Barrier Fall

Forty seconds

Everything was silent, except for the whispering wind swaying the trees.

The ambush was sudden. They weren't prepared.

But the fire in their eyes said otherwise.

As if they'd been training for this exact moment all their lives.

"Heh…" Nox grinned at the devil standing before them.

Juro lowered his stance, muscles coiled, sparks licking off his blade.

The moonlight trickled through the shifting clouds and forest canopy, painting everything in silver.

Raizen stood behind them, fingers pressed to his binding ring.

"The forty seconds. Start now."

The words were a spark. Nox shot forward, keeping pace with Juro's lightning as they launched simultaneously.

Nox hurled the crooked tipped blade.

Juro's lightning streaked left, Nox veered right, and the flying blade cut dead center.

Left? You meet lightning.

Right? You meet steel.

Don't move? You take all three.

Almost perfect.

Almost.

The creature bent impossibly low. The sheer force of its dive shook the ground, shockwaves rippling through the earth.

In a blink, it dodged two attacks. Only Nox's remained.

A grin still carved into his face, Nox darted ahead. Juro moved in sync, closing fast behind him.

The monster's fist whipped forward like a cannon. Nox crossed his blade to block.

The impact boomed. Air shattered, Nox was sent flying.

But Juro was already there. He caught Nox mid air, roared, and spun with all his might.

"Raaaaaah!"

He hurled Nox like a bullet back at the beast.

Nox twisted last second, narrowly evading its face, momentarily blinding it with his feint.

That fraction of a second was all Juro needed.

Lightning cracked like an executioner's whip.

Juro's blade carved through the monster with pinpoint precision.

A single devastating slash.

The beast split from torso down, clean, deadly, electricity dancing across the wound.

Nox hit the ground, rolled, and turned back.

Juro stood before the severed halves, staring them down.

Then darkness bled.

A thick, oily mist seeped from each half and stitched the beast back together.

Its arm snapped forward like an elastic band, aimed straight at Juro's chest.

"Juro!"

Nox was already moving, snatching his partner out of harm's way before the blow landed.

The monster's arm recoiled as it stood upright again.

And then it smiled.

A chilling, razor edged grin stretched across its face, inhuman and hungry.

Raizen didn't move.

Eyes closed, fingers still pressed against the ring.

The boys grinned too, determined, even as exhaustion crept in like a thief waiting to snatch their breath.

The beast stood at the center.

Raizen and his pupils on either side, the moonlight cutting between them.

Only twelve seconds had passed.

The beast's grin stretched wider, teeth gleaming under the moonlight.

A low, guttural rumble escaped its throat as it glanced at Raizen, then back to the boys, like it was saving him for last.

Twenty five seconds remained.

It lunged, fast.

The earth trembled faintly under its charge, horns lowered like an enraged bull.

Nox and Juro exchanged a glance, a nod,

Nox grabbed Juro and hurled him upward toward a tree, the branch groaned as Juro landed.

Nox sprinted up the tree's side like a makeshift runway. Bending his knees slightly, he launched toward the beast with all his might, blade clutched tight, pouring every shred of Iora into it.

His strike met the beast's horn with a sharp clang, metal against bone.

The monster's head jerked upward.

Right on cue, Juro's lightning descended in a blinding flash.

The blast detonated with a distant boom, shaking the ground beneath them.

Black mist hissed faintly as it slithered over the beast's wounds, sealing them.

"Tch…" Juro clicked his tongue, annoyed for the first time.

He dove, lightning sizzling faintly around his blade, and struck with a slash that carved the beast from skull to torso. A clean strike, but also a mistake 

Trees splintered, the earth split open, a crater yawning where they stood.

For a heartbeat, silence.

Then that hideous grin. The wound sealed with a wet, sucking shilk.

"Juro!" Nox shouted, voice cracking.

The monster's arm snapped upward with a whip like motion, elastic and horrifying, it caught Juro by the scruff midair.

At treetop height it halted with a sickening stop, then slammed him into the ground.

The crater erupted, dust and debris filled the air.

Juro groaned, his breath came in ragged gasps.

The arm retracted.

The beast leapt from the hole, landing with a heavy thud, grin locked on Nox.

Fear. Rage. Danger. All burned across Nox's face.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears.

Afraid for his brother. Angry at the monster.

And the sheer danger humming in the air like a living thing.

Fifteen seconds remained.

They launched at each other like coiled springs.

The collision sent a tremor through the trees.

Blade in Nox's right, his left cocked for a punch.

The beast mirrored him.

Their fists collided, pain shot through Nox as his left arm shattered.

He ignored it.

Blade swung, but the horn parried, the weapon flying into the dark.

Didn't matter, he still had his fists.

They traded blows, raw and frantic, but Nox was crippled and already fading.

One vicious strike sent him flying into Juro's crater.

Nine seconds remained.

The beast chuckled under its breath.

It turned, back to Nox, strolling toward Raizen.

Each step sounded heavier, more deliberate.

Raizen stood motionless, eyes closed, fingers pressed on his rings.

Not time yet. And he was seconds from death.

Juro crawled out of the crater, gasping for air.

Nox staggered upright, broken arm dangling, teeth clenched.

The beast was eight feet from Raizen.

Six seconds.

Nox dropped into a runner's stance and launched like a bullet.

Juro saw him. "Heeey!" His voice cracked the chaos.

Both Nox and the beast turned, simultaneous snap.

Juro hurled his sword.

It whirled, lightning crackling faintly across its edge.

Mid flight, Nox caught it. Electricity crawled along the blade with a restrained hiss.

Nox swung.

A streak of light and force carved through the monster, tearing it apart.

Nox fell to his knees, legs trembling, heart hammering.

Lightning danced faintly along the edge of the blade.

Black mist hissed. The monster's body began knitting itself.

It tilted its head with that same devious smile.

Nox grinned back, wilder, teeth bared.

Zero seconds.