Back in the clearing, the battle against Ziza reached its climax. Meredith, Zak, and Theo fought as one, their attacks perfectly timed and never stopping. Ziza bled spiritual energy, her spirit lions now whittled down to fading ghosts, their forms barely holding together.
Theo landed a lightning-fast strike, distracting her long enough for Zak to drive his black blade through her middle. Ziza hissed, clawing at his face, but Meredith arrived in a swirling vortex, her staff raised.
"Divine Art: Ocean's Judgment!"
Water crashed around Ziza like a falling sea, forming a liquid cage. Her body twisted under the overwhelming weight, her golden eyes wide with shock.
Zak ended it. "Radiant Severance!"
A golden slash of pure light cut through the flood, through Ziza, through the clearing itself, severing her connection to the Wilds.
The Beast Herald collapsed, laughing bitterly, a gurgle of defiant amusement escaping her lips.
"Too late… she's already… awake…"
Her body dissolved into fading starlight, scattering into the humid air, leaving nothing but a lingering, musky scent.
Ziza was defeated.
Zak stepped back, his chest rising and falling heavily. "She vanished."
Theo wiped his brow. "Well thank goodness. She was a serious pain."
Meredith's gaze turned toward the edge of the Wilds. Her voice dropped. "I feel another power. This one feels stronger."
Zak nodded grimly. "Yeah. It's coming from the east."
Meanwhile, Eleanor, Katya, and Gail were making their way back through the twisted terrain when Gail suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Katya noticed instantly. "What is it?"
Gail's expression hardened. "There's still a Herald left."
Katya groaned. "Seriously? Another one??"
Before Gail could respond, the sky above them cracked open with a deafening boom.
A golden bolt of lightning tore through the canopy, slamming into the earth with divine fury. The air pulsed with static electricity. Smoke and embers curled from the point of impact.
And from that lightning, she emerged.
A woman floated inches above the charred ground, cloaked in golden arcs of energy. Her armor shimmered like a storm cloud kissed by sunlight, trimmed with gleaming silver and etched with ancient runes. Her white hair flowed behind her like lightning-streaks. Her eyes, piercing and cold, locked onto Eleanor.
Lyn.
The Lightning Herald.
One of the strongest Demigods in the world.
Gail's grip tightened around the hilt of her sword. "Oh great."
Katya and Eleanor immediately dropped into defensive stances, divine energy bristling from their bodies. Sparks popped and danced in the air around Lyn's floating form.
Lyn's gaze swept over them, then settled with precision on Eleanor.
"You."
Eleanor's brow furrowed. "Hm?"
A slow smirk tugged at the corners of Lyn's lips. Her voice was smooth, but it crackled faintly, like thunder waiting to erupt.
"You're the sun user, aren't you. The one Mariam sent us to kill."
Eleanor straightened, fire in her golden eyes. "So what if I am? I won't die to you."
Lyn let out a sharp laugh: clear, arrogant, and electric.
"Hilarious. But naive. Do you even understand what's standing in front of you? I'm Lyn, the Lightning Herald. The one who held back the Writhing Coast for a week without reinforcements. The one who shattered the Skyward Bastion with a single bolt. I am not your equal. I am your reckoning."
Lightning arced across her shoulders as she stepped forward, each movement weightless, yet forceful.
"You've defeated Carna. You've cut down Ziza. You outmaneuvered Hector. Impressive, but none of that will help you here."
Eleanor looked at her blankly. "I've heard your stories before, spare me the lecture." She said dryly.
Lyn gritted her teeth at the young angel's nonchalance.
Thunder rolled in the distance, as if the skies themselves were listening.
Gail stepped in front of Eleanor, her stance wide. She drew her nardachi and pointed it directly at Lyn.
"You're not laying a finger on her."
Lyn tilted her head ever so slightly. A smirk flickered across her lips.
"How precious. Protecting her like she's your little star."
The words struck something deep in Eleanor.
A memory, unbidden, rose like a tide.
Her father's warm voice on that tragic day, before her mother went on that mission. "We love you too... our little star."
Eleanor's fingers tightened around her axe.
She looked back at Lyn, and something sharp burned behind her eyes.
"You don't get to call me that."
Katya flexed her gauntlets. "You're going down, weather lady."
Lyn raised a hand, electricity spiking outward like a flare.
"Then come. Face the storm."
The first bolt came screaming from the heavens, and the battle began.
Lightning exploded through the trees as Lyn descended like a comet, her blade of pure electricity flashing in a downward arc. Gail parried just in time, her sword clashing with the charged weapon in a violent eruption of sparks.
The impact sent Gail skidding backward through the dirt, her boots carving trenches into the earth. She recovered quickly, wings flaring wide as she launched back into the fray.
Katya shot forward next, emerald energy blazing around her fists. "Divine Art: Burst Jab!"
Her punches came in a flurry, blindingly fast. Lyn deflected the first with her forearm, then pivoted in the air, narrowly avoiding the rest. Each missed punch exploded against the ground, leaving craters in their wake.
Eleanor surged upward above them, axe glowing with solar energy. Her wings spread wide as she dove, her weapon trailing radiant arcs. "Sunfire Fang!"
She brought the axe down, but Lyn caught the shaft with one hand; lightning crackling around her palm. The force rippled outward, a shockwave flattening nearby trees. Lyn grinned.
"Predictable."
A jolt of electricity pulsed from her hand, blasting Eleanor back mid-air. She tumbled, wings flaring just in time to catch herself before hitting the ground.
Gail landed beside her. "You good?"
Eleanor nodded, panting. "Yeah... She's faster than she looks."
Katya circled Lyn cautiously. "And she hasn't even used her Divine Right yet."
Lyn hovered above them, untouched, her cloak flapping in the charged air. She twirled her blade once, casually. "Disappointing. I expected more."
Without warning, she vanished.
A crack of thunder.
Then she reappeared behind Eleanor, mid-swing.
Gail tackled Eleanor out of the way, and Lyn's blade sliced into the earth, exploding into a storm of lightning. Dirt and light blasted outward like a grenade.
Katya lunged from the side, catching Lyn with a brutal uppercut. Her fist collided with Lyn's jaw in a flash of emerald energy.
Lyn staggered slightly, but caught herself mid-air, spinning backward with a kick that smashed into Katya's ribs and sent her crashing into a fallen tree.
"Ugh," Katya groaned, pulling herself up. "She hits harder than Carna."
Eleanor soared up again, her axe spinning in her hands.
"Solar Requiem!"
She hurled a wave of golden energy downward, but Lyn countered instantly, raising her hand.
"Lightning Divide."
A cross-shaped blast of lightning shot upward, meeting Eleanor's wave in the center. The two forces collided, creating a massive shockwave that rattled the entire forest.
Smoke and wind ripped through the clearing. When it settled, both attacks had been canceled out.
Eleanor panted. "She's matching everything."
Lyn hovered higher, surveying the battlefield.
"I've fought warpriests from the Sky Temple. Warlords from the Azure Clans. I've been tested by thunder dragons and storm titans. You three? You're sparks in the storm."
Gail narrowed her eyes. "Then we'll just have to outlast the lightning."
The three regrouped, their breathing heavy but synchronized. Wings unfurled, powers burning.
Katya's voice was firm. "Time to change tactics. We hit her together. Every angle. Overwhelm her."
Eleanor nodded. "No holding back."
They moved as one.
Katya went low, Gail high, Eleanor straight through the center.
Lyn spun her blade, sending out a chain of lightning bolts, but Katya absorbed the first with her gauntlets, redirecting the charge harmlessly into the earth.
Gail slashed from above, forcing Lyn to block.
That gave Eleanor her moment.
She brought her axe down, full force.
The blade met Lyn's shoulder, slicing through the current of energy, drawing blood.
Lyn's eyes widened.
A true hit.
But it cost them.
With a roar of fury, Lyn unleashed a blast of lightning in all directions.
The three were blown back, slamming into rocks, trees, and dirt. Smoke filled the air. Flames licked the ground.
Eleanor lay on her side, struggling to rise. Gail coughed nearby, her sword buried in the soil. Katya's robe was scorched, her breathing ragged.
Above them, Lyn hovered again, slightly wounded, but smiling.
"You'll need more than teamwork and luck to defeat me. You'll need a miracle."
Far in the distance, in the direction of the clearing, three more figures were flying through the trees.
Meredith, Zak, and Theo.
Reinforcements were on the way.