Arson roared as he charged, magma erupting from his fists, blazing in molten fury. Each blast shook the castle's foundation but the fairies moved in flawless unity.
Every time he struck, they countered. Every time he burned, they deflected. His rage only grew, pride seething under every blow that didn't land.
"Damn it... why won't they fall?!" Arson snarled, flames crackling like a storm.
Sylvia stayed behind, her eyes locked on the rhythm of the fairy soldiers — the perfection of their formation. Too perfect. That was the flaw.
She watched their wings shift at every strike, their spears twist with military precision. They aren't thinking. They're synchronized. That meant they were predictable—but only to someone observing, not attacking blindly.
She sprang into motion — vines slithering low, thorns darting out just ahead of Arson's next blow. It seemed like she was simply clearing the path for him, but she was doing more than that: she was testing their reaction time, redirecting their attention.
Then, with a quiet breath, she let out a whisper meant only for Arson — disguised in mockery:
"Maybe if you stopped throwing tantrums, you'd notice how boring they are."
He growled, but something clicked.
"Boring...?"
And just like that, he noticed it too — how they moved the same, reacted the same, left the same spot exposed for a fraction of a second after every third block.
He smirked.
"Hmph. Guess you're good for something after all."
He launched again — but this time, he wasn't charging like a beast.
He was dancing through their rhythm, aiming between their sync, landing blows just as they reset their stance.
Sylvia's vines followed behind him, disrupting just enough to keep them unbalanced, but never too much to steal the spotlight.
Together — without ever saying it — they began turning the tide.
Arson's flames roared louder with each blow, his confidence returning with every soldier that fell to his smoldering wrath. "Try to stop me now!" he shouted, leaping into the air and crashing down like a meteor, incinerating a squad of fairy guards below.
Sylvia stayed close behind, weaving her vines into barriers, deflecting blasts of enchanted arrows and strikes of fairy magic aimed at both of them.
Her eyes never left Arson—not out of admiration, but out of duty. Every gap in his offense, she filled. Every blind spot, she covered.
The two were like wildfire and roots—opposites, yet moving together in chaotic harmony.
Meanwhile, deep within the crystalline throne room at the peak of the tower, Thorn lounged lazily on his violet-and-silver seat. His sleek black wings twitched in boredom as he leaned on one arm, chin resting on his knuckles.
A glowing mirror of wind and starlight reflected the battle below.
"Tch..." Thorn muttered, observing Arson's wild and raw power tearing through his elites. "Brainless fool. All brawn, no thought."
Then his gaze shifted to Sylvia, weaving between chaos with elegance and precision. Her vines dancing, her thorns striking only when needed, her eyes calculating. Thorn's sharp stare narrowed.
"She's the real threat," he said with a low sigh. "Balance always is."
He yawned, stretching his arms. "Well, let's see if they can entertain me enough to deserve an audience." A dark smirk formed across his face. "If they make it here... I might just get serious."
The battle raged on, thunderous crashes echoing through the enchanted stone halls of Thorn's castle. Arson, breathing hard, let out a flaming roar as he drove his magma fists through the last of the first wave of fairy guards. Their shrieks were drowned out by the crackle of molten heat.
"Hah... finally," he panted, pride igniting in his eyes as the hall cleared of resistance.
But their victory was short-lived.
A massive gate creaked open ahead, revealing the next chamber of the castle. From the shadowed archway stepped in a new force — a dozen elite fairy soldiers, unlike the ones they had faced before
Their wings shimmered with black-and-blue energy, and their armor pulsed with strange runes. Their expressions were cold, precise, and emotionless.
Arson and Sylvia slowly stepped inside anticipating the next level.