In the heart of the Sunnyvale forest, the flames danced furiously, fueled by Gabriel’s power. The scorching heat and smoke were making it harder to breathe, but neither Wednesday nor Enid stopped.
Unfortunately for them, Gabriel could control not only the wind element but also fire—a powerful and lethal fire that now merged with the surrounding flames.
However, their synergy improved with every passing second. Enid attacked head-on, relentlessly, forcing Gabriel to stay on the move, while Wednesday lurked in the shadows, emerging at precise moments when Gabriel tried to counterattack Enid. She delivered sharp cuts that forced him to retreat and only defend himself.
They were pressuring him.
The marks of battle were evident on his body. Superficial cuts on his clothes, a bruise on his left arm, and slight difficulty breathing revealed that, despite being an elite psychic, he wasn’t unscathed.
But neither were they.
Enid was beginning to wear out. Her body endured thanks to her lycanthropic regeneration, but muscle fatigue was building up from the constant attacks and clashes.
Even so, Gabriel was starting to get frustrated.
“Annoying like insects…” Gabriel muttered irritably as he hovered more than ten meters above the ground, sustained by his wind element.
Suddenly, a burst of fire exploded from his body, forcing both of them to retreat. Enid growled, and Wednesday shielded herself with her shadow, but the heat reached her, making her click her tongue at the burn on her arm.
Wasting no time, Gabriel raised both hands and combined his two elements. A gust of wind began swirling around him, trapping the fire in a blazing tornado.
‘I can’t let him launch that!’ Enid thought.
That attack would be devastating, considering the distance between them and Gabriel.
Without hesitation, she bent her legs with all the power in her body and leaped toward Gabriel with monstrous strength.
The ground trembled beneath her paws as she took off.
She launched herself in a brutal arc, claws extended and ready to tear Gabriel apart before he could complete his attack.
Wednesday didn’t stay idle. She had the same thought. Shadows emerged from the ground like living tentacles, stretching rapidly toward Gabriel. At the same time, she raised her scythe and unleashed a powerful slash, generating a wave of darkness that cut through the air like an obsidian blade.
Gabriel hadn’t expected both girls to launch themselves at him instead of retreating. The shadows coiled tightly around his right ankle, yanking him downward and throwing off his balance in midair.
“Tch!” He clicked his tongue in irritation.
The fire tornado he had formed in his hand wavered for an instant.
That instant was enough.
Enid came crashing in like a comet. Her clawed fist smashed into Gabriel’s face with terrifying force.
BAM!
The impact sent him flying like a projectile, his body spinning through the air from the inertia of the blow. The fire tornado he had gathered in his palm was released erratically, shooting off to the side.
The moment it touched the ground, the compressed energy exploded into a towering column of flames.
The fire roared, spreading rapidly and devouring the nearby trees. The shockwave sent debris and ashes flying, shaking the ground with a deafening blast.
Remnants of the fiery blast surged toward Wednesday and Enid. The former used her shadow travel to escape the flames, while Enid leaped away to avoid the scorching heat.
As the smoke began to clear, Gabriel was already on his feet. He strode toward them through the flames, his figure bathed in an orange glow. Blood dripped from his lip, and one of his eyes was reddened from the impact.
‘That’s it?’ Enid thought, frowning.
The punch had been strong, clean, perfect. She had put all her strength into it, all the coordination she and Wednesday had achieved… and yet, the damage Gabriel had taken was disappointing.
“His wind shield is powerful,” Wednesday noted beside her, her tone analytical.
“Any way to counter it?” Enid asked, feeling fatigue creeping into her body. “I never thought a psychic would outlast me in a battle of endurance…”
At this rate, she would tire out first. Her self-healing wouldn’t be able to keep up.
The intense heat of the fire was no joke, and while her regeneration was good, it wouldn’t last forever. If she took a direct slicing wind blast, even her healing factor wouldn’t save her.
“We can use it against him…” Wednesday said, a calculating glint in her dark eyes.
“What do you mean, ‘use it’?” Enid asked, confused.
“The wind shield. He manipulates it actively; it’s not automatic.”
“What do you mean? It seems like it’s always on,” Enid said.
“Yes, but its thickness and density change depending on the area it protects. When you hit him, the shield intensified in that spot for a fraction of a second,” Wednesday explained.
“Does that mean…?”
“That if we force him to reinforce one area, we might find an opening in another. If we attack simultaneously from two opposite points,” Wednesday said, a plan beginning to take shape in her mind.
Gabriel stopped a few meters away from them, watching with a mix of curiosity and superiority.
“Done whispering your little secrets, girls?” His voice was mocking, but his stance had become more cautious. He knew he was no longer in a situation where he could be as confident as before.
Enid let out a low growl and bent her legs, ready to move.
Wednesday adjusted her grip on the scythe.
The fight continued.
The flames grew more intense. The air was thick with heat and smoke. Gabriel no longer looked as pristine as before. Scratches and cuts marred his body. Blood dripped from his split lip, and his left eye was swollen and red.
Enid panted, feeling her body burn from the inside out. Her muscles screamed in protest, but she couldn’t stop.
Wednesday, for her part, wasn’t doing much better. Her monochrome outfit was burned and torn. Several areas of her skin were red and sore from Gabriel’s flames. But her mind remained sharp, calculating every move with precision.
The plan was working. However, Gabriel was adapting. Slowly but surely, he wasn’t just defending anymore—he was finding openings to counterattack with relentless ferocity.
A wind slash grazed Enid’s werewolf shoulder, opening a deep wound. A fire blast passed dangerously close to Wednesday’s face just as she emerged to support Enid.
‘Tsch,’ Wednesday thought as she retreated, sending a dark slash toward Gabriel to give Enid a safer withdrawal.
“This ends now,” Gabriel said, breathing heavily, his patience wearing thin. He never thought two girls the age of his daughter could be so troublesome and push him this far.
He raised his hand, and the air around him began to swirl with immense force. The fire compressed in his palm, spiraling with the wind, forming a blazing whirlwind.
‘Again! I can’t let him launch it,’ Enid thought, bending her legs and leaping toward Gabriel.
But at the last moment, Gabriel smirked mockingly. The fiery whirlwind suddenly dissipated, and in its place, a sword of fire and wind formed in his hand. The blade burned with searing heat, and the wind surrounding it emitted a sharp, deadly sound.
“Did you really think I’d use the same attack, werewolf?” Gabriel sneered coldly.
Enid’s eyes widened. She was mid-air, unable to change direction. There was no escape. The fire and wind sword rose above her head, ready to cut her in two.
Wednesday emerged from the shadows, witnessing the scene. Gabriel, fully focused on his attack, had weakened his defensive shield more than ever. His back was exposed. She could end him or at least deliver a lethal blow that would leave him in critical condition.
In a split second, she recalled the vision. Enid, lifeless. Her motionless body near the forest, the Sunnyvale sign standing as a silent witness to her fate.
That sword…
That was the weapon of her death.
That was why she had sent Enid here. Her former roommate, her almost-friend… now her rival in love.
Ensuring she came here was a way to guarantee that fate would be fulfilled. However, if Enid hadn’t come, Wednesday would have most likely died facing Gabriel alone. She wasn’t foolish enough to overestimate her abilities.
And yet, as she watched Enid fight with everything she had—as she saw her determination to help Luke, regardless of her own life or their enmity—Wednesday hesitated.
Something inside her began to shift, though her expression remained just as emotionless and her eyes as hollow as ever.
As Gabriel raised the powerful sword to strike Enid down, Wednesday made her decision.
She wouldn’t let her die.
Despite everything, despite the jealousy, despite the history with Luke, something within Wednesday rebelled.
She quickly raised her hand. She knew she couldn’t face Gabriel’s sword head-on. Her strength wasn’t enough to challenge such brute force in direct combat.
With a movement so swift it was barely visible, Wednesday summoned her shadows, which stretched from her feet into the air like tendrils of darkness.
In the blink of an eye, the shadows shot toward Enid, aiming for her heel, which was suspended in the air as she tried to dodge Gabriel’s strike.
Wednesday focused all her energy on the contact, calculating the distance and Enid’s weight. The shadow had to act with extreme speed.
The shadows lashed out with fury, wrapping around Enid’s heel in a deadly grip, yanking her to the side—just in time to pull her out of the path of Gabriel’s sword at the last second.
Enid was thrown with such force that she crashed onto the ground, landing harshly but safely. Gabriel’s sword of fire and wind struck the earth, unleashing an explosion of destruction. A deep, long gash split the ground open.
Sweat dripped cold down Enid’s forehead as she stared at the massive damage the sword had caused, realizing just how close she had come to death.
What surprised her even more was noticing that Gabriel’s wind shield had weakened after executing such a powerful attack.
Wednesday could have taken advantage of that opportunity. She could have delivered a fatal blow to his back, ending Gabriel right then and there.
But instead, she had saved her.
‘Why?’
There was no time to dwell on it. Gabriel, now furious that his deadly attack had failed, charged at them again with even greater rage.
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