The vast, ancient square of the medieval town lay blanketed under the frigid luminescence of a radiant full moon. Its silvery light gleamed off the slick, rain-soaked cobblestones like a dark mirror. At the heart of the square stood an imposing Gothic clock tower, its jagged spires piercing the night sky. But toward the southern district, the scene was one of utter desolation crumbling architecture, roaring flames, billowing pillars of black smoke, and fractured roads strewn with the twisted debris of wrought-iron benches.
Near one of those shattered benches lay Vortan.
His garments were reduced to blood-stained rags, and crimson lifeblood welled uncontrollably from his lips. He drew slow, ragged breaths, his chest heaving with agonizing effort. His internal mana reserves were utterly spent, leaving him a hollow shell on the verge of death.
A short distance away, Chris hovered on the brink of collapse. Blood trickled from his mouth, his knees trembled violently, and his body screamed at him to yield. Yet, a fierce flame still burned behind his eyes.
I must stay standing, Chris swore silently to himself, forcing his exhausted limbs to obey. For Leo... for Ray... I have to push forward. It doesn't matter if I'm on the threshold of death. I am a Captain. I failed to protect my people once, but I will not fail again. Not tonight. Never again!
Steels of resolve locked into place, Chris forced himself forward, taking two agonizing steps.
A few yards ahead stood Marcus, cradling an infant in his arms. A twisted, sadistic grin stretched across his face. Widening his smile, he taunted, "I would applaud your pathetic struggle, Captain, but my hands are a bit occupied. I brought this wretched fool Vortan here merely for your entertainment, yet he broke so easily."
Marcus flicked his gaze from the bloody wreck on the cobblestones back to Chris, his tone dripping with mockery. "I must admit, you all put on quite a marvelous performance. I truly enjoyed it! I'd love to give you a standing ovation, but as you can see, I am holding precious cargo. Ah well—bye-bye! My work here is done."
Marcus looked up toward the zenith of the full moon. Suddenly, the muscles across his back ruptured with a gruesome tear, sprouting two massive wings constructed entirely of hardened blood. With a powerful sweep of his crimson wings, he launched himself into the night air.
Then, mid-flight, an anomalous sensation hit him.
Marcus glanced toward his left wing, only to freeze in sheer disbelief—both of his blood-formed wings had been severed clean through the air. Losing his equilibrium, he plummeted toward the earth. At the last second, he braced himself and stuck a sharp landing upon the fractured stone.
"You insolent brats!" Marcus snarled, his face contorting in rage as he glared at the two figures stepping out from the shadows. "Why do you keep crossing my path?! Are you so eager to die for nothing?!"
Leo and Ray advanced with measured, lethal steps. Leo had already unsheathed his katana, his eyes blazing with absolute focus. Ray's aura flickered dangerously beside him.
"Come then," Marcus whispered, a sinister smile creeping back onto his lips.
Leo tightened his grip on the hilt. Instantly, his blade was engulfed in a Dark Red Aura that billowed like thick smoke before erupting into dancing crimson flames. With every subtle movement, the katana left a scorching trail of heat in the air.
With a roaring arc, Leo swung his blade, unleashing a massive, crescent-shaped wave of fiery destruction.
Marcus executed a vaulting leap into the air. The flaming wave tore beneath him, cleanly bisecting a thick steel lamppost behind him as if it were mere parchment.
"You've grown stronger," Marcus mused, landing gracefully. "Who on earth has been training you?"
"That is none of your concern!" Leo barked.
Before the sound of his voice faded, Marcus vanished into thin air. In the next microsecond, his lethal Blood Blade cleaved through the atmosphere, aiming directly for Leo's neck.
CLANG!
Leo brought up his flaming katana just in time, parrying the strike. The kinetic collision generated a violent shockwave, shattering the surrounding stone structures into dust. Seizing the momentum, Marcus swept his hand, generating dozens of razor-sharp Crimson Lances in mid-air that hurtled toward Leo and Ray like a torrential volley.
"Lightning Burst!" Ray roared.
Crackling blue electricity erupted from Ray's body, detonating half of the blood spears mid-flight, while Leo obliterated the remainder with a single, scorching horizontal arc.
Marcus immediately slammed his palm toward the cobblestones. "Blood Prison!"
The earth fractured, and ethereal chains of blood sprouted from the fissures to bind Leo. Unfazed, Leo channeled his energy into an Inferno Crimson Slash. A tempest of fiery crimson incinerated the crimson chains into harmless ash.
Capitalizing on the opening, Ray surged forward at lightning velocity. "Thunder Fang!"
Ray plunged a lightning-infused fist straight toward Marcus's chest. Marcus raised a single hand, manifesting a dense blood shield that absorbed the strike completely—keeping the infant safely cradled in his other arm. Simultaneously, several ethereal Blood Serpents manifested from Marcus's shadow, lunging at Ray and forcing him to weave backward in a rapid series of evasive maneuvers.
Leo re-engaged instantly. The collision of his flaming katana against Marcus's blood blade sent showers of sparks and droplets of crimson essence soaring into the night sky. Frustrated, Marcus thrust his hand toward the heavens.
"Scarlet Rain!"
Thousands of needle-thin blood daggers rained down from the clouds. Ray immediately canceled his lightning, igniting scorching fire in both palms. "Infernal Pillar!" he bellowed. Erupting pillars of flame swept skyward, vaporizing the blood needles before they could hit the ground.
Using the blinding flash as coverage, Ray moved like a lightning strike. He breached Marcus's defense, snatched the baby securely into his arms, and leaped backward to safety.
"Leo!" Ray shouted.
Without turning his head, Leo gave a subtle nod and positioned himself like an immovable rampart between Marcus and Ray.
Marcus's face twisted in unbridled fury. Both combatants dashed forward. Their blades clashed in a furious flurry, scattering red embers in all directions. Marcus executed a cunning feint; as Leo blocked the upper strike, Marcus drove a brutal knee directly into Leo's midsection, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him into the earth with catastrophic force.
BOOM!
The ground buckled, unleashing a thick cloud of debris. As Leo struggled to rise, Marcus brought his boot down heavily upon his chest, pinning him into the crater. Marcus's eyes burned with a murderous intensity. He raised a single finger, pointing it directly at Leo's heart.
Vampiric blood began to condense rapidly at his fingertip, forming a glowing, highly volatile beam of crimson energy.
"Now... I will end you," Marcus hissed through gritted teeth.
The destructive beam prepared to tear through Leo's chest—when suddenly, an appalling aura descended upon the square.
It was an aura of absolute, malevolent killing intent so overwhelming that time itself seemed to freeze. Both Leo and Marcus were instantly paralyzed, turned to stone by sheer, primal dread.
In the very next instant—CRACK!
Without a sound or a visible attack, all five fingers on Marcus's raised hand were severed simultaneously, flying into the air!
Marcus bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, suppressing a scream as pain flared through his nervous system. Summoning every ounce of courage, he glanced to his right. A shattered piece of an iron bench was floating ominously in air before crashing heavily onto the ground.
Leo, breaking free from the paralyzing dread, seized the opening. With a swift swing of his katana, he severed Marcus's entire right wrist!
Marcus stumbled back, clutching his arm. Within seconds, his wrist began to regenerate, sprouting new tissue like a blooming plant. Yet, his expression paled with genuine terror when he realized his severed fingers were not growing back. Worse still, he couldn't sense the presence or location of this unknown entity at all.
Suddenly, Leo's senses flared. He felt an ominous vibration—a massive horde of thousands of Orcs and Goblins was charging recklessly toward the town square.
"It seems you feel it too," Marcus sneered, his panic mounting as he glanced at the sky. The full moon was slowly beginning to wane. "They are coming. They will reduce everything to cinders while I fulfill my mission!"
Marcus lunged desperately toward Ray to reclaim the child, but Leo intercepted him, driving a devastating knee straight into Marcus's face. Blood spurted from Marcus's nose as he recoiled. Leo pressed the advantage, delivering a relentless flurry of aggression. A jagged slash tore through Marcus's shoulder, another opened his abdomen, and a third sent him reeling.
Taking to the air, Leo delivered a spinning downward slash with his flaming katana straight into Marcus's chest.
BOOM!
Marcus crashed through a succession of ruined stone walls before slumping into the rubble. Leo gave him no quarter, appearing before him instantly and raining down continuous slashes. The sheer force numb Marcus's arms, pushing his feet deep into the shattered pavement. Finally, Leo delivered a devastating kick to Marcus's sternum, sending him airborne once more.
Terror consumed Marcus. As he watched the moon recede further into the horizon, desperation overtook him. Pointing a trembling hand at Leo, he unleashed a fast, concentrated beam of blood. It pierced straight through the muscle of Leo's shoulder.
Leo collapsed to his knees with a gasp of agony, his grip slackening as his katana clattered against the cobblestones.
"I won't kill you just yet!" Marcus cackled maniacally. "I'll leave you broken and breathing, so you can watch with your own eyes as thousands of monsters tear this town to pieces!"
Marcus opened his mouth to laugh further, but his instincts suddenly screamed.
THWACK!
A colossal, jagged broadsword burst straight through the center of Marcus's chest from behind.
Holding the massive hilt was a towering, 2.5-meter figure clad in a tattered, pitch-black robe. Thick, rusted metallic bangles adorned both of its monstrous wrists.
The entity released its grip on the sword and spoke in a deep, unnatural voice that vibrated through the earth itself.
"You have displeased Lord Null..." the giant rumbled coldly. "You presumed too much, took matters into your own hands, and ultimately accomplished nothing. The full moon wanes, and you have failed."
With a brutal twist, the figure shoved the blade even deeper into Marcus's torso before lifting him effortlessly off his feet. As the entity turned slightly, Leo gasped. Beneath the shadows of the dark hood, there was no flesh—only a towering, living Skeleton.
The skeletal behemoth gripped the writhing Marcus, raised its free hand, and tore a rift in the fabric of space. A brilliant, blinding light spilled out from the spatial portal alongside howling gales of ethereal wind.
Without an ounce of hesitation, the unknown entity hurled the defeated Marcus into the luminous rift like trash, before stepping through itself.
The portal snapped shut, leaving behind only quiet devastation, fading moonlight, and the distant, thunderous roars of an approaching monster horde.