CHAPTER 1158: RECKONING (4).

Cain ignored him. He darted forward again, blade low. The creature turned, its molten face following the motion—but Cain wasn’t aiming for the head. He struck low, burying his blade in the creature’s knee.

The explosion ripped through it, shattering the leg completely.

Nebula saw his opening. He reappeared behind the creature in a shimmer of silver and drove a blade of condensed metal straight through its core.

For a second, they had it—the creature shuddered, cracking light spilling from its frame—then it detonated.

Both were thrown apart like ragdolls.

Cain hit a broken ridge, bounced, and rolled. Nebula was worse off, crashing into a fissure and disappearing beneath falling debris.

Silence fell—if such a word still applied beneath the distant rumble of thunder and molten collapse.

Cain forced himself upright, panting hard. His weapon glowed dimly, the runes along its surface flickering from exhaustion.

He scanned the haze. "Nebula—"

Before he could finish, blades burst from the ground around him.

Cain twisted aside just in time to avoid being skewered as Nebula climbed out of the fissure, bloody and furious.

"Don’t you dare call my name like we’re allies."

Cain straightened slowly, brushing the mud from his face. "Wasn’t planning to. Just making sure you weren’t dead yet."

"Disappointed?"

"Honestly? A little."

The sarcasm hung there a moment—then the molten creature reformed behind them, twice as large as before. Its molten chest was now branded with a pulsing mark, an ancient sigil Cain didn’t recognize but felt deep in his gut.

It stepped forward. Each stride sent quakes through the battlefield.

Cain looked at Nebula. "We kill that, then we finish this."

Nebula’s eyes narrowed. "You’re assuming we can kill it."

"Then we find out."

Without another word, Cain leapt first.

Nebula followed.

The creature raised both arms this time, summoning pillars of molten light that surged outward like rivers. Cain cut through one, burning his clothes to ash, and closed the distance.

He slammed {Eidwyrm} into the creature’s core again. The impact cracked the sigil—but only slightly.

Nebula appeared above, driving his heel into its head, his metal constructs converging into a spiral spear that drilled downward. The combined force split the air, blasting shockwaves across the field.

The creature screamed, its molten body splintering apart—but the sigil still pulsed, brighter now, feeding off their energy.

Cain realized it too late.

The light turned blinding, the sound vanished, and every fragment of molten matter around them surged outward at once—an expanding ring of annihilation.

Both were caught in it.

Cain felt his body lift, torn between light and gravity.

Nebula disappeared into the blaze.

Then the world folded in on itself—sound, heat, and light collapsing into a single point before imploding.

When the dust settled, the battlefield was gone. Only a crater remained, stretching for miles.

And in the center of it, Cain pushed himself upright again, coughing blood, staring at the place where Nebula had vanished.

The rain had stopped.

The silence that followed was worse.

Cain wiped the blood from his mouth and whispered to no one in particular—

"Guess we’re not done yet."

The crater still steamed hours later.

The molten ground had cooled into jagged obsidian, streaked with veins of dull gold. Every breath Cain took came out as smoke; every step made the glassy surface crack beneath his boots. His body was a mess—cuts, burns, fractured ribs—but he moved anyway. Slowly. Deliberately.

He’d survived worse. Probably.

The silence gnawed at him until he almost wished the monster would reform again, if only to drown out the ringing in his head. But it didn’t. The only thing left here was the aftermath—chaos distilled into a wasteland of twisted metal and shattered energy.

Then a ripple passed through the air.

Cain stopped instantly. His hand went to his sidearm, though it was half-melted. The {Eidwyrm} hummed faintly, its golden runes struggling to hold shape.

The ripple became a shimmer, then a crack of light.

And Nebula crawled out of it.

He wasn’t untouched. His armor was gone, his right arm was mangled, and the side of his face was blistered from heat. But he was breathing—and worse, he was still smiling.

"Well," Nebula croaked. "You hit hard enough to kill gods. Pity it wasn’t enough for me."

Cain raised his gun, arm shaking slightly. "If you’re trying to sound impressive, you’re bleeding too much for it to work."

Nebula laughed, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t bleed for you."

Cain pulled the trigger.

The shot screamed across the space between them, a flash of gold that tore through the air and punched into Nebula’s shoulder. The man staggered but didn’t fall. He spread his good arm, and metal from the ground rose like a tide around him, coating his body in shards and fragments until he looked like a living weapon.

Cain exhaled slowly. "You don’t learn, do you?"

Nebula’s grin widened. "On the contrary, I adapt."

The world moved.

One second Cain stood at the edge of the crater. The next, Nebula was beside him—too close. The shift wasn’t teleportation this time; it was faster, sharper, like the entire battlefield had bent to his will.

Cain ducked the incoming blade by inches and drove a knee into Nebula’s gut. The metal armor cracked from the force, sending him back a step—but he was already swinging again.

Sparks rained with every clash.

Each strike from Nebula was heavier than before, each parry from Cain slower. Their magic had bled the battlefield dry. No more storms, no more molten rivers—only ash, dust, and raw instinct.

Cain’s gun clicked empty.

He tossed it aside and let {Eidwyrm} reform in his grip, its edges glowing faintly. His movements grew looser, wilder. Nebula matched him blow for blow, blades spinning around him like an orbit of death.

Then Cain saw it—a rhythm, a lag.

Every time Nebula switched positions, his footing faltered. It was small, less than a heartbeat, but it was there.

Cain took the hit to his ribs deliberately just to get close enough to grab Nebula’s arm.

He yanked him forward and slammed his forehead into Nebula’s face. Bone cracked. Blood flew.

Then he twisted, driving {Eidwyrm} into Nebula’s chest and firing a blast point-blank.

The explosion tore through both of them.