The monster's roar echoed across the broken forest, splintering trees and shaking the ground like an earthquake. Its many limbs flailed wildly, smashing the environment with divine rage. But Kaen — still cloaked in shadows — moved like liquid night.
Every swing of the beast was intercepted not by strength, but by absence.
Kaen didn't block — he erased.
His palm brushed the creature's arm, and with a flash of ink-like void, half the limb simply vanished, as if reality itself had been undone.
Behind him, Mira and Leon stared in disbelief.
"What kind of magic is that?!" Mira shouted, trying to stabilize Leon with a healing crystal.
"That's not magic," Leon muttered. "That's… wrong."
---
Zian stood in the clearing, watching the void and flesh collide. Her breath trembled. She could feel it — deep in her bones, her blood, her memory. That beast wasn't just a monster.
It was made from the corpse of the fallen god.
And it remembered her.
The beast turned its dozens of faces toward her.
"Loyal One."
The voice was in her mind — warped, ancient, echoing.
Her knees buckled. A flood of memories surged forward: golden skies, a shattered throne, twelve lights vanishing into darkness. And behind it all — a single presence, watching silently.
Darkness.
"No…" Zian whispered. "Not now…"
Golden cracks bloomed across her skin, glowing softly.
Kaen turned his head slightly, sensing it. His smile returned.
> "It's waking up."
---
The monster howled again, sending a shockwave toward Zian.
Mira screamed, "Zian—MOVE!"
But Zian didn't move.
She stood tall, golden eyes ablaze. Her right arm lifted — shaking — and a sigil of angelic light flared above her palm.
A sword of light formed from thin air.
Then… wings.
For a heartbeat, six radiant wings unfolded behind her before fading into embers.
She slashed, and a searing arc of divine light cut across the battlefield, slicing the beast's remaining arm clean off.
Even Kaen blinked.
"Now that," he murmured, "was nostalgic."
---
Zian collapsed to one knee, gasping, the sword fading.
Kaen walked past her, placing a hand briefly on her head. "You're still only halfway awake."
The monster shrieked, staggering, desperate.
Kaen cracked his neck.
"Now," he whispered to the writhing beast, "bow to your better."
He stepped forward.
And the shadows fell like judgment.