A heavy silence fell between us and the terror beast—every muscle tensed, every breath held—then, in a heartbeat, it disappeared. Before I could blink, Hadal shoved me hard; the beast reemerged behind us in a spray of flying pebbles.
It let out a banshee screech and charged again—over and over, its jagged pincers whistling through the air. Hadal twisted and dipped, exploiting the Cloud-Chasing Step to evade each furious assault. I, on the other hand, clutched my side, grit grinding between my teeth as blood welled from the wound. Had I not been a Flow user, I'd already be dead.
"Hold on, Joseph!" Hadal rasped through ragged breaths. His own lungs burned, but his only wounds were the sharp cuts from the beast's sand-lash. Even so, exhaustion was creeping in; he couldn't dodge forever.
My vision pulsed with every throb of pain. I forced myself to search for a strategy—a miracle. My mind kept drifting back to that raw abrasion along my ribs, torn open by Hadal's frantic sidesteps.
"Hadal…we need…a plan," I groaned, pressing my hand harder against the wound. Behind me, the terror beast reared up for another swooping pincer strike, shattering boulders where we'd stood. Its attack was brutal—but clumsy.
"Hadal, did you see that?" I managed. My voice cracked. The beast staggered, pincers locked in broken stone. Deep fissures raked its smooth carapace.
"Yeah," he panted. "Its speed's spiked, but it's lost control. This sleek shell—no spikes to anchor its weight—its footing's all wrong."
My heart slammed against my ribs. Cracks webbed across its armor. Hope flared. I could taste a plan on my tongue.
"Hadal," I gasped again, gripping his arm. "I have a plan."
He glanced at me, sweat dripping down his temple. "I'm listening."
"We keep baiting it to charge. It can't brake—every impact will widen those cracks. While it's dazed, I unleash Soul Smasher."
A fierce grin split his dust-streaked face. "So that's the name of your secret move. I'm still perfecting mine—but don't worry. It'll be cooler than yours."
I managed a weak laugh. "Let's finish this beast…then we're getting ice cream."
Hadal crouched into a runner's stance, eyes locked on our foe. "We will win."
The terror beast tore free from the shattered rock, shrieking with rage. Its body clicked and rattled like a broken machine. Without hesitation, it lunged pincer-first. Hadal yanked me aside at the last second—no mad dashes this time, just a still silhouette deflecting the assault.
I felt the familiar pull of his Flow energy, the Cloud-Chasing Step rippling beneath him even as he held his ground. A triumphant shriek from the beast shattered my dizziness—this was our opening.
It charged again. Hadal pivoted smoothly; the beast's horned shell smashed into the canyon wall in a thunderous crash.
"You almost ran just then," I wheezed. "Why stay put?"
He wiped blood from his lip and met my eyes. "I realized something: Cloud-Chasing Step doesn't have to burn energy in endless flight. What if—rather than running—I dial every sense to eleven? Heighten reflexes, sharpen focus, dodge perfectly with almost no drain?"
My mind reeled. In seconds, he'd conceived a low-maintenance evasion technique that multiplied his speed of thought. We desperately needed his talent on the North Africa mission.
As I gaped, the terror beast bristled with fresh fury. Its once-smooth shell lay in shards around us. Then, with uncanny speed, it withdrew its pincers, legs, even its eyes—collapsing into a roiling sand-sphere coated in serrated spikes. It began to spin, a hypersonic tornado of death aimed straight at us.
Hadal channeled Flow energy through his Cloud-Chasing Step, a ghost among flying debris. He slipped through the maelstrom, spikes raking air where he'd stood. Each narrow escape left him composed, his breathing steady.
I centered myself, tracking the beast's soul outline flickering beneath its armored shell. A gentle blue glow blossomed around my fist—no explosive flare this time, but a calm, lethal power. Had my art evolved? There was only one way to find out.
"Hadal, now!" I called. He nodded. Drawing on his last reserves of Flow, he rocketed up a crumbling ledge and vaulted into the sky. From that vantage, the ground below was a mosaic of shattered rock. Everything above him—us and the beast—would be framed by a star-shaped aura of cobalt light.
The terror beast lunged upward, spinning its jagged shell like a buzzsaw, eyes gleaming with homicidal rage.
I felt Hadal's grip on my waist, firm and sure. He hurled me forward as the wind roared. Time slowed. My arm shot out, enveloped in serene azure energy.
I screamed into the pure blue fire of my soul, driving the Soul Smasher straight into the heart of the spinning nightmare—determined to end this fight once and for all.