At the northern border of the kingdom of magic, the battlefield stretched across vast plains and shattered hills. Undead soldiers advanced in tight, relentless waves while void creatures poured from the darkness to meet them. Each side tore the other apart without pause, yet neither force grew smaller. Every fallen corpse rose again, and every destroyed void creature was replaced by another crawling out of the rift. The clash never slowed. Steel rang against bone, claws ripped through armor, and the air stank of ash and decay.
Farther north, Bernal reached the source of the invasion. He stopped above the edge of a wide scar in the earth where the ground pulsed with dull violet light. The soil looked scorched and cracked, as if something inside the world tried to tear its way out. Creatures spilled from the glowing wound in endless variety, towering shapes with jagged limbs and crawling masses that dragged themselves forward.
Bernal studied the portal in silence. He weighed every spell he knew against the cost in mana and the risk of failure. He could seal the rift in several ways, but each method demanded a heavy price. He needed a solution that would end the flow without draining him to much.
After a minute of careful calculation, he chose. He raised his right hand and held it steady. A wide pillar of fire shot upward into the sky, bright enough to turn the clouds orange. The flame held its shape and continued to rise, feeding on his power until it carved a glowing path through the air. Minutes passed before the spell changed. Four blazing lines split from the first and dropped straight down like pillars of burning light. They struck the ground at four distant points around the wounded soil, forming a wide square of fire.
The flames moved with purpose. They spread across the earth like living beings, devouring every void creature in their path. Flesh, shadow, and bone burned to nothing as the fire closed in. The rift on the ground at the center began to shrink as the flames pressed inward from all sides.
Bernal considered summoning a sun like sphere of fire and dropping it onto the rift but he rejected the idea as soon as it came. The portal behaved like an open doorway, and half of the spell would vanish into the void before it could seal the breach. Burning the edges first would force the opening to collapse inward.
The void noticed him within moments. Shapes pouring from the rift shifted as if guided by a single thought. New creatures forced their way out, lean bodies with wide, ragged wings and narrow skulls built for the air. They rose in spirals and then tightened into a fast moving swarm that angled straight toward him.
Bernal held his arm steady as fire continued to roar from his raised palm. Heat shimmered around him and bent the air. When the swarm climbed higher, a faint smile touched his lips. Without lowering his hand, he spread his fingers wider. Pale sparks snapped between them, sharp and restless, threading through the rising flame. The sparks thickened into streaks of white light that shot upward and vanished into the clouds.
The sky reacted at once. Gray clouds twisted together, darkening as if ink spilled through them. Lightning crawled across the cloud cover in jagged veins. A heartbeat later, the storm broke. Bolts hammered down in rapid succession, each strike loud enough to shake the air. Winged creatures burst apart midflight, their bodies torn open by white flashes. The storm left no gaps. Every path toward Bernal filled with falling lightning. Strikes spilled beyond the swarm and slammed into the battlefield below, blasting craters into the ground and striking the glowing scar of the portal. The edges of the rift shrank faster under the constant impact.
The void answered with greater force. Smaller creatures kept pouring out until the ground trembled under a heavier weight. The rift stretched wider for a moment as something immense forced its way through. A dragon shaped monster emerged, its long body wrapped in cracked purple scales that leaked dim light. Its wings spread wide enough to cast a moving shadow across the battlefield.
The creature locked onto Bernal and surged forward with powerful wingbeats. As it closed the distance, it opened its jaws. Darkness spiraled inside its mouth, forming a dense sphere that swallowed the surrounding light. The sphere collapsed into a focused beam and shot toward him.
Bernal stayed in place. He raised his free hand and released a beam of lightning as thick as a tower. The blast ripped through the incoming void beam and struck the dragon's chest. White light burst through its body in an instant. The force tore through bone and wing, shredding the creature until only fragments spun away into the storm.
The lightning beam carried on and struck the portal with full force. Fire and lightning pressed inward from every side. The glowing edges folded in on themselves until the rift snapped shut. The violet glow faded, leaving only scorched earth and drifting smoke.
Bernal hovered in silence and swept his gaze across the sky and the ruined field. When he confirmed the absence of movement, he turned and flew back toward Oswald.
…
On the northern front of the kingdom, Osvald Hemingsson fought through the endless wave of void creatures summoned by Thavuk. The ground around him had turned into churned mud and shattered stone, soaked with dark fluid and scattered with broken limbs. He tore through the creatures with claws and teeth, crushing skull-less heads, ripping torsos open, and hurling bodies aside. Every monster he destroyed left a gap that filled almost immediately as new shapes crawled forward from the mass behind them.
Suddenly the ground split open without warning. Thick, slick tentacles burst upward from every direction. They coiled around his legs, wrapped across his chest, and tightened around his neck and shoulders. The grip locked his limbs in place and forced his massive body to a halt.
Thavuk watched with a pleased expression. "Such a wild beast. You will make a perfect pet."
Osvald answered with a deep growl that vibrated through the ground beneath them. He understood the gap in strength between them, but he also recognized the mistake in Thavuk's confidence.
The tentacles tightened and creaked as they squeezed. Thavuk stepped forward, slow and relaxed, certain the fight had ended.
But to his surprise, the bear suddenly vanished.
The tentacles collapsed inward and tightened around empty air. Thavuk froze and scanned the battlefield with detection magic. Waves of mana spread outward, sweeping across the ground and the sky. He found no trace of the bear's presence. For a brief moment, he believed the creature had fled.
Then a small bird slipped between the writhing tentacles and climbed into the sky.
Thavuk's expression hardened. Osvald had shrunk so much that because of his tentacles Thavuk could not detect his presence. In the other word, he was vanished inside all that mana.
The tentacles lashed upward at once, slicing through the air with sharp cracking sounds. Strike after strike missed as the tiny bird twisted between them and slipped through every gap. It climbed higher and higher, showing no sign of retreat.
Midflight, its body began to expand. Bones lengthened, and feathers vanished beneath thick fur. The creature shifted back into a bear while still rising. The transformation did not stop. Muscles swelled, limbs thickened, and the body doubled in size. The tips of its fur ignited with a deep red glow, as if heat smoldered beneath the surface.
The giant bear curled slightly and dropped.
The fall turned into a controlled dive. Air roared around his body as he plunged downward. The tentacles reached up to stop him, but his momentum tore through them. Each impact snapped the thick limbs apart and scattered burning fragments across the battlefield.
Thavuk's eyes widened. A tentacle burst from beneath his feet and dragged him backward while layers of protective spells snapped into place around him, forming glowing barriers that stacked over one another.
The bear struck the ground with crushing force.
The impact sent a shockwave across the battlefield. Stone cracked and lifted from the ground, and nearby void creatures disintegrated under the blast. The explosion tore through the area where the monsters gathered and flattened everything in its path. The floating platform shuddered under the force, and only the thick, intertwined branches beneath it kept the structure from breaking apart and collapsing into the ground below.
When the dust settled, the protective spells around Thavuk flickered out and faded. His figure emerged from the drifting smoke. He still held many spells in reserve, yet none felt suited for the monster that now stood before him. That did not slow him. A slow smile spread across his face. If he needed a monster to win this fight, he would become one.
Void energy gathered around his body and tightened like a storm closing in. His frame stretched and thickened as muscle swelled beneath skin that darkened into deep indigo and black. The color spread across him until his body looked carved from hardened night. Jagged ridges forced their way out along his shoulders and arms, forming layered plates like sharpened feathers or scales. Thin lines of violet light leaked through the gaps and pulsed with each heartbeat.
A bright core flared to life in the center of his chest. Purple light burned beneath the surface and branched outward in sharp veins that crawled across his torso and down his arms. The glow spilled over his clawed hands as his fingers lengthened into curved talons. His spine arched and shifted while massive crescent horns pushed back from his skull, sweeping behind his head like a crown shaped from shadow.
The air behind him split open with a low tearing sound as his massive tail moved behind him. His eyes burned bright violet, stripped of anything familiar, and when he opened his mouth, rows of sharp fangs caught the glow from the core in his chest.
Thavuk no longer resembled a creature of the earth. He stood as a towering avatar of the void, remade into a living weapon of darkness and void power.
Now as tall as the bear before him, Thavuk lunged forward without hesitation. Osvald answered the charge with a thunderous sprint of his own. Their collision struck like two boulders crashing together. The impact sent a shock through the platform and scattered loose debris in every direction. Osvald drove his weight forward and forced Thavuk backward step by step.
Thavuk's clawed feet gouged deep trenches through the wood and soil beneath the platform before he managed to stop. He thrust one hand upward and jammed it against the bear's jaws, muscles straining as he fought to keep the teeth from snapping shut on his arm. Heat poured from Osvald's mouth as the bear suddenly halted his attack. A deep glow formed behind his teeth. Fire gathered in his throat, growing brighter and hotter with every passing second.
In response, void energy surged through Thavuk's arms. With a sharp motion, he seized a fistful of thick fur above the bear's head and yanked downward. At the same time, he drove a heavy punch into Osvald's jaw with his other hand.
The blow snapped the bear's mouth shut. The fire erupted inside his muzzle in a violent, muffled explosion that shook his entire head. Before Osvald could regain focus, Thavuk shifted to his side and wrapped both arms around the bear's torso. Muscles tightened as he lifted the massive body from the ground. He twisted his hips and hurled Osvald across the battlefield with a full rotation.
The bear flew toward the wooden wall at the edge of the platform. Splintered planks and branches rushed up to meet him. Thavuk did not wait for the impact. He thrust his arm forward and launched a dense sphere of void energy after the airborne body. The projectile struck the same spot a heartbeat later and exploded in a violent burst of dark light and shattered wood.
The blast sent fragments spinning through the air and rocked the entire platform. Smoke and dust filled the impact site.
When the haze cleared, Osvald already stood on his feet.
The real battle of monsters was still far from over.