Darius took a direct hit, a wraith’s claw striked his shoulder, his concussion flared as blood dripped from his brow, but Rhoam’s charge crushed the wraith and its core shattered under the panther’s iron weight.
"We are losing ground!" Darius shouted, his voice cracked, the visions shaked his resolve as Veyra’s red eyes lood in his mind. "She is tearing us apart!"
Kelvin’s mind raced, Veyra’s visions rged with the rift’s pulse,You are nothing. You will fail. His hands trembled, the image of the Sanctum’s fall flashed before him, but he shook it off, his voice was steady.
"Focus on the cores! We clear the field!" He pointed to the glowing cores in the wraiths’ chests, pulsing with dark energy, the key to their destruction.
Lyra nodded with her eyes that was fierce despite the pain, weaving a multi-layered shadow cage that trapped four wraiths and its tendrils that was tightened with crushing force.
Salaris moved between them with her talons slashing cores with surgical precision and her screeches cutting through the chaos like a blade.
Darius steadied himself, his grin returned despite the blood streaming down his arm, firing a radial soulstone blast that shattered three cores in a blinding explosion of green light.
Rhoam roared, his iron plates deflected a claw strike and his charge crushed another core, the wraith collapsed in a heap of ash.
Kelvin channeled a piercing fire lance and Xerion’s flas surging through the gauntlet, the beam lancing that passed through a final wraith’s core, destroying it in a burst of violet light.
The wraiths dissolved, their screeches fading into silence, imdiately the visions vanished as the field beca stilled.
The trio caught their breath, their beasts battered but alive, the battlefield was littered with ash and scorch marks. Kelvin’s chest bleed, the fresh wound sting but he went to Lyra and checked her side, where blood seeped through her bandage.
She leaned on Salaris, her face ashen but defiant, the raptor’s talons dripping with wraith essence. Darius clutched his shoulder with blood soaking his bandages, but Rhoam’s steady presence kept him upright and the panther’s plates glead despite the deep scratches from the battle.
"We cleared the field," Kelvin said, his voice hoarse, the Sovereign’s visions gone from his mind. "Torin is inside." Lyra nodded with her gauntlet dim but steady as she pressed a hand to her side. "He’s with Veyra. We end this now."
Darius tossed his soulstone, his grin was weak but sharp despite the pain. "Let’s hunt that traitor down."
They searched the battlefield, scavenging loot from the fallen wraiths: spectral shards pulsing with speed-enhancing energy, their surfaces shimring with soulstream power, and psychic crystals glowing with ntal resistance to counter the Veil’s assaults.
"Split it evenly," Kelvin said, dividing the shards among them to enhance their gear’s agility and taking extra crystals to bolster his weapon’s defenses against ntal attacks.
The act was a quiet affirmation of their unity, their arsenal of loot—Peaks’ were dark gauntlet, dark runes, and soulstream gems; Hollow’s griffon feathers and ritual runes; Fens’ bogstalker scales, shadow claws, and obelisk runes; Riftspire’s riftwraith claws, shadowdrake fangs, riftclaw pincers, and altar runes; and Caldera’s riftbeast scales and psychic gems.
This was proving vital in the battle, their gear now a testant to their survival through the Sanctum’s trials and betrayals.
The monitoring device buzzed, its ssage urgent: "Traitor detected in Sanctum’s inner halls. The Rift is active. Engage with extre caution."
The warning confird Torin’s presence and the Sovereign’s rift within the Sanctum, the signal’s clarity is a stark reminder of the stakes.
They pressed through the fields, navigating shattered stone and fallen tars, their beasts were trailing closely as they move.
Xerion moved beside Kelvin, his scales warm, his amber eyes vigilant as they scanned the mist for lingering threats. Salaris darted ahead, her talons clicking on the broken ground, scouting for traps with her keen eyes.
Rhoam’s plates clinked with his massive form guarding the rear, his scratches slowing him but not stopping his relentless pace.
The trio’s wounds throbbed Kelvin’s chest and leg, Lyra’s arm and side, Darius’s shoulder and flank—but their steps were steady, their resolve were unbroken by the chaos around them.
As they approached a rune-etched gate to the Sanctum’s inner halls, a trap triggered the rune-etched spikes erupted from the ground, their tips glowing with Veil energy, aid to impale them.
"Move!" Kelvin shouted, Xerion reared were his flas ignited in a blazing arc that burned a spike to ash, its glowing core shattering in a burst of sparks.
Lyra wove a shadow net, her gauntlet flared as tendrils bound another spike, Salaris’s talons slashing its core with a screech that echoed through the mist.
Darius fired a soulstone blast, the green light shattered a third spike, while Rhoam’s charge crushed the remaining ones with his iron plates deflecting a stray shard.
The trap collapsed, the spikes dissolving into ash, but a new vision hit Veyra’s red eyes, her chilling whisper echoing: "Torin awaits you."
Kelvin shook off the vision, his voice was steady as he urged them forward. "Stay sharp! He is inside!" They entered the inner halls, a labyrinth of stone corridors lined with flickering runes and the air was heavy with Veil energy.
The ground trembled with the pulse of a rift, and screams echoed from deeper within, where Sanctum tars fought desperately to hold their ground.
Salaris screeched and signaled a threat, and the trio braced themselves as they navigated the corridors, the runes glowing brighter with each step.
They reached a central chamber, where Master Torin stood at a towering rift altar, its surface etched with dark runes that pulsed with violet energy, matching Cindy’s signature.
His stormhawk, Veyra, perched beside him, its feathers crackling with Veil energy, its eyes glowing red—the Sovereign herself is unmasked.
"You betrayed us," Kelvin shouted, his weapon blazed with fire runes, the flas reflected off Xerion’s scales. Torin smirked, his silver robes that glinted, his own runes flared with dark power.
"The Sanctum is weak, bound by outdated codes. Veyra’s vision is the future, and the Veil will remake this world."
The altar erupted, spawning riftclaws, massive, insectoid beasts with glowing pincers and armored shells, their forms pulsing with Veil energy.
Their roars were conjured visions: Veyra’s red eyes, the Sanctum’s fall, Kelvin’s father, Lyra’s sister, Darius’s village. "Form up!" Kelvin shouted, Xerion rearing, his flas igniting in a blazing arc.
He channeled a fire Convergence, a searing fire lance that sliced through a riftclaw’s core and the beast dissolved in a burst of ash.
Lyra wove a shadow cage, pinning two riftclaws, Salaris’s talons rending their cores. Darius fired a radial soulstone blast that shattered three cores, while Rhoam’s charge crushed another, his plates deflected a pincer strike.
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