The Shadow Knight stared at them for three full seconds. Three seconds of silence that seemed to suck all the air from their lungs. Kael held his breath, waiting for a roar or an explosion of deadly magic that usually heralded the attack of a high-tier demon.
But the creature didn't chant any magic. He didn't jump. He didn't run, either.
One second he was still standing near the obsidian altar, and the next, the air above the cliff vibrated violently. There was no sound of footsteps. Only an explosive burst of pressure that swept away the green fog like a hurricane, and the creature—standing nearly three meters tall—was already in front of them.
"Scatter!" Aldric yelled, his voice nearly drowned out by the roar of the cleaved wind.
Reva was the first to react. Her fingers released the bowstring without hesitation. Three arrows tore through the air, their steel tips sheathed in sharply spiraling Wind Aether. At a distance of less than five meters, the shot seemed impossible to miss.
But the arrows never reached their target.
Half a meter from the Shadow Knight's horned helm, the three wooden shafts stopped in mid-air. The wind vortexes on their tips were torn apart, then the wood decayed and crumbled into gray dust before even touching the enemy's metal armor.
The purplish eyes behind the visor stared at Reva, cold as ice. His massive hand swung to the side. It wasn't a punch, just a backhanded swipe that looked utterly casual.
Gareth lunged forward, positioning himself between Reva and the monster. The Stonecleaver was braced against his heavy shield, and his skin—layered with Earth Aether—hardened fiercely, turning his veins the color of obsidian.
The impact sounded like a church bell struck by a steel cannonball.
Kael saw it in slow motion. Gareth's thick iron shield didn't dent; it split in two as if made of glass. The shockwave from the backhand crushed the steel bracer on Gareth's left arm, punched straight through his Earth Aether defense, and shattered his arm bone with a sickening, wet crunch.
Gareth was thrown backward a full ten meters, slamming into the trunk of a dead pine tree so hard the tree snapped in half. The giant man coughed, spat out black blood, and did not get back up.
One second. One casual strike. The Tier C soldier who had been their best defensive wall was broken.
"Gareth!" Reva screamed, her bow dropping. She was about to run toward him when the Ironforge Blade split the air, slicing straight toward the Shadow Knight's neck.
The steel blade, glowing faintly with Aldric's ancestral magic, clashed against the enemy's pauldron. Sparks erupted. For the first time, the Shadow Knight was forced back half a step, though Aldric's sword left only a hairline scratch on the armor.
"Focus, Ashwind!" Aldric barked. The veins in his neck bulged, his eyes bloodshot as he resisted the overwhelming pressure of an aura that tried to crush his lungs. "Get Stoneblade to the rear! Kael, listen to me!"
Kael stood frozen, his steel sword feeling as light as a twig in his grip. The gap in absolute power was insane. Impossible. This wasn't a fight. It was an execution.
"Kael!" Aldric shouted again, this time parrying a shadowy blade that suddenly materialized in the Shadow Knight's hand. The force of the enemy's strike made Aldric's knees buckle. The stone beneath his boots cracked. "The altar. Destroy the chains. The ritual must not finish!"
Kael looked down at the ruins of Thornwood, swarming with dozens of walking corpses. And there, in the corner, bound to the obsidian pillar, Erik was waiting.
The mission is more important than our lives.
"Captain..." Kael swallowed hard.
"Do it now!" Aldric roared. With the last of his strength, the captain twisted his body, using the momentum of the enemy's strike to force himself back upright and swing his sword at the Shadow Knight's chest. The clash between Grandmaster and Master turned the cliff into a death zone.
Kael turned and leaped off the cliff.
He landed hard on Thornwood's toxic mud, rolling to absorb the impact, and immediately broke into a sprint. The air down here was a thousand times more suffocating. The stench of rotting flesh and rusted iron filled his nose.
Kael's landing drew attention. A dozen undead laborers stopped carving runes and turned their hollow gaze toward him. They were unarmed, but their filthy claws and the unnatural strength forced into them by Dark Aether were more than enough to tear a normal man apart.
"Out of my way," Kael hissed.
He didn't slow his pace. Dawn Blade Style: The Piercing Ray.
Kael slashed relentlessly. He didn't aim for the head or chest; he knew these things were already dead. He aimed for the knee and ankle joints. Every swing severed the rotting tendons pulled by dark magic, collapsing the corpses to the ground.
He was twenty meters away from the eastern obsidian pillar.
An undead wearing the Third Battalion uniform lunged at Kael from the side, its jaw unhinged. Kael ducked, letting the creature's body fly past him, then spun and cleaved its spine in a full arc.
Ten meters.
All around him, the obsidian pillars began to vibrate faster. The green liquid in the altar trenches boiled. The ritual was reaching its boiling point. If Kael didn't sever its energy flow now, the portal would swallow Valdoria.
Kael reached the wall.
Erik hung there, his arms stretched upward by pitch-black chains as thick as a man's arm. His head was slumped, his brown hair matted with sweat and blood. His eyes were closed. His breathing was so shallow it was almost invisible. The light of life within his body was being forcibly drawn out through the energy cables connected to the pillar.
"Erik," Kael called out, his voice hoarse.
Erik's eyelids fluttered, but didn't open fully.
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Kael raised his sword. He focused his mind on the memory of Darius's instructions in the training complex, on the scorching warmth of the sun, and poured his entire will into the steel.
Lux.
His blade erupted in a blinding golden glow. A sharp pain instantly pierced the back of Kael's neck, draining his energy like a leaking jug, but he ignored it. The light of Solar Aether was the natural enemy of corruption magic.
With his strongest swing, Kael slashed the chain binding Erik's left wrist.
Steel met solid shadow. An explosion of energy occurred, throwing Kael a step back. His sword vibrated violently, but the black chain shattered into pieces. Kael stepped forward again and severed the chain on the right hand, then the one around his neck.
As soon as the magical shackles were broken, Erik's body dropped like a sack of sand.
Kael caught him before his friend hit the stone. He was terrifyingly light. Erik felt like bones wrapped in wet skin.
"Kael...?" Erik's voice was like the rustling of dry leaves. His eyes slowly opened, staring at the figure holding him, confused and unfocused.
Kael let go of his dimly glowing sword and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the blood-crusted wooden carving knife and pressed it into Erik's palm, forcing his friend's limp fingers to grip it.
"I told you I'd return it, you idiot," Kael whispered. His eyes burned.
A weak, incredibly faint smile touched Erik's lips. "Late... by a week..."
A deafening explosion echoed from the cliff behind them.
Kael looked up just in time to see the cliff rock blasted apart. Aldric was thrown from above, hitting the ground hard ten meters away from Kael. The Ironforge Blade flew from his grasp, embedding itself at an angle in the dirt.
The Shadow Knight floated slowly down from the ruined cliff, his dark crimson cape billowing lazily. His armor was still intact. There was only one shallow scratch on his breastplate.
"You dare interrupt my offering, insect?" The Shadow Knight's voice made the ground beneath Kael's feet tremble.
Those purplish eyes stared directly at Kael and Erik. There was no more calculating calm. There was only pure, unadulterated wrath. The Shadow Knight raised his hand, and a sword made of solid Dark Aether extended from his palm. The blade dripped with liquid miasma.
The creature took a step, and in a single breath, he was less than five paces away from them. The exact same distance from which he had crushed Gareth.
Kael shifted his body, shielding Erik. He picked up his sword, but the Lux light on the blade had completely died. His Aether core was empty. The back of his neck throbbed agonizingly. He couldn't move.
"Become ash, Heir of the Dawn," the creature hissed, swinging his sword in a horizontal arc meant to cleave Kael and Erik in half simultaneously.
The strike never landed.
Something massive and heavy charged from the left flank, slamming into the Shadow Knight's waist. The impact didn't injure the creature, but it was enough to shift his stance. The shadow blade missed Kael's head by half a meter, shrieking as it cut the wind.
Kael's eyes went wide.
Gareth.
The giant man stood on one leg, leaning against the three-meter-tall enemy. His left arm hung broken. His entire left side was drenched in blood. But with his remaining right arm, now wrapped in chunks of stone and the purest Earth Aether he could summon, he gripped the Shadow Knight's leg like an iron vice.
"Get... the captain... out..." Gareth spat a wad of blood onto the enemy's black armor. His teeth were gritted tight, the veins in his neck looking ready to burst. He was pouring the last of his life force into locking the monster's leg in place.
The Shadow Knight looked down, staring at the insignificant human clinging to his leg.
"Disgusting," he muttered quietly.
Thick blood sprayed from Gareth's mouth, splattering against the demon's helm. The giant didn't release his grip. With the last of his strength, Gareth turned his head toward Kael and Reva. His eyes, usually full of jest, were now dimming, but his gaze conveyed one absolute command.
"No..." Kael whispered, his legs refusing to step back. His hands gripped his sword hilt until his knuckles turned white. "No, we can—"
"DON'T!" Aldric's roar split the air, harsh and agonizing. The captain grabbed the back collar of Kael's uniform roughly. "He's already dead! Run, now!"
The creature raised his shadow sword high, then reversed the grip. In one smooth, emotionless motion, the Shadow Knight plunged his sword straight down, piercing through Gareth's neck and deep into his chest.
There was no scream. No roar. Gareth's massive body convulsed once. His eyes stared straight at Kael, ensuring Kael understood his final message, before the light in those brown eyes slowly faded. His grip on the enemy's leg loosened, and he slumped slowly until he lay in a pool of his own blood beneath the killer's feet.
Kael's world went dead silent.
The Wall had fallen.
Reva emerged from behind a pillar, firing two explosive arrows right at the Shadow Knight's face. The arrows detonated in a momentary burst of fire, diverting the creature's vision for three precious seconds. Reva didn't stop. She ran toward Aldric, hauling her severely wounded captain up by the shoulder.
"Kael, get up!" Reva screamed. Tears streaked her dust-covered cheeks, but her voice was commanding. "Get up and carry Erik! We run!"
Kael snapped back to reality. His military instinct took over his grief. He pulled Erik's arm, forcing his back to bear his friend's dead weight, and ran after Reva and Aldric toward the edge of the pine forest.
Behind them, the Shadow Knight swatted the residual smoke from his face. He pulled his sword from Gareth's lifeless body, then took two steps toward them before abruptly stopping. His black armor hissed softly as his foot crossed the outermost edge of the altar's carvings. The creature was bound. As long as the soul-gathering ritual was incomplete, the Demon General could not leave the heart of the Thornwood ruins. He simply stood there, watching the small group slip from his grasp.
They had barely reached the outer perimeter of the pine forest when Aldric stumbled.
The captain fell to his knees, coughing violently until black blood sprayed from his mouth. The slash on his chest—from his duel earlier—was now smoking. Dark Aether corruption was spreading rapidly through his bloodstream, burning his internal organs alive.
"Captain!" Reva tried to pull him up, but Aldric shook his head violently.
"Leave me," Aldric groaned, his breath rattling. "Take Kael. This miasma... it's killing my insides."
Kael laid the unconscious Erik on the ground; his friend's breathing was growing fainter. Kael looked at the dying Aldric, looked back toward the ruins where Gareth's body lay, and stared into the darkness behind them. The metallic sound of footsteps echoed. Getting closer.
No. He wasn't losing anyone else tonight.
Kael reached into the small pouch beneath his breastplate. His fingers brushed the smooth surface of a heart-shaped stone. Elara's Healing Crystal.
Use this only when your life is truly hanging by a thread, Elara had said.
Kael pulled out the crystal, which emitted a milky-white glow. He had no Aether left to channel energy into it gradually. If he used the standard method, only one person could be saved.
So, Kael didn't chant.
He placed the crystal on the ground, right between Aldric and Erik. Kael took a deep breath, raised his steel sword, reversed it, and brought the pommel down as hard as he could onto the crystal.
CRACK.
The crystal shattered.
Incredibly dense, pure, and untamed Solar Aether energy erupted outward like a bomb of light. The shockwave didn't destroy; it swept the entire area in a blinding, golden-white radiance. The wave crashed into Aldric's body, piercing his pores and evaporating the black poison in his wounds. The same wave slammed into Erik's chest, forcing the young man's heart to pump blood with a strong rhythm once again.
For the first time in the cursed history of Thornwood, a beam of true light bloomed within its darkness.
In the distance, the metallic footsteps stopped. The Shadow Knight raised his arm, shielding his visor from the blinding pure light that burned away his atmospheric corruption. He hissed in anger, halted by a veil of light that transmuted the toxic fog into clean oxygen.
"Stand up," Kael grabbed Aldric's collar, feeling the captain's body temperature return to normal despite his weakness. Reva immediately helped him. Kael hoisted Erik back onto his shoulders.
"We owe our lives to the Princess," Aldric whispered, his eyes still wide in shock from the effects of the pure magic explosion.
"We owe our lives to Gareth," Kael replied, his voice cold as ice.
Before walking away, Kael looked back over his shoulder one last time. Through the fading glow of the crystal's light, he watched the ruins being swallowed by pitch-black darkness once more. And amid those shadows lay Gareth's massive body, entirely alone—forever the Wall who would never return home.
Kael clenched his jaw so tight he tasted blood.
They turned and vanished into the pine forest toward the south, leaving the Heart of Corruption behind. This time, they didn't stop running until the sun came up.
— To be continued in Chapter 25 —