Lin saw a dawn named hope. He crawled forward, inch by inch. Crimson’s silhouette flared like a lantern, and his pace quickened a shade.

But at that moment, Lin’s eyes widened. A black-gold figure uncoiled behind Crimson like a serpent. His pupils tightened. A hoarse warning scraped his throat. Crimson didn’t move.

Two black-gold spears lunged, dripping scorn, for the back of her head. But the wind flipped the pace. The Crimson Gold Spear struck first. Tip met tip with a ringing spark. Night Frost slipped from the shadow like moonlight.

Although "Night Frost" had guessed Night Frost came too, and used Crimson’s strength to break the seal, she hadn’t expected a shade-hiding strike. It bit like frost on bare skin. She didn’t care; she was stronger than Night Frost.

Because the body was fabricated, and with Chu Qing’s power, "Night Frost" etched Array Patterns into that force. Not Mana, yet kin to it. A processed Abyssal Aura, folded like ink into water.

That Abyssal Aura married well with Black Flame, steady as a quiet lake. Flame-lines crawled the body like vines over stone, carving the arrays.

This was Night Frost’s theoretical peak. With amplification Array Patterns, she believed she could battle an un-unsealed Chapter Three.

Yet the state she’d calculated now stood across from her, wearing her own face. She had hoped reclaimed strength would match it. Truth tolled like a cold bell: the "Night Frost" before her was stronger.

Crimson Gold Flame crinkled like brittle paper before Black Flame, burning away. That Black Flame carried Abyssal Aura. Night Frost knew that scent. It was the Black Dragon’s fire, one and the same.

Her own fire did nothing against Black Flame. But if the other "Night Frost" was born as she guessed, then her fire would bite deep again, like it did in the Abyss.

Crimson Gold Flame unraveled into silken threads, braided with Night Frost’s spirit, and flew at the "Night Frost" ahead. She remembered the wound and didn’t dare meet that blaze, slipping aside like a fish.

The Black Dragon’s hint had been true. The foe’s inside—perhaps all of her—came from Night Frost’s spirit, surplus will condensed by the Abyss. That essence would be torn by Night Frost’s Crimson Gold Flame.

Weakness found, she pressed the advantage. She pulled a fresh spear from the fire. Flame lifted her soles and floated her up. Crimson Gold Flame fell as a sky-cage. The "Night Frost" shattered it with a black-gold spear.

“This little trick does nothing to me.”

"Night Frost" kept dodging. She could win head-on, yes. But with Night Frost recovered and CrimsonGoldFlame here, a touch on her fragile spirit-body would make this shell crumble like ice.

She had expected this. Array Patterns were already laid ahead, a net for Crimson. Fate shifted the board; they’d be used on Night Frost instead.

Under "Night Frost’s" hands, black-gold flame thinned and scattered. Dim fire-stamens dotted the ground, melting into the floor’s shadows like ink sighing into paper.

Night Frost’s movements slowed. The method surprised her. Black Flame blooms in darkness, true. But she knows herself best. She snatched a side plank. It kissed Black Flame and lit. She stepped on the burning board and vaulted across like a comet.

She halted as soon as she landed. The fleeing "Night Frost" vanished like mist. She turned; Crimson’s position was clear. Chu Qing hadn’t appeared. Crimson had just pulled Lin free. Ms Feng moved to carry Yin Tiancheng and Yin Chen Yue out.

Going deeper from here felt ill-omened, thorns in the path. With her gone this long, traps would be seeded nearby. Amplified flame by Array Patterns, larger cages, heavier fire strikes.

"Night Frost" hid in the dark, fuming as Night Frost refused the array’s threshold. Night Frost thought hard; emotions churned first, hands held back. No answer came worth the breath.

Both of them murmured the same thing, like twin echoes in a cave: “Same old teacher—no way to crack it.”

On that point, the two Night Frosts were of one mind, twin mirrors facing each other.

When each knows the other’s weak seam and craft, advantage evaporates like dew at noon. It takes one outsider to break the balance.

From the corner, Chu Qing’s earth-yellow claws burst out, chopping for Night Frost like a falling cliff. Shock hit first, then motion. She slid back. Flame cradled her feet and lifted her into the air.

The "Night Frost" in the corner flung a chain woven of Black Flame. It snared Night Frost’s ankle and yanked her down like a hooked fish.

Night Frost hung her spear in midair and skewered the chain. She swept away that vexing Black Flame like dust. Then she withdrew; a trap lay ahead. With that blow failed, "Night Frost" wouldn’t lunge again.

"Night Frost" hadn’t expected Night Frost’s Mana to surge so high. No… it had to be Array Pattern strength. She knew Night Frost’s weight and measure; half a month’s growth wouldn’t leap. She must have carved Array Patterns onto herself.

“Amplification Array Patterns carved with materials?”

"Night Frost" looked over her body. The thought struck like flint. She needed to carve a set too.

Leaving the corner, Night Frost mulled the scene. She’d seen "Night Frost," and Chu Qing as well. But this Chu Qing felt different. The one ahead was a common Earth Dragon.

“Clones, then? Me from before, and this Chu Qing?”

If so, it boded ill, storm rolling in. She didn’t grasp the craft, but with enough materials you could remake most bodies, heart or no heart.

"Chu Qing" could turn people into Earth Dragons. Given time, this would become a kingdom of earth-scaled coils. Then nowhere to hide; they’d have to face "Chu Qing" head-on.

Perhaps after sending Yin Tiancheng and Yin Chen Yue out, they’d need to find where "Chu Qing" forged her artificials, the kiln behind the masks.

Night Frost still chased thoughts of artificials when a streak of light sliced the air. Golden light rushed for Crimson. Tri-colored glare pried Crimson’s hands from the rift like a tide.

The crack was snapping shut, jaws of stone. Lin was out, but Ms Feng, Yin Tiancheng, and Yin Chen Yue had just started. They couldn’t let it close now.

Crimson held her shield with one hand and braced the rift with the other, praying Ms Feng would move faster, like wind over grass.

Night Frost wouldn’t hold back. Unlike the earlier Chu Qing, the one before her was full-on Chapter Three. Night Frost wrung every drop of Mana from within. The spear in her palm wore a lovely crimson sheen. Her Magic Armor’s skirt seemed to lengthen a shade; she didn’t care.

“Give flame to the dragon, give blaze to my hand, tear life’s shackles!

All things to ash, every cut a kill!

Let Inferno burn here! …

Καύση στη φυλακή!”

The long-unspoken Magic Spell rang through the underground city like a bell. Scarlet Array Patterns bloomed across Night Frost’s cheeks. Several spears, lit by those patterns, seemed alive. Her tips danced and blurred into phantom wings. Blades of flame carved a fierce storm, stabbing at the "Chu Qing" wrapped in three colors.

"Chu Qing" frowned. She smelled a thread of threat in that all-out strike, a bitter note. Luckily, Night Frost wasn’t truly strong.

Creating "Night Frost" had given her a measure of Night Frost’s strength, lines laid like chess. She raised her palm. Metal condensed into a thick iron arm. Earth, under Chu Qing’s will, sealed Night Frost’s retreat. Golden fire-rain fell into a cubic space, and "Chu Qing" sealed the grid like a lid.

Crimson couldn’t leave the passage. Then force her to, like driving a hawk from its perch.

Night Frost was her companion. In the earth-realm, elder Magic Maidens would bleed themselves dry to shield their own. Crimson was no different; she wasn’t the cold kind.

"Chu Qing" guessed right. Crimson couldn’t let go of a companion. Night Frost had given her sky-high grace. Without Night Frost, she’d never have found that once "reckless" self.

Then let her be reckless once more.

With the faith the three of you gifted me.

Perhaps the end of unsealing is death and madness, night with no moon. But with you, I’ll conquer all storms.

If the four of us join hands, we’ll turn the impossible into a bridge, and live under miracle’s favor again, forging another miracle.

Her will tugged at deeper Mana. The link bridged not only the Abyss, but a special presence. New words rose on the Magic Stone’s surface, constellations rearranged.

Crimson understood the meaning like water’s whisper. She opened her lips and recited that "miracle."

“Restriction lifted, Magic Armor… bloom!”

Crimson’s Magic Armor burst into bloom. Not like before—no starry hem swallowing the underground city. Only scarlet Mana wrapped her close, soft as silk.

Scarlet Mana cocooned her body. Her armor’s form flickered back and forth like lantern-light in wind. Scarlet ribbons wound her limbs. A translucent skirt flowed outward. Petals of scarlet couldn’t hide Crimson’s pale skin, moonlit and bare…

The next second, that half-formed armor slipped back to its old shape. Scarlet flowers opened on its surface. The hem unrolled and swayed in the breeze like river grass.

Two modes of armor alternated like tide and moon. Scarlet ribbons wrapped Crimson’s wrists, replacing the black fingerless gloves.

“The past journey stretches to the Silver River; at life’s end, splendor returns.

The star river lays a long corridor; the stars forge bright lamps.

The long night will flee, welcoming eternal day!”

…

The four phantoms behind Crimson faded like smoke. The last line wouldn’t come to her tongue. Perhaps the miracle answered, and yet not.

Her companions were shadows for now, hard to give the push for the next step.

Still, for this moment, it seemed enough, a cup brimming at the lip.

Enough—a single spark in the dark.

All she needed was this brief instant, like a thunderclap between breaths.