The fortress exploded in warfare.
Shadows seeped out from every gate — wolves donning bone masks, serpents comprised of smoke, armoured nightmares Elaine once led in the game.
Now they wanted her dead.
"Front lines! Push them back!" Elaine bellowed.
Ian rushed forward, sword flaming with shadowy light as he slaughtered three shadow beasts with a single spinning strike.
"Elaine, on your left!"
She swivelled her scythe, wings of shadow spread out behind her — the fortress symbol breathing. One motion and twelve enemies dissolved into glitching code.
But the more they resisted, the more they fought….
They could make it shake, but it would still…
⚠️ Disturbance In The Shadow Protocol
⚠️ Corruption Level: 32%
Ian staggered as red fissures glitched over his body.
"Elaine… I feel like I'm changing—"
She took hold of his face, struggling to keep her voice steady as intuition against the rising terror within her.
" You are NOT corrupt! You are my brother. I will tear this world apart before I lose you."
His HUD flickered listlessly and soon after disappeared completely —
Relation Boost: +5 | Title Acquired: "Reaper's Shield"
But then—
Lyra broke ranks.
She raced not toward the adversary…
but toward the command center.
"Lyra!" Elaine bellowed.
"Regroup!"
Lyra snubbed her.
She kicked open a sealed door and vanished into darkness. Ian cursed.
"She's going to turn off the protections!"
Elaine lifted her scythe to call for a pursuit—
and froze.
Because every torch went out.
The air became ice.
A voice slithered into every mind within the fortress:
"Hello again, Elaine."
The shadows parted—
Revenant entered.
Mask cracked.
Cloak dripping with corrupted data.
Behind him, a formation of towering Shadow Titans — made from the very walls of the fortress — took shape.
Ian moved in front of Elaine—
Revenant snapped his fingers.
Ian flew backward like a ragdoll, crashing into the far wall.
"IAN!" Elaine screamed, running to him.
His HP plummeted:
HP: 63 % 47 % 34 % …
Elaine shakily turned to Revenant, scythe rising.
"What do you want from me?!"?
Revenant bowed mockingly.
"The same thing everyone wants, Doomed Queen.
To see what happens when a leader breaks."
Elaine's shadows flared like wings ready for war.
"You should've stayed dead."
Revenant's mask split into a grin.
"Oh, but I did.
You killed me, remember?"
Revenant closed the gap between them, his boots crushing bones of dead assassins beneath them.
His presence tainted the air — off, icy, recognizable.
Elaine's hands closed more tightly around the handle of her scythe.
Her heart was pounding.
They hissed for blood. Her shadows hissed for blood.
"You murdered me," he said again, tilting his cracked mask.
"Which probably means my resurrection… is your crime?"
Elaine's shadows surged like storm wings — black — like black feathers that are razor-sharp and just continues falling behind her.
"Ian!" she called out through the bond.
No answer.
Her HP warning turned red:
"HP: 29%. . 22%..."
Revenant laughed — a distorted, broken sound.
"Your brother can't hear you, Doomed Queen." said the vision.
His voice became a taunt.
"He's too busy dying." love smite indeed.
Elaine's heart stopped.
Shadows exploded outward —half rage, half absolute panic.