I Can Purify Corruption Through Intimacy in the Apocalypse

The beastkin didn't fully turn toward him. Instead, it shifted into a stance that allowed it to monitor both threats at once. The arm carrying the massive tower shield remained angled toward Thane's group, while its free hand lowered a long ironbound club in Lucien's direction, the weapon hanging low but ready.

Lucien's expression tightened into a faint grimace.

I can't get close to the high elf…

Even if he circled around to the furthest possible angle, the beastkin's enormous frame would still be a problem. Standing nearly eight feet tall, it possessed both the reach and positioning to intercept him long before he could get anywhere near the elf. Between the length of its arm and the size of that club, any direct approach would be shut down immediately.

A quick glance toward the others only reinforced the conclusion.

Isolde had begun lifting her staff, the crystal at its tip already angled toward the high elf, but the motion stalled the moment she noticed the beastkin's adjustment. Her brows drew together slightly as she lowered it a fraction.

Lucien had a strong suspicion she'd been waiting for an opening.

Most likely, she'd intended to target the high elf the moment the beastkin committed itself fully to him.

That opening no longer existed.

His eyes moved rapidly across the battlefield, taking in every engagement in a matter of seconds.

Kira was still holding his ground against the Inferni. The Wolfkin's bastard sword clashed repeatedly against the Hollow's broadsword, sending sharp metallic clangs ringing across the plaza. Neither combatant appeared to be gaining a decisive advantage, but Kira wasn't being pushed back either.

The fight, however, was clearly demanding his complete attention.

Meanwhile, Ava continued weaving around the shorter Hollow with effortless grace. Shadows curled around her feet whenever she moved, and every exchange looked more like a dance than a battle. The Hollow lunged. Ava sidestepped. The Hollow adjusted. Ava vanished into a patch of darkness and reappeared somewhere else entirely.

What bothered Lucien was that she didn't seem particularly interested in ending it.

If anything, the amused grin lingering on her face suggested she was enjoying herself.

Lucien frowned.

I know she prefers working alone, but does she really have to treat this like a game?

Another exchange flashed across the plaza as the shorter Hollow's blades sliced through empty air where Ava had been a moment earlier.

The faster that thing dies, the faster we can help everyone else.

Drawing in a breath, Lucien raised his voice over the sounds of battle.

"Thane! I'm going to help Ava deal with the short one! Keep the beastkin occupied, and Isolde, see if you can help Kira, alright?"

"Got it!" Thane barked back without hesitation.

Lucien was already moving before the reply finished.

"Ava!" he called as he headed toward her side of the plaza. "Try to finish him quickly if you can!"

She slipped out of another attack with infuriating ease before glancing his way.

"Give me five minutes!"

Lucien couldn't help laughing.

"I'll try to help, okay?!"

Ava's grin widened.

"Do whatever you want!"

Taking that as permission, Lucien immediately altered course and began circling toward the Hollow's rear. He kept a healthy distance as he moved, careful not to enter the range of those serrated blades.

After watching the creature's speed earlier, the last thing he wanted was to give it an opportunity to lunge at him.

The shorter Hollow seemed to recognize exactly what he was trying to do.

Even while exchanging blows with Ava, its head kept twitching toward Lucien's position at regular intervals. Every few seconds, those hollow eyes would flick toward him before returning to Ava, as though constantly reassessing which threat demanded its attention.

Of course, Lucien hadn't approached without a plan.

Reaching into his belt, he pulled out one of his throwing knives and flicked it forward.

Fwish!

The blade cut through the air in a silver blur.

“—!”

One of its shortswords snapped upward.

Clang!

The knife spun away after being deflected cleanly.

“Heh, good opening!”

The moment its attention shifted, Ava exploded forward.

Her rapier shot straight toward the Hollow's head like a streak of silver light.

Yet the creature's response was equally impressive.

With a sharp scrape of boots against stone, it executed a sudden footwork technique that reminded Lucien of Ava's own movements. Its body slid sideways in a blur, narrowly avoiding the thrust before immediately transitioning into a counterattack.

Both shortswords lashed out.

Shhk! Shhk!

The blades crossed through the air from different angles, one aimed high and the other low.

Ava's grin never wavered

Clink!

Her stiletto dagger flashed upward and caught the first blade aside with surprising precision. At the same time, she flowed into another step, her body shifting smoothly out of the second strike's path.

For a brief moment, the two of them looked less like combatants and more like dancers exchanging rehearsed movements, each reading the other's intentions a fraction of a second before they happened.

Lucien had no intention of throwing another knife into the fight.

At this distance, there was a very real chance of hitting Ava instead.

His gaze briefly dropped to the daggers in his hands before returning to the battlefield. The main reason he had chosen to assist Ava rather than Kira was simple: if they could eliminate it quickly, Ava would be free to help bring down the high elf.

“Ah, come on! That's cheating!”

Kira's exasperated shout drew Lucien's attention across the plaza.

The Wolfkin had apparently managed to carve a deep wound across the Inferni's shoulder. Dark blood stained its chainmail, yet somehow the creature had disengaged and retreated toward the high elf. The massive bear beastkin immediately stepped forward, tower shield raised, creating a protective barrier between them.

From where he stood, Lucien could see the elf plant her staff firmly against the stone.

Thoom.

The crystal atop it flared with brilliant golden light.

A strained, melodic hum escaped her lips as golden and obsidian Threads spiraled around the Inferni's injury. They wove themselves through torn flesh like glowing stitches, slowly knitting the wound back together.

So she really does have healing.

“Her Soul Energy should still be limited!” Isolde shouted from behind Thane's position. “Keep inflicting serious wounds on the Inferni and force her to deplete it!”

“I know I've got the best stamina here, but it's not infinite, y’know?!” Kira shouted back while narrowly avoiding a sweeping counterattack.

“Then surpass your limits!”

...And they're still having this conversation in the middle of a fight.

Lucien couldn't help giving them a strange look.

Perhaps because his attention wandered for a moment—

“Lucien!”

“...!”

The warning came just in time.

The shorter Hollow suddenly vanished from his sight.

A sharp chill raced down Lucien's spine.

He threw himself sideways.

Whoosh!

A serrated blade sliced through the space where his neck had been a fraction of a second earlier.

Lucien stumbled into a hurried recovery step, while Ava shot past him in immediate pursuit.

The Hollow had already moved again.

Lucien's gaze snapped across the plaza, searching for the follow-up attack he was certain would come, but there was nothing.

“Well, bad luck.”

Ava clicked her tongue lightly as she slowed beside him.

“We got lured into its attack.”

Lucien's eyes widened slightly.

Only then did he realize what had happened.

The shorter Hollow wasn't attacking anymore.

It was circling them.

Fast.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.

Its footsteps echoed from every direction as it raced around them in a widening ring. Sometimes Lucien caught a glimpse of its silhouette. Sometimes he saw nothing at all.

The creature was no longer focusing on one target.

It had positioned both him and Ava at the center of its movement.

The realization immediately made his shoulders tense.

“Don't look,” Ava said calmly. Despite the situation, her voice remained remarkably composed. “Hear it instead.”

She had already guessed what his first instinct would be.

Lucien didn't waste time responding. Instead, he followed her advice and focused entirely on the sounds around him.

As soon as he did, Ava slipped into Shadow Merge.

Darkness rippled beneath her feet, and her presence seemed to melt into the surrounding shadows until it became impossible to tell where she was. Lucien noticed the change, but ignored it. Finding Ava wasn't important right now.

Finding the Hollow was.

The sound of its footsteps rang clearly through the plaza.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The rhythm remained consistent, circling them at roughly the same distance without interruption. Lucien narrowed his focus, shutting out the distant clashes of steel and the shouts coming from the other battles. The Inferni and Kira could have been fighting on the other side of the city for all he cared. Right now, only those footsteps mattered.

For several seconds, the pattern remained unchanged.

Suddenly, it shifted.

“...!”

Lucien reacted on instinct, snapping both daggers toward the left side of his body.

Clang!

The impact rattled through his arms. At the same instant, another sound followed close behind it.

Shhk.

A sharp pain flared across his hand.

Lucien grimaced.

Damn it.

He had blocked the main attack, but not all of it.