The colossal entity struck the outer walls just after midday.
It didn't look like any monster Aiden had seen before. Towering over the cathedral's spires, it resembled a twisted mirror of his own fractured soul—shifting plates of obsidian flesh veined with glowing red cracks that pulsed in perfect sync with the instability inside Aiden's chest.
Where its "face" should be, a cluster of jagged shards formed something like a shattered halo. It screamed with voices that sounded almost human, layered with the old prayers of the fallen faith.
"Corruption… must be purged…"
The words rolled like thunder, shaking dust from the rafters.
Inside the fortified inner sanctum—a reinforced chamber built into the thickest part of the cathedral walls—the group gathered under new rules.
No sprawling public ritual on the main altar. No hundreds of eyes watching. Only the core circle, protected by layered wards and armed guards on the battlements above.
