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1. Strike Team: Sunborn
Aira stood on the cliff edge, her Solar Wings flaring with radiant fire, golden threads licking the sky.
Behind her, an elite strike team waited—personally chosen from those who had survived the Beast Tide.
Kaelen, her loyal guardian, blade crackling with stormfire.
Mira, the psychic tactician.
Thorn, a stealth archer whose arrows could pierce steel.
Serik, a rune breaker trained in forgotten magic.
They were dubbed the Sunborn, and their mission was clear.
> "We're going into Hollow Vale," Aira said, voice steady. "We locate the first rune anchor, eliminate anything guarding it, and destroy it. Fast and surgical. No delays."
> "And the Beast King?" Mira asked.
> "He's watching," Aira said. "But he won't interfere… yet."
No one questioned her certainty.
The beacon that had once lit the skies above the capital now blazed inside her.
She wasn't just leading the charge.
She was becoming a symbol.
---
2. The Descent Into Hollow Vale
The Vale had changed.
The last time Aira was here, the ground was dying.
Now it pulsed like a heartbeat.
Corrupted beasts wandered aimlessly, their minds severed from Karvag'thul's influence. Some cried in fear. Others wailed in agony. None attacked.
> "He's pulling his will back," Mira noted. "He's resisting the corruption."
> "Then we have to hurry," Aira replied. "The longer he fights, the more it eats at him."
They descended deeper, following Serik's detection magic.
Ancient roots wound through the ground like black veins.
The air tasted of copper and decay.
Then, Serik raised a fist. "We're close."
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3. The Guardian of the First Rune
A chasm yawned before them—miles wide and jagged.
At its center, floating above a ruined altar, was the First Anchor Rune.
It pulsed with crimson and violet light, caging reality in twisted sigils.
And guarding it stood a creature made of fractured stone, arcane iron, and obsidian fire—a golem forged from nightmare geometry.
> "Anchor Warden: Vakhar the Hollowbrand"
> Rank: S-Plus.
> Corrupted Construct of the Ancient Empire.
It didn't speak.
It attacked.
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4. Aira vs. Vakhar
The construct lunged, fists like towers slamming down.
Aira met the blow head-on, her Solar Wings flaring wide as she activated Solar Ascension.
She exploded upward, her body becoming a blazing streak of light. Vakhar's arm was blasted apart, molten metal spilling out.
> "Kaelen, cover Mira! Thorn—eyes on the rune! Serik, prep dispel!"
Aira spun midair, launching a volley of flame lances—each striking with pinpoint precision, hammering weak points in the construct's armor.
Vakhar retaliated, launching shards of cursed iron like missiles.
They twisted midair, bending around flame and time.
Aira wasn't fast enough.
One shard pierced her left arm.
Blood burst in the air.
But she didn't flinch.
She grabbed the shard, wrenched it free, and turned it into fire.
> "I'm done holding back."
She chanted under her breath—words from the Sun God's Temple she had never shared.
Her flames turned white.
---
5. The White Sun Flame
Time slowed.
As Aira floated above the battlefield, her body became the heart of a miniature sun.
The temperature skyrocketed.
Vakhar charged again—slower now, cracks forming in his core.
Aira launched herself straight at him, spinning like a drill of flame.
She punched through his chest.
> "Sunlance: Corona Spiral!"
With a final roar, Vakhar exploded, his body shattering into molten shards that rained like ash.
The battlefield fell still.
The rune pulsed once… and flared angrily.
---
6. The Rune Fights Back
The team approached the anchor cautiously.
Serik stepped forward, laying his palm across the sigils.
> "These are older than the Beast Era," he whispered. "Runes from the Second Flame Epoch. Designed not just to bind… but to burn."
> "Can you break it?" Aira asked.
> "Yes," he said. "But it'll fight back. And it'll scream."
He began the ritual.
Dark energy surged around the altar.
The rune reacted violently—tendrils of cursed fire lashing out, forming twisted shapes—ghosts of those who had tried and failed.
One shape lunged toward Serik.
Kaelen intercepted it with a thunderous strike.
> "Keep him safe!"
Aira flared again, drawing attention.
She knew she had only minutes before the rune called worse things.
She began chanting again, invoking Solar Verse.
---
7. The Final Sigil Break
Serik's hands bled as the runes buckled under his control.
> "One more lock!" he cried. "One more!"
Aira raised her arms high.
Her white flame condensed into a blade—a lance made entirely of skyfire.
> "Then take cover."
She threw it.
> "Sunfall."
The spear streaked through the air, struck the anchor dead center—
And detonated.
Light and fire tore through the chasm, reducing the corrupted altar to glass.
The anchor shattered.
A pulse echoed outward—a ripple of liberation.
Far across the continent, Karvag'thul lifted his head.
And whispered, "One."
---
8. Aftermath and Revelation
Back at the camp, the strike team regrouped.
Serik had survived, though barely.
Aira's wound was deep, but stable.
They watched the skies—no pillar of dark fire. Just stars.
> "One down," Mira said.
> "Two more," Aira replied.
Then something caught her eye—embedded in the fragments of the rune.
A crystal, pulsing faintly.
She reached for it.
It flickered to life, projecting an image.
A robed man. Familiar.
> "To the inheritor of the Sun Flame," the hologram began. "You walk the path of fire and truth. If you're seeing this… then Karvag'thul still suffers."
> "We failed him. But you don't have to."
> "The Second Anchor lies in the Spire of Ash. But beware—the Cult of the Eclipsed Flame guards it now."
> "They seek to turn the Beast King into a god."
The image vanished.
The entire room went silent.
> "Cult?" Kaelen asked.
> "They want to use him," Aira said grimly. "Not just as a weapon."
> "As a god of destruction."
---
9. The Road to the Spire
The following morning, the city was alive with whispers. News of the first anchor's destruction had spread.
Some rejoiced.
Others panicked.
> "What if unchaining him makes him worse?"
> "What if he's still evil?"
> "Should we even trust her?"
Aira stood on the battlements as sunrise painted the sky.
She didn't answer their doubts.
She only watched the horizon.
Mira approached. "Do you think he's truly still in there
?"
Aira nodded slowly.
> "When I looked into his eyes... I didn't see a king."
> "I saw a warrior begging for release."
The flames behind her shimmered, and her wings unfurled again.
> "Next stop—Ashen Spire."
> "And if the Cult stands in our way?" Kaelen asked from behind.
Aira's eyes narrowed.
> "Then they burn."