Infinity – Chapter: Echo of Shadows and Thorns
Location: Celestial Ruins – Inner Spiral of Trial Sector
The dust was finally clearing. The battlefield, once howling with thunder and fury, had gone quiet.
Rocks smoldered. Cracked stones glowed faintly under the pressure of lingering spiritual force. In the center of the wreckage stood Anay—daggers crossed at his side, chest rising with every breath. Zettai Anant rested in its compact twin-dagger form, humming softly as though still resonating with the chaos.
Beside him, Liora's breaths were shallow. Her hair was dusted with ash, her icy blue cloak torn at the shoulder. Verdalis, her spiritual beast, hovered beside her in a weakened form—her winged, serpent-vine body trembling with fatigue.
"I… think it's over," Liora said quietly, eyes scanning the rubble where Veidar and Kharix had once stood. "We… beat them."
Anay exhaled slowly. "No… wait."
A sound—a cracking echo, like bones snapping underwater—shattered the moment's stillness.
From behind them, a sudden pulse of void energy surged through the air. The earth screamed. The sky dimmed. Then—
BOOM! A black and red explosion split the earth, sending Anay and Liora tumbling backward.
"Verdalis!" Liora cried out, crawling toward her companion who was hurled into a pillar of rock, vines flaring wildly.
From the smoke, something emerged.
But it wasn't Veidar. It wasn't Kharix.
It was something worse.
A hulking Shadow Wolf, pulsing with crimson veins and abyssal cracks of soulfire, stepped out. Its fur was coated in an oily sheen, its fangs curved unnaturally, eyes glowing with two distinct colors—Veidar's blood crimson, and Kharix's icy violet.
A dual-voiced growl escaped its throat.
"Foolish mortals… Did you really think you had won?"
Veidar's corrupted tone slithered through its maw. Kharix's calm cruelty followed:
"We poured everything… our rage, essence, and hatred… into this vessel. It is not just a beast. It is our legacy."
Anay's fingers tightened on the hilts of Zettai Anant. "They… sacrificed their forms… to merge into it," he muttered. "It's not just a spirit beast now. It's something more."
Liora's knees buckled.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Her arms trembled as she tried to summon her blade. "No… I can't fight it again… not after what they showed me. Not after they used my past…"
The Shadow Wolf roared and lunged.
CRASH! Anay blurred forward—daggers in an X-cross, intercepting the beast mid-leap. Sparks exploded on contact. The force sent him skidding backward, boots carving trenches in the earth.
"Liora!" he shouted. "Don't give in! You're not alone! Verdalis is still with you—and I am too!"
"I… I…" Tears blurred Liora's vision. The haunting illusions Veidar had shown her—the manipulation of her memories—still echoed in her mind. "I couldn't protect them… I failed then. I'll fail again…"
CRACK!
The Shadow Wolf lunged again—but this time, Verdalis intercepted.
Her body, bruised and weakened, still surged forward like a guardian's last stand. She wrapped her vines around the wolf's claw, roaring into its face.
In Liora's mind, a voice echoed gently:
"You are not the child they tried to break. You are Liora. You are the one who binds ice and earth, pain and grace. Rise. I will buy you time. But you must fight."
Anay stood beside Verdalis again, twin daggers glowing faintly with amethyst light. "Let's go."
The Clash – Anay & Verdalis vs. the Shadow Wolf
For the next minute, the battlefield was a blur of slashes, fangs, vines, and thunder.
Anay's footwork danced in crescents, dual daggers moving like mirrored flames, each strike pushing the beast back by a hair. His movements were precise—each breath in sync with the pulse of Zettai Anant.
Verdalis coiled and struck from the rear, her vines lashing like whips, her green aura countering the shadow with each pulse. Whenever the wolf lunged for Anay, she would bind its legs. Whenever it turned on her, Anay would blind it with a flurry of dagger strikes.
But still—it would not fall. It grew faster. Wilder. Hungrier.
Blood trickled down Anay's cheek. Verdalis' vines had started to wither at the edges. And still—
The wolf roared.
They were running out of time.
The Final Moment
Anay glanced behind.
Liora was still on her knees, shaking. Her hands curled into fists.
He took a breath, and then—threw his voice toward her.
"Liora. You're the only one who can end this."
She looked up.
"What?"
"You saw through its illusions. You survived their curse. That makes you the only one who can land the finishing blow. Now get up!"
Liora's blade—frosted silver with a blue spiral through the center—glowed in response to Anay's voice.
Her eyes flicked between the wolf and Verdalis, who was barely standing. Anay, bloodied and holding the line. And her own hands… trembling no more.
"I…" She stood. Walked forward. Then sprinted.
Anay spun, parried the wolf's bite, then yelled, "NOW, Liora!"
With a scream, she leapt into the air, blade raised, eyes burning with purpose.
She brought it down—
But stopped inches before its neck.
Her breath hitched.
The blade trembled in the air.
"I can't."
The wolf's eyes flashed. In one explosive motion—it struck.
SLASH!
Liora was thrown backward—collapsing to the earth, unconscious. Her blade rolled from her grip.
"LIORA!" Anay cried out.
The Final Battle – Anay and Verdalis vs. the Possessed Shadow Wolf
Rage surged through Anay's veins.
Zettai Anant shifted slightly, his dual daggers flaring with deeper spiritual light.
Beside him, Verdalis let out a cry—not of pain, but fury.
Together, the two of them lunged.
And now… the real battle began.
Anay's eyes turned dark purple.
Zettai Anant pulsed. The daggers extended mid-air, forming dual short swords.
He stood. "Now… you'll pay."
Final Clash – Anay and Verdalis vs Shadow Wolf
The ground itself bent under their power.
Verdalis wrapped the wolf in a twisting cage of living vines.
Anay blurred through it, slicing in a spiral motion, cutting through shadow after shadow. The wolf roared, trying to break free—but Anay had already marked its heart with spirit energy.
"Zettai Anant—Dual Severance!"
A cross-shaped arc of energy exploded from his blades—piercing through the beast's core.
The Shadow Wolf howled.
Its form cracked.
Kharix's voice let out one final scream.
"NO—!"
And then—
Silence.
The beast shattered like glass, dissolving into a mist of ash and fading curses.
Anay fell to one knee. Verdalis dropped beside him, panting.
The battlefield was finally quiet.
And Liora lay still, unconscious—but alive.