The guardian moved.

The shift was immediate and unmistakable, a subtle tightening in the air that Noel felt before he consciously processed the motion itself. Mana flowed through the Shard Warden with a control that was neither excessive nor restrained, but perfectly measured, circulating through its frame in a constant, even rhythm that spoke of long refinement rather than brute force. This was not something animated by instinct or bound to a single directive. It was aware of its output. It adjusted in real time.

Noel's grip on Revenant Fang tightened.

'…Same level as me,' he realized, the conclusion forming without effort.

There was no clear advantage to seize. No opening gifted by arrogance or flawed construction. The pressure pressing back against his senses was familiar in the worst possible way, mirroring his own core closely enough that it made his stomach tighten.

"So that's how it is," Noel said quietly. "Equal ground."

He moved first.

Revenant Fang swept forward as mana ignited along its edge. "Fire Arc."

A crescent of compressed flame tore through the office space, ripping desks from the floor and shattering them into spinning debris as it surged toward the guardian. The heat distorted the air, scorching the walls as it passed, but the Shard Warden did not retreat. Chains shifted along its arm as it raised a barrier of condensed mana, the flame dispersing violently on impact, splashing outward instead of cutting through.

Noel didn't pause.

Cold surged through his core, flowing seamlessly into the next spell. "Glacialis."

Frost bloomed across the fractured floor in a widening surge, ice snapping upward in jagged layers as the temperature plummeted. The guardian stepped into it without hesitation, its mana flaring just enough to prevent full encasement as the ice cracked and shattered against its legs. It advanced through the damage, unfazed, shards of frost exploding outward with each step.

The room couldn't contain them.

A retaliatory strike came back fast, a dense wave of force that tore through what remained of the office. Windows detonated outward in a cascade of glass, walls split with sharp cracks, and the ceiling groaned as support beams buckled under the strain. Noel twisted aside at the last second, feeling the edge of the impact tear across his shoulder as he vanished into shadow.

"Shadow Step."

He reappeared near the far wall, boots skidding across fractured stone as he regained his footing, eyes already tracking the guardian's advance. It hadn't slowed. It hadn't even adjusted its posture.

From the darkness behind it, Noir struck.

She erupted from the shadows in a blur of black and violet, claws tearing across the guardian's back as she twisted away before retaliation could land. The attack didn't stop it, but it forced a split-second recalculation, just enough for Noel to reposition again as debris continued to rain down around them.

"Nice timing," Noel muttered.

The Shard Warden turned with controlled precision, chains snapping tight as it closed the distance in a single step that cracked the floor beneath its foot. The blow came too fast to fully evade.

Impact slammed into Noel's side, driving the air from his lungs as he was hurled across the room and into a crumbling wall. Stone burst outward on contact, pain flaring through his ribs as he hit the ground hard, vision swimming for a fraction of a second before he forced himself upright.

His breathing came heavier now.

Slowly, carefully, Noel straightened, blood running warm beneath his coat as mana stabilized back into a controlled flow.

'…So that's it,' he thought, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 'This won't be quick.'

The guardian stood where it was, unmoved, pressure steady and unbroken.

Noel met its gaze, jaw tightening.

'And it's going to hurt.'

The guardian didn't wait.

It stepped forward again and the remaining structure of the office gave way under the pressure of its advance. The floor split with a sharp crack as Noel pushed himself sideways, the wall behind him collapsing inward as the Shard Warden's strike passed through where his chest had been a heartbeat earlier. Stone and splintered wood exploded outward, the force tearing a path straight through the adjoining corridor.

They burst out of the office and into the hallway in a storm of debris.

Noel barely had time to plant his feet before another impact followed, the guardian driving through the narrow space with relentless momentum. Walls caved in under the exchange, corridors folding into each other as support columns fractured and gave way. The building groaned in protest, its internal structure failing piece by piece as the fight tore downward through it.

"Fireball."

The spell detonated midair, filling the passage with flame and pressure, the explosion ripping loose chunks of stone from the ceiling and sending them spinning violently down the hall. The blast staggered lesser structures, but the guardian moved through it without retreat, its mana flaring just enough to blunt the force as it continued forward, chains clattering sharply against broken masonry.

Noel didn't stop moving.

Lightning snapped outward as he shifted spells again.

"Chain Flash."

The bolt split and rebounded through the confined space, arcing off shattered walls and broken metal, slamming into the guardian's frame again and again as electricity flooded the corridor. The light was blinding, the sound deafening, but when it faded, the Shard Warden was still there, its advance uninterrupted, its presence pressing down just as heavily as before.

The counter came fast.

A direct blow crashed into Noel's torso, folding him inward as he was driven backward through a weakened wall and into the room beyond. His ribs screamed in protest as he hit the ground hard, breath tearing from his lungs in a sharp gasp. He rolled instinctively as fragments of stone rained down around him, pain flaring with every movement.

'Still standing,' he noted grimly, forcing himself up. 'Barely.'

Blood stained his sleeve now, shallow cuts lining his arms and side where debris had torn through cloth and skin. None of it was fatal, but the accumulation was relentless, each strike shaving a little more from his margin.

"Voltage Needle."

A cluster of compressed lightning lanced forward, precise and violent, drilling into the guardian's center mass and ripping through the room behind it. The impact punched holes through stone and metal alike, sending fragments screaming outward, but even as parts of the structure collapsed, the guardian kept coming, its footing never faltering.

The floor gave way beneath them.

Both dropped through fractured stone into a lower chamber, landing amid collapsing columns and snapping chains that tore free from the walls under the strain. The sound of metal breaking echoed sharply as restraints embedded deep within the building finally failed, links scattering across the floor in twisted heaps.

Noel hit first, rolling across cracked tiles as he came up on one knee, breath coming ragged now. The guardian landed moments later, the impact shattering what remained of the column behind it, dust and debris filling the air in a choking haze.

A shadow moved.

Noir surged forward just as the Shard Warden's next strike descended, colliding with it mid-motion and forcing its trajectory aside. The blow carved a trench through the floor instead of Noel's spine, stone erupting upward as Noir twisted away, her form snapping back into the shadows an instant later.

Noel didn't hesitate.

"Frost Wall."

Ice surged upward between them, thick and layered, buying him precious seconds as the guardian's strike slammed into it. Cracks spiderwebbed instantly across the frozen surface, shards bursting outward under the pressure, but the barrier held long enough for Noel to drag in a deep breath and steady his core.

'Archmage… Common,' he thought, eyes narrowing as he watched the ice splinter and fail. 'No wonder it's guarding the Shard.'

The wall shattered completely.

Both combatants stood amid the wreckage of the room, debris piled around them, dust hanging thick in the air. Noel's chest rose and fell heavily now, pain radiating through his ribs with every breath. Across from him, the guardian's mana flow remained steady, its stance unchanged despite the destruction surrounding it.

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