CHAPTER CONTINUED: THE SHATTERING OF SOULS
The cold wind within the temple corridors had stilled. Silence reigned, but it was not peace—it was dread. The kind that crept into bones and whispered memories long buried.
---
LEWIS'S DOMAIN – FRAGMENTS OF A PAST
Blood painted the floor in broad, ugly strokes. Lewis staggered, clutching the stump where his left arm once was. Each breath he drew burned. Yet his eyes—those firelit eyes—never left Razen.
"Still standing?" Razen asked mockingly. "Your resilience is admirable… but futile."
Lewis's sword, broken in half, lay at his feet. But he didn't kneel.
He remembered.
A flash—
A rainy street. His younger brother, Jamal, laughing as he spun in the rain. Their mother watching from the window, smiling. That day, Lewis had promised: "I'll always protect you."
Then the fire. The demons. Jamal's scream as the house collapsed.
He'd failed.
His knees buckled, but he didn't fall.
"You think pain weakens me?" Lewis whispered. "Pain made me. Grief carved me into this weapon."
His soul flared. The broken sword rose into the air, glowing crimson.
From within him, something ancient stirred—
"Blood Oath: Vow of the Fallen Flame!"
A new sword, forged from raw spirit, burst into existence. Lewis gripped it with his only hand. The chamber trembled.
Razen's smile faded. "What… is that?"
"Every soul I failed. Every life I couldn't save. They're with me now."
He lunged.
Their clash shattered the illusion realm itself.
---
REJOICE'S DOMAIN – TEARS OF THE PAST
The throne of bones stood tall. The demonic girl twirled atop it like a ballerina.
Rejoice lay crumpled on the ground, her leg severed, blood pooling beneath her.
She remembered…
Her mother's voice, soft and hopeful: "Rejoice… you were born during the storm, but you'll bring light to others."
She remembered holding her dying mother's hand in the hospital. She had prayed. No miracle came.
"Why was I born powerless then?" she had asked herself every day since.
The demon girl descended from her throne.
"Cry," she whispered. "Give up."
Rejoice clenched her jaw, tears flowing.
"I… am allowed to cry."
She opened her palm. A flicker of blue fire danced within.
"But I will never give up."
Her body burned with searing light. Her severed limb regrew, formed from spectral flame. Her eyes turned silver.
"I carry my mother's name."
"Soul Flame: Rebirth Ignition!"
The garden erupted in fire.
The demon screamed as it was swallowed in a storm of sorrow turned power.
---
EMMANUEL'S DOMAIN – THE SEA OF REGRET
His body floated in the dark waters.
Dreams pulled at him.
A vision: his sister, laughing as she held his hand. They danced in the fields outside their village.
"Promise me you'll never stop singing," she had said.
But that voice had gone silent.
He had watched her body burn.
"I wasn't strong enough," he whispered.
"No," a voice answered.
It was her.
Her spirit hovered before him. Smiling. Forgiving.
"You sang me to peace, Manny. Now sing for others."
His chest ached. He screamed.
The waters burst.
He rose, now standing atop the waves, golden wings of light forming behind him.
"I am Emmanuel… and I carry my sister's light."
He raised his hands.
"Celestial Canticle: Grace Ascending!"
A choir of spirits erupted behind him. The demon of fear was dissolved by holy harmony.
---
EDNA'S DOMAIN – THE GRAVE OF REGRETS
Ash fell like snow.
Edna's spear trembled in her grip as she faced the stitched mother before her.
"I was never enough," she whispered. "Not for you. Not for anyone."
The demon's voice oozed venom. "You were weak. Pitiful. That's why I died."
Edna fell to her knees.
And saw… a single flower.
A memory. Her real mother, placing a flower behind her ear.
"You are stronger than you know, Edna. Even if the world says otherwise."
Her sobs broke loose.
"I miss you."
The demon screamed in fury. "Stop remembering her!"
But Edna rose.
And smiled.
"She never left me."
"Lament Spear: Blooming Thorn!"
Her weapon transformed—petals of steel and thorns of hope.
She leapt.
And pierced the demon's heart.
The graveyard became a garden.
---THE LEGENDARY FOUR – WITHIN THE BLAST
Lucien shielded Joy and Lydia with a barrier of light.
Clante held the ground firm.
When the light cleared—Calder was gone.
The ritual circle was destroyed.
Caleb and Sara? Missing.
But the walls of the temple bled.
And a voice, disembodied, whispered:
"Erebus stirs…"
The true enemy had awakened.
Not Calder.
But the ancient force beneath them all.
---
AFTER THE STORM
Outside the temple, the surviving slayers regrouped.
Lewis limped out, supported by Rejoice.
Emmanuel carried Edna, unconscious but smiling.
Joy wiped her tears. "What now?"
Lucien looked to the darkening horizon.
"Now we prepare. Because this wasn't the war."
He looked to the sky, which shimmered with unnatural stars.
"This was only… the beginning."
---
TO BE CONTINUED