Ivan's smile lingered—too calm, too certain.
Rain struck his shoulders in luminous streaks, sliding off as though repelled by the crackling aura building around him. Behind him, the air shivered—space bending ever so slightly, as if something vast and unseen were unfurling.
He lifted a hand, palm open—not in attack, but in condescension.
"Elliana," he said softly, almost regretfully,
"you should know your own limits better than this."
His tone was the worst kind of patronizing: gentle, patient, as though explaining something to a stubborn child.
"You keep pushing," he continued, stepping closer.
"And if you keep pushing…"
His crimson eyes sharpened.
"…it won't end well for you."
The air hummed.
Elliana's shadows rose higher.
But Ivan only shook his head.
"Call it a day," he said simply.
The energy surging around him intensified—light bending, space warping around the growing force beneath his skin.
"I've already accomplished what I came here for."
A subtle crack echoed behind him—like bones reconfiguring, but without blood or gore. A pressure wave rippled outward as something vast unfurled from his back.
Two wings—composed not of flesh but of swirling crimson energy—snapped outward in a burst of force, sending leaves spiraling and rain scattering sideways.
They radiated heat.
Power.
Triumph.
"I delivered my present," he said, his voice deepening with a victorious rumble.
The forest seemed to recoil.
"So on the merit of that…"
Ivan spread his wings wider, arcs of crimson light dancing along their edges like living veins of power.
"…I'll be taking my leave."
He paused, studying her through the rain—not mocking, not cruel, just assured.
"You've given me far more than I expected tonight," he murmured.
"And I suspect I've given you more to think about than you'll ever admit."
His wings beat once—slow, deliberate—sending a spiral of scarlet wind around him.
"Rest while you can, Elliana."
His form began to dissolve into the swirling light—fading, pulling away from reality as though stepping through an unseen threshold.
"Because next time…"
His voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
"…it won't be a gift I bring."
With a final pulse of crimson luminance—
a flicker—
a whisper of force—
Ivan vanished.
The storm swallowed the space he left behind.
Elliana did not appear ten feet away—she manifested. Like the night itself had decided she belonged beside him.
Wind howled as her sudden arrival disrupted the air.
"Where," she hissed, voice low and edged with lethal promise,
"do you think you're going?"
Ivan's eyes widened—only for an instant.
A dagger materialized beside his face, its blade carved from condensed shadow. The darkness was so dense it seemed to swallow the rain around it. Its reflection flashed in his golden eyes—a warning too close.
Ivan's body snapped backward with inhuman speed.
The blade missed his cheek by less than a breath, slicing only a few strands of hair—yet the force of the strike carved a deep gash of pure darkness through the forest behind him. Trees buckled as the void-blade cut through them soundlessly.
"Persistent," Ivan hissed.
Elliana didn't give him time to finish.
She twisted midair, body flowing with unnatural grace as shadows coiled around her limbs. Her leg arced toward him—fast, fluid, brutal.
Ivan barely had time to cross his arms before impact.
Her kick slammed into his guard with a thunderous crack of force. The shockwave ripped through the treeline, scattering leaves and snapping branches like twigs. Ivan was launched backward, skidding through the air as his wings strained to stabilize him.
The rain above them split around the clash, parting in a funnel as if the sky itself had been struck.
Elliana was already moving again.
A streak of shadow.
A silent arrow of intent.
Her eyes burned silver in the storm.
Ivan steadied midair, teeth bared in a wild grin.
"Still chasing?" he called over the roar of wind.
"Elliana—Elliana—when will you admit you're running on fumes?"
She didn't answer.
Her silhouette blurred—then vanished.
Ivan's grin faltered.
"Ah—dammit—"
Behind him.
Her presence hit him like a cold whisper along the spine.
Ivan twisted in the air just in time to see Elliana materialize behind him, shadows spiraling off her like black fire.
He lifted a hand—not in defense, but in a gesture of tired amusement.
"Elliana," he called over the rushing wind,
"do you really want to continue this?"
His wings beat once, steadying him as he drifted backward, keeping just out of her reach.
"I don't mind accompanying you," he added with a crooked smile,
"if you truly want to keep going."
She didn't slow.
Her silhouette flickered—here, then gone, then beside him again.
Ivan's smile thinned.
"But you should know…" he said, voice dipping into something sharper,
"…my poor nephew is already at his limit."
The rain seemed to pause around them.
Elliana's expression did not change, but the shadows around her curled tighter—reacting, tightening, vibrating with restrained wrath.