The moment Liam and the Berserker launched forward, the forest between them ceased to exist as an obstacle.

It became something they tore through.

The ground cracked beneath Liam’s feet as white-orange flames erupted from his left arm and burst from beneath his boots, propelling him forward in a straight line. Across from him, the Berserker exploded into motion with dark red lightning snapping violently over its limbs, its body lowering like a beast even though it ran upright.

The distance vanished instantly.

They collided at the center of the ruined forest.

Liam swung the hybrid javelin first.

The blackened weapon came in from the left, its molten cracks glowing brighter as he twisted his entire body behind the strike. The Berserker responded by driving its clawed forearm into the path of the blow.

A loud impact was made as the hybrid javelin smashed against the demon’s arm, and compressed flame detonated across its armor-like flesh. Fire and shadow burst outward from the point of contact, tearing apart the ground beneath them and sending broken bark flying through the darkness.

But neither moved back.

The Berserker pushed through the explosion and swung its other arm toward Liam’s head.

Liam ducked beneath it before the strike even fully formed.

Not because he had seen it.

Because he had felt it.

His body moved before conscious thought settled, but his mind understood why at the same time.

He had entered Unified Flow, making his reason and instinct work as one.

His instincts sensed the danger and moved him. His reason corrected the angle, measured the distance, tracked the demon’s recovering arm, and decided the next strike before his feet fully touched the ground again.

Liam spun under the Berserker’s arm, dragged the hybrid javelin across the demon’s ribs, and released a short burst through the weapon.

The explosion tore open the demon’s side.

The Berserker snarled, but its tail came around instantly.

Liam’s eyes shifted.

He bent backward, letting the tail pass above his chest by inches, then fired a burst from his right foot to twist midair. His left arm rose as he moved, glowing white-orange from shoulder to fingertip.

A miniature sun formed in his palm.

Not small and restrained like before. This one burned brighter, very dense and hotter.

Liam released it point-blank into the Berserker’s side.

The orb struck the exposed wound and detonated.

The explosion ripped through the demon’s torso and launched both of them in opposite directions. Liam used the blast to flip backward and land on one knee, sliding across dirt and shattered roots. The Berserker crashed through three trees before driving its claws into the ground and stopping itself.

Its side was gone.

For a moment, ribs and internal tissue were exposed to the night air.

Then dark red lightning dimmed across its shoulders and flowed into the wound.

Flesh began rebuilding instantly.

Liam was already moving.

He did not give it time to finish.

Flames burst beneath his feet, and he crossed the distance again. The hybrid javelin rotated in his hand once before he thrust it forward toward the core region.

The Berserker’s regeneration completed just as the weapon reached it.

The demon twisted at the last possible instant, the javelin piercing through its shoulder instead of its chest.

Liam’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The Berserker had predicted the core strike.

Again.

The Berserker grinned, then it slammed its forehead into Liam’s face.

The blow cracked through Liam’s guard and sent him skidding backward, blood spraying from his nose. Before he could fully regain his footing, the Berserker was already above him, both claws raised overhead.

Liam lowered his center of gravity.

The demon brought both hands down.

Liam vanished in a burst of flame.

The claws struck the ground where he had stood and split the earth apart in a jagged line. The shockwave threw chunks of stone and dirt upward, but Liam reappeared behind the demon, already swinging.

The hybrid javelin came down across the Berserker’s back.

An explosion tore across its spine.

The demon’s body lurched forward as blackened bone growths shattered from its back. Liam followed immediately, stepping onto the demon’s shoulder for half a second and driving his glowing left palm toward the back of its head.

A miniature sun formed.

The Berserker reacted, its tail snapping upward.

Liam’s instinct screamed as his reason told him the tail was too close to dodge normally.

He released the miniature sun early.

The orb detonated between his palm and the incoming tail, forcing the tail downward and blasting Liam upward into the canopy. Branches shattered around him as he spun through the air, but he corrected himself with two sharp flame bursts, landing sideways on a tree trunk.

The Berserker looked up, dark red lightning pulsed along its legs.

Then it launched.

The tree Liam stood on exploded as the demon slammed into it.

Liam had already kicked off.

He moved above the Berserker, twisting his body around a falling branch and swinging the hybrid javelin downward with both hands.

The demon turned midair, its claw catching the javelin.

For half a breath, they hung there above the forest floor, the Berserker gripping the weapon with one hand while Liam pushed downward from above.

The molten cracks along the hybrid javelin brightened.

The Berserker’s fingers tightened, cracking the shadow-fire weapon slightly.

Liam let the demon squeeze.

Then he fired a flame burst from his left elbow.

The sudden force rotated his body over the weapon, changing the angle of pressure. The Berserker’s grip shifted by less than an inch.

And that’s all Liam need.

He kicked the demon in the face with a flame-boosted strike, the Berserker’s head snapping back.

Liam yanked the hybrid javelin free and spun, driving the blunt end of the weapon into the demon’s throat.

An explosion erupted directly against the neck.

The Berserker was blasted downward, striking the ground hard enough to form a crater.

Liam descended right after it, aiming for the chest.

But the Berserker rolled.

Fast.

Too fast for something that large.

Liam’s javelin stabbed into the ground instead, and the explosion that followed tore open the crater further. The Berserker came up on all fours and shot forward like a released arrow.

Its shoulder slammed into Liam before he could fully pull the weapon free.

The impact drove him across the clearing, his feet lifted off the ground.

The Berserker followed, its mouth open, teeth aimed for his neck.

Liam’s glowing left arm moved as a miniature sun formed at the center of the palm.

The Berserker swerved mid-lunge.

It had learned.

It did not retreat completely. It shifted just enough to avoid the direct blast while continuing the attack from a new angle.

Liam saw the adjustment.

Unified Flow carried him through the response.

He did not fire the orb, instead he crushed it in his own palm.

Flames erupted outward around his arm in a violent ring, not as a projectile, but as a defensive burst. The sudden flare caught the Berserker across the face and shoulder, burning one eye and forcing its jaws off course.

Liam used the opening to swing the hybrid javelin horizontally.

The weapon struck the demon’s jaw and the explosion that followed tore half of the demon’s face apart.

The Berserker stumbled for the first time, before Liam landed, stepped in, and thrust again.

The hybrid javelin pierced the demon’s abdomen.

This time, it exploded inward first, then outward.

The Berserker’s stomach and lower ribs burst open, dark blood sprayed across Liam’s face and chest.

The demon roared and swung blindly.

Liam ducked under the claw, but the Berserker’s knee came up immediately after.

It caught him in the chest and pain burst through his ribs.

Liam flew backward, but before he could hit the ground, he drove the hybrid javelin into the earth and used it as an anchor. His body swung around the weapon in a tight arc, boots carving through dirt before he redirected himself back toward the Berserker.

He did not stop.

He could not afford to stop.

The Berserker’s wounds were already closing.

Liam shot forward low to the ground, flames trailing behind him. The hybrid javelin vanished from the earth and appeared back in his grip as he passed it, his hand closing around it without slowing.

The Berserker lowered its arm to guard the chest, but Liam did not aim for the chest.

He aimed for the leg.

The hybrid javelin slammed into the demon’s knee, the followed up explosion taking the joint apart.

The Berserker dropped slightly.

Liam switched direction instantly, circling to the other side with a short burst from his heel. Another miniature sun formed in his left palm, and he fired it into the opposite thigh.

The blast shredded the limb, causing the Berserker dropped lower.

Immediately, Liam moved in for the core.

For the smallest instant, victory looked possible.

Then the dark red lightning across the demon’s entire body dimmed as it pulled inward with violent purpose.

The Berserker’s ruined legs began regenerating faster than before. Bone snapped into place. Muscle crawled over it. Flesh sealed. The demon’s posture returned before Liam’s javelin could reach the core.

Liam’s eyes sharpened.

’Damn this thing.’

The Berserker’s hand caught the shaft of the hybrid javelin, its grip crushing into the weapon hard enough to make the molten cracks flare.

Liam released the weapon before the demon could use the grip to pull him in.

The javelin remained in the Berserker’s hand for a fraction of a second. Then Liam detonated it.

The explosion swallowed the demon’s arm and chest at point-blank range.

The Berserker was thrown backward, its arm nearly erased from shoulder to wrist. It landed hard, rolled once, and clawed itself upright.

Its regeneration began immediately.

Liam stood several meters away, breathing harder now.

His body was screaming.

His ribs burned with every breath. His back ached violently from the previous impacts. Blood ran from his nose, his mouth, and several cuts along his arms. His left foot throbbed whenever he shifted too much weight onto it.

But inside his mind, there was no panic.

Unified Flow kept everything quiet.

Pain was information. Fatigue was a limit to manage. The Berserker’s speed was measurable. Its regeneration had rules. Its lightning had functions. Its instincts had patterns.

And now those patterns were becoming clearer.