Xin's breath caught in his chest, a sharp pang that made his heart stutter. His vision blurred, exhaustion and blood loss gnawing at the edges of his senses. He blinked hard, certain his eyes were deceiving him, that the endless battle had finally broken his mind. But no. There he was.
Shun.
He stood before the crystalline building, its jagged spires looming like teeth against the battlefield's darkness. In his hand, a silver Jian glowed with a brilliance that cut through the chaos, its light steady and serene, like moonlight pooling into a river. Ether swirled around him, not wild and chaotic as it had been during the ritual's collapse, but calm, controlled, radiating outward in waves that dulled the feral screeches of the Hollows swarming the summit.
"Shun?" Xin whispered, his voice barely audible over the din of clashing steel and monstrous roars. "How are you here?"
Shun shouldn't have been standing. His body had been ravaged by the ritual's failure, his veins scorched with ether burns no healer could mend in time. Xin had seen him fall, his stubborn resolve crumbling under the weight of his own ambition. And yet, here he was, alive, unshaken, his presence a beacon amidst the carnage.
Xin's head throbbed, a dull ache pulsing behind his eyes. He forced himself to focus, switching to ether-vision despite the pain it brought. He needed to see. To understand. His gaze sharpened, piercing through the battlefield's haze, and what he saw made his blood run cold.
Shun's form wasn't human. Not entirely. No particles of flesh, no fragile weave of blood and bone. Instead, his body shimmered like a phantom, wrapped in a cocoon of silvery calmness. His ether lines were hidden, veiled by that serene glow, as though he had become something beyond mortality, yet still undeniably Shun. Xin's mind reeled, questions clawing at him. What was this? What had Shun become?
And then Shun smiled. That infuriating, radiant smile he always wore when he wanted Xin to stop worrying.
I've got this, little brother, his expression seemed to say, steady and unshaken.
You don't need to carry it all, Afterall you've got me to lean on. His gaze locked on Xin's, and for a fleeting moment, the weight on Xin's shoulders lifted, a flicker of relief amidst the storm.
"Shun's alive!" a soldier shouted, his voice breaking with awe. The cry rippled through the ranks, igniting a surge of courage. Soldiers who had been moments from collapse straightened, their weapons raised high. From the eastern side of the barier, more figures emerged—reinforcements, armored and fresh, their banners snapping in the ether-scorched wind. Their arrival was a tide, shifting the battlefield's momentum.
"Reinforcements!" another soldier called, his voice raw but fierce. "We're not done yet!"
Hope pulsed through the summit, a fragile but undeniable spark. Xin's lips parted, a thousand questions burning on his tongue. He wanted to scream Shun's name, to demand answers, to know how Shun stood when he should have been dead. But there was no time. With Shun's light holding the rear and reinforcements pouring in, the impossible task of defending the summit no longer felt like a death sentence.
"Focus, Xin," he muttered to himself, tearing his gaze from Shun. The battlefield demanded his attention. Raven still fought in the distance, locked in brutal combat with the Prime Hollow. The beast towered like a mountain of bone and sinew, its claws striking with thunderous force. Raven's axe met each blow, his roar shaking the heavens, but his movements were slowing, his armor dented and streaked with ichor.
"Hold on, Raven," Xin said, his voice low but fierce. "I'm coming."
He sprinted across the blood-slick stones, his bow already in hand. The string hummed between his fingers, ether gathering in his veins, hot and restless. His heartbeat steadied, the chaos narrowing to a single line of focus. He loosed an arrow, its golden light streaking through the darkness, piercing a Dusked Hollow that lunged toward Raven's flank. The creature shrieked, its body crumbling into dust before it could strike.
"Xin!" Rose's voice rang out from behind, her twin pistols spitting fire into the swarm. She was laughing, her hair whipping as she danced through the carnage with deadly grace. "Don't hog all the money! Leave some for me!"
Her voice carried a thrill, a wild joy that Xin hadn't expected amidst the slaughter. She thrived in this chaos, Shun's silver light fueling her like wine. It was infectious, stirring something in Xin's tired heart. "Keep up, Rose!" he shouted back, a faint grin tugging at his lips despite the ache in his bones. "I'm not carrying you through this!"
Lira carved her way to his side, her blade shimmering with an ether edge. Blood streaked her face, but her eyes blazed with unyielding resolve. "We push together!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the din. "Shun's holding the rear—we clear the front!"
"With me!" Xin called, giving a sharp nod. His muscles burned, but he ignored the pain, his focus locked on the fight ahead.
The three of them surged forward, weaving between Hunters locked in desperate combat with the other two Primes. The ground quaked as Raven swung his axe, the impact reverberating through the stones. The Prime Hollow's roar rattled the sky, its massive claw sweeping down. Raven met it, muscles straining, his feet gouging trenches into the earth.
"Keep it off balance!" Xin shouted, raising his bow. Ether surged to his fingertips, his vision tunneling on the Prime's exposed joint, where sinew and bone twisted together. He loosed, the arrow exploding into the weak spot in a burst of corrupted flesh. The Prime staggered, its roar shaking the summit.
"Good shot!" Raven bellowed, seizing the opening to cleave a massive wound across the Hollow's chest. Black ichor sprayed, sizzling against the stones.
Xin didn't stop. His bow was a storm, arrows streaking into every opening Raven made, each one striking with surgical precision. Rose kept the Dusked spawn at bay, her pistols flashing faster than Xin could follow. "You're slowing down, darling!" she called, her voice teasing even as she dropped another Hollow. "Don't make me do all the work!"
Lira darted in and out, her blade carving into the Prime's legs, forcing it to stumble. "Stay sharp!" she snapped, her movements fluid despite the blood dripping from her arm. "We've got this!"
Together, they fought as one force, their movements synchronized, their resolve unbreakable. For the first time that night, Xin felt it—hope. The Primes still loomed like titans, the swarm still poured through the breach, and the sky still trembled with Hollow cries. But with Shun's silver light blazing at their backs, reinforcements flooding in, and Raven refusing to yield, the impossible no longer seemed certain.
"We can win this," Xin said, his voice fierce as he loosed another arrow. It tore through the Prime's eye socket in a spray of ichor, the beast reeling with a guttural roar.
Raven surged forward, bringing his fist down with a thunderous crack that split the Hollow's skull in two. The monster convulsed, then collapsed, crashing into the ground with an earth-shattering boom.
Cheers erupted from the Hunters, their voices breaking through the haze of battle. For a heartbeat, hope rang louder than the screams. Xin's chest heaved, sweat pouring down his face, his bow trembling in his hands. He looked back to the crystalline building, where Shun stood, silver Jian gleaming, his calm radiance undiminished. Soldiers rallied to him, their formation unbreakable, their courage unwavering.
A thrill coursed through Xin's veins, sharp and bright. They had a chance. For the first time in days, he believed it. His body screamed with exhaustion, his ether reserves dwindling to embers, but his heart beat steady, fueled by Shun's impossible return.
"Keep pushing!" he shouted, his voice carrying over the battlefield.
The Hunters roared in response, their blades and bows flashing as they pressed forward, driven by the silver light that held the summit together.