The night trembled.
The Hollow Revenant stood frozen, its towering form locked in place. It did not choose to stop.
It simply could not move.
A presence pressed down upon the world, unseen yet absolute. The trees groaned as their roots bent away. The air, thick as if drowning in an unseen ocean, clung to every inch of existence. The very ground beneath them trembled as if it feared what had just awakened.
And at the center of it all—Elias.
His breathing was ragged, his body barely holding itself upright, blood dripping from his wounds. But something far greater than pain kept him standing.
Something unshackled.
Something ancient.
The Hollow Revenant's glowing eyes flickered, its entire being rejecting what it was experiencing. This was not possible.
Not in this world.
Not in any world.
It tried to move.
It couldn't.
It tried to step forward.
Its body refused.
For the first time in its existence—it felt fear.
Elias's eyes were blank, unfocused, as if staring past reality itself. He didn't even acknowledge the Hollow Revenant's struggle.
Because he did not need to.
The weight of his presence alone dictated the battlefield.
The Hollow Revenant's claw twitched, its instincts screaming at it to attack, to kill, to survive.
Its form flickered—then lunged.
A claw, black as the abyss, aimed straight for Elias's throat—unstoppable, absolute.
But it stopped.
An inch away.
The Hollow Revenant's entire body locked in place, unwilling, unable.
It did not understand.
It had always been the predator. It had never been prey.
The fear grew.
It tried to retreat—tried to pull away.
But Lord's Presence bound it like an unbreakable chain.
The very air commanded it to kneel.
The Hollow Revenant let out a hollow, distorted snarl—not in rage, but in pure denial.
"This… is impossible."
It forced itself to take a step back.
It hurt.
Abyssal beings were not supposed to feel pain from simply existing.
But every movement under this presence felt like it was tearing itself apart.
It had to leave.
Now.
Lucian gasped, barely able to lift his head. His body refused to move, yet his instincts screamed at him.
Something was happening.
The air was different—heavier, suffocating.
Seraphina's breath came in ragged gasps. Her Divine Ethrion flickered weakly, but even in her exhausted state, she recognized this power was unlike anything she had ever felt.
Dain, barely conscious, forced a chuckle through the pain. "What… in the hell… is that…?"
Seric and Lira, too drained to lift their weapons, felt it too.
They didn't understand what was happening.
But the clone guarding them did.
It had remained silent, motionless, watching as its original struggled in the distance.
And then, in a voice that no longer carried mockery—only cold certainty—it spoke.
"It is Lord's Presence."
Lucian's breath caught in his throat.
The words meant nothing to him.
And yet, they terrified him.
The Hollow Revenant no longer cared for the battle.
It had to leave.
It forced its legs to move, tearing itself from the weight crushing down upon it. The moment it pulled away from Elias's presence, it felt its power return.
And then—it vanished.
The abyss itself swallowed its form, retreating into the darkness from which it came.
But before it left, its voice—now tinged with something it had never felt before—lingerered in the air.
"This should not be."
And then, it was gone.
The Hollow Clone still guarding the fallen warriors stiffened. It looked toward where its original had vanished—then, without a word, it too dissolved into the abyss.
And just like that—the nightmare ended.
Elias took a step forward.
His body gave out.
The last thing he heard before unconsciousness took him—
Was the sound of the world exhaling in relief.