“Lily?”

  “LILY!”

  Tave’s voice cracked as he fell to his knees, eyes wide in disbelief. His hands trembled violently as he stared at the girl before him.

  Her palms engulfed in bck fme, her body bruised and bleeding, marked with cuts from bde after bde.

  Tears ran freely down her cheeks, glistening beneath the faint mark of the raindrop sigil under her left eye.

  This couldn’t be real.

  And yet. It all made sense now.

  Why he had heard her voice. Why his opponent's movements felt familiar, instinctively known.

  He had been fighting Lily… the entire time.

  “Tave…” her voice trembled, “I almost killed you… I’m sorry…”

  Her expression twisted with guilt, sorrow so heavy it weighed down her every word.

  Tave reached forward, gently taking her right hand. His grip was shaking.

  “Don’t let the fire spread,” he whispered. “Don’t let it touch the rest of you.”

  His head dropped, slowly shaking in disbelief.

  He had fought his own sister.

  All because of an illusion?

  Who did this? Who twisted Lily against him?

  And yet, he realized. Even during the fight… even in the middle of the chaos… He’d heard her voice. A soft cry beneath Theo’s threats. A call beneath the hate.

  But he had ignored it.

  He had been too focused on Theo. Too lost in the ghost of his guilt.

  Now… Soulfire burned on her skin. A fire that couldn’t be extinguished. Not even by the one who cast it.

  Lily would lose control of her arm. The fire would take it. And Tave had done this.

  Then… Tave felt it. Something fast approaching from the entrance of the massive cave chamber.

  He turned just in time to see Fang emerge from the shadows, a blur of motion dashing across the stone floor. The wolf didn’t stop. He bolted toward one side of the chamber, then disappeared back into the darkness without a sound.

  And then again. Fang reappeared, lunging at something unseen. A fsh. A blur. Gone again.

  Over and over. Fang attacked. Each strike aimed at something invisible, something lurking just out of Tave’s perception.

  Until, finally… Fang appeared once more. But this time, he had something in his jaws.

  Tave's eyes widened.

  It was a creature. Its body grotesque and thick, resembling a giant scorpion, about the size of a full-grown man’s leg. Its shell shimmered with dark crystal patterns, and the stinger was jagged, still twitching faintly.

  Fang crushed it in his jaws with a vicious shake. The body crumbled… And as it hit the stone floor, a soft pulse followed.

  [ You have successfully sin an Elite Shade-Tail Scorpinox Lv. 28 ]

  Tave swallowed hard, eyes fixed on the crushed remains of the monster beneath Fang’s jaws. This... this was what twisted Lily.

  Damn it.

  That creature. An illusion-type parasite. It had the power to invade the mind, distorting fear, warping perception. It didn’t just manipute vision. It struck at the psyche, making its victims see what they feared most.

  It made Lily see him as a threat, and made Tave believe he was fighting Theo.

  Because of it, they had been pushed into a fight to the death, each believing they were defending themselves. And now it all made sense. This was the same monster that must have driven Orion to kill their teammate when they first entered the Rift.

  This expined everything.

  He hadn’t been fighting Theo. He had been fighting his own fears. His guilt, his regrets, and nearly killed his sister because of it.

  Thank he woke up when he did. Just in time to stop himself from making the greatest mistake of his life.

  This Rift had now officially recorded two mini-boss encounters.

  For a Tier 3 Rift, even encountering one mini-boss was already considered a major event. But they had confirmed two. And the second had caused a disruption far beyond anything physical.

  The monster Fang killed had been physically weak, easy to dispatch. It hadn't taken the wolf long to track and destroy it. But its true power wasn’t in strength.

  When two people were alone. That was when the creature’s abilities fully awakened. Unleashing mental and illusory attacks so potent that even Gaia Masters would struggle to resist them. For Gaia Guardians, and especially Gaia Apprentices like Tave, it was a nightmare.

  Tave could only assume it was Kaelira’s fire, or maybe even her will that helped him snap free in the final moment.

  There was no way he should have broken through on his own. Not against something this insidious.

  Even after having a bloodline override, the illusion held firm. But perhaps… just perhaps, that power helped him hesitate. Helped him hear Lily’s voice beneath the madness.

  It was his enhanced senses. His sharpened hearing and instinct. That gave him the edge.

  And that hesitation? It saved both their lives.

  “Tave…” Lily called softly.

  He turned to her, and his gaze immediately dropped to her arm. The bck fire was still burning, steadily creeping past her wrist. It had already consumed the soul presence in her palm.

  “Tave, cut off my hand,” she said.

  “No,” he replied instantly, shaking his head. “It can still be saved.”

  Even though the ‘soul’ in her right hand was already gone, he refused to believe it was hopeless. There had to be a way to stop the Soulfire…

  “Tave… can I use my water to extinguish it?”

  “No,” he answered quietly. “It can’t be put out, Lily…”

  “Not even by me.”

  “It’s going to burn through my arm,” Lily said quietly. “It can spread. Just cut off my hand.”

  “No…” Tave whispered, still shaking his head.

  He was still trying to hold her arm up, keeping the fmes from reaching further into her body. There had to be a way. If he could get her to the others, they could do something.

  He tried to lift her, but his strength failed him. His body wouldn’t respond.

  He turned toward Fang, desperate for help. But before he could speak, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps echoing from the tunnel.

  “Tave!”

  “Lily!”

  Tave turned, just in time to see Oriana and Elias rushing into the chamber.

  They dropped to their knees beside them, eyes wide with shock.

  “Tave, what happened.” Oriana’s voice broke off as she saw the fmes.

  “Is this… Soulfire?” Elias asked.

  Oriana leaned in quickly, inspecting Lily’s arm with urgency.

  “Elias, I need your water. We’re freezing it,” she said without hesitation.

  Both of them immediately formed hand seals. Elias conjured a surge of water, pouring it over the burning limb.

  The fmes hissed, and then ignited the water itself.

  “Force it!” Oriana shouted, and she added her own magic.

  Ice surged, wrapping around the wet fmes.

  For several tense seconds, it was nothing but steam, pressure, and raw elemental resistance.

  Until… Tave saw it.

  The Soulfire stopped moving. Frozen. Trapped under a thick yer of ice.

  He exhaled, shaky and slow.

  “Yes…” he murmured to himself.

  That should be enough.

  Enough to stop it.

  To let it die out in time.

  He blinked, his vision hazy. His limbs were heavy.

  Was it okay… to rest now?