The sight of the onyx-skinned, faceless centaur was daunting in its own right; the blade-arms it possessed were larger than his entire body two times over; it easily trumped the size of the smaller buildings occupying the street.

“Back me up with your magic,” Roan said, “I can avoid getting hit, so try to focus on giving supporting fire.”

“Got it.”

Just like that, the seasoned adventurer was already setting off to engage the colossal beast as he sprinted in with a trail of lightning following his boots before he slid beneath a horizontal slash from the centaur.

A quick snap of his fingers allowed Roan to manifest a spark of fulmination, sending the crimson bolt against the centaur’s chest to momentarily stun it in the resulting impact.

..Now’s my chance! Emilio thought.

As he aimed his staff towards the giant entity, he manifested an onslaught of fireballs that shot out in consecutive blasts, sailing through the air in a glorious glow of orange.

“Salamander Breath,” it was a quick-release fire spell that allowed him to condense fireballs into faster-traveling projectiles that, once reaching their target–left a majestic explosion.

The impact of the dozen fireballs engulfed the onyx centaur in a swirl of inferno, mixing with the electricity of Roan’s creation as the man jumped back to avoid the heat.

“..Careful with that. Almost cooked me up,” Roan called out.

“Sorry,” he apologized quickly.

As the blaze dissipated, the onyx entity was revealed to harbor no wounds on its immaculate, steel-like body, as if carved out of perfect metal.

Not even a scratch..? Emilio thought.

Roan narrowed his eyes before zapping back into action; the strands of lightning around him hissed as he maneuvered around the array of swings from the centaur’s bladed arms. The length of the street rumbled from each of the colossus’ hooves moving about while it attempted to bisect the veteran adventurer.

Still, Roan had the advantage in agility; the ability to move as scarlet lightning allowed him utter freedom in movement as he evaded the entity’s attacks, countering with flicks of electricity._.

“Emilio!” Roan called out.

The signal given almost left the boy dumbfounded on what was expected of him for a moment, but he got an idea of his own once realizing that Roan’s lightning seemed to be mitigated by the centaur’s sturdiness.

..Let’s try this! He planned.

At the raise of his catalyst, the moisture in the air expanded before droplets of water were suspended in the space around him, swiftly gathering into one spot before a large, clear sphere of aquatic essence was formed.

“Water Sphere!”

The high-speed, condensed blast of water launched, crashing against the onyx-skinned centaur’s body. It was soaked entirely, but left unphased by the impact itself, only looking towards the boy with its non-existence eyes.

It began moving towards him now, readying its daunting arms as their edge was dragged along the cobblestone in a horrifying grating sound.

C’mon..! He thought.

He stood his ground as the stomps of the centaur caused the ground to vibrate against his boots, filling his eardrums with the anxious pounding of his own heart before–

ZAP.

“Blood Dragon Revolution,” Roan invoked.

A scarlet flash momentarily blinded even Emilio before a release of the unique lightning took the form of a beast’s jaws, clamping down around the massive entity’s form.

Due to the water that drenched its body acting like a conductor for the electricity, the centaur was completely immobilized by the disastrous shock as its body convulsed on the spot.

“Don’t just stand there! Hit it with all ya’ got!” Roan yelled out.

The red-haired adventurer was on the other side of the creature as he called out to Emilio, who quickly sprung into action.

..Everything I’ve got? What’s my best spell here? Something that specializes in firepower..He thought.

With that in mind, he invoked the heat with himself, letting it bubble up in his core before guiding the inferno throughout his body, visualizing the mana within him as flames before it manifested into a tangible form in front of his staff.

It was a disastrous spell that siphoned the strength from his body just to control it; the richness of mana required caused his muscles to cramp and the cobblestone around him to begin melting in the rising heat.

“Carve through fields of grass, lakes of water, and towers of rock! Bestow your destruction onto my enemies! Grand Fire Cannon!” He summoned.

A condensed beam of fire taken to its most potent heights was released in greater form than ever before used, matching the size needed to wipe out the humanoid torso attached to the top of the blade-armed centaur.

The sizzle of the beam filled the air as it burrowed straight through the centaur, taking only moments to do its job.

“..Huff..” He breathed out.

Like a robot, the centaur’s body shut-down with its arms dropping and what was left of its onyx torso leaning over as steam poured off of its form.

[Level Up!]

[Level Thirteen Achieved]

Roan looked up in surprise, “I’m not even going to ask how a kid came into that kind of power.”

“..It’s a good thing, right?”

“Right now? I’d say so,” Roan scratched his beard before gesturing for him to follow, “Alright–let’s keep moving. I don’t want to wait around for the cavalry to arrive.”

As they moved forward, the belly of the beast was found as any semblance of Larundog’s normalcy was discarded by the grotesque scenery laying deep within the city’s bounds. A thick veil acted like a border to the heart of Larundog, prompting the two to pause for a moment before entering.

“I don’t know if you can feel it, but that malevolent mana is thickest right behind this fog,” Roan said.

“..Yeah..” He nodded.

It wasn’t just sensed; the aura was so potent that it burned the back of his throat as he inhaled the air, feeling his body run over with goosebumps.

“Be ready, kid, this seems to be the Unending Nightmare’s domain–I bet if there are survivors, they were probably lured in here,” Roan warned him quietly, “I might not be able to cover for you.”

“I can handle myself.”

“Good,” Roan replied.

Into the veil of fog, he was immediately met with an entirely different sight; the cobblestone was covered in grime as if painted black; buildings were decrepit and swallowed by mounds of flesh and gunk.

Somehow, trees sprouted between the cracks in the stone roads, growing into wicked, twisted statues of hollow that had bodies hanging from them like abhorrent Christmas decorations.

The air was laced with a putrid stench as the amount of corpses was denser than any other spot; a layer of fog hung over the sector of the city like a ceiling of dreadful clouds.

“..What is this..?” He questioned.

More than that, as he looked to the side, there was no sign of Roan beside him.

Out from beneath his feet, the safety and reliability of the strong, seasoned adventurer was gone as he was left alone in the hellscape that existed on a different scale of dread.

Even worse, as he turned back to try and leave through the wall of fog, it rejected his attempt; the smooth mist reshaped itself into the frightening face of a demon with a contorted smile that knocked him back.

What happened..? We got separated..? How? He thought.

“Roan..? Roan!” He called out.

Nothing.

It was eerily silent in the enclosed sector of the city; the heart of Larundog which evil embedded itself, seeded into the very roots of it.

This was the ‘endgame’ of the Unending Nightmare; a weaving of his greatest fears into one.

That was confirmed as he picked himself up, slowly walking closer to the tree of blackened bark as he recognized a body hanging from one of the branches.

It was lifeless, hanging there with wounds that seemed to have dried out the blood within the body of the black-haired, dark-skinned figure.

“..Vandread..?”

Seeing the sight of his lifeless companion caused his heart to begin beating like a drum in his chest–

BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP.

Emotions instantly skyrocketed as the Dragonheart blood pumped into his veins; this was further intensified as the other bodies hanging from the crooked tree revealed themselves to him.

Julius. Treyna. Irene. Celly. Reno.

The sight of them caused his heart to beat with such violent force that he felt his blood run through his veins like molten, beginning to emit a heat from his body that caused heat waves to propel off of him.

Just before the Dragonheart took control, he clutched his chest, trying to stabilize his breathing as he sweated profusely.

..Calm down..it’s just an illusion–a trick! He told himself.

As he convinced himself of this, the veil was pulled from his eyes as he looked up, finding the hanging corpses to be unrecognized strangers.

It was still a horrific sight, but the rage burning inside of him quelled itself.

Still, his chest was tight and filled with a sharp, visceral pain that compromised him. This was worsened once he looked up, finding himself not alone from danger in the heart of the city–

Something lurked in the sea of fog above; shadows of whale-like behemoths, swimming through the fog were seen.

The call of a whale reverberated as one of the shadows loomed over him like a passing cloud, finding himself stunned by the size of the leviathan that lurked in the fog.

..Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. Control it..! He told himself.

As he gripped his chest, he struggled to stifle the fear, feeling the ominous threat of the fog-lurking behemoth growing closer the more his heart thumped.

It won’t come..it won’t..! He assured himself.historical

Forcing the fear from his heart through brute force, it seemed to work as once his heart rate descended, the shadow of the whale above turned away.

A sigh of relief expelled itself, though he knew his trials were long from being over as stomps resonated through the streets.

More entities..? He thought.

Either way, he wasn’t sticking around to find out as he moved quickly and quietly, ducking into an alleyway.