The tower stood soaked in blood its white stone now a canvas of death beneath Kael's feet he stepped forward his eyes glowing with a pale violet light the corpses of demons writhed around him slowly dissolving into black mist absorbed into his growing power
The wind howled the screams of the dying still echoing across the crimson field the ground cracked beneath the pressure of Kael's aura a twisted fusion of death and flame his robes torn his body marked with sigils of forbidden origin glowing like firebrands burned into cursed flesh
A pulse of magic shattered the silence as something rose from the abyss a creature taller than the tower itself its flesh stitched together with the bones of fallen demons its eyes were hollow and dripping with black ichor and its voice was a chorus of suffering that shook the skies
Kael did not flinch he raised his hand and from his palm erupted a spear of black lightning it twisted through the air ripping the clouds apart as it shot toward the beast the impact carved a crater into the creature's chest but it did not fall it roared and a wave of corrupted flame swept toward the tower
The tower's defenses shimmered ancient runes absorbing the worst of the attack but the shockwave sent Kael skidding back across the blood slick stones he rose slowly his smile cold and sharp like broken glass he whispered not in fear but in hunger this is what I wanted
From behind him more enemies surged crawling out from the cracked earth winged horrors eyeless serpents malformed giants all drawn to the dark beacon of Kael's awakening power they charged without reason without hesitation and Kael welcomed them
His shadow split into seven forms each one casting spells blades and curses as his real body stepped calmly through the madness ice erupted beneath his enemies freezing them mid charge then shattering their bodies with cruel spikes of jagged frost a wall of blades followed slicing the air in deadly rhythm
A goblin general leapt from the swarm covered in jagged armor black runes pulsing along his axes Kael met the charge with a single gesture summoning a storm of poisoned needles that pierced through armor and bone the goblin shrieked as his body melted into green fog
Behind him the tower pulsed a sign that Kael had gained enough experience to rise another level his core vibrated violently then settled with a flash of blue light more skills appeared in his vision their symbols rotating in the void before him he reached out and selected a new power
It was not light or fire it was something worse a soul rift the power to tear the essence from a living thing and weaponize it Kael's smile deepened as he tested the spell a wave of black energy tore through a group of demons pulling their souls screaming into his grasp he crushed them into orbs of raw pain and sent them flying into the next wave of enemies
The skies darkened above him a circle of red flame opened revealing a demonic war priest massive and armored wielding a blade forged from molten sin Kael looked up unblinking and simply whispered come then show me your gods
The war priest descended with an explosion of molten rock his blade cleaving through the tower walls but Kael was already gone behind the priest his blade made of soul fragments pierced into the monster's spine the creature swung but Kael vanished again appearing above it raining blades of corrupted ice
The battle dragged into chaos but Kael never slowed with each kill he grew colder his mercy lost his humanity buried beneath centuries of rage and betrayal he no longer remembered the warmth of his past only the fire of vengeance that burned brighter with every scream
Among the swarm a girl appeared small hooded her hands glowing with pure light unlike the others her magic was clean untouched by corruption she did not attack she simply watched Kael as he destroyed everything her presence felt strange like a piece of something broken returning to the puzzle
Kael noticed her but did not stop his massacre he needed no witnesses no weakness yet something in her eyes held him for a moment as if she had once known him before the blood before the pain before the rebirth
A voice rose in his mind from the cursed relic fused with his soul warning him she is not enemy not ally something else Kael growled and turned away casting a wave of explosive flame into the next horde but her presence lingered like a memory clawing at the edge of reason
In the distance the land twisted and groaned a new gate forming a portal of bones and screams a new realm opening a deeper part of the abyss and from it marched a new breed of terror armored demons with skeletal wings led by something ancient a being with no face only a mask of chains
Kael's breath slowed not from fear but anticipation as the new threat emerged he raised both hands his power crackling like a storm ready to erase this new enemy from the world around him the girl watched silently her light fading into the growing dark
The battle was not over it was only beginning