Woewyn was silent.
Not the peaceful kind.
The suffocating kind.
Even the babies weren't crying.
Even the wind didn't dare move.
Every soldier stood carved from tension, held by a single thread stretched across an entire kingdom.
Zarnik braced himself inside the Crucible, feeling the pulse of distant war rising like a tide.
"Damon. Nyra. Please be strong."
THE BATTLEGROUND
A dead planet. Cracked and hollowed.
A graveyard big enough to host a war.
Damon stood ahead of the Tutors and the army, Daichi in full mythic wolf form beside him—towering, silver-white, and rumbling with anxious power.
Damon patted his head.
"You remember the attacks we practiced?"
Daichi huffed a sad wolf-bark. "Don't die."
"I promise," Damon whispered.
"Protect Nyra. No matter what."
Nyra and Rika joined him briefly—Nyra blazing with fire through her veins, Rika's exosuit humming with lethal magenta light.
Nyra grabbed Damon's wrist.
"I've pushed myself beyond my limit these last four days. I won't lose."
Rika raised her blade.
"I'm ready."
Damon nodded, heart pounding.
He turned to Cythera.
"Kick his ass."
Her small smirk was enough answer.
Draven landed beside him, wind swirling under his feet.
"We'll bring her back," Damon said.
Draven gave a single calm nod.
THE ENEMY ARRIVES
Velmira's army drifted down like a storm of falling shadows.
Behind them were the Three Brothers.
Fire, Earth and Wind. Each one was a titan.
Bravira stepped forward as the Fire Brother did the same.
"So we meet again," he said with a sharp-tooth grin.
"This will be," Bravira growled, "the last time."
BOOM.
They punched each other in the face at the same time. A shockwave made a thin yet long split in the planet.
Silence.
Then—
Commander Laros lifted his blade high.
"For Woewyn… and for the Light that refuses to die!"
The blade dropped.
WAR.
SAME GROUND WAR — RIKA & NYRA
Both sides sprinted across broken earth, screaming, clashing.
Rika shot forward, spinning mid-air, carving through a trio of enemy soldiers before landing on one knee.
Nyra vaulted over her, slamming fiery shockwaves into the ground that blasted men backward like leaves in a hurricane.
They fought as one body.
Rika sliced a man's head clean off.
Nyra melted another man's visor with her bare hands.
Rika switched positions with her in mid-fight without needing a word.
Nyra burned a path while Rika carved one.
A soldier grabbed Rika—
She reacted instantly, blade out—
Then paused when she saw the visor.
"Rika?! Thank the Light—I almost killed you!"
"Solaren?" she exhaled. "Lets move!"
They plunged back in.
DAICHI & NYRA — STARFANG
Daichi had a man in his jaws, shaking him like a ragdoll.
The man's screams were the loudest in the war.
Nyra leapt beside Daichi as he flung the broken man away.
She climbed onto his back, fingers digging into his fur as the battlefield trembled beneath them.
'Ready, boy?'
RRRRRHHHRRROOOO—Daichi answered with a howl so deep it rattled stone.
He bounded forward—four leaps, then airborne.
Ice wolves formed beneath each paw.
Nyra's fire spiraled into a bright lance above her palm.
"Pack Hunt—STARFANG BARRAGE!"
Daichi roared—
The roar split into hundreds of spectral howls.
A dozen ice wolves erupted from all directions.
Nyra hurled her lance.
The two attacks spiraled together and erased a platoon of Velmira's soldiers from existence.
Nyra pressed her forehead to Daichi's.
"Good boy."
He huffed, proud—and charged into the next wave.
EARTH BROTHER VS THORPAX
On a smaller planet, the ground convulsed—
the Earth Brother rising like a giant waking from the world's crust.
The Earth Brother formed earth above him molding it into a gargantuan blade.
Thorpax soared upward and punched it—
shattering it with his bare fists.
They collided mid-air—
an immovable man vs an unstoppable mountain.
WIND BROTHER VS CYTHERA & VARNEX
Wind Brother unleashed a tornado of invisible blades.
Cythera conjured two massive glacial swords—each broader than a man—spinning them to shield herself and Varnex.
The tornado passed—
she shot forward, swinging one blade at his head.
He dodged, barely.
"I'll attack him from the inside!" She yelled.
She opened her palm sensing the water in his blood.
Then—
Air boomed from how fast he moved—nearly deafening Cythera and Varnex.
Before she could recover—
A hand grabbed her face. It was fast— Too fast.
The Wind Brother lifted her— then pulled her in two directions.
Varnex couldn't hear her scream, but he saw—
"CYTHERA!!!"
THE DUEL — DAMON VS VELMIRA
On a neighboring broken planet, Damon stood alone, cape billowing.
Velmira drifted down from the sky.
Hands behind her back.
As if descending from a throne.
She scanned around him.
"Where is Draven? I did not agree to fight a child."
Damon's grip tightened.
Draven appeared behind him in a gust of wind.
"I'm here," he said.
Her smile bloomed.
Damon didn't wait.
"Let's end this."
He crossed his arms—
BOOM
Launched.
He fired twelve condensed spears of pure light—homing, curving, flaring like newborn stars.
Velmira didn't move.
She raised one wrist—
a tiny dome of hyper-dense spinning wind enveloped her.
The spears hit—
And shattered into starlight.
Damon clicked his tongue.
Velmira smiled.
"Cute."
He rushed her with spinning daggers, creating rings of light around himself.
She dodged, parried, sidestepped every slash like she was dancing.
He leapt back—
His fire attacks rained from above.
Velmira curved the air around one flame sphere—
turned it into vacuum—
and sent it back at Damon faster.
He dodged by inches.
He unleashed everything he had—
light spears twisting like comets, fire tridents exploding into sunbursts—
a storm of attacks so dense the sky turned white.
Velmira moved through them like she was stepping between raindrops.
One blade nearly grazed her cheek—
She blinked, losing concentration for one second.
Damon struck—
Daggers raised high to smash down—
She tilted her head "Impressive."
She slapped him.
CRACK.
Damon shot across the continent—
crashing into the base of a mountain, carving a crater through its foundation.
VELMIRA VS DRAVEN (PHASE 1)
Velmira didn't even look back at Damon.
"Well," she said, "the distraction is gone. Now we can focus."
Draven stepped forward.
"Velmira… please stop this."
She launched first forming a blade of emerald and black wind in her hand.
She attacked ruthlessly.
He blocked every strike—
Never hitting back.
Never even countering.
She saw it immediately.
"You're holding back."
Draven stayed silent, eyes searching hers like he wanted to save her with a glance.
She jumped and kicked him across the face—
blood spraying as he slid across the rock.
Draven wiped his lip.
Stood.
He breathed once.
Then he moved.
One attack—clean, precise, unrestrained.
Velmira flew—
smashing into a different mountainside, stone exploding behind her.
She wiped the blood from her lip and grinned.
"That's what I'm talking about."
She sliced the top off the mountain—
split it into dozens of stone spears—
and hurled them at him with razor wind.
Draven sprinted toward her—
jumping, sliding, weaving between the deadly debris.
One slice of wind hit him across the back—
blood arced through the air—
but he kept charging.
She charged too.
Then they met and stopped.
Inches apart.
Both in attacking stance.
But no killing intent.
A silent pause.
---
Damon, far away, rose from the rubble.
He sensed nothing lethal in either Ki.
"Did they knock each other out?"
He sprinted through the dust—
ready to finish the fight—
Then he saw it.
Velmira's silhouette, pressed against Draven.
Kissing him.
Deep.
Her arm extended outward lazily—
a single gust firing like a cannon.
It slammed into Damon, blasting him away.
He wrapped himself in Radiant Veil mid-flight, barely staying intact.
In his mind:
"ARE THOSE TWO REALLY DOING THAT RIGHT NOW?!"
Velmira pulled away.
Draven's eyes were wet with conflict.
"Velmira… please stop."
She whispered, "I can't,"
and kicked him away—
landing beside Damon.
Damon groaned.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Draven wiped his mouth.
"…It's complicated."