The battle at the pond dragged on, but not in the clans' favor. The longer they fought, the worse it became. Their formations broke apart, and those who had charged in with pride were now stumbling out of the fog with blood on their clothes and panic in their eyes. Elementalists who had once shouted boldly were running, their aether drained faster than they could recover it.

Arden stood at the edge of the chaos, arms folded, his eyes never leaving the shape moving in the mist. He wasn't distracted by the screams or the arrogance falling apart. He studied the way the beast moved, the way the fog bent around it, and most importantly, the rhythm of its regeneration.

"They're blind," he said quietly, almost to himself. "Swinging at smoke while feeding the pond more lives."

Rael glanced at him. "You already see a way?"

Arden nodded once, calm but sharp. "The lotus fuels it. As long as that pool is undisturbed, the beast is endless. We don't fight it head-on. We break the pond's flow, weaken the mist, and force it out of its shell. Then we strike."

Nyra's blade rested against her shoulder, her brows tight. "Sounds easy when you say it. But inside that fog…"

"That's why you'll follow my lead," Arden said, his voice steady. "I'll handle the path. You focus on cutting openings when I call for them. We're not winning by strength. We're winning because we'll fight smarter than they ever could."

Zephyra's tail swished once as her low growl rumbled through the air. Mist beast. Kill the lotus, kill its breath.

"Exactly," Arden replied, as if her words sealed his plan.

The others exchanged looks, but not one argued. Their nods came one after another.

"Then it's time," Arden said simply. He turned to the guards who were still shaken from the spectacle at the pond. "Stay here. Protect the wagon. If they seems to be any danger, you run. Understood?"

The captain swallowed hard but nodded. "Understood."

With that, Arden led his party forward.

Their movement didn't go unnoticed. Hunters limping out of the fog sneered at the sight of them walking in.

"Fools," one spat. "What dozens couldn't manage, a handful dares to try?"

Another barked a laugh. "If you want a quicker death, at least make it entertaining!"

Arden didn't slow. He didn't even look their way.

Rael muttered under his breath, "I'd punch one of them if we weren't about to die."

"You'll get your chance," Arden said with a faint grin. "But first, the beast."

The air thickened as they crossed into the mist. The world immediately shifted, trees stretched where they shouldn't, sounds came from places they weren't, and the pond's surface rippled like a living mirror.

Nyra tightened her grip on her sword. "Feels like walking blindfolded."

Arden's voice cut through the distortion, calm and grounding. "Then keep your eyes on me. I'll get us through."

The pond stirred violently. From within the mist, a deep rumble echoed, the kind that carried through the bones.

The Aetherveil Leviathan was waiting, and as Arden's party neared the lotus glow at the center, the guardian stirred awake.

The pond erupted the moment they stepped in.

A heavy fog rolled over them, thick as tar, and the world twisted. Trees stretched too far, ripples bent sideways, and even footsteps sounded like they came from behind instead of ahead.

"Mist Domain," Arden muttered, his grip on his blade tightening. "Stay close, watch my signals."

The Leviathan's roar cut through the haze, though the sound seemed to echo from every direction.

A massive shadow lunged. Nyra's was quick to respond, wind bursting sharp enough to push part of the fog aside. Faint shards of ice glimmered in the draft like stars, giving the group a fragile thread to hold onto.

"Right flank!" Arden shouted.

Rael drove his lightning gauntlet into the ground. Static scattered in wild arcs, and for a split second the monster's body flashed within the haze, scales like glass, a maw that bent the air as it opened. He surged forward, lightning coating his fists as he pressed against the beast's bulk, his strikes sparking against the distortion.

Zephyra's flames roared from behind him, cerulean arcs carving through the fog and leaving burning pillars where her fire landed. She growled low, her flames marking zones where the Leviathan's body had brushed by.

The beast didn't stay still. Its body coiled, the mist folding with it, and suddenly its strike came from the left though its shadow had been on the right. Rael barely got his arms up, the bent blow hurling him backwards through the haze.

"Spatial Coil!" Arden barked. His body blurred as he used Steptrace Mirage, slipping past the warped strike and reappearing a breath away. He dragged his blade in a circle, mist from his Serpent's Veil Coil following, his own fog weaving into the beast's domain. But unlike the Leviathan's, his didn't hide, it spread false trails, creating flickering afterimages of himself.

The Leviathan lunged at one, only for Arden to split off again, blade flashing in from the side. "That's it… chase the wrong me."

On the banks, the survivors who had mocked them earlier watched in silence. Their mouths were dry as they saw dual affinities flow seamlessly in Arden's group.

"That mist… isn't canceling the beast's?" one muttered.

"No… it's overlapping it. He's using it to turn its tricks against itself."

Back inside, Nyra lifted her sleeves, frost weaving along her wind. She dragged the cold across the pond, freezing thin layers of water that crunched beneath the Leviathan's movements. Its massive body shifted, slower, forced to break the ice each time. Her wind then cut across, sharp enough to tear open gaps in the warped fog.

"Keep it coming!" Arden's voice rang through.

Rael answered with a roar of his own, his gauntlet crackling with both lightning and frost.

He slammed his palms together, releasing a storm that burst outward, frost-laced lightning exploding against the beast's scales. The blow lit up its true form for an instant, the coils trembling under the crackle.

Zephyra leapt above, her body twisting midair as her flames clashed with Nyra's wind. The blast turned into a controlled explosion that blew apart a section of mist, clear enough to reveal the monster's glistening maw. She snarled, unleashing a rain of blue fire down onto its head.

The Leviathan hissed, its body bending impossibly as its jaws snapped at them from an angle no one had braced for.

Arden's eyes narrowed. "Too close." He forced his mist to surge, light weaving into it. His Serpent's Veil bled into a new shape, a chaotic ripple of afterimages, chains of light wrapping false clones around the beast. The trick made its strikes falter, confused between real and illusion.

"That should buy us a heartbeat," Arden muttered, sweat dampening his brow.

Onlookers at the edge of the battlefield couldn't look away now. They weren't seeing reckless peasants walk to their death, they were seeing a team that fought like one body.

Dual affinities flowing, commands sharp, every move timed as though rehearsed.

"Who… are they?" a clan member whispered.

The Leviathan roared again, the mist trembling with renewed force, and the ground shuddered under the weight of its domain.

And still, Arden's voice cut through, calm and unshaken. "Hold your ground. This is just the beginning."

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