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The tremor of their combined roar echoed through the battlefield like a collapsing mountain. Cracks spiderwebbed across the fractured stone, pillars trembling under the weight of the unnatural scream.

Nox didn't wait.

There would be no reset if they failed now.

He dashed toward the crippled Warlord — the one whose knee they had shattered. Its massive arm lashed wildly in defense, but its range was broken. Nox closed inside its swing, driving his blade into the exposed gap beneath the creature's jaw. The sword scraped bone.

The beast spasmed, trying to rise — but its own weight betrayed it. Its back leg gave, forcing the Warlord to collapse fully onto its side, thrashing in desperation.

"LILITH!"

She was already moving.

Her blood-soaked shard burned red as she carved into its eye cluster — driving the blade deep into the soft tissue. The Warlord convulsed, its remaining arm swinging upward blindly, catching Lilith across the ribs and sending her airborne.

She crashed into a stone column, coughing blood, ribs shattering under the impact.

Nox's vision blurred, but he didn't hesitate.

The crippled Warlord tried to rise once more — but Nox drove his boot into the ruined knee, pinning it. With a brutal twist, he rammed the sword downward, splitting through cartilage and tendon until the blade punched through the back of its skull.

The Warlord went still.

One down.

But there was no time to breathe.

The second Warlord — the one whose leg they had partially compromised — surged in rage. It abandoned formation, charging recklessly, all pretense of defense gone.

Nox barely managed to dive aside as the massive claws crashed down where he stood, splitting the ground apart.

The air thickened.

Lilith forced herself upright again, wiping blood from her lips.

Her eyes met Nox's across the battlefield.

"We end it now."

He nodded once.

The injured Warlord lunged again, but its damaged leg faltered mid-stride. Its balance shifted, weight rolling forward too far.

Lilith appeared beneath it in a blur of motion — carving through the already severed tendons with precision. The creature pitched forward, unable to correct its fall.

Nox moved like lightning — launching upward with compressed gravity, his blade flashing as he drove it downward into the creature's upper spine, cutting deep through armor and muscle.

The beast howled in agony — but Nox twisted the blade viciously, severing the spinal cord.

The Warlord's massive body crashed face-first into the broken earth.

Two down.

But the third — the largest — was already there.

Its claw raked across Nox's back before he could recover.

"AGHH—!"

Blood sprayed as deep gashes tore across his ribs. He crashed hard, rolling across jagged stone.

Lilith screamed, sprinting forward.

The third Warlord loomed above them — completely uninjured, fully intact. Its burning eyes locked onto Nox as its massive foot slammed downward.

Nox barely rolled free, but the force of the impact shattered the stone, sending debris flying.

"He's too fast!" Lilith shouted.

The Warlord struck again, claws carving massive gouges across the battlefield, keeping them separated.

Nox's arms trembled as he forced himself up, blood pooling beneath him.

"We can't win this by trading blows—""Then don't trade!" Lilith snapped.

Her eyes glowed with demonic bloodcraft, her shard pulsing in her grip.

"We blind him."

She cut her palm open — drawing more blood than before.

The crimson sigil flared beneath her feet.

Her body blurred — speed beyond her previous limits — as she dashed directly toward the towering monster.

The Warlord roared, its arm sweeping to intercept.

Lilith vanished beneath the arc, sliding low and slicing directly across its eye cluster in a blinding arc.

Black blood sprayed like pressurized oil.

The creature staggered back, screeching.

Nox roared as well, forcing his broken body forward, every step screaming with agony.

"NOW!"

He surged upward, driving his blade through the exposed jawline as the blinded Warlord thrashed. He felt bone crack. He drove deeper, twisting.

The beast slammed its claws down blindly — one catching Nox directly across the shoulder.

He screamed as his arm was crushed under the weight, but he held the blade firm, twisting deeper still.

Lilith leapt upward from behind — her shard driving directly into the Warlord's central eye — piercing through to the skull beneath.

For a long moment, the monster held still.

Then the tremor stopped.

The final Warlord collapsed.

Silence.

The battlefield lay still.

Three mountains of flesh and armor lay broken around them. Pools of black blood steamed in the poisonous air.

Lilith collapsed to her knees, gasping.

Nox stood — barely — his arm hanging uselessly at his side.

"We… did it," Lilith whispered.

The cycle continued.

Blood splattered across the jagged cavern walls as the creature's broken body slammed into the stone, ribs snapping like brittle branches.

Lilith struck first.

From the right, her bloodied shard pierced through its eye socket, burying deep into brain matter. At the same instant, Nox came from the opposite side — his blade hammering down into the side of the skull with a crushing, bone-splitting impact.

The creature's head imploded beneath the combined force, brain and bone fragments spraying across the ground.

The monster spasmed once — then fell still.

Their chests heaved as they stood over the mangled corpse. The sound of dripping blood filled the heavy silence.

The Pit spoke.

A low, grinding voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere.

"Deaths: 3,766.""Demons Remaining: 1."

The words hung in the air like a final sentence.

For the first time in years — the swarm was nearly gone. Only one remained.

Lilith's breathing was ragged, but steady. Her body was littered with scars, barely healed wounds, and fresh blood—her own and countless others. Her hands trembled, not from fear, but from the strain of relentless repetition.

Nox stood beside her, his blade dripping, his frame hardened far beyond his former self. His eyes were hollow — focused.

One left.

The final monster.

The one that had always lingered deeper inside the cave.

The one they had been preparing for through every brutal reset.

Lilith wiped blood from her cheek, her voice low.

"Finally we can get out of here"

Nox's gaze remained locked forward.

"Lets go"

They moved together, deeper into the cave.

The path narrowed, walls pulsing faintly with residual heat. The air was heavier here — not just from poison, but from something far older, something watching.

The Pit's voice did not speak again.

It was waiting.