The warden lunged.
Not with speed, no, that was fading fast, but with malice.
Its stiffened legs scraped jagged lines through the snow as it hurled itself forward, body low, jaws parting in a soundless snarl.
Azrael stepped in front of Olivia without thinking.
Olivia stepped in front of him at the same time.
They looked at each other for half a second before laughing lightly.
And then the Ironshade Warden slammed into both of them like a black comet.
THUD—WHUMP
Azrael dug his feet into the floor, boots carving twin trenches as the force pushed him backward
Olivia, right beside him, jammed her sword into the ground with one hand and grabbed Azrael's shoulder with the other to anchor him.
Even crippled, even poisoned, the Warden still hit like a siege weapon.
Black veins crawled up its legs… then along its sides… then into its chest, pulsing like something alive under its fur.
Olivia's smile sharpened.
"There it is," she whispered.
The Warden jerked back and spun its body, sweeping its hardened leg toward Olivia's head—a killing blow even slowed.
Azrael intercepted, catching the limb on his forearm.
CRACK
Pain flared white-hot, but he held firm, gritting his teeth and all.
Olivia didn't waste the opening.
Her blade snapped forward, not to cut but to press against the warden's fur, and she whispered again, soft, sweet, almost loving:
"Breathe."
The smoke roared out of the blade like a beast freed from its cage before drifting up towards the warden's nose, entering its body to wreak more havoc.
The veins spread even faster.
The Warden felt it, death chewing its way up its limbs, hollowing muscle, freezing nerves, and stealing speed.
It should've collapsed. Instead, it forced itself upright.
A shudder ripped through its tiny frame as it burned the last embers of its mana, body trembling… then suddenly going eerily still.
The red in its eyes dimmed. Then flared twice as bright.
It crouched and leapt.
Not the graceful, effortless jump from before, no.
This one was violent.
Desperate.
A creature throwing its life forward like a spear. It froze the air beneath its feet one last time
A single thin shard of ice.
A dying step.
The Warden kicked it off, propelling itself with a sound like a cracking bone
CRR–SHHT
And shot toward Olivia.
Not her chest.
Not her throat.
But her arm, the very same arm that she used to hold that cursed sword.
As it flew, its right leg shimmered
A sudden metallic silver sheen, harder than before, colder than the rest of its body.
As if the entire fight so far… Playing with them.
And without Olivia's poison? They would already be long dead.
Olivia's eyes widened, not in fear, but in understanding, as the warden's leg snapped down.
SNAP—CRRRK—SKSHH
Her hand broke. No, it was far worse
The warden's silver leg punched clean through, tearing through flesh, bone, and glove with brutal simplicity.
Olivia didn't even scream
She just gasped, more in surprise than pain; this wasn't the first time this had happened, after all.
Azrael, however, did scream.
"LIV!"
The warden didn't stop.
It used Olivia's impaled arm like a hinge, twisting its small body, and its other leg fired backward
Straight into Azrael's chest.
THOOM
The kick launched him into Olivia, the two crashing together in a spray of snow and blood.
Her ruined hand spasmed
Her breath hitched.
The warden landed on shaky legs, its body trembling violently now, black veins writhing under its fur like worms trying to escape.
It was dying.
It knew.
But before death took it…
It wanted to take them.
It lowered its trembling head, red eyes burning with a final hateful glow.
Then it lunged again. But before it could get far, the gravity around it got three times heavier, pressing down onto it. If it was before, it would have been able to resist quite easily, but right now it's at death's door because of that girl's poison. How could it?
Not even looking at the warden behind him as if it was nothing, reduced to an insignificant little creature in his eyes, Azreal knelt holding Olivia in his arms as he focused his mana towards his spear, moving gravity around it
The spear snapped forward like an arrow loosed from a divine bow.
It pierced the Warden's front paw, burying itself clean through fur, bone, and snow
The creature screamed, silently, of course, its jaws straining, eyes bulging under the gravity's crushing weight.
He didn't turn. He didn't need to.
The spear tugged and jerked free
FWIP
And drove back through one of the Warden's ears.
Blood sprayed upward, immediately whipped down by gravity, splattering into a warped puddle.
The spear cut the other ear off entirely, slicing it cleanly as if carving through cloth, the severed piece hitting the snow with a soft, insulting plap.
The warden thrashed, muscles spasming, trying to stand, to flee, to do anything.
Azrael's face remained expressionless.
He adjusted his grip on Olivia gently, carefully, as if holding something infinitely more precious than life itself.
The spear rotated. Slow, deliberate.
Then it carved downward in a vicious arc.
SCHRRRIP
The warden's stomach split open, blackened insides spilling onto the snow in a steaming, vile smear. Its legs collapsed instantly, spasming weakly like a puppet with cut strings.
Still, Azrael didn't look.
He only brushed a thumb across Olivia's cheek, voice barely audible.
"I've got you."
Behind him, the spear stopped dead in the air
Then thrust forward one final time. Using all the remaining mana he had
THWK!!
Clean through the warden's skull.
Its body jerked once.
Twice.
Then it collapsed entirely, the gravity flattening it into the snow like a crushed insect.
Silence fell. Thick. Heavy. Absolutely.
Only Olivia's breathing, shallow and stubborn,
The spear fell onto the snowy floor, as if ashamed it had not moved fast enough to prevent the injury.
Azrael held her closer.
She looked up at him before saying in a teasing tone,
"Az, that was badass and everything, but could you please pass me my hand before I pass out?"
"Huh? How the hell are you so calm? Your hand is off your body; you do know that, right?"
"Of course, I know that, you idiot; it's just not a big deal so pass my arm, please."
Walking over to the hand lying a few inches away in the snow, he gave it to her and waited to see what she would do.
Holding up the arm to where it was severed from her body, she began to focus; it was a good thing she had a little mana lift.
Blood started to lift from within the hand and her body; as the blood started to mix, it started to pull her severed arm back into place before sealing the wound.
Looking dumbfounded, he couldn't help but ask, "H...h...h...how did you do that?"
"Well, if you must know this is my fourth affinity, and now that I have told you that I have a favor to ask you, Az, look after my body, ok?"
"Wait, what…"
But before he could finish asking her what she meant by that, she collapsed into the snow unconscious.