An abominable scream tore through the hall,so shrill it made the walls vibrate like an iron bell.
The runed stake driven into Aren's socket radiated with a ghastly glow.Arcs of energy crawled along the metallic shaft,splitting through his spectral flesh,searing his very essence from within.
The shattered eye exhaled black smoke,merging with the bluish gleam of the runes.A grotesque blend,half-fire, half-shadow,as though the soul itself were burning away drop by drop.
Aren screamed again.His chains lashed in frenzied bursts,clanging against stone,scarring the floor with deep gouges.Each strike sent sparks flying,yet there was no precision left,no real strength.The runed stakes held him pinned to the ground.What remained was only furious agony.
His knees slammed into the floor with a hollow crash.The colossal bulk of his spectral body wavered.The roar fractured,breaking into a guttural groan,long, desperate.
The stake still pulsed,each beat like an alien heart hammering in his hollow skull.With every throb, fragments of his essence slipped away,dissolving into pallid wisps.
Aren raised his gaunt head,and with his single remaining eye,he fixed Kael.
A broken gaze.A flicker of forgotten humanity,lost in the tide of pain.
Then his head sagged forward.The rasping breath dragged on,low, unending,like a funeral drum refusing to die out.
Kael tightened his grip on the kusarigama, ready to strike while Aren writhed in agony.But his eyes froze.
Varos, hidden in the shadows, had already closed in on Umbra.His spectral arms clamped down with inhuman brutality,the spectral blade raised, ready to impale the shade like a trapped beast.
— "No!"
Kael leapt,his chain hissing through the air like lightning.The kusarigama cut clean,wrenching Umbra from Varos's grasp in a shower of sparks.
The weapon continued its arc.The sickle bit deep into the specter's arm.A guttural roar burst out,and the limb was severed in a single stroke,dissolving into black fragments that rained down like burning ash.
But Varos did not release so easily.In the same motion, his other hand lashed forward,the spectral blade slashing in a deadly arc.
Kael tried to dodge—too late.A violent blow raked his abdomen.
Pain erupted, searing,as if a frozen brand had pierced through his gut.Blood gushed, mingling with the pale gleam of the runes.
He doubled over, choking,yet held on,his teeth grinding hard enough to shatter.
Umbra, freed, roared in a low vibration.He lunged at Varos,claws and fangs unleashed,forcing the specter back beneath the black onslaught.
Kael staggered, gasping,his hand clamped over his wound.His eyes lifted toward Aren, still kneeling,trapped, moaning, defenseless.
He drew a ragged breath,and raised his weapon in both hands.
— "Not… letting go now."
— "Umbra!Run!"
Thana's voice cracked like a divine order.The shadow hesitated.His claws trembled, torn between instinct to protect and the terror gnawing at him.
One heartbeat of hesitation.Then he obeyed.
Umbra leapt back, tearing free of Varos's reach.His outline unraveled,slipping into the darkness,fleeing Kael as if his master had become the epicenter of a cataclysm.
Kael still lay on the ground, unmoving.His blood spread slowly beneath him.And yet…
The pulse returned.Heavier.Louder.More oppressive.
The hall itself trembled.Chains vibrated in unison,and every soul present felt a chill crawl up their spine.
Thana stepped back, her pale face lit by the rhythm beating in the air.Her eyes locked on Kael, sprawled in his blood—yet his aura…that aura was no longer his own.
She clenched her fists, and her voice rang out, sharp with contained fear:
— "Morpheas! Umbra!"
Their gazes snapped to her, frozen.
— "Help me!Shut that door!Seal it before he… before it begins!"
A glacial silence fell,broken only by the deep rumble of the walls,as though the entire floor breathed with Kael.
Morpheas swallowed hard.His chains scraped, hesitant.But the command in Thana's voice allowed no refusal.
— "Now!Before he wakes!Or rather… before that thing appears!"
Umbra shivered, retreating farther, his shadows rushing toward the door like a dark tide.Morpheas, jaw clenched, snapped his chains, wrapping them around hinges and locks, each link echoing metallic dread.
The door quaked,closing inch by inch beneath their combined force.But with every heartbeat of Kael,the floor shook harder.
Then… silence.Absolute silence.Heavy.An entire minute where none dared breathe.
Then—
A scream.
Shrill.Piercing.So sharp it split the air like a white-hot blade.
The death-cry of a specter.Then another.Two voices mingled, warped, as though fighting for the same space in the hall.
Their cries were not mere sound.They burrowed into flesh,tore at eardrums,and clawed straight at the soul.A mortal would have collapsed,heart shattered, mind reduced to cinders.
The blows followed.Dull.Thunderous.Rending.Like bursts of storm hammering the walls.
Impact.Cry.Impact.Agony.
Then a murmur.A strange, guttural rasp,a flow of unknown syllables,a forgotten tongue that belonged to no living being.
Thana, ashen, felt her blood freeze.Her fingers trembled on the door handle.
— "No…"
But she yielded.She opened.
The sight beyond petrified her.Her, Umbra, Morpheas—all froze.
The first specter, Aren, was nothing but scattered shreds,his massive form shredded beyond return.
Varos still remained…on his knees.Armless.One leg torn, dangling,his shadow-bones cracking beneath his own weight.
He knelt before Kael.Breath ragged,head bowed,as if in prayer.
His spectral lips still moved.Words.A harsh, ancient language.A chant halfway between supplication and reverence.
Kael gave no reply.He merely raised his hand.
With a single motion, swift, precise…he struck.
Varos's head rolled, disintegrating in a rain of black sparks.
Silence.
Kael stood still a moment,his eyes blazing with unnatural fire.Then his body swayed.He collapsed, limp, as if drained of all substance.
Morpheas froze in the doorway, chains still humming.His gaze could not tear away from the scene.The spectral remains strewn about,walls clawed to their core,floor littered with animic ash.
He swallowed hard, lips trembling.
— "What… what happened, Thana?"
His voice died on its own, smothered by the horror before him.A massacre.A one-sided carnage.In centuries of prisons, he had never seen such butchery.
Thana slowly turned her head toward him.Her eyes glimmered with a frozen gleam.A stare sharp enough to freeze blood in its veins.
He understood instantly.Some things were not to be asked…nor known.
Morpheas bowed, sinking to one knee.His chains slackened, as if in submission.
— "Forgive my insolence…"
But Thana shook her head softly.Her tone dropped, less cutting.
— "I understand.Your curiosity is fair."
A whisper, nearly lost.
— "To put it simply… his blood is not like the others'."
Silence thickened once more, heavy, as though even the walls held their breath.
Then… a new sound rose.Slow.Clear.Defiant.
Clap.Clap.Clap.
Applause echoed in the dark.Drawing closer.And all already knew whose hands they belonged to.