Facing off against Auraco, Kumo's legs shook. The demon army was still in chaos from Ellen's summoned mud and it would be awhile before they could summon any sort of response to Kumo's Hunters. That left only the demon heir and her company to deal with.

Auraco, despite that lack of backup, smiled.

"They say that you can't have bravery without fear. It might be true. I can't say... but I do know that you can't have loss without hope. It's that desire that drives monsters forward even as it is chipped away.

"At some point, inevitability overcomes that and the horror that is fate is all that is left. That's the reason I hunt. When monsters finally realize the inevitability that is me."

Auraco inhaled deeply as though she could smell that hopelessness and shivered. Maybe she thought her little speech would make Kumo give up hope or maybe she was just a self absorbed asshole that needed to hear herself talk. Either way, it had the opposite effect.

If there was one quality that Kumo had, it was spite.

Her hands stopped shaking and her Hunters formed up around her, facing opposite against Auraco's company. They'd been outclassed by them before, but they'd spent a lot of time gathering Soul Orbs and bettering themselves.

They could do this.

Kumo had spent a lot of time considering how she would beat someone that could see every one of her movements. Her first assumption was that this "fate reading" took Aether. That meant a slow defensive style would work best.

But that was Samba not her.

Her answer was overwhelming offense.

Four quick attacks sent [Phantom Strikes] sailing towards Auraco, but they were slower than usual. Kumo strained her Domain forcing her attacks to move as if through Ellen's mud. It wasn't Aether intensive to change it like that, but it did require utmost focus.

Auraco rushed towards her before she could capitalize on the attack. Kumo had made her [Phantom Strikes] a touch too slow.

A quick exchange of blows ended with Kumo getting knocked out of position with Auraco's short sword stabbing towards her face. A scowl crossed her face as she was forced to dodge another [Piercing Light] from where Wane helped back from the trees.

Kumo scrambled back away, resetting and released another barrage of [Phantom Strikes] modified to go a touch quicker than before.

Auraco dodged to the left of them and Kumo stepped up with a wide horizontal swing. Auraco growled, blocking it with both short swords to keep herself from hitting the slow [Phantom Strikes].

Kumo's second mace launched downward like a falling tree. Auraco faked a dodge to the right forcing Wane's [Piercing Light] to go wide before hopping backwards.

The head of Kumo's mace hit the collar of her jacket. Auraco's surprised glance down caused Kumo to grin.

"Is seeing the future a good thing when you can only see the inevitability that is me?"

The demon's glare almost made her chuckle. Sanya ran up beside Kumo, readying her mace, but she waved her off.

"Help the others! I can handle this!"

Sanya looked worried, but rushed off to help the other Hunters. All around them her Hunters faced off against the demons in Auraco's squad. Wane watched over all of them like a guardian angel, protecting as many as he could with well timed [Piercing Lights]. Only his [Omniscience] Domain would allow him to see such opportunities so clearly.

The rest of the army should have untangled themselves from the mud by now, but a few of Gi's summons were performing strafing runs in the chaos of the battle between the Fighting Drakes and the Toucans overhead.

"Hubris," Auraco spat and then charged forward. Kumo stretched her Domain again, slowing down a handful of [Phantom Strikes] to hedge her in.

Auraco didn't care. She lashed out wildly with her shortswords and Kumo rushed to get her mace up in time. The blade bit into the wooden shaft of her weapon and Kumo was dragged forward as Auraco ripped it out.

Off balance, Kumo could only stab forward with her other mace, forcing Auraco to dodge or get thrown into the [Phantom Strikes] as they passed. She dodged, ducking under a [Piercing Light].

Kumo's [Phantom Strikes] hit the ground and before she could renew them, Auraco stabbed forward again. Kumo's block was easily circumvented and Auraco somehow spun in midair to avoid another shot from Wane.

Panicking, Kumo activated [Beserker Clone] as part of her [Papal Legion] Subdomain that she'd inherited from Gi. Three all white versions of herself popped into existence in front of her of which two immediately disappeared as Auraco's strike carved through them.

She'd avoided using them as unlike the other members of their clan, she couldn't control hers and it could only attack head on. They seemed more burden than boon in a battle against the fate reader.

But since they'd been used, Kumo would take full advantage.

It was only another second before her last summon was taken out, but she'd used the time well. A swarm of [Phantom Strikes] littered the area all moving at different speeds some of which were glacially slow.

It was her Aether so she should have an advantage with sensing it and it should limit Auraco's avenues of approach.

Like before, the demon heir wasn't deterred. She dashed forward, her blades a blur as she danced through Kumo's domain like a spirit dodging raindrops in a storm.

Kumo met her grace with pure aggression. Each swing of her maces was done with the full weight of her Strength behind it. The air heaved every time her mace swung through it and Kumo attacked with abandon.

She and Wane started to get into a rhythm. His attacks would save her when she overstepped with her aggression or when she needed to relaunch her [Phantom Strikes].

The fact that he could focus so much on her fight had to mean they were winning elsewhere, but Kumo couldn't spare the attention to check. Her entire focus was zoned in on the demon in front of her.

Even with all of that, Kumo hadn't managed do more than rustle her clothes.

She had to do more. She had to blind her vision somehow and then take her out with all that she had.

And that... gave her an idea, one that wouldn't have been possible before Gi's return. If she combined that with her trump card...

It could work.

After an exchange of blows, Kumo refreshed her [Phantom Strikes] and then started churning her Aether. Her reserves were still fine as most of her Skills had very low costs tied to them so she had a lot of Aether to draw from.

Even as she fought, it built and built inside her like someone had forced water into her muscles and they were on the verge of exploding.

She'd never had to control her Aether before and her lack of experience showed. The distraction it caused made her a little too slow on one of her attacks and a short sword bit in her thigh. Only Wane's continued assistance meant she hadn't lost the fight right there.

She refocused on the fight, but then her concentration on the Aether slipped. Water Aether formed a ball over the head of her maces before she was able to catch it.

Having an external manifestation felt like a release valve, but now it became obvious that she was up to something.

Auraco's eyes narrowed. "I'll take it as a personal failure that I wasn't able to break your spirit first, but I'll have to settle for your body instead."

The demon heir suddenly spun in front of her, her short sword lashing out in a circle. She followed it up by kneeling low and then stabbing upward. For Kumo, it felt like the entire pace of the fight changed.

Attacks came in from every direction and the only reason she wasn't immediately cut down by the sudden shift was her Waterborn Vitality.

As pressured as she'd been, it never occurred to Kumo that the demon had been holding back. A shiver ran through her as fear tried to worm its way into her heart, but there was no space for it.

Kumo's concentration between the fight and the Aether building inside of her was at its limit. Every swing of her mace saved her life as every time Auraco swung her blade, it aimed to end her.

It was probably only a few seconds, but that frantic pace slowly evolved. Kumo's vision fuzzed and focused on her opponents torso. Every time her shoulder twitched or her torso moved, a blade of steel moved in the periphery.

It was all connected like the blades were attached to strings and Kumo could watch how they were pulled.

She exhaled. Her breath, which had grown desperate, slowed to a steady rhythm - a rhythm she saw in her opponent.

She could see.

Kumo danced beside Auraco's blade watching surprise appear on her face before she'd even started the movement. Kumo's return swing was dodged, but it was only the first counter attack of many.

Underneath that burning and exploding Aether in her chest, she could feel her [Fighting Style] (Oppressive Downpour) starting to thrum. It was stirred up by the battle and the turbulent wild Aether in the air.

It was going to evolve. It was-

A shout came from Wane, but it was too late. Something grabbed her heel and yanked.

Kumo's leg flew out at an odd angle and she slammed onto her back, sand swirling out from under her. Her concentration on her evolving [Fighting Style] was shattered as the breath was knocked from her lungs.

Only sheer determination let her hold onto her building Aether. The head of her maces boiled from within by the power she'd gathered begging to be free.

But her maces lay at her side on the ground and Auraco was already in the air both blades ready to stab down and end her life.

Oh, Kumo thought, as time seemed to slow. This was always going to be the cost.

Auraco's first short sword slammed into her chest, burying itself hilt deep. Pain raced through her body and her Aether demanded that it be let go, but she forced it to hold on a second longer.

The second blade was coming. Kumo activated [Iron Counter].

Her right mace moved of its own accord, her arm contorting impossibly to make it so, and it knocked the second blade wide.

"No," Auraco whispered.

Kumo's response was to unleash her overpowered [Phantom Strike]. A pillar of Water Aether smashed down on the top of Auraco's head with all the force of a tower being dropped on her head.

The attack crumpled the top of Auraco's head in and packed her into the ground on top of Kumo's legs.

Her attack hadn't spared Kumo either. The lower half of her body had been crushed by her own attack. She couldn't feel her legs and only the biting pain in her chest let her know that she was still alive.

A chill crept up her body from her unmoving legs and she shivered, wincing as the blade in her chest scraped against her flesh.

Why was it so cold?

She could hear shouts and war and death in the background, but it all sounded so muted. Someone grabbed her by the shoulders, but it did little to snap her out of her gaze.

She was dying. She was confident about that.

Ironically, it wasn't Gi or Sanya or Tiria that she thought about but Samba. Her brother was an idiot that made the worst choices, but she...

I shouldn't have pushed him away...

****

Targen collapsed onto the wooden walkway that surrounded the Life Tree in the Midnight Grove. Fear had given strength to his wings as he escaped the fall of Harlond, but it hadn't given him the strength to flee the shame building in his chest.

"Targen!" One of the honor guards of the Life Tree rushed up to him. "What word comes from the capital?"

He thought he knew their name, all of the elves had some poetic version of one, but he couldn't think of it. He could only focus on one thing.

"Where's Ayla? I need to find Ayla."

"She's in the womb of the Tree That Grants Life with the Queen, but tell me. What's wrong?"

"Thank you," he said instead and took off at a run across the walkways until an opening appeared in the trunk and he made his way inside.

The Life Tree looked like hundreds of great trees had been braided into a lattice and every naturally grown stair provided an opening to the outside.

From his vantage point, he could see the Elves as they prepared for the war, but none of it had reached them. Not yet. Not truly.

If they stood against that... that monster they'd fall just like Harlond.

A fresh wave of fear caused him to leap from the stairs and he used his wings to arrest his momentum as best he could in the small space. He still landed heavily on the ground and his ankles groaned at the abuse.

It didn't matter though.

Ayla and Queen Lenia both chatted amicably over in the secret garden. Ayla's brunette hair was worn in the complicated braids of the elves, cascading off her her head in a shower of earth tones that seemed to mirror that of the Life Tree itself.

Queen Lenia's hair was darker, but worn likewise and they contrasted the deep greens of the simple outfits that they wore. All of the elves were part of the same cycle so the Queen never wore gold and rich jewelry like the other leaders.

Targen had always appreciated that simplicity, but now? He saw just another civilization about to fall victim to the demons' horde.

Guards snapped to attention as they noticed his entrance, but relaxed as they saw his wings and realized it was him.

He ran forward. "Ayla! We have to flee!"

"Why?" Concern didn't suit her features, but it was far too mild an emotion if she'd seen what he had.

"The demons brought down the wall. The Emperor has gone truly insane and Harlond will fall soon. It probably already has."

He grabbed her wrist to drag her away, but she pulled away from him.

"Ayla, I'm serious. Please, we don't have time for this. We need to run." He glanced around the interior of the Life Tree as though the demons might be there somehow as well.

"We can't run." Targen could only stare in disbelief at the woman he loved. Did she not understand him? If they stayed, they were going to die.

He considered snatching her and placing her over his shoulder, but their stats were equal. He'd never be able to drag her where she didn't want to go.

Fear sent another shiver through his spine. How did he convince her? How could he convince her so they could run?

Queen Lenia plucked a blue flower from one section of her garden and only his own hesitation kept him from fleeing her as she traced its petals underneath his nose.

Its scent was nice like clean linen on a spring day, but as soon as he breathed it in, his entire body relaxed as though his bones had melted. Tension seeped out of him, seemingly into the very ground at his feet.

He was amazed that he was still standing. Queen Lenia just smiled at him.

"Now, please tell me everything from the beginning without the theatrics."