Primus and Steve reacted to my message immediately. The air around them tightened. Their movements sharpened. The Phantom must have sensed the shift too, because its aura strengthened and the deathmist around its body thickened into a dark armor.
But neither of them gave it time.
Steve moved first, lightning bursting from his legs in a straight line as he shot toward the Phantom. His sword flashed with darkness, each step cracking the air. The Phantom swung its greatsword at him, but Steve twisted at the last moment and sliced along its ribs. A thin line of black blood sprayed out.
Primus followed right behind, flames roaring across his body. He struck the Phantom’s front while Steve struck from the side. Their attacks overlapped perfectly, one impact after another, each hit driving the Phantom back through the sky.
The Phantom tried to raise its knee again, but Primus blocked it with a blade of fire. Steve ducked under a sweep of the greatsword and cut the Phantom’s leg. A deathmist spike formed behind the Phantom, but Primus burned it before it could move.
The creature finally growled, its voice echoing like grinding metal. "You insects... you think you can pressure me?"
It swung its sword in a wide arc, blasting a wave of deathmist to push them back.
Steve slid away with a burst of lightning. Primus stood his ground.
Flames and deathmist collided in front of him. The shockwave knocked debris from the ruined city below and sent a few demons tumbling midair. Primus didn’t blink.
Then his fire changed.
I saw it first, his Essence shifting, the temperature rising, the blood in his veins swirling faster. He bit his thumb, just enough to draw blood, and traced a quick pattern across his arm. The blood absorbed into his skin like ink disappearing into cloth.
His flames burst upward, twisting into spirals of red and gold.
His heartbeat rang across the air.
There it was, Bloodreaver Sacrifice.
Not a huge sacrifice. Not deadly. Just enough to augment his physical power and Essence output for a short time. Enough to finish the fight.
His eyes flared with a new light. "Steve. Keep hitting it."
Steve grinned wide. "On it."
They moved together again.
Steve struck low, slicing the Phantom’s legs each time it tried to stabilize its stance. Primus hit high, smashing flames into its arms and shoulders, forcing it to block at awkward angles.
The Phantom tried to teleport, but Primus’s intent locked onto it. His flame pressure disrupted the creature’s movement, making each attempt flicker and fail.
Steve dropped lower, lightning crawling across his skin like living threads. I felt the sudden spike in his Essence output, it flared recklessly, violently, the way it always did when he used something dangerous.
His eyes sharpened.
"[Storm Laceration]!"
The sky boomed.
Lightning erupted from his body, not in one direction but in every direction at once. The air whipped around him, pulled into spinning funnels that wrapped his arms and sword. His figure blurred until he vanished into a streak of violent light.
He hit the Phantom from the right, each slash a burst of electricity that carved through its flesh.
Before the Phantom reacted, Steve appeared above it and sliced downward, a diagonal streak of crackling light. He flickered behind it immediately after, cutting again, the sound sharp enough to split stone.
His body became pure momentum, pure speed, a storm given form. Slashes rained on the Phantom from every angle, each blow leaving bright, lightning-shaped cuts on its skin. The arcs of energy looked like claws tearing through reality.
The Phantom raised its sword to defend, but Steve was already gone, appearing at its left shoulder and carving deep into its arm. A surge of lightning burned through the wound, forcing the Phantom’s body to jolt violently.
Steve pushed harder, Essence burning off him like smoke. His clothes fluttered wildly in the storm he created, and every time he appeared, a sharp thunderclap echoed across the sky.
Slash.Flash.Strike.
Over and over, the Phantom was forced backward, its movements losing rhythm as lightning tore through its defenses. The creature’s armor of deathmist cracked, breaking apart under the violent pressure.
Steve landed the final strike across its chest, an X-shaped lightning cut that split its front armor wide open and sent a burst of black blood into the air.
The Phantom staggered. And Steve appeared some distance away breathing heavily.
Primus was waiting for exactly that.
He raised his sword above his head. Flames spiraled around it like a spinning sun. His blood channels glowed red under his skin, carrying Essence through his entire body.
"[Infernal Heartburst]!" he roared.
He came down in a diagonal slash that tore the air open. The blade left a burning path behind it, the shape almost like a ripping comet streak.
The Phantom blocked with both hands, its greatsword shaking violently. The impact threw sparks of flame and deathmist across the battlefield. The creature’s knees bent, almost buckling.
Steve flashed behind it and stabbed straight through its side, twisting his blade to tear open the wound.
The Phantom spat blood. Not normal blood, black, sticky, almost tar-like.
Its voice broke with rage.
"You dare—!"
Primus didn’t let it finish.
He ignited his blood channels again. His skin flushed with heat. His sword blazed even brighter, nearly white at the center. He swung again, faster this time.
Every time the Phantom tried to pull away, Steve cut its path. Every time it lifted its sword, Primus struck its arms. Every time it prepared a deathmist ball, Steve sliced it apart mid-formation.
The Phantom couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t stabilize. Couldn’t build a counterattack.
It was the first time in this battle the Transcendent looked truly trapped.
And I watched the moment build.
The instant when the Phantom’s stance fell apart, when its sword drifted a little too far away from its chest, exposing its body, I acted.
I froze the space around the Phantom.
Half a second was all Primus needed. He activated the same skill.
"[Infernal Heartburst]!" he roared. He swung downward with everything he had left.
The explosion lit up the entire capital. Flames erupted in a pillar around the Phantom. The shockwave hurled broken buildings aside like paper.
Every demon shielded their face from the heat.
And as the flames swallowed the Phantom, Knight appeared behind it. Shadows wrapped around the Phantom’s half-burned body.
Before even Primus realized what was happening, Knight seized the creature and vanished again into the fold of space.
The flames rolled outward, leaving nothing behind but burning air and drifting sparks. For a heartbeat, not even the wind moved.
The entire battlefield froze.