The Fortress
Rian and Ria arrived at the northern fortress of Elysium,dust-streaked and bloodstained.
Once, the fortress had been called "unbreakable."Now, it looked tired—its ramparts patched, its gates trembling under the weight of expectation.
Soldiers lined the walls,their armor dented,their eyes hollow.
This was the last line of defense.
Arrows and magic bolts rained down as Noktus approached.They struck the golems' iron shells—sparks flew, but nothing broke.
The formations soldiers had drilled all their lives—spears, shields, precise ranks—meant nothing against an army of walking fortresses.
When the golems' shadow fell over the walls,courage turned to something else.A cold, unnameable fear.
Rian stood with his sword drawn.He swung, tearing a gash in a golem's leg.But the next moment, two more pressed forward.
Ria's magic blazed,ice lancing, roots wrapping—but every spell was met with more steel.
Behind them,Brunok's rifle cracked—a Noktus officer fell.
Eris whispered to the earth,summoning green light,binding the walls with living roots.But the golems' feet crushed them like dried twigs.
Marielle's prayers never stopped,her hands glowing as she healed wound after wound.Tears fell once—only once—then stopped.
Noktus's tide was endless.Their golems pounded the line,every step a hammer-blow.
And then—one broke through.
The fortress, once "unbreakable,"was pierced.
The battlefield erupted in chaos.Golems crushed soldiers underfoot.
The line shattered.Elysium's army buckled.
Rian's face was slick with sweat."If we don't hold here, Elysium is finished! Fight!"
But his voice was swallowed by panic.
Another golem breached.Then another.
Rian's sword struck,sparks showered—but the giant didn't even flinch.
"This can't be…"Rian gasped,attacking again, desperate.
Ria froze a golem's legs,but the ice shatteredand the monster pressed on.
The defense fell.
Rian and Ria staggered back to the gates.The fortress was gone,and all that remained was the city itself.
The gate was closed.Soldiers on the wall readied their last arrows.
Rian slammed his fist into the wood.BAM!Blood smeared the grain,but he barely felt it.
Ria touched his shoulder, softly."Rian…"
He clenched his jaw."We won't let Elysium fall.Not without fighting to the very end."
Ria nodded."We don't give up.Not now."
Laughter.The clink of glasses.
"Elysium is done!" one commander cheered, raising his cup.
"Merslin will kneel before us," another sneered.
Mericis lifted her cup, silent but smiling—a smile colder than steel.
"This war is ours now.Elysium ends today."
The commanders roared in agreement,toasting their coming "victory."
But a strange wind brushed the camp.For a moment, they felt it—a shift.
Then they dismissed it.Mericis's cold eyes turned back to her wine,to her certainty.
They did not know.
Merslin was coming.
And the true battle of Elysium had not yet begun.
**
Episode : Father…
The Silence Before
Rian and Ria stood before the sealed gates of Elysium.
Behind them, the gates loomed like a wall of despair.
Before them, Noktus's iron horde rolled forward,
grinding the last defense into dust.
Rian's arm ached, his sword hand trembling.
Ria's breath was ragged,
her magic scraped raw.
Soldiers stumbled back,
their eyes wide with fear,
all glancing at the gate.
Defeat wasn't coming.
It was already here.
And then—
all sound died.
The marching golems fell silent.
The screams, the clash of steel—
gone.
Even the wind held its breath.
Every head turned to one place.
The gates.
THOOM. THOOM.
The gates groaned open,
inch by inch.
Light poured out—
but not warm light.
A cold, blinding radiance
that devoured every shadow.
The battlefield transformed into something
holy and alien at once.
From the center of that light—
a man stepped forward.
Merslin.
At his side:
Lisa, her expression carved from stone.
Elena, her eyes lowered—
knowing too well the weight of her husband's power.
His presence alone straightened spines.
Soldiers who'd been cowering now raised their heads.
"The King! The King himself has come!"
The whisper became a roar.
"Who dares to lay claim to Elysium?"
Merslin's voice cut through the battlefield.
The air trembled.
He raised his hand.
Power crackled at his fingertips.
"The stones of heaven… the fragments of sleeping stars…"
His incantation was soft, but it shook the world.
"…fall upon the darkness.
Awaken the power of the ancients.
Answer my call—
and become fire."
The night sky blushed red.
Then—
meteors fell.
Silent,
but more terrifying than any scream.
They slammed into golems,
melting iron hides like ice in the sun.
The ground heaved.
Shockwaves tore across the field.
Pillars of dust rose without a sound.
But Noktus didn't yield.
Broken golems twisted and reformed.
Merslin didn't blink.
He spoke almost conversationally:
"Gravity. The weakest… and the most honest force."
The words were soft—
but every ear heard them
as if thunder had spoken.
He raised his hand again.
A sphere of black formed,
eating the light around it.
Rian's breath caught.
'This… isn't sword or spell.
Father is wielding the rules of the world.'
"Gravity Collapse."
The words fell.
The battlefield caved in.
Golems screamed—
then folded in on themselves,
iron stretching, bending,
crushed into dust.
"That's the power that slew a Titan!"
a Noktus commander screamed.
He vanished in the same breath,
pulled into nothing.
Dust fell.
The Noktus horde was gone.
Soldiers stared in silence
at the shattered earth.
But Ria heard it.
Not in front—
behind.
A footstep.
Too light for a soldier.
"Rian. There."
Rian turned.
A lone figure,
slipping through the darkness.
Mericis.
The moment the battle turned,
she had chosen to flee.
"She's the head of the snake," Rian snarled.
"If she escapes—"
Ria gripped her sword.
"Father has the field.
We cut off the head."
They locked eyes.
Words weren't needed.
They moved—
shadows chasing a shadow.
The hunt for Mericis had begun.
**
Episode : The One Who Runs
The forest was wrong.
Merslin's gravity surge had bent the trees,
leaving them twisted like broken ribs.
Branches clawed at the moonlight.
The air smelled of scorched metal.
Rian and Ria moved like predators,
senses razor-sharp.
Every snapped twig,
every flicker of broken magic—
they followed it.
This wasn't a chase.
It was a hunt.
And their prey was wounded.
They cut her off deep in the forest,
where the moon barely touched the ground.
When they stepped from the shadows,
Mericis froze.
"Mericis," Rian called,
his voice sharp as steel.
"This ends here."
Mericis didn't flinch.
She only stared back—
her eyes filled not with fear,
but with hate.
"You fools…
Do you even know what you've protected?
A rotting, broken world!
I could have built a new era—
a better one!"
Ria stepped out from behind the trees.
Her voice was ice.
"The 'era' you speak of…
is nothing but a hell built on corpses.
And you end here."
Mericis smiled bitterly.
Then darkness poured from her hand—
a tide of black that drowned the forest.
This was no ordinary dark.
It blinded the eyes and deafened the ears.
Ria raised her hand.
"Light—circle us."
A fragile glow bloomed,
a small sanctuary in the void.
Rian closed his eyes.
'Can't see… listen.'
A whisper—
a spell forming on her lips.
Rian moved.
His blade cut through the dark.
The sound of impact.
Mericis staggered back,
blood blooming.
She tried to counter—
but Ria's light shattered her magic.
Rian's sword drove through her guard,
through her chest.
"Elysium will never fall to you!"
His shout carried the weight of every battle.
Mericis screamed—
and then was silent.
The dark unraveled.
The forest breathed again.
Moonlight returned.
Ria panted.
"She… never admitted she'd lost."
Rian looked down at her fallen body.
His voice was quiet.
"Twisted convictions like hers…
That's what started all this."
They walked back to the field.
Merslin stood waiting,
his gaze proud.
"Well done, both of you.
Today, we held Elysium together."
Rian and Ria met each other's eyes.
Their nod was wordless, but full of resolve.
The war wasn't over.
But today—
they had won.