The moonlight filtered through the uneven rooftops of the sprawling outskirts, casting long shadows over the rough-hewn tiles. The air was heavy with the faint tang of iron and the muffled hum of distant revelry, oblivious to the battle raging above.
Ahlgrath’s grotesque body had fully unraveled, his form now a writhing mass of sinew, cws, and bed flesh pulsing with dark veins. His monstrous presened, each step crag the brittle shingles beh him.
Across from him, Tristan and Yvolt stood side by side, their pi-shaped eyes now glowing even brighter, like mps cutting through the gloom. Ahlgrath snarled, his cws elongating into sharp talons as he lunged, his speed a blur. But the duo moved as oepping apart with a practiced elegance.
“I miss you,” Yvolt murmured, and in a blink, she vanished, repced by Tristan mid-draw. The shock hit Ahlgrath like a sp; the phrase was different this time, throwing off his rhythm.
The dey cost him. Tristan loosed a Force arrow point-bnk, the crag projectile slig into Ahlgrath’s side and hurling him backward. Yvolt appeared above him mid-air, rapier gleaming in the moonlight.
“I like your smile,” she said sweetly, thrusting downward. Ahlgrath barely raised an arm in time, his cws catg the bde just as it sliced into his exposed shoulder.
He roared, his body twisting unnaturally as he threw her off, but another voice rang out before he could ter.
“You’re my favorite,” Tristan called, switg pces with Yvolt yet again. A Force-powered kick sent Ahlgrath reeling, tiles crumblih his bulk.
The seamless exge of their positions was maddening, but the new phrases, each ced with casual affe, were ht infuriating. Ahlgrath gred at them, his grotesque features torted in a mix e and fusion.
“What is this?” he snarled, his voice guttural and thick with disbelief. “Why do your words ge?!”
Tristan grinned, nog another invisible arrow. “Oh, e on,” he said. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you about love?”
Yvolt smirked, appearing beside Tristan once more. “Guess not,” she quipped. “But don’t worry—we’re great teachers.”
Ahlgrath’s roar reverberated through the maze of rooftops, shaking loose tiles as he surged forward with renewed ferocity. The bck aura around him thied, spreading like a living shadow that seemed to e the dim moonlight.
Tristan and Yvolt dodged and weaved as they always did, but this time, Ahlgrath’s movements were sharper, faster, and more deliberate.
The rooftops beh their feet began to glisten with a slick, dark substaicky and ulingly warm. The air grew heavy, thick with a faintly acrid st.
Tristan’s foot slipped slightly as he pivoted to fire another Force arrow, but he pensated with a nimble leap, his glowi-shaped eyes narrowing in tration.
“I miss you!” Yvolt called, switg pces with him mid-strike. Her rapier fshed toward Ahlgrath’s throat, but he twisted with inhuman speed, the bde gng off his hardened flesh.
“You’re slowing down,” Ahlgrath growled, his voice dripping with malice.
Tristan and Yvolt exged a gheir smiles faltering as they noticed the creeping fatigue in their limbs. The bck fog that filled the air wasn’t just for show; it was sapping their strength, dulling their reflexes.
Tristan’s arrow fizzled mid-flight, and Yvolt’s normally precise strikes started to falter, her movements a beat slower than before.
“What’s wrong, little knights?” Ahlgrath sneered, his cwed feet effortlessly gripping the slied tiles as he lunged. His cws sshed in wide arcs, f Yvolt back. She stumbled, barely able to raise her bde in time to defleother blow.
“Don’t tell me this is the extent of your love,” he mocked, his monstrous grin widening as he anticipated their move.
“We’re firistan said, though his voice betrayed a flicker of uainty.
“Are we?” Yvolt muttered, her eyes darting to the bed fog swirling around them. The sticky substance coating the rooftops seemed alive, creeping and ging to their boots with each step.
Ahlgrath chuckled, the sound low and grating. “You thought your little game of switches was clever. But in my domain?” He spread his arms wide, his aura expanding further. “I decide how this ends.”
He darted forward, faster than before, cws gleaming as they sshed at Tristan’s midse. Tristan barely mao dodge, but the force of the swi him sprawling across the roof.
Yvolt leapt to his defense, but Ahlgrath was already there, blog her bde with his own d shoving her back with a brutal swipe.
“You’re not used to being prey, are you?” Ahlgrath hissed, his grotesque form shifting as he crouched low, preparing for arike.
His movements were no longer wild or erratic—they were calcuted, each attack aimed at dismantling their rhythm.
For the first time, the Love Potion Duo was on the defensive. And Ahlgrath was relishing every moment of it.
The rooftop battle spiraled into chaos. The bck fog thied, pressing against their lungs, and the creeping sludge oiles made every step a risk.
Tristan and Yvolt, once a seamless symphony of movement, now stumbled through their routine like a broken melody. Each swing of Ahlgrath’s cws seemed closer tha, and the monstrous grin never left his grotesque fabsp;
Yvolt parried another swipe with her rapier, the force of the impaumbing her arm. “He’s getting faster,” she muttered through gritted teeth.
Tristan loosed a Force arrow, but it cked its usual precision. Ahlgrath sidestepped effortlessly, his hulking form closing in like a predator sav the kill.
“Your tricks are failing you,” he hissed, his cws raking dangerously close to Tristan’s shoulder.
“We’ll see,” Tristan growled, his glowi-shaped eyes narrowing.
The duo fought stubbornly, their strikes and switches being more frantic, more desperate. Every move they made was met with terattacks that came closer to drawing blood.
Ahlgrath, now grinning with smug satisfa, began to anticipate their rhythm. He lu Yvolt, f her back against the edge of the roof.
“Yve!” Tristan shouted, his voice sharp with panic. Then, with a sudden ferocity, he yelled, “I love you!”
Ahlgrath braced for the switch, his gaze snapping to where Tristan would reappear. But no switch happened.
Instead, Tristan stood his ground, unleashing a powerful burst of Forergy that coiled around him like a tempest. Yvolt followed suit, her rapier glowing with mana as she charged.
Ahlgrath realized too te—it was a feint. The duo’s energy struck him simultaneously, Yvolt’s rapier pierg his shoulder while Tristan’s Force arrow detonated against his chest.
He roared in pain, his monstrous form staggering back. But even as he bled, his retaliation was swift. A cw shed out, tearing through Tristan’s defense and carving a jagged wound across his side.
“Tristan!” Yvolt screamed, steppiween them with her rapier raised, her breath ragged but her determination unbroken.
Ahlgrath straightened, bck ichor dripping from his wounds. His grin, now tinged with rage, returned. “Clever,” he growled. “But not clever enough.”
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By the end of January, I must return to my uni to finish my thesis and bay part time work. But before that, let's pump up these releases! I finally had to retire my sed word dot and make a third one now that we're already at the 200 chapters (on patreon)! I'm hel excited.
