Sakura writhed on the ground, her fingers clawing at the dead earth as a scream tore from her throat.
The pain of extraction was not physical alone. It felt as if someone had reached into her chest and was ripping the threads of her existence out by the roots. Her mana surged, then snarled back on itself, her thoughts breaking apart into static.
Arthur was not in much better shape.
His lungs burned, his muscles ached, and his mana pathways throbbed from overuse. Blood Domain's backlash had left him dizzy and hollow. But he knew this was his chance.
If he let it pass, he wouldn't get another.
'Finish it,' Arthur thought. 'Now.'
He forced his breathing to steady, forcing his body to move.
He gathered every remaining speck of mana he could scrape together, dragging it into his hands. Voidmorph Carapace responded sluggishly, mana coiling around his arms and hardening into black, layered plates.
Slowly, a sword formed in his grip.
