From the Floating Breath to the Fire of Death

Ryder cursed under my breath, tightening his grip on me. I could feel him reaching for control.

“Damn it, Ash. I told you this wasn’t going to work. You can’t protect them all by yourself.”

“I won’t… if you keep helping me. You saved them, didn’t you?”

He paused, then replied, his voice softer, more human than ever:

“It was… the logical choice. In case we failed, we’d need them.”

“Just admit it you care. You don’t want them to die.”

“Perhaps.”

I blinked sweat from my eyes. The Guardian’s chest wasn’t glowing anymore. Its armor plates were peeling back in sequence, its vents widening, light bleeding through every seam. Each pulse of heat came with a fresh detonation under its skin—like it was priming itself to blow the whole chamber apart.

[CORE INSTABILITY: 97%]

Keiji pushed himself out of the rubble, coughing, his sword vibrating with unstable energy. His hair clung to his forehead, sweat hissing into steam as it dripped.

“Guess it doesn’t like me poking its knees,” he rasped.

“No kidding,” I muttered, swinging the chain again.

Keiji charged in with shield raised, sword lifted high. He slammed into the Guardian’s side, steel only chipping against scales ringing like a gong

The impact jolted him backward, rattling his bones. His shield cracked down the center in two halves but the beast barely flinched.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: Stamina levels low. Retreat Recommended]

Keiji staggered, his sword wobbling in his grip.

“Not… gonna… happen.”

He grinned, blood, stinging from his lips.“How is it looking, Lira?”

She had her eyes closed, air runes flaring along her throat as she whistled sharp enough to make teeth ache. Invisible arrows split into streams of wind, racing over the Guardian’s frame, searching. The beast convulsed, roaring as though something was probing past its armor. It reeled, turned—and fired at her but Keiji dove in, just in time.

“Stay…DOWN!” he snarled, boots digging a narrow trench in the stone as he split the fireball in two with a furious swing.

Lira didn’t stop. Veins on her throat darkened, racing up her face until blood welled from her eyes, streaking down like tears.

“Hold it!” she cried, her voice breaking against the whistle. “Just…hold...it a while longer! I don’t care if my lungs rip apart…I’m not letting this thing win!”

The Guardian’s chest cracked wider, forming into small cannon-like vents blooming across its back. The temperature spiked, my skin blistering just from standing close.

[CORE INSTABILITY: 98%]

Keiji’s eyes locked on me. “Ash! We don’t have much time!”

Or much strength for that matter. Keiji was right. I was running on fumes. Every nerve in my body screamed, pain couldn’t suffice to describe what I was feeling. I had to let Ryder take control. It was the only way.

“Ryder…take over…please.”

For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything. Then Ryder’s voice came through getting softer, breaking up like transmission”

“I…. can’t, Ash. Resonance… time…almost gone. But you don’t…need me…”

A bitter laugh escaped my throat. “…I really do.”

“…You can… save all of them. I admit… I didn’t want your friends to die… earlier… remember how I stopped that?”

“Yeah…vaguely. I remember the pain mostly.”

“…this next part will be worse,” his tone thinned, sputtering like a candle in the wind. “I’ll…try to shoulder some of the pain on my end…but you’ll bleed for this, Ash. Use…the chains…restrict the Guardian’s movements. If it fires… everywhere at once…getting to the core would be impossible.”

“So what now?”

“…Wait for an opening….” 

But then—Keiji.

He moved.

No—unleashed.

The air bent around him, a heatwave so dense, his sword was no longer steel anymore but pure fire. Each swing was a sunburst in chaotic bursts, too wild for human control, scorching arcs into the ground.

“Round two motherfucker!” he yelled.

The Guardian lunged, claws like avalanches, but Keiji met it head-on. His every step cracked stone, fissures burning in his wake, aura intensifying.

“Ash! Keiji! I almost have it.” she yelled, her arms trembling, the whistle peaking into a near-scream. An arrow of sound and light pierced beneath the Guardian’s scales, vanishing into the ridges of its back.

Her eyes snapped open, blood dripping down her cheeks.

“There…” she whispered, then louder, breaking into a cough, “…I got you, bastard.”

She screamed with all she had:

“It’s in the nape! The core’s anchored at the back of the neck!

Ryder’s voice came back faintly. “There’s your opening. Bind…the beast…give the hero a clear shot to the core.”

I nodded once at Lira. She could barely move—her head wobbled forward, the smallest of nods in return. That was all I needed. Just like her, I would give my all to see this through, pain be damned.

The chain scraped and screamed along the stone as I dragged it, each link felt heavy as lead. Keiji was already moving like lightning, his blade a blur, sparks spitting off every clash. I needed to give him the opening to finish it. My last attack—I had to make it count.

I let the chain spill free, then seized both ends, shrinking it down until it was as long as my arms.

I dove low, ribs crunching against the ground as I slid under a molten claw. Pain seared across my chest, but I didn’t stop. I lashed one coil around the Guardian’s left leg, then vaulted off a small boulder, using the momentum to swing back around. I extended the coil and locked tight around its right leg forming a line taut between them like a bowstring.

I extended the chain and passed between the legs once more, to the other side. The Guardian whipped its tail toward me. I swung under, rebounded off the chamber wall, catching the chain mid-swing and looped the tail locking in place. The beast bellowed and stumbled suddenly shackled at the knees, its massive weight buckling. The moment it planted its weight

—I pulled.

It pulled back harder—launching me off the ground. I landed hard on its flaming back, chains rattling. My eyes started to blur, I threw the last coil around its head, swinging down with leverage landing on the ground, pieces of flesh falling off.

The Guardian shook sideways, sending avalanches of flame from its joints. It yanked the chain , sending fire through it, burning me back. I wrenched down dragging the chain on the back of my shoulder, leaning with everything I had exposing the Guardian’s neck. My tendons tore off getting exposed, the soles of my feet grinding against the gravel. I could taste the blood rising up my throat but I swallowed it back down.

“KEIJI!” I howled. “FINISH IT!”

Keiji exploded forward. His sword burned in his grip like a star, he cut through a surge of flame, deflecting it with sparks showering off the rim. The flames singed his armor, smoke curling from his shoulder, but he didn’t falter. He sprinted toward the wall, boots hammering stone, then vaulted up the incline with terrifying speed.

The Guardian howled, straining against my burning chain. Its head snapped upward, chest convulsing with the final fire.

“AAARRH!” I bit down a scream, holding it back down, my palms charred resembling charcoal.

Keiji launched himself higher, slamming against the rock to rebound, flipping backward through a storm of embers. For a moment he was airborne, fire and dust whirling beneath him, the glow of a rune appeared across his arm like a comet trail.

And then—

His blade aligned with the glowing heart of the beast’s core.

“RRAAAHHHH!”

The strike cracked against the Guardian’s nape. Steel met molten flesh. The cavern lit with a scream that was half flame, half death. The Guardian’s core split wide, fire gushing outward in a sunburst before collapsing in on itself. My chain rattled, slipping from my hands as the Guardian thrashed one final time before crashing to the ground, fire bleeding from its wounds. The dungeon groaned with it, the air flickering intensively.

[CORE INSTABILITY: 0% - Merge Disrupted]

I staggered forward, lungs clawing for air. Lira stumbled beside me, coughing blood, her rune cracked and smoking. She fell to her knees beside me, shaking my shoulders.

“Stay with us…Ash…”

I heard a sharp ringing in my ear cutting her off. The world spun around me, blurring into images and faces.

Keiji stood amid the wreckage, glowing notifications spiraling before him. His arm blazed with the rune, burning orange.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: HIDDEN OBJECTIVE COMPLETED]
Rune Acquired: Fire
You have acquired the Guardian’s core.
New Title Unlocked: Fire Guardian
Reward: Fire Resistance +20%; Magna Control +38%

I felt Ryder’s voice fading, distant, almost proud.
“You did it… Ash.”

Barely, conscious I let go, the darkness puling me under and sank into black.