Anna awoke to silence.
Not the silence of peace — but the silence of absence.
Her body lay on blackened stone, her chest heaving, every breath dragging knives through her ribs. Her hands searched blindly for her sword, for Kael — anything real to hold onto.
"Kael…" she whispered.
A rough cough answered. She turned — and there he was, collapsed a few feet away. His left eye burned faintly gold, his right arm nothing but black ash where his flesh had been consumed. Still, he grinned when he saw her.
"Still breathing, huh?"
Anna's throat tightened. Tears blurred her vision as she crawled to him, gripping his remaining hand. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."
Kael's grin faltered, replaced with quiet exhaustion. "No promises."
The New Realm
They rose slowly, leaning against each other. The world around them was… wrong.
Shards of sky hung in jagged mosaics overhead. Rivers of starlight bled upward instead of down. Mountains floated, fractured, bound by glowing chains that led into the abyss.
The Veil was no longer a battlefield. It was a prison twisted inside out.
And they were trapped within it.
Anna's breath caught. "This… isn't the battlefield anymore."
Kael shook his head. "No. This is where the ashes fell."
Elena's Echo
A soft glow flickered.
Anna froze — her heart leaping. For a moment she thought Elena had survived. But it wasn't her. It was only an echo: a golden feather drifting in the air, glowing faintly before dissolving.
Anna clutched it, pressing it to her chest. "She's really gone."
Kael placed a hand on her shoulder, his voice low. "Not gone. She burned herself into us. Into this fight. That's why we're still standing."
Anna nodded, though the ache in her chest didn't fade.
The First Threat
The ground rumbled.
From the cracks in the stone, shapes began to rise — humanoid at first, but hollow, their bodies filled with glowing embers. Their eyes burned with the same fire as the Ashen Godform.
Ashborn.
Dozens of them, clawing out of the abyss. Their mouths opened in unison, voices overlapping in a chilling chorus:
> "The Throne scatters. The Throne lives. The Throne will rise again."
Anna's grip tightened on her blade. Kael's cursed flames flared.
No rest. No reprieve.
"Guess round two starts here," Kael muttered.
Anna stepped forward, wings flickering back into existence, her eyes blazing. "Then we'll cut through every fragment — until nothing remains."
The Ashborn lunged.
Dozens of ember-eyed husks surged forward, clawing the air with jagged arms of molten ash. Each step cracked the fractured ground, sending shards of glowing stone spiraling upward.
Anna's blade answered first.
> "Twilight Sever!"
A single slash cut the sky, trailing light and shadow together. Five Ashborn split apart, their bodies dissolving into cinders before they even struck the ground.
Kael followed, his cursed fire erupting around him.
> "Abyss Fang!
A storm of black flame shaped like a wolf tore through the horde, devouring them whole. But with each Ashborn consumed, Kael staggered, his curse tightening around him like chains.
"Damn it…" he hissed, clutching his chest.
Anna glanced at him mid-swing. "Don't burn yourself out! Not now!"
Kael laughed, reckless as ever. "If I stop, we're dead anyway!"
The Horde's Evolution
The Ashborn didn't fall back.
The fragments of ash they left behind rose again, reforming into twisted, larger shapes. Some sprouted wings made of flame, others dragged molten blades from the ground itself.
Anna's eyes widened. "They're… evolving."
One of the creatures roared, its voice layered with the Throne's echo.
> "Ashes cannot be destroyed. Only reborn.
The horde surged again.
Anna's wings flared wide. "Then we'll cut them down as many times as it takes!"
The Counterstrike
Anna rose into the air, wings beating like thunder. She spun her blade once, then dove.
> "Twilight Nova!"
Her strike detonated, a starburst of shadow and radiance that erased a wave of Ashborn in one blinding flash.
Kael dropped to one knee, his curse boiling over. His right eye bled black fire, but he gritted his teeth and hurled his last restraint aside.
> "Eclipse Devourer!
The ground split as a colossal black serpent of flame erupted, swallowing the largest of the Ashborn whole before bursting apart in an inferno.
The battlefield shook, the shattered skies trembling from the impact.
The Endless Tide
Anna landed beside Kael, chest heaving. Dozens more Ashborn were already clawing their way from the abyss. For every one they killed, two more rose.
Kael spat blood, smirking. "Guess we're not done yet."
Anna gripped her blade tighter, sweat and blood dripping down her face. "Then we'll keep fighting. Until there's nothing left to rise."
The Ashborn circled them, the air thick with heat and ash.
From above, the cracked heavens split wider — and something vast stirred in the distance.
A colossal ember, pulsing like a heart. The largest fragment of the Throne.
Anna's breath hitched. "That… that's where it's gathering."
Kael's grin widened despite the blood on his lips. "Good. Then let's carve a path straight to it."
The horde shrieked and descended. Anna and Kael raised their blades in unison.
And the battle for the fragments began.