The barrier was gone.
Smoke curled where light had exploded, painting the square in ruin. Villagers huddled together, wide-eyed, the only shield between them and death now standing in flesh and blood.
Kael.
He felt the silence before the scream. That single heartbeat where the world seemed to wait—for him. His crimson eyes widened, burning like coals stoked with rage. Then he drew a breath, and the fury inside him finally broke.
"Enough!"
The word cracked like thunder. Black lightning roared across his blade, crawling up his arm, dancing over his shoulders like serpents of wrath. His crimson aura swelled outward in a violent tide, so heavy and suffocating that even the Sovereign soldiers faltered in their charge.
Kael stepped forward.
The ground split beneath his boots.
His sword carved a crescent of darkness, a wave of crimson lightning tearing through the front lines. Men screamed as they were hurled backward, armor scorched, flesh riven apart. The air itself shook, the storm of his power no longer restrained.
"Kael…" Serenya whispered, too weak to move, but her eyes shone with awe and fear.
Ronan leaned against his axe, his mouth curling into a bloody grin. "There it is…"
Lyra, bleeding and battered, just smirked weakly. "Now they've done it."
The captain of the Sovereign forces roared and surged forward, raising his greatsword. "Stand your ground, cowards! He bleeds like any other man!"
Kael turned toward him.
The world seemed to blur as he moved. One moment he was standing at the shattered edge of the square. The next, he was in the captain's face, sword descending.
Clang!
The captain blocked, but the force drove him to his knees, stone cracking beneath him. His arms trembled, teeth clenched, veins bulging against the crushing weight of Kael's strike.
"You don't understand…" Kael growled, his voice low, dark, filled with a fury that could drown gods.
"I am not like you."
The black lightning flared. Kael pushed down, splitting the captain's blade inch by inch until it screamed under the pressure.
The Sovereign soldiers surged to swarm him, but Kael's aura exploded outward in a storm. Crimson arcs leapt like hungry wolves, slashing through armor, carving men apart before they even touched him.
He lifted his blade high, crimson energy pooling along its edge, building until the very air warped and shimmered.
"For every drop of blood you've spilled—"
The ground shook.
"For every life you've taken—"
The storm grew, swallowing the square.
"I will cut you down!"
He swung.
The arc of crimson lightning tore through the battlefield, a colossal slash that split the air like judgment. Dozens of soldiers fell in a single instant, bodies collapsing like broken dolls. The stones beneath them scorched black, glowing as if a demon's claw had raked the earth.
Kael stood among the ruin, chest heaving, eyes burning.
The Sovereign soldiers no longer looked like warriors. They looked like prey.
And Kael?
He was no longer just a man. He was the storm itself.