Ash fell like snow in the caverns beneath Anatolia.
The silence was deceptive. Beyond the veil of smoke and dust, something stirred. Old foul magic throbbed through the stone like a heartbeat.
Mike stood at the forefront of the remaining djinn forces, his black-scaled form slowly being covered with ash. His eyes glowed molten red, smoke curling from his nostrils. Hamza stood at his side, blades humming faintly with essence, his face grim but resolute.
Behind them, King Maymun's elite warriors fanned out, ready but weary. The deeper they had gone into the cave, the thicker the air had become. Sick with undeath. Reeking of the grave.
Five runes had been shattered on their descent. Each one had pulsed with vile power, wards meant to suppress divinity, to drain essence, to suffocate the soul.
They were here now. At the heart.
A vast circular chamber before them, lined with bones and black runes that flickered with pale green light. The cavern walls bled black ichor, and the air shimmered with spiritual malice.
Three figures awaited them.
The Crone, twisted and withered, her face a mask of hatred and bone dust. Her staff thudded against the earth with every step.
The Mother, armored in rusted iron and flayed skin, her sword still wet with fresh blood.
And the Maiden, radiant with false purity, her silver dress soaked in the tears of dead children.
Hecate, in her trinity, stared down at the intruders.
"So the mongrel and the monster finally arrive," the Crone rasped.
Mike didn't answer. His claws curled.
Hamza stepped forward, light gathering around his twin blades. "This ends here."
The Mother grinned. "Oh yes… many things will end today."
The Maiden's voice was soft, almost sad. "I've seen the threads. You all die screaming."
Mike cracked his neck. "Fuck you evil bitch and your poisonous words."
Without another word, the battle began.
The first wave was hell.
Hecate raised her arms and the bones beneath the floor shattered apart, forming armored wraiths and hollow-eyed revenants. Runes ignited on the cavern walls, casting chains of light and shadow that lunged at the djinn.
The djinn warriors held their ground. Blades of fire clashed with ghostly axes. Elemental fury danced with necrotic sorcery. Screams filled the chamber as the living fought the dead and the damned.
Hamza vanished and reappeared behind the Maiden, slashing twice before being knocked back by a blast of silvery light.
Mike roared and charged the Mother.
Steel met claw.
She was strong, her strength fueled by war and sacrifice. Her blade carved deep across Mike's shoulder, drawing blood. But he responded with a backhand that hurled her into the wall, cracking the stone.
The Crone whispered curses, her staff glowing with black-green energy. Every time Mike or Hamza struck her, she seemed to vanish like smoke, only to reappear behind a djinn, driving ghostly daggers into their hearts.
"Fall, and let the void claim you!" she shrieked, calling down a swarm of wailing spirits.
Mike breathed fire. The black-red flame devoured the spirits, but not before they tore through three more djinn.
Blood pooled at his feet.
Hamza's armor was cracked, his breath ragged.
"They're buying us time," he growled.
"I'll get the crone, hold off the others," Mike snarled.
He lunged again, aiming for the Crone.
Hecate's forms moved as one, casting, countering, slashing. The three bodies were separate, but their minds worked in perfect unison. The Crone summoned a storm of bone shards. The Mother struck while Mike was distracted. The Maiden whispered illusions into Hamza's ears, making him see Kelsey crying out for help behind the enemy.
Mike tackled the Crone mid-chant, slamming her into the floor.
"You will never have her!" Hamza shouted.
But a ghost burst from the ground and slashed across his ribs, deep and cold.
He howled, stumbled but then bit down, tearing off the Crone's upper half and swallowing it whole.
A shockwave erupted.
The Crone's essence flooded his body.
Power.
Pure and terrible.
His wounds sealed instantly. His muscles bulged. Black scales became obsidian. His eyes now had wisps of burning gold in the raging red irises.
The other two forms screamed in rage. The chamber began to tremble. Magic fractured the air itself.
"You dare consume me?!" the Maiden cried.
"You filthy halfbreed!" the Mother screamed.
Mike rose, breathing heavily. "She tasted like shit, demons taste better."
Hamza stumbled to his feet beside him.
Then the earth cracked beneath them.
Bones groaned.
Stone split.
And a colossal skeleton erupted from the depths of the earth.
It towered over the chamber, at least fifty feet tall, its ribcage formed from black bones, it was a dragon skeleton. Dark light pulsed from its sockets, and with each breathless roar, the air turned to frost.
Bahamut's voice boomed with a rage Mike had never heard in his mind:
"Evil witch! Where did you get that?!"
The creature moved, its limbs dragging the air like death incarnate. Behind it, the two remaining forms of Hecate glowed with raw essence. They were preparing for something bigger.
"Focus on the runes!" Hamza shouted. "It's bound to this space, we can sever its link!"
Mike nodded. "I'll fight it, you get the runes."
What followed was carnage.
Mike clashed with the skeleton, dodging a bony fist that shattered a quarter of the cavern. He leapt up its spine, clawing into bone, snapping vertebrae. The creature roared and slammed backward, smashing Mike against the wall.
He fell, bleeding, but not broken.
Bahamut's rage growing in his mind. He couldn't hear words anymore just primal roars filled with hate.
Hamza blinked through space, cutting runes etched into the walls. Each time one was broken, the dragon skeleton staggered. But the Mother defended the final glyphs, her armor now steaming with divine energy.
Mike tore off one of the skeleton's arms and used it as a club to knock her aside.
Then he turned and breathed fire into the monster's open ribcage.
It ignited from the inside with intensity Mike hadn't seen before.
With a screech that shook the world, the colossal dragon skeleton collapsed.
Black bone fell like rain.
"DO NOT LET THE WITCH HAVE THOSE BONES!" Bahamut screamed in Mike's mind as essence began leaking from his skin.
Hamza dropped to a knee, panting. The djinn behind them cheered, only a few still alive, half their forces gone.
The Maiden stared at Mike in horror. Her eyes glowed pale green.
"This is not the end," she hissed. "You still don't understand. You still think she's yours to save."
Mike stepped forward. "You stole her from me."
"She was already broken," the Maiden whispered. "You just didn't see it."
He grabbed her by the throat.
She gasped, clawed at him, but he didn't kill her.
Not yet.
"Where is the final seal?" he growled.
But she only laughed, blood leaking from her lips.
"You'll find it soon enough… Dumu-Kur."
Mike crushed her neck and dropped her to the floor.
Behind them, the cavern groaned again. The path forward lay open now charred, cracked, but clear.
Toward the final chamber.
Toward Hecate's core.
Hamza limped forward. "You ready?"
Mike looked down at his blood-drenched claws. Consuming the maiden then looking to the black bones on the ground as Bahamut continued roaring in his mind.
Hamza paused looking at the essence pouring between the veil and Mike before he noticed the enraged Bahamut attacking the veil in fury. His eyes grew wide in terror when he heard what Bahamut said…