Two women collapsed onto the fractured earth, shoulders heaving, skin torn and smeared with dirt, ash, and blood. The air reeked of sulfur, scorched flesh, and dying hopes.
Their weapons—blunt and cracked—hung useless in trembling hands. Even their powers, once radiant and unbreakable, sputtered like dying flames, their strength tethered to battered bodies and fraying willpower.
Sugar forced herself up, each breath a blade in her ribs. Sweat clung to her skin, mixing with the blood streaking down her face.
"Go," she rasped—voice hoarse, trembling, but resolute. "We'll hold them... just go."
Beside her, the other woman sagged, eyes barely open, nodding with what little strength she had left.
They had done what no one else could—
Held back a tide of A-Rank monsters with nothing but grit and each other.
And for him—they would've done it again.
Sugar's fingers shook as she conjured the gate, her last shred of power tearing open a rift in reality.
