---
The silence over the shattered plaza didn't last.
It ruptured.
Before Vorgath could even react, a massive claw of hardened blood was already there—slamming directly into his face with overwhelming force.
BAAAMM!!
The impact detonated the air around them. A violent shockwave erupted outward, tearing through the ruins as Vorgath's body was launched like a cannon shell.
He tore through broken structures, reducing them into dust before crashing hard against the fractured ground—skidding, bouncing, and crashing again until his body finally came to a halt inside a newly formed crater.
For a moment—
He didn't move.
His head hung at an unnatural angle, neck completely twisted, spine misaligned beyond what any living being should survive.
Then—
A low, distorted laugh echoed from within the crater.
"…Hahaha… fascinating."
A sickening series of cracks followed.
Bone grinding against bone. Flesh stitching itself back together.
His neck jerked violently before snapping back into place.
Vorgath slowly rose, half of his face still caved in—only for it to regenerate rapidly, muscle and skin reforming as if time itself was being reversed.
His glowing red eyes sharpened.
Not with anger.
But with pure, unfiltered excitement.
'Kaera' didn't give him time to recover.
Behind her, three massive blood tails extended violently, slicing through the air with explosive force as they lashed toward him at supersonic speed.
"Not so fast."
SNAP.
Vorgath's body dissolved into black smoke just before the strikes tore through the space he occupied.
Empty.
Then—
"Domain of Eternal Night."
Darkness swallowed everything.
The sky vanished. Light ceased to exist. Even the air itself felt heavier, colder—suffocating.
The battlefield was gone.
Replaced by an endless void.
"Let's see how you fight in the dark," his voice echoed from all directions, warped and distorted as if the shadows themselves were speaking.
From the ground—
Shapes began to emerge.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
Nightmare Sentinels.
Formless shadows, writhing and incomplete, yet unmistakably humanoid. They surged forward like an endless tide, their presence flickering in and out of existence as they closed in.
'Kaera' tilted her head slightly.
Her glowing red eyes burned within the darkness—
Then she roared.
A monstrous, inhuman sound that tore through the domain itself.
"GRRRRRAAAAAAHHH!!"
Behind her, blood gathered in massive quantities—compressing, condensing, and stabilizing into countless high-density projectiles.
Then—
They fired.
Blood Missiles.
A storm of crimson tore through the void. Explosions erupted across the battlefield as the projectiles obliterated wave after wave of Nightmare Sentinels before they could even reach her.
The domain trembled under the sheer pressure of the barrage, fragments of shadow disintegrating under the relentless assault.
Hidden within the darkness, Vorgath felt it.
That presence.
That pressure.
'Kaera' moved.
One swing of her claw—
Blood Rend.
A massive wave of compressed blood energy surged forward, cutting through the void with terrifying precision.
It wasn't random.
It was aimed.
At him.
"—?!"
Vorgath's eyes widened as he vanished instantly, slipping through shadows to avoid the attack.
But it didn't end there.
Another wave followed.
Then another.
Relentless.
Unstoppable.
Forced into the open, Vorgath manifested his cleaver and raised it just in time—
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Each collision sent shockwaves through his arms. Each strike carried not just force—but substance.
Blood splattered upon impact.
And where it touched—
It burned.
Sizzling against his armor like acid, eating through the black metal with a corrosive hiss. Smoke rose as the once-solid plating began to melt, holes forming under the lingering effect.
"Tch—"
He leapt upward, breaking above the suffocating layer of darkness for a brief moment of space.
Extending his hand downward, he compressed his shadow magic into a single point before releasing it.
"Shadow Arts: Abyssal Spikes ."
The ground erupted.
Massive spikes of shadow burst upward like a forest of black spears, impaling everything within range from below.
'Kaera' didn't dodge.
Didn't move.
The spikes pierced straight through her—torso, shoulder, limbs—clean and merciless.
And yet—
She remained standing.
Still.
Unshaken.
Vorgath froze for a split second.
The wounds—
Closed.
Instantly.
Blood shifted, flowed, and reformed, sealing every opening faster than the spikes could damage her.
No reaction.
No pain.
No hesitation.
What stood before him now wasn't human anymore.
It was a predator.
A weapon that only understood one thing.
Kill.
'Kaera' slowly raised her head.
Her glowing eyes locked onto Vorgath's position in the sky.
Even without sight—
She knew.
From her back, blood surged outward, expanding violently before hardening into massive, grotesque wings. Veins pulsed through them like living arteries.
With a single powerful beat—
SWUSHH!
She shot forward, breaking the sound barrier.
"—?!"
SLAAASH!!
Her claw slammed into Vorgath, forcing him to raise his cleaver in defense.
Even so, the impact sent him flying backward, dragged across the air for hundreds of meters before he managed to stabilize himself.
"…Impressive," he muttered, wiping the dark blood from his lips.
His grin widened.
"You really are fast."
Reaching into the shadows once more, he formed a second cleaver in his other hand.
"Good."
His aura surged violently.
"Let's go."
Across from him, 'Kaera' extended her arm.
Blood gathered at her fingertips—flowing, compressing, and shaping itself into a massive, curved weapon.
A massive scythe.
Radiating dense crimson energy.
Crescent Blood.
Then—
They clashed.
BOOM!
The collision erupted mid-air like thunder tearing through the sky.
Steel met blood. Shadow collided with chaos.
The battlefield descended into madness.
'Kaera' swung relentlessly, her massive scythe carving through the air with devastating force.
Each strike was followed by volleys of Crimson Impale, her blood tails firing forward like spears from unpredictable angles, attacking from every blind spot.
Vorgath countered with dual cleavers, spinning them in precise arcs to deflect and redirect the incoming assaults. Even then, the sheer volume and unpredictability of her attacks forced him into constant movement.
Their speed increased.
Faster.
And faster.
Until even the air itself struggled to keep up.
---
Vorgath shifted between shadows, vanishing and reappearing in rapid succession.
But it didn't matter.
She followed.
Every time.
Relentless.
Oppressive.
Like a storm that refused to end.
TRING!
A slight miscalculation.
His guard slipped—
Just enough.
'Kaera' twisted mid-air, gathering all her momentum into a single, decisive strike.
DEATH SLASH.
ZAASSS!!
CRACK.
The scythe connected cleanly.
His armor shattered instantly.
The blade carved deep across his torso, slicing through flesh and bone in a brutal diagonal line before sending him crashing down like a falling star.
BOOOOM!!!
The ground exploded upon impact.
Dust and debris filled the battlefield.
---
Vorgath lay at the center of the crater, unmoving.
The massive wound across his chest smoked, black blood spilling endlessly.
But this time—
It didn't heal.
The lingering effect of the attack prevented any regeneration.
His breathing grew heavy.
Uneven.
Slowly, he looked up.
And saw her.
Floating in the sky.
Silent.
Wings spread wide like a harbinger of death.
'Kaera' descended.
Not rushed.
Not aggressive.
Just… inevitable.
She landed quietly, far from the crater. Her wings dissolved into nothing, her blood tails retracting back into her body.
Now she stood there—
Still.
Silent.
Then she began to walk.
Each step slow. Measured.
Like a countdown.
In her hand, the massive scythe dragged across the ground.
SKREEEEKK—
The sound cut through the silence, sparks of crimson energy scattering with every scrape.
She passed by Eira's body.
Unconscious.
Blood pooling beneath her.
But 'Kaera' didn't stop.
Didn't even look.
Because to her—
Nothing else mattered anymore.
The world had been reduced to only two things:
Herself.
And the life she was about to take.
---