Kiro’s eyes widened as a vast aura flared around him. Elemental mana poured outwards at a prodigal rate, permeating the already saturated air with even more energy as the Silver Storm hungrily drank it up.

He tried to wrench his hand away, but Rynn’s grip was unbreakable.

“I have to say, you almost had me.”

Before he could even register, a flaming fist slammed into his torso, sending him flying back in a spray of blood.

His former friend emerged from the smoke, his flying sword circling smoother and faster than ever before. “Ah, Soul Formation… it’s even better than I thought.”

In a single leap, Rynn soared above him, swinging downwards with a colossal blade of conjured ice.

He frantically rolled out of the way, his shroud burning so bright that the stone beneath him was beginning to scorch. He threw out a blanket of fire, but a spiraling spike of earth burst through it, nearly impaling him as it shot up to his neck. Then, as quick as lightning, a blade of wind slashed him across the chest, eliciting a scream as it impacted against already-cracked ribs.

Rynn growled, and stone shot up from the ground, imprisoning him faster than he could react. “I thought you said that you were done running.”

With a flick of his wrist, the flying sword flew over the man’s shoulder, bearing down on him like a vulture circling prey.

Kiro struggled in his earthen prison, but his weak fire-filled straining was no match for rock conjured by a Second-Circle mystic.

“Now, you die.”

The sword responded to its master’s command, glowing blood-red in the flames as it inched forwards. He willed his body to move, but his reactions were too slow, his movements too sluggish. Fire burst from his shroud, hotter than it had ever gotten before, but even that wasn’t enough.

As soon as that blade pierced his heart, it would all be over. All his efforts, every sacrifice he had made, all of Aer’s training, gone. Rynn would take Seira to that Saint’s sect, and he would never pay for his master’s death. Their master’s death.

The elixir burned hot in his veins, his previous imbuement circling in a frenzy as it desperately tried to execute his will. A veritable hurricane of power drew into him, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t enough.

He reached out to Seira, grabbing their bond like he would grip her hand if she were here. If he had to go, he would at least do it as close to her as he could manage. She would be the first one to know...

But then she would be all alone. She would continue to suffer, at the hands of Rynn and the volcanic Saint. Time and time again, he had been unable to stop the world from beating her down, and now, he would never be able to.

He closed his eyes, helplessness and regret filling him more than the fear of death ever could.

Goodbye, Seira.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open, and he frantically rallied himself.

In his mana sense, another otherworldly string flared, crackling like electricity next to the smooth channel connecting him to his sister. Without thinking, he funneled everything into it, latching onto something, anything to let him live. He needed to, for Seira.

His core emptied into the connection, and something spread from his core, making his arm spasm as it made its way to the palm of his hand. There, something flickered into existence. He struggled against his restraints, heart pounding as he tightened his grip on Rain. Still, there was no time for shock. The flying sword flashed forwards, and he activated the blade’s rune.

If anything, the barrier was even more powerful this time. His mana drained, and the rock holding him in place was blasted apart by forceful wind, pelting Rynn with his own attack as the conjured dome roared to life from his skin.

He had made it! He was alive! But it wasn’t over.

He gritted his teeth, funneling his rapidly replenishing mana into the rune. Then, he dumped out his bag of holding, instantly drawing the energy out of a half dozen miscellaneous pills and elixirs. This was incredibly inefficient compared to consuming them, but right now he didn’t have the time to be efficient. The mana rushed into his channels, and combined with the Silver Storm’s effects, even while he was maintaining Rain’s barrier, his core was filling.

Still, it wouldn’t be enough. As soon as the influx died, he’d be out and back to square one. So he reached through his connection with Seira again, trying as hard as he could to convey his need.

Please, Seira. Help me.

For an agonizing second, she remained silent, and then her core thrummed to action. Hot, stinging green flooded his spirit, and he instantly circled it through his channels.

His foundation was incomplete, and every second that he held Seira’s destructive mana in his core was another second of mild damage, but none of that mattered. All he had to do was live.

Your core is as solid as rock, yet as fluid as air. As weighty as the sea, yet as light as mist. As substantial as reality, yet as fleeting as dreams.

Rynn slammed into the wind barrier with a molten hammer, and his mana levels dropped. It was instantly refilled by the Silver Storm, but Kiro clenched his fist. It wouldn’t be enough! His influx from the concoctions would run out before he was full.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, coughing. He was already dying, and if he didn’t advance now, he wouldn’t be able to ever. He sighed. Well, seeing as he had an electric channel in his core and he was already taking in foreign aspects, he might as well go all the way.

Shaking, he forced the entirety of the lightning mana gathered from the Silver Storm into his channels. His spirit screamed as the coursing energy invaded his core, and he realized just how lucky he was that he and Seira had adjacent aspects.

With her mana, at least he could control it. At least he could use it for techniques, though it was unwieldy and it burned at the edges of his spirit. With lightning… it took all his will just to keep it from coursing through his body and stopping his heart.

Another mass slammed into the barrier, and he nearly lost control. Panic welled up in his throat, and he searched his spirit for something, anything to help him. The lightning lashed out at his fire, and even more mana was consumed in an agonizing flare of light. Yet, at the edges of his core, he saw that Seira’s aspect was staying strong, rejecting the electrifying reactions and even absorbing some into its own mass. Of course! It was a higher aspect than his! He funneled her still-going flow around the lightning, creating a barrier between the violent energy and his own mana.

Even more mana flooded his core, and he finally reached full capacity. This was it. His spirit trembled, and he forced himself to take a breath despite the frantic conditions. If he failed this, Rynn wouldn’t even need to kill him.

Forcing his mana into motion, he let go of the flow to Rain’s rune — for this, he would need every ounce of concentration that he had. At the same time, he took in even more lightning, struggling to contain it with Seira’s mana, which was also flooding in. Running his body on habit and stray thoughts, he reached into the dumped contents of his bag of holding, grabbing Aer’s jade slip and tying it to Rain with a bit of string. Then, he tossed them both into the nearby brush.

He wanted something else to remember her by.

The barrier gradually dwindled, and Rynn stood before him, giving a slight tilt of his head as he examined him in his mana sense. “Did you think to kill yourself, so that your honor would be spared? Go ahead, I’ll let you finish the job. You fought better than someone with your talent should have.”

Kiro looked up to him, trying to muster up a grateful nod. “I thank you, honored mystic.”

Then, he ignited his mana.

An explosion of energy burst inside him, and he screamed. His foundation was slightly imperfect, but more than that, he was using three aspects to power his ascension, one of which wasn’t even close to the one packed into his core.

Your core is as solid as rock, yet as fluid as air.

It was possible, but as beams of chaotic power speared out from his abdomen, it was hard to believe that he wasn’t actually committing suicide. At first, he tried to get the reaction to expend the lightning first, but after the first few seconds the torrent of released mana grew so large he couldn’t even try. Blood leaked from his ears, and more flooded his throat, turning his screams to pitiful gurgles. Still, in his mind, he persevered.

As weighty as the sea, yet as light as mist.

Iron will forced the energy into the walls of his core, and it gradually deformed, turning first into a melted blob, then to a rippling pool, then to a gaseous state. Still, the reaction wasn’t complete. This might have looked like a nascent soul, but it would be blown apart by the slightest breeze. The ignition of his mana reached a crescendo, and his core dissolved completely.

As substantial as reality, yet as fleeting as dreams.

His muscles spasmed to the point of tearing and blood steadily leaked from his skin, but he ignored the pain. Every ounce of his being, of his conscience, of his will, he poured into the empty space where his core should have been.

Then, as if it had always been there, his core pulled itself back together, a wispy ball of red stained with specks of green and yellow.

It was imperfect, perhaps the most imperfect soul to have ever been made, but it was there. His eyes rolled up in the backs of their sockets, and he collapsed on the floor, every ounce of his energy spent.

Faintly, he could hear Rynn's steps get closer, and killing intent flared around him.

“You failed.”

Something whipped through the air, and through the sense of elation, he could just barely recognize the sensation of burning hot metal cutting through his throat.