The kingdom's square was packed.
Sacred bells tolled from the bell towers, and the temple banners fluttered above a crowd consumed by furious devotion. Thousands of people celebrated the arrival of the newly chosen champions, presented by the Church as the gods' answer following the massacre of the last Crusade.
Yet among the new faces, one veteran figure stood out: Leonardo.
The Hero of Lightning was still alive, his armor bearing the scars of battle and a deep cut across his eyebrow. He had lost his squad and watched legendary warriors die, but he refused to accept that the war was lost.
Beside him stood the newly appointed champions: Aldric, Hero of Light; Maelia, Hero of Fire; and Branor, Hero of Darkness.
The four listened as the priests proclaimed their names from the platform. They were young, and the sacred mana that had only recently been injected into their bodies burned through their veins like a drug.
Leonardo knew it perfectly well. That was why he had spoken to them minutes before appearing before the people.
—They didn't defeat us in a fair fight —he had told them in the shadows—. It was a trap. Lusian was fighting on home ground: the mana of the Douglas Duchy and its armies moved to his rhythm. We were fighting an entire fiefdom at once. But that's over now.
—And then? —Maelia had glanced sideways at him.
—Now he's alone.
The statement changed the air between them.
—The priests were clear: the order is to wait for the next Crusade —Aldric reminded him.
—The priests weren't there during the massacre —Leonardo growled, touching his weapon harness—. I was. If we wait, Lusian will disappear from the map, find a hiding place, and gather troops again. If we let him breathe, we'll lose our advantage.
Branor clenched his teeth.
—We have to kill him before he disappears.
—Exactly.
None of the newly anointed champions understood the difference between receiving divine power and surviving an actual war. Not even Leonardo fully understood it himself, but he had a reason to keep fighting, and he needed the others to follow him.
Before the sea of people, the new heroes raised their weapons into the air.
The square erupted.
—The chosen have returned!
—The gods protect us!
—Death to the Devil!
The voices merged into a single unified roar.
Leonardo, standing one step behind them, silently watched the scene when he noticed someone hurrying onto the platform.
A priestess dropped to her knees before him.
—Hero Leonardo.
—What is it?
—The orders have changed. —The woman raised a scroll bearing an intact seal—. The temple demands that the new chosen ones wait for the formation of the next Crusade.
The air grew heavy.
Leonardo clenched his teeth.
—Wait?
—It is the decree of the Church.
Leonardo looked at the three young men smiling beneath the applause. Then he thought of the massacre at the Duchy, of his dead comrades, and of Lusian breathing peacefully somewhere out there.
He slowly shook his head.
—No.
The priestess went pale.
—Hero?
—I'm not waiting. —Leonardo stepped down from the platform with firm strides—. He's alone. This is our chance.
Aldric immediately hesitated.
—But the decree...
Leonardo turned to look at him.
—Are you going to go back to your temple and tell them you saw the beast and let it escape?
The young man pressed his lips together in silence.
Leonardo gave him a sideways smile.
—That's what I thought.
Maelia started walking after him without a second thought. Branor followed immediately. After a moment of hesitation, Aldric had no choice but to join them.
The crowd erupted into confused cheers while the high clergy tried unsuccessfully to stop them.
It was already too late.
The new heroes had power coursing through their veins, and, like everyone who had fallen before them, they had made the classic mistake of believing themselves immortal.
When they reached the city where Lusian was hiding, the heroes found no walls, armies, or patrols.
Only a handful of travelers crossed the main street beneath a heavy silence.
Leonardo smiled faintly.
—See? He's running. In the Duchy, he needed an entire fiefdom to stop us. Here, he has nothing.
Aldric examined the deserted streets suspiciously.
—Are you sure?
—Completely.
—How curious.
The voice echoed from the far end of the avenue.
All four stopped dead.
Lusian was standing there.
No armor. No escort. No army.
He carried only his sheathed sword and a gray cloak saturated with dust.
He looked exhausted.
Branor saw him.
He no longer saw a man.
He saw pure darkness.
A primordial shadow whose mere presence made the buried blessing deep within his soul tremble.
His pupils dilated, flooded with terror. Strength abandoned his fingers, and the heavy weapon slipped from his hands, crashing onto the ground.
—What...?
He tried to step backward, to put some distance between them, but his legs trembled until they betrayed him completely.
One knee struck the cobblestones hard.
Branor's eyes widened as horror suffocated him.
—No...
The blessing pulsed violently inside him.
What he felt was not the paralysis of fear.
It was recognition.
An atavistic pulse. An irrational, overwhelming need to bow before the thing standing before him.
He clenched his teeth until they creaked and desperately struggled to stand, but his own body flatly refused to obey his mind.
Panic devoured him from within.
The Church had taught him from childhood that the sacred mark represented the goddess's immaculate will.
Then why was his blessing bowing before Lusian?
Why did the light in his veins recognize the shadows as their true master?
He barely managed to raise his gaze.
Lusian was still there, exhausted, covered in dust, staring at him with genuine confusion.
Even he seemed unable to understand the involuntary devotion he was provoking.
Leonardo, blinded by adrenaline, interpreted Branor's submission as simple cowardice.
—What the hell are you doing? —he snapped furiously.
The shadow surrounding Lusian expanded for a single heartbeat, barely a fleeting pulse through the air.
But it was more than enough.
A colossal weight crushed Branor's will, forcing his body to bow.
It was not the paralyzing fear of a cornered prey.
It was something infinitely worse.
Devotion.
The divine blessing screamed inside him.
Branor clenched his teeth until they creaked, desperately fighting against the overwhelming force trying to bend his neck.
—What the hell... is happening to me...? —he gasped, breathless.
Leonardo drew his sword with a metallic clang.
—This time, there's no Duchy to save you.
Lusian held his gaze for a tense second.
—I don't want to fight.
Maelia let out a contemptuous laugh.
—Is that all?
—Yes.
Lusian rubbed his eyes.
He had barely rested since the fall of the Duchy. Kheris's presence continued to grow inside him, intertwining with his flesh and mana in a disturbing way he still did not understand.
—Turn around —he warned—. You still have time.
Leonardo tightened his grip until his knuckles turned white.
—Time for what?
—To stay alive.
A blue bolt of lightning raced across the hero's armor.
—Now!
Leonardo disappeared from sight in an instant.
Lusian barely had time to turn his head.
The blade was already descending relentlessly, aimed at severing his neck.
But his body reacted before his mind could.
A tide of darkness erupted violently from beneath his feet, rising like a living shield.
The blade stopped dead, suspended mere millimeters from his skin.
The clash of forces made the air vibrate.
Lusian's eyes widened in confusion.
—What...?
Leonardo gritted his teeth and struggled against the weapon, but the blade would not move even a millimeter. The shadows held it like an invisible vise.
—What the hell...?
Lusian glanced at the shadows winding around his legs.
Confusion paralyzed him.
He did not understand what was happening inside him.
—I don't want to fight you —he murmured, almost pleading.
—Attack! —Maelia roared.
Aldric's sacred light blinded the avenue.
Maelia's fire surged behind her in a scorching torrent, while Branor charged forward like an unstoppable battering ram.
All four powers converged on a single point.
Lusian instinctively stepped backward.
The darkness beneath his feet spread across the ground in waves.
—Wait!
It was too late.
The flames struck the mass of shadows and vanished instantly.
Aldric's light began to warp and twist upon contact, devoured by a ravenous force.
Branor was the first to reach Lusian, but his blow never reached its target.
A pulse of pure shadow detonated from Lusian's chest, sending Branor flying through the air until he crashed into the façade of a building.
Bricks were pulverized upon impact.
Maelia lost control of her own element. The fire rejected her, and she dropped to her knees, choking.
Aldric desperately raised a radiant barrier, but the moment the darkness touched the blessed surface, a web of cracks fractured it from top to bottom.
—That's impossible! —Aldric screamed, his face contorted with disbelief.
Lusian remained motionless amid the chaos, staring at his hands in horror.
—I didn't...
Leonardo gave him no respite and charged again.
—Stop! —Lusian shouted.
This time, the steel tore through the darkness and pierced his shoulder.
Pure pain raced along his spine.
And in that instant, something deep and merciless took control.
His bare hand closed around the blade.
The metal groaned, cracked, and snapped in two as though it were glass.
Leonardo froze, staring at the useless stump of blade remaining in his grip.
Then he raised his eyes toward Lusian.
—No...
Lusian dropped the broken piece of sword to the ground.
The impact of the metal echoed through the silence.
—I told you I didn't want to fight.
Leonardo remained frozen, staring at the broken remains of his weapon.
—No...
Lusian raised his gaze, just as terrified as they were by the monstrous power he had just unleashed.
Leonardo staggered backward.
For the first time since he had begun hunting him, he no longer saw the enemy he had fought in the Duchy.
He saw an unknown.
He saw something infinitely worse.
—Leonardo!
A woman's voice burst from a side alley.
The hero turned his head.
Elizabeth was walking toward them.
Her very presence had changed.
It was not a change that could easily be expressed in words, but rather a subtle, elegant darkness surrounding her, as though shadow itself bowed in reverence to her existence.
Leonardo stared at her in utter disbelief.
—Elizabeth...
She did not even spare him a glance.
Her eyes were fixed on Lusian.
—Are you hurt?
Lusian slowly shook his head.
—No.
Elizabeth closed the distance and took his hand.
The darkness winding around Lusian's arm reacted to her touch, calming slightly.
Leonardo went pale.
—What are you doing?
Only then did Elizabeth look at him.
There was no fear in her eyes. No doubt.
There was not even the slightest trace of the sister he believed he knew.
—What I should have done all along.
Leonardo swallowed with difficulty.
—I'm your brother.
Elizabeth offered him a small smile.
Almost a kind one.
—And he is my family.
Leonardo understood that diplomacy was dead.
There were no bonds of blood, shared memories, or years of loyalty left to appeal to.
Nothing.
—So... you chose.
Elizabeth gently shook her head.
—I never had to choose.
Lusian looked at her in confusion, but before he could ask, another figure emerged behind her.
Emily.
Aldric froze instantly.
Maelia did the same.
The new Hero of Light stared at the woman walking beside Lusian, and the color drained from her face.
—You...
For several tense seconds, neither of them spoke.
Aldric frowned in confusion.
—You know her?
The new hero tightened her grip on her weapon, barely containing her rage.
—It's Emily.
The former Hero of Light.
The woman who, according to the Church's doctrine, had died a martyr.
Emily smiled bitterly, exhaustion etched across her face.
—I suppose they already found a replacement for me.
The new hero clenched her teeth in fury.
—You're a traitor!
Emily said nothing.
She looked down at the palm of her hand, where veins pulsed beneath the skin, stained by the curse.
The new hero's sacred light reacted, striking against her like a radiant whip.
Emily took a step backward—not from weakness, but because the purity of that mana caused unbearable agony.
The new hero's eyes widened in shock.
—What did they do to you?
Emily lowered her gaze.
—Nothing I wasn't willing to endure.
Leonardo watched them both: the old relic and the new instrument of the gods.
And suddenly, the truth struck him with brutal clarity.
The gods did not need names.
They only needed vessels.
If one broke, another took its place.
He himself was just as disposable as Emily had been.
He realized he was about to discover just how much a simple hero could endure against a horror beyond the reach of divine authority.
—All together! —Leonardo roared.
The three heroes obeyed as one.
Lusian watched them advance in one final desperate charge.
Leonardo.
Aldric.
Maelia.
Branor.
For a fraction of a second, time seemed to freeze.
Lusian remembered the cold steel against his throat.
He remembered the piercing pain of the blade through his shoulder.
He remembered begging them to stop.
Once.
And then again.
He closed his eyes.
—Enough.
Darkness exploded from his core.
This time, Lusian did not move a single finger to suppress it.
Maelia's flames vanished in an instant, devoured by the shadowy tide.
Aldric's blessed barrier shattered like fragile glass, and a colossal shockwave hurled Branor through the air, sending him flying several meters away.
Leonardo endured the impact.
Barely.
He planted his boots into the ground, cracking the cobblestones beneath them, and struggled forward against the current of twisting shadows.
—I'm not stopping!
Lusian opened his eyes.
The terror and doubt had vanished from his gaze, leaving behind only infinite exhaustion.
—Then neither will I.
The darkness struck with the force of an avalanche.
Leonardo was hurled away like a puppet with its strings cut, crashing straight through a stone wall.
The thunderous collapse shook the entire street.
As the dust from the rubble began to settle, Lusian remained motionless amid the devastation, breathing heavily.
He looked down at his hands, stained by traces of dark mana.
This time, he made no excuses.
This time, he did not claim that the shadow had acted on its own.
He knew exactly what he had done.
And it was precisely that awareness that chilled his blood.
Elizabeth gazed at the destruction with absolute serenity.
Emily did the same.
Neither showed the slightest hint of surprise.
Among the rubble, Leonardo tried to stand, but his body refused to respond.
Blood streamed down his forehead, blinding one eye.
—It's... impossible...
Lusian began walking toward him.
Leonardo tried to stand one last time, dropping to his knees among the broken stones.
—I can... still fight.
Lusian shook his head sadly.
—No.
A spear of shadow erupted from the ground and pierced the hero's chest from side to side.
Leonardo fell face-first onto the cobblestones.
Only silence remained.
Aldric stared at the corpse with wide, disbelieving eyes.
His breathing became erratic and ragged.
—No...
Maelia tried to rise, but her arms trembled violently before giving out again.
Branor could not even lift his head from the mud.
The new Hero of Light shifted her gaze from Emily to Lusian, and finally to Leonardo's lifeless body.
In that moment of absolute clarity, she understood the merciless truth the Temple priests had never confessed to her:
A divine blessing could elevate a mortal above their peers, but it could never make them invincible.
Lusian turned toward the survivors.
—Leave.
None of them dared to answer.
—Next time —Lusian continued, his voice hoarse, rough with exhaustion and tinged with a coldness that did not seem entirely human—there will be no forgiveness.
Even he did not understand where those words had come from.
But the entity awakening in his blood knew with absolute certainty.
Far away, at the summit of the Celestial World, a divine bell began to toll with a metallic, glacial echo.
The gods had just lost another pawn.
And this time, the lesson had been devastating:
Their mortal champions were no longer enough to contain what was coming.
High above in the Celestial World, before the Throne of Darkness, the goddess opened her eyes.
She had felt the disturbance.
Her hero had found something.
Something connected to Kheris.
Something that made her own blessing tremble.
—What did you find...? —she whispered.