The air above Drelith was already burning when the squad arrived.
From the outskirts, Sid could see columns of black smoke curling like claws into the sky, the sunlight breaking against them in fractured shards. The city's walls — low, old stonework from another age — shuddered with every distant impact.
Commander Yara's voice crackled in their comms: "Hold the gates. Civilians are still evacuating. Every second you buy counts."
No one answered; there was no time.
The moment Sid's boots hit the cobblestones, the Hollow swarm was already there. They poured from side streets and rooftops — shapes with too many limbs, eyes that glowed like molten pits, and bodies that twisted against themselves in ways that made Sid's stomach knot.
Reinhardt was the first to act. The ground beneath them boomed as he slammed his gauntlet into the street, a ripple of controlled shockwave bursting outward. The blast rolled through the nearest wave of Hollows, flinging them against walls and scattering debris without so much as cracking the old buildings. The space it cleared gave the evacuation line a precious few seconds to push forward.
To Sid's right, Kael became a blur. His Skyfang chain strikes cut the air into jagged arcs of lightning, the crack of each blow drowning out the shrieks of the Hollows. Sparks fell like molten rain, burning into the cobblestones. Kael moved faster than Sid could track, carving open a path and never letting the enemy regroup.
For a moment, the line held.
Then the second wave came.
They didn't rush — they swarmed, flowing over walls, spilling from broken windows, pouring in from every side street until Sid could barely see the others through the writhing, shifting mass.
"Sid! Left flank!" Thorne's voice snapped through the din.
Sid moved without thinking, Blackbind Flame roaring to life in his hands. Chains of shadow and fire lashed outward, searing through the nearest Hollows, yanking others into their burning coils before hurling them into the crowd. For every one that fell, two more seemed to replace it.
Somewhere behind him, Reinhardt roared — a wall of spectral maws tore into the swarm — but the street in front of Sid was already closing. He felt the pull of something in the chaos, like the battle itself was bending around him.
Then, in a single instant, the others were gone.
Not dead — not yet — but cut off from him completely. The Hollow swarm surged forward and collapsed around him like a living cage, black limbs and snapping jaws sealing off every possible escape.
He tried to push through. The first few fell easily — too easily — and that was when he heard it.
Ravh'Zereth's laughter.
It wasn't in his ears. It was inside him, rumbling through his chest like a second heartbeat.
"They think they've trapped you." The voice was smooth, almost amused. "They've trapped themselves."
Sid's breath quickened. Black flame crawled further up his arms, unbidden, searing hotter with every strike. The Hollows kept coming, faster now, as if drawn to it.
For the first time since the fight began, Sid realized he couldn't hear anything else. Not Reinhardt's strikes. Not Kael's lightning. Not even Thorne's gunfire. Only the roar of his own flame and the daemon's low, growing laugh.
Somewhere beyond the wall of bodies, something else stirred — a heat unlike his own, warping the air in the distance. It flared brighter with each passing second, a pressure Sid could feel pressing against his skin.
He didn't know yet what it was.
But whatever it was, it was coming straight for him.
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