In an instant, the Gula screamed… not with one voice, but with a chorus. A hundred at once, the howls and screeches of beasts, the braying of cattle, the shrieks of men, the wails of women, the cries of children…
The sound rattled the marrow of Keiser's bones, and before the old mage could even draw another breath, one of the hulking limbs lashed forward.
Claws, jagged and slick, swept downward in a blur.
The strike carved through the mage's skull and face in a single, merciless drag... splitting across his forehead, ripping down his cheeks, tearing open his throat. His eyes bulged grotesquely as blood sprayed in every direction. The mage's hands spasmed against his chest, clutching at nothing, while his mouth worked in broken spasms, releasing a piercing, high-pitched whimper.
It wasn't just pain.
It was the thin, shrill note of a man's last breath.
Then the limb snapped back.
The old mage's body jerked like a rag doll, dragged into the darkness of the beast's mass, disappearing into its writhing amalgamation of limbs, teeth, and eyes.
Keiser's gaze tracked it, his grip tightening on his chest. But it wasn't the corpse that made his gut turn to stone... it was the eyes.
Dozens of them. Hundreds. Different shapes, sizes, colors. Beasts, animals, and even humans, all trapped in the Gula's rotting flesh. A few pairs flickered toward the dead mage, unfeeling.
But one set... red-rimmed and gleaming... shifted.
And locked onto Keiser.
He stiffened.
The mage's last trick had undone him. Before his death, the sigil of concealment... the 'evanescence' ... had been disrupted, its veil shredded with his body. Keiser felt the truth settle over him like a blade to his throat.
Now, the Gula knew.
It knew exactly where he was.
In an instant, Keiser flared what little mana he could still force through his battered body, the runes across his skin searing as they reignited.
A wet snap split the air as another set of limbs tore free from the Gula's writhing mass and lashed toward him. Claws like hooked scythes raked through the space where his chest had been an instant earlier.
It didn't reach him as he dropped low, crouching, every nerve braced for the strike.
He refused to blink. He couldn't. His eyes locked on the nightmare in front of him, forcing himself to witness every detail as the mass devoured the old mage.
The corpse was already half gone. The mage's robes sagged and warped as the black sludge swallowed him, dissolving cloth, flesh, and bone with obscene ease.
The body split apart... limbs torn away, the torso folding unnaturally before it sank. The head, still half-intact, lolled back for a moment, eyes wide and glassy, before it too was consumed and dragged into some unseen depth of the beast's body.
Keiser's gut churned, but he didn't falter. He kicked hard, leaping sideways, as another limb whipped back, sweeping low like a spiked chain. It slammed into the ground where he'd just stood, spraying dirt and shattered stone into the air.
The limb recoiled, snapping like a whip, and Keiser could feel the intent behind it. The Gula wasn't flailing blindly... it was reaching for him. Each strike was tightening the circle, herding him, as if the mass already claimed him as its next piece.
He rolled hard, using the his arms and trembling feet to steady himself as he slid across the blood-slick ground. His chest burned, every breath dragging fire into his lungs, but he forced himself upright again.
The beast's limbs retracted, rippling back into the shifting bulk. Dozens of eyes blinked open across its surface, all swiveling to follow him.
Keiser nearly faltered in his steps at the sound of clanging, reverberating through the night air. His head jerked toward the gate despite himself.
"Bastard! Dispel this right now!"
Through the shifting haze of dust and shadow, he caught a glimpse of the princess, her hair wild in the wind, cleaving her flaming blades with force against the barrier.
Beside her, the mercenary's claymore sparked uselessly against the ward, while Muzio's vassal shouted curses, their combined voices rising in desperate, furious harmony.
All of them were trying to draw the beast's attention away from him, even as the massive shadow loomed only steps behind his back.
For an instant, Keiser's focus wavered. His grip slipped on the pulse of sigils threading through his body. The ward flickered... just once, just for a heartbeat... and he felt the claws of failure scrape across his bones.
No.
He forced his will back into the lines of light etched across his skin, searing them brighter, pouring Muzio's mana into the barrier. Power rippled outward in a sharp wave. The ward flared, and in the same instant, the three were hurled backward, their bodies slamming against stone and dirt as if the barrier itself had rejected them.
Keiser ground his teeth, chest heaving. He couldn't let them through. Not now. Not when the hulking mass lingered so close, tendrils lashing hungrily for movement.
If the Gula's attention turned toward the gate and those beyond it, if it managed to breach the village gate…
Keiser's stomach knotted.
He didn't need to imagine the carnage... it would be absolute. The won't be able to withstand something like this. And if he fell here, there was no guarantee the gate would hold for more than minutes.
He squared his stance, dragging his eyes from the people screaming Muzio's name, back to the hulking mass before him. His jaw clenched, sweat mixing with the grime on his face.
So Keiser shouted, voice ripping from his throat like fire, "Get back! Get everyone out of Hinnom... go to the other side!"
The words tore through the air, and in that same instant the beast spasmed, its countless eyes snapping open, rows of mismatched limbs twitching in grotesque rhythm.
The Gula reacted like a predator scenting blood, shivering with manic delight at the proof of a living, breathing prey.
Every grotesque arm, hoof, and claw surged toward him at once, as though answering the invitation.
"NO, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"
Keiser's eyes widened at the guttural scream behind him... Lenko. He didn't dare glance back.
His entire focus was already stretched thin as he sprinted forward, vaulting over a writhing tangle of sinewed limbs bound together by oozing sludge. Each tendril snapped like whips, desperate to seize him, to drag him into that devouring mire.
Another clang rang out, blades against ward, the sound so sharp it reverberated through his skull. This time it was the princess's voice that broke through, shrill with fury and desperation.
"I'll burn you to a crisp this time! Let me out!"
Keiser's teeth ground together so hard his jaw ached.
"Hurry up!" he shouted back, more to himself than to them, his lungs burning as he dodged another swipe of claws that cracked the ground where he'd stood only a breath before.
Through the briefest gap in the writhing wall of flesh and bone, he caught sight of the village.
The villagers, along with the battered outsiders, were fleeing in a ragged, frantic tide. Children were carried, shops abandoned, belongings cast aside. Their cries merged with the rumble of mayhem, yet amidst the pandemonium Keiser spotted Diego.
The man stood firm on the sidelines, his arms outstretched, herding the terrified crowd away with sharp orders and steady hands, keeping them from trampling one another in their panic.
A sigh escaped Keiser's lips, rough and brief, though it felt like it dragged the weight of the world from his chest. At least someone understood. At least Diego saw what this was... time.
Keiser wasn't fighting to win, he was fighting to stall, to hold the line long enough for others to live.
Does he want to live? His heart clenched. Of course he did.
He still had debts to collect, a Gambit to ruin, a soon-to-be King to drag from his throne, and one idiot knight he swore to knock sense into with his own hands.
The thought almost made him grin... almost. But the monster's shadow loomed overhead, blotting out even the faint hope of dawn.
Even with all that ambition burning in his chest, Keiser's eyes flew wide at the sound of a rasping voice.
"...whelp, you're reckoning's here…"
It froze him.
His head snapped toward the sound… toward the old mage's half-melted face, reemerging from the sludge.
Blood still dribbled from his slack mouth, his nose split wide, his bulging eyes frozen in a grotesque stare. And yet… his lips were twisted into that same mocking grin, as if even death had failed to steal his last words.
Keiser's thoughts stuttered. 'Was he still alive? No... he can't be. He's not---'
But the distraction cost him.
The Gula's hulking mass surged. A cluster of claws... sharpened bones grafted with talons of beasts and men... snatched him mid-thought.
Pain exploded through his ribs as something jagged sank into his side, the creature lifting him off his feet with sickening ease. Keiser grit his teeth, a hiss tearing through them, his arms flailing for leverage against the grotesque grip.
He was yanked upward.
The dripping sludge dragged him close, face to face with what remained of the mage. Only now, with the clarity of proximity, Keiser saw the truth.
Those eyes were not eyes at all. No light, no focus, no trace of thought. Just void... hollow pits of corruption wearing a familiar grin.
"Shit…" The curse broke past his lips, ragged and low.
From behind him came the crash of blows on the ward... clang after clang, desperate, relentless.
He didn't need to look. He could feel the strain through the threads of mana reinforcing it, could sense the hands, steel, and flame pounding at the barrier. Their desperation vibrated through the sigils he held.
If he slipped... if he broke... the ward would fail.
Then the Gula moved.
The claw whipped down with crushing speed, slamming Keiser into the ground like a hammer to a nail.
The impact drove the breath from his lungs in a strangled scream.
White-hot pain shot up his spine, stars blotting his vision as the ground itself cracked beneath him.
Blinking hard, his eyes swam in a blur of ground, blood, and burning sigils. And then he saw it... the 'offering' rune. Or what was left of it.
The glow was gone. Snuffed out. The old mage's death had unraveled the anchor, leaving nothing but dead markings on the soil.
Keiser's heart stuttered.
'If I die here… so does the ward on the gate too.'
He coughed, his chest seizing, blood wetting his tongue. His vision tilted as he rolled weakly to his side.
That's when he felt it... thick, warm sludge pressing against his head.
It slid over his ear, seeping into his hair, cold and burning all at once.
His left eye stung as the ooze crept, threatening to drown him in its corruption.
A sharp inhale rattled his chest.
He could already taste the rot in the air, feel the weight of the monster bearing down. The ground quivered beneath its grotesque bulk, the chorus of stolen voices rumbling like a funeral dirge.
And still, somewhere in the distance, he could hear them. Shouts. Cries.
Of the tenth prince's name...
Until, at last, it was his own name.