The city square was a slaughterhouse.
Lyra and Kieran arrived just in time to witness the impossible.
The Blood Herald stood tall in the center of the broken square, its monstrous aura suffocating the air around it. The ground cracked beneath its every step, the blood of the fallen boiling in its presence. Its human-like face twisted into something cruel — a mockery of Ravon's features, only younger, more perfect, and infinitely more terrifying.
For a heartbeat, the world was silent.
Only Velis and Sylva moved.
A blur of silver and shadow.
They struck from opposite sides — Sylva's newly forged daggers gleaming, Velis's tendrils of darkness lashing out with lethal precision.
But the Herald caught every strike.
Claws met steel, shadow met scale. The ground split beneath their feet, stone rising in jagged pillars from the sheer force of each exchange. The sky above roiled with crimson clouds, lightning crackling as though the heavens themselves recoiled in horror.
Velis's grin faltered. "You're a tough bastard, aren't you?"
Sylva, as always, said nothing, her cold expression unbroken.
The Herald retaliated.
A claw shot out, impaling Sylva through the chest.
Or it should have.
The body dissolved into shadow.
An illusion.
Sylva was already behind it, daggers aimed for the neck — but the demon spun impossibly fast, catching one blade in a clawed hand while its other arm blocked Velis's simultaneous strike.
Velis cursed aloud. "Son of a—"
And then Selene raised her hands, violet eyes glowing, and unleashed a volley of fireballs in a chain — roaring spheres of flame crashing into the Herald's body.
Smoke and ash exploded outward.
But as the haze cleared — the Blood Herald stood untouched.
It grinned.
And then it breathed.
A cone of black fire swept across the square, vaporizing everything in its path. Buildings crumbled. The ground turned to glass.
Dozens of adventurers were caught in the blast, their bodies reduced to ash and charred bone before they could even scream.
"NO!" Iris cried, rushing to the wounded, crimson eyes glistening as she poured Divine Magic into those she could save.
Gaius planted himself like a living wall, his shield absorbing stray blasts to protect Iris and the healers.
Darius and Leon charged together.
"On me!" Darius barked, his sword a blur of silver light.
Leon followed, katana in hand, crimson glow intensifying with every step. They struck together — blades aiming for the creature's heart.
The Herald moved like liquid death.
One claw caught Darius mid-swing, slamming into his gut with a sickening crunch.
Ribs shattered.
Darius flew back like a broken doll, blood spraying from his mouth as he crashed into a wall and fell limp.
Leon's vision narrowed. His pulse pounded in his ears.
And then the Herald grabbed him by the face.
Claws dug into his skin.
It lifted him effortlessly, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement.
"You… are mine."
Pain flared.
Leon struggled, but it was like trying to fight a mountain.
A flicker of movement — Sylva struck, daggers plunging into the Herald's side.
It barely reacted.
With a snarl, it hurled Leon away and seized Sylva by the arm. Its clawed foot slammed into her stomach, sending her hurtling through the air.
Before she could hit the ground, a dark veil rose and caught her.
Velis appeared beside her, bloodstained and smiling.
"Damn, twice in one night? You trying to set a record?"
Sylva coughed, clutching her ribs. "You're late."
"Was giving you a fair shot."
Then — Leon's katana screamed.
A violent, crimson aura erupted from the blade, the glow searing and unstable. It radiated in waves, making even the Blood Herald pause.
Leon's body moved before his mind could catch up, his golden eyes gleaming like molten gold.
He charged.
The world blurred.
Steel met claw.
And for the first time — the Herald was forced back.
* * * * *
Velis wiped a smear of crimson from her face, her grin sharp despite the ragged edge of exhaustion in her limbs. Sylva stood beside her, a quiet sentinel, her daggers still slick with blood, her breathing even.
A sudden rush of footsteps made them turn — Lyra burst onto the scene.
Velis lit up like a child on a festival night.
"Oi, Big Sis! About damn time!" Velis called, waving one bloodstained hand. "What kinda sister lets her adorable little sibling get bullied like this, huh? Look at me — covered in blood, half-dead, still looking gorgeous, though."
She twirled a dagger made of shadow, her silver eyes gleaming.
Lyra's gaze flickered over Velis's battered state, then to Sylva's bruised form. Her grip on her blades tightened.
"I leave you alone for five minutes and you start a war."
"You love me for it."
Sylva grunted softly — something dangerously close to agreement.
Velis giggled and gestured to the Blood Herald with her chin. "Well, boss lady? Plan, please. 'Cause I'm running outta limbs to stab this bastard with."
Lyra's expression darkened.
"We go for its heart. No mercy. No fancy tricks. Fast and brutal."
Sylva nodded, already healing her wounds with practiced efficiency, a faint glow surrounding her hands as she patched up Velis as well.
"Ready when you are." Sylva murmured.
Across the square, Iris knelt beside Darius, sweat and tears streaking her pale face.
His ribs were a shattered mess, his breathing shallow and ragged.
"Damn you, old man, you're not dying here—" Iris choked out as golden light poured from her hands.
Then Kieran dropped down beside them, casual as ever.
"Wow, Darius. You look like shit." he quipped with a grin, though there was a tightness in his voice. "Didn't think you'd get your ass handed to you by a walking horn display."
Darius coughed weakly, a flicker of a grin on bloodied lips.
"Screw you… thief…"
Kieran clapped a hand on his shoulder. "That's the spirit. Now, keep breathing. I'm still waiting to collect that drink you owe me."
Iris worked faster, the glow intensifying.
* * * * *
Leon was a blur.
His katana burned brighter than ever, its crimson light like a living thing, howling for blood. He reinforced his body with every shred of magic he could muster, each strike faster, heavier, sharper.
And for the first time, the Herald couldn't counter.
It blocked — yes — but it staggered.
Each blow cracked the ground. Sparks showered from their clashes.
Leon struck again, again, again — relentless.
A downward slash slammed into the Herald's ribs.
The katana hit bone.
And stuck.
Leon's breath caught — his golden eyes widened as the blade refused to go deeper.
The Herald smirked.
"Too slow."
A clawed fist slammed into Leon's chest, followed by a crushing elbow, then another strike to the gut that lifted him off the ground.
And then the Herald stomped him down — the force shattering the earth beneath them.
A final kick sent Leon crashing through the remains of a nearby building, dust and stone raining down like a funeral shroud.
Velis's smile vanished.
"Right. Kill it."
"Agreed," Sylva said flatly.
Lyra's jaw clenched.
"On my mark."
The war wasn't over yet.
And the real fight had only just begun.
* * * * *
Sylva didn't know what this feeling was.
Not exactly.
Anger? Rage? Worry?
She barely recognized it. The cold, steady pulse she'd lived with all her life, honed as an assassin, wasn't meant to waver. But seeing Leon's body hurled like refuse through a building, crushed under the Herald's claw — it set something jagged loose inside her.
She didn't let it show on her face.
That wasn't how she worked.
But when she met Velis's gleaming silver eyes and Lyra's grim nod, she moved without hesitation.
The three of them struck together.
Velis's shadows snapped through the air, her figure flickering like a devilish wraith.
Lyra danced in close, her blades a blur of deadly intent.
Sylva moved like a phantom, weaving between the chaos, her daggers aimed for the throat.
But the Herald was faster.
Faster than anything she'd fought. Faster than she could have imagined.
It caught both Velis's and Sylva's wrists mid-attack, one in each clawed hand. Scales thickened at its throat as Lyra's dagger struck, deflecting the blow with a metallic ring.
A guttural roar tore from its throat.
The pressure hit like a shockwave, forcing them back.
Black lightning screamed down from the sky, obliterating the space they'd occupied a heartbeat before.
Sylva hit the ground rolling, already leaping clear as a searing breath of crimson fire tore a gouge through the earth, a delayed explosion following in its wake. Stone cracked. Walls crumbled.
They moved together.
No words, no signals.
The three of them attacked in perfect unison.
Velis came from the right, her shadow-forged daggers aimed for the soft spot beneath the Herald's jaw.
Lyra shot in from the left, her blade gleaming crimson as she dove for the heart.
Sylva struck high, her dagger slicing through the creature's eye.
Steel met flesh.
A hiss of dark blood sprayed the ground.
For the first time — they felt it.
The creature recoiled.
Velis laughed.
"Got you, you ugly bastard!"
But before the Herald could retaliate, all three vanished in a burst of shadow and smoke — leaving their weapons buried deep in its body.
Above them, Selene's voice rose in an incantation.
A meteor-sized fireball, brilliant and white-hot, formed in the sky, tearing through the clouds and slamming down with earth-shattering force.
The world vanished in a flood of blinding light.
The shockwave tore through the square, levelling what little remained of the city's center. Ash and blood turned to vapor, the heavens howling with the pressure of the strike.
When it was done — only silence.
Velis scoffed, leaning against a cracked wall. "Well, that was overkill."
She held up a bloodied hand.
Sylva — after a beat — returned the high five.
Lyra's lips twitched upward.
But then, from the smoke and flame, a sound.
A low, ragged shriek.
A wail that split the night air.
From the ruin, its body scorched and torn, its skin hanging in blackened tatters — the Blood Herald still lived.
A single, bloodshot eye burned with furious hate.
Its form cracked and charred, but still standing.
"Persistent little bastard," Velis muttered, her playful smile gone.
The war wasn't over yet.