Their bodies didn't explode; they disintegrated into demonic ash — a trail of darkness spreading across the rocky ground, leaving behind only the acrid scent of burnt Aether and absence itself.
Grandmaster Theron, Lyra, and Kaelus — being Elite Magi — withstood the first wave, yet were violently hurled backward, crashing against the trees of crystallized Aether. Blood trickled from Theron's and Lyra's noses and ears, while Kaelus's own Aether was visibly in turmoil.
Lilith's figure, shrouded in a dense black mist — Shadow — edged with a faint white-gold luminescence — Aether — slowly rose, defying gravity itself. Her abyssal black eyes turned toward the Abyss.
The smile that curved across Lilith's lips wasn't hers. It was wide, cruel — and filled with recognition.
"Hello, boys. A pleasure to see you again," Malus spoke through her voice, now deeper and guttural. Her abyssal black eyes swept across the field.
Grandmaster Theron struggled to stand, terror replacing the fury on his face. He couldn't allow the General to speak.
"Kill her!" he rasped, voice raw and trembling.
Mistress Lyra, the ritual advisor, rose first — her fury cold as winter steel. She wielded a Staff of Solid Quartz, already chanting a rapid, complex incantation of protection. Her intent wasn't to strike, but to weave a Barrier of Static Aether, trapping Malus — or Lilith — in place.
Beside her, Master Sorin — a towering man — summoned a Broad Aether Blade that burned with pure white light. His role was close combat: to force Malus away from the continent's edge.
Master Kaelus, the youngest, was already in motion. He didn't draw arrows — instead, he conjured three concentrated Aether Orbs, firing them like piercing bullets toward Lilith's wounded thigh.
The three Elite Magi moved in unison — Lyra sealing, Sorin pressing the frontline, and Kaelus striking the weak point.
Malus, speaking through Lilith, didn't move. His smile widened.
"They never learn, do they, Vessel?"
Time seemed to freeze.
While Lyra chanted the sealing hymn, Sorin charged, and Kaelus fired, Malus showed why he was once a General. He did not unleash the same brutal force that had annihilated the Sentinels — he used the Art of Negation.
A cold pulse of Shadow emanated from Lilith. It wasn't a barrier of substance, but of entropy — the denial of order itself. The power was so pure in its opposition that it became an invisible wall of inertia.
Master Sorin's advance, his Broad Aether Blade raised high, came to an abrupt stop. It was as if he had struck a wall of solid air. The impact rebounded with all his own strength, sending him staggering backward, the Aether Blade trembling like the hand of a novice.
Mistress Lyra, mid-chant, saw the energy circle within her Quartz Staff unravel into smoke. Her immobilization spell was dispelled in an instant.
Kaelus alone completed his attack — yet his three Aether Orbs struck the Barrier of Negation, not Lilith. The orbs froze, then dissolved silently, as if they had been nothing more than basic conjurations. Before Malus's calculated poise, the three Elite Magi looked like mere apprentices.
Malus laughed — a dry, mocking sound. He had neutralized the entire assault with a single, elegant act.
"We advance now, Vessel. They're disoriented. Head for the Abyss," Malus commanded.
But the General hadn't seen Grandmaster Theron.
Theron was a war strategist — one of the few Luminares who understood that physical power meant nothing against the Shadow. He had hidden himself within the lingering darkness left by Malus's earlier explosion — the very veil of smoke the demon had created.
While his Sentinels were being dismantled, Theron had been preparing a strike aimed at the single weakness of the Manifestation.
He conjured his weapon — a Runic Scepter of White Gold, the sacred tool of an Order leader. It wasn't meant for destruction, but for Mystic Sealing. Theron didn't aim at Lilith; he aimed at the Shadow itself.
From the Scepter burst a Golden Aether Web — fine strands of condensed light, not meant to wound but to ensnare, to constrict the core of demonic energy. The goal was to suffocate Malus, forcing him to withdraw from Lilith's body and end the Manifestation.
Theron emerged from the dark mist just behind Lilith, the Golden Web blazing bright against the gloom of the Shadow.