Lily absolutely hated this.
She and the massive Void cat next to her tried everything to put a hole in the damned lightning barrier. Only nothing worked. Unlike Leo with his Ruination, they couldn't even force it to regenerate, as their attacks were just too weak.
The barrier consumed every single thing they threw at it and then returned fire with a bolt of lightning on its own. Nyx had already been hit once and was walking with a limp; Lily didn't want the same thing happening to her.
"Why isn't it working?!" She growled, flinging another arrow of light at the barrier. Not that it did anything. "Please. Anything..."
A lone tear slid down her cheek as she collapsed to her knees. This couldn't be happening, not again. Leo had just come back to her; she couldn't lose him. No, she wouldn't lose him.
Lily gulped and wiped her face, standing up on shaky feet. Slowly, she raised her bow and opened the floodgates in her soul, letting everything out. She also pushed Limit Break to its maximum as a glowing, burning arrow formed in her hand.
She put everything into this creation—her power, feelings, dreams, and needs. She had never felt emptier as the projectile grew and became brighter than anything she had ever created. Not that she cared about herself at this moment. Her brother's survival was the only thing that mattered.
"Light: Death of the Morningstar."
With those muttered words, Lily let the arrow fly. A shockwave pushed her a few steps back, but her eyes never left her technique as it crashed right into the barrier. The wall of lightning glowed brighter at the point of impact, yet after a moment of struggle, a hole opened in it, slowly letting the arrow through.
Her eyes widened, the hope in her chest suddenly burning brighter. Only it was all for naught.
The barrier flashed once, and dozens of bolts struck her technique, disintegrating it upon touch. The tiny hole left behind also patched itself with the blink of an eye.
"No," she mumbled as her legs gave up on her. Yet before she could collapse, shadows enveloped her torso and dragged her back, placing her right next to Nyx.
The feline looked down at her, and Lily flinched at the emptiness within those colorful eyes.
"We failed," she admitted, fighting back the tears. "We had only one job, and we failed."
The shadows around her tightened as if trying to convey something Nyx couldn't say. And Lily somehow understood. She had no idea how, but she just did.
'Have hope.'
"Do you?" She asked, looking into the feline's empty eyes once more. "Because I think I ran out of it some time ago."
The shadow tails tightened around her again as Nyx nodded, a bit of light coming back to the Voidling's gaze. She then motioned towards the barrier or rather to the battle behind it, and Lily followed, watching her brother dodge everything that tried to stop him.
"Tell him we can't help," she muttered with a heavy heart. "Tell him we tried. Tell him he has to do it alone. Tell him we believe in him... We will be waiting."
At this, Nyx offered her what seemed like a feline equivalent of a smile and closed her eyes. In the meantime, Lily turned her gaze back to the battlefield, only to freeze when suddenly Leo looked in her direction and grinned. The exchange took not even a second, but it was enough for her.
I believe in you, brother. Fight. It's weak now. You can do this.
And then, the shadows came.
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At this point, Leo honestly wasn't even surprised by the stuff happening around him. Almost at every step of his journey in this new world, the universe or maybe the System wanted to test him.
As such, when Nyx told him there might be nothing she and Lily could do to get him out, he didn't even complain. He accepted that he was most likely on his own and only ordered Limit Break to activate at full power.
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He glanced at the Myrdrak chasing him and grimaced. Even though the sunlight continued to burn the beast, only its exposed skin was getting damaged. The scorched scales somehow still resisted and showed no signs of falling off anytime soon. Or so it seemed.
If this continues, it will take hours before the sun eats it alive. Fucking great. The domain is probably still protecting it to some degree.
Right after he thought that, his link with Nyx opened once more. This time, the feline didn't try to fill his mind with empty words and just passed on Lily's message. This was it, the final confirmation he needed. Nobody was coming to save him.
I will be fine. He vowed and, for a second, looked towards his sister, shooting her a small grin. But you two need to get away. When I kill this thing, you can't be anywhere near me.
'Leo... you don't mean...'
I do. This is the perfect time to use it. Even with the second stage active, I'm still me. I need to know if there's a way to control it at max power.
'I... so be it,' Nyx muttered. 'Just please keep the link open. Let me help. It's my job after all.'
I will. He promised and focused on the growing bloodlust in his veins.
Until now, he had been holding it back, stopping it from advancing Ruthless Efficiency to its final stage. No more. The time had come to unleash the inferno again, only today, Leo wouldn't let his instincts take over and take away his freedom.
Let's do it.
Instantly, murderous rage crashed into his mind, followed by an insatiable hunger. Together, along with bloodlust, they fought him for control, trying to strip his consciousness away.
Leo didn't let them.
With Nyx's limited assistance, he grabbed onto the waves of those emotions and spread them across his entire being. It was a true struggle, a war within his own head, yet, ever so slowly, the inferno gave in, partially leaving his mind in agreement to work together...
Power, one he had never felt before, filled him as the final stage of Ruthless Efficiency activated. His sight darkened, changing from the colorful palette to shades of grey. The remaining Essence in his soul stirred, its steady flow becoming wild and erratic.
At once, Leo stopped and roared as if uncaring of the massive Nightmare closing in on his position. The earth shook, and then the shadows came.
They slithered across the entire battlefield—some even coming from the underground—and glued themselves to his body. He felt his soul and bloodlust corresponding, molding the shadows into armor that grew bigger and bigger.
Carried by his instincts, Leo didn't move until the last possible moment of the Myrdrak's descent on his position. Nyx's screams didn't even register in his mind as he waited and waited, gathering more shadows with each millisecond.
"Now," he muttered and jumped high just before the Nightmare could crush him into a paste. "Shadow: Manifestation."
Blades surrounded in red glow sprouted along his new massive arms while dozens of spiked tendrils escaped from his back. Leo roared when he reached the apex of his jump and flipped, his eyes once more on the Myrdrak below him.
Bolts of lightning tried to change his trajectory, but his thick armor of shadows took it all, uncaring of the damage that patched itself within seconds. He and his instincts cared for only one thing.
Their unending hunger that had to be satiated.
His blades struck at the charred scales, slicing them apart with only a bit of struggle. His uncountable shadow tendrils rushed into the open wounds, sinking into the burning flesh and devouring the Essence within.
It didn't stop there as he continued to dance atop the Myrdrak's body, cutting and slicing at everything in his sight. However, the Nightmare let out another gurgled howl as lightning spread over its scales, finally forcing Leo to abandon his position.
Yet, the quick escape didn't save him from the following discharge.
A wave of purple lightning hit him head-on, disintegrating a good chunk of his shadow armor. To make it worse, it knocked him off course, right into the barrier that devoured another large part of his Manifestation.
Leo hissed as the power of Ruthless Efficiency flickered, the bloodlust in his veins almost dying out. He didn't allow it and pushed his own rage, hurt, and hunger into the skill, slowly reigniting the inferno.
With a growl, he jumped right back in, sliding beneath the Myrdrak and cutting a deep gash along its stomach. He even slashed off one of its many legs in the process, earning another shriek from the beast that soon retaliated with more lightning.
The battle continued. Yet the longer it went, the more obvious it became that the Nightmare was far from full strength. The chase through the city, the activation of a domain, and then the forced awakening drained the beast out of most of its power, leaving it barely standing.
As for Leo?
He tuned out the rest of the world, letting the bloodlust and hunger claim his mind as he dashed around the battlefield like a maniac. His shadow form grew larger with every scored hit, only for a part of it to be blasted away by a stray bolt of lightning. Not that he cared about that.
In his mind, only the death of the giant worm mattered, and nothing could stop him from achieving this goal.
"Die!" Leo roared as he swung at the Myrdrak, which couldn't even move at this point.
The shadows on his arms blended into one, forming a massive blade that glinted in the sunlight. It cut right through the middle of the Nightmare's remaining body, separating it into two parts.
This time, the beast didn't let out a single sound.