The battlefield burned red. Ash drifted in the air like snowfall, mingling with the thick crimson mist that slithered through ruined streets. Screams echoed—human and inhuman alike—as steel clashed against claw, fang, and flesh.
Above it all, wings beat the air.
Bruno glided in wide arcs, scanning below where armored knights struggled against the tide. Their polished silver and black plate gleamed dully under the mist, swords dripping with ichor as they cut down abominations that crawled out of the smoke. Some knights rushed civilians into the safety of half-shattered chapels, others locked shields to form bulwarks where monsters hammered like waves against rock.
And at the center, Grey fought, carrying his twins in one hand whilst handling five monsters. Grey's saber moved with stark precision, cutting down the monsters.
He moved with a blunt ferocity, his blade a storm of weight and precision. Each strike felled an enemy, each step drove him deeper into the blood-soaked mire. His jaw was tight, eyes searching past the carnage.
"Grey!" Bruno called, swooping lower.
Grey skewered a beast through its throat, then lifted his head. "Where's Diana?" His voice carried like a command, desperate and sharp.
Bruno hesitated mid-flight. His wings stuttered. "I… lost her."
Grey froze for half a second, then his aura flared—an invisible shockwave rippling outward. He cut down the next monster with enough force to shatter bone and stone alike. "You what!?"
Bruno only grinned, perched lightly atop a toppled column. "Relax. She's tougher than both of us put together. She's probably carving her way through twice as many enemies right now."
Grey's teeth ground audibly. He wanted to believe it. But the anger in his strikes said otherwise. As more monsters surrounded Grey, Bruno snapped his fingers, his eyes cold and arrogant. The remaining monsters began to bloat until they were the size of the pillars. Blood remains splattering everywhere. Grey grits his teeth in annoyance. "Do you want chaos to find your kids?" his brows twitched.
Bruno's arms began to twitch, and he then sat on the pillar with one leg in a kneeling motion. Bruno smiles lightly, "We need to talk, Grey".
***Elsewhere***
She was alone.
The crimson mist coiled thick around her, whispering with shapes and shadows. Diana slammed her fist against the wall of a collapsed house, frustration burning in her chest. "Separated. Again. Damn it, Grey…"
But her fury twisted into something else. She straightened, a slow, predatory smile cutting across her lips. "Good. Now I don't have to hold back."
The mist thickened as if it knew what was coming. Diana grabbed her collar, shredding her dress, revealing a large black covering with gold dragon symbols on them. She then tied the remainder on her waist. --Magic always takes a toll on her.--- She sighed in exasperation. Originally, Diana was from a barbarian tribe. So even tho she was known as the grand ancestor of magic, her hand-to-hand combat was what made her fearful. A beast, ferocious in its hunt. Her armor answered her call, piece by piece—metal and living energy fusing to her form, locking into place around her legs, until she stood radiant and terrible, a weapon of flesh and steel. Her hair whipped in the mist like a banner of war.
Then came the first.
Jealousy slithered from the haze, a monstrous silhouette crowned with writhing crimson tentacles. Each one ended in a wide, suctioning maw that pulsed hungrily, dripping mist. Her movements were eerily mirrored—when Diana raised her blade, so did Jealousy. When Diana shifted her stance, the monster matched it perfectly.
Diana's grin widened. "So you want to copy me?"
She lunged—not with discipline, but with chaos. A feint, a stumble, an impossible twist. Her hands formed a blade carved through the mimicry's delay. Jealousy shrieked silently, tentacles spasming, before her form cracked apart into vapors that dissolved into nothingness.
One down.
The ground shook. Wrath emerged. He was lean, hollow-eyed, his body trembling with contained hunger. Every strike Diana landed bled into him, siphoned, stolen, leaving him stronger while she weakened.
But Diana was crueler than he was hungry. She fed him everything—all at once. A flood of false energy poured into his frame, more than his hollow vessel could hold. His body convulsed, bulged, then collapsed inward, consumed by his own gluttonous void.
Two down.
Diana exhaled, letting her shoulders fall. "Pathetic."
And then a blade, filled with corruption and crimson death, pierced her side.
The pain was immediate, sharp, and clean. Crimson mist rushed into the wound as she gasped. Behind her, Pride leaned in close, his form perfect, immaculate. His grip on the blade was steady, his eyes gleaming with quiet superiority.
"Pathetic," he repeated softly, his voice cultured, venom-laced. "Bruno couldn't even see me slip past. He's always been an idiot."
Diana's blood hit the stones, staining the crimson fog darker. She choked down a scream, her teeth bared.
But Pride only smirked, twisting the blade. Around them, the mist swallowed her cries, leaving only the echo of his voice: cold, merciless, dominant.
Meanwhile, not far off, the knights still fought desperately. Shield walls rattled under monstrous fists. Squires pulled screaming children from rubble. The clash of steel and the thunder of war filled the city. None of them yet knew that deeper in the mist, Diana had faced the Concepts—and though two were slain, Pride stood tall, blade deep in her side.
Pride's eyes glint with a cold, humorous light. Its eyes held disgust towards the sword it held in its clawed hands. He then sighed as his current form, that of a mercenary, began to shift, revealing a monster completely crimson; his whole body was in the form of a condensed crimson mist. Pride then opens his mouth, pointed toward the sky as he gathered red mist from all around the country of Ethel. All the concepts vaporizing into oblivion, the charred ashes of wrath, and the remaining pieces of jealousy turned to mist gathering towards him.
Pride sensed a presence. It then turned to meet a dark, monstrous entity in front of it. This entity held Diana in its hands. Tears flowing from it.
"I guess I was late, huh? "The shadow figure said as he caressed her cheeks. " I thought you said we would die together?" Bruno's voice, raspy and questioning. --How had they gotten here? I thought I could win against chaos. I guess it was idiotic of me to have thought that. --- He appeared before Pride and taking the sword filled with Diana's blood from his hand. He looked at it with tears in his eyes as he licked it with a hint of worship and obsession. Pride froze in astonishment as he realized what had happened. He then jumped back. Before he could get a solid footing, a solid force hit him, sending him tumoring into the palace. Grey sees Diana in Bruno's hand and kneels in shock and sorrow. Tears rolled from his eyes as he watched the twins in his hand. Bruno stops rampaging as he notices his brother's sorrow. He walks to him and smiles. Bruno places one hand on Grey's head as he comforts him. Diana's body runs out of control. Crimson light begins to flow out of her body. It then explodes, turning into solid spike crimson crystals. Bruno and Diana are at the front impaled, protruding from it. Gungnir's form began to flicker. Chaos that had been trapped between the staff and the spear began to become active again.