor came from the device. "Another call so fast? Is it about the Cerevod?"

"Not yet. This is about some very recent development."

"Of course... I'm listening."

And that was how Leo found himself explaining his plan to destroy the Graveyard. Somewhere during the conversation, his sister managed to introduce herself to the merchant and add a cent or two of her own. If Naz'Tor was surprised about another person joining their call, he didn't show it.

"That's certainly interesting," the merchant muttered. "I wish you told me about this plan before. I could have warned you about the possible outcomes."

Leo shrugged. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and he still didn't trust Naz'Tor enough to reveal all of his secrets. Even now, he still had to hide Ruination's involvement in this battle.

"Does that mean you know what's happening?"

"Yes, I do," the merchant answered. "The Myrdrak's last technique had a purpose. A last resort, if you want to call it something. Normally, it would fight until death, trying to take out the one who destroyed its home. However, sometimes, when a nest mother recognizes that its enemy is weak, it will use most of its power to create a domain around itself."

Ignoring the unintentional dig at his power level, Leo furrowed his brow. "A what now?"

"A domain is a barrier of sorts, or an extension of one's power if you will," Naz'Tor elaborated. "Those have many uses, but in this case, the Myrdrak utilized it to temporarily block out the effects of sunlight and start the creation of another Nightmare Factory. It's not a quick process, but unless you stop it, that's what will happen."

You got to be kidding me. We didn't risk everything to just throw it all away. He scowled and asked. "How?"

"What do you mean how? Just kill it. There's no other way," the merchant chuckled. "You've managed to harm it somehow, so I'm sure you can finish the job. Just take care of yourself, young Akirian. I doubt you can one-shot it, so once the Myrdrak awakes, it will go into frenzy. The domain's purpose will also change, but without being there, I can't even guess what it will do. The best idea is to switch battlefield in this case."

Leo sighed. "Great... What about sunlight? Will it start damaging the Myrdrak again?"

"It will. Just remember that, as with all Nightmare nest mothers, it takes quite a bit for them to die just from that."

"Yeah. I've noticed."

"Excellent. Then there you have it!" Naz'Tor exclaimed. "Kill it and reap the rewards. I must be going now. Clients are waiting. Good luck, child."

As the call disconnected, Leo looked at his two companions. "Well, you heard the nice tentacle alien. Who's ready for round two?"