The impact of Kael's blade against Velda's sent shockwaves through the blood-lit hall.
Steel screamed.
Magic cracked.
The entire fortress trembled.
Kael's teeth were clenched, muscles straining as he held back the weight of Velda's shadow-forged weapon. It wasn't just strength—her blade moved like it was alive, shifting forms, whispering curses in dead tongues.
Velda smiled through the clash. "You're strong. Stronger than Rath. Stronger than I expected."
"I don't care what you expected," Kael growled. "I only care how deep I have to bury this blade to silence your name."
Battle on Two Fronts
While Kael fought the sorceress, the others faced the cult.
Thorn's axe cleaved through twisted flesh. "These bastards don't bleed right!" he barked, yanking his weapon free from one puppet's neck.
"They're not alive!" Lyra shouted, casting a blinding flash of holy light that vaporized three of them. "They're tethered to her shadow magic. Sever the source!"
Merek planted his staff into the ground, chanting in an ancient tongue. Blue sigils flared beneath their feet, weakening the cultists' forms.
"I can hold the spell for a minute!" he warned. "Make it count!"
Velda's True Form
Kael dodged as Velda's blade shifted into a whip of black fire.
She moved like mist, sliding through Kael's defenses, forcing him to retreat.
"You don't understand," she said, voice calm, eyes burning. "I'm not fighting for vengeance. I'm fighting to end the rot your family brought into the world."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "You're a butcher pretending to be a prophet."
"I'm a mirror," Velda whispered. "A reflection of what this world deserves."
She stabbed forward—Kael barely deflected, countering with a devastating arc.
Blood splashed from her shoulder.
Her smile didn't falter.
Kael's Breaking Point
The cultists fell one by one behind him, but Kael could feel his strength waning. His arms trembled. His legs were bruised, torn.
But his eyes never left Velda.
He thought of his wife. His daughter.
Burned.
Crying.
Reaching for him.
He screamed—and in one final burst, surged forward.
His blade found her heart.
Velda gasped.
Shadow magic erupted around them in a vortex of shrieking souls, but Kael held the blade firm, eyes wide with fury.
"You'll never rise again," he snarled.
Velda coughed blood. "You think… this ends with me?"
She smiled—then crumbled to dust.
The Aftermath
Silence fell over Bloodfall.
The cultists disintegrated with their mistress.
Kael dropped to one knee, breath ragged, body nearly broken.
Lyra reached his side, pulling him up.
"It's done," she whispered.
"No," Kael said, looking toward the eastern sky where strange storm clouds brewed. "She wasn't the end."
"What do you mean?"
Kael stared at the dust on his blade.
"She was a gateway."
To be continue...