Runic magic, unlike other types, is far more advanced. With elemental magic, you hit a ceiling early on—there's only so much you can manipulate. But runes are different. With them, you can shape the world itself without those same limits.However, the reason runes are often called the weakest and least flashy form of magic is that, even with their versatility, they have limits. It's often more efficient to manipulate the elements directly than to rely on runes to do it for you.
I looked at her. Her crimson eyes bore into us, sharp and unrelenting, daring us to make the next move. How would we respond? What could we even do? Sho was going to be the hardest fight in this entire tutorial.
Sho doesn't just command magic—she is magic, the kind that bends you until you break.
As I looked at Sho, I saw something unsettling. She was confident, yes, but it was almost as if she didn't want to fight. The way she stood there, distant, like she might've let us go if we hadn't pushed too far. But that feeling—something unreadable—lingered. I couldn't tell if she was pretending or if she really didn't care.
"It's over!" Reyna yelled
She drew her katana, raising it high as she held it before her.
"UniqueSkill_Phoenix_Embrace(player:reyna)!" Reyna's voice rang out.
Sho didn't move at first. With a casual flick of her finger, she drew a circle in the air and began writing inside it.
"Zephyr's_Grace(effect: permanent)" she wrote calmly.
The katana in Reyna's hands ignited, surrounded by a fiery aura. The heat was unbearable, and the sword seemed to warp under the intensity of the flames. The fire wrapped around Reyna's body, making her glow like a living sun. She stood tall, her body pulsing with the same fiery energy.
Sho's expression didn't change, but her frown deepened. I couldn't read her. It felt like she was more irritated than anything else, as if she were tired of this charade.
"Reyna blitzed toward her, and Viri followed, but Reyna was faster. In mere moments, she reached Sho."
Sho's skill didn't seem to affect Reyna, but Sho expertly dodged, weaving around the path of the katana. With her grace, she avoided each strike, her movements fluid as if dancing with the blade. Viri, not far behind, manipulated the earth, sending rocks and blades hurling toward Sho. But the air… it rejected them.
"Wind_Slash," Sho wrote, dodging once more.
She sent a thick, crimson blade of air flying at Viri. Viri quickly summoned a wall of earth to protect herself, but the blade tore through it like paper. It slashed at her, and she staggered back, barely able to keep her footing.
Tenshi stepped forward, summoning a barrier to protect Viri. But before the barrier could fully form, another air blade sliced through it with brutal precision, striking the barrier and sending Tenshi crashing to the ground. Blood poured from her mouth as she hit the earth hard.
I glanced over to Eli. She was still watching, unmoving. Sera, meanwhile, seemed to be fading, her movements becoming erratic.
Sho wrote something quickly. "Aerial_Bind."
Sera, who had been trying to remain invisible, suddenly reappeared. Sho's skill tore through her, pinning her in place with a binding force of air. She kicked Sera with incredible force, sending her crashing into the trees, blood dripping from under her mask.
Sho's face was twisted with an unsettling emotional—disturbance, maybe. But it wasn't fear. It was something else… guilt, perhaps?
"Heal_," Sho wrote, the word floating in the air.
A soft glow surrounded Viri, but it didn't seem enough to fully heal her.
Then, Eli finally rushed forward. Her speed was nowhere near Reyna's or Viri's, but the air around us was thick with tension. Sho's laugh echoed in the clearing.
"It's over," she taunted, as her form levitated into the air, like an angel ready to strike.
"Gale_Pulse," Sho wrote with a flourish.
A massive pulse of air blasted outwards, sending Reyna and Viri tumbling to the ground. The shockwave knocked them back, their bodies hitting the dirt with sickening thuds.
"It's over," Sho repeated, her voice carrying a chilling certainty.
And then, before anyone could react, she raised her hand again. A new circle appeared, glowing with intense power.
"Summon_Spellbreaker_Odachi(player:sho, effect: instant)," Sho wrote.
An Odachi appeared—white, gleaming under the faint light—floating within the circle. Sho grabbed it, pulling it through the circle, and as she did, the energy around her became almost unbearable. The skill persisted, unlike others, and once the sword was fully materialized, the circle vanished.
I couldn't let her have that power. I had to stop her.
"She's going to attack with it," I realized, and before Sho could unsheathe the sword, I shouted, "Mana_Bind(effect: Spellbreaker_Odachi)!"
Sho froze, her hand still gripping the hilt of the sword. She tried to unsheath it, but nothing happened. A brief smile tugged at the corner of her lips—one that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Clever guy," she muttered under her breath.
The smallest of smiles flickering on my face. Tenshi, despite her injuries, seemed to smile back, weak but satisfied.
And for a moment, we all held our breath.