Liam stepped in.

The sword flashed as a clean arc of fire carved through the neck.

For the first time, the cut didn't stop at the surface. It went through.

The left head separated from the body, its massive skull twisting away as dark blood and fire burst from the severed neck. Before it could even fall, Liam rotated his body, using the momentum of the first swing to carry him toward the right head.

The right head recoiled, but it was too slow.

Liam vanished in a burst of flame and reappeared along its blind side.

The longsword cut again.

Another burning arc.

Another severed neck.

The right head fell, crashing through branches before slamming into the swamp below with enough force to send a wave of black water outward.

Liam turned toward the middle head immediately.

He drove himself forward, sword raised, aiming for the final neck.

The middle head moved. Not with panic, but with fury.

It pulled the massive body backward and twisted at the same time, sacrificing position to avoid the full path of the blade. Liam's sword carved across the side of its neck, deep enough to expose burning flesh beneath the armor, but not enough to sever it.

The middle head roared, the sound slamming through the forest like thunder.

Liam didn't chase.

He pushed off the creature's body and gained distance, landing on a high branch several meters away. His sword remained in his hand, flames licking along the edge as his eyes stayed fixed on the creature.

Then he saw exactly what he expected.

The two severed necks were already moving.

Flesh bubbled and bone extended.

New tissue pushed outward, raw and wet beneath the torn edges. The creature's regeneration was far stronger than he had first observed. The missing heads were regrowing, slowly but certainly.

The middle head bent toward one of the regenerating necks.

Its teeth clamped onto the outer layer of malformed flesh and tore it away, ripping loose a thick sheet of excess tissue to help the head reform cleanly. Then it did the same to the other side, tearing away the useless growth while the new heads continued pushing themselves into shape.

Liam watched in silence.

'Figures that much.'

His posture straightened slightly on the branch.

Then he dismissed the longsword.

The weapon dissolved back into shadow, leaving his hand empty.

The evolved Gravecoil noticed.

All three necks trembled, the two regenerating heads not fully formed yet, but the middle head was already moving with more violence than before. It no longer carried that same confidence. The arrogance had cracked.

Now there was rage.

The middle head lunged.

The half-formed outer heads thrashed with it, their incomplete jaws and raw flesh dragging through the trees as the massive body surged forward. The swamp exploded beneath its movement. Trees bent, cracked, and snapped as the demon charged, no longer trying to measure him.

It wanted him dead.

Liam moved.

He dodged the first strike by dropping from the branch, releasing a burst from his palm to angle himself between two trunks. The middle head tore through the space above him, its horns carving deep scars through the trees.

The left regenerating head whipped toward him, still incomplete but dangerous enough. Liam shifted sideways, using the bark of a tree as footing for a split second before pushing off. The jaws snapped shut behind him, tearing away half the trunk.

The right head came next.

Liam twisted beneath it, passing through a narrow gap between its teeth and a hanging root, the edge of one fang cutting a shallow line across his sleeve.

He ignored it.

The monster kept attacking.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Each strike was heavier than the last. Less controlled, but far more destructive. The evolved Gravecoil smashed through its own surroundings, crushing the trees it had been using as cover, tearing up roots and vines, turning the dense swamp forest into a collapsing maze.

And Liam let it.

He moved just ahead of every attack.

Never too far.

Never too close.

A step here.

A burst there.

A twist through the air.

A foot against a trunk.

A hand against a branch.

He made the creature chase him through its own cage.

Then he appeared above it, midair.

For a brief moment, the evolved Gravecoil didn't notice.

Then the middle head snapped upward and its red eyes locked onto him.

It opened its jaws and tried to rise but, it couldn't.

The middle head jerked violently, but its body resisted. Its outer heads thrashed, only to pull against the surrounding trees. In its own frenzy to kill him, the creature had driven its massive body through trunks, branches, roots, and vines from too many angles.

Its coils had wrapped around the trees.

Its horns had lodged through thick branches.

Its regenerating necks had twisted through the canopy.

It had trapped itself.

The demon pulled harder, tearing bark and splintering wood, but for one crucial moment, it couldn't move freely.

Realization hit it, then its gaze lifted.

Above it, Liam hovered in the dim light beneath the canopy, his red eyes cold and unreadable as he looked down.

For the first time in a long while, the evolved Gravecoil felt something beyond hunger, rage, or dominance.

Fear... raw, pure and instinctive fear.

Liam extended his right palm toward it.

At the center of his hand, a small sphere of flame began to form. At first, it was no larger than a marble.

Then it condensed.

The fire did not roar outward. It pulled inward, folding into itself, brightening with every passing second. Orange turned gold. Gold deepened into a fierce white-orange core, wrapped in layers of flame that spun silently around it.

A miniature sun; small, beautiful, and terrifying.

The air around Liam distorted from the heat. Moisture evaporated instantly. Leaves nearest to him curled black at the edges. Steam rose from the swamp below in thin, ghostly streams as the orb pulsed in his palm.

The evolved Gravecoil's middle head thrashed harder, making the trees holding it groan.

Liam aimed the glowing sphere directly at the monster.

His voice was quiet and cold.

"I've seen enough."

The orb pulsed once.

"Now die."

The middle head roared and tore itself free with a violent surge, dragging the half-formed outer heads with it. Branches snapped. Vines ripped apart. Whole sections of the canopy collapsed as the creature forced its body upward, jaws opening wide enough to swallow Liam whole.

It came straight for him.

Liam didn't move.

The massive mouth closed in, darkness filling the space before him as rows of hooked teeth rushed upward.

Then he released the miniature sun.

The sphere shot downward in a straight, silent line and entered the Gravecoil's open maw.

For half a second, nothing happened as the demon's eyes widened.

Then light erupted from within.

A brilliant fiery-orange glow burst through the gaps between its teeth, then through the seams of its armored throat, then through every wound Liam had carved into its body. The monster's roar warped into something broken as the fire expanded inside it, consuming flesh, bone, Myst, and regeneration all at once.

The middle head lit up from within like a lantern made of meat and armor.

Then the light spread.

Down the neck, through the body, and into the still-regenerating outer heads.

The swamp beneath it ignited in reflection, the black water glowing orange as heat rolled outward in a violent wave. The surrounding trees were swallowed in radiance, every branch, vine, and hanging leaf painted in the color of flame.

The lesser Gravecoils froze.

Then their silhouettes vanished inside the brightness.

The entire forest around Liam was consumed by a brilliant, fiery-orange light.