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I scream a warning, already lunging forward though I know I won't make it in time. Typhon rockets past me, abandoning his flying fish disguise for something sleeker, faster—a blue-scaled serpent that slams into the shark's side, knocking it off course.

Pyrin is there a moment later, pouncing on the downed shark and biting viciously at its side. Water magic explodes from the wound like blue blood, steam hissing from between Pyrin’s fiery teeth.

Raith spins, sword drawn as the shark slips free of Typhon and Pyrin, already turning to attack again. This time, he's ready. His blade is a blur, catching the elemental across its flank. The shark shrieks, a sound no natural creature would make, as more blue energy spills from the wound.

"Everyone," Raith shouts, his fires immediately moving into defensive formation. "Get ready!"

I search the fading mist for threats, feeling magically drained and vulnerable. The rising sun and gathering clouds cast everything in eerie, deep red light, turning the forest into a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Without essence, I'm limited to my rapier and whatever Typhon can do while maintaining his cover. But I won't let fear paralyze me. Not now, not when we're all depending on each other.

They emerge from the trees like ghosts—Malakai and his elite guard, at least thirty students with grim faces and drawn weapons. Various colored affinity marks glow in the shadows. I even see Veeni among Malakai’s people, sleeve pinned up over her missing arm.

Serena walks slightly apart from the rest, her perfect features set in cold determination, her fire serpent slithering behind her. Elements of various forms drift behind the group, some flying, some crawling, others lumbering between the trees.

It's fucking terrifying, but my hand remains steady as I grip my rapier and watch them approach.

"Thorne," Malakai calls, his single eye gleaming with malice. "And Hollow. How convenient to find you both in one place."

His shark circles back to him, bleeding elemental energy but still somehow looking eager to attack again. It hovers beside him, teeth bared in a permanent snarl. Malakai pats its head like it’s a godsdamned dog, smiling and saying something so quiet I can’t hear.

Raith steps forward, placing himself at the front of our combined forces. "Call off your people, Malakai. Last chance."

Malakai laughs, the sound hollow and cruel. "This is a competition, Hollow. Not my fault if the weak can't survive it."

"Executing defenseless students isn't a competition," I spit. "It's murder."

Serena steps forward, her orange eyes finding mine. "This isn't just about winning anymore, Thorne. It's about proving who belongs here and who doesn't." Her gaze shifts to Raith. "Empire has no place for traitors and sympathizers."

I feel Raith's cold rage ignite at her words. His hand tightens on his sword, but he maintains his control. "We're going to the quarry. Stand aside or face the consequences."

They're at least equal to our numbers now, maybe even outnumbering us slightly. But many in our group are injured or exhausted.

Malakai tilts his head, considering. His smile is a knife-edge. "On your way to the quarry, huh? Sure. It’s that way,” he hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “Just gotta go through us to get there. And then the pair of legacies you’ll face if you make it.”

"I’m tired of talking,” Serena says, face twisted with hatred. “I want to watch them burn.” She claps her hands together, fire magic flaring brightly. A moment later, she has gathered a fireball and launched it toward us.

The magic streaks through the sky, headed directly for the center of our group. But Mireen conjures an even larger sphere of water and flings it high into the air. The spells collide with a splash and sizzle, canceling one another out.

The sound and sight is breathtaking, but the stillness only lasts one heartbeat.

Two…

Three…

Someone shouts and then the sound is picked up by students on both sides. More magic explodes through the trees, shaking the air itself and making flashes of light that are blinding. Shadows stretch long as students clash, weapons swinging and sabotaged blades exploding into dust, providing a small advantage for our side.

“Stay to the back,” Raith says, one hand held protectively in front of me as he uses fire to blast away a small vortex of air someone threw at us.

"I can help," I whisper, nodding toward Malakai's closest ally—a muscular earth whose elemental resembles a bull made of living stone. Together, they’re both smashing away students, triggering stasis tokens left and right. "I'll need to get my hands on one of them."

Understanding dawns in Raith's eyes. I feel his concern and worry, but strongest of all is his confidence in me. He believes in my ability to handle myself. To be useful.

Raith gives me the slightest nod. “Be fucking careful, Nessa. I’ll be close.”

We fight our way into the chaos as elementals clash overhead in dizzying displays of power. I see Malakai’s shark swim just past me, biting a girl in the leg and triggering her stasis token.

Raith cuts a line with his sword toward Malakai and the earth. Nobody can touch him. Nobody even gets close. I follow in his wake, rapier ready.

Blue flashes bright and steady like lightning through the chaos. Stasis tokens trigger rapidly at first as the first waves fall and the pace of spells and sounds slows significantly.

Elementals fall from the sky or tip sideways, suddenly frozen as their humans are locked in stasis.

I clench my teeth, trying not to think about what will happen if the last of us falls. Malakai's people will go through us one by one, executing us. We have to win this.

Distantly, I sense Typhon whirling among the elementals like a demon, his serpent form not as deadly as his dragon form but doing more than enough damage. He's single-handedly turning the tide of the elemental battle.

The earth with the stone bull charges me, clearly hoping to overwhelm me with brute strength. I sidestep his initial rush, my blade slicing across his arm. It's not enough to trigger stasis, but it slows him. When he turns for another charge, I don't try to dodge—I step into it, letting him barrel into me just like Brunhild taught me.

Raith senses my intention at the last second, and I feel his sudden alarm and desire to reach me.

But it happens too fast.

The earth charges me, body slamming me as I do everything I can to hold on, hands squeezing as I suck his essence in as hard and fast as I can. Power floods into me, raw and vibrant, filling the emptiness inside. He realizes too late what's happening, tries to pull away, but I've already taken enough.

Using his power, I flick my wrist, raising a chunk of stone from the ground and flinging it for his head at high speeds.

His eyes widen in shock as the stasis triggers, freezing him mid-gasp.

Around me, the battle rages. Beck and Brunhild fight together, their elementals creating a perimeter of raw destruction that keeps attackers at bay. Mireen weaves water into deadly blades that flash in the morning light. Ambrose lingers near the back, seeming to call out targets for Akaron to surprise attack from above.

Raith cuts into the enemies with brutal efficiency. His sword moves like an extension of his body, each strike calculated and precise. Nearly every time he slashes that blade, there's a flash of blue as yet another of Malakai's people is cast into stasis. I feel his absolute focus, his mind working like a commander on a battlefield rather than a student in a competition.

I use my stolen earth essence to raise last-second shields of earth, saving students on our side from being put into stasis.

"They're trying to surround us," I warn Raith through our connection.

He nods, shouting orders that his fires follow with brutal efficiency. They fan out, making it harder for Malakai's people to pinch in around us.

"Nessa!" Beck shouts, his voice tight with warning.

I turn to see Malakai himself bearing down on me, shark elemental launching ahead of him. Its jaws open wide, teeth gleaming in the pale light.

Typhon abandons his serpent disguise in a flash of brilliant blue. Wings sprout from his back and his jaw lengthens, filling with sharp teeth. He grows larger until he's easily twice the size of the next largest elemental. He flaps his powerful wings and explodes through the air, putting himself between me and the shark. They collide with such force the ground beneath us shakes, water magic exploding outward in a concussive wave.

Malakai is coming for me, water blade forming in his hand as his single remaining eye glows with deadly purpose.

My stolen earth essence is nearly gone, my body aching from the impact. I reach for any magic I can find—a trickle of air from the breeze, a hint of water from the mist—but it's not enough. But I don’t have much left. Scraps of earth left and little more.

And Raith is locked in a fight with three students, trying to find an opening to get to me but being held back.

Around us, the battle has shifted. We're losing ground, our forces pushed back toward the treeline. Brunhild is bleeding from a gash on her arm, her crab elemental missing a claw. Beck is surrounded, fighting desperately to keep three attackers at bay.

Typhon continues to battle Malakai’s shark, along with Serena’s fire serpent and several other elementals at once. His blue scales gleam, wings unfurling, his form expanding beyond any elemental anyone has ever seen at Confluence.

Students stumble all around, eyes wide as they stare up in horror at Typhon. He’s putting on such a display that it’s impossible not to see him. Not to notice what he is. Malakai, Serena, and some of their people saw his dragon form on Confluence Day. But he was diminished then. He's twice as large now. His foreleg is as tall as Malakai from toe to shoulder. His long, elegant neck and head tower high above everything, dwarfing the battle as he stands nearly thirty feet high. His wings spread three times as wide, casting shadows over all of us.

Mireen uses the moment of distraction to create a wave that knocks down several enemies at once, slamming some so hard into trees that their tokens flash blue, locking them in stasis.

Smoke, steam, and mist churn around the battle until it's impossible to make out detail. I feel the air displace as Typhon streaks past, a smaller elemental clenched between his teeth as it leaks green essence.

Malakai steps forward, water sword raised. "You're done, Thorne." He's grinning, as if he's already certain of his victory, circling me. "I stasis you and your dragon is done. Easy."

"I'm coming," Typhon growls.

"I can handle this. Keep everyone safe."

To my surprise, Typhon obeys, continuing to dart through the maelstrom high overhead.

Malakai rushes in, swinging overhead. I dodge to the side, then send a trickle of heat straight into his water blade. Steam hisses from it in a rush, blinding him for a moment, but he recovers before I can land a strike. He uses his free hand to blast my chest with water, knocking me aside and nearly catching me in the neck with his sword a split second later.

We fight viciously for several seconds that stretch like ages. Dodge. Block. Parry. Feint. Counterattack.

I use everything I've learned from Raith and some of my own improvisation and it still doesn't feel like enough. Malakai is bigger than me. Stronger. He's almost as good as Raith.

I'm losing ground, falling back with every blocked strike as my limbs grow heavier by the minute.

He keeps coming, seeming to get stronger as I grow weaker. I can feel Raith trying to fight his way back to us, but there are too many students and elementals blocking his path.

Typhon roars in victory as he splits a reptilian water elemental in two between his jaws. Malakai glances toward the sound, and I let instinct take over.

I pluck the stasis token from my clothes and toss it to the ground before he can notice.

When he rushes me, sword leveled low for a piercing strike, I don’t dodge.

I let the blade sink straight into me.

The pain is blinding. It's cold and biting, threatening to wash away all coherent thought as I let out a strained gasp, body curling around the sudden ice in my stomach.

"Nessa!" Raith roars.

I sense Typhon's rage at the same moment and feel him tearing through the air toward me. Raith’s emotions spike through the tether, urgent, terrified, and heartbroken all at once.

But I raise my head, straining against the agony as I reach for Malakai's wrist and grip it. He frowns at my hands, lips curling into a smile. "You were pretty good, Thorne. I'll give you that."

"I'm not... done..." I manage.

He frowns, even as I see Raith from the corner of my eye sending students into stasis as he cleaves his way toward us, rage burning in his eyes like twin flames.

Malakai feels it too late. His essence flowing into me. Filling me. I summon a sharp disc of water in my left hand and sling it toward his neck at point-blank range. His eye goes wide a split second before the stasis shield flashes blue, sending him thumping to the ground.

I fall to my knees once he's down and the blade is out of my stomach. I use the last of his essence to try to heal the worst of it.

Typhon crashes down to the earth beside me, wings flared as he lets out a deep, bone-rattling roar and blasts magical blue energy from his mouth, warning away anyone from getting too close.

Raith rushes to catch me, arms tight and protective. "You're going to be okay. It's okay." His voice is calm, but I feel the sheer panic in his heart. The rage. And I feel the certainty that if I don't survive, he's going to take Malakai's token and finish him once and for all.

But Raith's touch sends more essence into me and I can feel it all flowing to the wound, healing me.

Pyrin sits beside him, wounded in several places, but his orange eyes watch me with what I think is worry as Raith continues to run his hands through my hair.

I grin. "I can heal myself. Remember?"

He frowns. "You let him stab you on purpose?"

I scoop up my stasis token from the ground and smile as the pain starts to finally subside. I can feel the magic doing its work quickly. "All part of the plan."

"Gods damn you," he hisses between his teeth.

I'm about to say something very clever when I see Serena stalking through Typhon's blue flames toward us. Her sword drags in the dirt at her side and one of her eyes is crusted shut with blood. Behind her, a fire serpent slithers, tongue flicking the air.

A bone-deep weariness threatens to take me. It’s too much. I can’t fight anymore. I need time to recover. To process. To?—

"This ends now,” Serena says through her teeth, sword dragging in the dirt as she stalks toward me.

"Yes, it does," Typhon whispers in my mind.

He roars, firing a jet of water so thick that Serena just seems to vanish. I think I see the blue flare of her stasis triggering, but can't be sure. When the jet of water stops, she's simply gone.

“That was… effective,” Raith says.

“Thank you, Typhon.” I reach up to pat his foreleg, then use it to help me stand on wobbly legs.

It feels like there isn't a scrap of magical essence left in my body, but my wound is little more than a dull ache now. "I think Serena is going to hold that against you," I note.

Typhon's only response is a low rumble.

Around us, I realize the fight is nearly over. There are a few stragglers being put into stasis, but it's clear we've won. We've actually done it.

Mireen limps to my side with a grin. "Ambrose and Beck got put into stasis, but Brunhild and I made it."

I see Brunhild standing guard over their motionless forms. "Brunhild will guard the frozen ones." Her crab raises its remaining claw, clicking it loudly.

"How many are left?" Raith demands. The magical clouds of smoke and steam are still fading, making it hard to see the entire battle. Cade comes into view with a dark red cut across his face from forehead to chin. "Six left, Sir. Including you two. But all of his people are in stasis. Orders?"

"Good," Raith says. "Gather all the people in stasis in one place. Malakai’s people, too. We need to guard them. Make sure Malakai doesn't have other teams out there planning to come finish us off. And make sure nobody wakes up Malakai’s people and gives them a second chance to come for us."

"How far are we from the quarry?" I ask.

Raith eyes me. "Not far. But going for the blade means leaving the students in stasis more exposed.”

“Look how many there are,” I say, gesturing as the survivors already work to drag blue-shielded people toward a thick patch of trees. “There can’t be many left. We don’t need to buy time or stand guard. We need to finish this. Someone has to claim the blade and end the Crucible. It should be you, Raith. You’re the only one who stands a chance at beating the legacies guarding it.”

“I’d rather give you the blade.”

I shake my head. “Becoming a legacy would just mean more scrutiny. I’m safer as an aspirant, and you know it. You’re the one who needs to do it. And if you really want to protect me, you’ll have more resources to do it as a legacy.”

"Damn it." Raith looks back toward the large group of students in stasis.

I frown, head tilted. Something feels... wrong.

Raith draws his sword and grips it tightly, head slowly swiveling to take in our surroundings. He feels it too.

The air grows still, electric with tension.

Two figures drift slowly down from the sky, landing with no sound in front of us. One male and one female, both lean, muscular, and practically radiating violence. There's an unnatural grace about both of them, and they wear stylized white leather armor with cloud-like patterns and masks that completely cover their faces.

"Windborne," Raith whispers.