Neither Sezio nor Rena knew where they would find Rashendala any better than Suwa had, but as they entered the deeper part of the forest, they heard the ground and trees rumble. Under normal circumstances, that would be enough reason to flee in the other direction, but they both knew that they would find Suwa if they followed the sound. As they continued, the forest echoed with the haunting sound of beasts' laughter.

“You can still turn back,” Sezio told Rena after noticing her flinch at the sounds.

“You won't convince me to abandon Suwa; he's the only family I have left.”

Sezio smiled, “In that case, stay close. There haven’t been any dangerous beasts yet, but I won't be able to protect you if you're too far away.”

“Just focus on finding Suwa.”

“Yes Ma'am.”

In truth, even Rena knew it was strange that they hadn't encountered anything yet, but she was too worried about Suwa to give it much thought. As they got closer to the origin of the sound they heard earlier, they finally saw the beasts that would normally be about in the woods, but none had noticed Sezio or Rena yet. The next thing they heard was Suwa's voice, and the two of them got as close as they could without drawing the attention of the distracted beasts.

As they moved closer, they witnessed Suwa thrust his spear into a hole before pointing it up to threaten something else hidden amongst the trees. Then they heard the booming voice:

“Kill him.”

At Rashendala’s command, the beasts surrounding Suwa charged toward him. Suwa was able to fend off the first few, but he was too sore and exhausted to keep going for long, and the beasts were too many.

“Suwa!” Rena cried. “What are you doing? Save him!”

Before Rena could make that demand, Sezio had already disappeared from beside her. He was wading through the beasts on his way to Suwa and drew a blade from the flames that Suwa had left burning. As Suwa was finally overwhelmed, he felt claw and fang sink into him and drive him to the ground. Suddenly, the beasts piling on top of him were knocked off and went limp as Sezio struck them away.

“Are you okay?” Suwa coughed, unable to vocalize a response, but still nodded. Verifying that Suwa was still alive, Sezio looked up and made eye contact with the snake looming over them. “I take it that's Rashendala. Just wait a little longer, Suwa. I'll end this soon.”

“Suwa!” Rena had rushed to Suwa’s side through the path that Sezio created and fell to her knees beside him. “You stupid idiot, what were you thinking?” Suwa was surprised to see her there, but all he could do was laugh at her words, and then groan from pain of said laughter.

“What are you doing here?” Sezio questioned with a sigh. “You should have stayed back.”

“I'm not going to stay back there when Suwa is right here.”

“You’re just as stubborn as he is,” Sezio sighed, but he was unable to argue any further because more beasts were moving toward them.

As the beasts charged at the three gehm, Sezio cut them down one after the next with ease. Rena couldn't believe her eyes. She had never fathomed that a fellow gehm could be so powerful. But now that she had calmed down, she realized that even Suwa had killed a few of the beasts.

“He's amazing, isn't he?” Suwa coughed.

“Don't talk, you need to conserve your strength.” Even though Rena didn't comment directly on Suwa's words, she still agreed with them—Sezio was amazing. Even the beasts were starting to realize this and began to scatter back into the trees instead of continuing to attack him.

Unlike Suwa, Sezio was a genuine threat; a fact Rashendala had to admit. Which is why he decided that here and now was the time to remove that threat before it could become any more dangerous. When Sezio saw the snake beginning to move, he shouted for Rena and Suwa to get out of the way before running in a different direction himself.

Just as Sezio had hoped, Rashendala's attention was locked on him, and the snake ignored the other two. Sezio continued to run between the trees in an attempt to stay clear of the serpent’s mouth while still searching for an effective place to strike. At the same time, some of the scattered beasts had received a boost to their morale when Rashendala started moving, and they began to attack Sezio once again.

Even with his mind focused on the giant snake, none of the other beasts could get close to him. Whenever they tried, he would either strike them down with his sword or use a combination of era and his own agility to maintain his distance. Eventually, the beasts gave up once again and resigned themselves to watching the battle unfold.

As for Rashendala, he refused to allow the difference in size between himself and his tiny adversary give Sezio any sort of advantage against him. Nor would he allow the features of his domain be used against him. As a sign of defiance, and a shift in tactics, Rashendala began to coil himself around one of the largest trees, spiraling up towards the canopy.

Sezio took this opportunity to move their battle away from the ground and climbed onto Rashendala’s scaled body. As Sezio ran up the coiled ramp that Rashendala had created with his own body, the snake lowered his head and snapped at the insolent gehm. However, Sezio had expected such a response and was ready to react. He was already high enough into the trees to reach the largest of the bottom limbs and leaped onto one to avoid the serpent’s bite.

A single failed strike wasn't enough to stop Rashendala as he continued to scale the tree he was clinging to. Sezio made his way higher up the trees as well, moving from limb to limb. As he was just about to leap up to the next one, something grabbed his foot and kept him in place. Fresh branches growing from the limb beneath his feet coiled around Sezio's ankle. By the time he had realized what was happening, it was already too late to avoid the attack that was incoming.

The sound of cracking wood erupted from below Sezio as Rashendala's tail flicked up through the tree limbs. Sezio was tossed to the sky along with shattered pieces of bark and wood. As Sezio tried to find balance in the air, Rashendala sprang towards him again to snatch him as he fell. Barely noticing the snake’s attack in time, Sezio pushed himself from one of the larger limb fragments to avoid Rashendala’s gaping maw.

The sound of splintering wood echoed through the air again as Rashendala bit down on the chunks falling where Sezio had just been, scattering even smaller pieces in all directions. One such piece flew like an arrow in Sezio's direction and pierced his shoulder as he fell, the impact sending Sezio spiraling.

Sezio's body spun multiple times before he was able to regain control of his descent, but even when he did, he still needed to brace himself as he approached the canopy. At the same time, the upper half of Rashendala’s body fell across the top of the canopy, while the lower half stayed clinging to one of the trees.

Down on the ground, the debris from the fight above was falling around those below. Rena screamed, holding herself over Suwa as if to protect him, but then she felt Suwa’s hand grabbing her arm.

“Don't worry. Sezio is amazing. He's going to take care of it just like he said,” Suwa spoke with a smile when Rena looked down at him. His face was pale, but he was still trying to reassure her.

“Yeah…”

Back in the canopy, Rashendala’s tail was releasing its grip on the tree it was wrapped around while his head dipped under the cover of the treetops. As Rashendala was moving back into the trees, Sezio was attempting to climb back to his feet on the limb where he had managed to stop his descent.

Still disoriented from his incessant spinning as he fell, Sezio swayed as he looked around to locate his opponent. He realized that he had lost his weapon, and the stinging pain in his shoulder returned at the same time as his senses. Just as he was trying to grab the piece of wood sticking out of it, he noticed Rashendala weaving between the trees beneath him. In one more attempt to swallow his prey from below, Rashendala rapidly climbed toward Sezio.

Seeing the giant serpent getting closer, Sezio drew in a deep breath and shut his eyes before stepping off the limb he was standing on and allowing himself to fall toward Rashendala. The snake laughed, content with the idea that Sezio had given up and was leaping into his mouth. In preparation to swallow the falling gehm, he relaxed his jaw and opened his mouth. Finally giving Sezio the opportunity he was looking for.

Sezio opened his eyes as he gripped the piece of wood in his shoulder and ripped it free. He clenched his teeth to block out the pain, and then ignited the arrow-like splinter with an intense and sudden burst of era before throwing it like a javelin. The burning arrow flew straight and pierced the beast’s eye with incredible force, sending his head reeling back as he shrieked in pain.

Without missing a moment, Sezio shouted to match the beast’s own scream and held his hand in the air above him as he continued to fall toward the snake. Flames spiraled and flickered with ferocity around his arm and up into the air. Sezio grabbed the flame as if it were solid and whipped it down toward Rashendala’s throat. The burning whip wrapped around Rashendala’s neck and seared itself to his skin, clinging as Sezio fell past holding the other end.

The momentum of Sezio's fall caused him to swing around Rashendala’s neck and back up, tightening the flame’s grip until the serpent’s scales could no longer keep the coil from collapsing. As Sezio's flame severed the great beast’s head, it dissipated, and he and the beast’s body fell to the ground.

The first to land on the ground was the severed head of Rashendala, crashing to the forest floor with enough force to shake it. Rena screamed, as the snake's head landed facing her, unaware he was dead. Before she had time to make that realization, however, Sezio landed on top of it and rolled onto the ground with a groan.

The body of the snake was left hanging in the trees, caught on the limbs as it fell. It was on seeing this that Rena finally realized that Rashendala was defeated. Though, even after realizing it, she still unable to believe. The last piece of evidence she needed was the sight of Sezio climbing back to his feet beside the serpent’s head.

“He did it,” Rena muttered softly before the excitement overtook her. “He did it! Suwa, I can't believe it, he actually—” It was then that Rena realized Suwa’s body had gone cold. “Suwa? Suwa!”