Chapter 414: Team Up With A Dark Mage
The instant Serah’s flames burst to life, the Redblood charged.
It launched in a blur of crimson-black motion erupting from the mist, its body snapping forward with serpentine speed. Its claws struck the ground, sending up clods of earth and shattered roots as it bounded in low arcs, weaving through trees like a phantom unbound by gravity.
Serah didn’t flinch.
The fire around her ignited in a controlled burst, and she moved.
Her boots carved shallow trenches into the mossy floor as she surged forward, sword low and glowing with molten arcs. Just before they collided, she pivoted on one heel, letting the force of the Redblood’s momentum carry it past her—but not without cost. She slashed upward in a diagonal sweep, the blade singing through the air.
Steel met flesh.
A streak of scorched black split across the creature’s torso, searing open part of its rib-like plating. But instead of recoiling, the Redblood twisted unnaturally in mid-air, as though it had no spine. Its body contorted, right leg sweeping out with bone-snapping speed.
Serah barely caught it with the flat of her sword. The impact cracked the air like thunder. She was flung sideways, boots skidding, shoulder crunching against bark as she hit a tree trunk hard—but she stayed standing.
Marcus was already in motion.
The moment Serah made contact, he’d dashed forward in a wide arc, twin sabres leaving afterimages of pale silver light. Unlike Serah, he didn’t move like a knight—no polished form or rigid stance. Instead he moved like a predator. Silent and calculated. One foot always leading to the next.
The Redblood screeched and turned—but too late.
Marcus was behind it.