"So, was it anger?" Rowan muttered. "I can't believe someone like you would ever get consumed by such a notion. It was always the more rational approach. Maybe fueled by a sense of adventure, but in the end-"

"Shut it." Ennyou interrupted them. "You didn't care for these nonsense words back then and days ago either! What's the point of bringing them all up now?"

"You were fooled," Rowan spoke, exhaling nasally.

"Fooled? You're the one who keeps dragging in meaningless memories because you feel like you can fix everything now! You didn't back then and you won't now, either!"

Ingo turned to Rowan, curiously.

"Shi Hon fooled you," Rowan spoke, looking down. "...and you're angry because of it."

"I'M NOT ANGRY!" another bone came smashing in from the side, stopping near the Tributal's face.

Rowan put their hand on the white, sharp end and stared forward. "The Ennyou I knew was like everyone else in the family. When they were angry, they were just as calm and indifferent as I am now. Weak, as you'd call yourself and resent what the world made you."

Another one came flying in, halting again. Ingo gasped each time, with his mouth wide open.

"You're so damn strong that it scares me. It makes me angry that I wasn't there to see you grow." Rowan gazed up, as Ennyou's puzzled expression was soon replaced with another sharp end stopping before their eyes. "...and I understand why you wanted things to be like this. You always wanted to know it all, but the flowers never bloomed that day. In all scenarios, the paths I've chosen in my life, you should've been dead."

"No." Ennyou uttered. "That's what you wanted me to be."

"Never," Rowan whispered. "I never wanted to see anyone die because of my decisions and now... everyone is dropping like flies. I'm furious, Ennyou. I've never been angrier in my life because it keeps pushing me on even though I should've been dead a long time ago. It forces me to see the world's cruelty. Chichos, fighting each other for nothing. Maybe, I should've taken your place in Orawood, and it should've been Ambrosia standing in my place now. Yet, for all the wrongs I did in my life, for all the anger I feel..."

Rowan furrowed their brows, looking past all the bones surrounding them.

"It's you who held back."

"What?" Ennyou asked, almost gasping.

"You could've swiped me. I was weak and I'm even weaker than beforehand. Even my friend here won't help me with that, and I don't underestimate his power." Rowan spoke. "Then again, you're even holding back now. Letting me speak, because deep inside, you feel resentment. You wish that you were there to teach me a lesson, and not keep punching until I've taken your place."

Ennyou ground his teeth, as all the spikes pushed closer, but none even dared to touch their body. Rowan almost chuckled, before covering their eyes again.

"Again," Rowan spoke, lowly. "You could've killed me, and you didn't."

Ennyou's eyes flashed red, and as Rowan uttered, thousands of bones grew out of a coup beneath the one the Tributal stood on, piercing through each other and building a tower for Rowan to stand on. They jumped, as everything else almost eloquently carried them upwards.

Ennyou breathed in and out, with a red pulsating through the barrage of the whites beneath his legs, reaching towards Ambrosia's body. It too, shook, but ever so lightly. Rowan looked at them, before clenching their jaw and turning to Ingo, who stood on the ground.

"Still up to fight him?" they raised their weak voice, and Ingo blinked a couple of times, almost snapping out of that panicked state. He put his bat in both hands and sighed, before eventually nodding, with furrowed brows.

Rowan glimpsed at Ennyou, again, before pointing with just one, wounded hand. "No holding back this time, Ennyou."

With their words, Ennyou was struck with all the carrion growing out of his body. They ruined the tower, and launched them forward, as an arrow was drawn, right at the Tributal.

Another bone swiped in, as it effortlessly pushed Rowan away into the remnants of a building. A black fire came flashing out from inside before a spark reappeared, and there they were back again, flying out with seemingly nothing propelling them, leaping towards all the white below.

Rowan screamed, channelling all that fury, before an arrow gracefully found itself stuck inside one of the spikes, sliding down a thick fiery trail they held onto.

All the other legs furiously kicked around and eventually, Rowan gave way into falling again, with a swift roll and a quick sprint towards something in the distance.

When Ennyou caught the pain, his eyes turned towards the last sign of the Tributal. He couldn't see anything, his bones started violently moving around, thrashing at the ground, kicking up dust which covered his eyes, and splitting even more of the remaining debris.

Rocks flew into the sky, as one swift move led to them being kicked down in the direction where he last spotted the Tributal. An explosion of ground and fire came simultaneously, as a figure flew out. Ennyou revealed a panicked and angered smile, but his brows only turned when it wasn't Rowan who came out from all the commotion, but Ingo, striking right at one of the thicker cages.

He moved faster than the other hands trying to grab him, and when the club made contact with the shell, it cracked ever so slightly, with all the dirt particles coming out of the weapon, flying around and zooming in on the wound.

Ingo began involuntarily sliding down with the pinches of the other bone, as a part of a pulsing flesh revealed itself from beneath whatever the whites were supposed to be.

Ennyou bellowed, and that's when Rowan flew in from the side, almost carried on the cloud of their black flame. Ennyou snapped to the side, one striking at Rowan's arm, almost chopping it off. Their eyes shrunk, but one leg landed on an adjacent rib.

The Tributal bent down to their knees, almost giving in to the pain, before their teeth landed on the bow's string, dragging yet another arrow, as it flailed through the sky and reached the bit of exposed flesh.

Ennyou shook, thrashing around and knocking Rowan off the structure.

Ingo swung his bat around like a hammer before bouncing off the ground and catching the Tributal midflight.

Rowan gasped for air, eyes weakened, as they threw themselves off Ingo's grip and rolled on the ground, before turning.

The two stared at Ennyou, who moved away further along the dust.

"Was that his weak spot?" Ingo quickly asked.

"It seems so."

"T-Thought you'd know." Ingo gulped.

"Huh?"

"Chichos." The Haran muttered. "That's one Tributal word I know."

Rowan stared at the ground, pushing some of the blood that flew down from their mouth.

"An enemy now," they uttered, almost slyly.

Ingo clenched his fist, before staring at the Tributal. He nodded as if he understood whatever Rowan's words implied.

Then, they ran forward again, with clenched fists at the side and determination in their eyes.

"There must be a reason you're assisting me, Ingo." Rowan thought. "You vow to move through that pain and bounce right into it without another question asked." they stopped, pointing an arrow at the tornado Ennyou created. "It's almost a reason to live for."

In truth, Ingo's gaze was as fiery as Rowan's. He didn't need long stories or explanations to convince himself to keep battling. Just like the Tributal said, they were angry as well.

"I get it." Ingo thought.

The tornado quickly revealed hundreds, if not thousands of the stone buildings of Halesdeep, crashing the two's way. The two moved in separate directions, and Rowan shot out blindly, still feeling the same pain.

Debris and structures kept crashing next to the two or splashing bits of the nearby ground towards their bodies. Then, the storm of Ennyou picked up, as everything around, including the two, started being dragged in.

Ennyou's body kept spinning, almost without a point to focus on. Ingo smashed the ground before being dragged in, as bits of the sinkhole reversed in his favour, creating a ground for him to stand on. He zoomed in on the target in the middle, however, the wind swiped him away, with the club landing a hit on the same broken bone as earlier, cracking out more of the flesh out of its shell.

Ingo now clung onto a part of the white that stuck out, putting his club above. Instead of attacking again, he searched, and Rowan's silhouette appeared from out of the brown dust, jumping around the kicked-up rocks and buildings around Ennyou, who seemed to be cut out of reality.

They pointed again, despite the pain, as the arrow shot out and crashed with something in the middle. Then, a flash of fire appeared, as the arrow from earlier came swiping back in, with a fiery trail Rowan held. With a gulp, they instinctively threw it away. A black flame appeared out of their eye, and the rock beneath them crashed into nothing.

"R-Rowan!" Ingo yelled out, as the Tributal leapt, crashing into another building. As it rotated, they jumped out of the window, continuously running around its axis and finding a new wall or whatnot to cling onto. They stared, focusing, as the arrow from earlier kept picking up speed and eventually locking in with the other one. The fire only grew stronger.

They gasped, searching for the right moment and closing their eye when the black flame engulfed the air. They leapt, almost instinctively, around the debris and the halved buildings.

They reached their hand out.

"A flame keeps growing with no one to stop it. I don't want to keep burning everything in my path, down to a crisp that flies away with the wind." they thought, opening their palm. "So just this one time, let me absorb all of its pain. All of your resentment, Ennyou."

They jumped, opening their eyes and screaming into the thin air. They clenched the grip, launching it forward, as it struck near Ennyou's heart. The tornado stopped, almost instantly, and the entire skeleton moved away, carrying both of the fighters.

Ennyou's body landed between two halves of the Perpeace mountains, climbing inside the canyon he created. Rowan slid down one of the bones stuck to the side and Ingo rolled off the rocks nearby.

Ennyou coughed out blood, sporadically, as the same reflected on all the shaky structure, with them spewing out the same, rose liquid. Ingo turned, a little panicky, but Rowan smiled. Ennyou turned, furiously, ready to strike.

"You're going against what I told you." Rowan thought. "Here you come, holding back." they clenched their burnt palm. "Even I still keep getting up, for whatever reason." Rowan stood on both shaky legs, with their hands around the bow's grip. "Finish it already," they uttered, aloud.

Suddenly, everything surrounding the bones in his body and the two mountains shifted exponentially. Rowan threw themselves forward again, an arrow pointing towards the small patch of flesh. The Haran jumped in from the side, swinging his bat blindly, as it crashed through the nearby spikes. He landed on the sides of the canyon, as ground kept appearing at the sides.

Rowan let go, as the quiver shook, almost reaching the reds, before another limb covered it, now cracking. The arrow stuck and created a massive circle of flame. Ennyou moved the carrion again, going further into the mountain. Ingo almost couldn't keep up, until he threw himself forward again, smashing the club into the weaker bones, swinging towards the other Tributal.

Rowan grabbed his hand and launched him towards the white constantly generating from Ennyou's legs, moving upwards to create a cocoon further into the side of the brown ground. Ingo spun, defeating the constant weaker jabs, creating a small tornado from the tip of his club, with the thinner bones flying with the wind.

Rowan fixed their glasses and pointed the arrow, flames appearing before they even shot out, now almost engulfing their entire arm. They ground their teeth, hesitating, while Ingo dropped to the side, sliding down a bigger spike with a painful yell. Ennyou focused, with all the thinner limbs heading the Tributal's way. The bigger ones moved upwards, forming a massive fist above, covering a shadow disturbed by the light Rowan kept creating.

The Tributal focused, with their eyes drifting off Ennyou's angered and hesitant expression and towards Ambrosia's body, flailing, as the bones only further dug into their wrists. They breathed out, halting a gasp, feeling everything slowing down. The massive attack that was to come from above, and Ingo yelling out. The carriage started shifting and revealing a hole towards the caves stretching where the mountain was broken in half.

"Ambrosia. I'm so, so sorry." they thought. "I doubted the two of us, and yet, you came all this way. Who knows how much of his power comes from your heart? Does it still beat in the same rhythm as his, or has your soul already moved on to a calmer place, without all this ruckus I created?"

Rowan let go of the arrow.