The portal tore through the air with a violent shriek, ripping space open in a twisting surge of light and shadow.
Indra and Gabriella were hurled from the vortex, crashing hard onto a cracked stone floor. Dust exploded around them as they hit the ground, sliding across the cold surface of what remained of an ancient, ruined cathedral.
All around them, the skeletal remnants of broken archways loomed overhead. Shattered stained-glass windows let in faint shafts of light, distorted and eerie, casting fractured colors across the crumbling ground. The air was thick—tainted. Each breath carried the taste of old blood and darker things.
Indra groaned, pushing himself upright. His twin swords scraped against the floor with a metallic hiss.
"Where… are we?" he panted, eyes sweeping across the desolate shadows.
Gabriella rose slowly beside him, movements fluid and alert. She crouched for a moment, pressing her hand to the ground. Her expression hardened.
"I don't know," she said quietly.
"But this place feels wrong.
It's filled with dark energy."
Indra straightened fully, tension coiling in his muscles like a drawn bow. The shadows on the walls twisted—unnaturally—as if watching them.
"Whatever this place is," he muttered, eyes narrowing,
"it's not by accident.
They wanted us here."
A low, mocking laugh slithered through the air like smoke.
"Smart boy," came a voice laced with venomous amusement.
From the cathedral's darkness, two figures stepped into view—bodies wreathed in inky black auras that pulsed like heartbeat shadows. Layla and Kayla.
Their grins were feral, gleaming in the fractured light.
"You've walked right into our domain," Layla said, satisfaction dripping from every word.
"And no one leaves alive," Kayla added, her aura flaring violently.
Indra didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, one sword raised, pointed straight at them—his stance unwavering.
"Where are the others?!" he demanded.
"What did you do to them?!"
Layla chuckled, tilting her head.
"They're busy," she said lightly.
"Let's just say Killian enjoys playing with new toys."
Gabriella stepped beside Indra, her own aura beginning to rise like a starfield catching flame.
"I should've taken you out the last time you showed up," she said, voice calm and cutting. Energy crackled around her—sharp, restrained, building.
Kayla's grin sharpened into something cruel.
"Bold words," she sneered.
"But you won't live to regret them."
She raised her hand, and the cathedral trembled.
A swirling vortex of dark magic tore open above them, and hundreds of weapons—blades, spears, axes, all forged from shadows—materialized like the teeth of a monstrous storm.
"Let's have some fun!" she shrieked.
The weapons fell like a downpour of death.
Indra exploded into motion.
He weaved through the raining steel, his body a blur of speed and grace. His twin swords sang through the air, slicing down shadow-forged weapons mid-flight. Each one he touched erupted in a burst of violent dark energy, rocking the cathedral with shockwaves.
[These explode on impact…] he thought grimly.
[I can't slip up—even once.]
Gabriella was already airborne.
She spun, releasing orbs of concentrated starlight from her palms. Each one struck a descending weapon with precise timing, detonating them midair and neutralizing the barrage before they could reach the ground.
The two moved in seamless unison—synchronized, lethal.
Layla's laughter curled from the darkness like a blade being drawn.
With a sharp flick of her wrist, shadows peeled from the cathedral walls — hissing, shifting, and rising like an ocean of corrupted echoes.
Clones poured forth by the dozens, each with hollow eyes and twitching limbs, sprinting toward Gabriella in an unnatural, swirling formation. They didn't just run — they glided, twitching like broken marionettes, hungry to tear her apart.
"Let's handle you first!" Layla shouted.
Gabriella closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed.
One breath.
Two.
Then her aura surged — an explosion of light lancing through the dim cathedral like a dawn splitting the world in half.
She raised her hand high, the heavens swirling around her like distant galaxies.
"Shinsei Kiseki!"
The cathedral cracked.
WHOOOOOM!
From the ground up, a tidal wave of starlight burst forth.
Gabriella's body was taken by light—armor of cosmic filigree etched itself onto her limbs, forming plates that shimmered with the glow of nebulae. Her hair floated around her, now laced with streaks of gold and silver, eyes burning brighter than suns.
A massive star-forged sigil formed behind her, rotating like a celestial engine.
And as the clones reached her—
—they were instantly erased.
They didn't burn. They didn't scream.
They disintegrated, dissolved by the raw judgment of divine light. The floor beneath her cracked further with the force of it, radiating energy in waves. Even Layla stumbled back.
"More barriers," Layla snapped, eyes narrowing in frustration.
"Still too scared to attack yourself?"
Gabriella didn't answer immediately.
She hovered in the glow of her Shinsei, eyes fixed on Layla with the calm of a goddess standing above a storm.
"Says the one hiding behind her clones."
Layla's grin faltered — sharp, bitter.
"I don't need them to kill you."
"Then prove it," Gabriella said,
"and stop talking."
"Gladly!"
Layla launched forward in a flash of violet light, twin axes forming in her hands mid-air, glowing like warped lightning. The cathedral floor exploded beneath her, stones rising in her wake.
Gabriella reacted instantly, collapsing her sigil into a radiant greatblade — the weapon humming with pure pressure as starlight rippled along its edge.
They met midair —
and the world broke around them.
KRAA-KOOOOOOM!
Their clash cracked the air open like thunder splitting a mountain. Streaks of purple and gold spiraled from the point of impact, shattering the cathedral's ceiling as debris rained around them like meteors.
Layla flipped in midair, spinning into a whirling axe barrage — her strikes wild, unpredictable, each swing leaving fissures of void energy in the air.
Gabriella parried with elegance, every movement a precision cut through chaos. She ducked low, spun, and delivered a blinding arc of her blade, sending Layla reeling.
But Layla caught herself — and grinned.
"Come on, star girl! Hit me like you mean it!"
She slammed her axes together — triggering a shockwave that distorted the entire cathedral, the windows bending inward before exploding into shards.
Gabriella planted her foot, flared her wings of light, and blitzed forward — vanishing in a streak of radiant gold.
She reappeared behind Layla in a blink —
and slashed.
Layla barely managed to block, but the impact sent her flying backward, crashing through a crumbling column.
Before the dust settled, Gabriella was already above her, descending like a comet with her blade raised high.
Layla screamed, unleashing a burst of cursed flame from both axes, engulfing the space around her. But Gabriella cut through the flames like paper, her blade glowing brighter the deeper she pushed.
Their weapons collided once more — this time sending a rupture across the floor that split the cathedral in half.
Meanwhile—
Kayla's eyes snapped open as her spell markings activated, glowing a seething crimson. They pulsed violently down her arms like veins bursting with lava.
Behind her, the air split.
Twelve colossal weapons tore into existence—spinning spears, jagged cleavers, spiked chains, and massive twin scythes—hovering in perfect orbit behind her like a constellation of death.
Each one dripped with red-hot corruption, humming with the scream of a thousand souls.
Across from her—
Indra didn't wait.
Indra's grip tightened around his swords.
A deep hum vibrated from his core—low, ancient, divine.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
The ground beneath his feet split open as a pillar of golden-black energy erupted skyward. A vortex of spiraling shadow and divine flame coiled around him, exploding outward in violent pulses. The sheer force sent debris flying in all directions as the air itself warped from the raw intensity.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor.
Black flames curled like dragons around his body, edged with radiant streaks of gold, as if day and night warred for control of his soul. Sparks surged across his skin, and then—
His armor changed.
Black plates of ethereal metal snapped into place around his shoulders and chest, glowing with golden seams that pulsed like veins of light. His gloves crackled as they transformed into divine gauntlets, forged from obsidian and laced with holy markings that shifted with every breath.
A cloak of torn light and flickering shadow billowed behind him, flaring with every movement like it was alive.
His hair was swept upward by the force, glowing faintly under the blaze of energy. His eyes ignited — two burning gold suns staring through the smoke.
The very air seemed to bend around him.
Indra raised his head, calm in the chaos.
"Shinsei Kagekiri."
FWOOOOOM!
A sonic crack split the sky as he vanished into a streak of black and gold —
—blades drawn, aura screaming like the roar of a god.
Kayla's eyes flared wide—
too late.
CLAAAAANG!
He reappeared mid-swing—blades trailing arcs of light—crashing into her with such explosive force it sent a shockwave through the bones of the cathedral.
Kayla was launched, bouncing across the cathedral floor like a meteor, her boots carving deep scars into stone.
"Wait…" she gasped, barely catching herself.
"He can do it too?!"
But Indra didn't stop.
He launched himself forward again — faster this time.
A blur of motion.
Each strike landed like thunder, ringing through the cathedral like war drums. Indra's blades carved clean lines of golden pressure through the air, each swing sharp enough to rupture stone, his movements quick—almost too quick to follow.
But Kayla didn't panic.
She blocked. Pivoted. Slid back with each blow, letting the momentum pass her by like she was dancing between cracks of lightning.
The attacks had weight. Precision. Even a little elegance.
But they didn't scare her.
She let the fight play out a few seconds longer—just long enough to be sure.
She caught another strike, gritting her teeth against the heat flaring from his swords.
Then she scoffed.
"Velari, huh."
She parried a heavy swing and shoved him off rhythm with one hand.
"You had me worried for a second," she said, her voice calm beneath the rising roar of flames. "The way you lit up the place… I thought maybe you were going to be fun."
Her axe spun once in her grip, effortless, fluid.
"But you're pathetic."
Her eyes glinted—no fear, only amusement.
"You call yourself a Velari?!"
She stepped in hard.
Both her arms ignited—glowing a deep, burning red as the markings etched into her skin blazed to life. A monstrous weapon materialized behind her, a spinning cleaver of blood-forged steel nearly the size of a house. She grabbed it mid-spin and brought it down like a meteor.
Indra raised his blades and crossed them just in time.
BOOOOOM!
The collision was cataclysmic.
The floor cratered beneath his feet. Wind blasted through the cathedral like a cannon. And Indra—
was gone.
Launched through a support column.
He slammed into the far wall, stone collapsing around him. He dropped to one knee, breath knocked from his lungs, blood streaking down his chin.
Across the battlefield, Kayla lowered her weapon, unimpressed.
"Guess the gold fire's just for show," she muttered.
Then she took a step forward, smiling coldly.
"Let me show you how a real demon fights."
He started to rise—
but something was wrong.
The fire around him twisted. It pulled inward, tightening around his frame before erupting again—black and bronze, slow-burning and dense like molten metal pulled from a dying star.
The ground beneath him cracked in sharp, deliberate lines. Stone lifted. Dust scattered. A low hum rumbled through the floor—deep and pulsing like a heartbeat carved into the earth.
Black lightning crawled up his arms, streaking through his veins, lacing his body in jagged patterns. His golden aura flickered once—then vanished beneath a heavy layer of shadow.
Across the room, Kayla staggered—then stopped cold.
She stared at him, her expression hardening.
"That's…" she muttered.
"…It can't be."
Indra's breath hitched. His fingers flexed on the hilt of his blades. The metal began to vibrate, humming louder with each heartbeat.
The air felt heavier.
Then—
He moved.
His foot shifted. His stance dropped. Both blades lowered, shoulder twisting into the strike—
And he unleashed a single, horizontal slash.
CRAAAAAAAAAASH!!!
A massive arc of compressed energy burst from the swing—thick and black with streaks of gold rippling through the center. It didn't explode—it carved. The floor split down the middle. The wall behind Kayla fractured in a single breath. The impact cracked the entire cathedral in two.
Kayla barely had time to react.
The arc tore into her.
She didn't fly—she vanished—erased in the path of the strike, launched across the cathedral like debris in a hurricane.
BOOOOOOM!!!
She slammed into the far wall and blew through it. Stone vaporized. Dust erupted outward. A crater formed beneath the wreckage where her body fell, buried deep and motionless.
Silence crushed the air.
Even Layla, mid-attack, stumbled back, shielding herself from the shockwave.
Gabriella halted, starlight bleeding from her blade as it shattered back into particles.
"Indra… what was that?!" she said to herself over the silence that followed.
Indra dropped to one knee. Smoke hissed off his back. The gold in his aura sputtered. His hands were raw, gripping his scorched blades.
The black fire still lingered—twitching, reaching, alive.
[What… what's happening to me?]
[That power… it wasn't mine.]
Gabriella appeared beside him, dropping to one knee, her hand finding his shoulder with quiet urgency.
"Stay with me, Indra," she said, her voice firm yet tender. "We'll figure this out later."
Across the battlefield, a groan rose from the debris. Kayla stirred.
Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth as she pushed herself up on one elbow. Her limbs trembled, bones audibly cracking beneath torn flesh. Every breath she took was sharp and ragged, but her eyes burned with undiluted hatred.
"You'll pay for that… boy…" she hissed, voice frayed and broken.
Before she could collapse again, a blur of smoke darted through the ruins. Layla appeared at her side, kneeling.
"Can you still move?" she asked, her voice calm—eerily so, like a still lake before a storm.
Kayla shook her head, barely able to manage the motion.
"I can't… get up…"
Layla's expression didn't falter, but the warmth drained from her eyes. She was calculating now—measured, lethal.
"Then you know what we have to do."
There was no hesitation. No plea for delay.
Kayla gave a single nod.
Layla stood slowly, her form unshaken. "No more games," she said coldly. "Let's end this."
She reached down and pressed her palm against her sister's.
The world responded instantly.
A violent surge of dark energy erupted between them, spiraling upward like a storm unleashed. The ruined cathedral groaned as if awakening from centuries of slumber. Ancient spell markings carved into the floor and walls flared to life, blazing with spectral blue fire, dancing along every stone like lightning coursing through bone.
A pulse thundered through the air.
The ground cracked. The sky tore.
A column of blinding light exploded upward, swallowing the cathedral in a radiant storm. Wind howled. Walls disintegrated. Shards of glass and broken weapons rose into the air like dust before a divine gale.
And then—silence.
The light withdrew.
Standing in the center of the devastation was not Kayla. Not Layla. But something else entirely.
The real member of the Zehirah.
She towered above the battlefield, a fusion of cruelty and arcane might. Her skin gleamed like obsidian, etched with glowing blue markings that pulsed like veins of molten magic. Dozens of spectral weapons—swords, spears, axes—orbited her in constant motion, as if summoned from the netherworld itself.
Above her brow burned a crown of black fire, flickering with each breath, feeding on the chaos around her.
Her eyes opened—twin stars of frozen malice.
And when she spoke, it was with both voices layered perfectly, twisted in harmony—unholy, echoing, and final.
"No one has ever seen me like this… and lived to tell the story."
Gabriella stepped forward.
Behind her, light surged. Her aura expanded, immense and celestial, like a supernova held barely in check. It flickered with the brilliance of a thousand stars, compressed into a single human frame. Her blade gleamed with divine intent, humming with energy that could split heaven from earth.
She didn't look back.
"Indra," she called, steady and clear. "Focus. We need to end this now."
Behind her, Indra rose.
Each movement was deliberate, slow, but filled with determination. His dual blades ignited once more, wreathed in clashing gold and black flames—one side divine, the other threatening to unravel. The corrupted storm within him pulsed, but the light refused to yield.
He exhaled, nodding once.
"Right."
And then the heavens cracked open.
The cathedral's ceiling disintegrated into ash, peeled away by an unseen force. Spell circles etched into the very fabric of the sky ignited—each one pulsing with sinister rhythm, like drumbeats of the apocalypse.
From those marks descended an arsenal of death.
Spears made of pure energy. Swords as tall as towers. Arrows shaped from condensed void. Thousands upon thousands—raining down like divine judgment twisted into nightmare.
And beneath that falling sky stood Gabriella and Indra.
Side by side.
Outnumbered. Outmatched.
But unyielding.
The final battle had begun.