The Golden Guard charged. Halberds swung. Swords thrust.
Kael didn't draw his blade. He just... ignored them.
He raised his Obsidian arm. A pulse of gravity-distortion erupted from his palm. The Guards were thrown backward, pinned against the stone walls by an invisible hand.
"Hold them," Kael whispered to the Arm.
*Hunger,* the Arm agreed.
Kael walked to the Inner Gate.
It was a masterpiece of enchantment. Wards of binding, seals of kinetic dampening. It was designed to withstand a siege of ten thousand men.
Kael placed his left hand—the Void hand—against the cold metal.
The Wards flared, trying to burn the corruption.
"No," Kael said.
He placed his right hand—the hand with the Ring—over the left.
"I am the Seal," Kael commanded. "I authorize this breach."
The Ring flashed. The ancient admin-codes of the First Sword overrode the Wards. The magical defenses flickered and died, recognizing the command signature.
But the physical steel remained.
"Now," Kael said to the Arm. "Feed."
He unleashed the hunger.
The Void-energy didn't have to fight the magic anymore. It poured into the steel. The metal groaned. It turned grey. Then black. Then... dust.
Rust spread across the gate like a plague, moving faster than the eye could follow. Ten feet of steel corroded in seconds. The hinges dissolved. The locking bars turned to powder.
Commander Silas, clutching his burned chest, watched in horror.
"What are you?" Silas whispered.
Kael turned. The gate behind him crumbled, falling inward with a sound like a dying breath.
Sunlight from the fertile lands spilled into the dark gatehouse.
"I am the Breaker of Oaths," Kael said.
He walked out into the light.
On the other side, the Army of the Ash was waiting. They saw the Wall—the invincible barrier—shatter outward.
A roar went up. Not a cheer. A primal scream of victory.
"Forward!" Valerius bellowed.
The grey wave of the Ash-Army surged through the breach, trampling the pristine white stones of the broken Wall.