Jacob watches in awe as Iskara summons a spell that makes the sky bleed.

  Tendrils of deep red light claw their way out of the clouds, climbing downward toward the Infernal Princess. She raises her hands and the light creates myriads of spirals that hug her limbs.

  The air is pulled toward Iskara, with Jacob's own vitality feeling like it's starting to slip away from him, called forth by the woman.

  Iskara looks at Jacob for a moment, with Jacob feeling deep in his bones the power of the spell--a power that, currently, is not discriminating between the monsters and himself.

  She can boost herself by taking vitality from all the people under this sky, Jacob's immediately capable of deducing what's happening. Yet, that knowledge does not comfort him at all.

  Iskara holds his gaze for a few moments longer, and then she relents. Jacob feels the pressure disappear and turns toward the monster.

  They've gone in a frenzy. They shake violently as small bits and pieces of their flesh slowly dematerialize and turn to crimson particles that float toward the clouds.

  Then, at the top of their ascent, they come back down in form of light that wraps around Iskara.

  “Normally, this would be a forbidden Skill,” Iskara says. “It was discovered only in recent times. The side-effect is that it should let you experience the pain of all the creatures you take vitality from. Yet, you can take that vitality and make it your own power. It's a terrifying, double-edged self-buff, vitality-sucking ability.”

  “With Lucifer's Veins,” Jacob realizes, “you are not subject to the side effect of the Skill.”

  Iskara's only response is her dashing forward toward one of the Advanced Diamond Rank monsters. She's upon it before the monster can even realize it.

  Her fist connects with the Ravager's center mass. There is no shockwave of wind—only a sickening crunch as the vitality-infused blow ignores the hardness of the obsidian. The red energy of the Crimson Night acts like a corrosive battering ram.

  The Advanced Diamond Rank monster, a creature that should have taken more than one person to deal with, buckles instantly. Its legs splay outward.

  It's already dead, Jacob realizes. She has some corrosive power now.

  “Jacob!” Iskara shouts, her voice echoing with a strange, layered duality.

  Jacob is already there.

  With the Reverse Domain of Ruin and Bones, he shields her from another attack that had targeted her. Iskara jumps over his shoulder, rending apart the limb of the monster and using it as leverage to jump atop its head and cave its skull with her next blow.

  Jacob's sword slashes at three monsters in a row thanks to Diavolo Hypercut.

  “Hellraiser Sword: Effect #3: Shadow Plague.”

  [Hellraiser Sword, Effect #3: Shadow Plague: deliver a debuff that cannot be removed from anyone below True Diamond Rank by any normal means beside letting it expire. Shadow Plague slows the Mana circulation of the target.]

  The monsters, also under Baal's Cage, start becoming much slower. Therefore, Iskara and Jacob start tearing them apart with great efficiency.

  Jacob keeps applying Afflictions as much as he can, providing openings for the more devastating Iskara, who keeps growing stronger and stronger the more she tears apart and kills the monsters.

  And unlike Jacob, whose Skill, The Devil's Engine, has a hard cap, the only limit for Iskara is her control.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  She's now moving at the speed of a Peak Diamond Rank practicioner, beyond what Jacob is capable of. Monsters turn into a gory mist where she passes.

  * * *

  Wave after wave, the obelisk becomes brighter.

  Days pass, and in the breaks, Jacob and Iskara keep chatting. It's been more than a week now, and after yet another terrifying wave, Iskara just wipes some sweat off her forehead.

  She steps back, with the red mist of the Crimson Night that starts slowly retracting into her skin. She is left with a still-glowing, terrifying red luster over her skin.

  The obelisk, however, is even shinier. It's a blinding beacon of violet-tinted light.

  Around it, the air is so thick with residual Mana that it feels like a static current, physically pushing against you the closer you get to it.

  “This is great training,” Iskara admits.

  She had not expected this Trial to make her so much stronger. Furthermore, she has been more than impressed with Jacob's growth.

  Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm really wrong, Iskara thinks. If Jacob is this capable, then why should I switch sides?

  Furthermore, Iskara knows really well that once she goes over the edge... that's done. There's no coming back to this friendship.

  Jacob lowers his sword. He looks at the obelisk, then back at her.

  “I mean, it's trying to kill us. Anyway, you're still channeling the sequence wrong. The Grimoire is telling me that the sky fills with too little Mana, then too much. Your Heart Veins are under stress even though you have Lucifer's Veins. You need to first charge them up, then release the spell, then, again, make it a slow trickle. There's no way to cast this spell quickly without dispersing its full potential. You have the time. And when you don't, I'll just cover for you.”

  One of the greatest revelations of the past few days has been Jacob telling her about the Grimoire. Iskara always suspected that Jacob possessed some sort of incredible Rainbow Skill. And hearing that it is nothing less than The Grimoire Extraordinaire was the first stepping stone for her evaluation of Jacob to change.

  If it had been anything else, Iskara thinks, I wouldn't even be considering staying. But with the Grimoire? Jacob is clearly the perfect user for it. Without him, I would have taken way too long to master Crimson Night. Now, my strongest Skill, my True Diamond Skill, is Level 65.

  Considering that Iskara is technically still at Platinum Rank, having such a high-leveled True Diamond Skill is an accomplishment that is almost unheard of. Only the greatest of the greats can manage something like that. Not even among the Three Great Races it's something people would aim for. Iskara, in fact, had been basically been relying on Lucifer's Vein to offset all the problems that a low-leveled Crimson Night was giving her.

  Iskara lets out a quiet breath that might have been a laugh. “Thanks. I'll try and fix it with the next wave.”

  He's unique, Iskara thinks with a warm smile finally blossoming on her face. She feels like she finally got her blood flowing again. Before, since the oath, and even after that Infernal man shattered it, she had felt a distinctive coldness taking over her body.

  And it hadn't been, of course, a physical coldness. It lived as a metaphysical frost that had begun to settle in the marrow of her bones. Ever since the oath--once her life's purpose had been sealed--Iskara had felt like this. Yet, even though up to this point Iskara had felt like her soul had been left out in a blizzard, now everything's changing.

  Staying beside Jacob feels like wearing a warm blanket and thick socks. Even just thinking about it, whether she wants it or not, pulls the corner of her mouth upwards.

  Everything still feels extremely cold outside of this moment, but now she feels warmth again. She feels cared for again.

  Fighting by his side is something I shouldn't throw away.

  She clutches the dark seed in her pocket and ponders. She can wait. Under the protection of the Academy, with the help of Jacob, she can reach the heights she needs in order to fight her family, to change the Infernal kingdom and race for the better.

  Jacob has not hesitated once in taking a hit for her during the fights, not hesitated once in helping her, in making sure that she gets what she needs. She still doesn't know what kind of price he's paying, or that he thinks he's paying, to break the oath that has already been broken, but she would bet it's a big one.

  Together, we can do this.

  “You seem in a good mood,” Jacob says.

  “I am,” Iskara replies with a smile.

  Then, however, an heart-rending roar splits the plateau and a gigantic claw the size of two of the Peak Diamond Rank monsters they had just fought appears on the edge of the Iron Monsters' Peak.

  “The Boss is here.”

  It's Liuthkrav's voice.

  An aura tinted of True Diamond is suddenly unleashed upon the plateau.