The rain had stopped, leaving the streets slick and glistening under a heavy, gray dawn. Kael Arden and the paladin moved through the ruins side by side, eyes sharp, bodies tense. Every shadow could hide a Church scout or worse, a Cult agent.
"Stay close." the paladin murmured.
"If they split up, they'll kill us faster than they can think."
Kael didn't reply, but the faint black streaks curling along his arms betrayed the fragment's restless energy. It pulsed, hungry, waiting for him to falter.
"Give in. Let me take control. Show them your true strength."
"Shut up." Kael muttered, tightening his grip on the sword. "I won't."
They turned a corner, only to be met with the sharp whistle of arrows. Church scouts had tracked them. Kael ducked instinctively, the first bolt embedding in the wooden wall behind him, splinters exploding into the rain.
The paladin rolled forward, sword spinning in a defensive arc, deflecting a second bolt mid-air.
"They've learned our route!" she shouted.
Kael leapt atop a toppled cart, using the height to launch a spinning strike. Black fire traced his blade like a living thing, searing through the enemy's formation. Two scouts fell, screaming, their weapons clattering into the mud.
"Good." Hades whispered, curling inside Kael's mind. "Let it flow. Feel the power. Embrace it."
Kael gritted his teeth.
"I am Kael Arden and i don't belong to anyone."
The fragment roared against his restraint and for a moment, the world flickered. The city melted into shadows, streets elongating into black chasms. The rain turned to ash, the clouds swirling like smoke.
Kael stumbled, clutching his chest. He was no longer in the ruins. He was in the Underworld's Echo.
Darkness stretched infinitely.
Shadows moved like living things.
The voices of the dead whispered from every corner, their faces twisted in silent screams and there, looming ahead, was Hades, calm, inevitable, eyes like cold stars.
"You've come willingly." the god's voice echoed. "Or perhaps you have no choice. You feel it, don't you? The hunger. The fire. The fury waiting to consume you."
Kael clenched his fists.
"I don't care what you want. I decide."
Hades' form shifted, coalescing into a tall figure wrapped in tattered shadows. The ground beneath Kael cracked, skeletal hands reaching for him. He struck out, sword slicing through one of the phantom limbs. It passed through his blade like smoke, but the fragment's power flared, responding to his will.
"Your will is strong... interesting."
The Echo forced him into combat, shaping the shadows into monstrous forms, twisted echoes of the warlord he had killed, of the men he had slain, of his own failures.
Kael moved, blade flashing, black fire trailing every swing. He struck phantom after phantom, each one dissipating into ash only to rise again. Sweat and rain or was it tears in this place? drenched him, but he didn't stop.
"Why do you fight me? Why do you deny me?"
Hades voice hissed, closer now, almost inside his skull.
"Because I'm me." Kael shouted, planting his sword into the ground as skeletal echoes lunged at him.
"And I'm not yours. Not now, not ever!"
A wave of energy burst from him, black fire igniting into a halo around his sword. Shadows screamed and shattered. The echo's landscape trembled. Kael staggered, gasping, but the sensation was intoxicating, terrifying power at his fingertips.
A gust of wind and the city's ruined streets snapped back into focus.
Rain splattered over Kael's arms and sword. The paladin, standing a few paces away, stared in awe.
"You... you controlled it" she said softly. "You... you didn't break."
Kael sank to one knee, chest heaving. Black fire flickered along his arm, then receded, obedient again.
"Not yet" he muttered, almost to himself. "Not while I'm still standing."
The paladin nodded slowly.
"Then... maybe together, we can survive this. Just... don't push ypur powers too far."
Kael allowed himself a small, grim smile.
"It's not a problem."
Above, the clouds parted slightly.
The distant toll of church bells echoed across the ruins, a reminder: the hunt was far from over.