The Berserker reached Liam in less than a heartbeat.

One moment it was standing at the center of the ruined clearing, dark red lightning crawling violently over its regenerated body, and the next it had launched itself upward with enough force to crater the ground beneath its feet.

The tree Liam had been crouched on trembled from the pressure even before the demon reached him.

Liam’s eyes sharpened.

The hybrid javelin finished forming in his hand just as the Berserker’s clawed hand came tearing toward him through the air. The demon didn’t swing like a trained warrior. There was no elegance behind the motion. No refined stance. No polished technique. It attacked like a force of nature given bones and hunger.

But that didn’t make it clumsy.

The attack was direct, violent, and brutally efficient.

Liam pushed off the branch before the claw reached him.

A burst of flame erupted beneath his boots, sending him backward just as the Berserker’s hand shredded through the tree. Wood exploded outward in splinters as the upper half of the trunk tore apart under the force.

The Berserker landed against the broken remains of the tree, its claws digging into bark for less than a second before it sprang again.

Liam was already moving.

He rotated midair, planted one foot briefly against another tree trunk, and kicked off with another controlled flame burst. His body shot sideways through the forest, but the Berserker corrected instantly. Dark red lightning pulsed along its legs as it changed direction mid-chase with horrifying acceleration.

’It doesn’t need stable footing to redirect.’

That thought barely passed through Liam’s mind before the demon was already in front of him again.

Liam swung the hybrid javelin.

The Berserker raised one forearm to block.

The weapon struck the bone-like armor protruding from the demon’s arm, and an explosion erupted on contact. Fire and shadow burst outward in a compressed wave, blasting apart nearby branches and forcing the Berserker’s arm slightly off course.

But the demon didn’t retreat.

It pushed through the explosion.

Its other hand came in from below, claws angled toward Liam’s stomach.

Liam twisted his body sideways, letting the claws tear through the side of his shirt instead of flesh. The tips still grazed his ribs, and pain flared violently through the fractures he had barely stabilized with Mend.

His jaw tightened.

But his movement didn’t stop.

The hybrid javelin vanished from his hand.

In its place, his twin daggers appeared.

Inferno Edge crawled along both blades immediately, coating the black metal in thin, focused flames.

The Berserker’s eyes tracked the change, but not not fast enough.

Liam dropped lower in midair and slashed across the demon’s exposed side as he passed beneath its arm. The first dagger scraped across the hide, biting shallowly before the flames burned deeper. The second followed right after, cutting across the same line from a different angle.

A decent amount of black blood sprayed.

The Berserker growled and twisted, its tail snapping toward Liam with sudden speed.

Liam saw the tail coming from the corner of his eye and released a burst of flame from his left palm, forcing his body downward. The tail carved through the air above him and smashed into a tree behind him instead, snapping the trunk in half.

Liam landed on the forest floor, boots sliding through dirt and broken leaves.

The Berserker landed in front of him immediately after.

The ground cracked beneath its weight.

They moved at the same time.

The demon lunged and Liam stepped in.

The first claw swept toward his head. Liam ducked under it, his right dagger cutting upward across the underside of the Berserker’s wrist. Inferno Edge burned through the already wounded flesh, forcing the demon’s fingers to twitch open for a fraction of a second.

Liam used that fraction as he drove his left dagger toward the demon’s chest.

The Berserker shifted its torso, causing to the blade to miss the core by far and scrape across its rib-like armor instead.

Sparks of flame scattered from the impact.

The Berserker’s knee shot upward.

Liam barely managed to bring both daggers down to guard before the knee slammed into him. The force lifted him off the ground and sent him backward through a cluster of roots. He flipped once, caught himself against the side of a tree, and immediately launched forward again before the Berserker could follow.

A small orb of flame, a miniature sun, formed at the center his palm.

The Berserker’s eyes narrowed immediately as it recognized the heat.

Then, Liam fired.

The orb shot forward silently, tearing through the air between them.

The Berserker moved to dodge, but Liam had expected that.

The moment the demon shifted, Liam released a second burst from his heel and appeared along its blind side with a dagger already raised. The miniature sun passed by the demon’s shoulder, missed its core completely, and detonated behind it against the forest floor.

The explosion lit the trees in orange light.

The Berserker ignored it and turned toward Liam with terrifying speed as its claw came down.

Liam slashed with his dagger, but instead of trying to cut, he used the blade to redirect the claw just enough to avoid being split open. The force still drove him to one knee with the ground cracking beneath him.

The Berserker’s second claw followed.

Liam dismissed the dagger in his right hand, and a long sword appeared in its place.

The shift happened so quickly that the Berserker’s reaction lagged for the smallest instant. It had already adjusted to the length of the dagger and moved its arm just outside that range.

But the long sword was longer.

Inferno Edge roared along the blade as Liam swung upward.

The sword cut across the demon’s forearm, biting far deeper than the dagger had. Flames entered the wound and burned through muscle. The Berserker’s arm jerked back as black blood scattered across the dirt.

Liam didn’t stop.

He stepped forward, rotated his hips, and drove the long sword toward the demon’s throat.

The Berserker snapped its head back allowing the blade missed the neck by inches.

But Liam had already let go.

The long sword vanished.

The hybrid javelin formed again in both hands as Liam used the same forward momentum to spin into a heavier strike.

The Berserker’s eyes widened slightly as the javelin slammed into its chest.

The explosion threw the demon backward across the clearing.

It hit the ground, rolled once, and dug its claws into the earth to stop itself. Smoke rose from its chest where the weapon had struck, its armor cracked and flesh burned open beneath.

The wound began healing immediately.

Liam’s feet touched the ground lightly, standing back for a moment as he watched.

The Berserker stood.

Its chest wound knitted together with frightening speed. Dark red lightning crawled through the torn flesh like veins pulling the body back into shape.

’Regeneration accelerates when lightning gathers near the wound.’

The observation settled into Liam’s mind.

Then the Berserker moved.

It didn’t charge straight this time. It vanished to the side.

Liam turned instantly.

The demon appeared behind him.

He barely raised his dagger in time before the Berserker’s fist slammed into the blade and drove him backward. His boots tore through soil as the force pushed him several meters. The impact rattled his already broken ribs, and pain flashed white across the edges of his vision.

The demon pressed.

Another strike.

Liam ducked under the fist.

A kick came from the side.

He jumped, but the Berserker’s tail swept beneath him immediately after, catching his leg midair.

The blow spun him sideways.

Liam released a flame burst from his palm, correcting his body before he crashed into the ground. He landed hard, rolled once, and came up with both daggers drawn.

The Berserker was already on him.

Claws. Tail. Knee. Shoulder.

It attacked with every part of its body.

Liam dodged what he could and redirected what he couldn’t. His daggers flashed constantly, Inferno Edge carving thin burning lines across the demon’s arms, chest, shoulders, and neck. Each cut forced regeneration. Each wound gave him more information.

But each exchange pushed him back.

The Berserker was not simply strong.

It was adapting.

Whenever Liam used a burst from his feet, the demon started attacking lower.

Whenever Liam shifted weapons, the demon began watching his hands instead of the blades.

Whenever Liam aimed toward the core, the demon twisted before the strike fully committed.

It learned through impact, through instinct, and through pain.

Liam’s expression remained calm, but his breathing had changed.

It had became a little heavier and tighter.

His ribs were making every movement more costly than it should have been.

And the Berserker noticed.

Its cracked mouth widened.

"...hurt..."

Liam said nothing.

The demon lunged.

This time, Liam didn’t dodge backward.

He threw one dagger straight at the Berserker’s face.

The demon tilted its head slightly, avoiding the blade.

As expected.

Liam’s other dagger vanished and the long sword appeared again.

He stepped inside the demon’s guard and swung with both hands.

The blade cut deeply across the Berserker’s thigh.

Fire tore through muscle and tendon, causing the demon’s leg buckled for half a second.

Liam immediately dismissed the sword and formed a hybrid javelin.

He drove it downward into the wounded leg.

The explosion took the limb off from the knee down.

The Berserker dropped.

The ground shook as its body slammed into one hand, catching itself before it fully collapsed.

Liam’s eyes sharpened.

This was the opening.

He moved instantly.

Flames burst from beneath his feet as he shot toward the demon’s exposed side, already forming another hybrid javelin. He aimed for the chest this time.

The core.

He needed to strike faster than the demon could regenerate.

But as he closed the distance, he saw the impossible happen.

The severed leg was already reforming more rapidly than before.

The dark red lightning across the Berserker’s body dimmed slightly, as if the energy was being pulled inward. The sparks along its shoulders and arms faded, gathering instead around the ruined stump. Flesh rebuilt violently. Bone extended. Muscle snapped into place.

Liam’s eyes narrowed as he watched the wound closed.

’It can divert the lightning into regeneration?’

The realization came a fraction too late.

The Berserker’s head snapped toward him as its jaw opened wider than it should have been able to.

The sides of its mouth stretched unnaturally as the maw expanded, exposing layers of teeth and a throat lit from within by dark red light.

Lightning was gathering inside its mouth.

The crackling grew dense and violent, condensing into a pulsing mass of dark red energy.

And Liam was still moving toward it with way too much momentum.

Then suddenly, the Berserker released the blast.