The night in the barony's territory was stained with pure terror.
From the limits of the forest, echoes of screams crossed the air, mixed with a distant roar and the suffocating presence of an energy that grew, alive and hostile.
At the top of the walls, above the main gate, Isabela watched the darkness between the trees. Her gaze, cold and lost, reflected the weight of ancient memories — scattered fragments, regrets that had never been silenced.She remembered the day she let a creature escape… out of compassion.Now, she felt in her guts that something, somewhere, had awakened because of it.
Footsteps echoed behind her, firm, breaking the silence of the walls.Doros approached, his cape swaying under the heavy wind blowing from the forest.
"Will begin soon," he said, his low voice heavy with gravity. "Everyone has already been taken to a safe place."
Isabela did not turn her gaze from the horizon.
"Do you think it's true what he told us?"
A shiver ran down Doros's spine.
"Which part?" he asked, hesitating. "That we are pieces of a board… or that we are imperfect beings?"
She let out a brief sigh.
"All of it." Her voice came out trembling. "Doesn't it sound like madness? We've lived inside a bubble all this time… from the reason the gods appeared to what we've become."
Doros placed his hand on her shoulder. The touch was firm, but carried a restrained tenderness.
"I know what you're feeling. If it were Thalia out there, I would do the same. Even if it wasn't her, even if another being inhabited her body." He took a deep breath. "But if you let his words consume you… you'll end up losing yourself."
Isabela turned her gaze away, hitting the wall hard.
"One thing, at least, he's right about," she said, her voice hardened, almost a whisper between her teeth. "We can be attacked or killed at any moment… by something like that."
She took a deep breath, her eyes brimming with rage.
"And you know what's worse?" she paused, staring at Doros. "We only have fragments. We could die… without even understanding why."
She raised her face, her eyes shining with determination.
"I'll do whatever it takes to reach Resurrection. I can't go on with fragments of memories."
"A memory of Ereon arose in her mind, vivid and irritatingly provocative. He leaned in, crooked smile, eyes sparkling with mockery, his voice loaded with arrogance:
'Who only awakens lives from echoes…' — a dramatic pause, as if laughing inside — 'but who resurrects… is reborn whole.'"
The echo of the memory made Isabela shiver, and for a moment the weight of the decision seemed almost tangible.
Doros frowned, his hand resting lightly on the wall.
"You mean… that I should do the same?"
"I'm saying that, if what he said is true…" Isabela looked directly at him. "He came to bring the Greek gods to ruin. And you, Doros, are part of that old Greece."
The wind blew, carrying the distant sound of a scream.
"If a war is going to begin again," she concluded, descending the stone stairs, "you'd better know everything. After all… including the reason why he killed you and Thalia in the war sixteen centuries ago."
Doros stood still for a moment. Then, he looked again toward the forest. A brief, almost melancholic smile curved his lips.
"So we won't be able to live in peace…" he murmured.
The wind blew stronger, and the torches on the walls flickered — as if the world itself held its breath, waiting for what was to come.
The forest vibrated with screams and moving shadows.Limia advanced, merciless, tearing through the fog. Her cloak of darkness rippled like living smoke, and her golden eyes burned with a supernatural light. Every step she took seemed to drain the life around her.
A knight screamed — but before he could react, he was lifted from the ground like a puppet. A golden flash rose from his chest and disappeared into the creature's cloak. Another tried to flee, but the air around him bent, and he fell motionless, his eyes fixed on nothing.
Limia stopped for a moment, her head slightly tilted between the trees. Her voice came sweet and venomous, laden with cruel sarcasm:
"Finally I found one of you…" she murmured, her twisted smile, her eyes sparkling. "I really admire your ability to hide so well."
In a swift movement, her shadow twisted and took the shape of a colossal serpent, which advanced at supernatural speed. The attack was devastating — the man didn't even have time to scream. The body of one of the Pillars, responsible for maintaining the fog in that part of the forest, fell lifeless, while the seal that sustained him dissolved.
Limia watched him with disdain.
"Hm… awakened a lesser spirit, and still contains quite a bit of divine energy," she commented, in a curious, almost amused tone. "Where could the others be?"
The fog began to dissipate slowly, revealing the horror she had left behind.Moonlight crossed the treetops, bathing lifeless bodies scattered across the ground — some decapitated, others torn apart. Blood dripped from the trees, running down the trunks like crimson rain.
The forest seemed to have been washed by a storm of blood.
Taking advantage of the breach opened in the formation, Limia moved with supernatural precision. She became an invisible huntress among the shadows, and the Pillars, one by one, began to fall. That fissure was enough: if they didn't change position, they would be exposed.
She, however, couldn't stop laughing.She laughed with true admiration — a light, almost melodic laugh, but full of scorn.
"Tactics of the new era…" she murmured, amused. "Humans more and more ingenious. What a waste."
She made a full turn through the forest surrounding the barony. When silence finally settled, nine of the Pillars had already fallen.
But something caught her attention.The mist, which should have dissipated completely, still spread, weak but persistent — enough to blur vision.
Limia approached the core of the fog, her golden eyes sparkling in the dimness.
"Impressive…" she whispered, with a crooked smile. "Even after having their location revealed, they remained in position. None of them retreated."
She tilted her head, as if recalling something, and added, her voice overflowing with irony:
"I asked the ninth what drove them, why they didn't flee. Do you know what he answered?" — her lips curved into a cold smile. — "'Because I trust my lord.'"
Limia let out a low laugh, the sound echoing among the trees.
"Funny…" she said, looking around. "I don't see him here."
She screamed, pure rage reverberating through the forest, as if spitting out her own memories:
"Trust leads no one anywhere!" she roared, a barely audible laugh playing on her lips. "I know that from experience… Even so, I had to torture a few soldiers to find out how many of you were left. Unlike the blind loyalty of the Pillars, the last knights begged me for a quick death. I said I would give it to them… if they told me how many remained. And look at that… now I know there's only one more left."
Her golden eyes sparkled among the shadows, and a cruel smile curved her lips:
"So… you know what? You're the last one alive. You can go on… just hand me over the Viscount, and maybe I'll let you live."
Her voice echoed through every corner of the forest, reverberating in the trunks like thunder:
"I felt from the beginning that you weren't from this world. At first I thought you were an awakened one in transition to resurrection. That's why you needed divine energy."
Limia gave a low, melodic and poisonous laugh, interrupting him:
"Well… and why don't you show yourself? We can talk while I draw divine energy from the Viscount."
"But you are a reincarnation…" continued the last Pillar, his voice firm but filled with tension. "The way you move, the precision… they're not normal."
"Congratulations," Limia smiled, a cold smile playing on her lips, her teeth showing for an instant. "You deserve a prize for that feat. I'll grant it: a quick death, in thanks for your honesty."
In response to Limia's provocation, the Pillar made the mist around him harden, forming a living sphere. Before it closed, a whisper crossed the air:
"Oros-Megera: explode."
Limia smiled, amused, almost delighted with the situation:
"Really, you entertain me… my dear Furies."
The sphere closed. Her dark skin and shadows began to tremble, as if reacting to the explosion itself. Inside the sphere, Limia's body broke apart and rebuilt at superhuman speed, while the explosions continued nonstop.
The last Pillar looked at Acasto, her blue eyes reflecting his intense red. She spoke urgently, her voice filled with despair:
"Take the Viscount and run! No matter what happens, someone needs to warn the king!"
Acasto swallowed hard, feeling the weight of those words:
"You're going to die…" he murmured, almost in disbelief.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth and her hands trembled. "Acasto… please… protect my father. Run. Don't stop. Don't look." Each word came out like a stab; her knees almost gave out.
Acasto took the Viscount and left without looking back.
She gave a small smile, even amid the pain, and continued:
"I… am Skýra Bragança, third daughter of Viscount Bragança…" she gasped, her voice trembling but firm, filled with emotion and determination. "Here and now I fulfill my duty, and every word I speak sounds like an echo of the ancient tradition, like an oath that crosses generations." "As one of the Pillars, faithful to my code, to my blood and to the protection of those who trust in me… until the last breath."
Blood flowed from her eyes, ears, and nose as she screamed, feeling the bones of her arms break under the shock of the Abyss energy released by Limia, which collided violently with her own divine energy.
While her body broke and rebuilt itself in an endless cycle of explosion and regeneration, Limia spoke, with a cold smile on her lips:
"Oh… I heard a noise out there. Does it hurt?" her voice sounded sweet, almost melodic, but each word carried poison. "Don't worry… I'll make sure it gets worse."
Skýra's screams tore through the forest, each word filled with pain and determination, but she did not retreat. Her eyes shone in sky blue, and the wind blew in her favor, infusing strength into her despair. Gathering the last reserves of her energy, Skýra condensed the mist around her, shaping it into a gigantic white dragon, a colossal serpent that twisted and roared, the sound reverberating among the trees like thunder.
The mist dragon advanced in fury, colliding against the sphere with a crash that shook the entire forest. The contained energy exploded in flashes and waves of force, tearing through the air and hurling Limia out of the forest. She fell onto the vast field that stretched to the barony's walls, the silhouette of destruction spreading behind her, a trail of chaos that seemed to impregnate the very ground.