~Whoosh~

The howling wind continued to howl between them, carrying frost and the smell of death.

The spirit stepped over the line, her foot touching the ground beyond the one-kilometer radius. The invisible tether to the pavilion stretched thin. Her mana regeneration dropped. The safety net of infinite revival ceased.

Despite feeling vulnerable, she decided to continue walking towards Moon.

The temperature around them plummeted beyond anything Moon had experienced. The howling wind of the floating island grew teeth, biting through his equipment, his skin, his bones.

Frost erupted across the ground in every direction, spreading outward from the spirit’s footsteps in a wave that consumed everything it touched. Grass froze solid and shattered. Trees groaned as ice crawled up their trunks, their bark splitting from the expansion.

She had chosen to fight to the death.

Moon’s smile didn’t waver.

"Good choice."

Mirage began to retreat on Moon’s command, each stride pulling them further from the pavilion’s range.

’I need her as far from the revival point as possible. If she tries to escape at the last moment, the distance needs to be too great to cover in time.’

His eyes stayed locked on the spirit, observing her every movement carefully. Losing focus now would cost him dearly. The weakness from his earlier death still lingered in his body, it has mostly faded but was still present, like a bruise that hadn’t fully healed.

The spirit recognized what he was doing. Her eyes narrowed, and she stopped walking. For a moment, it seemed like she wasn’t going to pursue further. But then, she dashed.

Her stride covered tens of meters in an instant. The ground beneath her foot cratered from the force of the push-off, and she closed the gap with a speed that turned her body into a pale blur against the grey sky.

Mirage didn’t need a command. The horse pivoted and bolted, his hooves tearing up the frozen ground as he carried Moon away at full gallop. He trusted his rider with his safety, his focus was to run, and that was it.

Naturally, Moon did not disappoint the youthful horse. Moon issued an order through his link.

’Now!’

The Hydra erupted from behind a rocky outcrop to the right, all four heads launching pressurized jets of water at the spirit’s flank. She raised her left sword without breaking stride and met the attack with a blast of ice that froze the water mid-air, shattering it into harmless crystals that fell to the ground harmlessly.

The Fire Hound lunged from the left, sending a massive claw of concentrated flame arcing toward her body through the air. She swung her right sword in a single horizontal slash, and the fire claw split apart, dissipating into embers that scattered across the frozen ground.

She countered both attacks at a moment’s notice. Although she was unscathed by the attacks, they had still served their purpose.

Buying Moon a precious second that Mirage’s full speed turned into tens of additional meters away from the pavilion.

A second’s worth of distance that the spirit would need to close again.

’This should be enough for now. As the fight goes on, I’ll keep pushing her further. Every exchange buys me time and distance.’

Moon swung his leg over Mirage’s back and dropped to the ground, his feet sliding across the frost before finding his balance. Mirage galloped to a safe distance behind him.

Moon turned to face the spirit, staff in hand, purple lightning gathering in his palm.

The spirit closed in quickly.

In preparation, Moon raised his staff.

Clang!

He caught her first strike on the shaft, deflecting it sideways. The attack was powerful, sending a jolt running through his arm, ringing across his humerus.

Her second sword came shortly after. Moon twisted his body and let it pass by his ribs, the ice edge shaving frost off his jacket and ripping a part of it in the process.

Moon stepped back from the exchange, but the spirit followed. He parried. She swung. He redirected. She thrust.

Every exchange pushed Moon further from the pavilion, further from her revival range, and he gave ground willingly each time.

He didn’t attack offensively, not once. Moon’s stance remained defensive, as if he was buying time for some unknown reason. His staff moved only to block, deflect, and redirect. His feet carried him backward in retreats. His lightning crackled in his hands used only for defensive purpose.

The spirit noticed this.

"Is this all you have left?" She pressed harder, her twin swords flying in arcs that forced Moon to spin and duck constantly. "You fought so boldly inside my sanctum, and now you cower behind your stick?"

Moon smiled in return, not offering her any words.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

She swung both swords in a scissoring motion at his neck. Moon dropped beneath them and rolled backward, rising to his feet several meters further away.

"Fight me!" She snarled, ice erupting from the ground in spikes that Moon sidestepped without urgency.

Once again, his only reply was the smile on his face.

"Coward! You run and run! Is this what you call strength?! Where is your boldness from earlier?!"

Moon smiled.

The spirit’s anger reached a peak, so did her confidence. Her attacks became faster, more committed. Each swing carried everything she had, each thrust aimed to kill the human she was fighting. Moon continued to retreat, block, deflect, absorb, giving ground step by step, meter by meter.

Seconds turned into minutes. And the distance from the pavilion grew.

Moon’s arms grew heavier, his parries becoming slower. The staff trembled in his grip after each deflection.

His mana, remained low, scraping the very bottom now.

The spirit took advantage of that, launching combinations that drove Moon’s guard wide open. Seizing the moment, she reversed the grip on her left sword and thrust it forward.

Ptui!

Blood flowed as the frost blade punched through Moon’s chest, coming out of his back coated in crimson red blood.