Aren’s eyes widened as the place where Alysa had been standing collapsed into a spray of water. One blink later and she was already in front of him.

She’s...faster than before!

Her bow remained in one hand, forgotten almost entirely as the other swept forward with fingers curved like talons. Frost ether condensed over each nail, stretching them into jagged claws that almost ripped Aren’s throat out.

He barely managed to bring a sword up in time.

SCREECH!

The claws raked against the blade, carving grooves into the steel before the force tore through his guard and sent him sliding backwards across the flooded floor.

She didn’t give him any space to breathe. Alysa lunged again, almost feral and quadripedal in the way she moved. She twisted and sprang in violent, animalistic bursts. Her path was impossible to read as she darted left, then right, then straight through the center with another claw strike aimed at his throat.

Aren leaned back just enough to avoid losing his throat entirely. But even so, the tips dragged across his collar, drawing a thin line of blood.

"That’s it! That’s the red that I want to see!" Alysa twitched as she flew past him. "Give me a taste, I want a taste!"

What the hell happened to her?

But regardless, he had to retaliate, both swords crossing into a scisorring slash meant to catch her mid-step. Alysa snorted softly, planting one foot against the flat of his blade before vaulting over him.

Mid-air, she finally remembered the bow, pulling it out and firing a shot at point-blank range.

Aren twisted through muscle memory, the shot tearing through his right shoulder instead of his chest before exploding into numbing cold. Pain ran down his arm as ice crystallized from the wound, making it near-impossible for him to move his right arm.

She landed several meters away in a crouch, one hand to the floor, the other casually holding the bow, already looking at him like delicious prey.

...This looks bad. Can I afford to hold back anymore? If I use Full Morph as well, she’ll know that I have a Dragon Bloodline...!

But he didn’t have the time to think it over, as Alysa sprang again from the other side of the sewage processing facility.

Aren forced lightning ether into his legs and barely managed to match the first step, but the difference was obvious. She crossed the distance faster than he could properly react, claws slashing in wild cross-patterns that battered against his swords.

Some hits managed to slip through the smallest openings. One tore across his ribs while another clipped his thigh.

A third slammed into his guard so hard his wrists went numb.

Shit...she was hard to deal with before. This is on a whole different level...

Is the best course of action, to just...run? No, I can’t leave Miu and the rest alone here. She’ll definitely sniff them out if I do.

I need to make a commotion and escape with them.

Alysa jumped backward suddenly, boots skimming across the water as she created distance in a single bound.

She raised her bow, forming three arrows at once and loosing them immediately.

"Triple Shot!"

The shots curved mid-flight under the guidance of wind, forcing Aren to cut one, dodge the second, and take the third along his side as it burst in freezing shards.

Before he could recover, she already had. Alysa walked towards him slowly as she spoke.

"Ahhh...there you are," she sang, claws glowing brighter as she approached. "That face...I love that face that people make when they realize they might die!"

He staggered back half a step as she approached, breath uneven as frost crept farther along his right side. His fingers no longer responded properly. The sword hanging from the right side felt less like a weapon and more like dead weight.

"Do you finally feel like taking off that veil and showing yourself, bad boy?" she continued with a sly tone. "But ahhh! Actually, I changed my mind. If you’re handsome I’d feel bad killing you!"

Aren clicked his tongue, forcing himself upright.

His eyes swept the chamber once more, mind racing through broken machinery, flooded trenches, rusted catwalks, and possible exits. None of them were good enough. Not with his injuries and her speed, and especially not while Miu and the others were still somewhere nearby.

But that was when he felt it, a faint warmth brushed against his shoulder followed by a breath near his ear.

Aren spun instantly, sword already halfway raised—

Only to stop.

Miu stood beside him beneath a thin shimmer of warped light, her outline flickering at the edges where Light Refraction struggled to hold against the moisture in the room.

"What are you doing here?" Aren hissed under his breath. "Are you insane? It’s too dangerous."

"I know," Miu whispered back, not taking her eyes off Alysa. "But you’re losing."

"Wow, who would’ve thought?"

"You’re also holding back."

"..."

Miu glanced at him before lowering her voice even more so that Aren just barely caught it. "You’re scared to use that form because she’ll see it, aren’t you?"

Aren’s jaw tightened. Even now, with Alysa only meters away, Miu had still seen through him immediately.

"If I use Full Morph," he said quietly, "she’ll know my Bloodline isn’t normal and report it to her higher-ups immediately."

"Then don’t let her see it properly."

Aren frowned. "How do you expect me to—?"

Miu lifted one hand, light bending faintly around her fingers. "I can mask it with Light Refraction."

He stared at her for a moment, almost forgetting the danger in front of them. "You’ve never done that on something moving as fast as me before."

"No," she admitted. "But you’ll have to trust me."

Aren looked past her toward Alysa, who probably thought he was whispering a last prayer to whatever god above before the final strike.

Not like there’s a better option...

"Fine."

Relief flickered across Miu’s face for only a second before she straightened.

"Get the others moving," Aren continued. "The moment I engage her seriously, take them and run. Don’t stop until you’re clear of this place."

"Mmm," Miu nodded. "Got it, brother!"

"Again with this..." he frowned, but the end of his lips threatened to curve up in a smile as well.

Across the chamber, Alysa tilted her head, bloodshot eyes narrowing as she studied him.

"...How strange," she murmured. "You smell less tasty now?"

Lightning began to crackle beneath Aren’s feet as he dismissed Aqua Veil. He lifted a hand, sword pointing straight at her—

"You talk way too much."

"What—?"

Deep within his chest, past the exhausted channels of ether and the ache running through his battered body, something vast stirred in response. It had always been there, sleeping...but now, he needed its power. And he was going to draw it out, regardless of whether it wanted to help him or not.

"Full Morph."

The words left his mouth like a key turning in a lock. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Spiritual pressure boomed all around the surroundings as ether surged through every body in his body. It ran through his head before arriving at his forehead. The sensation felt like molten magma, lingering there before...

RIP!

Elegant blue horns swirling with electricity sprouted from his head.

Scales began to emerge across Aren’s body, pulling itself from below his skin before manifesting above it like a suit of armor. It raced along his collarbone and jaw before moving down to his arms. As soon as it reached the ice, the scales instantly ran straight through it, breaking him out of its ice prison.

A tail slowly grew from behind his back, growing so long that it managed to touch the floor.

The facility shook as water splashed up into the air, the droplets themselves seemingly frozen in time as they never arrived back onto the ground.

Aren opened his eyes, the black irises that were once there were now replaced by a radiant gold.

His senses were enhanced. He could hear the drip of leaking pipes from three levels above, smell the rust beneath the sewage stench...Felt the subtle shift of Alysa’s footing through vibrations in the water, and even the slight trembling on her lips as she watched.

Just before Aren lifted his gaze fully, a faint shimmer of light shone upon him.

From somewhere beyond Alysa’s line of sight, strands of wrapped light slid across his body like flowing silk. They wrapped around his horns, jagged scales, and sweeping tail, bending the details into something else entirely.

To Alysa’s eyes, the figure before her now looked like a blur, like an endless fog had covered her vision and refused to leave. His silhouette shifted unnaturally, as though it could not fully decide what form it wanted to take.

At the far edge of the room, hidden behind broken machinery, Miu’s fingers trembled as she maintained the Light Refraction with everything she had.

Good, she’s holding on. Now I have to as well.

He pointed at the Ghoul Division agent before muttering:

"Now it’s my turn."