Dazhra dropped to one knee, the Rift pulsing erratically behind her. Blood glimmered on her arm, quickly cauterized by a rune etched into her gauntlet. The blade hadn't struck deep, but it had disrupted her spiral connection. Her token dimmed, and the runes along the Rift's edge flickered dangerously.
Kaelen stood over her like a wall of fire, his sword ablaze with emberlight. The twin veins of molten silver etched into the blade pulsed with power—Vyransteel, a rare alloy meant to disrupt corrupted essence.
"They're trying to suppress the gate!" he shouted. "Dazhra, stay with it!"
Dazhra gritted her teeth, drawing a glowing disk from her satchel. She slammed it into the ground beside her. "Stabilizer anchor. It'll buy us a few minutes."
Veiled agents closed in from three sides, moving with impossible coordination. Each wore obsidian masks etched with the emblem of the Broken Sigil. Their robes didn't flap or rustle—shadow clung to them like armor.
One hurled a crescent-blade of black essence. Kaelen met it with a burst of raw flame, vaporizing the strike midair.
"I've seen that weapon," Dazhra growled. "It's called a Null Fang. It eats flame."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "Then I won't use flame."
He drew a second blade—a short, wide-edged knife that hummed with blue runes. The weapon pulsed as he spun it once, then launched himself into the center of the enemy formation.
Steel clashed. Sparks flew.
Kaelen moved like a firestorm—fluid, aggressive, and controlled. His primary blade swept low while the rune-dagger pierced upward in arcs. The air around him shimmered with raw force.
Two Veiled agents fell back, wounded but not dead. The third unleashed a barrage of chainlike tendrils made of corrupted ether.
Kaelen crossed his blades. "Dispel!"
A shockwave erupted, severing the tendrils. For a second, the battlefield cleared.
But that second was all the Veiled Hand needed.
From above, a shadow dropped.
A new figure. Taller, masked in deep crimson. In his hands, he held a staff carved from black glass.
He struck the ground. A tremor ran through the Rift.
Dazhra screamed as her stabilizer shattered.
The Rift pulsed erratically. And then it stopped.
A red seal clamped down across its surface—a rift-lock artifact, designed to override natural openings.
Surya felt something seize him from within. The flame inside him twisted, bound by unseen cords.
He couldn't move.
"What is this?" he gasped.
The tall Veiled agent raised a hand. "He is the conduit. We bind him now."
Dazhra lunged forward, casting a ring of fire in a desperate arc. Her spear—Vanyel's Mark, a conduit-wrapped weapon—blazed through the air. It collided with the staff and detonated in a sphere of flame and static.
She rolled, came up bleeding, but on her feet. "Kaelen!"
Kaelen responded instantly, diving in with a spinning double-strike. His blades caught one agent across the chest and threw another backward with the force of a fire-forged shield sigil.
Still, the agents advanced.
Three more appeared.
Dazhra cursed. "We're outnumbered!"
Kaelen stood beside her, panting. "Then we burn everything they bring."
They unleashed fury. Dazhra channeled twin spirals of windfire, while Kaelen activated a Molten Prism, which amplified their output for a moment—but only a moment.
Surya struggled to break the binding.
His vision blurred.
He saw Kaelen knocked back, saw Dazhra fall to one knee again, her arm shield buckling under black impact.
The Rift dimmed.
The sky cracked.