Thane
Thane wiped blood from his arm. Faced the massive knight.
Harren settled into his stance. Professional. Seventh tier aura flared golden and dense around him like a second skin.
No banter. Just silent acknowledgnt between fighters who knew what they were doing.
Thane's shadows coiled tighter around his feet, Whisper's presence a cold weight in his soul.
Big bastard, Thane thought, watching the way Harren distributed his weight. This is gonna hurt.
Should we use it? Whisper murmured in his mind.
"Not yet." Thane drew his dual swords, shadows trailing from the blades like smoke. "Wanted to save that for my rematch with Avian."
Your choice, partner. Whisper's amusent rippled through their bond. But this fight's gonna be a tough one.
"Good." Thane grinned despite the blood running down his arm from Seraphina's earlier cut. "Been too long since soone gave a real fight."
Harren moved first.
No warning. No telegraphing. Just pure professional violence—closing the distance in two steps, massive fist aid at Thane's head with enough force to cave in his skull.
Thane Shadow Stepped.
Reality bent. His body dissolved into darkness and reford five feet to the left. Harren's fist punched through empty air where he'd been standing.
Thane struck from the new angle, both swords aid at Harren's exposed ribs.
Harren spun without looking, hand catching both blades mid-swing. Holy aura flared around his fist—steel t blessed power with a screech of tal.
"Felt yer shadow move, lad."
"Fuck." Thane yanked his swords free, dancing backward. "That's annoying."
They circled. Thane fast and technical, looking for openings. Harren steady and patient, decades of experience showing in every controlled movent.
Thane feinted left. Harren didn't bite. Tried a high slash. Harren blocked with minimal effort. Every attack read, every trick anticipated.
Sa tier, Whisper observed. But he's got decades on us.
"Noticed that."
Nearby, he could hear Avian's fight. Explosions. Holy light flaring. The crash of a tree going down.
Brother's having fun, Thane thought, then had to throw himself sideways as Harren's fist ca around in a hook that would have shattered his jaw.
Focus, Whisper chided.
"I can multitask."
He Shadow Stepped behind Harren, struck at his spine. Harren shifted just enough—the blade scraped off holy aura instead of cutting flesh. His elbow ca back toward Thane's face. Thane ducked, rolled, ca up slashing.
Back and forth. Strike and counter. Neither giving ground.
He reached for more power. Whisper responded instantly, shadows pooling at his feet and rising.
Shadow duplicates peeled away from him—three perfect copies stepping out of darkness. Each one solid, ard, dangerous.
They attacked from different angles. The real Thane went high while duplicates struck low and from the sides. Coordinated assault that should have overwheld anyone.
Harren's holy aura exploded outward.
Golden light burned through shadow constructs like they were made of paper. Two duplicates dissolved instantly. The third lasted long enough to swing before Harren's backhand sent it scattering into nothing.
"Shadow duplicates," Harren grunted, facing the real Thane again. "Haven't seen that in decades."
"Bringing back the classics," Thane said, breathing harder now.
"Classics die for a reason, lad."
They clashed again. Thane's Umbral Blade technique coated his swords in living shadow, turning steel into sothing that could cut more than just flesh. Each strike left trails of darkness in the air.
Harren t him blow for blow, holy fire wrapping around his fists. Shadow t light in bursts of sparks and displaced air.
A massive explosion from Avian's direction shook the ground. Thane risked a glance—holy light blazing, another tree toppling.
Avian's not holding back, he thought, then barely got his guard up in ti to block Harren's incoming strike.
The impact rattled his teeth, drove him back three steps.
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They separated, both bleeding from shallow cuts, both breathing hard but controlled.
Harren smiled slightly. "Not bad for soone so young."
"Not bad for soone so old."
"Careful, lad. I might take offense."
Thane raised his swords, shadows coiling. "Good. Fight better when you're—"
The sky tore open.
Massive pillar of golden-white light ERUPTED from where Avian was fighting. Shot straight up into the heavens like a spear thrown by god.
Both fighters stopped mid-stance. Turned.
The light was so bright it hurt to look at directly. So dense with power that the air itself trembled. Not holy power like Harren's—sothing beyond that. Sothing DIVINE.
The ground shook. Trees bent away from the column of light.
Then it SLAMD back down.
The shockwave tore through the forest. Thane and Harren both staggered, shielded their eyes.
When Thane could see again, the pillar was still there—burning between earth and sky, washing everything in white-gold radiance.
He looked at Harren. Harren looked back.
"That's not sothing Avian can do," Thane said quietly.
Harren's expression was grim. "No, lad. It's not."
Without another word, both started running toward the impact site.
"What the fuck did you do, Avian?" Thane muttered, shadows coiling around him as he sprinted through destroyed forest.
Whisper's presence was tense in his mind. That's not mortal power.
"I know."
Then what is your brother?
"That," Thane said grimly, "is an excellent fucking question."
They ran toward the light, weapons ready, not knowing what they'd find.
Five Minutes Earlier - Avian
"Really didn't want to add another body to my kill count."
Fargrim pointed at Seraphina's heart, crimson blade steady in Avian's hand.
"But you just wouldn't leave it alone."
Seraphina stared up at him from the ground. Broken. Bleeding. Unard. Her blessed sword shattered in pieces around her, crushed wrist cradled against her chest.
But her eyes still burned with that sa rage. That sa refusal to break.
"Then co kill ," she said, voice raw but defiant.
Her good hand clenched into a fist despite having no weapon. Not begging. Not backing down. Just pure hatred keeping her upright.
Avian took a breath. Let it out slowly.
One strike. It's over. Just one more body on the pile.
He'd killed before. Would kill again. The world didn't care about his preferences.
And she wouldn't stop. Couldn't stop. The Church had broken sothing in her when they forced those advancents, when they weaponized her grief. She'd keep coming until one of them was dead.
Better it be her.
He stepped forward. Raised Fargrim.
The blade caught the light, crimson and hungry.
Seraphina didn't flinch. Just stared at him with those burning eyes.
Avian committed to the strike. Brought the sword down toward her heart—
LIGHT.
Massive. Blinding. DIVINE.
A pillar of golden-white power ERUPTED between them.
Slamd into the ground with the force of a teor, cratering earth and throwing both of them backward like rag dolls.
Avian hit the ground hard, shoulder grinding against roots. Rolled. Ca up in a crouch, Fargrim raised defensively.
Seraphina had been thrown the other direction, sprawled against a fallen tree.
The pillar stood between them.
Not fading. Not dispersing. Just BURNING—a column of pure power connecting earth to sky, so bright it turned the forest into a washed-out painting.
Avian stared at it, mind racing.
Holy power. But not like anything he'd ever felt. Not Church magic. Not blessed weapons. This was sothing else entirely.
This was DIVINE.
The pressure radiating from it made his 8th Tier aura feel like a candle next to a bonfire. The air itself trembled. Reality bent slightly at the edges of that light.
"What the fuck..." Avian's grip tightened on Fargrim. "No human could have that much holy power."
The voice ca.
Not through his ears. Directly into his mind, his SOUL. Feminine—sweet like honey at first, then the poison underneath. A warmth that made his teeth ache before the agony followed.
Pain exploded through his head.
Not physical. Deeper. Like hooks in his brain, pulling, tearing. He dropped to one knee, teeth gritted against the agony.
Across the clearing, Seraphina scread. Clutching her head with her good hand, the sound raw and broken.
The voice spoke through the pain:
"Mm, it's far too early for that."
The pain eased slightly—enough to think, not enough to move.
"And you're right—no human alive today could."
Avian tried to move.
His body didn't respond.
Not paralysis. Not physical restraint. Sothing deeper. Like his body had simply decided on its own that movent was impossible.
Divine authority.
He recognized it instinctively—the weight of power that could command reality itself.
Fuck.
The voice continued, warm and cruel:
"Hello, Avian."
A pause, like she was savoring it.
"Or should I say... Dex?"
Ice down his spine.
She knows. How does she—
"Or perhaps lrath?"
lrath? Never heard that na in my life.
"Joseph?"
I'm Dex. I've only ever been Dex.
"You've had so many nas, haven't you?"
No. Bullshit. One past life. Just Dex dying to Vaerin's arrow and waking up as Avian fifteen years ago. That's it. That's all there is.
The pillar of light intensified around them. Shot higher into the sky, burning so bright that even with his eyes closed Avian could see it through his eyelids.
The voice laughed. Beautiful and terrible.
Who is this? Avian's mind raced, trapped in his frozen body. What does she want?
Nas he'd never heard. Past lives he didn't rember. A divine being powerful enough to stop him with a word.
Seraphina was frozen too—he could see her across the pillar's glow, eyes wide with terror, unable to move.
The light grew brighter.
And brighter.
Until there was nothing but white-gold radiance and that terrible, beautiful voice echoing in his head.
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