The ten harpies around the borders of the village pose almost no threat to me now. It's almost disconcerting to think about how quickly I've grown — and yet I don't know if it's enough.

None of the other kills give me a single credit, and it's both disappointing and a relief at the same time. Disappointing because the credits will keep me alive, of course, but a relief because I do not ever want deaths to mean nothing more than a number of points to me. Monsters the Elegies might be, but there's very clearly something more to them, if the names are any indication.

Mari hasn't shouted for me yet, so presumably things haven't gotten too bad, but I race towards them as soon as I've cleared the tenth Elegy anyway. This is the shakiest part of the plan — Tarin and Mari are both very capable fighters, even suppressed, but I'm very conscious of the fact that the harpies were toying with them last loop. The image of Mari, caught in one of the Lament's arms and struggling for breath, flashes in my mind. The thought of Tarin covered in scratches and cuts, black, almost ichor-like blood pooling beneath him...

But they'd been unprepared back then. A little more preparation and foreknowledge and they might be more of a threat to the harpies...

Which means they might, in turn, push the harpies into being just that little bit more dangerous.

Sure enough, I nearly trip over a hole gouged into the ground as I arrive. Mental Acceleration allows me to correct myself before I do, and gives me the time to take in the state of the fight.

It's not going as well as I'd hoped.

The holes gouged into the ground come from the harpies' screams — and there are many of them, scattered across the battlefield like pockmarks. Mari and Tarin are holding their own, but it's clearly taxing for them to do so. Without the Firmament sense I have, they have to dodge out of the way the moment either harpy opens their mouths, and it's clearly wearing on them.

Just like before, Mari and Tarin are a little outmatched. The information I was able to share helps, but it's not enough to make the fight a fair fight. The important thing is that they can fight defensively — their goal isn't to win, it's to stall long enough for me to arrive, so we can fight them together.

It's a strategy that's paid off. Tarin doesn't seem nearly as injured as he was last iteration, and Mari is standing a half-step in front of her husband, protecting him.

"Trialgoer Ethan!" Tarin calls, noticing me. "Finally! You ready?"

I'm not. But it's not like life ever waits for you to be ready, does it?

I dash in, flames lighting up my heels. I go for the Lament on the right, and Tarin and Mari go for the Lament on the left.

Crystallized Strength. Barrier.

Firmament floods into my muscles, and Firmament Manipulation guides it specifically into my arm. It explodes into a glowing, fractal pattern, visible underneath my skin.

The Lament's eyes widen.

This time, when my fist connects with her face, her head snaps back with a powerful crack.

It's not actually enough to break her neck, of course. Her nose is smashed in, though, dark-red blood trickling down around frighteningly sharp teeth. I try to follow up with the scythe, the bladed weapon whistling towards her neck, but she manages to recover surprisingly quickly — a powerful kick forces me to step back, and the wind it creates is strong enough to blow my hair back.

She grins at me. She actually grins, the look in her eyes wild and desperate, and something about it twangs against one of my skills.

Temporal Fragment resonates.

I don't have time to ponder. I give activating it a try, but the skill resists my attempts — and before I can try again, she launches herself at me, and I'm forced to throw myself into defense.

Barrier!

A second layer of blue manifests around me just as she strikes, and just in time — her kick is powerful enough to shatter the first barrier and crack the second, and the force of it still sends me sprawling. I grit my teeth and spring to my feet as quickly as I can, swiping forward at her with my scythe. Without Firmament empowering it, it might as well be a stick — but she's cautious of me, now, and she jumps out of the way, her eyes tracking me warily.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Good.

I can't spare the seconds to track how well Mari and Tarin are doing. Well enough, I think, from the glimpses I catch of their fight — it's clear that the two of them are much more practiced fighting together, and as a single unit against another opponent they're absolutely terrifying. Mari covers for Tarin, blocking every move he can't dodge, and Tarin moves with frightening speed, inflicting small but increasing wounds.

The Lament I'm fighting charges at me again, and I narrow my focus down to just her. Mental Acceleration slows down the fight just enough that I have time to process and optimize.

She throws a hooked strike at my right, aiming to catch me across the face with her claws. I step to the right, pushing her arm to the left and forcing her to overextend; it throws her off-balance. A reinforced swipe with the scythe tears away at one of her wings, cutting deep into muscle and tissue — halfway through the cut, the scythe gets stuck, and she simultaneously pivots, throwing a backwards kick at me.

I manage to get both arms in the way just in time, but even with a Barrier in place, it smashes through and then cuts one arm through to the bone. A flare of pain burns through my arm, and I grit my teeth. Barrier.

A new flicker of blue takes the place of the old, broken one.

It's not the best exchange, but one of her wings is half-dismembered. The whole thing is flopped over awkwardly, weighing her down on one side. I take the opportunity to strike, flooding myself with Crystallized Strength again, shaping a Barrier right at the edge of the scythe—

—I sense the building Firmament at the last second, and twist out of the way, just in time for a powerful shockwave to gouge another hole in the ground. The impact once again sends the other Lament sprawling, and I make a connection.

Their attacks are more effective on each other.

It happened last iteration, too, but I didn't make the connection before. Mari and Tarin capitalize on it almost immediately, a flurry of wings and feathers descending on the other harpy — I call out a warning as I feel Firmament building up, and they jump back just in time to avoid the blast of sound that arcs into the sky — and then I have to focus on my own fight again.

But I'm calculating. This gives us the opportunity we need. If we can throw them both off at the same time, aim their attacks close enough at one another...

"Guys!" I call. "We need to aim them at each other! Their screams—"

I have to stop talking to dodge a blow. It barely skates by my barrier, and for a moment I think I see sparks skittering off as talon slides against Firmament. But I can see both Tarin and Mari have gotten the idea — they're adjusting, rotating so that the Lament they're fighting is facing me, and I do the same.

With our backs facing each other, I have no way to see what the other Lament is doing, or to track Tarin and Mari's fight — I have to rely on my sensitivity to Firmament. I keep the Lament I'm fighting distracted, dancing out of the way of her strikes and fighting defensively for the moment, trying to bait out a scream.

Eventually, frustrated, she opens her mouth. I feel the Firmament building — in two places, not one.

"Dodge!"

It's pure instinct that allows me to flood my lungs with Firmament in just the right way. It's not necessary — Tarin and Mari likely would have heard me anyway — but the pure urgency in my voice gets them to dive out of the way anyway, and I do the same. Twin beams of compressed sound strike right in the center of the village, ringing out like a gong.

The resulting shockwave blasts all three of us back, and sends the two harpies flying.

I push myself past the ringing in my head and get up, staring out at the Lament that I'm supposed to kill. Her wings are in tatters. The blast of sound has somehow ripped gashes open in her skin.

I have no doubt that the other Lament is in a similar state. They're already on the verge of death. It would take just a single strike—

A sudden spike of Firmament tells me to look in the other direction. Mari and Tarin are headed towards their Lament, but not quickly enough.

Dread mounts in my heart as that Lament lets out a defiant screech. Far away as I am, I still see the look in her eyes — filled with hatred, anger, and no small amount of grief. I don't get the time to wonder what that's about, because the screech is filled with Firmament, and it's aimed directly at her own chest.

Shit. I start running before I even see the results. I know exactly what she's doing, and it seems like Mari and Tarin get it, too, because both of them pivot and try to catch up to me.

Triplestep. Firestep. Crystallized Strength.

I'm faster. I kick off from the ground hard enough to leave a divot in the dirt, speeding towards the second Lament at speeds that Mental Acceleration can barely keep up with. I grip my scythe tight in my hand.

Second Wind.

No reason to hold anything back now. I flood the scythe with Second Wind Firmament, even as I approach her. I can feel the Firmament cloud produced by the death of the first Lament behind me, catching up with me. Outspeeding me.

It's faster, but I'm closer.

We hit the second Lament at almost the same time, and my scythe cleaves partway into her neck.

It stops at the bone, right as Firmament flares to life around her, and a shockwave of power forces me back.