The abyssal executioner brought its weapon down with such force that the Court itself shuddered, stone screaming as the dais splintered. The scythe cleaved a trench through the chamber, sending molten cracks racing toward the throne.
Kaelen was already moving. His blade flared in a storm of black lightning, his body cutting through the air like a living flame. He drove straight at the executioner's heart, only for three chains to intercept him mid-flight.
Arcturus met him there—not to block, but to split the chains with a twin slash of radiant fire.
The links shattered, molten fragments raining like dying stars.
Their eyes locked for the briefest heartbeat. Not allies. Not enemies. Just two forces too great to bow.
The executioner roared, lunging forward. Its molten bulk surged like a collapsing mountain, its scythe raised for a killing blow. The air turned heavy with abyssal curses, suffocating, poisonous.
Kaelen snarled, Crimson Spark bursting from his core. Red lightning crackled up his arm as he raised his blade.
"Crimson Sever."
His strike split the air, cleaving through the scythe itself. The weapon cracked with a shriek, black ichor spraying like blood.
Arcturus followed in the same breath, crossing both swords into a burning arc. "Sun-Cutter!"
His strike carved through the executioner's torso, the radiance searing molten flesh from bone.
The beast howled as its body fractured, its chains thrashing wildly, but Kaelen was already upon it again. He twisted past the chains, his eyes blazing red, and drove his blade upward in one final slash.
The Crimson Mark ignited fully.
A storm of black and scarlet lightning erupted from his sword, severing the executioner in half.
The abyssal giant collapsed, molten blood flooding the ruined chamber, its chains clattering lifelessly to the ground.
For a moment, silence reigned.
Kaelen stood in the gore, blade dripping, chest heaving. Arcturus watched from across the ruin, his aura burning dim but steady.
Neither moved. Neither lowered their weapon.
The executioner's corpse sank into the abyssal cracks, vanishing as if swallowed back into the void. Only the echo of its chains remained.
And in that silence, the truth rang clearer than any victory:
This battle was not won. It had only been delayed.