Emil

"You've gotten better," Melody said, her voice shockingly clear despite her battered appearance.

Emil watched her, wary. His fingers and legs quivered incessantly, driven by the drugs and adrenaline flush in his veins. The back of his head throbbed with a sharp sting. The muscles felt tense as though pinching against the edge of his skull. Was this a symptom of Overclock? Or were the effects of the drugs he injected earlier beginning to wear off?

Why can't I move?

The torrential rain bellowed in his ears as though berating him for his inaction. His enemy was in front of him. Injured. Exhausted. She looked like she had already crossed half a step into the death's doors. The logical move was to go for the kill. Finish her off. Eliminate of the one members of Vigil who had been terrorizing Ardair. Avenge all of the deaths caused by their sick games.

And yet, he remained frozen, unable to will a single muscle to move.

What's going on?

Did he feel some sort of compassion for his former classmate?

No. Definitely not. Melody was barely an acquaintance to him—she was just someone who happened to also attend the Academy at the same time. Their brief interaction during the Clash of Dawn could be considered memorable, sure, but it was only because he had sorely puzzled by her forwardness.

Was he hesitant about striking down a young lady?

No. Steiger had long removed his hesitance when it came to killing. Gender, race, it was all the same to him. Age—well, he might still hesitate if asked to strike down a child. Regardless, the weight of Melody's crimes had already erased any inhibition within Emil.

"Your growth really is monstrous. I can't even recognize you anymore," she said gleefully as though lamenting her own deficiencies.

Emil shivered.

The truth was much simpler.

Every hair on his arm stood up straight. Every nerve tensed, straining to note any split-second changes in Melody's stance. His breaths quickened in anticipation. Every instincts in his body screamed at him to be wary as though a single missed step would lead to his unthinkable end.

Despite looking half-dead, Melody radiated the presence of a monster.

The bloodlust emanating from her body grew mad and feral. Like a desperate animal on its last legs, driven only by its instincts to survive.

"Ah, I'm going to lose at this rate! Me? Am I going to leave Kleine all alone? No way! Never again! I made a vow! I can't break a promise! It's impossible, improbable, unimaginable!" she muttered madly as though fighting a battle inside of her own head.

Without warning, mana inundated her body.

"Eviscerate!"

The command was accompanied by a desperate cackle. Melody swung her arms down. The mana gathered in her body was ejected outwards. Emil watched the energy weave into phenomenon. Melody's Gift. A harsh screech scratched the air. The source was a pair of wind blades soaring for his head.

"Bastion!" he intoned out of panic.

A protective wall emerged before the path of twin projectiles. The wind blades cleaved into the stone construct, shredding the wall into three disparate chunks like they were paper. Sand fumed the air. With his line of sight momentarily cut off, Emil hesitated.

Melody's mad laugh wormed into his ears.

The girl emerged from the ruins of his broken wall, somehow crossing the distance between them in an instant. The air around her swirled with murderous intent.

Emil launched a right hook empowered by Mana Arts. Melody jerked to the side to evade the blow. Her upper body was nearly parallel to the earth, yet she continued her assault without slowing down. Wind currents in her proximity kept her balance as she slithered into Emil's blind spot.

"Die!"

She lunged, a pocket of air currents in her hand forged into a high-frequency dagger. Emil's perception traced the attack. It was aimed at the left side of his torso. At the last second, Bulwark materialized a layer of armor to block it. It wouldn't be enough, however. Emil knew immediately, recalling how his stone had been cut apart just earlier. At the same time, he pushed down with his hand, trying to divert the trajectory of Melody's thrust.

He felt the pressure of the wind dagger against his torso. Cracks in the hastily made armor splintered. The dagger wormed closer, trying to reach the vital organs hidden beneath. Emil's hand then struck Melody's wrist. The force sent her arm down as she continued her advance.

Squelch!

The dagger drew a line down the length of his left thigh. Blood gushed out. The pain was faint, thanks to the effects of the drugs still in his veins. Narrowly evading a lethal hit, he prepared his counterattack.

Melody was already moving.

Her left hand barreled towards his chest. A palm strike. His eyes somehow missed her. Did she already anticipate that he would block her dagger? Or was she simply much faster than he could keep up?

"Ngh!"

Her palm slammed into his chest with the force of a cannon. He reeled, hearing the crack of his ribs. But the attack wasn't over. The palm strike was imbued with wind element. The latter rippled and resonated deep into his body, ravaging his insides.

Emil stumbled backwards. His heels dug into the ground. Bulwark barely kept him upright. The inside of his body suddenly felt bloated by an oppressive pressure. The invasive feeling only intensified as the seconds passed, quickly growing increasingly painful. Unable to hold it back, he gagged. Blood and gore pried itself out of his mouth. The agony within his body felt insidious and invasive.

Melody gave him no time to rest.

"Gut him!"

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A pair of wind blades flew at him again. He willed himself to move, but his body was unresponsive. The bloated sensation in his limbs suppressed any attempt to evade. Desperate, he only managed to raise his arms in a cross guard as the twin wind blades arrived.

Squelch!

Emil's head blanked. The wind blades seared into his flesh, slicing apart tendon and sinew, digging straight to bone. If he hadn't strengthened them at the last second with Mana Arts, his arms would have been severed cleanly at the elbow. Two deep gashes were left in the aftermath instead.

His arms dropped to his side. The bloated sensation was gone—replaced by throbbing agony. His vision was shaky, his head pounding without stop. The incessant rain only worsened the discomfort, the pattering resounding with his nausea. He was veering on Overclock. Mana Arts was no longer an option unless he wanted to lose himself.

What do I do?

Melody's insistence on using Mana Arts made him forget that she had a Gift of her own. It gave her an entirely different dimension to her combat prowess. With Mana Arts, she was a devastating warrior who overwhelmed her foes with sheer power. With her Gift, she turned into a vicious assassin who was fast and lethal. Emil was suddenly reminded of Melody's feats while she was still undercover at the Academy. She had won the previous Clash of Dawn and was bestowed the moniker, "the Zephyr." A nod to her speed. People had often said that if it weren't for Liesel, the title of Ardair's Prodigy might have belonged to her instead.

I can still win.

He nearly defeated the current Prodigy at the Clash of Dawn finale with just Bulwark. And his opponent didn't even match up to that title. All he needed was an opportunity to get out of the rain.

I'm not far from one of the blast zones.

He had been standing guard to stop the Thanatos inmate from escaping into the Canticle. He had realized before that the locations of the bombs were specifically chosen to create makeshift entrances into the underground sewers.

Emil raised a wave of stone protrusions between him and Melody. Meanwhile, he spun and run towards the nearest blast zone.

"What's wrong?! Getting cold feet?! You're supposed to keep the dance going!"

Emil didn't bother looking behind him. Sharp winds resounded in his ears followed the collapse of his stone constructs. He ignored it; focused on reaching his destination. He cursed the heavy feeling in his legs. His chest throbbed as his broken ribs stabbed near his lungs. The rain battered his wary body, weighing him down with their persistent fall.

Melody's gleeful laughter only grew closer.

Come on!

He was almost there. He could see the rubble from the devastated blast zone. Amongst the ruins was a makeshift entrance to a reservoir. The Canticle.

"Gotcha!"

Squelch!

Something stabbed into the side of his torso. Emil grimaced. He bit into his lips to stay conscious. Bulwark activated as he grabbed onto Melody's wrist. Stone armor spread across both of their bodies, glueing them together.

"You clingy wench! Get ready for round three!"

With all his might, he stomped the ground.

Fractures rippled through the earth as the area suddenly collapsed. Emil felt his legs under him as they descended into the darkness of the Canticle.

Anna

Flesh Devourer's mangled body laid grisly on the ruined grounds. His head nearly severed from his neck, barely held together by the few strands of sinew and bloody tissue. Despite the fatal appearance, mana began to radiate from his body.

Anna screamed for Kai to crush his brain. The Thanatos inmate should have been dead, but his regeneration continued to keep him alive, forcing him to defy death. Kai launched several water shivs at the glowing body. He was about to send himself into melee while the mana around Flesh Devourer suddenly surged. The azure light engulfed his vessel, spiraling with violence. Kai's water shivs were knocked aside by the ensuing mana storm.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kai demanded, his voice frantic.

Anna stared at the azure storm encircling Flesh Devourer. The mass of mana continued to grow without rest. She felt a looming presence beneath the spiraling energy. Malice filled the air. Dissonant noise cackled as the mana took on a murderous quality.

…Is he being consumed by his Gift?

The condition for this phenomenon was simple—an Exalted had to lose control of the mana coursing through their body. An Exalted's constitution had a natural affinity towards mana. It desired it. It yearned for it. The feeling of the azure energy permeating the body was comfortable and enthralling. When an Exalted's will can no longer rein in their body's natural tendency to desire mana, then they were considered to be consumed by their Gift.

The most common cause of this condition was succumbing to the symptoms of Overclock. Living beings were not suited to prolonged exposure to mana. It induced toxic effects on the body, poisoning blood, pushing internal organs beyond their natural limits, amongst other nasty afflictions. It also eroded the mind. It stroked the host's violent instincts, turning them into voracious beasts. The combination of these deteriorations often led to an Exalted to be consumed by their Gift.

Anna reached this conclusion easily because she had been resolved to turn herself into a mindless monster just moments ago. Kai's arrival changed things, but now they had another problem to deal with.

The mana storm began to dissipate. Flesh Devourer's silhouette became distinguishable under the spiraling energy.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

"A-Anna, you better explain this shit! What the hell am I looking at?!" Kai stammered.

She wanted to scream. Fear seized her mind in a chokehold. Her entire body was shaking. Cold sweat drenched her back. She wanted to run. She really did. It would have been so easy to get away from this mess and absolve herself all of responsibility. She was just a young lady. Not even a full-fledged graduate of the Academy yet. The adults who were supposed to be stopping this disaster had gone missing. It was their fault. She did what she could. Who could blame her for wanting to save herself from the monstrosity before her?

Flesh Devourer's new form stood over eight meters tall. The relentless effects of his regeneration had warped his constitution. Pulsating masses of muscles and flesh bulged out of the abomination. His legs were as wide as tree trunks with misshaped limbs protruding from the base. His torso seemed to be merged with his head. Most of his face was now made up his mouth. The wide, gaping jaw was permanently locked open. Sharp, serrated teeth the size of swords lined the edges of the cavity. A long, fleshly tongue dangled out. His bloody eyes were wide with terror, flickering about as though there were still a semblance of intelligence in his monstrous form.

Anna bit into her lips. It took every ounce of her willpower to force herself to stay still and not break into a mad sprint.

Mom and dad are still nearby. Don't you dare run!

She reached for her Azurite accessory on the ground. But the moment her hands made contact with the stone her mind trembled in agony.

Goddammit!

She was still suffering from the effects of Overclock. She gripped her head with her nails, trying to fend off the vicious headache by inflicting pain of her own.

"Anna, can you please talk to me?!" Kai pleaded, still gawking at the monstrosity.

"Shut up!" she hissed, wincing from the relentless headache, "…That's Flesh Devourer. An inmate of Thanatos. Like his moniker suggests, he eats human flesh to grow stronger. His Gift grants him augmented strength, regeneration, and the ability to grow body parts at will to use as weapons. And now he's a disgusting monster after being consumed by his Gift."

Kai stared at the abomination in silence, taking in the new information. Anna blinked. Water splashed against her face. Rain. The skies had darkened since the beginning of this terrible confrontation. The drizzle quickly grew violent as water pooled along the ruins of the Black Shoal.

Flesh Devourer started to move. His large bloody eyes darted about with a frenzied intensity. His tongue was left dangling, slobbering drool dripping from the ends. Each step he took sent shockwaves into the earth.

It's looking for a meal.

Even after he had been warped into a monster, his appetite hasn't changed. If anything, those gluttonous instincts seemed to be only thing left of him.

"I'm guessing you're in no position to fight?" Kai asked.

Anna glanced down at her battered body. The ends of her finger were tainted with a bluish hue. Another symptom of Overclock. She might seriously go over the edge if she tried to use Volt right now.

"…Sorry, I need some time," she said, grimacing.

"Then for now, try to stay out of my way. Maybe look for a method to take this monster down if you're up for it," Kai said, forcing a conniving smile on his face. He sounded much more confident than he looked. His arms and legs were shaking and the edges of his eyes quivered with fear. Still, his feet remained glued to the ground, betraying no signs of wanting to run.

"Are you sure?"

"Y-Yeah. Of course! This will be fun," he said, feigning a laugh as though resigned to his fate. Mana began to gather in his hands.

"It's raining after all. I'm always confident in the rain."

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