The air inside the Citadel was unnaturally still, as though the very stones of the fortress held their breath. Soldiers patrolled the ramparts, but their footsteps were heavy, weighed down by the gnawing fear they could not name. Torches burned along the walls, their light casting long, shivering shadows on the cobbled streets below. For Kaien Draven, that silence pressed against his chest like an invisible weight. He stood on one of the high towers, his eyes fixed on the horizon where the clouds bled with a violet hue, unnatural and wrong. His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. It pulsed faintly, as though sensing the storm to come.
Selene appeared at his side, her robes swaying in the night air. Her expression was sharp, her eyes carrying the same unease he felt. "You feel it too," she said softly, no trace of doubt in her voice.
Kaien nodded. The air itself seemed to writhe, charged with a malevolent energy that seeped into every breath. His sword vibrated again, stronger this time, whispering to him in a language he still did not fully understand. It wanted blood.
Commander Varic's voice broke the silence as he joined them on the tower. His weathered armor caught the faint torchlight, every dent a story of survival. "Scouts returned just before dawn. The horde is moving. Larger than anything we've seen before. They'll be here before the third bell."
No one spoke for a long moment. Kaien felt his heartbeat quicken. Larger than anything before—those words lingered. Already, he had seen horrors crawl out of the abyss, creatures that shredded veteran Slayers like paper. If worse was coming, then this battle would mark either the Citadel's triumph… or its end.
When the bells tolled across the night, they weren't warnings—they were dirges. The ground began to tremble. Faint at first, like distant thunder, then growing into a rhythmic quake, steady and merciless. Shouts rose along the wall. Slayers rushed into position. Archers nocked arrows infused with holy flame. Mages gathered near the runed gates, chanting protective wards. Every breath carried the sharp tang of fear mixed with determination.
Kaien stood at the frontline, his sword drawn. Selene at his right, Renji at his left, their eyes trained forward. The darkness beyond the walls shifted, shapes twisting in the mist. Then the first roar split the night. It was no beast's cry—it was something primal, a sound that clawed into the marrow of every listener.
They came.
Demons surged from the shadows, their bodies grotesque amalgamations of horns, claws, and writhing black mist. The first wave crashed against the Citadel's defenses like a tide of living nightmares. Arrows flew, cutting through their ranks, but still they climbed, clawing against the walls with feral desperation. The Slayers met them steel to flesh, blade to claw, battle cries breaking the silence.
Kaien leapt forward, his blade carving through the first demon that reached the wall. Black blood sprayed into the air, sizzling as it touched the wards. Another lunged, its maw wide with jagged fangs, but Kaien's sword found its neck before it could bite. He fought like a storm, his movements sharp, his aura burning darker with every swing.
Yet the horde didn't stop. For every demon slain, three more clawed their way forward. The walls shook under the sheer weight of the assault. Demonic hands scraped against the rune-etched gates, their claws sparking as they struggled to tear it down.
Then the second wave arrived.
The ground beyond the battlefield cracked open, and from it crawled creatures that dwarfed even the tallest Slayer. Abyssal beasts, their bodies covered in armored plates of bone and shadow, their eyes burning red like molten cores. One let out a guttural roar, shaking the air, and charged the gates. The wards flared against its impact, but cracks spread through the shimmering barrier.
Selene raised her staff, flames spiraling from her hands. "Incinerate!" she cried, a torrent of fire lashing out at the monster. The beast howled, staggered, but did not fall. Renji was already there, his massive blade cleaving into its leg with a shuddering crack. Still, it moved, its bulk too great to be stopped so easily.
Kaien dashed in, his aura flaring violet. He didn't think, he simply moved, his body guided by instinct. His blade cut deep into the beast's side, and for a moment the air shivered. His shadow detached, stretching unnaturally, and in a blink he appeared behind the creature, striking again.
He froze for a heartbeat, staring at his own hand. That wasn't normal speed—he had torn through space itself, a flicker of movement that defied logic. The shadows themselves had carried him.
"Kaien!" Selene shouted, snapping him back to the fight. He grit his teeth and struck again, cutting deep into the beast's armored hide. With Renji's strength and Selene's fire, the creature finally fell, its body dissolving into smoke.
But there was no time to celebrate.
The ground shook again—heavier this time, deeper. The horde suddenly stopped, their snarls dying into silence. From the mist, a figure emerged. Taller than any man, armored in obsidian plates that pulsed with veins of molten crimson. Horns curved upward from its skull-like helm, and its eyes glowed like dying suns.
A Demon General.
It walked slowly, deliberately, every step echoing like the toll of a bell. The lesser demons bowed their heads as it passed. Its voice cut through the night, deep and mocking. "So… the half-breed stands among mortals, pretending to be their savior."
Kaien stiffened, his blade trembling in his grasp. The word struck deep—half-breed. He didn't know what it meant, but the way the demon said it made his blood boil.
The General raised its hand, and with a single strike, it slammed against the Citadel's rune gate. The wards flared desperately, holding for a moment before cracking like glass. The ground quaked, stones tumbling from the walls. Slayers shouted in panic, rushing to reinforce the defenses.
Kaien's body moved on instinct. He leapt forward, blade aimed for the General's chest. Their weapons met with an impact that rattled the walls themselves. Kaien staggered back, his arms burning from the sheer force of the blow. The General barely flinched, its obsidian blade humming with abyssal energy.
"You are not ready," it said with a cruel smile. "But your blood… your blood sings to me."
The clash that followed was a storm. Kaien's sword met the General's again and again, sparks of violet and crimson lighting the battlefield. Every strike rattled his bones. Every parry tested his limits. The General fought with terrifying precision, each movement efficient, merciless.
Kaien's new ability flared—shadows stretching, carrying him across the field in bursts of speed. He struck from the side, from above, from behind, his blade a blur of violet arcs. But the General countered each attack, its laughter low and guttural.
"You fight like one of us," it hissed. "Do you not feel it, child? The darkness in your veins?"
Kaien roared, striking with all his might. For a heartbeat, his blade pierced the General's armor, black ichor spilling into the night. The demon staggered, but only for a moment. Its wound sealed almost instantly, smoke curling from the closing flesh.
Hopeless. That was the only word that came to Kaien's mind. But even as despair clawed at him, something deeper pushed back—rage, determination, the will not to fall. His aura flared brighter, darker, a violent storm of violet and black. He struck again, and this time his blade shattered through the General's helm, tearing one of its horns clean off.
The demon howled, its voice shaking the very air. "Enough!"
With a single swing, the General's blade slammed against the gate. The runes screamed, then shattered in a burst of dying light. Stone crumbled. The great gate of the Citadel—the wall that had protected humanity for generations—split apart and fell.
Silence. Then the world screamed.
From beyond the gate, Kaien saw it—a void spilling into reality, a rift bleeding shadows and fire. The Abyss itself. He staggered back, eyes wide as the first shapes crawled through the broken seal. Not demons this time. Something worse.
The Citadel was no longer just under siege. The barrier between worlds had broken. And humanity had just been thrown into the abyss.