Morgan crashed through three ruined structures before finally forcing himself to stop.
The ground beneath his feet split apart as he slid backward violently across the battlefield, black flames still burning across the shattered remains of his shields.
His chest rose unevenly.
Blood dripped slowly from the corner of his mouth.
Far away from him, Sigil stood silently within the sea of black fire.
The battlefield had already changed completely.
What had once been a war had turned into destruction.
The black flames spreading around Sigil no longer distinguished between friend or foe. Soldiers from both sides fled desperately whenever the fire approached, yet escape often came too slowly.
Anything touched by the flames simply disappeared.
Whether it were an Armor, weapon or bodies.
Even the ground itself looked scorched beyond repair.
Morgan slowly raised his eyes toward Sigil again.
For the first time since the battle started, uneasiness settled heavily inside his chest.
Something had broken inside Sigil after Khate's death.
No.
Someone like Sigil should not have been capable of becoming like this in the first place.
The man standing within those flames no longer resembled the disciplined clan leader Morgan had fought for decades.
He looked hollow.
And that frightened him more.
Boom.
Sigil vanished again.
Morgan's eyes contracted instantly.
Several golden barriers appeared before him almost instinctively.
A black sword tore through all of them in a single strike.
Bang.
The impact sent Morgan crashing backward once more before he forcefully twisted his body midair to avoid the next attack.
Black flames swept past him like a storm and consumed hundreds of soldiers behind him instantly.
Screams erupted everywhere.
Sigil continued advancing without pause.
His attacks had lost structure completely.
His rhythm and patience no longer applicable in such a situation.
Only overwhelming destruction remained.
Morgan formed dozens of ice spears and launched them forward rapidly.
Sigil did not dodge.
The spears exploded against his armor and shattered apart beneath the black flames surrounding him.
Morgan's expression darkened further.
The suppression should still have been working.
Sigil should have weakened further after prolonged battle.
So why...
Boom.
Another terrifying slash descended.
Morgan barely blocked using layers of condensed blood and ice barriers, but the impact still crushed him downward violently.
The battlefield collapsed beneath his feet.
Morgan coughed blood again.
Then he finally noticed it clearly.
Sigil was no longer protecting himself.
Even when attacks landed against him, he simply ignored them completely.
His body carried burns, wounds, and blood beneath the armor already, yet none of it slowed him.
Morgan suddenly understood something dangerous.
Sigil no longer cared whether he survived this battle.
That realization caused genuine fear to rise inside him for the first time in years.
Above the battlefield, black flames continued spreading endlessly across the sky itself.
Even the clouds had turned dark.
Sigil slowly raised one of his swords again.
For a brief moment, his movements paused slightly.
A memory flashed through his mind.
Khate smiling faintly at him years ago beneath the Island gardens.
The memory lasted less than a second.
Then rage swallowed everything again.
Boom.
A massive pillar of black flames erupted across the battlefield and surged toward Morgan like a living disaster.
Morgan's eyes widened immediately.
"Heaven's ...."
The attack swallowed his voice before he could finish.
The black flames consumed everything ahead of them violently.
Entire sections of the battlefield disappeared.
The surviving soldiers fled in complete terror now.
No one wanted to remain near those flames any longer.
Far away, several Primarch-ranked fighters watched the battle with pale expressions.
"That monster…" one muttered weakly.
"He's burning his own life force," another said quietly while staring at Sigil's unstable flames.
Yet Sigil himself showed no awareness of it.
Or perhaps he simply no longer cared.
Morgan burst out from the sea of black flames moments later, his breathing rougher than before.
Part of his robes had completely burned away. One arm looked heavily damaged. Even the golden ring on his finger had dimmed slightly.
Sigil appeared before him immediately afterward.
Bang.
Morgan blocked desperately, but the force behind the strike shattered the remaining defenses around him completely.
Crack.
One of Sigil's black blades pierced directly through Morgan's shoulder.
Morgan's face twisted painfully.
Sigil stepped forward silently while black flames surged around him wildly.
"You should have died quietly with the rest of them," Morgan hissed while coughing blood.
Sigil said nothing.
His eyes remained completely black.
That silence disturbed Morgan more than any insult could have.
Boom.
Sigil slammed Morgan downward again before dragging his blade through the battlefield, carving apart the ground itself for hundreds of meters.
The impact nearly shattered Morgan's consciousness.
Blood poured continuously from his wounds now.
For the first time since preparing this war, control had started slipping away from him.
And deep inside ....
He finally understood it.
If this continued any longer…
Sigil might actually kill him.
Morgan immediately created distance between them while breathing heavily.
His gaze slowly lowered toward the golden ring on his finger.
The ring looked ancient and quite simple.
Yet faint cracks had already begun spreading across its surface.
Morgan hesitated.
For the first time since the battle began, uncertainty appeared clearly across his face.
His fingers tightened slowly.
"No…" he muttered quietly.
Not yet.
Once the second protocol activated, there would be no turning back afterward.
Even he did not fully know how far things would go.
That was why he hesitated from the very beginning.
Boom.
The air exploded again.
Sigil rushed toward him once more like a beast consumed entirely by destruction.
The black flames behind him surged uncontrollably.
Morgan looked up and saw death approaching directly toward him.
Then his hesitation disappeared.
A bitter smile slowly appeared on his face.
"So this is what you forced me into…"
He raised the golden ring slowly.
Sigil's sword descended.
Crack.
Morgan crushed the ring.
The entire battlefield suddenly froze.
Not quite physically, like the stopping of time. It was something else.
The golden wave spreading endlessly across the island stopped moving completely.
The black flames around Sigil flickered violently.
Far away, every remaining array across the island suddenly went silent.
Even the sky itself darkened unnaturally.
Morgan lowered his bleeding hand slowly while golden light spread through the cracks between his fingers.
This time...
Even Sigil stopped moving briefly.