Chapter 64: [THREE SECONDS]

The instant Caelen’s boots detonated against stone, the chamber howled with life.

The priest’s rosary arm cleaved downward like a guillotine, beads clattering with the weight of a collapsing world. The sweep came for Caelen’s skull, each bead big enough to crush him into paste.

At the same heartbeat, its free hand lunged for Eli, stone fingers splaying like the jaws of a trap.

Eli’s instincts screamed.

’MOVE!’

He dove sideways, boots skidding across rubble as the ground where he’d stood cratered beneath the priest’s strike. Stone split open like glass, shards blasting across his arms and face. His ears rang, teeth clattering from the shockwave—yet somehow, his legs stayed under him.

“Caelen! Back left! Don’t let that chain graze you!”

Caelen didn’t waste breath replying. His golden-cracked body spun, sword whipping upward in a blazing arc. Sparks shrieked as steel met bead—then rang out like a cathedral bell. The weapon bounced off.

The recoil jarred his arms, his boots gouging trenches in stone as he slid back. Caelen’s face twisted, veins pulsing against his temples.

He barely sidestepped the next bead sweep, golden light dragging behind him like a comet’s tail.

The priest didn’t pause. Its second hand tore free of rubble and struck again—straight for Eli.

“Shit—!”

Eli’s body moved before his brain caught up. His legs pumped, boots hammering fractured stone, lungs searing with every gasp. Yet his body carried him, faster than he thought himself capable.

’This body really is fit…’ His thoughts flickered as he vaulted a fissure, sweat flying from his jawline. ’But not like Caelen. Not like Kairo. Not like an S-Class—’

The floor erupted behind him, the priest’s fingers gouging a trench so deep it split the ground into fault lines. Dust belched upward, choking, blinding, stones pelting his back.

’No time to think—no time—!’

His chest ached. His mind screamed toward the one thing that could save him.

’System! Anything—?! Skills, a buff, anything! You said I had power-ups, didn’t you?!’

Nothing.

No window. No prompt. No voice.

Silence.

Eli’s teeth ground so hard his jaw hurt. ’Figures! Useless piece of—’

He didn’t finish. Danger Detection detonated.

Eli rolled, barely ducking beneath another swing that tore the ceiling apart. Rubble sheared past his head, stone scraping across his cheek and elbows as he tumbled. He came up with blood on his arms, grit in his teeth, chest heaving like his lungs were on fire.

Across the battlefield, Caelen burned like a molten giant. His blade carved arcs of gold across the priest’s arm, each strike deepening shallow grooves—but not enough. The stone titan barely flinched.

Caelen snarled, sword locking against another bead with sparks spitting across the floor. His laugh was a growl, edged with battle heat. “Oi! You seeing an opening yet?! Because right now—” he shoved off, golden cracks glowing hotter, “—I’m only scratching him!”

“None!” Eli’s voice cracked, raw against the dust and blood in his throat. “It’s all defense and swings! You want to break him, it has to be torso level! If the chest cracks—the rest will collapse!”

Caelen grinned sharp through grit teeth, golden fire sparking off his jawline. “Closer, huh? You make it sound so easy.”

The priest moved again.

Rosary arm whistling through the air at Caelen. Free hand clawing down toward Eli.

Eli’s Danger Detection shrieked like knives across his skull.

He bolted, legs screaming as he vaulted a mound of shattered gargoyle stone. His vision swam, sweat blinding his eyes, lungs searing like acid.

’The more I think—the more it moves. It’s reading me. Damn it, it’s forcing me to the edge—!’

The shadow swallowed him, massive stone fingers blotting out the ceiling.

’Too close—!’

BOOOOOOM!

He hurled himself sideways, shoulder-first into the ground. The world spun as he rolled, jagged stone carving fire across his arms and back. His breath ripped out in a ragged scream, pain crackling through every nerve until he sprawled out flat.

“Aghhh—fuck…” His voice was hoarse, nearly breaking as he clawed himself upright, one arm clutching his ribs. Dust coated his mouth, his lungs seizing with every gasp.

And still, above him, the priest loomed.

“Elione!”

Caelen’s roar cracked across the battlefield, molten sparks spraying as his sword clashed against the priest’s rosary. Steel screamed against stone, each impact rattling through the chamber like war drums. “Still alive?!”

Eli spat grit, his lungs burning as he staggered upright. His voice rasped, cracked, but steady enough. “Yep—I’m alive—”

Danger Detection detonated inside his skull.

“DUCK! NOW!”

Caelen didn’t hesitate. His body dropped instantly, molten cracks blazing brighter as the priest’s rosary thundered overhead. The sheer wind pressure ripped stone to splinters, blasting the far wall apart in an avalanche of debris.

Eli’s heart hammered so violently it felt like his ribs might snap apart. His muscles screamed with every movement, his legs trembling from exhaustion, dust searing his lungs.

And yet—amid the chaos, he noticed it.

The rhythm.

Every time the priest swung, every time its colossal arms tore through the air—there was a gap. A window.

Barely noticeable at first, buried under its ferocity, but now that Eli had been dodging blow after blow, he felt it in his bones.

’There…! Between strikes—there’s always a pause. Just three seconds. It’s huge, but even something that big can’t move endlessly.’

His throat burned as he forced his voice out, sharp and clear. “Three seconds!”

Caelen snarled back, confusion flashing across his molten eyes. “What?!”

Eli counted in his head, each number slamming against his skull with the priest’s looming shadow.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Attack left! NOW!”

Caelen’s boots exploded against stone. He twisted, sword igniting in golden flame as he slashed to the left.

The priest’s arm descended exactly where Eli had predicted—just late enough for Caelen to slip by, his blade carving a molten gouge across its forearm.

The giant roared—not with sound, but with a grinding quake that rattled the chamber itself.

Eli’s mind was blazing, faster than his lungs, faster than his body could handle. His vision blurred at the edges, but his thoughts cut like lightning.

’Three seconds. That’s all we get. Three seconds to move, to strike, to breathe. If we can use that window—no, if we can force him into that rhythm, then Caelen can break him apart piece by piece…’

But even as the thought burned in his head, his stomach sank.

This wasn’t just risky. It was worse.

Because for this plan to work—he’d have to stay locked on the priest. He’d have to keep predicting its every move, keep himself in its sights. Which meant…

’I’ll have to keep drawing its aggro. Even harder than before.’

Sweat slicked his jaw. His ribs ached with every shallow breath. His body screamed at him to shut up, to stop thinking, to run.

But his lips pulled into a trembling grin.

Because there wasn’t another choice.

He dragged his eyes back up, locking onto the towering figure above him, the eyes that never blinked.

“I’ve got another plan.” he rasped, voice sharp against the chaos. His hand trembled at his side, but his words didn’t waver.

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