Before they achieved mind-body unity, it was all guesswork and frantic ting, trying to predict when their heartbeats would sync. They had to use their Forplify their hearing, straining to focus on the rhythm of each other’s hearts. It was chaotipredictable, and dht insane.

  At first, it didn’t work. At all. But as they kept at it—through trial, error, and sheer stubborhey started to uand the rhythm, learning how to sync their movements to match.

  trol? That was out of the question. But ohey memorized the subtle nuances of each other’s heartbeats, everything began to click. Together, they became something far greater than the sum of their parts, defeating ehey could barely touch when fighting alone.

  And that’s how they hit mind-body unity—at the same time.

  With their world expahey didn’t o guess or t anymore. They could trol when they switched. They didn’t even need cues, to begin with; syng heartbeats became sed nature, like breathing.

  The “I love yous” and “I miss yous”? Smoke and mirrors. Just a clever little aake their switches seem like magic or a spell.

  “Enough!” Ahlgrath roared, unleashing a thick bck explosion that sent them skidding backward.

  But it wasn’t enough today.

  They’d mastered the early stage of mind-body unity, sure, but as Four Stars, even that had its limits. Timing each switch by deliberately slowing their heartbeats to gain the upper hand? That was ohing. But speeding them up, syng ead every heartbeat to pull off rapid switches?

  Now that was insanity. And it seemed they had to do it.

  Ba-dum—SLASH!

  Ahlgrath’s monstrous roar shook the rooftops as his arm flew through the air, severed ly from his grotesque body. His eyes widened in disbelief.

  Ba-dum!

  Ba-dum!

  Ba-dum!

  Three more switches, lightning-fast, and in the blink of an eye, his remaining limbs were gone, hacked apart before he could even process what was happening.

  Ba-dum! Ba-dum! STAB! STAB!

  The strikes came faster now—relentless, vicious, eae perfectly timed to the erratic rhythm of their synized hearts. Blood surged through Tristan and Yvolt’s veins, their faces flushed with exertion. Their movements were a blur, the staccato beat of their hearts driving them into a frenzy.

  Ba-dum!

  BLAAAAAAST!

  A Force arrow detonated against Ahlgrath’s chest, sending his amorphous body staggering backward. The bck sludge that made up his form writhed in defiance, but the Love Potion Duo didn’t let up.

  Their rapid switches weren’t just disorienting—they were punishing. The rhythm of their battle was absolute chaos, ao them, it erfect harmony.

  Their bodies screamed in protest. Blood pounded in their ears, their vei like they might burst, and the disorienting dizziness of stant switg g their focus. But they pushed through, driven by sheer determination.

  “ROAAAARR!”

  Ahlgrath’s voice was no longer human—it was a guttural, alien bellow that sent shivers down their spines. His form, once monstrous but still humanoid, dissolved into a writhing blob of bck substahe stumps where his limbs had been twitched and shuddered, struggling trow, but the duo didn’t give him the bsp;

  Ba-dum! SLASH! Ba-dum! STAB!

  The switches became even more erratic, the rhythm entirely uable. Tristan and Yvolt were everywhere at oheir glowi-shaped eyes darting in and out of the fog as their ons tore through Ahlgrath’s grotesque mass. The monster was strong—but they were relentless.

  When a lover’s hearts beat as ohe battle’s rhythm has just begun.No force sever what they’ve spun,Two souls entwined, a war hard-won.

  “COUGH!” Yvolt hacked, spitting blood onto the already grimy rooftop. “Lovely,” she wheezed. “As if this fight wasn’t disgusting enough, now it’s getting personal.”

  The bck mist had slithered into their lungs, gnawing away at them from the inside like it had a grudge. Yvolt swayed slightly but still gripped her rapier, because of course, dignity first.

  Tristan wasn’t much better. He ched his jaw so hard it was a wonder his teeth didn’t crack, blood seeping from the ers of his mouth. “Great,” he muttered through the metallig. “We’re bleeding inside and out. Perfect.”

  They exged a quice, the unspoken agreement clear: this was going to suck, but giving up wasn’t oable.

  One more round!

  Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!

  SLASH! BLAST! STAB-STAB-STAB!

  “AAAAAAAAAH!”

  Ahlgrath’s voice was a guttural scream of anguish, each sylble tearing from his throat like shattered gss. His body was in shambles—his limbs reduced ted stumps, the bck ichor oozing sluggishly from the mangled remains.

  The once-imperable armor of his grotesque form was cracked and peeling, his monstrous bulk trembling uhe strain —and failing—tee. Every strike, every switch had left him more battered, more broken, until he was little more than a quivering mass of pulsing sludge and desperation.

  But then he felt it. A presence so vast and suffog it drowned out the pain. The air thied, humming with power. He was here.

  Ahlgrath’s ruined form quivered as an unhinged grin split his face. “AAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!” he cackled, his voice ragged but filled with twisted joy. “YOU’LL DIE! YOU’LL DIE! BEHOLD, AHLGRATH’S MASTER! BEHOLD!”

  The bck substance coating the rooftops surged to life, rippling like a pool of tar before shooting skyward. Tendrils of darkness wove themselves into a perfect circle, hanging ominously in the air.

  The gate shimmered with malevolent energy, the swirling bck surface alive with ripples that hissed and spat like acid. Thick droplets of the liquid dripped from its edges, steaming as they hit the ground.

  The portal pulsed with an unnatural rhythm, its swirlihs promising nothing but despair. The very sight of it seemed to mock reality itself, as if the world were bending to the will of something unspeakable. Ahlgrath’s ughter echoed through the night, a symphony of madness.

  Tristan and Yvolt stood on the edge of something moal—the verge of breaking through to Five Star. Their bodies screamed with strain, every cell ag as they pushed their limits, relearning how to fun and trol themselves at a molecur level.

  But blood still seeped from their lips, a grim reminder of the bck substahat had invaded and poisohem. Their bodies felt like a battlefield already lost, and now, something even more colossal was ing? Really? Just perfect timing.

  “See? They’re fine.”

  The two flihat voice…

  A man strode past them, casually emergiween the pair like he owhe night. When their eyes nded on his broad, dependable back, something shifted. The suffog tension in their nerves loosened, just a bit.

  “Who are you?” Ahlgrath growled, his monstrous form coiling with unease.

  “Bitch, it’s you who’s gonna die,” Yvolt snapped, a grin spreading across her blood-streaked face.

  Tristan chuckled beside her, shaking his head. “Yeah. You and that master of yours. Better start writing your wills.”

  Then they felt it—a hand on each of their shoulders. They turned and found themselves looking at a devastatingly beautiful woman standing right where the man had passed.

  From her touch, a wave of soothing energy spread through their battered bodies. It was warm, gentle, and perfect.

  The bck mist recoiled, dissipating into nothingness. The substance coating the floor hissed and evaporated, leaving behind a circle around them, like the universe itself decided it was doh Ahlgrath’s nonsense.

  Now, even if the sky fell, Tristan and Yvolt wouldn’t be afraid.