The ground split. Not cracked. Split. Thal hit dirt hard, Tar beside him, and the impact travelled through stone like thunder trapped beneath. Nyra stumbled, grabbed his arm, breath ragged. Behind them Valen and Luken picked themselves up while Tar's bulk took the worst of the flying stone and timber. The tower was simply gone. Smoke and dust where stone had been.
Commander Eric ran up, face open, disbelief cracking his discipline. Elira followed with her sword white-knuckled.
"What in all the gods' names is that?" Eric shouted. Eyes wide. The thing rising from the crater wore bark and bone, twisted roots with meat that had gone black. High above, impaled on black wood and fused to the chest, Othamar hung. Thal stood barefoot. Looked small against that mountain of rot, but his eyes caught the light wrong. Too gold. Animal reflective.
"Harbinger," Thal said. "You value your soldiers' lives, get them out. Now."
"We can fight!"
Thal shook his head sharp. "Not this thing. Not like this."
Elira stepped forward, jaw set. "You can't face this alone."
He turned to her. Loomed. His voice dropped not loud, but heavy. Absolute. The kind of tone that puts a child in its place.
"You think you know me."
He didn't elaborate. His gaze swept past her to the ridge, where soldiers scrambled to get in formation and something in the set of his jaw, the rigid line of it, the cold distance, suggested a door had closed. That they had pushed the Kruul to such desperation that this abomination became inevitable. That whatever authority they believed they held had crumbled to ash the moment the earth split open. He let the silence hang until the weight of it settled over them like frost.
"If I stop holding back, every punch rips this battlefield apart. You won't survive."
Elira's knuckles stayed white on her sword.
Nyra stepped up, axe heavy in her hands. "We're not leaving."
Thal turned. Looked at the Harbinger, the mountain of bark and bone rising against the sky, vast and grotesque, born from desperation they had engineered. He studied it for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was remote, dismissive and final.
"Then your bravery is meaningless."
The ground beneath his feet cracked, spiderwebbing outward in a slow, deliberate pattern that had nothing to do with the creature's tremors.
The earth buckled. Howls from the ruins. Half-breeds poured out from under broken stone, wrong angles, too many joints, stone breaking under claws with wet sounds. They came in a flood. Twenty, fifty, a hundred twisted forms surging toward the ridge where Eric's soldiers scrambled to form ranks.
"Luken, stick close. I'm too scared to die alone."
Luken adjusted his grip on his staff, eyes fixed on the advancing horde. "You won't," he said, voice grim. "They hunt in packs."
Valen let out a shaky breath. "Oh, good. At least there's plenty to go around—nothing worse than a lonely death."
Thal glanced at the advancing horde, then at Tar. "Clear them."
Tar snorted and charged, ploughing into the wave with relentless fury, his great axe sweeping in wide arcs, scattering bodies like driftwood.
A creature with three arms and a jaw split sideways lunged at Nyra. She caught it mid-leap with her axe, the impact spinning her around. Black ichor sprayed across her face. Another took its place immediately, claws raking for her eyes.
"Valen! Luken!" Nyra already moving, barely parrying a bone-spur thrust. "Form up! Cover each other!"
They fell into a triangle, backs touching. Valen's blade flashed, taking a leg, then a throat. Luken's staff sparked, electricity crackling wild, but the half-breeds pressed close, snapping with mismatched teeth, and the ozone smell mixed with rot. A beast with no eyes and too many ribs broke through, slamming into Luken's guard. He stumbled. Valen spun, burying his sword to the hilt in its back, but two more surged over the corpse.
Eric's voice boomed from the ridge. "Hold the line! Spears front!"
The soldiers braced, but the half-breeds hit like a wave, claws scraping against shields, shrieking as they climbed over each other to reach throats.
Thal faced the Harbinger and advanced, each step heavy and deliberate. The earth cracked beneath his weight, fissures spiderwebbing outward as the Harbinger swung its massive limb, Thal surged forward, meeting it with a short, controlled palm strike. The bark splinted apart. the force rippled upward, dampened, redirected into the sky rather than outward. Elira shielded her face, stumbling back.
Eric turned, roaring at his troops. "Fall back to the ridge! Move!"
Thal leaped, caught a dangling root, and began to climb. The bark cut his palms and feet, blood trailing thin lines as he ascended. Below, the half-breeds swarmed Nyra's position with Tar roared, his axe a blur but they were getting buried in bodies. A creature with vine-wrapped fists smashed into Tar's ribs. He grunted dropping to one knee, head-butted it hard enough to crack bone, then rose swinging.
The Harbinger convulsed its roots whipped like snakes. Thal tore through them, climbing toward the chest where Othamar hung.
He found him impaled, the wood passing through his chest, only his head and shoulders free of the cocoon. The wind tore at them both, violent and thin.
"Why?" Thal's voice scraped raw. "Why go this far?"
Othamar's eyes met Thal's his agony carved deep. "Because we had nothing left to lose. You left us to fade. Taught us strength. Then you left."
Thal's grip spasmed. Jaw tight. Something old moved across his face, grief or guilt, and he said nothing.
Energy blasted from the core. Thal flew backward, tumbled, caught himself on a lower root. Hung there. Palms flayed to red meat, shining wet.
"Thal!" Nyra's voice from below. She spun, axe spraying black blood, fighting through the swarm toward the base. Half-breeds clung to her legs. She kicked one off, crushed another's skull with her boot but they dragged at her, slowing her down.
He whipped around, eyes blazing. "Stay back!"
Valen and Luken pushed with Tar. Formation tight, but the half-breeds kept coming, endless, piling over their own dead to reach the living.
"We're holding!" Valen called, voice hoarse. Blood streaked his cheek. "Just finish that thing!"
The Harbinger struck toward the clustered group. Thal moved without thinking, launched with such force the shockwave behind him flattened ruins. Intercepted the blow. Fists clashing against grotesque limb in burst of blinding force. Fragments rained down, embedding deep into scarred earth.
Luken stumbled, shielding himself. "He's... holding back? This is holding back?"
Thal crashed down. "Stay clear!"
Leaped again, landing atop the Harbinger, tearing through root and stone to reach Othamar's twisted form. The beast convulsed. Limbs sprouting from all sides. Thal ripped each away with brutal precision. He reached the thorax, gripped Othamar's shoulders.
"I didn't want this," Thal murmured.
Othamar smiled grim. "You never do."
Thal's eyes burned. He drove his fist toward the fused core.
The Harbinger screamed. A dozen root-spears surged simultaneously, not at Thal, but downward, stabbing toward Nyra and the others. Thal twisted mid-strike, launched himself down, intercepted three with his body, shredding them with his hands, but the fourth slipped past. It impaled the earth inches from Nyra's boot. She stumbled. A half-breed leaped. Tar caught it in midair, crushed it, but the swarm pressed harder.
Thal roared, leaped back up, grabbed Othamar again, but the moment was lost. The Harbinger convulsed, threw him clear. Thal crashed through a jagged spar of stone, rolled, came up bleeding from a gash above his eye.
"Thal!" Nyra screamed, cutting down another twisted thing, her arms shaking with exhaustion.
Thal snarled, launched himself upward again, but the Harbinger was ready. A massive root-spear surged forward and drove clean through his abdomen, punching out his back in a spray of blood. The force lifted him high into the air and impaled him against the chest and then lifted him up just below Othamar.
Thal gasped. Blood streaming. Gripped the spear, but barbs held fast. The thing shook him violently. Agony ripped wider. Poison cold and necrotic in his veins.
Below, the battle raged with Nyra fighting, Tar roaring, surrounded by a pile of corpses, his hide rent in a dozen places. Valen dragging Luken behind a fallen column, both bleeding. Too far to help.
"Struggling only makes it worse," Othamar called down, voice weary and ancient. "You feel it… right."
Thal snarled, spat red. Strained. Muscles screaming. Strength bleeding out the hole in his gut. The spear drove deeper, grinding against his spine.
"You taught me to endure," Othamar drifted down. "To suffer until strength but flesh has limits… even yours."
Thal's vision blurred. Below, Nyra screamed his name, faint. A creature lunged toward her back. Valen cut it down, arm shaking barely.
"Watch them fall," Othamar said soft. "While you hang. Is this the strength you promised?"
Thal's hands slipped on his own blood. Weakening. Another shake. Consciousness flickering.
Then whistle came through, high and sharp.
High above, figure plummeted. Alinda. Silver-threaded hair billowing like banner. In her arms Neo clung tight, eyes glowing violet. Without hesitation she hurled him downward.
He fell like spear of black lightning, trailing violet light. Reached out, tore at air itself. Reality ripped like canvas. He vanished into tear.
A heartbeat later, beside Thal, space unravelled with Neo stepped out, void-energy licking edges. Grabbed Thal's wrist. Tear swallowed them both.
They Spilled out above rubble. Neo twisted, took impact on shoulder as they crashed down in blast of dust. Tear sealed behind them with sound like tearing silk.
Thal gasped, winded and bloody. Looked up.
"Neo."
Neo peered down. Glowing eyes. "Still breathing. Good."
Second figure landed. Alinda crouched low, cloak settling like smoke. Crimson eyes met Thal's.
"Alinda?"
Behind them the Harbinger howled.
"Later," she said, voice like cracked stone. "We're not finished here."
Thal forced himself up. The creature convulsed its roots knitting Othamar's lower body but collapsed partially. Cocoon now sat embedded in ruined earth. Upper body exposed. Reachable.
"Can you get me to him?" Thal asked.
Neo smiled faint. "I can get us close."
"Do it."
Neo grabbed his arm and with it void energy wrapped around them, the air tore and made Rip in world… they vanished.
Reappeared at base of cocoon the reek of rot and corrupted sap stung their nose's and Thal climbed. His fingers digging bark and bone crevices. Neo was flanking, severing lashing roots reaching for Thal's back. Alinda launched upward, dug her nails into her forearms and tore, blood spilling dark and unnatural, curling upward instead of falling. Droplets twisted, became blades and she unleashed them, rain of razor blood arrows whistling down.
Carved half-breeds surging toward Nyra. One bolt struck ground near Valen's boot. Another nearly clipped Tar's horn.
Nyra turned, eyes wide. "What the..."
Tar grunted, shielded her.
Thal reached its thorax and Othamar still hanged there, face and shoulders free, rest fused to core.
"Weakening," Othamar called, voice slick with venom. "Look at you. The man who runs. You left us to become monsters because you lacked the spine to stay. Prove you aren't the failure I know you are."
Thal climbed final distance. Gripped Othamar's shoulders, blood-slick. Looked into eyes of boy he'd taught.
"I didn't want this," Thal murmured.
Othamar smiled grim. "You never do."
Broke something in Thal. Golden eyes burned hot. Lowered into stance, more animal than man. Not here to understand. Here to end it.
The Harbinger screamed, exhilarated. As if it too had waited for Thal to finally stop holding back.
Alinda landed hard beside him, rolling through ash. Neo appeared a breath later, stepping from fresh tear with shadows still licking shoulders.
"Thal," Alinda began.
He didn't look.
Neo careful. "What is he?"
Thal didn't answer. Launched.
No grace. No restraint. Raw violence. Every motion rejecting what Othamar became. Silent. No shouts. Struck again and again.
One punch dented trunk. Second sent bark peeling upward like tornado. Third buried into Othamar's side. Archon didn't scream. Simply watched with reverent fury.
"You're stronger," through blood. "But you're still too late."
Thal grabbed root mid-swing. Wrenched free. Roared. Hurled it into clouds. Thal turned and deflected the limb causing the joint to be severed.
Alinda hit next her blood lash seared vine-flesh holding Othamar together. The armor shuddered. Othamar coughed, hunched but not beaten.
Thal rolled shoulders and stepped forward, his golden eyes fixed on the core. He leaped, fist cocked back, everything he had behind the strike.
The Harbinger shrieked.
The earth beneath them exploded upward. A forest of bone spears erupted from the ground where the creature's shadow fell. Thal twisted mid-air, tried to redirect, but a spear of fused bone and black wood caught him square in the chest. He felt ribs crack. The impact hurled him backward, end over end, crashing through what remained of a stone battlement before hitting the ground hard enough to crater it.
He lay there for a heartbeat. Two. Blood in his mouth. The poison from earlier mixing with new wounds, making his limbs heavy as lead.
Above, Othamar laughed, broken and wet. "I told you! Too late!"
Nyra screamed his name from somewhere distant. The half-breeds surged, sensing weakness, pressing against Tar's faltering guard. One got through, raked claws across Valen's back. He cried out, went down to one knee. Luken dragged him up, staff spinning desperately, but the line was failing.
Thal's fingers twitched. Clenched. He pushed himself up on shattered stone, vision swimming, and saw Alinda and Neo still fighting above, holding the Harbinger's attention but losing ground without him.
He looked at his hands. Blood-slick. Trembling. Then at the ridge where Eric's soldiers were being overrun, at Nyra surrounded by a closing circle of twisted things, at the boy he'd taught who had become this nightmare.
Thal stood.
He didn't leap. He walked. Each step breaking stone, the cracks spreading outward in web patterns of fractured light. He reached the base of the Harbinger as it turned to face him, as Othamar's eyes went wide with something that might have been fear.
"Thal," Alinda called from above, voice strained.
"Stay clear," he said. Not shouting. Absolute.
He didn't wait for response. His body launched forward one last time, not fast, not a blur but inevitable as gravity. The Harbinger struck at him and he didn't dodge. He caught the limb with one hand, crushed it. Another limb. He shattered it with an elbow strike. He reached the thorax that was on the floor now where Othamar laid, where Neo and Alinda flanked him now, and he didn't pause.
He seized Othamar by what remained of his torso. Looked into those eyes one final time.
Then bellowed and drove his fist through Othamar's chest. Not piercing flesh alone but striking the fused core where Othamar's heart had become the Harbinger's seed. Othamar's body erupted in sickening burst of light, blood, corrupted sap. Thal held fast, rode the blast downward, anchoring destruction to creature's core rather than letting spread.
Shockwave hit with impossible force.
Nyra flung through air like doll, crashing into dirt with sharp cry. Luken and Valen hurled sideways, weapons spinning from hands. Ridge where Eric and Elira stood groaned under impact, soldiers knocked flat.
Tar dropped to one knee with roar, slammed axe into ground to keep from collapsing. Massive frame shook. For moment even he couldn't rise.
Neo barely steadied when Alinda grabbed his collar.
"Oh, come on…" he protested, mid-pivot but she leapt, dragged him as away from Thal
Harbinger shuddered. Screamed. Ancient and hungry unravelling from within. Limbs spasming, writhing, then collapse.
Body crumpled like wet paper. Roots to ash. Bark blackening and splintering in chain reaction of decay. Massive form moaning as fell in slow crumbling arcs. Core hollowed. Poisoned by final strike.
Thal stood in settling dust. Alone in centre of crater.
Looked at hands… blood-slick, then down and there remained Othamar. Broken figure at his feet. Thal sank to knees, the battlefield went still and ash floated gentle across broken landscape.