Drifter stared ahead, his gaze sharp. The heavy rain blurred his vision slightly, but his eyes remained locked on the approag gray silhouettes.

  Heavy footsteps echoed, growing louder with each passing sed as the distance closed. Then, in an instant, dozens of blue sigils fred to life in the air—f blue spectral swords in a deadly formation.

  He noticed the Graklings and Graklors suddenly spread out, moving to encircle them.

  "Damn it… They're trying to surround us," he muttered, his voice tense.

  Drifter vanished in a burst of blue particles, telep to his right where he immediately ehe horde of gray creatures. His dark gray sword sshed through the air, leaving behind blue streaks, while blue projectiles shot from his left hand.

  The smaller gray creatures, graklings with dark elemental cws, swiped at him. He dodged with expert precision, casting Exalt Barrier, a transparent blue barrier, to parry ining attacks.

  The more muscur Graklors stood steady behind, rarely stepping forward. The battle unfolded in a deadly rhythm of attacks, parries, and dodges.

  Behind him, Nadia and Alma held their ground, ung fiery projectiles and golden-green crystalline shards. They were supported by Drifter’s spectral swords, which struck relentlessly. Some creatures fell, but the Graklors tered, their heavy ons blog aaliating.

  Drifter noticed the enemy formation tightening, surrounding them in a plete circle. One by ohe Graklors stepped forward, attag with dark thrusts, sshes, and cleaves. Just as a Graklor’s dark spear lu Alma, and several Graklings charged at Nadia with dark energy cws sshing ferociously, Drifter’s spectral swords intercepted the attacks.

  Alma responded with a fire tornado, iing the attackers, while Nadia summoned boulders that crushed the remaining Graklings.

  It’s too many... I 't protect them all... Drifter thought.

  Nadia materialized stone barriers to block the ining attacks, but the Graklor’s dark axes cleaved through them, shattering her defenses with ease. Alma raised his arm, his red sigil growing rger as he cast a barrage e fireballs that tore through the advang creatures.

  As the remaining Graklings pressed forward, Nadia cast Petrifying Blossom, summoning a massive stone flower that radiated deadly energy. In mere moments, the wave of Graklings froze mid-charge, their bodies turning to stoatues.

  Amidst the chaos, a deep growl echoed as heavy footsteps grew louder. Nadia quickly materialized a sturdier stone wall, but the enormous Grakthor emerged, its massive tusks glowing with dark energy. With terrifying speed, it rammed the barrier and Nadia's stone flower, shattering them to rubble in an instant.

  Drifter, Nadia, and Alma leaped aside just in time to avoid the chargi. The Grakthor plowed through its own forces, sending horde of Grakling flying.

  Rec quickly, Drifter unleashed Exalt Bolt. His left hand surged with blue energy, releasing a volley of blue bolts that ripped through the Graklings and Graklors. However, wheacks struck the Grakthor, the beast barely flinched. It tis charge, but Drifter evaded with Exalt Shift, disappearing in a fsh of blue particles and reappearing closer to Nadia and Alma.

  The remaining Graklors pressed forward, ons raised. Drifter stepped into their path, cutting down any creature that came too close with his sword, Exaltare, while others parried aaliated. As the Grakthor advanced once more, Drifter sent his spectral swords ahead as decoys, f the massive beast to ge course. The Grakthor turned sharply, its enormous frame crashing into nearby Graklings and Graklors.

  Drifter's grip tightened as he unleashed everything he had—Azure Tempest. A whirlwind of afterimages and blue streaks of sshes from him and his spectral swords tore through the battlefield. Hundreds of Graklors and Graklings were sliced to pieces in an instant. Another Exalt Storm surged, his sigils unleashing barrage of blue energy bsting through the air. Exalt Edge followed in quick succession, blue energy ssh slig through the creatures with deadly precision.

  His breath grew heavier, eahale sharp and shallow. Numbness spread through him, but his eyes still sed the endless waves of ehe csh of his spectral swords, the grinding of bck armor—each sound drowned out by the weight of battle. Behind him, Nadia and Alma’s ragged breaths cut through the air, their shoulders trembling with the effort to keep up. Sweat, mingled with rain, dripped down their faces, their hands unsteady as they fought on.

  Seeing it all, Drifter's heartbeat quied—so fast he could hear it pounding in his ears. Should he gamble everything...?

  In the silence of his hesitation, a memory stirred. A group of are sabers, like him, had unleashed their ultimate teiques. The very sky had cracked uhe force of their power. For a brief moment, victory had seemed within their grasp, the echo of triumphant cheers already f on their lips.

  But theendrils came—remnants of the dark creatures, striking at those left vulnerable after expending all their strength. His stomach ed. The victory had felt hollow. The abyssal breach had been sealed, but there was no oo celebrate.

  No other choice... he thought, his brow furrowed in frustration.

  With a decisive motioeleported to a grassy hill nearby.

  "Exalted Evocata!" he inted.

  As the words left his lips, brilliant blue light erupted into the air, f a massive magical circle. Its energy spiraled wildly, shaking the grouh it. Colossal bdes of pure energy emerged, glowing fiercely, h like an unstoppable force of destru.

  At his and, the energy bdes moved with blinding speed, slig through the air. As they reached the horde of gray creatures, a resonating boom shook the battlefield. A circur shockwave shattered into sharp shards, obliterating the horde in an instant. The shards then burst apart with a sharp crack, releasing smaller glowing bdes that whistled through the air, striking down the remaining gray creatures.

  The remaining Graklings fell instantly, uo resist the onsught. Some Graklors raised shields and ons, defleg a few strikes, but the bdes were too numerous, cutting them down one by ohe massive Grakthors held briefly, but their heavy bodies soon fell lifeless to the ground.

  Drifter lifted his hand once again. The giant magical circle fred brilliantly, its radiant glow illuminating the battlefield. With a anding motion, the circle unleashed a devastating wave of blue energy, obliterating the remaining hordes. The bst swept across the Verm Pins, carving craters and deep fissures into the earth, leaving only silen its wake.

  As the sigils faded, Drifter felt it immediately—the effect taking hold of his entire body. His sword and armor disied into blue particles, vanishing from his grasp. His muscles locked, and he colpsed to his knees. A sharp pain pierced his skull, his eyes feeling as though they were being torn from their sockets. His breath came in ragged, shallos.

  He gazed out at the battlefield, now eerily silent, the rain soaking the shattered ground around him.

  He slowly rose to his feet and turoward Nadia and Alma, who were also looking at him. Their faces were wide-eyed, trembling, yet relieved.

  A tightness in his chest eased as he saw they were safe. A faint smile touched his lips, barely there

  But then, a sharp pain jolted through him, freezing him in pce. Slowly, instinctively, he turned his head. His eyes fell to his left side, where blood poured from a deep wound, staining his bck suit and mixing with the rain poolih him.

  What the...? he thought, his mind rag.

  In his peripheral vision, a figure stepped forward—a wild, pink-purple-haired girl with a sharp smile. Her glowing eyes burned with madness as she raised a bck dagger, blue fmes lig its edges.

  Drifter tried to move, but his body refused to obey. His vision blurred, and his hand trembled.

  What… is happening...?

  His head felt like it was sinking, his vision blurring at the edges. The world tilted, and then—nothing.