"Thank you?" Dreados repeated, voice low, eyes shadowed. "You think.. I should thank you?"
A subtle quake hummed beneath his feet. Red energy, invisible to untrained eyes, bled from his skin like mist, seeping into the air, curling against gravity. The ground cracked. The wind stilled. And Dreados took a step forward.
"You..." he whispered.
His hands slid to the hilts of his twin swords.
"...exterminated my entire clan."
He drew them slowly, the steel humming as it left its sheath.
"...killed my parents before my eyes."
One sword pointed at Katos. The other he rested across his shoulder, angled like a promise.
"And you believe… I should offer you gratitude?"
His voice rose with fury.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
Katos smirked, flexing his claws. "I was starting to think those swords were accessories."
He stretched out his arms. His muscles bulged, his fur thickened, claws lengthened into jagged sabers. He exhaled. From his body surged a dark violet aura. It shimmered with quiet violence.
"After all I did for you," he said, claws sparking. "Even sent Gustaf to keep an eye on you. And you still manage to be so... ungrateful."
Dreados froze. "You... sent Gustaf?"
Katos laughed, fangs flashing. "Did you really think a seven-year-old with fire in his chest would survive on fire alone? A cub needs a shadow to watch over him."
He slid into a stance, claws up.
"Until he becomes a lion."
Dreados shifted his footing, swords glowing faintly in his grip.
"Whether or not you sent him... matters not. Today—you die by my hand. There is no other outcome."
They vanished.
In a burst of air and power, they clashed in the centre of the crater. Blades met claws. Bravo clashed with brute instinct. The ground beneath them cracked and split open. Their fight widened the crater, tore through the stone like paper.
---
Miles away, Omfry stood motionless, his massive frame shielding Jeriana. His eyes never left the distant crater, where streaks of red and purple tore the horizon.
Even with chunks of rock hurtling from the shockwaves, even as the wind screamed around them, Omfry didn't move. The ground five meters around him was untouched, protected by his very presence.
"Don't step out of my shadow," he muttered.
Jeriana, struggling to stand against the pressure, leaned into him. Her flame-orange hair whipped violently.
"I knew Dreados was strong," she said through clenched teeth. "But this... this is insane. We're miles away, and it still feels like we're standing at ground zero."
---
Elsewhere in the ruins, chaos had erupted.
Beily's team was scattered across the battlefield. The initial shockwave from Dreados and Katos had shattered the terrain, hurling both creatures and allies into disarray.
The creatures came next—twisted beasts that breathed fire and spat ice, others that dug through rock and emerged with bone-clad limbs. Some galloped across the air like phantom rats, their bony snouts glinting with deadly speed.
Beily landed first, slamming a hand to the ground to keep Eryndor and Valerius steady in his grip. A blur flashed by—a rat-beast darted inches from his throat. He twisted and flung a glowing disk from his lower arm. It cleaved the creature in two.
"You two hold tight," Beily muttered.
"Not like we have a choice!" Valerius shouted.
Eryndor wiped blood from his lip. "Might I suggest... not dropping us."
"Working on it!"
Sumshus landed nearby, laughing like a madman. "Finally! Time to slice something!"
He raised his arms—a spiral of green wind exploded from his palms, forming a massive 50-meter twister that roared outward like a buzzsaw. It tore through five beasts before they could blink.
"More!" he shouted, firing smaller tornados from his shoulders and knees.
Anuel danced across rubble, still carrying Ziraiah. In one elegant motion, she flung the girl upward and spun with her sword. Her blade slashed the air in rapid strikes. The air screamed—and a wave of invisible blades carved the creatures charging toward her.
She caught Ziraiah mid-descent. "Hold tight."
Ziraiah blinked in awe. "Was I supposed to not be terrified?"
Marie raised both hands, summoning a surge of kinetic energy. Her spell exploded in a halo of white-blue light, pushing enemies away like rag dolls.
"Keep the pressure up!" she yelled.
Lisa chanted, her voice ringing like crystal. Her palms glowed violet—then two massive spikes of mineral quartz erupted from the ground, impaling an ice beast mid-leap.
Alcoos appeared beside her, his hands swirling with drawn moisture.
"Stand clear," he whispered.
He clapped his palms together. A lance of high-pressure water fired like a harpoon, piercing a creature clean through and pinning it to the wall. He drew more from the air, steam rising off his arms.
Spencer muttered an incantation, and three sigils flared into the air. With a snap, he sent kinetic shock blasts into the crowd, detonating them with surgical precision.
But Beily was still struggling—not with power, but with defense.
The air-running rats were too fast. One zipped by, nicking his cheek. Another nearly grazed Valerius.
"Dammit," Beily snarled. He summoned three disks simultaneously, hovering them around his back like a shield.
He spun, blocked one rat with his shoulder, and drove an elbow into its spine.
Valerius clung tighter. "I feel like a damn backpack!"
"Less talking, more holding on!"
Beily skidded back. Another rat lunged.
And then a green twister ripped it apart mid-air.
Sumshus winked from the ridge. "Got your back, disc boy."
Beily grinned. "Let's kill them all."
The team surged forward.
Eliana stepped forward.
Calm. Composed.
Her long emerald cloak fluttered behind her, catching the wind like a banner of life itself. She raised one slender arm.
The ground trembled.
Roots split the stone as something enormous began to rise—massive branches spiraled upward, bark twisting, vines lashing the air like whips. A giant of living wood rose from the earth, nearly fifty meters tall. Its shoulders were thick with foliage, and from its face, two glowing green eyes shone like twin moons in a sea of ash.
The monsters turned.
Too late.
The tree-giant swept its massive arm low across the ground. Stone ruptured beneath its force. The sweeping blow obliterated everything in its path—fanged beasts, burrowing horrors, fire-laced hounds—scattered like twigs in a storm.
Eliana stood at its feet, unmoved.
A wind gathered in her palm—visible, coiling like a serpent of pressurizsed force.
She lifted her hand slowly. Her voice rang like a bell.
"You're not getting near me."
She opened her palm.
The air burst forward—no longer wind, but a condensed horizontal cyclone. It screamed as it cut through the horde, a spiralling current of blades and force. Monsters were ripped apart mid-charge. Even the distant cliffside split from the impact.
One beast leapt through the dust, fangs bared, blood-slicked and furious.
Eliana met its eyes.
"Fall."
The tree-giant's fist descended like a falling star, flattening the creature with a crack that echoed through the ruin.
Steel. Storm. Sorcery.
The battle for the second ruin had begun.
The battlefield writhed with chaos—twisters, roots, blades, blood.
Eliana raised her hand, gathering air like a sculptor shaping a weapon. She released it in a sharp blast, tearing through a wave of incoming beasts.
Sumshus landed beside her with a twirl, his coat whipping behind him, a grin on his face. "Didn't think you'd hold your own in a place like this."
He pointed his index fingers at a pack of beasts.
"Guess I was wrong."
Twin green twisters erupted from his fingers like bullets, corkscrewing through the creatures and sending limbs flying.
Eliana didn't look at him, but her lips curved faintly. "Your confidence is louder than your wind."
Sumshus laughed. "Maybe. But my wind's stronger."
He shaped his hands like pistols, index fingers extended.
"Let me show you what a real storm looks like. Compared to my Twister Seed…"
The wind around his body shifted, thickened—then exploded outward.
"…your wind magic's just a breeze."
Twisters burst from his hands, dozens at once, rotating like drills. They scattered, expanding as they traveled—each one carving trenches of death.
Eliana blinked. Twister Seed… of course. He has a Seed, too.
As she summoned a fresh barrier of vines and swirling wind, a familiar sound cracked through the ruin.
Shink.
A vertical disk, one meter wide, formed beneath Beily's right arm. He punched it forward—like a hammer into glass.
The disk spun furiously as it tore through three creatures in a straight line, then ricocheted into the wall with a burst of sparks.
But the waves didn't stop.
From the shadows, a new monster emerged.
It landed like a comet.
The ground caved beneath its weight. A silence followed the impact—too quiet.
Then the wind hit.
A black creature, eight meters tall, bull-headed with two curling ivory horns. Its body was scaled like armour, glistening, and its forearms each bore a single massive bone blade extending past its fists.
It exhaled a snort of white mist.
Then it roared.
"INCOMING!" Alcoos shouted.
The beast lunged, aiming for Beily.
Beily pivoted to respond—but he didn't see the blur from the side.
The rat-like creatures. Bone-nosed. Air-walkers.
They struck from the side at impossible speed, forcing Beily to defend Valerius and Eryndor.
He spun, four arms moving like shields—but they came from all angles.
"DAMN YOU ALL!"
Seven vertical disks erupted around him—each with serrated gear-like edges. They spun with a screech, drilling into the stone beneath.
Beily gritted his teeth and flung them.
The disks didn't fly—they hunted.
Like living saws, they sliced through the rat-creatures in arcs of pure devastation, the air howling as metal screamed through flesh.
Beily's voice tore through the battlefield:
"YOU. DON'T. GET. THROUGH!"
One by one, the disks circled him—clearing space, carving a perimeter of carnage.
Valerius shielded his eyes as debris exploded around them.
"Beily… you okay?!"
Eryndor, dazed but watching, muttered, "We are a hindrance… great and growing. And still, he does not cast us aside."
Spencer, panting nearby, shouted, "We need to regroup! I'm almost out of mana!"
"No time!" Marie yelled as she hurled a fire orb at an incoming brute. "They're coming faster!"
And then it happened.
A massive beast surged forward—one of the black bull-headed monsters.
It opened its jaw wider than possible—and swallowed Marie whole.
"MARIE!" Lisa screamed.
"NO!" Anuel's voice cracked.
Rage overtook them.
Alcoos drew water from the very air, shaping it into a crescent blade.
Eliana watched as they fought with rage.
Sumshus roared, "BACK OFF!" and fired two massive green twisters from his palms.
The beast reeled.
Spencer's magic circle bloomed beneath him. He screamed as he fired his last burst—piercing the creature's head.
The combined attack tore the beast open.
Its stomach burst like rotten fruit.
But it was too late.
Marie's body lay lifeless among the remains.
Silence.
Sumshus stared. "No…"
Lisa's eyes trembled, her hands flickering with unstable energy.
Valerius turned away.
Eryndor clenched his jaw. "Such would have been our end… had we not been shielded."
But more were coming.
More bull-headed beasts.
Dozens.
Even the fast rats regrouped and began forcing Beily back.
He spun with all four arms, keeping Valerius and Eryndor shielded, but he was being overwhelmed.
One rat jabbed him in the back.
He didn't even flinch.
But another got close.
Then two.
Then three.
"STAY. BACK!"
The disks returned—bloodstained, dented—and spun faster.
He hurled them again.
The first slammed into a bull-beast—but it didn't fall.
It stopped the disk with its claws, roaring.
Another beast did the same.
They caught them—one in each arm.
The ground cracked from the pressure.
Beily's eyes widened. "What?!"
He raised his hand.
"FINE—SPEED LEVEL 7."
The disks shrieked and spun faster—until the claws cracked and the blades dug in.
They sliced clean through.
The bull-beasts exploded in halves, their torsos collapsing like felled statues.
Beily panted—finally breathing heavily.
But then—
A sound behind him.
Like a cannon.
BOOM.
A blur.
A Lycan fist—coated in fortis—slammed into Beily's back.
He gasped.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
The hit sent him flying.
He crashed through two walls, a pile of stone, and skidded across the earth like a comet.
He didn't let go of Valerius and Eryndor—but the impact cracked their helmets.
Valerius groaned.
His headplate had split.
Air hit his face.
He blinked at the sky.
Eryndor rolled beside him, dazed. "Wh… what just…"
Beily groaned, blood leaking from his mouth.
His arms were still wrapped around the two of them.
"you boys ok?"
Valerius blinked slowly. "I… I think I am. I can feel the wind on my face…"
Eryndor grunted. "Our helmets cracked… That strike—it was beyond swift."
The Lycan stepped forward, grinning, claws twitching.
"You just won't let go of them, will you?" he said.
Beily, bleeding, sat up with effort. His eyes met the Lycan's with fire.
He rose.
Two fists clenched.
And the fight… wasn't over.
---
Far away—at the main entrance of the Beniek Ruin—dust swirled. The wind groaned like the ruin itself could sense what was coming.
Then it happened.
A sonic boom split the air.
A figure blurred through the colossal archway like a bullet through silk. Each footfall cratered the ancient stone, shattering it beneath his weightless momentum. He wore a black cloak, jagged at the hem, fluttering violently behind him like wings of shadow.
The traps embedded in the ruin's entry corridors—razor walls, pressure glyphs, burst spears—were all triggered in his wake. But they never had a chance to activate. He moved too fast.
No hesitation.
No effort wasted.
He reached the edge of the abyss—the great hollow that plummeted into the heart of the ruin. He didn't stop. Not even a breath.
He leapt.
Launched off the stone ceiling.
And hurled downward.
The air screamed as he broke it.
Walls curved inward under the force of his descent. Sonic winds followed him, spiralling with such intensity that they left carving gashes down the sides of the chasm.
Eleven seconds.
That's all it took—from the ruin gate… to the first floor.
He hit the ground like a thunder god.
BOOM.
The crater spread beneath him, spiderwebbing outward. Blood soaked his boots—not his own. The ruin's fallen victims had made this floor a grave, and he had landed in the heart of it.
He knelt in silence.
Then slowly, he stood.
Cloak still fluttering, his face veiled in shadow beneath a dark hood. Only the edges of his jaw were visible—angular, grim. His hands curled at his sides. No visible weapon. No need for one.
His boots squelched in the blood of raiders and unbounds as he stepped forward.
He walked through the ancient entrance into the ruin's first layer.
Above him, the artificial sky shimmered—a fake sun casting its pale glow.
And yet...
Even the light seemed to dim as he entered.
All around, soldiers fought. Raiders screamed. The Ignir forces scrambled.
None of them knew.
None of them realised.
That a monster had just arrived.
To Be Continued...