Meanwhile, across the burning city of Talagra, steel and shadow collided in a relentless storm.
Denias and Zargan tore through streets and rooftops alike, their battle carving scars into the very foundations of the city. Every clash of their blades sent shockwaves rippling through nearby buildings, reducing stone to rubble and scattering debris like leaves in a hurricane.
This monster... Denias thought, narrowly twisting his body as Zargan's massive blade cleaved through the space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. It keeps getting stronger.
He pivoted midair, boots skidding across shattered stone, and countered with a sharp arc of his sword. The aura-laced strike slammed into Zargan's chest, forcing the shadowborn knight back several meters, gouging deep trenches into the street beneath him.
Before Denias could press the advantage, Zargan threw his head back.
His jaw unhinged unnaturally.
A beam of condensed darkness erupted from his mouth—howling, corrosive, and wide enough to swallow entire streets.
"Damn it—!"
Denias vanished in a blur, the beam tearing past him and shearing through the city, vaporizing buildings and leaving behind a molten scar that glowed red-hot. The heat washed over Denias even as he reappeared atop a collapsed tower.
He didn't hesitate.
Drawing deeply on his aura, he swung his blade in a precise, merciless arc.
The strike landed.
Zargan's arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder, dissolving into smoke as it hit the ground.
But Denias's relief lasted only a moment.
Shadowy tendrils erupted from the wound, writhing and weaving together, reforming bone, armor, and blade in seconds.
"Tch," Denias clicked his tongue. "Regeneration on this level... absurd."
He shifted his stance, aura surging dangerously high.
"Alternating Blade Style: Void Slashes."
The air screamed.
Dimensional fractures tore open as Denias unleashed slashes that didn't merely cut flesh—they ripped through reality itself, leaving gaping voids that erased anything they touched. These attacks were irreversible, impossible to heal from.
Zargan staggered.
But before the void slashes could finish him—
"Shadows Magic: Reverse Weave."
Tamina's voice cut through the chaos.
Shadows surged around Zargan like a cocoon, folding, overlapping, twisting causality itself. Denias's void slashes struck the darkness and were redirected, dispersed, nullified as if reality itself had been rewritten.
Denias's eyes widened.
"That woman...?" he muttered, locking eyes with Tamina in the distance. She blocked that? Easily?
His instincts screamed.
She's the real threat.
"I need to eliminate her first," Denias growled, shifting his focus.
But the moment he moved—
Zargan appeared in front of him.
Too fast.
The shadow knight's blade slammed into Denias's guard, sparks exploding outward as metal screamed against metal. Before Denias could disengage, Zargan's free arm clamped around him like a vice.
The world spun.
Denias was hurled through a building, stone and steel collapsing around him as he burst through wall after wall, finally skidding across the street in a cloud of dust and debris.
He rose instantly.
No hesitation. No fear.
Zargan was already there—his blade descending in a brutal overhead strike.
Denias reacted on instinct.
He flipped his sword, smashing the flat of the blade into Zargan's torso with explosive force.
The impact detonated like a cannon.
Zargan was blasted backward, crashing through the city once more, his massive form tumbling across rooftops and streets alike.
Denias exhaled slowly, aura crackling around him.
This isn't a fight I can end quickly, he realized grimly.
And time... is exactly what we don't have.
The knights locked in combat with lesser demons—and the civilians trapped among the ruins—could do nothing but watch in horror as two titanic monsters tore through Talagra's skyline.
Every clash between Denias and Zargan sent tremors through the city. Towers collapsed. Streets split open. The sky itself seemed to recoil as shadow and steel collided again and again.
Denias staggered back after blasting Zargan away, planting his sword into the fractured stone to steady himself. His breathing was heavy now—ragged.
Before he could fully recover—
A beam of condensed shadow tore through the air straight toward him.
"Tch—!"
With exhausted precision, Denias twisted his blade, splitting the beam down the center. The energy screamed past him on both sides, obliterating everything in its wake.
"It's been a while..." Denias muttered, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "Since I've been pushed like this."
He took a step forward—
And froze.
Shadowy hands erupted from beneath his feet, coiling around his legs like living restraints, pinning him in place.
"What—!?"
Denias looked down—
Then up.
Zargan was already upon him.
The shadow knight's blade crashed down with monstrous force. Denias barely managed to catch it with his own sword, steel screaming under the pressure. The ground beneath him cracked, sinking inches as the weight bore down on him.
At the same time, Zargan's jaw split wide.
Dark energy gathered—thick, pulsing.
A beam.
Point-blank.
This will kill me.
Denias's eyes sharpened.
"Tch... I didn't plan to use this yet," he growled. "But being jumped two-on-one is bad manners."
Aura erupted violently around him.
"Alternating Blade Style—Twisted Blades."
Reality warped.
In an instant, dozens of spectral blades manifested around Zargan, spinning, folding, striking from every angle at once. These weren't mere slashes—they severed aura circuits, cutting off the flow of magic at its source.
Zargan let out a distorted roar as his body began to unravel.
Shadow dissolved. Armor cracked. His form broke apart, scattering into wisps of darkness as the beam collapsed into nothing.
The great shadow knight—gone.
Denias exhaled sharply.
But before relief could set in—
A sharp scrape echoed across stone.
Tamina appeared, sliding to a halt across the ruined street, her bare feet carving deep lines into the ground. She straightened slowly, smiling.
"You defeated the clone of Azarag," she said lightly. "Impressive."
Denias narrowed his eyes.
"As a reward," Tamina continued, her smile widening, "you will now be cursed—and hunted by his army."
The shadows beneath them boiled.
From every darkened corner, minor shadowborn demons clawed their way into existence, screeching as they lunged toward Denias.
Denias didn't hesitate.
"Then all I need to do," he said calmly, "is kill the caster."
He vanished.
In a blink, he tore through the swarm, shadow demons exploding into mist as his blade passed through them. Before Tamina could react—
His sword pierced straight through her chest.
Black blood erupted from her mouth as her eyes widened in shock.
Denias leaned close. "You should've stayed hidden."
But the moment the words left his lips—
A chill crawled up his spine.
Wrong.
This felt... wrong.
Suddenly, countless dark hands surged from every direction, wrapping around Denias's body, sealing him away from reality itself.
The world folded.
Space collapsed.
Denias and Tamina vanished together—swallowed by an abyss of living shadow.
The battlefield fell eerily silent.
And somewhere beyond sight, a trap finally snapped shut.