Juna stood by the window of her room on the second floor of the inn, her tail swishing back and forth in slow, agitated sweeps. She stared out over the rooftops of the capital, her ears twitching as she tracked the distant, muffled sounds of the city at night.

’He left the city,’ she thought, feeling the faint connection of their bond stretching further outward into the forest. ’He actually took that disgusting thing outside the city.’

She crossed her arms and leaned against the window frame, feeling her chest tighten with genuine worry.

The scent of that demonic mana was still stuck in her nose, making her instincts scream at her to go find him. She was a 2 winged summon now, she evolved and gained new power specifically to protect him, so being here while he fought something that dangerous felt entirely wrong.

She pushed off the wall and took a step toward the door, her claws extending slightly, but then she stopped.

She remembered the look he gave her in the alleyway. He didn’t ask her to leave, he ordered her with absolute certainty, looking her right in the eye and telling her he would handle it.

’He always knows what he is doing,’ she thought, letting out a frustrated breath and retracting her claws. ’He told me to trust him, so I just have to wait here.’

She walked back to the window and sat down on the edge of the bed, forcing herself to relax her shoulders. He was the one who summoned her and gave her a new name, he wasn’t the type of person to just do something this dangerous without a plan.

He was going to be perfectly fine.

Back to the fight...

A massive fist completely covered in black mist slammed directly into the center of Hajin’s face.

The impact shattered the bark of the tree behind him before sending him launching backward through the air. He crashed through thick branches, violently tearing through a dense bush before his back finally collided with a solid boulder, cracking the stone right down the middle.

"Guh," he coughed, sliding off the rock and hitting the ground, tasting a horrible mix of blood and dirt in his mouth.

He lay there for a second, his ears ringing loudly while the left side of his face throbbed with a blinding pain.

Maren was fast, completely abandoning any kind of technique and just throwing his corrupted body forward with pure, brute force.

’That actually hurt like hell, he thought, pushing himself up onto his knees and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the grass. ’His physical stats are ridiculous right now.’

Maren crashed through the treeline a second later, landing heavily on the forest floor. The black veins on his face were pulsing rapidly, leaking dark mist that killed the grass immediately around his boots.

"Stand up!" Maren yelled, his voice harsh and heavily distorted. "You thought you could embarrass me in front of everyone, you thought you were better than me!"

Hajin wiped his chin with the back of his hand, bringing up his right arm as the chain unspooled from his wrist. He didn’t bother trying to reason with the man because it was obvious the demonic mana had completely fried his brain.

"I didn’t think about you at all," he said, locking his eyes onto Maren.

He gripped the chain tightly, letting his own mana flare up and coat the links in a bright golden light. The ring on his pinky pulsed in response, feeding raw energy directly into his pathways.

Maren let out another distorted roar, kicking off the ground and charging forward like a rabid animal.

Hajin planted his feet, waiting until Maren was just a few feet away before he whipped the chain forward. The links slammed right into Maren’s chest, wrapping around his torso twice in the blink of an eye.

"Get over here," he pulled hard, dragging Maren off-balance and yanking him face-first into the ground.

He didn’t give the man a chance to recover. He stepped forward, coated his right fist in dense golden mana, and drove it straight down into the back of Maren’s head.

Maren didn’t stay down for long as a violent explosion of black mana suddenly erupted from his body, forcing Hajin to release the chain and jump backward to avoid the shockwave.

The dark mist swirling around him began to condense, slowly covering his corrupted skin in a shiny layer of jagged armor while Hajin just stood there and watched the process.

The stream panel in the corner of his vision pinged with a highlighted message.

[ ashley (Mod): ] Hajin... his mana is spiking like crazy right now. Can you really beat him?

"Hmm," he muttered, his eyes scanning the thick black armor forming over Maren’s chest.

He didn’t pull back or look worried at all. He just let his own pure mana flow freely, tightly covering both his hands and his legs in a dense, glowing golden light.

"Don’t worry," he said casually, settling into a lower stance and raising his fists. "He just made himself a slightly bigger target."

He didn’t wait for Maren to make the first move. He kicked off the ground, crossing the distance between them in a split second.

He swung his right fist, driving the concentrated golden mana directly into the center of Maren’s armored chest. The punch landed with a deafening crack, the sheer force blowing a heavy chunk of the black armor right off Maren’s body and sending it flying into the trees.

Maren staggered backward, completely off balance, and Hajin ruthlessly pressed the advantage.

He stepped inside Maren’s guard and threw a rapid combination, striking the newly exposed gaps in the armor. A left hook to the ribs, a sharp knee to the stomach, and a spinning back kick that sent him skidding wildly across the forest floor.

Every single hit connected solidly, with Hajin’s movements being fluid and perfectly timed, his mana easily overpowering the chaotic demonic energy leaking from Maren’s body.

’He became really slow,’ he thought, casually ducking under a telegraphed swing and delivering a devastating uppercut to Maren’s jaw that lifted him off his feet. ’The armor gives him raw defense, but it completely ruined his mobility.’

He stepped back, breathing steadily while Maren crashed into another tree trunk and slumped to the ground.

The fight was completely one-sided, but then, the dark mist stopped leaking.

Maren slowly pulled himself out of the splintered wood, his head hanging low. A deep, unnatural sound started vibrating in his chest, sounding less like a human coughing and more like a dry, hollow rattle.

The shattered pieces of his black armor lying in the grass liquefied, turning into a thick, tar-like substance that instantly pulled back to his body and reformed, sealing every crack perfectly.

"You really think," Maren gasped, his voice distorting into a multi-layered demonic echo, "that this is all she gave me?"

The ring on Hajin’s pinky suddenly flared with a burning heat, sending a sharp warning spike through his nerves.

Before he could even process the danger, Maren vanished. There was no sound of him stepping off the ground or any signs of air displacement.

Hajin’s eyes widened and he immediately brought his arms up to guard his head, acting purely on instinct a split second before a heavy blow slammed into his side.

The impact nearly shattered his ribs as he was launched sideways, crashing through several thick trees before violently slamming into the ground.

He didn’t even have time to unspool the chain from his arm before Maren was suddenly standing directly above him.

He raised a hand, the thick demonic mist pooling around his arm and extending into a massive, jagged blade made of pure black energy.

"Die," he whispered, driving the blade straight down toward Hajin’s chest.

[ System Status ]

[ Fragment Recovery: 0.98% ]

[ Weapon Stats ]

[ Chains of the Goddess ]

[ Type: Growth Weapon ]

[ Rank: Rare ]

[ Active Skill: Divine Bind ]

[ Status: Active (99% Damaged) ]

[ Note: Repairs and evolves through the absorption of divine or corrupted essence. ]