"Heah!"

She hurdled her lance once again, barely missing Lass and crushing the wall behind him. The entire room shook more than it ever did before, as even more massive crystals started to fall from the ceiling again, forcing them both into maneuvering around them. She immediately looked up as she lifted her lance, blasting a massive ray of energy at the falling crystals, the blast of energy reflected from one to another until it exploded on itself. The exploded crystal parts rained down from above, collapsing on top of each other, right next to each other and all around, as small debris fell on the floor and reflected what they saw from above, encasing the entire cave into a full, mirror-like state. Not a single burn mark or a scratch on the remaining crystal parts, perfectly maintained as if they were never even touched in the first place. What ended up afterwards was a sight both unique and terrifying. The crystals were beautifully laid around them in a peculiar pattern, mirroring their image throughout the room. A labyrinth of reflections that none of them knew the exit out of. Even then, running was never an option for Lass, because he knew that she would catch up to him. They both looked around, only to see each other's image around every corner, as if they were standing side by side, her exchanging the look of death with his look of determination.

"What a goddamn drag." she scoffed.

"You still haven't answered me! Who really are you?" Lass slowly moved around the crystal maze.

"Refer to me as Enemy. That's the only thing you need to know, that's the only thing you need to call me because that's what do you and I will always be. Your worst enemy."

"Oh, real nice, that answers just about every question I had in store." Lass humored her, downplaying her threateningness.

"You're treating this as a game? Aren't you?" she started advancing through the maze.

"I don't even know you, how the hell could I have dealt such heavy pain to you?! You've clearly mistaken me for someone else!"

"You piece of shit! Shut it!"

She swiftly traversed through the maze, found Lass, and landed a massive, heavy punch onto his face, him not realizing a thing from the sheer speed of the action. It was unique as it was a precise move, for her to be experienced enough to make it through that tangled mess in an instant and disappear again in a flash. Her Obsulyte and physical abilities were not just superior to Lass's, but unequalled in every single way. There was no hope of victory for him.

"This strength...it grew like ours. But...how did it grow to such disproportionate amounts?" Mellistar echoed with a voice of fear inside Lass.

"You wanna take over then?! You always like doing it anyways!" Lass wiped the blood off his nose.

"Listen to me. She is among the most dangerous and volatile enemies you can ever come across. This is no joke, I've seen more than what she's capable of and she's not the least bit afraid to immediately go out, especially against...you. You have to run!"

"Not a chance. I can't run away with Anya in this state...and even if I were to run, she'd catch up to me for sure. Is she a Sentinel?!"

"No. And even if she was, she wouldn't be under the Overseer's control. There's no sovereign region around here, and much like Magi, she's free to roam around and do whatever she wants. Furthermore, her power is unequalled and far above that of any beings I've come to know, especially those of mere Sentinels." Mellistar said in a worried voice.

Another swift strike followed up on Lass's face, more cuts and bruises landing their mark from her metal gauntlet and more blood flowing out. He granted as he sidestepped to the left, following the motion of the blow. His already weakened body, both from his own abilities that were uncontainable by the body of a mortal and the battle that happened before, was starting to buckle and bend under the constant pressure it received.

"Time's running out. Finally, I get to see you willing. Willing to fight back for any one given reason...to that, I don't know what it is. But it's delightful to see you in such a state, this time in reality...helpless." she echoed from within the maze.

"You clearly know a lot more about her, why won't you face her?!" Lass yelled at Mellistar.

"I...I can't..." Mellistar started to fade away.

"You're...afraid. Aren't you? I know that voice tone-wait! Don't sleep the one time I need you, you moron! Mellistar!"

As Mellistar faded away, Enemy, as she chose to be called by the one person she appeared to hate the most in this world, placed herself right behind Lass, fixing her stance for a finishing thrust.

"You're done. Hehe...' checkmate'!", she mocked him.

"Screw it...come on!" Lass turned around.

In a split moment, Lass focused all his remaining strength inside him. The result was a massive Obsulyte surge within his body, which he forcefully pushed outside, causing a massive explosion that broke every single crystal in the room, blasting Enemy away to the wall ahead. Not losing her focus, Enemy landed feed first to the wall, controlling her flight and summersaults back to the ground, as if nothing had happened.

"Finally, this is getting interesting. I had hoped that when I fed off enough Obsulyte that my first fight after would at least not be a boring one. For your ass, you'd sacrifice everything anyway, wouldn't you? You sicken me to my core, you careless, inconsiderate child. Thousands of years passed from then to now, reborn as a pure Obsulyte meat sack and yet all I see is the exact same thing. No change, nothing. People like you, who rob someone of their life without telling them a thing, attaching themselves onto innocents and playing a part of their identity like insects while playing the part...hmph! At the very least, when I had no choice to do it, I chose to do the minimum of saying the truth to her."

As she glared back at Lass and started preparing her next attack. She widened her stance until her eyes played tricks on her, she turned to see an injured Anya, motionless on the ground. Ignoring Lass and stopping her attack's preparation, she turned to face her, for the first time, even though Lass's nightmares, a slight look of surprise was put on her face.

"What? This is your driving force? There's no way." she looked back at lass, "Tsk. You attached yourself to others?! You merciless piece of shit! Just to kill them all, right? To play the part until you no longer have to?! I refuse to believe any of that act! I will not tolerate you, or let this world do so for me!" she charged at Lass.

She instantly shifted her somewhat disrespectful and pitiful look to that of sheer, impeccable rage, now increasing the grip on her lance as she gritted her teeth, Lass doing the exact same and preparing for a head-on collision with her, despite all of the warning signs and words of even Mellistar himself.

"Come on!" Lass dropped his sword and fearlessly grabbed the edge of Enemy's lance, "I'm gonna kick your ass!", Lass reached for her head with Anya's weapon on his other hand.

"Hnnp!" Enemy tilts her head, barely avoiding the slash, "Close."

Enemy then stopped holding her thrusting stance. She lifts both her feet off the ground, placing her right leg on Lass's side and lifting the other off at an angle, bending it, all while firmly holding onto her lance. What followed was a powerful blast coming from the tip of her lance, which send Lass flying backwards, crashing into the wall and creating cracks on it from the force of the impact, while Enemy softly flew a little bit backwards at an upward left trajectory, being thrusted upwards from the angle she had set herself in.

She flipped and landed back on her feet, regaining her stance and lifting her lance up. She jerked her lance up, as two things looked like crystallized, transparent capsules that resembled shells filled to the brim of corrupted Obsulyte, dropped from it, almost as if she was cocking a shotgun. She then lowered her lance to her side again, and started walking towards Lass. Her rage seemed to gradually fade away not from her heart, but her face, as she knew, just like him, that victory would never in a thousand years be obtained by Lass in this very moment. Certainty of death was something for her to relax over, but not for long, as she would never let her guard down over a guarantee that could be turned into something else.

"But not close enough. You really thought you going berserk and blasting with energy was going to save you?" she walked towards Lass, "Had I been a Shadower or an Enmity...maybe. But then again, it had to take me threatening your life to do that. If not for your words, you speak with your actions...because up until this point, when you could've killed this rock monster, you never once went all out. What, is he telling you to not do it? That you'll die? What a load of bullshit...death is worth having if you wanted to protect someone you really care for, right? Yet here you are, alive and struggling while she's walking towards the light. What makes you think that using your full powers, the oh-so horrifying, overpowered and world-destroying powers against me will do? Win against me?"

She toyed with him, relentless as she was heartless, not finishing him to to enjoy as much physical and mental pain as she could inflict on him. Death was a concept of mercy, an end to a nightmare, but not this time. Her words, cruel and brutal, were echoed with a faint feeling of justice like she wanted not to leave something said undone like she did before. With the release of death, her closure would be half-cut, not being able to shower his soul with her anger anymore. Lass was kneeling in front of her, barely holding on as he grabbed back his sword in his left hand, relaxing all his muscles as he held on to Anya's broken blade with another.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"No...But this will."

A rock dropped right between Lass and Enemy, as numerous others started to collapse around them. A massive rock, previously holding the crystals that it no longer had any more of, the constant battling and abusing of them turned to dust, dropped right between them, cutting their line of sight as she remained calm on hers, and Lass moved along with his plan on the other.

"Oh..." she scoffed as she looked around at the falling crystals, "You really think I'm done? Then I'll show you exactly, the extend of what nightmare's coming to life feels like, your trick-using, sly piece of shit!" she tried to finish Lass off, breaking the massive boulder between them.

Despite her breaking the boulder, using all of her power until her lance was pinned to the ground on the other side of it as it was torn apart, Lass was already gone from behind it, having rushed right back to Anya, lifting her up in his arms. Even though for the most part, her composure was chillingly calm, despite her yelling and her anger, it was at that final moment that for just an instant, she couldn't hold herself but speak out of heart completely, leaving her mind to its own devices. It almost felt like she was a complete professional in what she did, merely unable to break her composure, and stance, and act irrationally under the biggest emotional strain or stressful situation. She was used to it all, her acting and power speaking that of someone who spend the utmost amount of time discovering what even the tip of their finger's nails was able to do, pushing themselves to the body-crushing limits until they were comparable to none other. All for themselves or in the name of vengeance. She was dangerous. She was a nightmare. Regaining her composure, Enemy simply looked over the shoulder at Lass, the room around her collapsing.

"This isn't over. You know that, right?" her words echoed terror everywhere they brushed over.

"Watch me. This is just the beginning." he boldly answered back.

Right after, a broken blade in his right hand while his forearm held her feet, his sword sheathed and the other arm holding on her back, Lass dashed outside the room, somehow knowing deep inside, that it was over. She wasn't going to give chase, and he knew that. She wasn't going to kill him. This back and forth had made him realize how exactly she worked. A merciless killing machine that would torment him, hours on end, before the mercy of death was granted...that was in his dreams turned nightmares. Now not knowing at all how she gained a physical form, in real life he knew he still had time because it was going to be a long, tormenting ride before she decided to end it all. He ran and ran out of the exit, constantly taking a glance back to see the entire cave system down there collapsing on top of Enemy. He dared not go back to attempt to foolishly get answers, finish the fight with either result rather than escape because he had more pressing matters at hand. Anya, subconsciously or consciously had saved him again, because he knew as well as she did that had it not been for her blood running down his hands as her wolf tail turned a dark gray soaking whatever it could up...he would have gone back. To him, it was a life and a gift given both laid to waste, without reason to fear for what he would have lost then when he had nothing left...but he was found once more, and given something to believe in, and something to hold on to. Even then, what was left unsaid would have a chance to be spoken, because this was definitely not the last time they would meet.

Coming outside the back of the now destroyed cave, he settled Anya down at the rock side. The fresh, night air hit their faces, taking with it the heat of their sweat, friction of their muscles as they valiantly fought to earn their lives that night. She was dying. Her drunk self was constantly saying things at random, acting irrationally while wild mood swings forced her to go on tantrums or cry with her memories in mind. Moments ago, her smug character would try to get them to talk, break the ice as she urged for a friend she could trust and find inside him...and despite that small time frame between them having a heart-to-heart, as they were used to doing in these stressful times, he wished that she would speak again. Something, anything. Make him feel uncomfortable with her words about physical affection, try to pry his past open or lay her pain on his shoulder so that they would carry it together. But her mouth was shut as her tears, running down her face from the pain she endured momentarily mixed with red. No movements and no words. He desperately tried to find a way to get her back up and standing, failing to do so as he lacked the knowledge he wished to gain in order to do so.

"Come on, mutt! Get up!"

He looked around to patch her wounds, not doing anything in the process as he struggled to find out where, to begin with. Many blows were inflicted and even more were rooted deep. It was then that his stoicism, something his character was robustly built around and come to known by the others, despite the few days they were together, as well as his humor and sarcasm that he would use to lower the stress and anxiety of a situation like this faded away and tears were placed in his eyes. For years on end he hadn't cried, whether it was pain that built itself in his body or mind, fear instilled in his dreams or otherwise, but for some reason, he reached his breaking point for an individual he met almost a month ago. An individual he cried for, the same way he cried when losing a part of one's family...a part that has been engrained in his memories and stuck firmly in his heart.

He began crying uncontrollably, "Ana please, you can't die for some random shit like this!"

He then noticed a very peculiar shape in her shirt, as a familiar-looking, thin slate made of a veiny red, rocky material dropped before him. A reminder flash came to his brain, as he remembered where that book was placed. Right there, at the center of the titan, laid a plate, slick and smooth unlike the rest of his corrupted body that remained rough and spiky. He grabbed the slate, revealing something even worse. Corrupted Obsulyte had started to form in her veins, lighting the exact same way as the titan's veins, signifying that what Mellistar warned him about, the infection that could plague one's body with it, had taken effect. He instinctively threw the plate down, dropped Anya's weapon and stomped on the plate, again and again. He didn't say a word, rather, much like in the cave, he began acting on emotions held back, turning his sadness into rage as he wanted nothing more than to start beating on something, anything.

"Hngh! Hyah!" he kept kicking the plate and stomping on it, "Hah! Hah!"

Just grunts and anger unleashed without a word said. How that slate stayed intact after Enemy landed her final blow, even at the end where the entire cave collapsed after, was unknown to him, especially how that ended underneath Anya's shirt after, but did that really matter? More rage, more pain and more stomps and kicks followed before enough cracks formed as he thrashed it around, throwing it with all his immaculate strength as the ground bent under the force and the type of material that the slate was made of.

"Haah!" he landed one final mighty stomp on it, seeing as it had already cracked and bent all over.

Wanting to destroy anything that came out of that god-forsaken keep that the demon demi-humans built, he was surprised when one final knockback of an Obsulyte-based explosion threw him away, the slate being able to hold its place no longer, as the small blast felt like it specifically ignored Anya to target Lass. He got dropped to the ground before getting immensely more enraged, flipping back up on his feet as he grabbed his sword's case. In an almost ceremonial manner, in a state of true anger, he brought his sheath above her as if he was acting out of pure muscle memory, and grabbed the handle of the sword. A massive air pocket formed as a constant flow of a red air current, Obsulyte travelling along it, gathered inside the sheath itself as it got harder and harder to pull the sword out of it from the contradicting forces. Before he could finish his move, however, wanting to annihilate the place, a small book flew out of it, thin as it could be, coming right up to his face, before actually being able to speak to him.

"No, no, no! If you do that, you will destroy a lot more than just me!" the book said, "Relax, relax! Ana isn't dead, she's still breathing, even if slowly and barely!"

"What..." Lass got surprised, "The titan lives-", he began to get angry again, despite the surprise.

"Nope, that ain't no titan connection here! That monster was just meant to gate keep me, it randomly found its way here because the Obsulyte flow was high enough to feed it with its ores and demon demi-humans built their thingy keep around it! I'm completely Obsulyte titan free!

Lass looked around desperately, lost between sadness and desperation, "How do I save her? Tell me!"

"Well, the way to do it would be transferring Obsulyte to her, in its pure form, but...you have it. Though it's not as pure-", the book got interrupted.

"Do it, just do it! Do it!" Lass urged it.

"But there are certain side effects because Ana is a wolf-human hybrid, that could affect her physiology and alter several things like many other beings in this world have undergone-", the book got grabbed by Lass.

"Do. It.", he became threatening, as his desperate behavior was about to reach a psychotic level.

"A-Alright...don't kill me!"

The book then dragged Lass along as it went right above Anya, separating the two of them as it stood between them.

"Ok, it will be like I was used in old times to transfer knowledge, but just with Obsulyte. Use on me all the Obsulyte you can, we will hypercharge Ana the same way you hypercharge yourself and let her body do the natural healing in an extremely quick state. I can't bring back the dead, but so long as she breathes, her body is still trying to heal her in time, before she dies from blood loss. However, even as an Obsulyte user with an increased healing rate, it won't make it without you!"

"Just shut up and take it."

Lass took his punching stance, copying exactly what he did inside the cave against Enemy, but this time managing to control the surge enough to direct it into his right hand, punching the book directly and unleashing a massive wave of pressured air behind it. The book itself more than stayed intact, instead blasting the energy back to Anya who was still fainting on the ground. A bright flash appeared as the energy was instead absorbed rather than hit by her body, her wounds visibly closing in front of Lass's eyes as he smiled briefly at the success of the transfer.

However, that smile didn't last long, as Anya's body began to form and shift around right after. His face dropped, and his friend started growing to disproportionate rates, fur covering her body as she became a monster, a beast herself. Like a dog, with a snout for a face and long, pawed legs as her hands grew with claws in the end, the only features that remained to show even a little of her old self being her ears and tail. Up hauled by what he looked at, he backed away slowly, not knowing what to do as the book itself merely turned at her while transforming. She was a beast, corrupted the same way the titan did.

"What the...hell. What did you do?" Lass paused.

"I warned you! This is called Obsulyte Invert Externalization. Most Obsulyte users normally carry the DNA of an animal inside them, exceptions possible and not as rare, which is a paranormal effect of infusion of certain genes ever since their discovery and up until the research confirming it in 2563. When receiving an external Obsulyte signature to boost the already established flow within one's body, there's a highly likelihood that it will tip the genetic construction of the body and cause side effects, such as rapid change of the body in such ways. The only reason it happened so fast on Ana, is because your Obsulyte was used, and it's insanely strong, boosting her change and healing abilities momentarily to the brim! In Ana's case, while she was a demi-human consisting of wolf and human traits at a 30/70 per cent ratio, showing only the ears and tail as accessories establishing that fact, her ratio was shifted to about 60/40, her being an anthropomorphic wolf instead of a human due to the genetic shift. While reversible, the process of reverting is both unknown and probably extremely dangerous, as it will require further genetic configurations at a microscopic scale, which could lead to further side effects, such as lifelong disabilities or even death."

"Something went wrong! Something was horribly wrong!" he panicked again.