Andrea was genuinely taken aback. She thought she understood Damien. He wasn’t exactly good at hiding his emotions, and he usually said whatever came to mind without bothering to soften his words. He was confident, outspoken, and strong, the kind of person who rarely hesitated once he had made up his mind. There was no way she could have read him wrong.

Yet apparently, that was exactly what she had done.

"You don’t mean that, Damien. You’re an asshole, but you’ve got morals."

Damien sighed, his gaze shifting away from her for a second. He knew exactly why she thought that. He had spent enough time around Andrea for her to develop an understanding of the kind of person he was, but she had mistaken a few things about him for principles he had never actually claimed to possess.

"Strength is worth more than morality if survival is the goal..."

His voice was calm, but there was no hesitation behind the words.

"I have lived by that code for most of my life. The only time I don’t follow that logic is when I realise I’m about to cross a line that I can never return from. You, of all people, should understand that. Unless I didn’t know you as much as I thought I did".

Andrea remained quiet for a moment, studying him. There was no anger in Damien’s expression, no attempt to justify himself or convince her that he was right. He simply believed what he had said, and somehow, that made it harder to argue with him.

Andrea nodded.

Then she walked up to Damien, her expression remaining calm as she reached for his collar and pulled him closer until they were only inches apart.

"Damien... If you ever threaten me again, I will make you pay with your life."

She didn’t raise voice, and there was no anger behind her words. It was simply a promise.

Damien stared back at her for a second before pushing her hand away and taking a step back.

"A word of advice, don’t threaten the guy that can’t die".

...

The two of them continued onward, the scenery gradually changing as the familiar snow and frozen ground slowly gave way. Before long, there was nothing left but crystallised ice. The ground beneath their feet was hard and translucent, while enormous blocks of ice protruded from the surroundings at odd angles, creating a maze of frozen formations.

Neither of them spoke much as they continued through the strange landscape. Andrea remained focused on their surroundings, occasionally glancing around as though expecting something to emerge from beneath the ice.

"Wait." Andrea suddenly stopped.

Damien halted as well.

He looked around, seeing nothing but the endless crystalline landscape. After waiting for a short moment, he said casually, "There’s nothing here but nothing. Are you sure that your malice compass still works?"

Andrea was genuinely speechless as she glanced back at him. Her expression made it clear that she was reconsidering whether responding to Damien was even worth the effort.

Before she could say another word, the ground beneath them suddenly exploded outward.

A massive white figure burst through the crystallised ice, sending chunks of frozen earth flying in every direction as the Therizon emerged from beneath the ground.

Screeeeeeeech!

The creature’s shriek tore through the cavern, the sound reverberating through the surrounding ice.

"Ahh, there you are, birdie. I was starting to miss you."

The Therizon didn’t understand him, nor did it want to. Its enormous wings spread as it immediately attacked, smashing its razor-sharp talons down at the two of them and completely destroying the patch of ice where they had been standing moments earlier.

Andrea moved out of the way before raising her hand.

Her expression changed slightly as she remembered that her Vestige had already been destroyed during the battle of the Frozen Wastelands.

She lowered her hand and looked at the Therizon.

"Does it have any weaknesses?"

Damien shrugged.

"It can curse the soul, travel freely through space, and has super sonic screams."

Andrea’s expression hardened.

"I said weaknesses."

"Oh."

Damien suddenly acted stunned, as if the realization had only just occurred to him.

"Yeah, no. It doesn’t have one of those."

She shook her head helplessly before shooting forward. As Andrea moved, Damien’s black miasma followed closely behind her, spreading across the crystallised ice and swallowing the surrounding area in darkness. Dozens of undead began emerging from within it, their bodies appearing one after another until the Therizon was surrounded on all sides.

The creature’s eyes narrowed as it recognised the danger posed by Damien’s undead legion. It spread its enormous wings and prepared to take flight, but Andrea was already one step ahead.

She jumped into the air and came crashing down from above.

The Therizon raised its head and unleashed another deafening screech.

[You’ve Been Cursed By The Therizon]

[Your Soul Is Corrupted]

Andrea simply shrugged it off, not even slowing down. Her body collided with the Therizon’s head with enough force to send the massive creature recoiling backward. Its talons scraped uselessly against the ice as it lost its balance and crashed down, its enormous body slamming into the frozen ground.

That was when the undead pounced.

They swarmed the Therizon from every direction, climbing over its body and clinging to its wings and limbs as they began madly scratching and biting at the creature. The Therizon thrashed violently beneath them, but the undead refused to let go.

Damien watched the chaos for a second before taking the ritual staff from the undead priest.

For some reason, the staff hadn’t become a Vestige, but Damien could still sense its power. He couldn’t determine exactly what made it different from an ordinary weapon, yet he could tell to a certain extent that it was comparable to Andrea’s white armour and sword.

The Therizon suddenly turned its head and glared directly at Damien, Damien noticed the creature’s gaze and immediately pointed toward Andrea.

"What? She’s the one that punched you senseless."

The Therizon didn’t care.

Its massive body suddenly began to distort, its form partially fusing into the surrounding space. The crystallised ice around it warped as its body disappeared into the air, as though the distance between itself and Damien had ceased to exist.

Then it tunneled through space.

The creature shot directly toward Damien, its enormous body tearing through the distorted space between them.

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