The clearing had become a crucible. Heat shimmer still rolled from Andy's earlier Flame Spiral, ash drifted in lazy swirls, and every villager cowered behind the shattered palisade, lungs gripped by silence. The earth itself seemed to inhale, waiting.
Across the field, the Corrupter straightened, shadow plates knitting across his arms. Behind him unfurled a spectral dragon cloak, its dripping jaw weeping black fire, wings stitched from bone and smoke. The stench of burning iron filled the air.
Andy exhaled once, steady. His grip tightened on the Oathblade, the weapon thrumming with the braided auras of fire, water, and wind. He advanced without summoning Tier II, relying instead on the natural surge of the dragon-phoenix core within. He didn't need more. Not yet.
The system chimed in his mind alone:
[Constellation System: Orion Active]
[Tier I Progress: 70%]
[Bond Pulse: Nia ⭐ 51% | Aurelia ⭐ 45%]
The villagers whispered: "He doesn't flinch." Another, voice trembling with awe: "The star-threads… brighter than before."
---
Nia lifted her staff, Lumina blazing like a captured star. Glyphs spun into orbit around her wrists and hair, scattering the tainted ash on the wind. Her voice carried calm resolve. "Keep your rhythm—I'll keep your back."
Andy smirked. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Astral Aegis flared outward, a dome anchoring over the villagers. Chains of starlight cracked into existence—Starbind—lashing three dragonlings mid-pounce. With another sweep she called down Starlight Cascade, rinsing the ground clean of crawling corruption. The air sang like glass about to break.
The system's whisper slid through Andy's chest:
[Bond Surge Detected → Nia ⭐ 51% → 53%]
[Orion Tier I Progress: 74%]
Her light steadied the crowd. Shoulders unclenched. The tide shifted from fear to fragile hope.
Aurelia dove into the fray like a comet loosed from orbit. Her Huntress Form shimmered: amber eyes molten, spectral blades curving from her daggers like crescent fangs. She moved low, a predator's dance. One dragonling shrieked as she hamstrung it, flipping through the gore to plant a Comet Lunge through its skull.
A laugh ripped from her throat. "Try to keep up, darling!"
Nia rolled her eyes even as her chains cinched tighter. "He's busy not dying."
Andy chuckled, and his pulse found theirs. Another chime:
[Bond Pulse → Aurelia ⭐ 45% → 47%]
[Shared Resonance: Tri-vector alignment stable]
[Orion Tier I Progress: 76%]
The synergy was undeniable. His heart beat with theirs.
Andy swept Oathblade in an arc—three auras braided at once. Ripple Spiral, fire and wind converging in a tight whirl, vacuuming smoke. Twin Aqua Fangs speared forward, skewering scales. Gale Rift: Shear Cut followed, tearing open a lane for Nia to cast freely. He felt the strike deepen, body and weapon as one.
The Crescent strike followed: a half-moon slash that scythed through a dragonling and cut a path through the storm. Andy's inner voice whispered, No Tier II. Not yet. Make every step count. Make every strike teach them to fear hope.
---
The Corrupter laughed, a broken sound. Bones cracked as his form mutated, half-dragon, half-man. Black scales tore his skin. A crest of bone and sinew rose down his back, wings of smoke locking to his shoulders. The clearing darkened as a Corruption Squall exploded outward, bending trees, peeling bark, choking the ground.
Villagers screamed. "He's becoming the monster." Another spat in fear, "No—he was the monster."
Andy's jaw clenched. "You don't carry power," he called, voice calm as steel. "You leak it."
Aurelia grinned sharp as a blade. "Let's cork him."
Nia drew glowing lines across the field. A Celestial Lattice unfolded—thin blue constellations inscribed on dirt. Every node pulsed when her allies stepped, amplifying their strikes. Aurelia adapted instantly, spinning through a lattice line, unleashing Lunar Snare to tether the Corrupter's ankle. Her blade sang through his tendons, her laugh wild and feral.
The system pulsed:
[Bond Pulse → Nia ⭐ 53% → 54% | Aurelia ⭐ 47% → 48%]
[Orion Tier I Progress: 80%]
Every strike rang like a star-chime. The villagers stared, wide-eyed, as the battlefield itself hummed to their rhythm.
Then came the Corrupter's roar. Abyssal Pyre, a cone of black-red fire, slammed against Nia's Aegis. The dome fractured, spiderwebbed with cracks.
Andy stepped forward. Aqua Fang (Wall Form) unfurled, a shield of pressurized water curving across the fracture. The black fire hissed into steam. He coughed, lungs burning iron, but planted firm.
Aurelia blurred with a Sidereal Step, her afterimage baiting a tail strike. She spun behind, daggers flashing, carving the root of his tail. Blood hissed onto corrupted soil.
The system steadied:
[Crisis Window Overcome]
[Bond Resilience ↑]
[Orion Tier I Progress: 82%]
Andy called, voice hoarse but steady. "On my mark—bind!"
Nia's staff split the air, Starbind Chains crossing over the Corrupter's sternum. Aurelia's dagger drew a spectral arrow, loosed as Heart-pierce Line, drilling forward. Andy slashed a second Dragon Fang Crescent, not to collide but to ride the arrow's wake.
The arrow bored into the corrupted chest plate. The Oathblade strike split it wide. Black ichor geysered.
The Corrupter staggered, his spectral wings flickering.
The system flared:
[Bond Pulse → Nia ⭐ 54% → 55% | Aurelia ⭐ 48% → 49%]
[Orion Tier I Progress: 85%]
Nia breathed hard, but smiled. "You're doing it without Tier II."
Andy met her gaze, fire and water swirling in his eyes. "Because you're both here."
Aurelia grinned wickedly, licking blood from her lip. "Remember that when I ask for a prize later."
The villagers began to chant—not in fear but in rhythm. Their voices pounded like drums, hope building with each strike.
The Corrupter shrieked, wings thrashing. He jammed both claws into the ground. A whirlpool of shadows ignited—Corruption Maelstrom, pulling everything inward. Palisades groaned, trees bent, villagers stumbled.
Andy sank Oathblade into a lattice node, anchoring. The ground cracked but held.
Nia screamed incantations, widening Astral Aegis over the villagers. The dome quivered but did not break.
Aurelia threw a tether around Andy's hilt, bracing herself behind him. "Try not to fly away without us."
Andy looked up through the storm, hair whipping, eyes calm. Oathblade roared in his grip.
"This ends next."
He stepped forward into the pull—toward the Corrupter.
---