The shadow on the stairway lengthened, spilling into the chamber's center like a black tide.
The figure descended one step at a time — each geta sandal clicking on the stone with deliberate precision. The air thickened, the temperature falling just enough for every breath to sting the lungs.
Shōryō Kurogami emerged fully from the gloom. His robes hung in tatters, whispering with each movement. Long, unkempt hair framed a gaunt, pale face locked in a rictus grin. Hollow eyes burned faintly from within, a sickly yellow-white glow. A strip of crimson talisman paper dangled from his left hand, swaying with each step.
On his back, a long sheathed katana shifted with unnatural weight.
"Move!" Gideon barked.
From the mist at his side, Kaelvryn padded forward — a vision of frost and molten light. Massive paws left frostbitten prints in the stone, and crystal shards shimmered along her flanks. Steam curled from her jaws.
Without a word, she surged toward him, her form breaking apart into streaks of blue-white frost and ember-red fire. The elements swirled around Gideon, locking into place over his frame as jagged pauldrons, crystalline plates, and a fur-lined gorget formed. Veins of molten glow traced along the armor's surface, pulsing like a heartbeat.
When the glow dimmed, her voice rumbled in his head, low and amused."Let's break something, hunter."
Twin axes flared to life in his hands — their edges glistening with frost on one blade and glowing with embers on the other. He spun them once, the weight familiar, the balance perfect.
Ezra abandoned her bundle of rare herbs, already drawing a dagger and preparing a vial. Caleb shifted to the far column, stringing another arrow, his posture unshakably calm. Skyling, Eliakim's tamed avian, remained in the chamber's center, wings furled, quietly absorbing the aura the isle exuded.
Eliakim didn't move to attack — instead, his eyes traced every step of the revenant, mapping the subtle hesitations, the patterns, the gaps. The Codex of Imreth vanished into shadow at his gesture, and the chains of the Bracelet of Kharuun unfurled from his arm, their links shimmering with the light of the seven Treasures.
The Bracelet of Umbravice — Full Activation.
Shadows surged outward from his feet, forming a perfect, rippling circle on the basalt floor.
Shōryō's eyes fixed on the shadow-ring, his grin widening as he drew the katana. The scrape was more bone than steel, the sound prickling the skin.
The first clash was brutal. Gideon met the revenant head-on, axes whirling — one swing cracking the stone with freezing force, the other spraying sparks as molten edge met metal. Shōryō deflected both with minimal motion, katana flickering like a phantom.
Caleb's Double Arrow Shot streaked toward the talisman and skull — but a twist of Shōryō's ribbon-wrapped hand diverted them both. Ezra's nightroot potion burst near the revenant's feet, releasing a choking violet mist, yet the figure walked through it unshaken.
Eliakim stepped in, his chains lashing to catch the katana's arc, twisting it into the shadow field. The gems pulsed in sequence, ice and fire from Kaelvryn's armor reflecting in their facets.
For a heartbeat, they pushed the revenant back.
Then his grin deepened.
And the real fight began.