At the same time, in the Frigoria Plains.


    "Elliott!"


    "On it!"


    The duo was in the middle of their last battle.


    In front of them, a grotesque spider glared at them, covered in thousands of its children. The ground was littered with dead spiders, as they fought fearlessly each corrupted that approached too close.


    *Slice*


    Elliott cleanly cut a jumping spider in half. Its organs and blood sprayed everywhere behind him, making this scene sickening.


    After noticing Elliott of the enemy jumping at him, Nylon lifted his right leg upward, and slammed it with great strength.


    *Squish*


    He crushed a spider under his foot, before glancing over his left shoulder.


    ''Trying to get me in my blind spot?''


    Nylon kicked the first spider out of the way, before turning his waist. At the same time, he tightly clenched his iron claws, and with the rotating force, pierced the spider that threw itself at him.


    Blood gushed everywhere as its legs trembled and curved inward. Nylon slammed the corpse on the ground, before pushing on it with one foot to extract the claws that were stuck in its flesh.


    "I''ll rid us of all of them."


    "Please do."


    Elliott placed his weapon behind him, and began to concentrate.


    "Can you deal with the one attacking me?"


    "Leave it to me!"


    With Nylon protecting him, Elliott closed his eyes. From his core, he let the flow of energy converge into his muscles, and into the sword.


    "Move!"


    He shouted to Nylon, who kicked a spider away and ran past him.


    "!"


    His arm moved at such a speed, that it was barely visible. A large cross-like shockwave traveled toward the sea of spiderlings, before they were sent flying in the air.


    Right after, a dark and disturbing result that would leave anyone gagging happened.


    A second attack followed right after the shockwave, slicing the spiders. They fell into the snow in disgusting pieces of flesh and limbs.


    Elliott first sent them flying, then, from the second attack, sliced them. But that wasn''t all. It was an ability that continued to cut its victim after the first hit.


    With one cut, he multiplied it tenfold and stacked the same attack on each one of them, bringing the number of surviving spiders close to zero.


    "PSHAAAAAA!"


    The giant spider spat in anger at the carnage, and immediately followed with a devastating stomp.


    But it was nothing for Elliott.


    "Ira."


    A shield made of energy formed above him, before the leg made contact with it.


    After a massive shockwave that sent snow flying around him, Elliott smirked.


    "You need to do better than that because..."


    Vanitas glowed a powerful light.


    "I''m back at my peak."


    He slashed at the leg, cutting it in half.


    At first, he was worried his powers wouldn''t be enough to pass through the defense of the spider, but with this attack, everything became clear.


    The giant was pushed back from the recoil, and looked at its vertically sliced leg. It wasn''t showing pain, but it sure wasn''t looking fine. It plunged its jaws into its leg, and ripped it off.


    A giant spider leg crashed on the ground, before another one began to sprout from the wound.


    "Nylon, the core!"


    From behind him, an iron claw strapped to a rope flew toward the spider with incredible velocity.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    *Stuck*


    The claw pierced the head of the giant, before Nylon swung under it.


    Right on its underbelly, a bright violet jewel shone differently than the cores of the corrupted they encountered so far.


    He jumped from the rope, and with his agility, grabbed one of its back legs, which he used to jump again, this time toward the jewel.


    "Pshaa!"


    Two spiderlings jumped at him from under the giant, but Elliott had his back. Before Nylon could blink, the two spiders came crashing toward the ground, their bodies sliced into pieces.


    "One!"


    Nylon stabbed his remaining claw into the core, twisted his body to place on foot on it, and jumped toward the ground.


    The claw dug into the core, and traveled through the creature''s body.


    "That look suits you better."


    Elliott looked at the giant that writhed in agony as its core was shattered. Many spiderlings fell from their mother, only to get crushed under her stomps.


    On his way down, Nylon grabbed the rope, and safely landed on the ground. He ran toward Elliott, before pulling the rope. The claw ripped a considerable chunk of flesh from the giant''s face, revealing a second core under it.


    "Its head is the core..."


    Said Nylon, in utter shock.


    The little part visible was barely showing the true size of the core.


    "Seems like it."


    With one hand on the blade, and the other on the hilt, Elliott prepared to finish the beast.


    But the spider wasn''t finished. It covered its body in a layer of springy water, before dropping its body closer to the ground.


    A bubble that covered its whole body formed to protect it as it healed its broken core.


    "Sigh..."


    Elliott looked bored.


    "Let''s end this now. I''ll use one of mother''s technique."


    While sliding his hand on Vanitas, he let his thumb be cut by its blade. His blood flowed around the edges of the blade, before it glowed a reddish hue.


    When done, he lifted the sword above his head, and gripped it with both hands.


    "Blood Moon!"


    The moment Elliott dropped the sword toward the ground, a bloody crescent wave of energy formed, aimed at the giant.


    That crescent-shaped energy traveled at high speed and sliced everything on its way.


    Inside the bubble, the spider''s eyes focused on it, before its vision began to split in two. Everything went black, as cuts appeared in its sight, its eyes ripped to shreds by the destroying energy.


    The bubble exploded, the giant spider''s body crumbled into two parts, before vanishing into thin air, ravaged by the terrifying energy Elliott released.


    Nothing was left of the giant, not even a hair. Its remaining children met the very same end, destroyed by the crescent slash.


    "That was... rather easy."


    Nylon said, looking at the devastated landscape laying in front of him. If the deep gash into the earth wasn''t any indication of an incredible battle, nothing was.


    "Well, mostly for you."


    When Nylon looked at Elliott, he noticed that his complexion looked rather bad.


    "That attacked required a lot of my blood. If I''m not anemic after that, I''ll be lucky."


    With a relieved sigh, he placed Vanitas back into its scabbard, strapped behind his lower back.


    "Good work, Elliott. That was the last of the giant, right? You''ve removed the blizzard from your homeland at last."


    The great Elliott dropped on the ground, laid in the snow, and looked at the clouds over his head. The storm still hadn''t cleared, but he could imagine the clear blue sky behind the clouds.


    ''...''


    Nylon scanned his surroundings.


    ''This sure is a disgusting view...''


    For him, this sight had become normal. Everywhere they went, the scenery became littered with corpses.


    ''I survived all of this.''


    But it was finally over. Nylon felt a weight disappear from his shoulders. He looked at his hands, and praised himself.


    ''Have I grown stronger?''


    Only now was he feeling something surge in his body. He had no idea what it was, but he wanted to look into it later.


    "Elliott."


    "Hmm?"


    Elliott looked toward Nylon, before following his gaze. They both looked at one destroyed building, used by the giant spider as a nesting ground.


    "Right... we have to look at that before doing anything else.


    "It was part of Miasma''s experimentation grounds for creating corrupted, right?"


    "Indeed."


    Nylon helped Elliott stand up by offering his hand. They walked toward the dilapidated building together.


    The entrance was blocked by thick layers of spider threads, but it wasn''t a problem for Nylon''s claw.


    He ripped them from the walls, before they proceeded further inside.


    "It''s dark..."


    "..."


    Elliott quietly walked through the corridor with a frown. Broken rooms with destroyed roofs blocked their paths.


    "This room..."


    When Elliott looked inside a room he recognized, he was met with something that surprised him.


    "Nylon, our journey stops here."


    "Huh?"


    Before he could understand anything, Elliott brought out the crystal Orion gave him before he left, and crushed it in his hands.


    ~


    "..."


    Orion, who was making a sand castle with Stella, suddenly looked toward the portal hub of Horizon.


    "Papa?"


    "Sorry, there''s something I need to check."


    He stood up, and rapidly approached the blanket where his clothes were.


    "Orion? Where are you going?"


    Everyone looked at his as he buttoned his shirt. He looked at Dylan and Eliza with a smile.


    "Your son has returned."


    Eliza had to take a second to realize what he meant, but quickly placed her hands to her mouth, and nodded.


    "I see. Nylon is back."


    Orion warped away right after. Those words were enough for everyone to understand their implications.


    ''Elliott has returned...''


    And with that thought, another emerged.


    ''I hope everything will be fine.''


    ...


    "Oh. So that''s the plane Orion created."


    "Yes."


    Elliott scanned the realm.


    ''There are a few names I recognize in here.''


    With just a quick energy reading of the plane, he learned everything he needed to know.


    Tiohr-nam, in particular, was easy to see from where he was. All residents of Horizon were discovered, and analyzed. When he saw how prosperous this place was, Elliott smiled and patiently waited.


    "..."


    He looked toward his right.


    "You''ve returned at last."


    Orion warped a little distance away from him, and crossed his arms. He looked at Elliott, and then at Nylon.


    "With the help of your brother here, this expedition ended faster than I expected. I would''ve suffered greatly without him."


    They both looked at each other for a moment, before Orion nodded.


    "Thanks for bringing him back alive. It''s good to see you, Nylon."


    The two brothers looked at each others, and smiled.


    "Same. I''m glad to have made it alive."


    "You''ll tell me later. Go rest with everyone else for now."


    A portal opened next to Orion.


    ''Everyone?''


    Nylon walked through the portal and disappeared.


    "Orion, would you mind following me for a moment?"


    "Have you find it?"


    "I believe so."


    A grave look appeared on both faces.


    "Alright, lead the way."


    Elliott turned around and entered the portal leading to the Frigoria Plains. With a serious expression, Orion followed him.