The courtyard quaked beneath the widening rift. Crimson light poured from the Obsidian Spire's summit, staining the shattered marble in hellish hues. From that wound flowed demons—molten‐tusked boars, shadow‐laced imps, and winged nightmares whose wails rent the night.
Rayan's heart hammered as he raised the Timeless Blade. Its runes pulsed in furious cadence with the portal's hungry glow.
I. First Clash
A towering war‐boar charged Yeon, flames licking his cloak. Yeon stumbled back, pain flaring as the heat seared his boots. He gritted his teeth and summoned a spray of blood‐forged shards.
Yeon (snarling): "Frostfang Torrent!"
Razor‐cold blades erupted in a glittering arc—tusks shivered and snapped off, but another boar slammed into him, knocking wind from his lungs. Yeon gasped, clutching his side.
Cezar—bearing the snarling ears and bristling tail of his hybrid form—rushed in. His claws crackled with violet lightning.
Cezar (roar): "Hybrid Thunderclaw!"
He ripped through molten hide, electricity dancing across its wound. The boar collapsed—then spasmed back to life, molten blood steaming.
Tonio's voice cut through the chaos, calm but iron‐strong. From the cracked stone sprang up emerald chains of thorned ivy.
Tonio: "Verdant Chains of Judgment!"
The thorns ensnared another boar mid‐charge, petals of razor‐sharp leaves whirling like a cyclone. Tonio's brow glistened with sweat—each chant ripping from his throat in measured bursts. The creature pounded against its bonds, half the vines blackening under its heat, but Tonio anchored them with a final, fierce invocation:
"By life's breath… by earth's embrace!"
II. Rayan's Sacrifice
Rayan closed his eyes against the carnage. The blade at his side thrummed like a second pulse. All around, demons surged, claws splintering stone.
I can't falter now—not with so many depending on me.
He drew a lungful of air and whispered:
Rayan: "Chronostasis."
Time stuttered. Flames froze in mid‐leap, imps hung suspended, and Rayan dashed through the frozen torrent. Each step was agony—his lungs burned, his muscles trembled—but he pressed on, slashing phantom wolves mid‐air.
Rayan (softly): "Flow."
Time snapped back. Dozens of demons collapsed in crumbling ash. Rayan staggered, vision blurring with exhaustion.
III. The Watcher Emerges
A guttural roar rolled from the rift's heart. The Watcher of Dawn materialized—six eyes blazing, six limbs poised for carnage. Its voice echoed in reverse:
Watcher: "Your defiance falters…"
It slammed a gauntleted fist into the ground. The courtyard shook; time‐wards unraveled.
Yeon swayed as his mana flickered out.
Yeon: "My power… it's draining!"
Cezar hobbled forward on one leg—flesh torn, scales smoldering—only to be swept aside by the Watcher's tail. He crashed into a pillar with bone‐crunching force.
Cezar (gritted teeth): "I—won't—stop!"
IV. Reality Unbound
Reality fractured in a terrible symphony:
Imps blinked backward—uncounted.
Boars stampeded in reverse, then lunged anew.
Hell‐bats swooped up from puddles of ash.
Tonio's last vines wilted. He fell to one knee, chest heaving:
Tonio: "I… can't hold them!"
V. Rayan's Ultimate Gambit
Rayan staggered to the spire's edge, blade planted. A single thought pulsed: I must end this.
He pressed both palms to the hilt, eyes ablaze with determination.
Rayan: "Time… Severance."
A pulse of void‐light shattered clocks in the Spire. The air went silent.
Rayan (echoing): "Null Hour."
A dome of shimmering darkness enveloped them—drowning demon roars, crushing spectral limbs.
VI. Elzure's Taunt
A swirl of ink-black flame coalesced at the portal. Elzure stepped forth, wings of ember behind him. He flung a shard of clockwork—Kael's broken wing—across the courtyard.
Elzure (soft smile): "By dawn's light, your world will drown in demon blood… and the blade you clutch will carve its epitaph."
He faded as Null Hour snapped—and the dome shattered. A violent gasp of time hurled demons forward, unhindered.
VII. Herald of the Blood Moon
Beneath the rift, a second tear opened—wider, darker. Armies of skeletal knights in fiery armor and a towering Herald bound in living chains poured forth, shrieking their death‐dirge.
Tonio collapsed against a scorched pillar:
Tonio (hoarse whisper): "We're… finished."
Yeon's knees buckled.
Yeon: "This… can't be real."
Cezar rose on trembling legs, tail lashing.
Cezar: "Then let's make it a nightmare they regret."
Rayan planted his feet, blade glowing a defiant ember.
Rayan (steady): "This is our stand. For Arcania… and for each other."
Side by side, the four weary warriors braced themselves—bloodied, broken, but unbowed—against the gathering darkness.
End of Chapter 20