Branwyn met the descending weapon with his spear, hooking the morningstar's curved blade in between his spear's shaft. The ground beneath his feet caved several inches, causing spiderweb fractures to race outward through the grove.
Tyr appeared immediately behind him and thrust his blade towards Branwyn's spine.
Rather than panic, Yun felt a surge of some mystical energy erupt from Branwyn's core.
The Divine bodysuit he wore like a second layer of skin swallowed it whole and then directed it forward. The energy flowed like a current to his arms and lower abdomen and a second later, it detonated.
Immediately, Branwyn's speed and strength roared like a newly lit pyre.
He wrenched Reida's hooked blade sideways, using her own added weight to slam her into the ground. He sank into the shadows before Tyr's thrust pierced through, reappearing just behind the baffled Divine.
A tendril extended from the ground, wrapping itself around Tyr's heel. With a mental command, Branwyn sent him flying and crashing through one tree after another.
The tendril loosened its grip, leaving Tyr to fall and drop beside Erin, now limp. A second later, the greatsword clattered next to him.
Reida was delivered next to her companion shortly afterwards, wrapped in shadowy restraints.
For a moment, the grove was still. The two Heralds were defeated, and Branwyn stood surrounded by the remains of the battlefield, his spear still in hand.
Yun was speechless. Even Erin's amused smile had begun to fade.
"My," she murmured. "I forgot how troublesome a Power can be."
Branwyn was perfectly still from the moment he threw Tyr, but Yun could feel it. That brief exchange had exhausted the Divine. It wasn't cause for panic, for now, but it was still meaningful, nonetheless.
Erin shrugged. "Well, last chance, Uncle. You haven't been branded a traitor, yet."
That was... odd. Erin's guards had been laid out flat, and she didn't stand a chance in a head-to-head fight either; her Lineage Path wouldn't work on Branwyn, yet she seemed confident enough to extend an olive branch.
"I don't like this," Yun whispered in the darkness.
Branwyn turned away from her. "We're done here."
"You're really going this far?"
"I guess. What are you going to do about it?"
Erin tilted her head and hummed. "You should really listen to your niece when she speaks. I said I'd keep you still, didn't I?"
Erin raised her index finger and pointed. Branwyn froze.
"My Lord. May your hand strike true. Let my unworthy finger guide your righteous justice along on its path, so that I may crush thine enemies."
The shadow connecting Yun to Branwyn recoiled violently, like a creature sensing a far greater predator approaching. And for the first time since Yun had met him, the Divine looked afraid.
"Severin's mercy, it's the Clan Lord."
Branwyn took a knee and gripped his spear tightly. All the shadows of the grove congregated and focused at the tip of the spear. The mysterious energy coursing within him drained at a disorienting speed.
The grove came to a hush. The next moment, the earth beneath Branwyn collapsed.
A massive palm print appeared across the forest floor.
Five enormous impressions carved themselves into the soil, each finger stretching across the grove and crushing everything caught beneath it. Trees flattened instantly, their trunks snapping under the invisible weight. The ground compressed with such force that it reached into the shadow and sent a tremor through Yun's bones.
At the center of that handprint stood Branwyn, with one knee forced into the earth. He planted his spear deep into the soil, both hands gripping the shaft as he resisted the force pressing down from above.
He grunted, pouring more shadow to hold against the invisible hand. Beads of sweat dripped down the sides of his face.
Meanwhile, Yun couldn't breathe.
The shadows around Branwyn erupted. The darkness beneath him expanded like a flood, swallowing his body and dragging him away before the invisible hand could crush him completely.
He reappeared several dozen meters away. For a moment, Yun thought they had escaped, until the second hand descended. The impact erased the place where they had stood, and the grove vanished beneath another enormous palm print.
Branwyn disappeared again. Again… and again.
Each time he escaped, another invisible hand came crashing down, and the destruction left in its wake was larger than the last.
As long as Erin was pointing at them, the Lord's hand would always strike true.
And she wouldn't let them get close enough to stop her.
The grove that had once sheltered them became nothing more than a field of shattered earth.
Something else was happening. The connection between Yun and Branwyn had not disappeared, and through it, Yun felt the truth: Branwyn was running out of energy.
His shadows were becoming thinner as the strength behind them was fading. The impossible power that had seemed bottomless moments ago was being drained away piece by piece. No matter how many times Branwyn escaped...
He couldn't do this forever. And the one word echoing in Yun's mind was… Why?
Why was this happening?
Why was one woman worth all of this? Not even a Divine, but a mundane Descendant.
"Why?"
The word escaped before he realized he had spoken.
Branwyn leapt away from the descending destruction, landing with one hand pressed against the ground. Shadows reached out from the tiny part of the grove that still had cover and dragged them away from another strike.
"Why all this? Just for me? I don't get it."
Yun's voice carried through the shadows.
"Make me understand."
Branwyn didn't answer.
The world shook under another palm strike, and they continued to rain down continuously.
Then Branwyn's shadow rippled. Yun came flying out, landing in Branwyn's arms. A dome of blackness appeared around them, shielding them from the rain of death-dealing hands.
For a moment, Yun thought Branwyn had given him up, and honestly, he wouldn't blame him.
Then the Divine looked down.
"Hey."
Yun blinked.
"You said you awakened the Curse, right?"
"Yeah?"
Branwyn dropped Yun, then dug his fingers into his robes. His hand emerged holding a small crest. The metal was dark, marked with the symbol of High Clan Morrigan.
The Triskele Spear and a raven, both wreathed in thorns.
He placed it into Yun's hand.
"Survive the First Vision."
Outside, the earth continued to moan and quake.
"You are Tainted, yes, and there's not many of you out there. Almost all of you die before even becoming Divine."
He paused, as if struggling against his own words.
"But you are Lady Adelaide's child, for better or for worse. You must reach beyond your ability and pull yourself up from death's clutches with bloody fingers and broken nails."
The crest rested heavier on Yun's palm.
"Yun, come back to the real world. If you do that, come find me."
Yun had no words to say, all he could do was stare.
"Find me, and I'll tell you what I know about the Lady."
Branwyn's shadows began gathering around Yun.
"When you're a Spark…"
The darkness climbed higher.
"Find the Church of True Severinites. Once there, show them this crest."
The world around Yun began to disappear.
"That's where you'll find me."
"Wait—"
Yun reached forward, but not before the shadows swallowed him completely. The last thing he saw was the dome disappearing and Branwyn standing alone in the ruined grove. Erin was saying something to him that Yun couldn't make out.
Yun felt an overwhelming pressure of something far beyond his understanding, like he had just stirred the nest of some irritable and superpowered hornets.
Still, something about Branwyn's words lit a spark under him, but then… he remembered all that he learnt today. About Keeva's fate. About Mother's disappearence.
The tiny spark of fire disappeared with a whimper. Silenced.
The world went dark, and Branwyn teleported him away.