"Godspeed Grace."
Lyress saw no signs of movement. No streak of light. No sound of air rupturing. Only the cold sense of death gripped her. And for the first time since the battle began, her crazed smile vanished.
As the blade wreathed in crimson flames kissed her neck, her body moved before thought could form.
An unsuspecting undead replaced her in a blink, only to be incinerated to ash before the blade even landed.
The slash tore through the air, carving deep, endless gashes through the pillars behind. Atticus’ eyes flickered across the wrecked battlefield, scanning, searching.
She had swapped herself with an undead right as his katana was about to slice her neck. Which meant...
He turned sharply, eyes locking on the scattered remains of the undead army.
’There.’
His gaze found her, Lyress, standing amid a sea of undead.
Her breathing came ragged, hand pressed to her neck where death had nearly touched.
She looked up to meet his gaze, and a breathless silence hung between them. Then, their eyes flashed, cold and resolute.
They moved.
"Fusion."
A dark crimson glow erupted from Atticus’ body. He became the four basic elements.
His descent left trails of searing embers in his wake as he crashed into the horde, releasing a blastwave that rippled outward in concussive rings, tearing through the undead remnants with sheer force.
The haze had barely settled before Lyress’ voice rang out, sharp and cold.
"Merge."
Atticus narrowed his eyes. The ground trembled beneath him.
The scattered corpses of the undead rose, then shot upward, fusing together into massive clusters of mangled flesh and bone.
In seconds, towering undead titans formed, each radiating so much pressure, the cavern itself shuddered.
High above, Lyress floated like a goddess of death, eyes glowing with wild purple embers. Her earlier panic was gone.
With a flick of her wrist, the titans surged toward Atticus, fists splitting the air with deafening force.
The haze parted just enough to reveal Atticus, katana already half sheathed.
There was no flash. No burst. No motion.
Only the sudden appearance of countless slashes, folding into colossal crescent arcs that shuddered the air as they roared forward.
The slashes tore into the undead titans like scanning lights, then shredded them.
The titans split in half, mangled flesh and bone cleaving away as flames erupted across their forms. They collapsed in smoldering heaps.
But before they even hit the ground, Lyress’ crazed voice boomed.
"Come, my children! Rise! Show this lost soul what it means to stare into the jaws of madness!"
But Atticus had no intention of waiting for a powerup.
He was upon her in a flash, katana gleaming mid swing, but before the strike could land, a pulse of purple aura imploded around Lyress, repelling him backward with force.
The aura surged downward in a column of violet, crashing into the ground before splattering out like ink across parchment.
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