Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

As Mána moved on, the power she previously poured into Kane's tattoo dissipated again, causing the crimson moon to disappear from his tattoo and the intense pride to flow out of him again.

Kane frowned, as he found himself missing that feeling. It was addictive. And that only increased his concern about these shards of sin.

But he didn't have much time to think about it.

Mána's hands began glowing crimson, and at the same time, two screams started intermingling in Kane's mind. One came from inside him and sounded like the same voice he heard when the neuralizer was initiating, the other came from right in front of him. It was Ella.

The elf's eyes were wide open in terror and her hands clutched her head from the pain as Mána did whatever she had to do to transfer her soul into the neuralizer's soul core.

Over on the battlefield, Irene heard her daughter's scream and quickly panned a panicked gaze over to her. "Ella!" she roared with concern, once again proving she still loved her daughter.

But she didn't have much time for concern. When she instinctively lurched towards the trio in an attempt to save her daughter from whatever was happening, an already wounded Viljar took advantage of her distraction.

A massive, blazing fire claw came flying at her from the side, and nearly cut her in half before she managed to defend herself.

Even if there was large power difference, so long as both combatants were in the same stage, it was deadly to get distracted.

Irene screeched at Viljar, her anger reaching new heights as she attacked him with increased vigour.

Meanwhile, Kane looked at Ella with a frown. Normally he was pretty much immune to suffering, but this elf had made quite an impression on him since meeting her.

So, instead of watching her, he decided to test their new connection. Crouching down, he softly grabbed her chin, and made her panic- and pain-filled, light-green eyes look into his calm, amber ones. "Sleep," he ordered with an authoritative tone.

Their new bond activated, and his order started echoing in Ella's head. Quickly, the panic and pain began to drain from her eyes. She blinked with light confusion, and then suddenly smiled with gratitude and relief before her eyes closed, "T— Thank you…"

Surprisingly, with her last actions, she took a ring of her finger, and pushed it into his other hand. Then, her body lost all strength, and sagged down, now only held up by Kane grasping her chin.

With Ella asleep, the only scream he heard was the one in his mind, likely coming from the soul currently in the soul core. Even if he had a way to calm that one, he didn't particularly care.

So he simply continued crouching, holding up her head by her chin, while Mána kept her hands on both of their heads. At the same time, he frowned and took a look at the ring in his other hand. There were some strange runes drawn on top, and he felt some energy coming off it, but he had no idea what it was.

Deciding to worry about it later, he simply attempted to slip the ring on his finger, and was surprised to find that the ring adjusted itself to his size. Then, he waited for Mána to finish.

Finally, the scream in his head was silenced, and Ella's body started disintegrating under his touch, causing Kane to blink in surprise.

Despite the admittedly horrible of sight of watching someone dissolve into the air, the scene was strangely peaceful. After Kane's order to sleep, Ella's body had relaxed and her expression became peaceful and calm, a slight, grateful smile still playing on her lips.

Soon, her entire body had gone up into specks of light and dissolved into the air.

Both Kane and Luna looked at the sight with a little shock, but Mána was quick to shake them out of it. "Ten seconds! We're just in time. Get ready to jump!" she exclaimed as she ushered the two of them towards the cliff's edge.

Like a coiled spring, Kane moved into action mode and took Luna by the hand. Since the catling sill wasn't sure exactly what was happening due to the language barrier, he quickly explained it to her, "We're taking another rift."

Luna's eyes lit up and she nodded in understanding as they ran to a specific spot on the cliff's edge, where Mána was now impatiently waiting for them.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy. Irene had seen her daughter disintegrate and was roaring in pain and anger, "Noooo! Ella!" Only Ella, Luna, and Kane were able to see Mána, so to Irene, it was the man holding her daughter's chin who caused her death.

Suddenly, her body began burning brighter and brighter. Her power skyrocketed as she screamed and charged Viljar, who was already on the verge of defeat. Blood streamed from his lips and from the stump that had once been an arm. His body was covered in wounds. Yet, his eyes remained undeterred.

Roaring, he prepared to stop Irene by swinging his axe with his one-remaining hand.

But it was no use. With Irene's increased power and his wounded body, there was no way for him to stop her anymore. She blew straight passed him, easily avoiding his axe, even as she blasted a hole in his chest.

Viljar blinked and frowned. The pain in his chest barely registered as he felt the strength in his body drain away and his form reverting to the humanoid one. "I hope it… wasn't for nothing…" he muttered, his gruff facing softening a little, before losing the grip on his axe, causing it to fall towards the burned down forest bellow. Soon, Viljar followed his axe down, his fate unknown.

Meanwhile, Irene was flying towards the cliff's edge at immense speed, her face distorted in rage.

700 meters…

600 meters…

'Just a little further and I can cover them in my domain,' she growled to herself, only one goal in her mind now: revenge for her daughter's death. She didn't actually know for sure what they were doing on the edge of that cliff, but she could guess.

Suddenly, Kane turned his head to look at her with a taunting grin, before sticking up his middle finger while mouthing the words, 'I'll be back, bitch'.

Then, he and Luna jumped hand in hand. Once again, they took a leap of faith.