The courtyard of the ruined castle was unnervingly still, like the fragile eye of a storm. The distant rumble of explosions from the city shook the flagstones beneath Mael's knees, each tremor reminding him of the chaos tearing the world apart. He held Nina close, her trembling body pressed against his chest. She was drained, broken in spirit, her strength spent not in battle but in grief.
Mael's gaze lingered on the skeletal remains before them—two figures forever locked in one another's arms, ash clinging to bone like a cruel parody of tenderness. His throat tightened. He knew what he should say, what he had to say. He needed to tell Nina, and himself, that they must move forward, that their duty had not yet ended. But the words would not leave him.
Then, before he could speak, a voice cut through the heavy silence.
"So, he finally accomplished what he wanted so badly."
The sound was chilling, velvety, and alien.
Both Mael and Nina whipped around, grief burning away into sharp, sudden anger. The figure standing at the edge of the courtyard seemed almost carved from shadow itself. Vielwalker. His very presence radiated oppression, the air itself bending with his darkness.
Nina's hand instantly reached for her blade. Mael mirrored the motion, instinct overriding reason.
Vielwalker, as if expecting the reflex, raised one hand in a deceptively calm gesture. "There will be no need for a fight."
"Who are you?" Nina demanded, though her voice cracked with raw pain. She tried to force steel into it, but sorrow made her tone fragile.
Vielwalker tilted his head, studying her with eyes that glimmered without warmth. "I am Vielwalker. And I am not here to harm you. I came to warn you… or perhaps to tell you. Your friends need your help."
Nina's mouth opened to snap back, to spit her fury, but Mael laid a steadying hand on her shoulder. His voice came out controlled, though his body was taut with tension. "What do you mean?"
Vielwalker's expression flattened, his words delivered without flourish. "My master has already been summoned. That means all of them…all that you know…will be dead, unless you act."
Nina's chest heaved, her breath catching on anger and dread. Mael's eyes narrowed. "And why tell us this? Aren't you sworn to your master?"
Vielwalker's lips curved faintly, though his eyes remained as cold as the void. "I am. Every word I speak is for him. But do not waste time trying to understand. Mortal minds cannot grasp the depth of what moves here. All you must know is this: if you want your friends to live, then run to them. Now."
Nina shook her head, disbelief warring with the terror in her heart. "And why should we trust you?" Her fingers trembled near her sword hilt, though she fought to steady them.
Vielwalker chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Trust me or not, child. It is irrelevant. I could end you both where you stand, and nothing would change. Nothing would stop me."
The oppressive certainty of his words slammed into them both. Mael felt it in his bones, a dreadful knowing that this was not a bluff. Nina's heart pounded wildly, but she forced the fear down. She refused to glance back at the skeletons behind her, refused to let her grief anchor her. Instead, she turned to Mael, her lips shaping a fragile but determined smile.
"We need to go," she said softly, her voice quivering but resolute. "We need to help Astrid and Takashi."
Mael held her gaze, the weight of her determination kindling his own. He nodded, his own smile faint but steady. Together, they surged forward, moving past Vielwalker with urgent strides.
But just as they crossed him, his voice rang out again, sharper, commanding.
"Hold."
They halted instantly. Mael's chest heaved, his fists tightening. "What?" he demanded, eyes darting between Vielwalker and Nina.
Vielwalker's eyes glowed faintly. He fixed them on Nina, his tone calm, almost patient. "I just want you to know… that divinity might be able to harm my master."
Nina's head snapped up, her breath catching. She didn't fully understand why he had chosen to tell her this now, but the implication was unmistakable. My Cleansing Light… my Light-Bound Chains… they could be essential. Her heart pounded, a surge of resolve washing over her.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the distant rumble of the battlefield. And without another word, she bolted, Mael right beside her, his determination matching hers.
Vielwalker remained alone. The ground trembled beneath him, reverberating from the distant clashes that shook the city. His gaze drifted down to the two embracing piles of skeleton ash. The heavy silence seemed to press against him, and yet his dark aura softened, almost imperceptibly.
"Zephyr… you did very well," he murmured, voice low, carrying a weight of genuine respect. Then, a pause, and a hint of finality crept into his tone. "Now, as to end the contract, I, Umbra, will personally see that you both have the happy ending you deserve."
He extended his hands slightly. The skeleton ash trembled, the fragile remnants of life crumbling entirely. A sudden gust of wind, summoned as if by his will alone, swept through the courtyard, carrying the ashes away in gentle spirals. Vielwalker's eyes followed them until they disappeared completely. The deed is done.
He stood, shoulders straightening, eyes scanning the surrounding chaos. The battle raged on, and all that remained was for the world to meet his master and survive the coming storm. Since I follow the will of my master…
Vielwalker vanished, leaving only faint, dark trails of disturbed ash lingering in the turbulent air, a subtle testament to the presence that had just departed.
~~~~~~~~
The battle for the capital was a scream of collapsing stone and ruptured mana, centering on the titanic clash against DeathGod.
Morganna stood apart, a serene island of power amidst the storm. Has she was kneeling in quiet focus, her palms pressed firmly against the fractured earth. The luminous web spread outward from her touch, the Verdant Aegis of Eternus. It pulsed with verdant light, binding life into stone and soil, repelling the suffocating waves of shadow that DeathGod exuded. Where her allies bled, the Aegis sealed their wounds; where despair gnawed, it restored will. Her expression was calm, but her eyes burned with resolve.
Before her, Thorn and Subaru moved like twin forces of fate. DeathGod, a grinning abyss of madness, rushing at them, his daggers alive with shrieking shadows.
"Is this all the Sun and Moon have to offer?" DeathGod's laughter ripped through the chaos, his voice a fractured tenor that made the air itself quiver.
His twin daggers collided with Subaru's blades in a burst of sparks, only for him to pivot instantly, intercepting Thorn's greatsword with an unnatural sharpness. The clash cracked the ground, shockwaves flaring in every direction.
They locked together in a blur of motion, steel, and shadow. Subaru dictated the rhythm, his speed covering every dangerous gap. Thorn's overwhelming strength followed seamlessly, his greatsword carving arcs of crushing force. Their unity made DeathGod's erratic frenzy appear almost choreographed, his wild strikes narrowed into patterns they could predict and break.
Then DeathGod vanished. His body dissolved into shadow and reappeared behind Thorn, daggers poised for a killing strike at the King's neck.
"Too slow," DeathGod hissed.
But Subaru was already in motion. His body twisted, and with a sudden burst of compressed air spun low from his strike, he launched a bone-cracking wave that slammed into DeathGod's ribs. The void-wrought creature howled as he was hurled across the ruins, crashing into the half-toppled skeleton of a building.
Thorn did not hesitate. He vanished in a flash of raw mana, reappearing where DeathGod would fall. His fist, infused with the crushing might of distant ley lines, met shadowed flesh with the force of a collapsing mountain. The impact shattered the wall and sent tremors through the ground.
Morganna's vines answered instantly. Glowing, incandescent tendrils erupted from the rubble, piercing into DeathGod's form and pinning him to the crumbling stone.
"Hold him!" Subaru shouted, his daggers already alight with silver streaks of mana. He launched forward, carving through the air with a deadly storm of slashes.
DeathGod laughed, a manic screech that echoed even as the vines tore into him. "Is this your answer?! This pitiful strength?!"
Before Subaru's blades connected, DeathGod melted into shadow, slipping from the vines as if he were smoke. Subaru's momentum cut forward unhindered, his blades slicing a crescent of raw force that sheared the building in two. The upper half groaned, then toppled with an ear-splitting crash.
In the chaos, DeathGod reappeared, seizing Subaru's throat in one crushing grip. His jagged shortblade angled for Subaru's heart.
But Thorn was there. His hand locked around DeathGod's wrist before the strike could land.
A flash of concentrated mana detonated from Thorn's palm, slamming into DeathGod's face with the sound of a cannon shot. The creature reeled for the briefest instant. That instant was enough. Thorn roared and drove a haymaker into DeathGod's gut, the blow detonating with the fury of ten storms. DeathGod's body was hurled downward, carving into the earth in an explosion of stone and dust.
Together, Thorn and Subaru descended like judgment, blades and steel aimed to crush him in the crater. But DeathGod only grinned. His form dissolved, slipping away once more.
The shadows split apart. Six new figures clawed free of the darkness, fragments of DeathGod himself. They surrounded the crater, each moving with erratic, feral speed.
"Fun time!" DeathGod's voice cackled from every direction at once.
Two of the clones darted away immediately, their sights set on Morganna's unmoving form.
"Morganna!" Thorn's warning thundered.
But Subaru was already there, his speed a streak of light. He cut one clone down before it had taken three steps. Thorn intercepted the other with his greatsword, steel colliding with shadow in a shockwave that rattled the broken city.
The battlefield erupted into chaos. One clone latched onto Thorn's arm, its grip a black iron clamp that crushed into his very soul. Thorn's bellow tore through the ruins, his arm twisting under the impossible pressure. His bones groaned, threatening to snap.
But the King did not yield. With a savage twist, he reversed the grip, crushing shadow against shadow. Then, with a roar that shook the stones beneath them, he brought his greatsword down. The clone split in two, dissolving into nothingness with a shriek.
The damage to Thorn's arm was immediate and grotesque—bone twisted, flesh torn. But as soon as the clone dissolved, Morganna's power surged through him. The Verdant Aegis wrapped him in luminous life, knitting bone, stitching flesh, returning strength.
As Thorn finished, Subaru, a whirlwind of moonsteel, cut down the two other clones. His daggers carved the air with merciless precision, scattering the shadow fragments into fading wisps. For one fleeting heartbeat, the battlefield was still.
Then the true DeathGod emerged directly behind Subaru, shortblade driving straight for his spine. At the same time, the final clone lunged, clutching onto Subaru with crushing strength.
Thorn moved with impossible speed, a roar tearing from his chest. He seized DeathGod's head from behind, his greatsword already rising for a killing stroke that would drive the shadow into the earth.
DeathGod only smiled. A triumphant grin stretched across his face. His body shimmered, phasing out of Thorn's grasp. He reappeared beside the King's still-outstretched arm. With a flicker of shadow steel, he severed Thorn's hand cleanly at the wrist.
Thorn roared in agony, the sound shaking the very stones.
Morganna's eyes widened. Her focus faltered for an instant as she felt his lifeforce scream through the Aegis. She thrust her palms harder into the ruined ground, sending a surge of luminous vines racing upward. They reached for Thorn's bleeding stump, aiming to bind and heal.
But DeathGod anticipated it. He swept his blade in a wide arc, releasing a pulse of corrupt shadow that clashed against Morganna's vines mid-air, deflecting them before they could seal the wound. The Aegis flared violently, but the severing had already been done.
Subaru, eyes blazing with fury, tore free from the clone's grip in a flash of light. His daggers struck like judgment, severing the shadow's hold before it could crush him further. He turned immediately on DeathGod, his speed a storm.
Before Thorn's severed hand could strike the rubble, Morganna's vines recovered, wrapping the earth beneath it in a radiant embrace. The hand landed gently, the vines hissing as they consumed the corrupted flesh, dissolving it into harmless dust.
Subaru lunged. Instead of slashing, his dagger pierced straight through DeathGod's arm. With a brutal wrench, he ripped backward, tearing the shadow limb clean off at the elbow. DeathGod released Thorn instantly, his laughter bubbling even through the sudden loss.
"Your anger tastes exquisite," he crooned.
Subaru did not hesitate. His hand clenched into a fist, mana surging through it until it glowed like a star. He drove it into DeathGod's chest with earth-shattering force. The blow hurled the shadow figure skyward, launching him high into the clouds.
The battlefield fell silent for a moment as they watched the speck of darkness hang impossibly in the storm-filled sky. Then his laughter cascaded down, wild and unhinged, echoing across the ruins.
"Subaru… you act so strong! Why don't you deflect this?"
He raised a single finger. At its tip, a black sphere flickered into existence. It was no larger than a pebble, yet its surface writhed like a living thing. As it swelled, it devoured the light around it, the faint cries of tormented souls seeping from its depths.
On the ground, Subaru was already bracing Thorn, the King's stump pressed tight to his chest, his body straining to hold back the blood loss. Morganna's vines wrapped around Thorn desperately, their glow working to mend flesh and stave off death, healing but not regenerating the lost tissue.
Subaru's voice was steady, but his eyes burned with fury. "Are you alright?"
Thorn opened his mouth to respond, but his words were drowned by a mounting roar above. The tiny sphere had become a colossal, swirling black moon, blotting out the storm clouds themselves as it plummeted toward them.
"Handle this!" DeathGod screamed, hurling it downward.
"The sword! Give me your sword!" Subaru's voice thundered, his eyes locked on the descending black sphere while sheathing his blades.
Thorn did not question him. With grim resolve, he extended his massive greatsword, the weapon that only his strength could truly wield. Subaru seized the weapon, the weight of it nearly staggering before his rage made it feather-light in his grip.
With a roar that split the storm, Subaru leapt skyward. The colossal blade arced, but it was no simple strike. Mana surged, pouring through the greatsword as though the weapon itself had been waiting for this moment. He swung, unleashing not steel but an invisible, crushing wave of power that tore upward to meet the black sphere.
The impact came like the shattering of worlds. The sphere split open in a violent bloom, corrupted mana igniting in black fire. The voices of the damned shrieked in their final agony, a sound that clawed at the soul before vanishing into silence.
Subaru's eyes did not waver. Deeeaaattthhh. He cut through the smoke, rising higher, driving himself toward the figure suspended above.
Below, the ground groaned under the sheer pressure of the strike. Stone ruptured, rubble collapsing beneath Thorn's boots. He lifted his remaining hand, palm raised toward the heavens, as if already preparing for the return of his weapon.
High above, DeathGod tilted his head back and laughed, his body curling downward to plummet and meet Subaru in kind. His voice was like thunder and madness combined. "Subaru!"
In mid-air, Subaru's roar answered him. He hurled Thorn's immense greatsword with every ounce of his strength. The weapon cut the sky like a burning comet.
DeathGod grinned, twisting his body with lazy grace. The blade sailed past, plunging into the void below. "Too slow," he sneered.
It was never meant to hit.
In a blink, Thorn vanished from the ground. His form flickered, then reappeared mid-fall beside his descending greatsword. His teeth clamped the hilt, his body snapping with raw fury. His free hand seized DeathGod's head in a crushing grip, wrenching the shadow around to face Subaru's incoming charge.
DeathGod only laughed louder, eyes blazing with unholy joy.
Subaru's daggers were already drawn, twin streaks of crimson red in the dark. He slammed them forward, the steel driving not into flesh but into the very fabric of DeathGod's mana. The daggers burned, dissolving into his form, unraveling the shadow that composed him.
Thorn roared letting go of him, wrenching his weapon into his hand. He swung low, channeling every shred of his mana, the greatsword ablaze with light and fire.
The two warriors let out a shout, flanking DeathGod, pouring their fury into him. Their power lit the sky like a second sun, the air vibrating with the force of their combined wrath.
"Don't stooooppppp!" DeathGod screamed, his grin stretching wider, eyes alight with ecstatic madness even as the crushing mana sought to rip him apart.
And then, in the final instant, his body unraveled. His form dissolved into nothingness, phasing beyond their reach before the execution could land.
Thorn and Subaru, their momentum unstoppable, crashed into the earth. The collision unleashed an explosion of light and power so great it shattered stone and hurled mountains of dust and smoke into the air. The battlefield disappeared in the storm of ruin.