Rui surged forward, the Sword of Mercy blazing like a comet in her hands. She moved like a streak of starlight, her body guided by instinct, fury, and love.
With one clean, final strike, she drove the blade deep into the Behemoth's exposed chest.
The moment the blade pierced its core, the beast let out a shuddering roar—deep and otherworldly, a sound that cracked the air like thunder.
A pulse of raw energy exploded outward from the wound, sending shockwaves across the scorched battlefield.
Cracks of pink-gold light spiderwebbed across its enormous body, radiating from the impact point like a living fracture.
Then, with a sound like thunder breaking stone, the Behemoth shattered.
Its colossal form crumbled into a storm of ash and luminous dust, swept into the wind like the remnants of a cursed god. The roar that had once deafened mountains faded into silence.
The crimson dome enclosing the battlefield flickered then dissolved, unraveling into motes of dying light.
Rui and Jin collapsed onto the scorched earth, their bodies giving out as the last dregs of adrenaline faded.
Rui's fingers remained loosely wrapped around the Sword of Mercy, its glow now subdued to a gentle pulse that matched her heartbeat.
"We did it," she whispered, her voice raw.
"Jin, we actually did it."
Jin lay beside her, chest heaving with exhaustion. A faint smile touched his lips as he reached for her hand.
"Zou! Kee Kee!" Rui called weakly. "It's over."
The fox demon and tiny beast guardian raced across the battlefield, kicking up ash and dust in their wake.
"My princess!" Zou cried, sliding to his knees beside her. "That was the most magnificent display of—"
"Shut up and help her sit," Kee Kee interrupted, headbutting Zou's ankle.
As Zou gently lifted Rui to a sitting position,
Jin suddenly convulsed. His back arched sharply, eyes flying wide as blood spurted from his mouth in a violent crimson spray.
His hands clutched at his chest, where an invisible force seemed to tear through him from within.
"Jin!" Rui screamed, lunging toward him. "What's happening?"
Kee Kee leapt onto Jin's chest, his tiny paws pressing against the monk's sternum. His eyes glowed as he peered deeper into Jin's essence.
"His life force is fleeting," Kee Kee growled, ears flattening against his head.
"What do you mean?" Rui demanded, panic rising in her voice.
"The Behemoth wasn't just a prisoner—it was his crutch."
----------------------
Rain battered the black-stone walls of the warlord's fortress, each gust of wind howling like a chorus of spirits outside.
Inside, a sickly boy lay wheezing on a threadbare mat, his breath shallow, eyes sunken with fever. Around him stood a circle of mages draped in crimson robes, their presence heavy with incense and indifference.
"His body grows weaker by the day," the elder mage said, his tone devoid of sympathy. "The sickness in his blood worsens. He will not survive to adulthood."
The warlord stood over his youngest son, his face carved from stone. His eyes showed no grief—only a cold assessment.
A son who would never ride into battle.
He was destined to never bring glory to their bloodstained name.
Unfit to bear the weight of his legacy.
"Then he is of no use to me," the warlord said flatly.
The mage's lips curved into a thin, calculating smile. "Not entirely."
He unfurled an ancient scroll, its parchment cracked with age, bearing a faded diagram—a summoning circle etched with runes of wrath.
"The Rageborn Behemoth," the mage said, tapping the center of the circle, "requires a vessel."
He glanced down at the child, whose small chest shuddered with each breath. "A human container strong enough to contain its fury. Most would burn away in seconds... but a child's spirit?"
He stepped closer, eyes gleaming.
"A child is pliable. Barely formed. And this one," he gestured dismissively. "He might as well be dead already."
"The beast's power would keep his body alive," the mage continued. "And should you ever wish to unleash such strength in battle..." He let the implication hang like a blade.
The warlord crossed his arms. "And if the ritual fails?"
The mage's smile didn't falter. "Then he dies. As he would have anyway."
Jin screamed as they painted ritual markings across his bare, fevered skin—symbols carved in blood and ash, cold against his flesh.
His tiny form writhed, but the crimson-robed mages held him still, chanting as the summoning circle beneath him began to glow.
"The vessel is weak," the elder mage said, "but sufficient."
A powerful rumble echoed through the fortress as red lightning surged from the circle, striking the child's body.
Jin's scream rose to a terrible pitch—then stopped.
His eyes, wide with terror, flashed a bright, unnatural red.
Then dimmed again to brown.
--------------------
"Jin's body was never able to survive on its own," Kee Kee said quietly, his voice stripped of its usual sarcasm.
"The Behemoth's power kept him alive all these years."
Rui's breath hitched. She turned to Jin in horror as his chest rose and fell in increasingly shallow waves.
"We have to do something!" she cried, chaos energy igniting in her hands.
Jin struggled to sit, his body trembling with effort. Rui rushed to his side, sliding her arms around him as he sagged against her.
"I'm here," she whispered, voice cracking. "I've got you."
Jin's eyes met hers—clear, even through the pain.
He lifted his arms with what little strength remained and pulled her into a fragile embrace.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Rui sobbed, burying her face into his shoulder.
"You were supposed to live. We freed you. You were supposed to live."
Zou stood silently nearby, his usual flamboyance washed away in the gravity of the moment. Even Kee Kee remained still, ears flat, his tail curled tight in mourning.
Jin's hand lifted to her cheek, smearing blood across her skin as he brushed her tears away.
"It was always going to end like this," he whispered.
Rui clutched at him, desperate. "No. No, it's not."
His hand fell from her face. His chest stilled and his expression softened as though the burden he carried had finally lifted.
The concept of death had always been abstract to her—demons lived for millennia, their existence stretching beyond human comprehension.
But here, cradling Jin's cooling form, death became brutally real.
"No," she whispered, rocking back and forth. "No, no, no."
Her tears fell onto his face.
Suddenly, a sharp, burning pain flared on her arms.
She gasped, clutching at the mark of Wrath etched into her skin. The symbol blazed with crimson light beneath her torn robes.
"The trial..." Kee Kee breathed, his voice was hollow. "It's complete."
Rui shook her head violently. "I don't care. I don't want it. I don't want any of it."
Her forehead pressed against Jin's, her tears mingling with the blood drying on his skin.
"What's the point of becoming heir… if I lose everyone I love?"
The ground trembled beneath them. Loose stones rolled across the battlefield as the earth began to split.
Zou's ears snapped upright.
"Princess!" he shouted, nine tails bristling in alarm. "Something's coming!"
Rui didn't move, still curled around Jin's body.
The air tore open with a sound like shattering glass.
A few yards away, the earth split open, revealing a yawning chasm filled with swirling darkness.
Unlike the fiery portal that had brought her to the Trial of Greed, this one pulsed with a cold, gray light that seemed to pull at the very air around it.
The portal expanded rapidly, its edges reaching outward like grasping fingers. The air around it grew heavy, filled with a crushing sense of loss that made breathing difficult.
An invisible force tugged at Rui, and her body began to slide toward the portal.
Zou wrapped his arms around Rui's waist, trying to anchor her.
"I won't let you go alone," he insisted. "If you must face this trial, at least let me—"
His words cut off as an invisible force yanked Rui from his grasp. She screamed, her body dragging across the ground toward the portal.
Her fingers desperately reached for Jin, but his form grew smaller as the distance between them increased.
"Zou!" she cried out, her voice breaking. "Please, I can't leave him like this!"
Zou lunged forward, his nine tails whipping frantically as he stretched his hand toward her.
Their fingertips brushed for a moment—a fleeting touch of warmth before the portal's pull became overwhelming.
"Princess!" Zou shouted, abandoning formality in his desperation.
He dove toward her, his body transforming partially into his fox form for greater speed.
But it was too late.
The last thing Rui saw was Zou's desperate face and Kee Kee's tiny form leaping toward the portal after her.
Then darkness swallowed her whole, and the world of the Crimson Battlefield—and Jin's body—vanished from sight.
The portal snapped shut with a thunderous boom, leaving Zou alone on the battlefield, his outstretched hand grasping at empty air.
He fell to his knees beside Jin's body, golden eyes blazing with determination.
"I will find her," he promised the fallen monk.
Zou placed a gentle hand on Jin's chest, a rare moment of genuine respect passing between demon and human.
"Rest well, monk," he whispered. "I will make sure our princess completes her trials."