The canopy shivered.
Not from wind.
From her.
Crimson mana—dense, pulsating, volatile—rolled off Lyriana in slow, tidal waves, like the breath of some ancient predator waking beneath her skin. Rain hissed as droplets kissed her aura and vaporized instantly.
Thane felt the temperature spike. His grip on his sword tightened.
Lyriana rose—not gracefully, but with a deliberate, predatory slowness. Her silhouette straightened, blood sliding from her wounds and rejoining the swirling crimson field around her. She stood between the children and the army below, toes gripping the branch as though becoming part of it.
"Too far ahead?" Thane echoed, voice level. "No. I see exactly where this goes."
Lyriana tilted her head, ruby gaze burning.
"Oh? Do tell."
Holy mana flared brighter around him, responding to his rising conviction.
He pointed his blade directly at the demon child pressed against her chest.
"By order of His Majesty, I am to exterminate every last one of you demons—and I will do so."
Lyriana's eyes narrowed, burning crimson.
The air changed.
Not slowly.
Not subtly.
Like a heartbeat detonating.
WHUMP—
Crimson mana burst outward in a shockwave, rippling the rain itself. Thane staggered half a step as the pressure hit—heavy, suffocating, undeniably lethal.
Then—
SHRRAAAK—
Her wings tore open.
Lyriana lowered her center of gravity, clutching the children tight as the red light intensified. Her wounds sealed instantly—the lingering holy residue burned out by the sheer force of her uncorked mana.
Blood on the ground answered the surge.
Not rising as creatures.
Not slithering as serpents.
But forming weapons. Hundreds.
Swords.
Spears.
Halberds.
Massive cleavers and needle-thin javelins.
Each sculpted from condensed blood mana, hovering in perfect formation around her like a crimson armory suspended in the sky.
The knights gasped, though their shields stayed raised.
"Th–there's too many…!"
One of them trembled.
Lyriana's gaze sharpened, molten and merciless.
Four enormous blood shields—each thick as fortress walls—slammed into existence around her in a rotating formation. They locked together with terrifying precision, layering like the armor plates of a colossal beast.
Behind them, a secondary barrier of pure mana shimmered—transparent, unyielding, humming with dense energy.
A perfect fortress in the treetops.
Thane's grip tightened.
"You're fortifying?!"
Lyriana's voice drifted through the rain, cold and steady:
> "You think I'm wavering… because I bled?"
She raised her chin.
> "Let me correct your mistake."
The floating armory tilted as one—aimed downward like a thousand drawn bows.
Her wings spread fully, blotting out the moonlight.
Crimson mana roared—thick enough to vibrate the air.
> "I wasn't trying."
A heartbeat of silence.
Then:
> "Now I will."
FWOOOOOOOM—
A crimson storm fell toward Thane and his knights.
---
THE CRIMSON ASSAULT
Hundreds of blood-forged weapons descended in a perfect, lethal arc—each screaming through the air like a meteor.
Thane reacted first.
"SHIELD WALL—NOW!"
Holy mana exploded outward from his boots, launching him upward. His shield flared—gold sigils blazing—projecting a dome of radiant force over the knights below.
The first wave struck.
KRRRACK—KRA-THOOM—
Spears shattered on golden light.
Axes bit deep, throwing sparks.
Javelins slammed like divine hammers.
The dome held.
Once.
Twice.
Four times.
Then hairline fractures crawled across the surface.
"Brace!"
The fifth impact shattered it.
Light and mana burst outward as the dome collapsed. Crimson weapons rained through the breach.
Knights screamed as blades pierced armor.
Some were hurled from the branches.
Some buckled to their knees.
Some bled instantly where the crimson weapons struck.
Thane landed with a skid, raising his shield just in time to catch a massive cleaver that rattled his entire arm.
"She's… stronger than I thought."
He barely finished the sentence before the second wave formed.
Lyriana didn't pause.
Her wings snapped outward—beautiful and terrifying—sending shockwaves across the canopy. She hovered above, forging larger weapons now:
Titan-sized blades.
Cluster-spears made to punch through plate.
Rotating saw-discs of concentrated blood mana.
All aimed with a thought.
Her voice cut through the storm:
> "You wanted to take my attacks, right?
Then hold still."
FWOOOOM—
A barrage of colossal constructs fired.
---
THANE'S COUNTERATTACK
Thane slammed his sword into the bark—cracks spidering outward.
Golden runes erupted along the blade, racing into the tree, into the ground, into the roots.
"RADIANT PILLAR!"
The tree erupted upward in a pillar of holy light, a vertical geyser blasting toward Lyriana.
It struck her blood-shields.
BOOOOM—
Shockwaves rippled through the forest canopy.
The first shield cracked.
The second buckled.
The third warped violently.
Lyriana braced herself, wings curling protectively around the children.
> "Persistent…"
The fourth shield held.
Barely.
And the moment the pillar dimmed—
Lyriana vanished.
---
LYRIANA ADVANCES
A red flash shot through the rain.
She moved between branches like a blade—above Thane, then to his side, then behind him—never remaining a target for more than a heartbeat.
Wings folding, snapping open, redirecting momentum seamlessly. Crimson afterimages carved the air.
Thane turned, trying to track her—
Too slow.
She appeared behind him, blood-mana forming a massive spear aimed at his spine.
> "Die."
Thane twisted—shield snapping up—
CLANG—
The impact drove him downward, boots gouging the bark.
He shoved back with a roar, holy mana flooding his limbs.
Lyriana touched the branch lightly before vaulting away, wings flaring as she dodged his retaliatory strike.
They separated by ten meters.
Rain hissed between them.
---
HOLY MANA VS BLOOD WINGS
Thane's armor blazed—brighter, hotter—his entire form glowing with divine fire.
He raised his blade.
"Radiant Mother… guide my strike."
Light wrapped around him in a swirling halo. The air warped from the pressure.
Lyriana lowered her wings like a predator lowering its horns.
Blood mana surged behind her, thick and violent. Shards of crimson light orbited her like a crown.
Her pupils narrowed to razor slits.
> "Come, knight."
One beat.
Then both moved.
CRASH—
Gold and crimson collided, splitting the rain into spirals of steam. The branch beneath them shattered. Shockwaves tore entire limbs off nearby trees.
Thane pressed with brute strength—holy light burning against her aura.
Lyriana countered with precision—wings slicing in graceful arcs, deflecting his strikes as new blood-weapons formed behind her.
A spear appeared—
She flicked it downward—
It shot toward his exposed flank—
He raised a sigil, blocking it with a flash of light.
They separated again.
Breathing heavy.
Rain falling.
Mana bleeding into the air like heat from open furnaces.
Thane shouted through the storm:
"You're strong—stronger than I expected. If you weren't restrained, you might be as strong as, or even stronger than, the demon who dared set foot on holy ground. But knowing that only fuels—"
Lyriana wiped blood from her lip.
She cut him off.
> "Keep yapping.
It won't save you."
Her wings opened wide.
The next clash would decide the canopy.