The Xibil's tentacles inject a paralyzing substance against which there was no antidote, not even magic could eliminate this poison and only the body itself could get rid of this substance through its natural processes, something that could take from six to twelve hours according to the dose received.

There was no time to feel pain or lament over some mistake, Elena quickly stood up, tossed the dagger aside and hastily kicked the severed head of the Xibil.

The Xibil's head flew in the cave's direction entrance, and before it even touched the ground it glowed, then produced a powerful explosion that shook the entire corridor.

「Wind Ball!」

The access to the cave was collapsing because of the explosion, Elena raised her left hand and made a magical attack of low magnitude, only that she made it towards the place of the explosion and not towards the Xibil.

The ball of wind reached the point of collapse and pushed back a gray cloud that trying to take shape amid the dust and debris, a poison cloud.

Any severed limb of a Xibil's body would self-destruct and if dealing with it wasn't enough, the blast would spread the paralyzing poison.

Elena stopped paying attention to the collapsed section of the corridor and turned her gaze to the Xibil.

The ominous decapitated creature had stopped its powerful charge some twenty meters away. Even without its head, the creature was still alive and he trying to turn around, but its robust body struck against the walls of the corridor. Elena's first sword was still nailed to the Xibil's back, golden liquid dripping from the cut of his neck. The creature was trying to deal with its total loss of vision.

Could the Xibil continue to move without its brain? In reality, the brain of these creatures was not present inside their heads. That which administered all the functions of their bodies and controlled their actions was their heart, so cutting off the head of these ominous creatures only deprived them of their vision and their troublesome tentacles.

After hitting the wall a few times, the Xibil finally turned its body in the direction Elena was.

Being deprived of his head, the Xibil had completely lost his vision. However, this was not an absolute advantage for Elena.

The Xibils were perfect battle bio-machines, their heinous masters had thought through every little mishap in creating them. Once deprived of their vision, the Xibils could use their anti-magic field as a kind of sonar vision, although they could not immediately adapt to this change. It took the Xibils some time to adjust to sonar vision, of course, this vision was limited to the one hundred meter radius of the anti-magic effect.

Elena picked up her sword with her left hand. Her right arm was paralyzed, and she was bleeding continuously because of the wound she had caused herself to prevent the poison from spreading throughout the rest of her body.

「I must finish this quickly」

The Xibil had unlimited stamina. He could continue fighting indefinitely until he was defeated or complete his mission. Instead, despite the modifications to her body, Elena was still human, she had limits and in a battle of attrition; the result was clear, she would be defeated by this bio-machine.

Elena took a deep breath. Take advantage of the temporary blindness of the Xibil was her best opportunity to reach with her sword the elusive heart of this creature.

With her right arm temporarily unusable, enduring the pain, and ignoring the loss of blood, Elena charged head-first into the Xibil. The creature was awkwardly moving back and forth and sideways; he was trying to adapt to his sonar vision. Elena's margin of error would decrease as the Xibil adapted to his new vision.

When Elena had two meters away from the Xibil, the ominous creature seemed to finally notice her presence. The Xibil stopped moving his body and just stretched out his two left arms forward.

The Xibil's reaction was slow and clumsy, Elena easily evaded the creature's arms and thrust her sword into the Xibil's chest. The sword penetrated the scales without a problem. This time there was no squeak of pain by the Xibil, which only limited quickly move its arms to hit Elena.

Once again fortune refused to smile at Elena, perhaps fortune was a woman jealous of her beauty?

Elena stepped back and didn't even take time to take a breather, it was only a matter of time for the Xibil to get used to his sonar vision, and if that happened, it would be like going back to the beginning of the battle. The Xibils did not know exhaustion, and would not die no matter how much of that golden liquid they lost, that liquid seemed to be infinite.

In the remote past, to find weaknesses in the Xibils, Kaname captured some of them and subjected them to various experiments, of course, this into the reach of the resources of this world.

The bodies of the Xibil healed their wounds in the same way that any living being would, all the functions of their bodies were managed by their heart, and this was the one that generated that golden liquid that served as blood for the Xibil.

Through methods that could only be described as torture, Kaname tried to make a Xibil die by making him bleed. To Kaname's surprise, this never happened. The golden liquid seemed to be infinite and was never finished. However, Kaname couldn't analyze both that liquid and the Xibil's heart. Once the golden liquid lost direct contact with the Xibil's heart, the liquid turned gray and appeared to be no different from water contaminated by chemical waste. As for the Xibil's heart, it was so fragile as to break once it came into contact with air, reducing itself to tiny fragments of glass impossible to analyze without high-tech tools.

Elena took two steps back, then charged back against the Xibil. With just the strength of her left arm, she couldn't get her sword to pierce through the creature's black scales, so she had to use the inertia and weight of her body to do so.

The Xibil reacted slowly again, Elena easily evaded her arms and thrust her sword once more into the creature's chest.

Once again the attack was unsuccessful, Elena stepped back to try again, however, something unexpected happened. The Xibil's body emitted a faint glow and Elena could not take another step back, her body was suddenly pushed to the Xibil by an unknown force.

Elena must have used all her physical and mental strength barely resist that mysterious force, but she could not take a single step back, she was still a mere half a meter away from the Xibil.

「Taunt?!」

An explanation for what was happening quickly generated in Elena's mind and the answer trickled through her lips in great surprise.

'Taunt' was a little-used battle technique, which was to allow the user a clean counterattack. To use Taunt, the user had to take a melee wound from its enemy, and once its enemy attempted to retreat, the user could use Taunt to lure its enemy back toward him.

Elena had no more time to analyze what had happened. The Xibil's arms moved towards her.

「It will not happen! Overcharge!」

Elena's physical strength exploded, which finally allowed her to step back.

Elena could barely evade the Xibil's grasp, but not its sharp claws. Elena's face and part of her chest were reached by the Xibil's claws.

Choking back the scream of pain in her throat, Elena continued to back away as her face was bathed in her blood. She had lost her left eye.

One more mistake, but this time it was a mistake that Elena couldn't have avoided.

Confront a Xibil with sorcery was futile, but using battle techniques against these creatures could only be described as stupid. The Xibils could learn the battle techniques used against them and use these battle techniques immediately. This was the reason Elena had used no battle techniques until now, what she least wanted was to grant her enemy more advantages.

As for this Xibil, lacking its two right arms, this creature had fought against another person before, which meant that there was a danger that this Xibil could use some battle technique. Since it was impossible to know the truth, or even try to imagine the battle technique that Xibil could use, Elena had to fight this Xibil with the idea that the creature was not capable of using any battle technique.

Elena only took two steps back and her eyes widened as she saw Xibil's body emitting a faint glow.

With a powerful step forward that shook the floor of the corridor, the Xibil propelled towards Elena and without her being able to react in time, her body was hit by the Xibil's heavy body.

「Ught!!!」

A scream of pain escaped Elena's throat, her body nearly being torn in two by the Xibil's sudden onslaught.

Had the creature finally adapted to his sonar vision? No, the Xibil had charged forward with his body with a considerable sudden increase in strength, Overcharge; the Xibil had learned the battle technique that Elena used to escape Taunt's effect.

Elena's body flew until it brutally hit the ground. She continued to roll as several groans of pain escaped her lips.

Elena rolled on the ground until her body hit the rubble of the collapsed section of the corridor. Her back hit the rubble and the tips of various rocks pierced her skin.

Elena's clothes were torn, there was no trace of any garment above her waist. Her right arm was broken, as was her left leg and her left hand.

Elena coughed and a fair amount of blood leaked from her throat, her face was covered in blood, and the skin on her chest was completely covered in blood and dust.

Many deep and shallow cuts covered much of her body, and even her golden hair had lost its shine from blood and dust.

Elena's figure had covered in dust and blood, the only thing that refused to lose its shine was her right eye.

Is this my end? A feeling of defeat flooded Elena's heart. The pain she felt was so intense that it didn't even allow her to understand where it originated from. Her whole body ached, her entire soul ached.

Elena's mind clouded, losing blood and intense pain would lead her to lose consciousness. Its magic power had drastically dropped because of the blood loss and the Xibil's anti-magic effect.

Is this the limit of your determination? —just as Elena's right eye closed, a voice that did not belong to her echoed in her mind, the voice of a man.

Elena's eye flew open in surprise. She coughed a few more times, expelling even more blood.

Is this the limit of your determination? —Elena herself repeated the question in her mind. At this moment, that male voice that asked her this question did not matter, the only thing that mattered to her was her answer.

She had not come here to die. Motivated by this first thought, Elena arched her back a little to look at the Xibil, and this caused her enormous pain that and some tears drain from her only healthy eye.

The Xibil was sprawled on the ground, trying to stand awkwardly. After ramming Elena, the creature had tripped over Elena's sword.

Elena let out a slight mocking laugh, which caused her more pain. The Xibil still didn't fit his sonar vision and even still had practically defeated her.

Is this the limit of your determination? —Elena repeated the question once more in her mind.

「No!!」

With her eye emitting a fierce glow of determination, Elena rested her left elbow on the rubble to propel her body forward.

Elena fell facedown onto the ground on top of several sharp rocks that caused even more injuries on her.

Elena's magic power did not use Restoration, her right arm was broken just like her left leg, she couldn't stand up, and her left hand was also broken just like all her fingers, she couldn't take a magic core from the side bags of his smashed pants.

Elena raised her head and rested her chin on the ground, her right eye fixed on a small magic core on the ground about three meters away from her. When the top of her clothes was destroyed by rolling on the floor, all the magic cores she kept in the pockets of her leather vest scattered on the floor of the corridor.

Elena's only chance was in that magic core three meters away.

Elena crawled on the ground using her right leg and her left arm.

No, this was not the limit of her determination.

She had not come here to die.

Elena continued to crawl on the ground, enduring immense pain and leaving a noticeable trail of blood on the ground.

One meter, two meters, every centimeter was a torment of pain for her, yet the gleam of determination in her right eye didn't lose its intensity for even a second.

Across the corridor, the Xibil finally got to its feet, and although its body hit the walls twice, it was already beginning to adjust to his sonar vision.

Barely able to remain conscious, Elena finally reached for the magic core, and unable to grasp it with either hand, she grasped it with her lips and held it between her teeth.

「Recharge」

Elena muttered the name of the low magnitude spell created by Kaname to extract the magic power from the magic cores.

The magic core emitted a faint glow and then snapped between Elena's teeth.

「Relentless walker, you refuse to back off∼」

Elena started reciting the spell as soon as she regained some of her magical power.

Of course, things were clearer for the Xibil when magic power flowed frantically. In the sonar vision of the Xibil, Elena's existence turned into a red flash amid gray shades.

「As ephemeral as the dawn of yesterday and as hopeful as the promise of tomorrow∼」

Elena had no room to worry about becoming a clear target for the Xibil while employing sorcery. She continued to recite the spell.

The Xibil's clumsy movements turned violent, his body bumping a few times against the walls, then starting to run in the right direction, towards Elena.

「I pray for only one of your tears to ease a little of this torturous wait∼」

With the anti-magic field altering her flow of magic power, Elena couldn't speed up the conjuration or the spell would end up failing and would have to start from scratch, something impossible for her. Her body was already at the limit, her consciousness was hanging by a thread and the Xibil was already charging towards her, Elena would not have a second chance.

The Xibil was already a few meters away from Elena, thanks to Elena being like a beacon. The creature had finally adapted to his sonar vision.

「Turn back my stifling pain and bring some relief to my soul, RESTORATION!∼」

As the Xibil's two fists fell on Elena, her body was enveloped in a faint glow.

Elena rolled to her left barely avoiding the Xibil's attack, many debris hit her because of the brutal impact of the creature's fists on the ground.

Elena stood up and was forced to evade another brutal attack, the Xibil's fists hitting the wall and it cracked, threatening to collapse.

「Fire Ball!」

Elena was still not far enough away from the Xibil, yet she launched a magical attack, however her target was not the Xibil but the cracked wall.

The fireball hit the wall and produced a strong explosion, the already fragile wall could not withstand and collapse bringing part of the corridor ceiling with it.

Elena continued to back away as the corridor collapsed onto the Xibil.

A risky tactic that could have caused the entire cavern to collapse, and which would also not destroy the Xibil. Still, this would give Elena time for a breather, for even though all of her injuries had healed, her tiredness had increased.

'Restoration' was a spell created by Kaname using the logic of his world. What this spell was doing was speeding up the body's natural regeneration rate to such an absurd point as to compel it to regenerate even a severed limb, yet this meant that the greater the damage the body had to regenerate, the greater the level of fatigue that would accumulate.

Besides the multiple injuries and blood loss that Elena's body was forced to regenerate in a sped-up way, there was also paralyzing poison. This ultimately was something that caused enough physical exhaustion that Kaname seldom used Restoration to counter this poison.

Elena took two deep breaths as she looked at the collapsed section of the corridor. She could only get out of this place using warp. She turned to her back and ran to where her sword was.

As Elena picked up her sword from the ground, the debris shook violently behind her and the Xibil emerged from the earth and rocks with only a few fractures on its black scales.

The creature had quickly freed itself from its prison of rocks and earth by increasing its strength using Overcharge.

With her steel sword once more in her left hand and with no trace of any injury, Elena watched the Xibil charging once more towards her.

There was no more room to further prolong the battle, Elena could already feel the exhaustion and her outfit was as humiliating as the course of the battle so far. Elena's clothes were now ripped pants that could already be shorts, and her upper body was bare, although blood and dirt covered most of her skin. There was no way Elena could bear such a situation, and her inn, her voice was already begging her to create a warp and return to Izana.

Although retiring and coming back later to try again was an option, Elena felt that doing it that way she would not change.

Elena spread her legs slightly and held the sword tightly with her left hand. Even if her right arm was no longer under the effect of the poison, Elena could not exert too much force with this arm because of her very exhausted muscles.

With the Xibil ten meters away, Elena took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. The tenacity glow mixed with the violet color of her eyes intensified.

Only five meters away from Elena, the Xibil's body emitted a faint glow and its speed exploded. The Xibil had once again used Overcharge to increase his physical strength.

Elena tried to repeat the same action she did when she decapitated the Xibil. However, because of exhaustion, the response of her legs was slow.

「Overcharge!」

Unable evade the Xibil's onslaught, Elena did the only thing she could do, attack.

Elena's sword drew a wide arc forward, reaching for the Xibil's arms. The edge of the sword easily cut the first arm and broke on reaching the second.

Elena's body was again hit by Xibil's robust body, and once again she flew several meters.

The intense pain of losing an arm caused the Xibil furiously to hit its body on the wall, and soon a powerful blast shook the corridor causing another landslide that caught the Xibil. The severed arm exploded at his feet.

Elena's body hit the ground and rolled for several meters before stopping. With some awkwardness she stood up leaning against the wall, her skin was covered again with wounds, but thanks to the fact that she had been under the effect of Overcharge when she received the onslaught, this time she only had a few broken ribs.

Elena coughed up some blood as her violet eyes fixed on the cloud of dust and debris that slowly turned gray. The poison was becoming present.

「Wind Ball! Wind Ball! 」

The gray smoke was contained by various magical attacks.

A claw emerged from the rubble and the Xibil freed itself once more from its prison of rocks and dirt.

「Will I have to use Aesir?」

Elena exclaimed with some reluctance as she leaned against the wall.

If she used Aesir mode, Elena would no longer be affected by the Xibil's anti-magic effect. She could use sorcery without the need to conjure, and she could finally defeat her enemy.

However, Elena was not overly excited to be forced to use the Aesir mode. She felt that doing so would once again be using power to crush the weak. Besides, there was also that which was hidden at the end of the corridor

Once a day for a maximum time of one minute, these were the limitations of Aesir mode.

If there were more Xibils or even an Ajawab at the end of the corridor, Elena could use Aesir mode quickly escape, and she didn't want to leave this place without first finding out what as hiding at the end of the corridor. If she beat the Xibil using Aesir mode and then leave the cave to return another day, the tenants of this place would move to a new hiding place.

Elena did not want to risk leaving loose ends that could later turn against her.

The Xibil finally emerged from the rubble, though this time it didn't glance as so impressive as it did before. The reason behind this quickly became clear to Elena.

The Xibil's stout body was covered in wounds, many of his scales had fallen or were completely broken. His body lost a large amount of golden liquid.

「It's still too early for Aesir」

Elena murmured that with a faint smile as she brought her left hand to her back to get her second dagger.

Even if they couldn't bleed to death, the Xibils lost strength and became clumsy from losing too much golden liquid continuously. They were practically like machines that lost strength because of fuel or oil leaks.

As for the reason the Xibil was in such bad shape, this was because of the overuse it had given to Overcharge. This battle technique caused a tremendous burden on the body, and this added to the explosion of his severed arm and the collapse in which he was trapped, all together resulted in the current state of the Xibil.

Although Elena was in no better condition than the Xibil, she still had her Ace up her sleeve, the Aesir mode.

The Xibil advanced slowly towards Elena.

Elena took a deep breath and turned away from the wall to face the Xibil. In her mind, this was her last chance to change. If she failed, she would have to use Aesir mode to end the combat and wait for another opportunity to arise that would allow her to change.

The corridor trembled continually. After two major collapses, its structure could barely support itself.

Four meters away from Elena, the Xibil's body emitted a faint glow. He was once again using Overcharge.

「Overcharge!」

With her body very exhausted, Elena had no choice but to imitate the Xibil and force her body by using Overcharge.

The Xibil furiously moved his arm towards Elena, she evaded and responded by stabbing the Xibil's chest with her dagger.

Xibil's arm moved again seeking to reach Elena with her claws, she evaded again and then stabbed the Xibil.

Because of the exhaustion of one and losing the power of the other, the battle was reduced to a continuous exchange of frontal attacks.

Elena only had to be lucky and find the Xibil's heart with her dagger, and the Xibil only had to catch Elena.

One, two, three, the attacks were repeated repeatedly with none of them being successful, however, Elena was the one was at a greater disadvantage, her movements became increasingly slow because of fatigue and the Xibil's claws had already made several cuts on his skin.

「Overcharge!」

Feeling that she could not evade the next attack, Elena once again used Overcharge, and this was already putting a huge burden on her exhausted muscles.

Elena could not completely evade. The Xibil's hand gripped her right shoulder and his long claws penetrated her skin and muscles.

「Not yet!」

Elena refused to use the Aesir mode. She once again thrust her dagger into the Xibil's chest as her right shoulder was shattered by the enormous physical strength of her enemy.

The dagger penetrated the Xibil's chest and snapped near the hilt.

「Aes—!」

Just as Elena was about to give up her determination and prior safeguard her life, the Xibil released her shoulder and convulsed, then fell heavily to the ground causing the runner to shake.

Elena fell to the ground on her butt, her skin was covered with sweat and her breathing was irregular. Her right shoulder was bathed in blood that gushed from five deep holes in her bare skin and her bones were broken.

Elena's violet eyes were fixed on the Xibil. The creature convulsed twice on the ground and then went still. All the golden liquid gushing from his wounds turned gray and the anti-magic effect wore off.

Elena let out a very long and heavy sigh. That the liquid turned gray was irrefutable proof that the heart of the Xibil had been destroyed.

Despite the exhaustion and intense pain on her right shoulder, Elena raised her left hand into the air.

「Ah!!!!!!」

A fierce scream charged with feeling emerged from deep within Elena. It was done; she had done it; she had defeated the Xibil; she had defeated herself.

What did it matter if the Xibil did not have an orichalcum weapon or if it lacked two arms? She was a complete rookie and fought without using her best card, Aesir mode.

For Elena, this was not a battle against the Xibil, but against herself, against her cowardice and against that disgusting feeling of pride had been rooted in her since she got the Kaname's legacy.

The overwhelming feeling of satisfaction that caused Elena to shed several tears was interrupted when the corridor trembled with greater force.

Elena scrambled to her feet, then turned and started running toward the end of the corridor. Her legs tried to give in, but the sound of the runner collapsing behind her was a great motivation to continue.

「Overcharge!」

At seeing the end of the corridor and feeling that the ceiling was collapsing on her, Elena once again used that battle technique. Her legs filled with strength and Elena used this momentum to jump forward.

Elena's body reached a huge room as the corridor behind her completely collapsed.

Elena rolled several times on the ground, being unable to resist, having used Overcharge once again had pushed her body to the limit.

All Elena could do was prepare herself mentally to use Aesir mode. However, the absence of an anti-magic effect told Elena that perhaps it would not be necessary.

Elena's body finally stopped rolling, and she was now lying on her back on the ground. Her vision in the dark was regaining it's large range now that the anti-magic effect had worn off.

「I did it… I did it」

Elena was still euphoric at his achievement, and the absence of a new anti-magic effect to put her senses on alert prevented her from leaving that state.

Elena's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and she stared at the ceiling of the room about a hundred meters away.

The sight of it caused Elena to come out of her euphoric state. A place as spacious as this could not exist without an important purpose.

「Restoration」

With no anti-magic effect present, the conjuration became unnecessary. At the cost of reducing her magic power and further depleting her body, Elena healed her wounds.

Without even standing up, Elena took a magic core from the side pockets of her shattered pants and used it to replenish her magic power.

With her muscles exhausted and weighing great mental fatigue, Elena awkwardly stood up to observe the place. The absence of an anti-magic effect clarified that there were no more Xibils or Ajawab present, so instead there must be a great treasure.

Once standing, Elena looked at her surroundings and her thoughts, her breathing, and her heart halted as a singular structure in the center of the spacious room entered her vision, a black staggered pyramid of about sixty meters of base and about thirty meters high.

「Balam…」

That word emerged on its own from Elena's lips.

Elena's legs suddenly lost strength, she fell to her knees as an endless sea of tears flowed f from her eyes.

Elena was overwhelmed by an immense desolation, a suffocating pain, and a bitterness so deep as to contract her soul.

「Uaaaahh!!!!」

A powerful cry emerged from Elena's throat. She could not control her body's reaction to those powerful feelings that emerged from the depths of her soul.

Balam was the name of the vehicles used by the demons of antiquity to come to this world, and the main task of Kaname and his companions was to destroy all the Balams to stop the invasion, so finding one this place was something even more shocking than having found a Xibil.

Elena continued to let out a heartbreaking cry of pain. There seemed to be no way she could bring her own body under control.

What was the origin of those feelings that were taking control of Elena's body? Kaname...

The Balam could cross the wall between the worlds...

Kaname and his companions never imagined that the gods were deceiving them, for this reason, they destroyed all Balams they found without even bothering to contemplate using it to return to their world.

Elena's heartbreaking cry and the feelings that were completely overwhelming her did not belong to her, they came from the depths of her soul, from Kaname.

If he had found this Balam, he would have been able to return to his beloved's side. This thought was the only thing in her body that belonged to Elena for several minutes.

Kaname's feelings were suffocating and overwhelming, all Elena could do to resist being devoured by this potent poison that was trying to take control of her and devour her was to keep in her mind the image of herself, her memories, and the people who held surrounded her. Particularly what became a raft amid an intense storm for Elena was the face and warmth of a person, Nia.

Still, Elena was completely overwhelmed. Her flow of magical power was in chaos, her already very exhausted body and mind could not resist. She lost consciousness.