"Kel, get to Zephyra. I'll take care of Cerais," Acacia said, her voice sharp, eyes fixed on her opponent.

  "She is dangerous." Kel got up to his feet and groaned.

  "I will be fine." Acacia's resolve was a wall, impenetrable. Kel studied her, searching for cracks, but found only unwavering certainty. With a defeated sigh, he turned and went to Zephyra.

  "Underestimating me would be a grave error," Cerais sneered as Kel departed. "He was among the elite, you might have stood a chance—"

  The air cracked. Before she could finish, Acacia's whip, a blur of motion, snaked around Cerais, yanking her against the wall with sickening force. A strangled gasp escaped Cerais as she was slammed into the opposite wall, the impact jarring her to the core.

  "I believe the underestimation is yours," Acacia's voice resonated, low and lethal.

  A howling vortex of wind enveloped Acacia, its invisible blades slicing through her skin, leaving trails of blood. Each wound sealed itself, a grotesque cycle of destruction and repair.

  Cerais snarled, breaking free of the whip's hold. She seized Acacia, hoisting her aloft. The wind became a torturer, wrenching and grinding her bones, a chorus of sickening snaps echoing through the air.

  A shriek ripped through the air as Acacia's arm snapped and her legs warped into impossible positions. Cerais slammed her against the earth, the impact jarring every bone.

  'Push through.' The mantra pulsed in Acacia's mind as the agonizing process of bone repair began, the revolting sounds of grinding and shifting echoing in the silence. She forced herself upright, her eyes burning with a desperate resolve. 'The regeneration took a lot, I'm hungry and I can barely feel my mana.'

  "Still standing..." Cerais said it like an observation and removed her broken upper body armor and cape. Acacia made her whip disappear in thin air and healed the wound on her heart. "You are not normal."

  "Says the person that uses collars on people." Acacia scoffed.

  "They are dangerous. It is the best way to save them." Cerais replied with a steel resolve. Another howling vortex of wind surrounded Acacia's body again, she felt her skin being sliced but didn't move.

  'Time for something different,' Acacia said, manipulating the mana within her blood. As droplets touched her skin, they solidified into razor-sharp, ruby-red needles. She snapped her fingers, and the needles erupted, a swarm of crimson darts aimed at Cerais's vital points. Cerais's blades flashed, a whirlwind of steel, intercepting the deadly projectiles with lightning reflexes.

  "Each wound you inflict, returns to you tenfold."Acacia muttered and created more needles from her blood and directed it to Cerais.

  Cerais immediately stopped the wind and felt her body suddenly weakened. She felt a stinging pain on her neck and realized one of the needles got her. She removed the needle from her neck and the vein in her neck turned black.

  'I guess my blood is poisonous.' Acacia smirked at the thought. Cerais anger grew at the sight of her smirk and then spoke.

  "Wind arts: Slashes." Cerais disappeared from thin air but Acacia felt her head roll down on the snow. Acacia blinked as she stared at her headless body. 'When did she move? But more importantly, it's horrifying seeing my body like that.'

  "This is your end," Cerais stated, the finality in her tone underscored by the sound of her blades clicking into their sheaths. The faint, strained call of Edwin echoed through the chaos.

  "Acacia!!" His voice was filled with horror even though Acacia couldn't see him.

  Acacia sighed, her eyes closing as her decapitated form slumped to the ground. Then, a chilling spectacle began. Her neck seamlessly regenerated, followed by her shoulders, arms, torso, and legs, all coalescing into a whole. The air around her shimmering with steam from her body. She stood, as if nothing had occurred. With a sharp snap, her wings unfurled, fluttering behind her.

  "I'm hungry," Acacia stated, her voice flat. Cerais froze, then slowly turned, her eyes widening in disbelief. The headless form of Acacia, the one she'd just struck down, disintegrated into wisps of shimmering energy. A collective gasp rippled through the beast-men and elite guards, their faces etched with fear. Acacia's wings, unfurled with a thunderous snap, then slammed shut, unleashing a gale-force blast that sent Cerais reeling.

  "I'm fine!" Acacia's voice echoed, a desperate attempt at reassurance directed towards Edwin. But her eyes locked onto Zephyra's, and the shock reflected in her eyes cut deeper than any blade. 'Will she see me as a monster now? I wouldn't blame her, but... why does it hurt so much?'

  Acacia noticed Cerais getting back up on her feet. Her body disappeared into thin air and Acacia gasped, immediately flying up to the air to dodge her blades.

  Cerais gritted her teeth as she missed and a huge burst of fire exploded as another sky craft was set on fire. Kel jumped towards the ones that held the elite guards and set it on fire which caused another explosion. A maelstrom of carnage engulfed the battlefield. Beast-men and heroes clashed in a savage dance of death, the air thick with the stench of blood and fire. Berserk howls echoed as some beast-men, driven mad by the chaos, turned on friend and foe alike. Several abilities ripped through the smoke-filled air, a chaotic barrage of lethal force. It was a slaughterhouse, a desperate, brutal struggle for survival.

  "Wind Arts: Blast." Cerais unsheathed her blades and sent slashes to the air. Her command was a whipcrack, followed by a concentrated burst of wind that targeted Acacia with pinpoint accuracy. Acacia was thrown into a violent spin, fighting to right herself.

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  Acacia was forced to land onto the earth. Cerais materialized behind her, her blade a silver flash aimed at her neck. With a surge of adrenaline, Acacia gripped the blade, the sharp edge biting into her flesh. She held on, her eyes burning with determination. A sudden, brutal wind sliced through her wrist, forcing her to release the blade. Cerais stepped back, her blade now free of Acacia's grasp.

  "You're becoming a nuisance. Do you understand how taxing this regeneration is?" Acacia's brow furrowed as her hand reconstructed itself, the air around it shimmering with heat.

  "Wind arts: Slashes" Cerais disappeared from thin air again and it was grating at Acacia's patience. She felt the hair of her arms rise which made Acacia step aside, dodging the strike in the process.

  'Something's changing. Am I evolving, or just breaking?' Acacia's thoughts were a fractured mess as a surge of raw energy pulsed through her while simultaneously her body was screaming for rest. She seized the fleeting opening, her fingers clamping onto Cerais's ponytail with a brutal yank. A strangled gasp escaped Cerais as she twisted, slamming Acacia to the ground with savage force. Acacia, her teeth bared, released the hair only to sink her fangs into Cerais's shoulder, the hot, metallic tang of blood filling her senses.

  'Oh no....' Acacia felt something in her change as she sucked on her blood, Cerais tried to pull away but Acacia didn't let go. 'My hunger is being satiated by human blood...but it tastes extra sweet, is it because I poisoned her?'

  Cerais shrieked, a raw, animalistic sound, but Acacia's grip remained unyielding, her strength a terrifying force as she clamped onto Cerais's shoulder. Only when a dark satisfaction settled over her did Acacia release her hold. Cerais stumbled back, her left arm throbbing, the flesh around the wound rapidly darkening, a spreading stain of corruption. Realizing the lethal nature of the affliction, she gritted her teeth, and with a swift, brutal motion, severed her own arm at the shoulder, the stench of cauterized flesh filling the air.

  "Captain!!" An elite hero yelled and Acacia got up from the snow and stared at the Elite guard that rushed towards her, she gripped one by the neck in an instant and dug her nails into his flesh until he became lifeless.

  'You are changing...your soul is accepting me fully.' Daemonis said in her head and Acacia just chuckled. She saw Elric by the distance, donned in the white armored suit similar to the elite heroes outfit. Acacia tossed the lifeless body aside and saw Bella's shocked face and the pained expression on Zephyra's face.

  "That bastard," Acacia hissed, her smile vanishing like smoke.

  "Guessing from your body language, you were fooled, weren't you? Seems your little ally was a spy all along," Cerais taunted, a cruel chuckle echoing behind her.

  "Don't get too comfortable, one-arm." Acacia retorted, glancing over at Cerais on her knees while clutching her stump. Cerais smile equally vanished from her face.

  Elric's gesture to the elite heroes. A wave of elite heroes surged towards Acacia, their intent clear. Acacia, her eyes burning with a feral intensity, pressed her nails into her palms, drawing blood. The crimson droplets fueled the summoning of her whip, which lashed out with savage fury. She became a whirlwind of destruction, the whip tearing through flesh and bone, a macabre dance of death. Meanwhile, under the cover of the chaos, elite heroes whisked Cerais towards the waiting sky craft.Acacia, oblivious to their escape, continued her brutal onslaught until the last guard fell. A guttural snarl ripped from her throat, and a tremor, like something monstrous clawing its way free, shook her to her core.

  She felt an arm wrapped around her from behind, the familiar scent and protective nature made her instincts calm down. "It's okay little lady, they are dead now. Everything is okay."

  Zephyra's embrace made her pause as she looked at the dead bodies and then glanced at Elric. She saw him leaving in the sky craft Cerais was in. She summoned a butterfly and the butterfly flew in a fast pace and connected to his neck without him knowing.

  Acacia panted as her exhaustion caught up to her and stared as the sky craft flew up in the air. The barrier that covered the sky suddenly disappeared, numerous elite heroes started to retreat but the larger sky craft was still present.

  "We are safe now. They are leaving and Elric...I don't know how I didn't notice." Zephyra sighed and pulled away from Acacia, ruffling her hair in the process.

  'I don't understand, why aren't you hating me or judging me? Why are you acting like I'm normal? Why aren't you asking questions? I don't understand.' Acacia's whip slowly disappeared into thin air. She turned her gaze on the retreating sky crafts. The monsters that hovered outside the barrier started to pour in.

  A synthesized voice, devoid of inflection, announced, "Purification failure. Annihilation protocol initiated."

  The sky craft, a colossal presence above, unleashed a blinding white beam, a silent promise of obliteration.

  "We have to get out of here." Jahir came out of his hiding. Bella, Kel, Edwin and Maximus gathered around.

  "Where do we even run to?" Edwin asked as he slashed a guards throat with his hand-fan. He saw Bella's face filled with tears as she stayed rooted to the ground. "Snap out of it! You can be depressed after we survive this."

  Bella snapped out of her gaze and they all ran away, screams erupted as everyone ran, monsters eating and attacking people unaware of the danger looming above.

  They sprinted, their lungs burning, but the beam, a towering pillar of annihilation, descended with terrifying speed. The earth buckled, a cataclysmic eruption that sent shockwaves rippling outwards, incinerating everything in its path. The gang was flung like rag dolls, scattered by the force of the blast.

  Acacia slammed through a building's facade, glass shards raining down as she crashed into a shattered living room. Every nerve in her body screamed with agony. She staggered outside, her vision swimming, and surveyed the carnage. The landscape was a wasteland, littered with the charred remains of monsters and beast-men, their bodies grotesquely mutilated, vaporized by the beam's fury. She stumbled into the ruined streets, her heart sinking as she spotted Bella, huddled against a rock, her face streaked with tears, a bloody stump where her leg had been. Acacia rushed to her, the sight a brutal reminder of their devastating loss.

  She helped her up to a seated position by a rock. Her gaze swept the devastation, landing on a pile of rubble that had collapsed onto Zephyra. Acacia raced towards her, her heart pounding in her chest. With a surge of desperate strength, she wrestled the debris aside, the weight crushing her own muscles, until she revealed Zephyra's mangled form. Beneath her, she found Edwin, his face deathly still, a crimson stain blooming from his closed right eye. She clawed at the remaining wreckage, her hands trembling, finally freeing them both. Zephyra's abdomen was ripped open, a horrifying wound that pulsed with dark blood.

  "No..no..." Acacia gripped her hair as the memories of Mirkil and Christine's lifeless faces were etched in her mind.

  "I am fine, little lady. But you have to go." Zephyra spoke with a smile on her face and gestured towards the monsters that survived.

  Acacia shook her head, her vision grew blurry and her cheeks became wet . Maximus and Jahir rushed towards their side with Bella on Jahir's back. Maximus grunted in a low sad tone before carrying Edwin on his shoulder and tossed Acacia on his other shoulder.

  "Let me go!! Maximus put me down!!" Acacia writhed and struggled against his hold against her.