Kael walked toward the endless army alone His feet crushed bones and broken steel His body radiated black heat from every wound Every drop of blood dripping from him became smoke and ash by the time it hit the ground
The crimson sky pulsed above like a living thing watching him waiting to see what he would do
Across the valley the enemy stood in silence An army of thousands Soulbound giants towered in the rear their bodies stitched together from corpses Their faces wrapped in scrolls of cursed scripture glowing with dull red fire In front of them stood the death priests robed in skin dyed with ink their mouths sewn shut yet whispering constantly from deep inside
At the center rode the commander A knight with armor forged from devoured spirits His blade had no edge yet everything it touched ceased to exist His helmet carried the sigil of Kaels past name the one he had buried the one they were now using as a challenge
Kael stopped at the ridge and raised one hand The sky cracked A storm began not of water but of shadows Rain made of broken memories fell from the heavens each droplet slicing into the earth leaving scars
The enemy still did not move
Behind him the girl in chains stood on the fortress wall Her voice was calm and distant
You could still turn back
Kael did not answer
You could let it all end she said quietly You have proven your strength You have crushed gods and kings Why keep going
Kael finally spoke because I have not yet reached the one who betrayed me
The girl lowered her head
Then go she said Become the thing they all fear
Kael stepped forward and activated his blood catalyst rune The mark on his spine burned brighter than ever before It crawled over his shoulders wrapping around his arms covering his chest in a net of black magic His eyes turned white and his skin turned grey and veined
He raised both arms and called upon his oldest skill the one he had hidden even from himself Soulstorm
A vortex opened above him A massive spiral of corrupted souls screaming in endless pain and desire They did not weep or beg They craved war Kael pointed forward and the storm obeyed
The first wave of death priests tried to hold their ground but the souls tore through them like wildfire ripping flesh from bone draining life in seconds The soulbound giants moved forward their massive hands smashing the earth with enough force to collapse mountains
Kael met them in a flash of black fire His body moved faster than before Each blow he struck left behind trails of withering magic He leapt onto the shoulder of the first giant and tore through its spine with a blade of pure malice then jumped into the mouth of the second and exploded from the back of its skull
A death priest tried to curse him with ancient forbidden words but Kael reached into the priests chest and pulled out his soul holding it in the air for all to see before crushing it into dust with a single thought
The commander remained still watching from the center of the battlefield He raised his sword and time slowed Kael felt the weight of space itself bend around him as the magic blade aimed to erase everything he was
But Kael was no longer just flesh He had become something else
He activated Requiem Star and froze the battlefield for a single heartbeat In that moment he walked through the still world past the falling rain past the halted enemies until he stood in front of the commander
Kael whispered I remember you
The commander did not speak
You were the one who opened the gate the one who let the demons take my world
Still silence
Kael drove his hand into the commander's chest not piercing it but phasing through it Touching the soul directly
I know what you are now
The commander's body cracked open revealing not a man but a shell and inside a fragment of the Abyss itself a sentient wound in reality A demon without face or form Its presence alone made the ground turn to glass
Kael and the creature clashed in silence A duel beyond sound beyond time Kael no longer used spells or swords but raw will He bent the world with his hate His pain His hunger for vengeance
The demon struck with waves of oblivion but Kael consumed them He transformed into a storm of eyes and fire and wrath and broke through the last barrier protecting the creature's essence
He wrapped his hands around its true form a pulsing black heart and crushed it until it screamed Then he kept crushing until even the scream was gone
When it ended the army fell dead all at once The giants collapsed The priests burned The valley became a grave
Kael stood alone in the ruins his breath calm His eyes burned holes into the horizon
Behind him the girl in chains watched him with no fear now only sorrow
You are not Kael anymore she said
No he replied I am what remains when everything else is gone
She stepped toward him but chains held her back They glowed brighter now as if reacting to his power
You could free me she whispered You could reclaim the part of you that remembers love and mercy
Kael turned away
Those things died when I did
Then why do you still look at me like you remember she asked
Because I remember everything he said And I will never forgive any of it
He vanished in a pulse of black wind
Far beyond the valley a new kingdom stirred Ancient ruins awakened Mountains shifted Shadows walked again
And somewhere deep within that growing darkness a name was spoken A name not heard since the beginning of the first betrayal
Not Kael
But the name he was given by the god who cursed him
That god would be next