Aldric's grin sharpened—wicked, precise—his voice rolling out like a promise carved in executioner's steel.
> "—because I'm cutting off every one of your heads before this night ends."
The air shifted.
Thickened.
Darkened.
Crimson mana surged from him in a violent pulse—then rose.
Blood lifted from the corpses at his feet. From cracked stone. From shattered armor. From the air itself.
It spiraled upward, trembling, vibrating with lethal intent.
Then—
Spears.
Dozens at first. Then scores. Then over a hundred.
Long, wickedly pointed constructs of hardened blood hung in the storm like a crimson constellation. Each thrummed with killing intent, each vibrating with the low humming resonance of Aldric's Mana.
The knights froze.
Even the nobles—Carvon, Elliren, Lucan—stiffened as the air pressed down on them, heavy as drowning.
Aldric didn't raise his weapon.
Didn't move.
He simply lifted two fingers.
The blood spears tilted as one, angling like wolves scenting prey.
Every knight in the courtyard looked upward. Mouths parted. Voices choked. Prayers died unspoken on trembling lips.
Rain fell silently through the gaps between hovering crimson blades.
Elliren's breath hitched. Carvon's golden aura flickered. Lucan's flame guttered, wavering despite his will.
Aldric's wings unfurled fully, casting a monstrous shadow across the courtyard.
His voice came low—calm, almost gentle, yet soaked in absolute promise:
> "Stay right where you are."
The spears angled.
Sharpened.
A sound like a thousand teeth grinding filled the air.
Aldric lowered his hand—slowly, deliberately.
The spears quivered—
—and the entire courtyard seemed to inhale.
> "Now die."
The blood spears fell.
They didn't drop.
They descended—streaking downward in a storm of crimson lines. Faster than arrows, sharper than forged steel, each one carrying the weight of Aldric's intent to annihilate.
The air screamed as they tore through it.
The knights barely had time to gasp.
But then—priests moved.
They screamed prayers in unison, voices overlapping as mana surged. Their hands slammed together, holy sigils burning into the air so bright they turned the rain to white steam.
> "Radiant Mother—shield Your faithful!"
"By sanctified breath, by blessed light—PROTECT THEM!"
"Sanctum Aegis!"
Their chants collided, tangled—then fused.
A dome of holy radiance burst outward from their formation, blinding gold edged with flickering sacred light.
It rose—
A barrier.
A shield made of pure, desperate faith.
CLANG.
The first blood spear hit it—and detonated with a thunderous crack, crimson shards splattering in all directions.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG!
The dome flared brighter.
Half the spears shattered harmlessly into mist.
But only half.
The others punched through cracks in the holy defense, raining down on the knights huddled beneath. Screams ripped through the night as steel and flesh gave way—men pinned to stone, to each other, to the sanctuary they'd prayed would save them.
Knights staggered beneath the blowback. Those who didn't fall raised shields in one last surge of mana—
Impact.
Red streaks slammed into their ranks. Armor burst. Shields splintered. Stone shattered as blood-forged spears drove through bodies, pinning some to walls, others to the earth, some straight through their glowing shields.
Holy mana flared desperately—then failed.
The ground tore open in a web of jagged craters. Rain turned to steam. The courtyard choked with crimson mist.
Carvon shielded himself with a dome of golden light, roaring as spear after spear hammered against it, cracks spiderwebbing across the barrier.
Elliren dove behind a broken column, pale-blue mana slicing two spears apart—yet the third grazed his arm, carving a burning line across flesh and armor.
Lucan planted his blazing sword into the ground, holy fire erupting outward in a burst that deflected and disintegrated a cluster of spears—the air trembling violently under the force.
When the storm ended, silence fell.
Smoke curled. Stone steamed. Bodies lay pinned like shattered dolls.
Aldric stepped forward, poleaxe resting across his shoulder.
Not out of breath.
Not strained.
Not satisfied.
Just ready for the next kill.
His eyes found the three nobles—still alive, barely standing.
He tilted his head.
Rain slid down his face, steam rising where it touched him. His wings twitched once, shedding sparks of crimson mana.
> "Good. You're still breathing."
His gaze shifted to the priests beneath their failing barrier, already rushing to heal the wounded.
> "Huh."
He stepped closer, dragging his poleaxe behind him with a low metallic scrape.
> "Let's see how long that lasts."
The nobles tensed. The priests whimpered. The holy barrier flickered like a dying sun.
Aldric raised his hand again.
Crimson mana pulsed.
More blood lifted from the corpses—slowly at first, then all at once—spiraling upward in a vortex of red light.
Another constellation of spears began to form.
This time—
Doubling. Tripling.
But before they could fully take shape—
A roar of holy fire split the night.
Lucan moved.
No—he erupted.
Flame blasted from his feet in a white-gold burst, launching him across the courtyard. His sword carved a streak of blazing light through the storm as he appeared before Aldric, swinging before the demon could even turn.
> "I won't let you—!"
The blade cleaved clean through Aldric's raised hand.
Blood sprayed upward—
—and instantly ignited as Lucan's holy fire consumed it, turning the droplets into ribbons of white flame.
Aldric's severed hand flew upward and burned to cinders before it could hit the ground.
Aldric snarled, teeth bared, wings flaring. He tightened his grip on the poleaxe—but before he could shift his stance—
SLASH.
Another strike fell in a flash.
Carvon appeared at his flank, golden mana blazing like a miniature sun.
His blade came down in a brutal arc—
And Aldric's other arm spun away into the rain, severed at the elbow.
He staggered half a step, both stumps sizzling crimson—
the limb incinerated before it touched the ground.
Then—
CRACK.
Metal pierced flesh.
A blade erupted through Aldric's spine and out his chest, spraying steaming blood. His body jolted, eyes widening as a thin line of crimson dripped from his lips.
Behind him—
Elliren stood with pale-blue mana flickering, his arm trembling from the force of the thrust.
Aldric exhaled a slow, broken breath—steam rising from the open wound.
Carvon and Lucan seized the moment.
Their grips shifted as one.
Their blades angled.
And with twin battle cries—
SHNK—SHNK.
They plunged both swords straight into Aldric's torso.
Steel punched through flesh and bone, crossing inside him, bursting from his back in twin gouts of scarlet.
Aldric lurched forward.
He spat a mouthful of blood onto the stone—thick, dark, smoking as it hit.
For a single heartbeat, only rain moved.
Then—
Aldric laughed.
A low, bubbling, horrifying sound vibrating through all three blades buried in him.
His lips curled into a red grin.
> "Going for my heart… I see, bastards."
Blood dripped from his teeth.
His wings twitched.
His severed wrists burned with crimson light.
> "Cut off both my arms… stabbed me through…"
"But you didn't think that was enough… did you?"
Carvon's grip tightened.
Lucan's flames surged.
Elliren's blade shook inside Aldric's back.
Aldric leaned forward, voice dropping to a whisper made of knives:
> "If you didn't want me to release my attack—"
His eyes rose toward the blood-spears hovering above.
> "—you should've cut off my head as well."
All three froze.
Aldric's chuckle deepened into a rich, murderous growl.
> "Did you really think I needed my hands to control them?"
Above, the spear-constellation quivered—hundreds of crimson points angling downward like a sky of arrows drawn to the same target.
Lucan swore.
Carvon's face twisted with horror.
Elliren's eyes widened.
Their blades ripped free, slashing again in perfect unison—
But even as steel tore him open, Aldric was still laughing.
His laughter built—
—shaking with madness—
—echoing across the ruined courtyard—
Until it snapped into a razor's edge.
A whisper.
A promise.
> "Die."
And above them—
The sky fell.
Every blood-spear hanging in the air
descended at once.