The marble Pavilion was meant for grandeur. Its soaring crystalline domes caught the twin suns in molten hues of amber and silver, spilling light down upon polished floors where Nexus's nobility had gathered. Silks rustled, jeweled fans fluttered, and whispers threaded like silk through the hall. Tonight was to be a triumph, the Governor's restoration of power, the Lady's miraculous recovery.
Then the world split apart.
The first scream came from the far archway, sharp as glass. A guard stumbled backward, armor dented inward, before something enormous hurled him across the marble. His body struck a column with a crack, blood blooming across pale stone.
The guests froze—then the archway exploded inward.
It was not beast, not man. The thing's shoulders brushed both sides of the doorframe, a grotesque amalgam of muscle and charred skin stitched with alchemical burns. Its veins glowed faintly violet, its mouth stretched too wide, teeth like jagged shards. Eyes hollow, yet burning with insatiable hunger. It bellowed, and the sound rattled the Pavilion's very bones.
Panic detonated.
Tables overturned. Nobles shrieked, gowns tearing as they shoved each other in desperation. Some guards surged forward with blades glowing faintly with mana—but the creature swiped once, and three men were cleaved apart, entrails painting the floor in steaming arcs.
Another abomination lunged in from a side corridor. And another. Soon the Pavilion's grandeur became a slaughterhouse.
—
Jade had already moved.
The instant the first creature breached, his hand flicked outward, silver-white hair catching the flare of the chandeliers. Cold rushed from his palm, an elegant circle of frost racing across the floor. With a resonant crack, a translucent dome of ice bloomed up around Selene's chair, Niamh, Amara, and Lio.
Selene startled, her fingers tightening on the arms of her wheelchair. "J-Jade—!"
"Sit," Jade said, voice steady beyond his years. His silver eyes reflected the writhing chaos outside. "I'll hold."
Niamh's heart clenched. She wanted to drag him back behind her, shield him as she always had before they came to this damned city. But she had long since learned: this child was no ordinary child. Her hand slid to Selene's trembling one, grounding them both. She whispered a prayer beneath her breath, though her eyes never left Jade's back.
Selene's protests faltered when she felt Niamh's grip. The older woman's calm was not born of blindness—it was faith. Selene swallowed hard, then clung to her hand, using it as an anchor as the Pavilion descended into nightmare.
Lio pressed close beside Jade, trembling, but with defiance sparking in his eyes.
Outside the dome, nobles scrambled, some darting toward the ice barrier as though it were salvation. A jeweled lady shrieked Jade's name, slamming her palms against the frost. For a heartbeat, compassion flickered across his young face. Then it vanished.
He did nothing.
The creature was faster. Its claws slashed down, splitting the woman in two before she could beg again. Blood sprayed across the dome, a crimson veil streaking down the ice. Selene choked on a gasp. Jade's expression did not change.
They had wanted him gone. Wanted him dead. Now the Pavilion was going to be their grave.
...
...
Kael moved at last.
The Governor's voice cut through the carnage like a blade. "STAND."
Metal groaned. Every chain from the chandeliers rattled loose, every decorative spear along the walls bent and twisted in midair. His Ferrum Dominion awakened—the hall itself obeyed his command.
A spear of pure steel shrieked across the air and impaled an abomination through the chest. It thrashed, roaring, even as Kael's hand clenched and the weapon exploded outward, tearing it apart in a storm of bloody shrapnel.
Another beast lunged for Selene's ward. Kael's arm flicked—and a storm of blades spiraled, shearing the monster limb from limb before it could touch Jade's dome.
Kael's gaze flicked briefly to the boy behind the barrier. Jade's calm nod met his eyes. For an instant, understanding passed between them—an unspoken pact.
I'll protect them.
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But the Pavilion was chaos incarnate. Guards shouted, nobles shrieked, blood sprayed with every swing. The abominations moved without strategy, only hunger, and that made them worse. They did not differentiate between noble or guild member. Screams rose as men in Alchemy Guild robes were dragged down, throats ripped out, torsos split open like butchered animals.
Karren was among them, her shrill voice breaking as she stumbled back from a snarling beast. "No, no—STAY BACK!"
The creature leapt. Its claws pierced her alchemy bag, spilling glass and powders in a deadly rainbow. For a heartbeat, hope lit her eyes as the chemicals touched the beast's skin. Then the thing only shrieked louder, drunk on pain, and crushed her beneath its bulk. Her scream cut off wetly.
Draven had promised control. There was none.
...
Blood pooled. Flesh tore. The Pavilion had become a maw.
And above it all, Kael stood like a sentinel of steel, metal orbiting him in lethal harmony. Jade, behind his dome, remained silent, watching through silver eyes.
He was not a savior, neither was he a hero. He was just a child shielding those who mattered to him.
The rest could burn.
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The Pavilion's beauty was drowned in red.
Blood slicked the marble, pooling in rivers that caught the chandeliers' light like molten rubies. Screams became constant, a hideous chorus broken only by the wet sounds of rending flesh.
Kael moved at the center of it, like a storm. With every gesture, metal sang. Gilded candelabras twisted into serrated spears, slicing through monsters and men alike. Chains whipped through the air like serpents, crushing skulls, shattering bones. His Ferrum Dominion bent every scrap of steel to his wrath.
One abomination reared up, nearly twice his height. Its chest swelled with unnatural muscle, veins pulsing like molten ore. It lunged—Kael stepped forward, his arm sweeping wide.
The floor itself responded. The veins of decorative silver woven through the marble ripped free, twisting into a jagged cage. With a flick, the steel bars contracted, slicing the creature into dozens of dripping chunks.
Blood sprayed in a grotesque fountain. Nobles shrieked, scrambling back, their fine robes soaked in gore.
Another monster tore a guard in half, tossing one half into the air. Kael caught it mid-flight, steel spears spiraling to intercept, shredding the corpse before it struck Selene's barrier. His gaze never left the battlefield.
Behind that barrier, Jade stood with hands lowered, frost gleaming faintly at his fingertips. The boy's expression was calm—cold—as nobles outside clawed at his ice for safety only to be ripped apart inches away.
Selene flinched each time blood splattered the dome, her knuckles white as she clutched Niamh's hand. "Is he doing okay?" she whispered, voice cracking.
"Yes." Niamh's eyes didn't waver from Jade's back. "He's Jade."
Selene turned to her, but Niamh's expression silenced further questions. There was no pity there. Only fierce pride and the kind of faith that came from years of watching miracles wrapped in fragile flesh.
...
...
The Guild fared no better than the nobles.
An elder alchemist in rich violet robes tried to bark orders, vials glittering at his belt. "To me! Form up—"
He didn't finish. An abomination crashed into him, its claw spearing through chest and spine in one brutal strike. The elder's eyes bulged, blood bubbling from his lips as the beast lifted him like a rag doll. It bit down, crunching bone and skull in one grisly snap.
The Guild members scattered, their hierarchy crumbling with every scream. Some tried to throw concoctions, glass shattering in sprays of green and orange. A few creatures burned, one convulsing as acid ate through its hide—but for every one that fell, two more rampaged unchecked.
Karren's body twitched where it lay, half-crushed beneath one monster's claw. Her lifeless eyes stared upward as another noble tripped over her, screaming, only to be dragged into the same fate.
Draven had promised triumph. Instead, his Guild was butchered alongside the very nobles they'd sought to dominate.
A cluster of nobles made a desperate dash toward Jade's barrier. They pounded their fists against the ice. "Let us in! Please! We'll die out here!"
Their words ended in screams. The barrier shook as claws tore them away, rending flesh with a sound that echoed through Selene's bones. Blood sprayed across the dome, streaking Jade's calm reflection.
Selene's stomach churned. "Why—why won't he—"
"Because if the situation were reversed, they would do worse." Niamh said flatly. Her voice cracked only slightly, as though each death clawed at her as well—but she did not waver. "The Guild wanted him dead. The nobles spat on him. And now they beg? He owes them nothing."
Selene's lips trembled. She looked back at the boy. His small frame, his silver eyes so calm. So ancient.
He was seven. But he was not a child.
—
Kael's rage had became a beacon.
Every abomination turned toward him now, sensing the steel in his veins, the dominance of his will. Four surged together, their combined bulk rattling the Pavilion as they descended upon him.
The nobles screamed anew, pressing to the walls, praying the governor could withstand the tide.
Kael spread his arms.
Every scrap of metal in the hall screamed loose—ornamental daggers, chandelier chains, even the steel threads woven into nobles' jewelry. The Pavilion became a maelstrom. Shards spun around him like a storm of razors, shrieking in lethal harmony.
The first beast reached him. It was unmade in an instant, shredded into ribbons of flesh.
The second barreled through, its bulk breaking the storm. Kael's hand clenched—every shard fused together into a massive spike, slamming through the creature's skull and pinning it to the marble like an insect.
The third leapt—Kael turned, caught its throat in midair with a coil of steel, and twisted. The neck snapped like brittle wood.
The fourth faltered.
For the first time, silence cut through the Pavilion. Blood dripped from Kael's storm of blades, pooling at his feet. The nobles stared in stunned horror, their governor drenched in crimson, more executioner than leader.
And still, Kael did not falter. His gaze lifted, finding Draven through the chaos.
The Guildmaster's mask of composure cracked.
—
"Enough," Kael roared, his voice shaking the Pavilion. "You dare bring this filth into my house? You dare unleash it upon my wife, upon Nexus itself?"
His hand swept wide. Every remaining monster convulsed, metal lancing into their bodies from all sides. They writhed, shrieked, their roars rattling the very air.
Draven staggered back, eyes wide. Impossible. His creations where strong, pieces together with the finest ingredients… they weren't meant to fall so easily…
For the first time, true fear coiled in his gut.
And Jade, behind the barrier, watched quietly. Selene still clung to Niamh, trembling, while Amara whispered prayers beneath her breath.
The Pavilion was a slaughterhouse. The Guild lay broken. Nobles sobbed in bloodstained silk. And Kael stood unchallenged in the storm of blades, his fury turned toward the man who had caused it all.
Draven.
...