The village burned quietly now—no longer a scream of flame, but a whisper that ate the world one breath at a time.
Smoke draped the ruins like a second sky. Every inhale scraped the throat raw.
Hunnt wiped a line of soot from his cheek. His knuckles glowed dull red; steam hissed from his gauntlets as he flexed them. Across the square, Alder leaned on his Great Sword, armor blackened, right shoulder bleeding through the cracks.
Down the road, the last villagers fled into the hills—shadows in orange haze, carrying their wounded, too afraid to look back.
"Last group's clear," Alder rasped.
Hunnt nodded. "Then it's just us."
Above them, wings churned the air. Each beat scattered sparks across the street like falling stars. Glisarin Ignis circled in her own smoke, a living ember that refused to die.
Hunnt felt her gaze before he saw her—a pressure sliding across his skin. Observation Awareness stretched outward, catching the tiny distortions of heat, the pulse of fire inside her chest.
"She's waiting for us to move," he murmured.
Alder spat black dust. "Then let's not keep her waiting."
The sky came down.
A roar rolled through the valley, followed by heat that crushed the lungs. She dove—a streak of flame wrapped in silence. The Veil Dive hit with world-ending weight.
Stone erupted; ground folded outward. Hunnt slammed a foot into the fractured street, body locking into Anchor Step—the stance that made him immovable. The tremor rolled up through his frame without breaking it. When it passed, he pivoted, gauntlets flaring, and drove an uppercut beneath her wing hinge—Pulse Drive.
The hit rang like a hammer on an anvil. The beast shrieked, staggering.
Alder met the second strike head-on, sword raised. Steel screamed under claw pressure; sparks burst like fireworks. The blow hurled him through a wall, but he landed on one knee, still gripping the hilt.
Then the world turned gray.
An Ash Cloak poured from her wings, drowning sight and sound. Wind screamed between blackened beams; ash spun in spirals.
Hunnt closed his eyes. Observation Awareness took over—seeing by rhythm, by pressure, by heat. The world mapped itself in vibration.
A flash of warmth to his left; weight dropping fast from above.
He sidestepped. A talon slammed down where his skull had been.
Using Redirect, he twisted with the force instead of fighting it, guiding the claw's momentum past him. The motion carried the creature off balance. In that same breath he snapped a short strike upward—Pulse Drive—fist meeting flesh with a deep, percussive thud.
The Glisarin's head jerked aside; ash blasted outward, clearing the haze for a heartbeat.
"Move!" Alder's shout cut through the roar.
He surged from the smoke, sword high, bringing it down in a blazing arc. Steel met wing; the blade ripped through membrane before catching bone. Blood hissed into steam.
Glisarin reeled, crashing through a burnt frame of houses.
Hunnt exhaled, chest heaving. "First real hit."
"Yeah," Alder panted, "and she's furious."
The ground shook with her answer. Her wings ignited fully, light so bright it erased shadows. Air itself warped.
"She's venting power—watch the glow!" Alder called.
Hunnt focused, his Observation Awareness tracing the surge of heat through her body. Between each wingbeat, the inner veins dimmed for half a second—the cooling vent.
"There! When the light drops—strike under the wing joints!"
Alder grinned. "Then let's dance."
She lunged. Hunnt ran straight through the rising embers. A talon slashed across his path; he grounded his stance again—Anchor Step—absorbing the quake, then drove a counterpunch into the exposed ribs—Pulse Drive. The impact rippled through her body, halting the next flare.
Alder followed, Great Sword flashing silver through the red haze, cleaving along the same line. Scales cracked; molten blood sprayed. The beast buckled.
"Now!" Hunnt yelled.
They pressed in together. Alder struck high; Hunnt low, rhythm locked. Fire clawed at their armor but they didn't break. Each impact pushed her backward toward the ruined square.
The next fireburst came sudden and wide. Hunnt felt the swell through the air—Observation screaming warning. He grabbed Alder's arm and dragged him behind a stone wall a breath before the blast hit. The barrier glowed orange, edges melting.
Alder coughed. "You keep doing that and I'll start thinking you like me."
Hunnt managed half a smile. "Don't push it."
The wall exploded. Her tail tore through the gap. Hunnt ducked beneath it, catching the movement mid-arc. Redirect—he guided the blow off its intended line, sending the tail slamming into the ground instead of their ribs. Even diverted, the shock threw him sideways, boots sliding through molten dust.
"Still breathing?" Alder shouted.
"Barely." Hunnt spat smoke. "But she's slowing."
"Good. Because I'm not."
They stood side by side. The Glisarin's breath rasped; each exhale a hiss of embers. Hunnt's Observation Awareness traced the rhythm—rage layered with exhaustion.
He glanced at Alder. "On my mark."
Alder's grin returned. "You mark, I swing."
Hunnt breathed in—once, twice—matching the creature's cadence. "Now!"
He launched forward, Anchor Step propelling him off the cracked ground like a piston. His fist drove into her chest wound—Pulse Drive—the shock rolling through her like thunder. Alder came behind him, sword sweeping down with a roar.
The combined impact detonated. Flame vanished in pressure, then rushed back in a bloom of light. The Glisarin collapsed backward through two buildings, taking the fire with her. The square trembled.
Hunnt dropped to one knee, gauntlets glowing cherry-red. Across from him, Alder knelt, both hands on his sword, blood trickling down his face. For a long moment only embers moved.
Hunnt looked to the rubble. The beast lay half-buried, veins flickering faintly, molten blood seeping from her wing.
Alder laughed once, breathless. "Tell me that's over."
Hunnt shook his head. "Not yet. But now we know her rhythm."
"Yeah," Alder muttered, wiping ash from his mouth, "just hope we've got enough left to match it."
The ground pulsed red. Heat flared through every crack.
"She's not finished," Hunnt warned.
Flame exploded upward, hurling them back. The Glisarin rose from ruin, her body a furnace reborn. The Inferno Glide shimmered across her wings; every vein burned white-hot. The roar that followed wasn't sound—it was pressure.
Alder forced himself upright, sword dragging. "Now she's angry."
Hunnt's eyes reflected the fire. "Then we end it here—before the next village burns."
They squared their shoulders. Ash fell like snow; heat turned the air to liquid.
Between hunter and beast, the world shimmered and blurred. Two figures stood firm against the storm—one anchored in stone, the other flowing with fire.
The hunt was far from over.