Zone Ten was bleeding.
The corrupted fortress shook with every blow. Heat and rot pressed against skin and steel, the Blight Heart pulsing behind Vorn like a dying sun, red light washing the stone in a fever glow.
Vorn roared, chains snapping around his arms, eyes a furnace of rage.
"I unmake bonds," he bellowed.
Liam did not flinch. "You will try."
Behind him, eight wives moved like one machine. Frost spiraled from the Ice Queen's fingers, the spread of corruption slowing under a skin of white. Vexa crashed into Vorn's flank, took the weight of his swing, and held. Kaelithra and Kaelith flowed through smoke and spark, twin storms of bright steel.
Rena held the line at Liam's shoulder, breath steady, strikes exact. "His core is feeding him, cut the heart," she called.
Sarya worked the high ground, each bolt hunting a seam.
Kaelyn flickered at the edges, daggers biting, vanishing.
Elyra drifted near the Blight Heart, silver eyes bright. "I can thin the corruption," she said, soft and deadly, "but you have to take the core."
The system struck cold and clean.
> [System Alert]
Blight Heart, active, bond sync reduced by fifteen percent
All buffs, reduced by twenty percent
Vorn vitality, seventy two percent
Recommendation, sever core connection to boost all bonds
Reward, territory control, loyalty rise, new buff available
Liam bared his teeth. "Cover me."
Rena nodded. "Go."
He sprinted, slid past a chain that tore stone where his ribs had been, felt the heat lick his back. Kaelithra met the next strike, sparks flared, her blade held. "Keep him off Liam," she snapped.
"I was not going to let him touch him anyway," Elyra breathed, moving with him. Her palm brushed his arm, power pouring like warm silk into the blade. "Take it, take all of me."
Liam did not hesitate. He drove for the heart.
The Blight Heart swelled, tendrils lashing like whips. He cut, bright steel through red veins. The tether parted.
A scream tore the chamber, not Vorn's… something older. The corruption recoiled like a wounded beast. Vorn staggered.
The system bloomed like frost in sunlight.
> [System Alert]
Blight Heart, severed, corruption fading
Buffs restored, plus twenty five percent
Bond sync surged, eighty five percent
New buff gained, Heartbreaker, bonus damage versus Boss class
"Now," Vexa roared, slamming Vorn into a shattered pillar.
Kaelith climbed his back, steel buried to the hilt.
Kaelithra carved along the chain-wrapped arm, sparks, blood.
Rena drove with Liam, blades landing together, one breath, one will.
Vorn fell to a knee.
Liam stood over him, sword raised. "This is mine."
One clean strike… the massive body broke to light.
> [System Alert]
Zone Ten, conquered, territory secured
Bond loyalty, ninety percent, stable
Buff unlocked, Heartbreaker, permanent
Next signal, Zone Eleven detected, status unknown
Silence, except for the slow fade of red in stone. Heat softened. The chamber exhaled.
Kaelithra wiped blood from her lip, grin sharp. "You did not break. Good."
Elyra brushed dust from Liam's shoulder, touch lingering. "You have never been stronger."
Rena cleaned her blade, eyes on the next door. "We are not done."
Frost curled along the floor as the Ice Queen spoke. "A storm is coming."
Liam lifted his sword. "Then we meet it, head on."
They stood in the wreckage… eight wives, one Overlord, a war that refused to end.
---
The Blight Heart was dead, the fortress still twitched… a wounded thing that would not stop.
Liam lowered his blade. The others spread out, catching breath, checking cuts, counting ammunition. Blood dried. Resolve did not.
Kaelithra leaned against a pillar, eyes hungry. "You fought like you meant to own me."
Liam met her gaze, steady. "I do."
Her breath hitched, almost a laugh.
Elyra slid close, fingers tracing his shoulder. "Bolder and bolder, Overlord… I like it."
Rena stepped between them, blade still bare. "He does not need your arms around him. He needs discipline."
Elyra's smile did not move. "Jealous again… how cute."
"Enough," the Ice Queen said, and the last veins of red died under a skin of frost. "Not here. Not now."
Kaelith flicked blood from steel. "Let them snarl. It is entertaining."
Kaelithra pushed off the pillar, came slow, the air tightening with every step. "You conquered me. What comes next."
She closed the final inch, breath at his throat. "Claim me, properly."
Vexa cracked her knuckles. "I drag her back if you do not."
"You are already mine," Liam said. He caught Kaelithra's wrist, drew her in, no hesitation. "Show me you know it."
Her smirk thinned, turned sharp. Their eyes held. The room seemed to lean closer.
The system hit like a drum.
> [System Alert]
Bond reinforcement, Kaelithra
Loyalty boosted, maximum
Buff upgrade, Twin Reflex II, evasion increased, counterstrike increased
Bond count, eight of ninety nine
Loyalty sync, ninety one percent, stable
Signal detected, Zone Eleven approaching
Kaelithra stepped back, breath rough, cheeks flushed.
Rena looked away, jaw tight.
Sarya muttered, "At this pace we will need chains for all of them."
Kaelyn only smiled, daggers dancing.
The Ice Queen stopped before Liam, gaze colder than the floor. "Zone Eleven is not like the others. It moves."
"It moves," he echoed.
The system answered.
> [System Alert]
Zone Eleven, Nomad Fortress
Status, mobile stronghold
Leader, Overlord Solas, class unknown
Warning, unknown bond structure, rival detected
Recommended action, recon, disruption, possible bond conflict
Elyra's voice lowered, silk stripped away. "Solas… I know that name."
"Who is he," Liam asked.
"The man who tried to claim me first."
Silence settled like ash.
Rena's eyes burned. "You did not tell us."
"It did not matter," Elyra said, head tilted, "until now."
"Then we kill him," Kaelithra said.
"Or outbond him," the Ice Queen replied, colder than frost.
Liam watched the distant smoke line, the path of a fortress that refused to sit still. "No more waiting."
He faced them, all of them. "You are mine. Every one. He wants to test that."
His hand tightened on the sword.
"Then I break him."
> [System Update]
Zone Eleven, approaching fast
Engagement window, six hours
Bond loyalty challenge, incoming
Prepare, Solas will test everything you have built
The storm was coming.
Liam was only getting started.