Orion's fingers were trembling with anticipation.

His most precious allies were fighting, while all he could do presently was wait.

The anguish of letting others do his work made him extremely nervous, to the point where it was barely impossible to hold off.

He was ready to warp the two out of there without a second thought if they ever showed pain for a second.

Yet, he frowned. Amelia was actually holding Miasma back for now. The woman who grew up with him, the one who followed him to this wretched place, and the one who accepted his troubles.

Before Karteira jumped in to help her, he was about to do it himself. But she opened another opportunity for him to keep scanning the Corrupted Remnant.

By no means was he happy about this situation, but he had to. Tetra's power was too much of a threat to this world to let in the world of a deranged monster.

Still, the situation was turning worse with each passing minute. At one point, he knew he would have to intervene, either after identifying the source, or not.

He glanced toward Elliott, furtively looking at his expression.

The man was also frenetically scanning all over Miasma, sweating nervously. The fact that both of them were unable to find it was a miracle by itself, albeit a terribly unfortunate one.

Suddenly, Orion was forced to focus back on the fight.

"EEEY!"

Amelia forcefully diverted the beam trajectory by making it bounce on Vesta's blade. Traveling rapidly upward, it met the dark dome covering Eogis and shattered a part of it.

A long trailing path ripped through the glass-like creation, making particles and shards of corrupted energy rain down on them.

Orion lifted his hand, and erased the falling debris with light magic.

Hi actions caught Miasma's attention, who interrupted his attack at last. The Remnant looked at Amelia and Karteira next with a soured expression.

"Why... Why are you still standing?"

He wasn't asking because he was bewildered by her power, he was intrigued by the intensity of her will to push back.

Karteira was still on one knee on the ground, recovering her stamina rapidly, while Amelia was breathing roughly, her hands trembling holding her spear.

She stepped back toward Karteira in silence, glaring at Miasma. Without him noticing, she managed to get in contact range of her friend, who placed her hand on her back.

Energy flowed inside Amelia again, rejuvenating her exhausted muscles. This was the same sensation she felt when Orion relieved her of her training exhaustion.

Her breath settled down, her hands stopped shaking, and her mind calmed down.

'That was close.'

She glanced at Karteira over her shoulder, and nodded as a way to thank her.

The silent exchange brought the two even closer together, as Karteira stood up next to her.

In return, she also nodded, signaling the start of their next struggle together. Miasma was losing his composure, showing the true nature of his tainted self.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, he finally snapped.

"Fine, if you keep standing in my way, all I have to do is remove you."

Even more corrupted energy gathered around at a dazing speed. Even the three in the back felt the pressure of this amount of energy released.

What was worse, was that Orion was unable to purge this terribly dangerous mass of energy.

He couldn't.

Pressuring Miasma into his last effort would spell disaster for everyone. Something was gnawing at his mind, making it impossible to ignore.

'What if Miasma is pushed into a corner, and destroys Tetra's source? What would happen to this world?'

The answer was rather simple. Destroying the core that supported 'Space' and 'Time' would doom the entire world in but an instant, erasing the entire existence of this world, going as far as to ignore the role of other Remnants like Tiohr-nam.

Stolen story; please report.

This distressing thought kept Orion in place, unable to completely erase the energy supporting Miasma.

It was the reason for staying back, with his involvement only becoming a last resort option until the source was found.

Suddenly, Orion snapped back to reality with another bone-chilling thought. His gaze turned to a mountain range behind him, straight in the path of the Remnant's attack.

"!"

Hurriedly, he warped to Henrietta, grabbed her, and moved far away.

"Eh- Wai-"

"..."

Orion ignored Henrietta's surprise and focused on the girls, standing face-to-face with Miasma.

"You better dodge that! No playing heroes!"

Shouting that to the girls, he pressed them to be careful.

Both listened to his words without turning back. Yet, they stood their ground after nodding at each other.

Miasma lifted his right arm in front of him, opening his hand slowly. The palm of his hand pointing at the two women, he frowned.

"Not enough..."

*Pulse*

A faint shockwave traveled around Miasma, pulling yet even more energy toward him. The amount of energy inside him was a hundred times what he was used to manipulating, but he didn't care.

The air pressure around him was so gross and powerful, the ground sunk under it. The grass was crushed flat by the pressure, unable to survive the horrible power.

With the ground splitting under his feet, Miasma finally released the entirety of the accumulated energy.

"!"

A massive beam of purple energy erupted from his hand, erasing his arm progressively as more energy gushed out of it.

It traveled even faster than anything this world had ever managed to create. Amelia and Karteira jumped out of the way at a dangerously close point, taking this chance where Miasma was unable to move to strike back.

The beam continued on its course, leaving a trail of dark energy on its path that burned the ground.

It continued, and before the two women could approach Miasma, the beam made contact with the Talviera Mountain Range.

The ground shook violently across the entire continent. A massive mushroom-like cloud towered above the impact point, before revealing a crescent-shaped opening across the entire range of mountains.

Suddenly, both stopped and looked behind them with wide opened eyes.

"Seriously...?"

Karteira could only speak in shock, before shaking her head.

With Amelia doing the same, they returned to their plan.

Orion looked in the direction of the explosion, and frowned.

'Fate cannot be manipulated. The Talviera Mountain Range was meant to be hit by this attack, and so it did...'

Suddenly, a realization came to him.

'What about the dragons?!'

Activating 'Eagle Eye', his sight zoomed on the place the dragons were supposedly nesting in.

Even zooming tenfold, he was unable to see the details above the mountains. Still, he managed to notice small dots flying frantically here and there toward the wide crescent opening.

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth, as he released his ability. He let go of Henrietta without a word, gently placing her feet on the ground, and returned to the air.

'From the point of impact, I'd say it avoided Ormrdivin.'

Relieved, Orion focused on Miasma. Still, this even only sealed his thoughts on fighting back his destiny. Even if the scenery changes, even if the people fighting are different, the result always ends up at the same point.

But, he wasn't afraid anymore. In fact, he was unexpectedly proud of his journey.

"Hit this!"

Amelia and Karteira crossed path as they slashed Miasma tail and remaining arm off.

But the removed limbs stayed in place, only reattaching themselves to the main body.

Miasma turned to Amelia, and fired a low concentrated beam of corrupted at her.

A flash of light appeared in front of Amelia, protecting her from the beam.

Utilizing a smaller plated shield to defend Amelia, Karteira easily repelled the attack while Amelia ran around her.

"Firestorm!"

With her spear in front of her, Amelia's body gathered fire magic, similar to how Miasma did.

Vesta glowed a bright white color, before a vortex of deadly white fire erupted from the tip.

Miasma clenched his left fist, and punched the fire with all of his might. As he fought back the dangerous magic, Karteira appeared next to him, leaving a trail of light behind her.

Her hands' plates morphed into sharps blades, which pierced his side without much resistance.

Confirming she was deep into his body, she widely spread her arms to each side, opening a wide, deep wound on her enemy.

But it was nothing for Miasma. Unbothered by her, he kicked her chest, striking her like a fly.

"Kh!"

Karteira's feet dragged grass and dirt with her as she blocked the kick with the plated armor.

He ignored Amelia, who was gathering more magic to attack, and focused on Karteira. Closing the distance between them, he took the opportunity of her recovering from the hit, and went to grab her throat.

"Heh."

Karteira smirked, making Miasma uncomfortable. Yet, he was unable to stop his momentum, and went for it nonetheless.

A stinger, which was invisible until now, pierced Miasma's neck, putting him off-balance for a brief instant, enough to create a way for Karteira to avoid the attack. Forced to continue his attack, he missed her as she slid between his legs.

Her stinger pierced his back, and with tremendous force, lifted Miasma off the ground, before slamming him down.

"Gh!"

The impact shook Miasma for a second, before a bright light caught his attention above him.

"!"

High in the air, Amelia focused her aim on the Remnant's head, and threw her spear with everything she had.

"Flash Fire!"

Hurling the name of her ability, the spear broke through the air with an ear-deafening sound, and rapidly fell at a faster pace.

Pined down by Karteira, who was smirking triumphantly, Miasma gritted his teeth.

He slammed his remaining hand on the ground, creating a small explosion that forced Karteira off him.

Still, the spear was faster, as it already came too close for comfort. Time flowed slower for Miasma, as a vision appeared in his mind.

The only way to survive this attack appeared to him, before he smiled. With a speed that was unnatural for him, he placed his hand above his head, and released a shield of corrupted energy around him.

Vesta made contact with the shield, but pierced it with incredible ease. Yet, this made it lose a large amount of momentum, which Miasma used to his advantage.

He moved his head to the side, and let the spear pierce his hand, before getting stuck on the ground next to his face.

"!"

Suddenly, Orion and Elliott both opened their eyes wide. They looked at each other without hesitation, and nodded, as a faint smile replaced the concern they had.

'We've identified the source.'