The blood-red eyes of the creature pierced through the storm of dust and leaves, unblinking and soulless. It didn't growl. It didn't roar. It watched—as if savoring the moment, tasting their fear. The silence before chaos.
Then came the first twitch.
The graves began to tremble.
One by one, the earth cracked open. Bony fingers clawed out from the soil. Gnarled limbs dragged decayed corpses to the surface. Empty sockets glowed with crimson light. Dozens of skeletal creatures—rotted, armored, some still clutching rusted weapons—arose from the earth, as if answering an ancient, wicked summons.
"RUN!" Jeremy screamed, sword drawn.
But Asher didn't move. His eyes glowed gold, his divine energy flaring like wildfire. He extended his hand, and instantly, a shield of holy light erupted around him and Ava.
"No more running," he muttered, voice low but resolute. "It ends now."
The undead charged.
Asher sprang forward, lightning coiling around his arms. He landed on the first corpse, his foot shattering its skull with divine force. He whirled mid-air and extended his palms.
"Renas Luxira!"
A blast of celestial light erupted from his hands, disintegrating three undead into ash. He didn't wait for the dust to settle. He vanished—blinking across the battlefield with godlike speed, each flicker of light followed by the thunderous impact of destruction.
Ava was already mid-air, her golden hair unfurled. She was glowing—radiant, untouchable. Her eyes burned white with fury.
"I invoke the Wrath of Avery!"
She stretched both arms outward. Swords of sunlight formed above her—spinning, flaming, furious. With a wave of her fingers, she launched them like comets into the crowd of undead. Bones cracked. Skulls exploded. Screeches filled the air as the ground was painted in a storm of light and ash.
But the red-eyed creature—the source—still stood.
Watching.
Waiting.
Meanwhile, beneath the earth…
Emily thrashed wildly in the suffocating soil, her lungs burning, her vision fading to black. Dirt clogged her throat. Her fingernails scraped in futility. She couldn't scream anymore. The tomb was consuming her.
Then—light.
A crack burst open from above.
"Emily! Hang on!" came Jimmy's voice, panicked and frantic.
A hand punched through the soil and grabbed hers. Emily sobbed in relief.
Jimmy yanked her up with everything he had, ignoring the snarling corpse lunging for them. As soon as Emily's face hit the surface, she coughed violently, tears streaking her cheeks.
"Behind you!" she screamed.
Jimmy turned—and the creature tackled him.
It drove a jagged bone dagger toward his chest. He caught it mid-strike, barely stopping the tip an inch from his heart. His muscles trembled.
"No," Jimmy growled, voice thick with rage.
With a roar, he twisted his body and shoved the creature off. It lunged again.
He drew his sword—a long, curved blade glowing with protective runes. As the undead shrieked and leapt, he thrust it forward. The steel pierced its ribcage—and in an instant, the entire creature combusted in brilliant flame.
Jeremy staggered toward them, blood staining his arm. "We have to move!" he shouted, slicing a corpse clean in half with a swing of his own blade. "They're not stopping!"
Back in the field, Ava gritted her teeth.
Dozens of undead had swarmed her mid-air. She spun in circles, using her elbow to cast shields and knock them down. Each movement was precise, divine.
But the red-eyed beast finally moved.
It raised both arms—and from the depths of the cemetery, a shockwave of blackened magic rippled through the ground.
Ava froze in mid-air.
The air went still.
A blinding bolt of black lightning struck her chest.
Ava screamed in agony, her body flung across the battlefield like a comet. She crashed into a headstone, cracking it in two. Blood spilled from her mouth as she gasped.
"Ava!" Asher roared, catching her body in a streak of gold light.
She was trembling. The divine aura around her had dimmed.
"That thing—its not giving up, it's getting more empowered. It's evil... And it's feeding on the undead around," she gasped, clutching her ribs.
Asher stood, eyes narrowed.
And then his power—his true power—unleashed.
Wings, not of feathers but of pure radiant energy, burst from his back. His hair floated, ignited with light. The air warped around him.
"Get behind me," he said to Ava, voice deeper, divine.
He turned to the creature.
"I am Asher, son of the mighty one himself. I carry the Light of heavens itself," he declared.
"You are death. I am divinity."
He raised his arms—and called the heavens.
A golden sigil lit up the sky.
From above, a torrent of fire and light descended like a meteor storm. Each strike blasted through the army of the undead, tearing massive craters into the ground.
Still, the red-eyed creature advanced—unharmed.
"Jeremy! Help me break the seal!" Asher yelled.
Jeremy joined him, sword glowing.
Asher slashed his palm and drew a sigil in the air with blood.
Jeremy did the same.
"Seal of Judgement—break!" they chanted in unison.
A rift opened at the creature's feet. Screams echoed from the other side—the screams of the damned. Tendrils of fire lashed out and grabbed the red-eyed beast, yanking it downward.
But it resisted.
It shrieked—earsplitting, soul-crushing.
And then it lunged.
Straight at Asher.
Before it could reach him, Ava rose again, her eyes sparking with vengeance. She threw herself between them, deflecting the blow with a blazing shield. Her arm fractured—but she held strong.
"Now, Asher!" she cried.
Asher summoned everything.
The light, the rage, the divinity.
He lifted his arm and yelled:
"Let the sun strike!"
A beam of pure solar magic—blinding, golden, cataclysmic—shot from the sky and obliterated the creature, vaporizing it into dust.
Silence returned.
The earth groaned.
The undead collapsed, lifeless once more.
The cemetery fell into stillness, save for the rising moon, and the darkness which has refused to obliterate_despite the cleansing.
And there—among the tombstones—Asher dropped to his knees before the graves marked Slyvia and Rose.
He placed his glowing hand on the soil.
"Come back," he whispered. "Please… come back."
Light seeped from his fingers into the graves.
The earth stirred.
And then—two hands pushed from the soil, clawing upward.
Rose gasped for air.
Slyvia followed, coughing violently but alive.
Asher caught them both in his arms, holding them tight.
Ava limped toward him, smiling through bloodied lips. "We… did it," she murmured.
Jeremy and Emily stumbled over, arm in arm, tears streaking their faces.
They were bruised, and battered.