Gup!

Someone's weapon fell to the ground, but I couldn't take my eyes off the mythical creature I'd only heard stories about.

No one dared to say anything as it hovered high above, staring directly at us, waiting. Despite the significant distance, the heat waves created by the flapping of its wings still reached, together with its otherworldly pressure.

"W-what is a Phoenix doing here?" Sebastian stuttered, and from the corner of my eye, I caught him taking a step back.

"Ha," someone laughed, "haha hahaha," it was Daniel, "this is it then… Yena, it looks like we'll be meeting soon." Daniel murmured in awe and desperation, taking steps towards the exit.

"Daniel, wait!" Seth called out to him.

The loss of Yena devastated him, and he was severely wounded by the UniQue. He came here with the purpose of funding his marriage and, not only ended up crippled but also lost the love of his life. Daniel didn't care if he lived or died right now. If he lived, he did for another day; if he died, he would be relieved of his suffering.

Disregarding Seth's words, he continued walking, his footsteps synchronizing with my heartbeats. Not daring to take our eyes off the phoenix for more than a second, we watched how it would react to Daniel.

A moment passed, and then another. Nothing happened.

Samantha was the next to raise a foot. Again, no response from the Phoenix.

Seth looked at me.

Nodding back, I took a step forward. Then another, and another followed, and again the Phoenix didn't react. The only one left behind was Sebastian, petrified in place.

"W-wait! Where are you going? What about the phoenix?" He pleaded.

What did he mean by 'what about the phoenix?' Was he that insane? Hell, even insanity had a limit. He expected us to face off against a Mythical beast? It's called Mythical for a reason. Not even a hundred of us combined wouldn't be enough to face that.

We all paused to look back at him, but none said anything.

Clicking his tongue and wiping the sweat outlining his forehead, he gathered the courage to make a step.

The moment his foot left the ground, a crisp squawk came from the Phoenix, freezing everyone in place.

That squawk… Why did it feel so familiar?

Sebastian screamed, and the rock almost slipped out of his hands.

The Phoenix squawking again.

My hair stood on end as a whisper instinctively escaped my lips. "Give it back."

Suddenly, everything clicked together. The fear of the UniQue, the bizarre desire to own it, the pulse-like heartbeat. It wasn't a rock; it was the Phoenix's egg!

Enlightened, I knew what had to be done.

"Sebastian, listen to me carefully," I began with a soft and calm voice, trying to appeal to him as much as possible, "put the rock down gently, and everyone will escape safely."

"No!" he abruptly yelled back, his face twisting. "It's mine! You won't take it away from me!"

He hugged the egg tightly, pressing it closer to his chest, hiding it behind his coat. Seth made a small motion towards him.

"D-don't move!" Sebastian screamed, fear and panic palpable. "O-one more step and the deal is off!"

"What?" Daniel said a single word, the suppressed emotion and anger behind it made Sebastian flinch.

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The Phoenix had given us the opportunity to escape, and for Daniel, that meant he could give Yena the memorial she deserved. With his mind clouded in grief and the rapid experience of multiple different emotions, he ignored Sebastian's threat and took a step toward him, enraged by the scumbag's audacity.

"I-I said don't move!" He screamed, terrified, as he frantically searched his pockets. Finally, he plunged one hand into a pocket and quickly retrieved a red gem. The gem shone with a blinding crimson light, and before anyone could react, he threw it to the ground. Upon impact, the gem triggered an enormous explosion, and a red smoke screen rapidly spread out, engulfing us and the rest of the cavern in a crimson mist.

The phoenix squawked, and my head spun. In the outlines of the crimson veil, the light of a radiating sun began descending, reaching closer. Suddenly, a clap sounded, clearing the nearby crimson, revealing Seth. A little further behind him, from the outskirts of the small clearing, Sebastian's figure disappeared into the mist.

"Follow him!" I yelled, and the chase between Sebastian, ourselves, and the phoenix began.

The pattern of clapping and the figure of Sebastian misting repeated again and again. It wasn't so easy to catch someone who was much more rested and could hear you behind them, but we didn't have much of a choice. The crimson mist didn't only obscure our vision, but our sense of smell. With the phoenix squawking and constantly moving, there went our hearing and sensing of quint. Clearing the way in wind bubbles was the only way.

With another clap from Seth, a light from above caught my attention. The crimson rippled, and from within it, dozens of fireballs, each equal to — if not greater than — the UniQue, rained from the sky. If it weren't for the heads-up, we would have realized it too late.

We cast our shield spells at a hair's breath. The ground quaked with every fireball, and the pillars that were caught on the impact were destroyed, dust and debris mixing with the crimson mist.

Once the rain of fire was over, a blackish shine appeared behind a nearby pillar, breaking through the crimson haze.

Moving to the other side of the pillar, I reached for my stomach.

Samantha was there. Or at least what was left of her.

She didn't see the fireballs in time, and one of them landed next to her. Half of her body was missing, evaporated, and the other half was chunks of flesh burned sticking in her long blond hair. The only unharmed part was the hand she was holding the shining core of the UniQue.

The bird resembling the sun squawked high above the crimson veil, and dove inside the haze. The illuminating light shined through the smoke to where we were standing. Then another squawk and the light reached even closer, piercing the mist.

A knot stuck in my throat that wouldn't go down. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm myself and prepare for the worst. The smoke flickered, and I paused in my tracks, readying myself to unleash all the quint I could muster for an attack.

The mist parted, revealing the Phoenix flying directly at us. Both Seth and I unleashed our strongest blasts, one of water, the other of wind, directly at the Phoenix. Opening its beak white flames shone, and in a heartbeat, both our attacks were devoured like child's play.

Quickly glancing at Seth and back at the attack, I frowned.

‘This is going to hurt like hell.’

Before the white inferno reached us, I used the last remnant of quint I had and pushed Seth away from the blast, preparing myself for the impact.

I wanted to leave Asmit's End, never to come back, and for me to do that, I had to get strong. Being proficient in both fire and water meant that I had the potential to do just that. Throughout the dungeons in my career as a ranger, I found myself in all kinds of situations-situations no average Elemancers would encounter. Fire and water are opposites, but fundamentally, they originate from the same source. Quint. That applies to every element but is even more apparent when it comes to opposites. By controlling and adjusting my quint - no element, but pure quint - I could absorb the quint from fire or water-attributed attacks.

As the Phoenix fire reached, I embraced it. Part of my clothes burned off as the fire entered my body, rushing to my core.

A pained moan escaped my lips. The fire was too powerful and far too quick for me to absorb. Before I could decompose it, it burned its way through and forcefully entered my core.

This fire, more potent than anything I've experienced before, seared me from within and without. Gradually, my skin began to glow and red markings outlined my body as my core filled at an alarming rate. Immediately, I augmented my body to the fullest, trying to exhaust as much quint as possible to balance the act out, but it did nothing to soothe the pain or slow down the filling of my core. My body trembled violently, ready to give out from the pain, but I kept absorbing.

Suddenly, a crack reverberated in my ears and a shuttering pain dropped me on my knees. My core had reached its limit. I was forcefully pushing more and more quint inside, and just like the rest of my body, it was slowly breaking down.

Then another fracture reached, and I snapped in and out of consciousness. As I faded into the unconscious, suddenly everything paused, and the pain ceased. A gust of wind came and took me off my feet as if I were nothing more than a pebble. The phoenix flew past us, its sole focus on finding Sebastian.

Crumbing to the ground half conscious, my hand spasmed.

"Zephyr! Zephyr!" Seth's voice was distant-drowsed.

"Go find Sebastian and give that rock to the phoenix!" I said with the best voice I could muster.

"But-"

"Go now!" I cut him off.

"Fine… don't die." He said in a low voice tinged with regret before disappearing into the veil of crimson.

A faint laugh escaped my lips. "Heh heh, even if I die, I've saved your ass. You won't be able to one-up me this time."