The lull following the mage's death shattered.
"Captains, the mage is gone!" a mercenary screamed.
Confusion rippled through the enemy lines, but they did not retreat. They looked to the remaining three captains—a Heavy Knight encased in armor plates, a Rogue shadowing in stealth armor, and a Ranger perched high on a roof.
"Surround them!" the Heavy Knight roared. "Our target is still alive! And kill the others!"
The order was absolute. They were paid for a complete extermination. They intended to bury the squad, the family, and the entire house in ash to finish their mission. Putting aside any kind of discretion they previously had.
Olin scanned the perimeter, his mind racing.
"Fifty-two combatants," he calculated. "Three Rank 3 summoners among them… We're dead."
Regius stood up from Milo's body.
He didn't wipe the tears that streamed down his face. The grief in his chest hardened, calcifying into a cold ruthlessness that had slumbered in his blood.
Kael and Vera stepped forward, weapons raised, faces twisted in a mask of rage and sorrow. They were prepared to charge into the fray, to throw their lives into the fire for their fallen squadmate.
"Stand back."
The command vibrated in the air. It carried a subtle, layered dissonance—a low-frequency reverb that bypassed their ears and struck their minds.
Kael flinched, his boots skidding in the mud as his body obeyed the instinctive urge to halt. Vera froze, her hammer stilled, confusion warring with her fury.
"Guard Sarra and Tavus with your lives."
He walked toward the backyard, reaching into his Soul Palace.
Starlight erupted from his skin.
White motes of light converged onto his skin, solidifying into sleek, interlocking plates of celestial armor. A helm of white enclosed his head, the visor sleek and featureless save for a single horizontal slit glowing with violet light. Its surface shimmered under the moonlight, creating a beautiful gradient that stood out among the chaos.
"Libra."
Libra's mark lit up underneath his gauntlet; the full brunt of the Soul Sear hit him as he opened the gate fully.
Space tore open behind him. A vertical distortion in reality ripped apart as Libra stepped through.
She manifested in her entirety. Standing eight feet tall, she was an avatar of equilibrium carved from living starlight. Her white plate armor hummed with a terrifying pressure that distorted the air around her. A diaphanous cape situated on her left shoulder, billowing in the windless night. She wears a full helmet with a sleek, pointed visor and horn-like crests. On top is a silver diadem. Set in its center, glowing with a soft light, is a core.
The mercenaries nearest to the house skidded to a halt. The sheer weight of her presence pressed down on them, a physical gravity that made their knees buckle.
The pressure of an Elite-Tier summon is in full display.
Regius manifested his sword—a blade of solidified starlight that distorts the air around it.
He charged.
Libra leaped and crashed into the ground, forming a crater.
He met the first wave of mercenaries with complete and brutal violence.
His sword passed through energy shields and armor, cleaving through flesh and bones as if a hot knife through butter. The sword severed wounds that cauterized instantly, but the lives were already snuffed.
Libra's Spatial Edges were in full effect. Anything that touched the blade pulled apart on a molecular level; space ripped through the seams. She danced with fluidity, ending the lives of mercenaries with a graceful gait.
"Kill him!" the Heavy Knight charged with his summon, a massive crustacean of iron and steel.
The Rogue blurred, her vipers lashing out with venoms that could kill in seconds.
On the roof, the Ranger took aim, his heavy crossbow glowing with piercing summon energy.
Regius engaged with them.
The impact was jarring. Despite the armor and enhanced density, he was still a Rank 2 fighting against Rank 3 veterans. By the logic of the world, he should have been killed easily.
But his existence was anything but logical.
The Heavy Knight's shoulder slammed into him. Regius guarded with his sword; the impact threw him back ten feet, his boots carving furrows in the dirt. He rolled up to deflect a poisoned dagger from the Rogue.
The Rogue was fast. She weaved inside Regius's guard, her viper striking in unison. Regius parried the viper's attack. But when the dagger was about to strike, Libra dashed in pushing back the Rogue. She slashed her arm off clean.
Thwack.
A crossbow bolt caught Regius in the shoulder. The starlight armor cracked, cracking under the force, and blood seeped from it. Pain flared, hot and bright.
"He bleeds!" the Ranger shouts. "Pin him! He's just a noble boy in fancy armor!"
Kael roared, stepping forward to help, but he was cut off. The rank-and-file mercenaries swarmed the group, forcing the Iron Swords to defend the grieving family. Sarra and Tavus huddled together near Milo's body.
"Regius!" Vera smashed a wolf summon with her hammer. "Pull back!"
Regius didn't hear the words. He gritted his teeth, his energy reserves draining as he repaired his armor. He looked at the three captains circling him.
Troublesome. Orion.
Orion's Mark on his forearm flared.
The Soul Sear intensified each second his summons and armor manifested. Regius had a limited time before his energy reserves ran out. He had to end it quickly.
On the roof opposite to the Ranger, the shadows coalesced. They deepened, absorbing the moonlight until a void in the shape of a man stood.
Orion manifested.
He was a being of negative space. His armor was donned in deep midnight blue, a mixture of interlocking plates and fabric that seemed to devour the ambient light of the surroundings. The helmet had no features, only a smooth, dark helm with three lights arranged in a triangle.
The Ranger turned, sensing the immediate danger, but he was too late. Orion didn't summon his bow. He raised his hand and pointed.
Drop.
A silent projectile shot out and tore the Ranger apart. The roof tiles exploded inward. He was crushed flat, his armor crumpling like tin foil under the weight.
Orion summoned his starlight bow and drew on its invisible drawstring. One by one he released his arrows, clearing the ranged mercenaries in the outskirts of the battle.
With the Ranger captain gone, Regius took the opportunity.
"Now…"
He surged forward. Libra moved with him.
The Rogue tried to flank, relying on her superior speed to overwhelm the summoner. She feinted left, then blurred right, aiming a lethal thrust at Regius's throat.
Libra intercepted. She shifted her position in space, appearing in the Rogue's path. Her longsword lashed out with speed defying its weight; space bent around as it accelerated through the air. She cleaved the Rogue in two. Her viper was caught in the aftermath.
The Heavy Knight was the last one standing. He roared in defiance, turtling behind his massive towering shield and crustacean summon. He prepared for a last-resort attack.
Libra drifted forward. She raised her longsword of intense starlight. Regius mirrored the stance.
They struck in unison.
Dual Spatial Edge.
Two blades that distorted space slashed through the air, forming a perfect cross.
The heavy shield sheared into four pieces. The crab summon fell apart, its shell sliced clean.
The Heavy Knight didn't register what had happened before the spatial distortion ripped him apart.
All three captains were dead.
The silence that followed lasted only a second. Then, the mercenaries broke.
Some charged frantically, throwing their lives. Some scrambled over fences, ran on the rooftops. They fled into the dark, terrified by the cause of the slaughter.
Regius stood amidst the corpses of the captains. His chest heaved. His vision blurred at the edges. The fight had dragged on for ten minutes, and he was maintaining two fully manifested summons plus his own armor. The drain on his energy was catastrophic. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth, dripping inside his helm. His muscles spasmed, protesting the raw energy replenishing at a rapid pace.
Clear them.
Orion turned his gaze to the fleeing men, drawing his bow of starlight. Condensed arrows rained down on the runners, crushing them into the pavement before they could reach the outer limits. He didn't miss a single arrow.
Stragglers were still harassing the squad, pressing Kael, Vera, and Olin against the wall of the destroyed home.
Libra moved. She appeared amongst the mercenaries like a flash of moonlight. She culled them with the grace of a dancer—elegant, precise, and efficient.
Within two minutes, the backyard was silent.
Regius stood alone among the pile of bodies. The carnage was apparent.
He released the breath he had been holding, dismissing his summons. Orion vanished under the moonlight.
Regius's armor dissolved in glittering starlight. His bright violet eyes with glittering starlight shined through. He swayed and fell to one knee, wiping the blood from his nose and mouth with the back of his hand, coughing up blood.
The cost of the Soul Sear was almost too much to handle. He turned back to the house, his steps heavy.
Kael stood on the porch, his sword raised. Bastion, his summon, on guard. They were facing Libra.
Vera stood beside him, clutching her hammer until her knuckles turned white. She had positioned herself between Libra and the terrified forms of Sarra and Tavus. Olin stood to the side, his face pale, staring at Libra—looking at their leader's summon for the first time.
The last of Libra's manifestation lingered for a moment before fading. The giant, spectral woman turned her head. She gazed at the squad. It washed over them, a physical weight that froze the blood in their veins.
The true pressure of an Elite summon, a being of untold strength and authority. She had the look of indifference.
Kael took a step back, his sword trembling. Tavus buried his face in his mother's shoulder, refusing to look.
"He could have run," Libra spoke, her voice carrying indisputable grace and clarity. "Yet he stayed, fighting with all of his strength. He sacrificed his secret for you. Don't forget that."
Then, she vanished.
Regius stood in his torn clothes, covered in blood that wasn't his. He looked at Kael. He waited for the nod, the joke, and the camaraderie.
It didn't come.