The words landed like stones in my gut.

I turned back to the wall.

Then past it.

My perception stretched outward and slammed into the same thing from every direction.

Ice.

Pressure.

That same suffocating Dualflow presence, closing in from behind like an incoming tide.

The monster wasn't chasing us anymore.

It was containing us.

I felt it then, clear and unmistakable.

We hadn't escaped.

We'd been herded.

Kent followed my gaze. He didn't ask the question.

He already knew the answer.

"…There's no way out," he said.

I opened my mouth to argue.

Closed it.

Said nothing.

Behind us, the temperature dropped again.

Not gradually.

Decisively.

Like a verdict.

The forest groaned as it froze solid, wood snapping under sudden pressure. Ice crept across the ground toward our feet, thin at first, then thicker, crawling like something alive.

I flexed my fingers. Death mana stirred uneasily under my skin, thin and brittle against the overwhelming weight pressing down on us.

I laughed once.

Short. Sharp. Humorless.

"Well," I said, staring at the impossible wall ahead of us, "on the bright side…"

Kent looked at me.

I shrugged. "At least we know running doesn't work."

He didn't smile.

Neither did I.

Behind us, something vast moved.

And the ice kept coming.

I turned toward Kent.

He was already facing me.

Frost clung to his lashes, his hair dusted white like ash after a fire, his breath coming out in slow, measured plumes that crystallized before drifting away. The hellish forest around us had gone eerily still, as if even the land itself had decided it wanted no part in what was about to happen.

Behind us, the impossible wall of ice loomed, silent, absolute, final. No cracks. No weaknesses. Just miles of frozen judgment stretching into the sky.

Ahead of us, something vast shifted within the mist.

Kent's eyes flicked briefly toward the wall, then back to me. There was no panic in them now. No disbelief. Just resolve, hard and sharp and heavy.

We both understood the same thing at the same time.

Running was over.

He gave a single nod.

I returned it.

That was all we needed.

I slid my right foot back, settling into a stance I hadn't used in a long time. My muscles coiled low and tight, weight balanced just enough to explode forward or brace for impact. The ground beneath me cracked softly as Death mana seeped instinctively into my legs, reinforcing bone and sinew against what was coming.

My hands were empty.

That absence felt wrong. Unacceptable. Like trying to breathe with one lung.

"Figures," I muttered under my breath. "End of the world, and I have no sword."

I reached inward.

Not for mana.

For her.

Sacha.

The connection answered immediately, a familiar presence tugging back from somewhere far away. There was frustration in it. Worry. Anger. And beneath it all, unwavering loyalty.

Cold flooded my palm.

Ice condensed instantly, growing outward in a smooth, elegant line. Not crude or jagged, this wasn't a panicked construct. This was deliberate. Controlled. A blade shaped by familiarity and muscle memory and stubborn refusal to die unarmed.

The ice was crystal-clear, flawless, reflecting the pale blue glow of the Dualflow in distorted fragments. It hummed faintly, vibrating like it resented being pulled so far from its true self.

It felt like the ice affinity I had borrowed from Sacha was begging to return to her.

"Yeah," I whispered. "I miss you too."

Then Death answered.

Black intent poured over the ice like ink in water, sinking deep, saturating every edge and plane. The blade darkened, not visibly, but conceptually. Light bent away from it. Sound dulled near its edge. The air around it grew still, heavy, like it was afraid to move too close.

Across from me, Kent lifted his scythe.

The weapon's long blade shimmered as silver Space mana bled into it, warping reality along its edge. The air screamed softly where it passed, stretched thin and folded in on itself. Distance became uncertain near that blade, like it couldn't quite decide how far away it was anymore.

Kent rolled his shoulders once, steadying himself.

"Same time," he said quietly.

I nodded.

We moved.

Not recklessly.

Not hesitantly.

Perfectly.

We dashed in opposite directions, splitting apart in mirrored motion, boots pulverizing frozen soil into shards beneath us. The golem reacted immediately, its massive head turning, glowing eyes locking onto both of us at once. Ice creaked and shifted across its body as it adjusted, plates grinding together with the sound of glaciers colliding.

The cold intensified.

Every step closer felt like pushing through resistance, like the air itself was trying to slow me down, freeze me in place. Death mana flared instinctively, countering the creeping frost, keeping my muscles responsive.

I leapt.

Kent swung.

At the exact same instant.

My blade carved a massive crescent of Death through the air, black energy screaming forward like a guillotine made of void. The arc devoured sound as it passed, the space around it collapsing inward slightly, as if unwilling to exist near it.

Kent's scythe answered with a silver arc of twisted Space, reality stretching and folding along its path. The strike didn't just cut; it repositioned, existing in multiple places at once, bending the distance between itself and the golem into something meaningless.

The arcs met midair.

Crossed.

For one frozen heartbeat, the entire world stopped.

No sound.

No motion.

No breath.

Then everything detonated.

The collision exploded outward with a force that erased sound itself. Air ruptured violently, space twisting, collapsing, tearing itself apart before snapping back with brutal, concussive force. Ice vaporized instantly, erupting into a colossal storm of white mist that swallowed the golem whole.

The shockwave hit me like a wall.

I was thrown backward, boots carving deep trenches through frozen ground as I fought to stay upright. My ears rang violently. My vision blurred, flashing white and blue. Frost blasted past me like shrapnel, biting into exposed skin even through the Death mana coating my body.

Trees snapped in the distance.

The ground cracked.

The air screamed.

Then....

Silence.

Thick.

Heavy.

Unnatural.

The mist churned, rolling outward in dense waves, obscuring everything beyond a few meters. I stood there, chest heaving, blade raised, waiting.

Seconds passed.

One.

Two.

Three.

Hope crept in, unwanted and dangerous.

Maybe, just maybe.

The ground shuddered.

A deep, resonant impact echoed through the frozen earth.

Something vast moved within the fog.

Then it emerged.

A foot.

Enormous. Ice-armored. Veins of ice-blue crystal pulsing along its surface like living arteries. It slammed down in front of us with catastrophic force, cracking the earth apart and sending fractures racing outward in every direction.

The sky vanished behind it.

The mist parted just enough for us to see the towering silhouette beyond—unchanged. Unbroken. Advancing.

Kent and I turned toward each other at the same time.

No hesitation.

No denial.

Just mutual, exhausted understanding.

"Oh fuck," we said together.

A/N: Eight more after I wake up

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