The roar that had torn the sky apart abruptly faded.
The two divine forces ceased their clash, and the world was plunged into a deathly silence.
High above, the clouds split into colossal cracks while entire mountain ranges floated over the forest canopy, suspended by the residual mana that had just torn through the heavens. The power emanating from Velyrion weakened until it went out, like a candle flame devoured by the wind.
Alejandro looked up, as did Xiomara. Drago and Leonardo remained frozen in place; none of them could process what they had just witnessed.
Then the forest collapsed.
The trunks twisted grotesquely as roots convulsed beneath the ground. Gravity seemed to lose its center: stones, branches, and fragments of corpses floated a few inches into the air before dropping heavily back down. The atmosphere vibrated with a distorted pulse, and the distances between the trees warped, as if reality itself were being torn apart.
Then someone breathed among the corpses.
Alejandro turned his head.
Another body rose.
Then another.
And another.
Leonardo paled.
—That's impossible...
A figure emerged from the mist.
Dayana D'Angelo Rossetti.
Her ivory skin reflected the fractured light filtering through the clouds. Her dress hung in tatters, and a trail of fine cuts covered her body. She was breathing heavily, but an unyielding smile played across her lips.
Behind her, the fallen began to stir. One. Then another. Dozens of dead warriors slowly rose, moving in sharp, jerking motions as threads of dark mana snaked through their limbs like crimson veins.
Alejandro took a stunned step backward.
—What...?
Dayana remained silent.
There was something else.
An imperceptible force shrouded in mystery: an invisible pressure surrounded the vampire's body, subtly warping the space around her to stabilize her wounds and compensate for every movement she made.
Dayana sensed it without needing to look.
A broad smile spread across her face.
A personal favor. A favor from Lusian.
Without that support, facing four heroes after such divine exhaustion would have been suicide.
Dayana raised her hand.
The horde of corpses stopped as one.
—Your god has fallen —she declared, letting her gaze wander across the warriors' stricken faces—. And you're still waiting for someone to come down and save you.
Alejandro tightened his grip on his sword. Xiomara bent her knees, ready for the clash. Leonardo raised his shield, while Drago clenched both fists around his weapon.
—You're not going to face all of us alone... are you? —Xiomara challenged.
Dayana gave a soft, disdainful laugh.
—No —she said, slowly closing her fingers—. That would be a waste.
The corpses charged in a chaotic wave.
Drago was the first to react. He lunged forward with brutal force, but Dayana did not even flinch. Her pupils locked onto him.
—Drago...
Her fingers transformed into blazing claws.
—You should have been mine.
She vanished.
Drago barely had time to raise his weapon before a crimson flash tore through the darkness.
Dayana materialized behind him.
The hero froze.
A thin red line appeared across his neck, followed by another.
His body began to lose its balance.
—Drago! —Xiomara screamed.
Drago dropped to one knee in the mud, but he did not collapse lifelessly.
Dayana's precision had been millimetric.
She had not intended to decapitate him.
She had intended to open him up.
The vampire approached and drove two fingers into the open wound.
Drago released a horrific scream.
A filament of blood-colored essence emerged from the wound and coiled around the vampire's fingers. The shadows beneath them began to intertwine, and Drago convulsed violently as the light faded from his eyes.
—Let him go! —Alejandro roared.
—No —she smiled.
She violently pulled on the strand of mana.
Drago convulsed one final time and collapsed onto the ground.
For one suspended instant, no one dared to breathe.
—Drago... —Xiomara whispered, paralyzed.
His body remained motionless in the mud...
Until his fingers twisted.
Crack.
The dull snap of a joint.
Crack.
Another.
The hero began to rise.
The sword that had slipped from his hands was picked up by his lifeless fingers. His neck remained bent at a grotesque, unnatural angle, and his gaze had become completely empty.
—No... —Xiomara murmured in horror.
Dayana emerged from the mist behind him as the blood coating her claws slowly evaporated.
—He shouldn't still be alive —she admitted, studying the creature with morbid curiosity—. But I'm fascinated to see how much pain a hero can endure.
Dayana's shadow stretched across the ground until it merged with Drago's.
The warrior convulsed once more and raised his head.
Empty.
Relentless.
Obedient.
—Drago! —Xiomara ran toward him.
He raised his sword slowly.
—Stop! —Leonardo shouted—. Don't attack him!
Too late.
Drago lunged with savage fury.
Xiomara barely dodged the thrust, which passed within inches of her face and shattered a tree behind her.
—Drago, it's me!
No answer came from the puppet's lips.
Alejandro rushed between them and blocked the strike at the last possible moment.
The impact was so brutal that it dragged him several meters backward across the mud.
—What the hell did you do to him?! —he roared, struggling back to his feet.
Dayana tilted her head calmly.
—I touched him where it hurts most.
Drago charged again.
Alejandro deflected the first strike.
Then the second.
But on the third, the flesh puppet changed the angle with overwhelming strength and sent him flying into the trunk of a tree.
Leonardo clenched his jaw in desperation.
—Don't attack him to kill! He's still breathing!
—For now —Dayana replied with a smile.
But her voice betrayed her weakness.
Alejandro stared at her and understood immediately.
The vampire was paying an enormous price.
Her breathing had become irregular, and a faint tremor ran through her body. Every time Drago moved, the blood-colored shadow connecting them pulsed violently.
Controlling a hero's will was tearing through her reserves.
But Drago did not stop.
He advanced like an tireless automaton.
Strike after strike.
Without feeling pain.
Without hearing their pleas.
Without hesitation.
He responded only to a primal command:
Kill.
Xiomara hastily cast a binding seal.
—Stop!
A barrier of sacred light rose around Drago.
The hero raised his blade and, with a single brutal slash, shattered the magical prison into fragments.
—That's impossible...
Drago resumed his advance.
Alejandro tried to restrain him from behind, but the hero's body spun with unnatural violence and slammed him hard into the ground.
Leonardo charged with his shield raised.
—Drago!
The puppet raised his sword.
Leonardo clenched his teeth and whispered a bitter prayer.
—Forgive me.
Steel collided.
Leonardo managed to deflect the blade, but the edge carved a deep gash across his shoulder, sending blood spraying into the air.
Drago did not even blink.
Xiomara stared at him in horror.
—Drago...
For a fraction of a second, their eyes met through the mist.
Xiomara froze.
Something deep within his pupils had trembled.
Barely a flicker.
But she saw it.
—Drago?
The hero's worn lips moved awkwardly.
—Xio...
His voice was barely an agonized whisper.
Xiomara took a desperate step toward him.
—Yes! It's me!
Drago seemed to be waging a titanic battle within himself.
—Run...
Xiomara suddenly remembered every time he had called her that.
She had never heard her name sound so weak.
The shadow buried his eyes once again, and his arm raised the sword with renewed strength.
Xiomara froze in place, unable to defend herself.
—No...
Dayana collapsed onto one knee as the earth around her cracked.
—I can't... anymore... —she gasped.
The shadow connection began to flicker.
Alejandro saw the failure and understood immediately.
—Now!
Xiomara shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
—No!
—Xiomara!
—It's Drago! He's still in there!
Drago raised his blade above her and began bringing down the killing blow.
—Xiomara, down! —Leonardo shouted.
She instinctively ducked.
Alejandro appeared behind Drago with no time to hesitate or think. He drove his sword forward.
The steel pierced through the hero's back and emerged from his chest.
Drago's body convulsed.
Xiomara looked up.
He stared directly at her.
For one brief moment, the spark of life returned to his eyes.
His lips parted, but he did not manage to say her name.
He only released one final breath before the light in his eyes vanished forever.
The darkness covering him peeled away from his body like ash carried by the wind.
As the bond broke, Dayana let out a sharp, agonized scream.
The blood suspended in the air dropped all at once onto the mud, and the crimson mist dissipated.
The vampire clutched her chest, gasping for breath.
—This... isn't over...
Her silhouette began to blur.
—Dayana! —Alejandro roared.
She offered the darkness a faint smile.
—Tell Lusian...
The sentence died with her as her body transformed into a dense cloud of black smoke that vanished into the forest.
She had exhausted every last drop of mana.
Maintaining the spell for even one second longer would have cost her life.
Alejandro remained motionless before slowly pulling the blade from Drago's body.
The hero fell forward.
Xiomara threw herself to the ground and caught him before he hit the mud.
—Drago... —she held him against her chest—. Drago, please, wake up...
Only silence answered her.
Leonardo lowered his head, defeated.
Alejandro clenched his fists until they hurt.
No one spoke a word.
Around them, the battle continued.
The sky remained shattered.
Armies still clashed on the horizon.
But for a few brief, unbearable seconds, the entire world seemed to have stopped.
Drago was dead.