As the Eastern Leader rushed forward, the rest of the group retreated. The first person he turned toward was Raizo.
Ashar used the moment to move closer to Bethryl while studying the underground city around them. He still could not understand why there was no sign of the Fourth Trial. Something important was missing.
The Eastern Leader screamed and snarled at Raizo, who remained perfectly still. For a brief instant, despite the chaos caused by Issen's strike, the Leader seemed to regain a fragment of sanity.
"Are you afraid of death?" he grinned.
"Why should I be?" Raizo replied. "I am no one."
Beneath his bandages, he smiled.
The Eastern Leader slashed through the air. Raizo stepped back, narrowly avoiding the attack. The Leader followed with another strike, but again his claws met nothing.
At the exact moment of impact, Raizo vanished in an explosion of flame, and now he stood behind the Eastern Leader, but before the Leader could turn, Raizo had already begun his counterattack.
"Michael's Summoning!" he cried.
Two enormous hands burst from the ground, glowing white, and seized the Eastern Leader, and they dragged him downward as he struggled violently, unleashing bursts of energy in an attempt to break free.
"What's he doing?" Maereth asked.
"He's…" Ashar said slowly. "He's trying to drag the Eastern Leader into another realm."
The attempt failed.
With a violent surge of energy, the Eastern Leader tore himself free., but before he could retaliate, Raizo vanished again in flames and reappeared elsewhere in the ruined city.
"Who is this guy?" Issen asked.
"I think he's a mercenary," Maereth replied.
"And he's working with the Shadow Clan, isn't he?"
Ashar paused.
This was the moment he had anticipated since they first entered the Abandoned Kingdom. He had already understood it back in the forest.
Maereth and Issen were never truly his allies.
Their cooperation had existed only because survival required it. Their real objective had always been the same, to deliver Ashar to the Shadow Clan. And now this man, whoever he was, had arrived to collect him.
So Ashar needed to act quickly. He had to find the Fourth Trial immediately. If it granted him a Second Tier form, then he might be able to hold them off. But without that transformation, the Eastern Leader was his only protection.
As long as the Leader lived, it was in everyone's interest to work together. Fighting among themselves while such a creature hunted them would be irrational. But the moment the Eastern Leader fell, Issen, Maereth, and Raizo would turn on him.
An Axiom Arrow struck the Eastern Leader. Five energy points remained active.
Ashar needed to reach the Golden City. To do that, he had to escape this place, and he had to take Bethryl with him so that he could use her foresight.
That was why his first move had been to get to her before the others could. A Second Tier form combined with her ability would make him unstoppable, even against someone like the Supreme Leader.
But where was the Fourth Trial?
"Hand of God!"
While Raizo distracted the Eastern Leader, Maereth concealed Issen's arrow with her invisibility technique. The arrow struck another energy point.
Four remained.
With the Third Eye and the Throat point closed, a violent surge of black Axiom energy burst from the Leader's body. It did not seem intentional, but rather the reaction of a body collapsing under internal strain.
The three fighters worked together seamlessly. They had never fought side by side before, yet an unspoken coordination guided them, and every one of their plans involved Ashar.
"Axiom Arr—"
Issen suddenly stopped. Ashar had stepped directly into the path of his attack.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot?" Issen shouted.
"My mistake."
That had been close. For a moment, instinct had stopped Issen from killing him. But now he had time to think, and Ashar knew it, he knew that trick would never work twice.
These few moments were the last chance he would have to find the Fourth Trial.
"Do you see anything, Bethryl?" he asked quietly.
"I see what's about to happen."
"And? Will the Supreme Leader reach us in time?"
"No."
Ashar grimaced.
"I can see what you're about to do," Bethryl added.
Another arrow struck the Eastern Leader.
Three energy points remained.
"I know what I'm about to do," Ashar said. "And what do you think of it? Does it scare you?"
"It's all so disappointing."
Another arrow struck.
Two energy points remained.
Now the Eastern Leader could no longer regulate his strength. His body stumbled and collapsed against the ground.
One more arrow struck.
Only a single energy point remained, the last thread sustaining his life.
"One last shot," Issen said coldly. "Here you go, you bastard."
"Pendulum Blade!"
Ashar launched himself forward and sliced through the arrow before it could strike.
"Again? What the hell are you doing?" Issen shouted.
Ashar moved beside the fallen Eastern Leader and turned to face them.
"Oh, I see," Issen said slowly. "Well… I guess we all knew this was coming."
"We can work together," Ashar said calmly. "There's no need for us to fight."
"We told you from the beginning," Maereth replied. "We're here to take you to the Shadow Clan."
"There was never an alliance," Issen added. "Why would we ever work with someone like you?"
"We could have helped each other."
But their expressions had already hardened.
Ashar turned to Raizo.
"You're with the Shadow Clan. Surely you can see that I could be useful."
Raizo studied him for the first time, his gaze slow and deliberate. Then he leaned back slightly.
"You are a godless demon," Raizo said. "I can see it in your eyes. A centre of misery determined to drag all existence down with you. I don't need to bring you to the Hawk of the Shadows. I'll take your Eye here… and then I'll kill you."
"No, you don't have to kill him," Bethryl said quietly.
"Bethryl, stay out of this," Maereth replied as she began walking toward her.
She stopped when Ashar stepped into her path.
He smiled.
"Very well," he said. "If you can reach me, then so be it. But I should warn you, so long as that thing behind me is alive, you'll have to deal with him first."
"That thing is almost dead," Maereth replied.
"Then why do you think I've been talking so long?" Ashar said.
Maereth tensed.
"I've already used the Eye of Sophia on him and awakened his hidden energy. I've just been waiting for him to recover."
Behind Ashar, something impossible began to happen. The broken body of the Eastern Leader stirred, his breath returned, and the bull-like form twisted violently, bones cracking and reshaping, all while flesh stretched and warped until the creature transformed into something new: a serpent.
"It regenerated!" Issen shouted. "No way!"
"You have all fought well," the Eastern Leader said calmly. "But now it is finished. Because I was born of the One, and there is no other besides him."
Ashar seized Bethryl and fled into the city.
"How cruel," Bethryl murmured. "So disappointing."
Ashar said nothing.
He ran forward, and suddenly stopped.
Above them, the ceiling of the ancient city began to crack and collapse under the weight pressing down from above.
"It's too late," Bethryl said quietly. "They're already here."
Through the dust of the falling stone, she could see a figure approaching.
It was the Supreme Leader, only moments away.