Indra's aura flickered weakly, reduced to thin, uneven bands of gold and black. What had once blazed around him was now only a faint shimmer, pulsing at the edges of his battered frame. He struggled to catch his breath. The swords in his hands had lost their glow. They were nothing more than worn steel, reflecting the ruins and the dying light.
He stared at his trembling hands, turning them over as if searching for some sign of what he'd become. The energy that had surged through him in battle felt alien—heavy, wrong, as if it belonged to another life entirely. It gnawed at his mind, leaving a sharp taste of dread in his chest.
He barely registered the cough until it echoed against the broken stone. Indra looked up.
Across the shattered floor, Layla fought to sit upright, her arms trembling, face streaked with blood and grime. Another cough wracked her body, fresh blood splattering the cracks at her knees.
"This isn't over…" Her words came ragged, but the fury in her eyes had not faded. Even ruined, she radiated defiance.
Kayla pulled herself into a crouch nearby, fingers stretching until they found Layla's hand. The moment their skin met, a faint pulse of dark light flickered between them—weak at first, then building, gathering force from their desperation.
Indra understood what was happening before the energy even took shape. A fusion spell, broken and unstable.
"No." His voice was barely more than breath.
He forced himself upright, every bone in his body complaining, every muscle threatening to give way. Gabriella still lay motionless. He could feel his own strength failing, the world swaying around him. But if the twins managed to complete their spell, he knew they would become the same abomination he'd barely survived.
The air vibrated. Cracks spiderwebbed through the forming fusion as their bodies twisted together, limbs convulsing, energy howling in protest. Their screams echoed off the cathedral walls—distorted, wild, a mix of panic and agony.
Layla's voice cracked through the noise, terror leaking in around the edges. "What's happening?! Why isn't it working?!"
Kayla answered, voice straining, desperate. "We're too weak… we can't hold it…"
The fusion collapsed, erupting in a pulse of corrupted energy that tore through the cathedral like a windstorm. Dust and debris exploded outward. The force flung Layla and Kayla in opposite directions, their bodies tumbling across broken stone, landing hard and motionless.
Indra staggered forward, steadying himself against the remnants of a shattered pillar. He stared, expecting them to rise and try again. But for a long moment, the only sound was the steady drip of rain through the ruined roof.
Layla finally rolled to her side, dragging herself upright, one hand pressed against a bleeding wound. Her glare was pure hatred. "This isn't over," she spat, voice reduced to a rasp.
Kayla's panic had turned to pleading. "We can't stay—please, we have to go—"
A dark portal ripped open behind them, its edge wild and uneven, as if the world itself objected to its existence. Layla twisted to look at Indra one last time. The humiliation on her face was almost as deep as the fury.
"We'll return," she promised, her words sharp as broken glass. "And you won't survive it."
Without another word, the twins dragged themselves through the portal. It snapped shut behind them with a harsh crack, the only evidence of their passage a lingering scorch mark on the cathedral floor.
Indra remained where he stood, unable to move, his breath shallow and ragged. Silence closed in around him, thick and strange, broken only by the distant sound of rainwater leaking through broken stone. The cathedral felt impossibly vast and empty. Each fragment of glass on the floor caught the faintest glimmer of his ruined aura.
He stared at his hands—still shaking, still marked by a darkness he didn't understand. Every echo of that power felt like a wound, deep and unhealed.
He turned toward Gabriella, collapsed against a ruined pillar, her form still and pale. He stumbled across the debris and fell to his knees beside her. Gently, he gathered her into his arms. She was cold to the touch, her weight barely there. Her breathing was faint, the glow that had marked her strength completely gone.
He held her closer, his own voice thin and strained. "How am I supposed to get us out of here?" The question barely rose above a whisper, lost in the silence.
The ruined cathedral loomed overhead—towering, hollow, indifferent. For the first time, Indra felt entirely alone.
Elsewhere…
A portal burst open with a sound like bones ground to dust, spitting Layla and Kayla onto a cold, polished floor. They skidded and rolled, coming to a stop in a pool of shadow that seemed to drink in every bit of their pain.
Kayla managed a broken whisper. "Where… are we?"
Layla tried to lift her head, finding only endless darkness above. "I don't know."
Silence pressed in, thick as fog. There was no sound, no wind—only the sense of being watched by something vast and patient.
Footsteps rang out from the darkness. Slow, deliberate, each one radiating presence that sent cracks through the stone.
The twins froze. They turned, and the sight that met them drew the last breath from their bodies.
Lilith emerged from the void, her figure tall and serene, a gown of pure white flowing around her as if untouched by gravity. Her hair drifted about her shoulders, and her blue eyes glowed with a cold intensity that made the air sting.
She stopped a few paces from them, saying nothing at first. The ground splintered beneath her feet, shadows twisting and shrinking away from her.
"You've returned." Her voice was soft, almost gentle. There was no warmth—only a controlled rage coiled beneath the words. "How disappointing."
The twins scrambled to kneel, faces lowered in shame. Layla tried to speak. "Queen Lilith… we—we failed because—"
Kayla tried to explain, her words breaking. "We… we weren't strong enough—"
Lilith raised one hand.
At once, their throats closed, the air freezing in their lungs. Their mouths opened, but nothing escaped. Even sound refused to approach her.
"I saw everything." Her steps grew heavier. She drew closer, shadows pulling away from her like frightened animals. "Your incompetence does not need an explanation."
She stopped only a step away, her gaze sharper than any weapon. "You were given power. You were given a role. And you wasted it."
Her voice didn't rise. It cut, as precise and final as judgment.
"You embarrassed me."
Layla tried to plead, her voice a whisper of desperation. "Please, Queen Lilith—"
"Enough."
The word silenced everything. It hung in the air, heavy as stone.
Lilith raised her hand again, and energy gathered in her palm—dark, jagged, alive with barely restrained violence. It twisted into two spears, longer than any blade, their points screaming with purpose.
"You have no place in my kingdom."
She released the weapons. They struck like lightning.
There was no time for screams, no drawn-out spectacle. Layla and Kayla vanished, reduced to ash before the spears even finished their flight. The stone where they knelt was left scorched and empty.
Lilith stood alone, the void stretching behind her, her gown trailing in the growing cracks.
She lingered a moment, then turned away, her footsteps echoing into the darkness.
Failure will not be tolerated.
The cracks widened, swallowing the last traces of the Zehirah's presence.
And Lilith's voice, cold and distant, drifted through the darkness as she vanished.
"It's time to prepare."