At the scorched and withered edge of Lysandra, a lone figure stood. His hair, a chaotic mix of black and crimson, swayed against the dry winds. Draped over his shoulders was a grand cape of gold and black, embroidered with stars that shimmered like a false night sky. His sharp, dagger-like teeth gleamed as he smirked, his eyes drinking in the cursed land behind him.
With a sharp flick of his wrist, Byzor tossed his cape back, the fabric snapping like a banner caught in the storm. The sun blazed mercilessly above, but with a simple snap of his fingers, a shield of blood materialized overhead, dark and pulsating, shielding him from the hateful glare. He took in a long, slow breath—his chest expanding—before exhaling with a sigh that carried centuries of exhaustion.
"Finally." His voice was a whisper laced with venom, followed by a low, guttural laugh that rumbled from his chest.
Then they came.
Beasts. From across time itself.
From the shadows of twisted trees and the crumbling ruins of Lysandra, four monstrous figures lunged, their eyes burning like molten gold.
Byzor stilled. His lips curled.
"Duskmaws."
Each beast was massive, their fur a thick, holy brown, their fangs glistening with the venom that had slaughtered countless vampires before him. Their forms flickered, as if phasing in and out of existence—ancient creatures unstuck from time, bound to a singular, endless hunt.
Byzor leapt high into the air, twisting effortlessly, his movement slow and deliberate, before landing atop one of the charging Duskmaws. The beast roared, its body writhing in fury beneath him, but Byzor only looked down, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
"You have chased me through time, across the very fabric of this cursed world..." His grin widened. "I can almost admire that. But today—" his voice dipped into a cruel whisper, "you meet your end."
He raised his hands to the heavens.
The sky bled.
A rain of blood-red spears materialized above, then rained down upon the four Duskmaws, crimson spikes piercing fur and flesh alike. The ground trembled as their pained roars shook the air.
Yet, they did not fall.
The Duskmaws shook off the impalements, golden light surging through their wounds. Sun-Blessed Heal. Every injury sealed shut in an instant.
Byzor clicked his tongue. "Tch. Persistent little bastards."
Their howls rose in unison.
A deafening shockwave rippled outward—Eldertree Howl.
Byzor staggered, his breath hitching. His body felt heavier, his power suppressed fourfold.
"Damn it!" His frustration spilled into rage. "You've hunted me through twelve fucking eras of this world, and you're still at it!?"
The beasts lunged once more.
Byzor threw up a barrier of blood and darkness, a swirling abyss of power meant to halt even divine creatures—It shattered in an instant.
Their claws tore through it like brittle glass, rending it to nothing.
For the first time, Byzor gulped. Then—he laughed. A wild, reckless cackle.
"Fuck it, then."
He shot into the sky, his cape flaring behind him like a storm of shadows. His voice boomed across the battlefield, carrying with it the weight of the unholy.
"Byzor, Leader of the Unholy Faction... OBEY ME!"
Darkness swallowed the sun. The sky twisted, burning red as an eclipse devoured the light.
His blood barrier vanished, but it no longer mattered—because an army emerged from the abyss above.
Legions of the damned.
Falling from the sky like an unholy rain, bears long since slain, other Duskmaws he had butchered across different timelines, three deathless dragons, four wyverns, and hundreds of skeletal warriors burst forth from the void.
"Kill them." Byzor's grin stretched into something monstrous.
The battlefield erupted.
The four Duskmaws released one final, earsplitting howl.
The ground beneath them cracked.
A great earthquake devoured hundreds of skeletons in a single instant.
Byzor's smirk faltered. His pupils shrank. "W-What the fuck is this? Is your hatred towards me... really this much?"
The beasts began to fuse. Their forms twisted, merged, flesh and bone reforming into one colossal entity. The Titan Duskmaw.
A creature larger than anything Byzor had ever faced.
It snatched one of the death dragons straight from the air—and with a casual flex of its colossal claws, snapped its neck like a twig.
Golden wings erupted from its back as it absorbed the dragon.
It ascended and it howled.
A shockwave of golden devastation blasted outward, annihilating entire fleets of the undead in an instant. Tide Leviathans—massive sea creatures lurking in the depths—were reduced to nothing but bone and foam.
Byzor stared in disbelief.
For the first time in centuries—he felt fear.
The Titan Duskmaw flapped its golden wings, its very presence distorting the air. With a thunderous roar, another shockwave of radiant destruction rippled outward.
The sky shook.
The battlefield became a graveyard.
Hundreds of undead warriors, wyverns, and the remaining dead Duskmaws were annihilated in an instant. Their bodies disintegrated upon contact with the golden energy, reduced to nothing but drifting ashes. The two deathless dragons screeched in agony, their flesh peeling from their bones as they plummeted lifelessly into the ruins below.
Byzor barely had time to react.
He felt it—a force unlike any he had ever encountered. The sheer pressure of the Titan Duskmaw's power bore down on him like the weight of a dying star. His vision blurred at the edges.
The Duskmaw charged at him, throwing its claws out for a strike. Byzor dodged it but was flung into floating rocks from the pressure behind the claw strike. He coughed up blood before standing up.
A gust of golden energy exploded behind Byzor, and before he could so much as twitch, a colossal claw was already swiping toward him. Byzor twisted his body, activating Bloodstep, his form flickering out of the beast's direct path. He barely avoided a direct hit, but the aftershock sent him hurtling through the air like a ragdoll, his ribs shattering on impact as he crashed through the ruins below.
His body tore through stone and debris, skidding across the ground like a discarded corpse.
Blood dripped from his mouth. His limbs twitched, struggling to obey him. Byzor's vision spun as he forced himself to his knees, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. His fingers were shaking.
"No."
Byzor spat blood onto the ground, his fangs bared, his breath ragged. Every fiber of his being screamed in agony, but his pride—the unyielding arrogance of a ruler, a conqueror—refused to break.
"I reject this world's cruel order of strength above all! I reject this cursed beast that dares to wound me!"
His eyes ignited—a burning crimson glow. The air around him trembled as his vampiric regeneration surged through his veins, his torn flesh knitting back together in an instant. His power crackled—blood and shadows fusing—as his clenched fists trembled. His nails bit deep into his palms, piercing flesh, but he felt nothing.
His golden-black cape whipped violently in the distorted winds of Lysandra. A slow, sharp grin spread across his face.
Then, with a single motion, he tore it from his shoulders.
The tattered fabric was swept away, vanishing into the cursed skies above, swallowed by the void of this realm.
"I refuse to die by your hand."
He stepped forward. The earth beneath his feet shattered. Cracks spider-webbed through the ground with every step, black and red energy spiraling around him, twisting upward in violent, chaotic waves—a beacon of power against the eclipsed sky.
Blood dripped from his lips, yet he only grinned wider.
The Titan Duskmaw descended.
Golden light bled from its towering form as it landed, shaking the very foundations of Lysandra, its massive claws digging into the earth. Its eyes—glowing with divine judgment—locked onto Byzor.
A soundless moment passed.
Then, Byzor roared.
"Fight me like a man!"
The Duskmaw responded in kind—a deafening howl that cracked the air itself. Its colossal hand swung down like a divine executioner's blade, aiming to crush him where he stood.
Byzor's body coiled like a spring.
At the last second, he raised both arms—
And caught the beast's fist.
The sheer force sent him to his knees. The ground beneath him caved inward, forming a crater from the impact. His entire body shuddered under the weight, bones groaning, muscles screaming—
But he didn't fall.
Byzor's head snapped up, his expression twisted with pain—and savage exhilaration.
"I… will NOT… FALL to you!"
His blood ignited, tendrils of crimson fire entwining with darkness, wreathing his entire form in a demonic glow. His body tore apart—skin splitting, flesh ripping under the Duskmaw's crushing force—yet he forced himself back together.
The air burned. The world trembled. And Byzor grinned.
The Titan Duskmaw's fist pressed down, a divine weight threatening to grind him into the shattered earth. Byzor's body tore apart under the sheer pressure—muscle fibers snapping, bones fracturing, blood bursting from his pores. The overwhelming force should have broken him. But it didn't.
Because his pride refused to let it.
A guttural, inhuman laugh rumbled from his throat.
"This… this is what you call strength?" His lips curled, blood dripping from his entire body as he forced his head up, staring into the golden abyss of the beast's gaze. "Let me show you what true power is."
The black and red energy around him roared like a living force, twisting, expanding—consuming. His crimson flames surged, and with a feral snarl, he clenched his fingers tighter around the beast's massive hand.
The Titan Duskmaw pressed down harder. The ground beneath Byzor's feet caved, sinking further into the abyss of Lysandra's distorted land. His arms cracked, blood erupting in rivulets from his skin
They stopped breaking. Instead, they grew stronger.
Byzor's dark energy fused with his blood, reinforcing his limbs, his body shifting, becoming something else.
His once-human form distorted, his muscles twisting and expanding, the veins beneath his pale skin glowing black with raw power. His eyes burned a deep, hellish red, his once-flowing hair whipping wildly in the wind as if caught in a vortex.
"I'll show you what a true ruler—A KING WITH PRIDE—CAN ACHIEVE!"
Byzor's voice boomed like a war cry, echoing through the distorted realm. His muscles tensed, his fangs bared, and black flames erupted around his form, twisting like a living inferno. The heat warped the air, the sheer force of his power sending shockwaves rippling outward.
With a guttural roar, he pushed back.
The Titan Duskmaw trembled.
The divine beast, a creature of pure destruction, was lifted.
Byzor's feet dug into the ground as he gritted his teeth, his power surging beyond its limits. His body screamed under the strain, his bones groaning under the weight of the celestial beast.
With one final earth-shattering heave, Byzor hurled the Titan Duskmaw into the ocean. The sea split apart on impact.
A deafening explosion of water erupted as the beast crashed into the depths, the sheer force sending tidal waves crashing against the abyssal shores of Lysandra's realm.
Byzor stood at the edge of the battlefield, his breath heavy, chest rising and falling with exhilaration. His fists trembled, not with exhaustion—but with euphoria.
His grin stretched wider.
He launched himself into the sky, piercing the storm above with a single powerful leap.
"GET UP!" His voice cracked like thunder. His wild, crimson eyes burned with madness. "I know you aren't done!"
A deep, guttural howl split through the ocean depths.
The Duskmaw rose. Its massive, divine body burst from the water, golden light flickering erratically across its wounded form. Its wings faltered, but then a blurred streak of divine power shot toward Byzor, its colossal claw tearing through the air
Byzor tilted his head, dodging with inhuman speed.
And then—he struck.
His foot snapped forward, a devastating black-flamed kick crashing directly into the Titan's face. The force sent the behemoth hurling backward through the sky, spiraling out of control.
The skies around trembled as lightning struck down around.
But then—a blinding light erupted from its maw.
A beam of pure, divine energy, a god's wrath given form.
Byzor's grin widened into something monstrous. His barrier of black flames and blood surged to life, a writhing mass of chaotic energy. The divine beam collided with it, sending cracks splintering through the flames. The barrier shattered a heartbeat later, but Byzor was already moving—a blur of shadow and flames. He twisted mid-air, dodging left as the devastating energy tore through the sky, carving a jagged scar across the distorted realm of Lysandra before vanishing into the void.
A cold, guttural laugh rumbled from his chest—inhuman, abyssal, something dredged from the depths of despair itself. His eyes glowed like dying embers, and then—he burned them.
Flames consumed his vision, yet he did not flinch.
"I hereby sign the contract with the god of despair—Evos."
His voice was unnervingly calm, the finality in his words shaking the very world.
A maelstrom of darkness erupted from him, spiraling into the heavens and swallowing all light. The air turned bitter, suffocating. The world itself seemed to weep as the contract was sealed.
Far away, beneath the oppressive sky, Rosaline stiffened.
Celestia sat beside her, casually sketching out an attack plan, her emerald eyes gleaming with calculating focus.
"Celestia…" Rosaline whispered, her voice tight, her throat dry. "Someone… someone just forged a pact with a god."
Silence stretched between them.
Celestia's fingers stopped moving. Then, slowly—she smiled.
Her gaze locked onto the dark horizon, where tendrils of despair twisted through the sky like living shadows. Her pupils dilated, her breath shuddering with exhilaration.
"This power…"
She clenched her hands, trying to suppress the shiver coursing through her veins.
"This feeling… this overwhelming, suffocating force of total despair…"
Byzor's body was fully engulfed in the abyss, the contract searing itself into his soul.
His vision returned, sharpened, twisted. He no longer saw the world as it was—he saw despair incarnate.
The Titan Duskmaw loomed before him, its celestial form dripping with golden radiance. It raised one colossal claw, readying another strike—
Byzor lifted a hand.
A spiral of darkness bloomed in front of the beast, a gaping vortex of devouring shadow.
The Duskmaw reacted instantly.
Sun-Blessed Heal. Golden radiance surged across its form, restoring its wounds in an instant. Then, it did the unthinkable.
"Sign it."
Its voice carried through the storm, ringing with divine command. The sky split in two.
Golden light clashed against abyssal darkness, the forces tearing into one another with explosive, world-rending might. The two opposing powers met in an endless detonation of destruction and rebirth.
The Titan howled, its form shifting, morphing—becoming human.
From the ashes of divine war, a man emerged.
Clad in radiant gold and celestial white, his presence was blinding, the very embodiment of order and strength.
He cracked his knuckles. His eyes—sunlit and unwavering—locked onto Byzor's bloodstained grin.
"Fight like a man."
Byzor's smirk stretched even wider.
He charged.
They met in the sky—two forces beyond mortal comprehension. Fist to fist, light against darkness. Each blow shattered the air itself, their relentless healing rendering them unkillable. Their battle raged across the skies, moving so fast that to most, they were nothing but two streaks of gold and black, intertwined in a deadly dance.
Far below, Solace Solara stood frozen, staring at the sky.
He watched the flashing lines of clashing divinity, the heavens igniting with each collision. His fingers curled into fists, his heartbeat pounding in his skull.
"What the hell is happening?"
Deon Illric halted mid-step. From the heart of his kingdom, he gazed up, watching the distant war of contractors. He did not flinch at the raw power rattling the world. He did not cower.
He simply watched.
Then, with a quiet, knowing sigh, he turned away.
"A fight… of strength." He thought and with that, he walked away, returning to whatever matters still required his attention.
Across Cresbel, those with power, those who had walked the path of gods, they felt it.
The beginning of a war between contractors of divinity.
And they smiled.