Chapter 26 – The Price of Power

  Snow cracked underfoot.

  Blood steamed on the frost.

  “Damn it—Greg, Jasmine, hang in there!” Chris shouted, dragging Greg’s massive frame through a swirling portal. He dropped beside Jasmine’s barely breathing body, fumbling with Seven’s dwindling med-kit. His hands shook, eyes wide with panic. “I’m not a fighter, but—I won’t let you die. I won’t.”

  Behind them, the battle raged like a storm on legs.

  Yuri darted in arcs of light, blades flashing like falling stars. Jake reinforced her with freezing waves, ice blooming beneath Saya’s feet to slow her assault.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  Seven watched, hunched behind a fractured pillar. Blood poured down his right side. His shoulder pulsed with agony, but he forced his body upright, his M4 gripped in his left hand.

  He barked through gritted teeth, “Yuri—draw her in! Jake—lock her down!”

  Saya danced between them, a blur of violence and beauty. Her claws shimmered. Her tails sliced the air. Every step was surgical, every parry effortless.

  She bled—but smiled as if amused.

  “Trying your little tricks again?” she teased, deflecting a cross-slash with her palm. “You think I’ll fall for the same rhythm twice?”

  Seven crept forward, flanking her, waiting.

  “Three… two…”

  He never got to say “one.”

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  A pulse of warped mana exploded from Saya’s chest like a detonation of dark light.

  The shockwave flattened the world.

  Jake’s walls shattered like brittle glass.

  Yuri was tossed aside, tumbling across the snow.

  Seven flew backward, slamming into the frozen ground, his rifle spiraling away.

  The air twisted. Cold became static. Then silence.

  Yuri rose, groaning, blade raised. Her vision blurred—

  Saya was already in front of her.

  Towering.

  Smiling.

  Claws poised.

  “Three down,” Saya whispered.

  She slashed—

  But a shadow collided with her side.

  Seven.

  Time slowed.

  His veins glowed faintly—mana igniting his body from within.

  He activated Enchanted Combat, pouring what remained of his energy into speed and strength.

  He blocked her fatal strike—the M4 between her claws and Yuri’s heart.

  But she kept going.

  Metal cracked.

  And so did bone.

  Saya’s claw sliced through rifle and flesh, cleaving clean through Seven’s already injured right arm.

  The severed limb hit the snow with a wet thud.

  Seven’s scream tore the sky.

  “SEVEN!” Yuri caught him as he collapsed to one knee, blood spraying across her armor. His shoulder was a ruin of mangled nerves and spurting crimson.

  He trembled, eyes wide—not from pain.

  But rage.

  “My… my arm…” he whispered, stunned.

  Saya didn’t stop.

  She turned to the still-twitching limb in the snow, her twin tails curling around it possessively.

  “So reckless,” she cooed.

  Her voice dropped to a predatory purr.

  “And so... delicious.”

  “No—DON’T—!” Seven tried to rise, but he couldn’t.

  His body refused to move.

  With elegance unbecoming the horror, Saya lifted the severed arm in her blood-soaked claws.

  Then bit down.

  Bone cracked. Flesh tore.

  She chewed.

  And then swallowed whole.

  The battlefield froze.

  Her throat flexed—then settled.

  The arm was gone.

  But the change wasn’t.

  The air shook.

  A tremor of dark energy pulsed from her core.

  Cracks of violet lightning surged along the ground.

  Her aura swelled, filling the clearing like a living shadow, thick with dark mist.

  Saya shuddered, her eyes fluttering.

  Then she moaned—a sound of pleasure and raw power.

  Her limbs glowed with new energy.

  Her body gleamed—more refined, more perfect.

  Not just beautiful.

  Transcendent.

  Chris staggered, barely holding pressure to Greg’s wound.

  “What… what the hell just happened?” Jake breathed.

  “She ate his arm,” Chris whispered. “And now… she’s stronger?”

  Seven collapsed forward, barely conscious, blood pooling beneath him.

  Whatever Saya had taken… it wasn’t just flesh.

  His mana. His essence.

  It was in her now.

  And it had awakened something worse.

  Saya raised her hands, admiring her own form.

  Glowing veins of mana pulsed through her skin like stained glass come to life.

  Her gaze drifted back to Seven.

  She licked her lips.

  “Mmm,” she purred. “That was divine.”

  Then, slowly, her eyes passed over each of them.

  Jake.

  Yuri.

  Chris.

  Chris flinched as her gaze lingered.

  Spatial magic.

  A rare flavor.

  Saya’s grin deepened.

  “Let’s see,” she whispered, “what the rest of you taste like.”