The town was in chaos.
Skull minions flooded the streets.
Bone walkers, towering and silent.
stood like statues, outside the town in front of the gate, unmoving. From the sky, ten-foot comets of bone rained down like hail, crushing anything beneath them.
Inside a large estate, the tension broke with an urgent voice.
"Commander, please-"
"No time. Just go."
A man stepped from the chairman's office.
His black cloak billowed in the wind as he walked calmly forward, hands tucked into his pockets.
He didn't raise his voice, didn't need to.
"Attention."
His words echoed across the town, uniquely loud, sharp, and steady.
Every soldier paused. Even amid chaos, his voice cut through.
"Listen up. Whoever's raiding us doesn't know who they're dealing with."
A flicker of morale rippled through the ranks.
He whispered under his breath.
"Solstice."
A glowing sphere of pure flame spiralled into his palm.
It hovered upward, rising high until it reached the moon overhead,
He smirked.
"Let's show them why Trojan has never fallen."
Snap.
The flame burst wide, flooding the sky with golden light and casting a strange daylight across the entire battlefield.
A unified roar followed:
"YEAHHHH!"
Alana stopped, stunned.
"what the heck is going on?"
Soldiers moved with newfound purpose. Captains barked orders. Squads rallied. Medics were shielded. Mages retreated into the tower, which at centre had a glowing blue pillar of energy that surged with power, it ran through the middle.
The hail of bone had stopped.
One hundred skull minions remained.
"They're cutting them down with ease now!" Alana gasped. "Even the bone walkers are still locked outside."
But just as the tide seemed to turn…
Oh, so they thought.
Back to the first skull minion.
As soon as Serene saw the mass of bone crash down where her beloved stood, she didn't waste a breath.
In one swift motion, she rushed forward and leapt into the air.
The bone monster screeched atop the shattered balcony, claws swinging at the walls and ceiling as it crawled inside, tearing through floorboards in its path.
Fygeld lay on his back, distracted — eyes locked on the sky as bone rained from above.
Then suddenly —
A sharp kick.
Serene crashed into the monster with both feet, launching it several yards back.
She flipped mid-air, landing with effortless grace.
Fygeld stared at her, her back now turned to him.
Moonlight washed over her figure, silver trailing down her hair.
"…Serene, we need to go," he said. "We can finally leave Viscura. Yeah? Let's leave it all behind. Start something new."
Her back remained to him.
"I need to protect these townspeople."
He frowned. "Don't be rash. You don't owe them anything — you don't owe Viscura anything, Serene!"
She paused.
"So let's just leave," he pressed, his voice rising slightly. "We can actually explore the world like I said. Haha — come on!"
She didn't move.
Then, calmly:
"Exploring? Is that all you can think about?"
"Well—"
She raised a hand. "Enough."
Her tone quieted. Her hand dropped.
"I may not owe Viscura anything… but I owe Alcon everything."
She turned slightly, eyes on the distant horizon.
"He saw all the bad things I did — and still looked past them."
She exhaled.
"If it weren't for him… I wouldn't be here.
Wouldn't be with you."
The words hit him like a blade. He looked down, throat tight.
As she walked toward him, moonlight shimmered against her hair — a subtle purple glow curling off the strands.
He knew he couldn't convince her.
And that made him angry.
Then, without hesitation, she picked him up in a princess carry and leapt off the broken balcony.
He held his fists clenched, jaw tight with frustration.
"I'm taking you to the back gate. From there, you'll escape with a horse."
After that, silence.
They didn't speak.
Twelve minutes through chaos — fire, screaming, falling bone — and finally they reached the gate. She set him down and rushed to saddle a horse, while he stood still beside it, fists clenched, head lowered.
She guided the horse toward him.
"Get on," she said, handing him the lead.
He took it. Didn't move.
She opened the gate, scanning outside.
"All right. It's clear. Time to go."
Still, he didn't move.
Just stood there. Shaking.
She turned back to him.
"Fygeld," she said.
"I need you to take the horse. Ride to the nearest city. Tell them what's happening here."
No response.
She tried again.
"…Fygeld."
"Fygeld!"
"FYGELD!"
He snapped.
"SHUT UP!"
She froze.
"Are you seriously staying here?! Didn't you say you'd leave this life behind?! Serene, didn't you say once we got married, you'd put down the sword — that we'd have a future? This isn't fair! Serene, you said that would be it!"
She blinked, surprised.
Then her gaze dropped.
"…Unfair for you."
A pause.
But not for me.
She stepped past him and stopped again, staring up at the sky behind him.
"I asked you a question earlier. You still haven't answered."
He went still, voice low. Tight.
"…Is it me or your greed, Fygeld?"
"If you truly cared about me… you'd understand why I have to do this."
He couldn't speak.
"I know you hate Viscura," she said softly. "And maybe I don't owe this land anything…"
"But you'd think — just once — you'd stop thinking about yourself.
And take one damn minute to understand what someone else wants.
What I want."
She faced forward again.
"This time I'll make it even clearer."
Her voice didn't rise — it dropped into steel.
"Who do you choose — me, or yourself?"
Silence.
She waited.
Nothing came.
Her eyes narrowed, then softened.
"…Thought so."
She turned back to the gate, sighing.
"Get on the horse now."
And without a word, in shame —
Fygeld obeyed.
He rode off into the dark.
She looks ahead as a ball of light starts to expand and cast a field of sunshine over the whole town
Back to present
The battlefield had shifted — the town finally gaining ground.
Alana panted, eyes darting across the chaos. Then—
THUMP.
A deep tremor pulsed through the earth. Everyone felt it — a vibration in the soles of their feet. Confused murmurs rose.
No one knew what it was.
Except Alana.
She turned slowly, eyes widening. A smirk crept across her face as the realization hit.
"That's right, we—"
The commander felt the tremor and stiffened.
Without hesitation, he leapt onto the roof of a nearby house, scanning the distance.
"What is that?"
Then, all at once, the 650 bone walkers shifted.
As if responding to a silent command, they stepped to either side of the massive 25-inch reinforced gate.
A series of smaller thuds grew louder and louder—faster and faster—until something smashed through with unimaginable force.
The metal doors exploded inward, torn from their hinges, fragments scattering like shrapnel.
A dense wall of dust and debris billowed out, hiding whatever came through.
The battlefield froze.
Everyone stops and looks shocked at this display.
Even the 50 remaining skull minions paused.
A deep blue light flickered in the smoke, six glowing sockets burning like stars.
Then a figure stepped forward.
The Lord of Raids.
The Gru to their minions.
Lord of Skulls, Bones, and Walkers.
The supposed mastermind behind it all.
From the dust, Skull Lord emerged.
He hadn't just destroyed the gate — he'd left a gaping hole in the reinforced wall.
Blue flames now lit every socket of his 650 soldiers.
"EVERYONE — MEET SKULL LORD!" Alana roared.
He let out a guttural, triple-headed roar so powerful it blasted the smoke away, shattered windows, and cracked the very earth beneath him. His minions followed suit, screeching in wild, gleeful fury.
The commander clutched his ears.
"Is that—?! That's the boss?!"
Skull minions charged with newfound vigor.
The tide had turned again.
His monstrous, yet strangely regal form now fully visible — Skull Lord simply stood.
Waiting.
Staring directly at the commander.
"Skull Lord, I'm so glad you came! Hahaha! I never thought I'd be happy to see you!" Alana laughed, wild and unhinged.
"Hoho~"
She floated close, affectionately rubbing her spectral form against each of his three skulls.
He didn't flinch.
Didn't move.
He simply awaited her command.
Around him, chaos returned.
Bone walkers scattered soldier formations.
Skull minions fought with fresh bloodlust and just by standing there, Skull Lord drained morale from the air like a black hole.
The battle — once tipping toward victory — had evened out again