Blood gushed from his abdomen as the clawed hand withdrew, and Blackstone collapsed face-first onto the stone floor, barely alive. A twisted ghoul loomed over him, ready to sink its teeth into his flesh and devour what remained of his strength.
Melody, his daughter, screamed as she witnessed the scene unfold. With trembling hands, she grabbed a jagged knife from a nearby crate. Gritting her teeth, she hurled herself at the ghoul that had just impaled her father. She drove the blade deep into its neck, piercing its rotting flesh, and then summoned her inner fire arcana, channeling flames through the weapon. The ghoul shrieked in agony as it ignited from the inside, its insides cooking in a burst of orange and red light.
The creature flailed violently, howling and thrashing, its pained cries echoing through the dark cellar. The noise drew the attention of other nearby fallen. In its frenzy, the ghoul swatted Melody away like a ragdoll, sending her crashing into a wall. She tumbled into a pile of crates, which split open on impact several cans of gasoline spilling out around her.
Dazed and bruised, Melody knew she couldn't overpower this monster alone, not for long. But she had to do something. Her father was bleeding out by the second, and more of the cursed creatures were closing in. She grabbed one of the gasoline cans with urgency and lobbed it at the ghoul. Without hesitation, she cast a small firebolt, igniting the fuel mid-air. The blaze engulfed the creature, who now rolled and writhed in a hellish inferno of its own making.
Buying herself a few precious moments, Melody sprinted toward the supply cache in the corner of the cellar. She grabbed a bundle of healing potions and a warp crystal one of the last remaining emergency teleportation stones in their stockpile.
She darted back to her father's side, activated the crystal, and in a flash of blue-white light, they were whisked away teleported to a building on the far side of Regalia that, by some miracle, remained intact and untouched by the chaos engulfing the city.
Melody dropped to her knees beside her father as soon as they reappeared. She forced herself to focus, searing his wounds shut with careful blasts of controlled flame. Blackstone groaned, unconscious but alive. She emptied three healing potions down his throat, watching with hope and desperation as his body began the slow process of stabilizing.
Exhausted and barely able to hold him up, Melody dragged her father's limp body to a hidden chamber. It was a secret room, cleverly concealed behind a false wall a leftover safehouse from older days, when hunter families like theirs prepared for the worst.
She shut the concealed door behind them and slumped against it, gasping for breath. Panic overwhelmed her, the adrenaline that had kept her moving now fading, replaced by a cold, empty dread. Her hands were shaking. Her clothes were soaked in sweat and blood.
"What the hell is going on?" she thought in a rising panic. "How did those things get into the city? Why is this happening to us?"
Suddenly, she doubled over and vomited. The realization hit her all at once. Her mother was dead. Her home gone. Her city overrun by monsters from the darkest depths of the world. She sobbed uncontrollably, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Why did Mom have to die?" she whispered between gasps. "Why is it always us?"
Meanwhile, back in the cellar, the fire raged on. The burning ghoul thrashed and screamed as it knocked over more crates, gasoline pouring out like liquid death. The fire touched the pooling fuel, and in a blinding instant, the entire cellar exploded in a thunderous blast. A ball of fire surged upward, consuming the fallen who had rushed to aid their kin. Bodies were flung, walls scorched, and smoke climbed high into the evening sky.
From across the city, the werewolf imperial saw the explosion. Tall and monstrous, cloaked in dark fur and wrapped in a shifting serpent-like tail, the imperial made his way toward the burning wreckage. He walked through the remains of his fallen brethren, disgust etched into his expression.
He reached the charred body of one of his fellow werewolves. The corpse was barely recognizable, half its body melted away. The imperial knelt, gently lifting it in his arms.
"Who did this to you, my child?" he whispered, cradling the corpse. "Who took your life at such a pivotal moment of our rise?"
He laid the body down carefully, promising it a proper farewell after they conquered the city.
The imperial closed his eyes, his power activating. His vision turned crimson as he scanned the area. The tail wrapped around his neck extended and uncoiled, revealing its fanged maw, sniffing the air. With each inhale, it pulled in the lingering essence of battle, blood, and fire. The imperial saw fleeting images Blackstone weeping for his wife, entering the cellar, followed by the ghouls. The memories were scattered and fragmented but enough to tell him a story.
The werewolf walked into the still-burning ruins, standing calmly amid the flames as if they posed no threat.
"So that's what happened," he muttered. "And it seems the human responsible got away. How troublesome…"
He turned from the fire and began sprinting, dashing effortlessly from rooftop to rooftop until he reached the grand castle of Regalia, where the vampire imperial waited looming just beyond its walls.
Inside, the nobles had gathered their elite guard: 600,000 soldiers lined up, cannons primed, walls fortified. But before them stood only one enemy: the vampire imperial. He stood alone, cradling the egg of the ghoul imperial in his hands, stroking it gently. A devilish smile split his deformed face.
He raised a hand to the sky. In an instant, massive thorn-covered vines erupted from the ground. They twisted and shaped into giant blood-red buds that bloomed, releasing a pollen so toxic it melted flesh. The guards screamed as their skin dissolved, writhing in agony as their bones were exposed to the air.
The vampire inhaled deeply, eyes fluttering shut as he relished the scent. "Ah… the perfume of war."
The werewolf imperial arrived moments later, eyes narrowing at the carnage.
"You should have left the bodies intact," he growled. "The others could have fed."
The vampire turned slowly, beckoning him closer. "Come now, there are more than enough corpses. Besides, I was testing a new trick. You should try it."
"We have a problem," the werewolf muttered. "Two humans escaped after killing some of our brethren. They smelled like hunters."
The vampire sneered. "So what? Let the others handle them. They won't make it out of the city."
The werewolf bristled. "If they've already killed fallen, they could do it again. They should be dealt with swiftly."
The vampire waved him off. "In war, there are casualties. That's the nature of being fallen. Let the others track them down. For now, enjoy the spoils. The nobles have their own hunters. Try not to destroy the castle I want to claim it for myself."
The werewolf gave a nod and entered the fray.
Above them, three hunters stood atop the castle, launching an elemental barrage. Fireballs rained down, exploding in rapid succession. A crater formed, smoke and flame rising but when it cleared, the two imperials stood unscathed.
"How adorable," the vampire chuckled. "They think they can hurt us."
"May I?" the werewolf asked, hand on his serpent tail.
"Let them try once more," the vampire said, grinning wide. "Then kill them."
The hunters combined their arcana air, thunder, and fire into a massive flaming tornado that crackled with lightning and stretched between the heavens and the earth.
The vampire applauded. "Magnificent! But now… end them."
The werewolf drew his blade a massive greatsword from the mouth of his serpent like tail viscerally draging it out of its poisonus throat. The sword with a red-black crystal core and a single glaring eye embedded in its crossguard. With a single swing, he released a wave of black-red flame that tore through the tornado and disintegrated the hunters in an instant.
The two imperials rampaged through the castle, slaughtering every noble, guard, and servant. By nightfall, they had seized the throne, sitting upon the corpses of the king and queen.
Meanwhile, in the hidden chamber, Blackstone stirred. Groaning, he opened his eyes, his vision blurry. He saw Melody sitting in the corner, tears running silently down her cheeks.
He tried to sit up, only to wince in pain.
"You shouldn't move," Melody said, rushing to his side, wiping away her tears.
Blackstone laid back, clutching his abdomen. "Melody… what happened?"
"You were stabbed by a ghoul. I cauterized the wound and gave you three healing potions," she said, handing him another.
He drank it and asked, "How did you get us out?"
Melody explained everything how she fought, how she used the warp crystal, and what she heard when the house collapsed above her. Her voice cracked as she spoke about her mother.
Blackstone placed a hand on her head. "It's okay, kid. Just cry. Don't try to be strong for me."
She broke down, throwing herself into his arms. He held her tightly, whispering comfort as she wept.
When she calmed, he sat up, his body healed enough to move.
"You good now, kiddo?" he asked gently.
Melody nodded. "Yeah."
"Alright. Let's move."
They searched the room. All they could salvage was a knife and a few bombs.
"Better than nothing. Stay low. Keep quiet. We're sneaking out."
They crept through alleyways, avoiding patrols. At the gate, three fallen stood watch. Blackstone cursed under his breath.
"They're getting smarter. Why?"
He summoned air arcana, whipping up a violent dust storm. The fallen were blinded. He and Melody slipped past, planting bombs in the storm. Moments later boom. The explosions covered their escape.
They had made it out. The city burned behind them. Ahead, lay the path to Helios.
They would have to pass through the Deadwood Forest usually teeming with fallen. But not today. Most had joined the invasion.
With two days of travel ahead, they vanished into the treeline, hoping for a chance at survival.