Paradoxicality

Chapter 7

The roar tore through the ravine.

Birds erupted from the trees. The mist trembled like it's a living thing. And across the gap, in front of the faint glow of civilization's lanterns, the silhouette of the Beast appeared again.

Its hulking frame emerged from the haze, scales broken with black ichor from its last wound. Its amber eyes burned, sharp and unnatural, its gaze steady and deliberate. Controlled. Like the last time.

Sakura's breath caught. "Sh*t. It's the same one."

Renji narrowed his eyes. His fists clenched. "Figures. Guess leash-boy wasn't done with us."

The Beast raised its head and roared again, the sound echoing off the stone walls. The faint flicker of light from the settlement shifted—shouts carried in the wind, confused and alarmed.

Sakura felt her chest tighten. If the Beast reached them… if it went on a rampage…

She stepped forward, silver strands gleaming in the moonlight. "We have to stop it here."

Renji looked at her, his grin strained but real. "You just read my mind."

The two of them crossed the ravine on a fallen stone trunk, the mist curling around their ankles. Each step felt like threading a needle, but their determination carried them faster than their fear.

The Beast saw them coming. Its lips peeled back over fangs as long as swords, its massive scale-covered paws crushing stone with each step.

Renji's heart pounded. But instead of retreating, he sprinted forward. "Let's test out what a week of training hell's given us!"

The Beast lunged forward at them.

Time snapped—then lurched.

Renji rewound three seconds, suddenly sidesteps to the side of its charge, breath burning in his lungs. He gripped a broken stone fragment, driving it into the Beast's foreleg. Black ichor hissed like acid.

The Beast stumbled forward from the sudden attack. It howled from the pain as it twisted its body. Its claws slashed wide, tearing through the air.

"Renji!"

Sakura's shield flared into place, thinner, sharper than before. The claws scraped across its surface, sending shock waves through her bones, but it didn't shatter. Not yet.

She gritted her teeth. Not just shields. Not this time. I need to conjure up something else.

Her mind spun with the memory of their training. Shields are safe. Shields create protection. But in order to end this—she needed something else.

She imagined a weapon. No, not a weapon. She knows that she cannot conjure weapons yet as she has still not trained long to wield them. What she needs is something else. A nightmare given form.

Her hands trembled as light bled into jagged shapes before her, unstable, flickering—raw constructs of her will. Jagged spikes, broken spears, blades half-formed, their edges warping and flickering as if reality itself rejected them.

The air vibrated.

Renji glanced back, eyes wide. "Holy—Sakura!"

"Don't talk!" she shouted, sweat streaming down her temple. "Just move!"

She thrust her arm forward. The unstable constructs shot outward, stabbing into the Beast's flank. They pierced shallowly, wobbling, some dissipating before impact—but one drove deep, sinking past muscle into its ribs.

The Beast screamed, black ichor spraying.

But it didn't fall. Instead, it surged at her, maddened.

Renji cursed. He rewound again—three, four, five seconds—appearing behind the Beast mid-leap. He landed on its back, his body screamed in protest, chest tightening, his vision edged in turquoise haze.

"Not done yet!" He grabbed another jagged rock and slammed it into the wound Sakura had opened. Again, and again, until the stone cracked in his hand.

The Beast thrashed, tail whipping. It caught him square in the chest, sending him skidding across the stones. Blood sprayed from his lip.

"RENJI!"

He coughed, struggling to rise. "Still—still alive and kicking here!"

The Beast turned back toward Sakura, eyes burning. Its muscles coiled for a killing blow.

Her shield wouldn't hold. She knew it. Her body screamed, her mind wavered, her vision blurred with silver and blue.

Then make it lethal.

She reached deeper. Past fear. Past exhaustion. Past reason.

And imagined.

She gave up her former thought of not conjuring a weapon. She needed one right now. The unstable constructs surged again, but this time she willed them into a single shape: a jagged spear of light, raw and unstable, its edges fraying like glass under strain.

She positioned herself to throw a javelin position. The weapon in her right hand trembled in her grasp. But she screamed and hurled it forward with all her might.

The spear tore through the air and drove straight into the Beast's chest.

The impact exploded in a shock wave of light and sound. The Beast convulsed, ichor spraying in rivers, claws gouging deep trenches in the stone as it staggered. Its roar turned into a strangled, gurgling howl.

Renji forced himself up, staggered forward, and with every ounce of strength left, drove the broken spear-shaft he carried from one of Sakura's conjures into the same wound.

The Beast shuddered. Its amber eyes flickered, dimming, glassy.

And then—with a final, ground-shaking crash—it collapsed.

The ruins trembled as dust and mist swirled around its fallen form. The air stank of blood and smoke.

Sakura fell to her knees, panting, the last flickers of light crumbling from her trembling hands. A larger lock of silver hair spilled over her shoulder, catching in the firelight. Her right eye glowed faintly lapis, fading as she fought for breath.

Renji collapsed beside her, clutching his chest, turquoise flickers still swimming in his irises. His grin was b****y, but it was there. "Told you… *hah* our training *huff* *huff* paid off…"

She laughed weakly, though it broke into a cough. "But barely."

The Beast lay still. Dead.

For the first time since they'd arrived, they had killed one.

But before they could savor their hollow victory, a new sound cut through the mist.

Shouts. Orders barked. Footsteps pounding on stone.

Torches flared across the ravine as figures emerged—men and women clad in leather and steel, carrying long spears tipped with crystal points. Their movements were sharp, disciplined.

And every eye was fixed on Sakura and Renji.

Renji's grin faltered. "Oh crap."

Sakura's chest tightened, her heart racing faster than any battle. She forced herself to her feet, silver hair glinting in the torchlight.

They weren't alone anymore.

And there was no hiding what they had just done.