The air was thick, heavy with a nearly suffocating pressure. Even shrouded in shadows and protective runes, Vernasha gasped.
Sweat ran down her temple, rare — almost unprecedented. The seal containing Mei Nuhay trembled within her bones. Every second demanded a tribute of soul, a silent, relentless pain burning beneath her skin.
— Tsk… Damn it. — Vernasha gritted her teeth, feeling her knees buckle for a moment before regaining composure.
Kaze, leaning against a stone pillar, raised an eyebrow.
— What's wrong? — he asked with disdain. — Shaking over a prisoner?
— Keeping Mei locked… comes at a price. — Vernasha replied, her eyes flashing with pain as she looked at him. — These aren't ordinary chains. It's my soul that holds the cell. I can endure… for a few days, at most.
Kaze crossed his arms, intrigued.
— Just a few days?
— Days enough — she said, with a dark smile — for the world to turn upside down. Enough chaos for the plan to flourish.
Kaze stepped closer, more serious now.
— Is she really all that?
Vernasha stared into the void for a few seconds. Memories crossed her mind. Her skin still burned where Mei had touched her, even briefly. The memory of that pain was sharp as a scar upon her soul.
— Years — she said. — You challenged me for years. And never managed to harm me, Kaze. Not even a scratch.
— And Mei?
— Mei, in seconds, nearly split me in two.
The silence that followed spoke louder than any words. Kaze averted his gaze, frustrated. And yet… he accepted it.
— So that's it… — he murmured. — We're really facing a monster.
Vernasha then turned her gaze toward the center of the ritual, where Isha monitored the Tree's energy with ritualistic and technological tools.
— Will it really work? — she asked, a note of challenge in her voice.
Dr. Isha didn't even look up.
— I've prepared my entire life for this. Every cell in Dan's body has been adjusted. His DNA is compatible with Dante's essence. He is the only possible vessel.
— You said that about the last subject — Vernasha retorted coldly.
This time, Isha met her gaze with pride.
— But she failed because she wasn't Dan. He's different. Not born to be human. He was forged to be a God's throne.
Jouki, leaning against a root like it were a couch, laughed softly.
— Ironic. Dan had potential. If he had grown more… he could have been a real problem. But now? Just another useful corpse.
Vernasha sighed and turned to the open horizon of the temple.
— Our guests are arriving. And I can't fight while keeping Mei imprisoned.
She narrowed her eyes, scanning the sky.
— Where is Karmore…? He should already be with us. Something's wrong.
The sky split with a silent thunder.
At the edge of the field, through dust and heat distorted by chaos, Tenklyn Zenon appeared.
Tall, imposing, his blonde hair swept back lightly, and eyes blue as the purest ice. His expression calm — but within that calm lay a contained fury, ready to be unleashed.
He carried the weight and pride of the Zenon family, an ancient lineage of scholars and warriors who, for generations, investigated the deepest mysteries of spiritual energy. It was thanks to this legacy that Tenklyn, still young, understood the gift he was born with: the Heart of Ether.
A legendary condition, described in fragments of forgotten texts. A heart capable of transforming emotion and intent into pure, incandescent energy — a fire of light that burns not only bodies but wills.
Tenklyn wore a fitted black tunic, simple yet symbolic. Across his chest, three white lines; at his waist, a flowing white sash marking his identity as an emperor.
Flame-like light began to emanate from his body — not ordinary flames, but celestial embers, pulsating, pure and powerful. With every movement, small explosions of light echoed his gestures, as if the Ether responded to his inner rhythm.
He did not shout. He did not provoke. He simply walked… like an inevitable sentence.
— You better not run this time, Doctor — he said, his gaze sharp.
— So… any last words? — he asked, his voice deep, steady, like an ancestral wall. — Or will you tell me where Mei is?
Vernasha replied loudly, lying cruelly:
— Mei is dead.
For a moment, Tenklyn's gaze wavered, but not from fear… from restraint.
— Lies. — he replied, as if confirming a simple equation.
The light around him grew slightly.
Tenklyn had always struggled with the power of the Heart of Ether from the start — energy manifesting as flames of light, shaping attacks that seemed to burn the air itself, creating blades, shields, and radiant waves. Yet he had not reached the apex of his power.
Because the stronger the opponent, the faster the Heart of Ether pulses.
And there, surrounded by cruel enemies, he already felt its rhythm accelerating.
The first spark was the sound of thunder shattering.
The sky twisted beneath the roots of the colossal Tree of Life, and before its sacred trunk, Tenklyn stood firm, his blue eyes glowing like crystal embers. The wind burned around his body — not ordinary wind, but the fiery aura of the Heart of Ether, reacting to the predators' presence.
Jouki advanced without warning.
— You look like the type who thinks you can save everything with a stern look… — she said, coldly sarcastic. — But I like to see hope fade. Slowly.
Black flames erupted from the ground like hands from hell.
Dark structures snaked at high speed, piercing the ground and striking the shield of light Tenklyn raised reflexively. The tips touched his skin — and even with protection, he felt something being torn away.
— It's not just flames… this is denial. You… erase everything you touch? — he whispered, teeth gritted.
Jouki merely smiled.
Before he could react, a whirlwind cut across his left side. Kaze, spinning violently through the air, appeared like a living spear of wind.
— You should be kneeling, half-baked emperor! I'll split you open and let the tree drink your blood!
Tenklyn spun, blocking with an arm wreathed in embers, but the impact threw him meters back.
He landed, dragging his feet, leaving embers marking his trail.
— So… you don't just want to kill. You want to destroy the symbol.
Hazau appeared in the distance, like a shadow waiting for his moment. Silent. Calm.
Tenklyn stood. He breathed deeply.
The Heart of Ether's energy ignited, responding to the threat.
— The stronger the enemy… the more my soul burns.
The ground around him glowed bright orange. The fiery aura exploded in spirals.
He advanced.
First at Kaze. A punch wrapped in burning light cut through the air. Kaze blocked with a whirlwind, but was thrown back against a tree. Before Jouki could strike, Tenklyn spun his body, shaping his aura into a spear of fiery light and launched it. Jouki dodged with perfect timing, but the weapon exploded on contact with the ground, incinerating part of the field.
She landed and twisted her wrist.
— You're not weak… that excites me.
With a snap of her fingers, black pillars pierced the sky.
Tenklyn ran between them. Each movement left trails of embers. He jumped, spun in the air, and descended with an explosive kick at Jouki — she blocked with a black wall that cracked under the impact. But before Tenklyn could breathe, Kaze struck him with a direct blow to the face, sending him crashing to the ground.
Hazau intervened. Silent. Deadly.
With a gesture, dozens of dark symbols appeared around Tenklyn, trapping him in a silent energy prison. His straining screams made no sound. Time seemed suspended.
Jouki approached, her eyepiece analyzing.
— It hurts more when there's no sound, you know?
She raised her hand. A black spear appeared. And she threw it.
At the last second, the prison cracked in orange. An explosion of fire and light tore through everything, like a roar of the Ether itself.
Tenklyn emerged from the middle of the crater, his fiery aura overflowing.
His body was wounded, bleeding, but his eyes burned bright.
— You think this is an easy war?
He extended his hand. The light spun in a spiral.
— No. This is a sentence… for you!
With a leap, he struck the air with such force the ground trembled.
Kaze countered with a hurricane — Tenklyn pierced the center of the wind with a fist wreathed in white flames.
Jouki laughed. A genuine laugh.
— So you can bite. Good.
The three circled him again.
The fight was far from over. But there, under the shadow of the Tree of Life, Tenklyn — wounded, yet standing — was a flame that refused to be extinguished.
To Be Continued...