Chapter 41: The Ember Awakens
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath. The shadows stilled, their snarls cut short as if sensing the tremor beneath Le Wai's weakening frame. Kael's blade hovered for an instant, black fire licking the steel as his fury sharpened into something colder—unease.
Le Wai swayed on his feet, drenched in sweat and blood. His chest heaved like a forge bellows, his legs buckling under a weight far heavier than Kael's strikes. Yet his eyes—blurred though they were—held a light that refused to die.
Kael spat to the side, snarling.
"Stand if you want. I'll carve you down until nothing remains!"
He lunged, his weapon screaming through the night. The impact rang out, shattering the stones beneath their feet. Dust billowed, swallowing them whole. For a moment, Le Wai vanished within it.
When the haze cleared—he was still there. His sword arm shook violently, barely able to hold the guard, but the blade had not fallen.
And then it happened.
A pulse.
It started faint, a single thrum that reverberated from deep within Le Wai's chest. His body felt as if it were being torn apart, every nerve aflame, yet the ember inside him roared—feeding on the pain, devouring the despair.
The glow around him, once flickering, now steadied. No longer a weak spark, but a flame—small, unstable, but alive.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Impossible…"
The mastermind's voice cut through the air, laced with sudden sharpness.
"No. This is—"
But his words were drowned by the sound of fire igniting.
Le Wai's body blazed with light, gold threaded with streaks of crimson. The wounds across his flesh still bled, his frame still shook on the edge of ruin, yet something greater began to stir. The ember was no longer just a remnant of will—it was a seed, breaking open, releasing the power buried within.
Le Wai's voice rose, steadier now, carried by the flame surging through his veins.
"You think I fight because I can win…"
He lifted his sword, the glow wrapping around the steel like a second edge.
"…but I fight because I refuse to fall!"
The shadows recoiled. Even the beasts circling froze, their instincts screaming of danger.
Kael bared his teeth and roared, swinging with all his might, black fire crashing against the newborn light.
The clash tore the night apart.
Stone shattered, air split, and the battlefield itself groaned beneath the collision.
And in the heart of it all, Le Wai stood—not whole, not unbroken, but burning brighter than ever.
The ember had awakened.