The clash of steel against void rang through the temple. Yet silence did not return. The sundered shadows writhed, swirling into a torrent of dark water that surged violently through the air.
"Stay back!" he shouted, shoving her aside.
The torrent split into limbs. A towering figure rose, half-human, half-twisted abomination. Its face was torn between man and monster, eyes blacker than any abyss.
Its roar was both rushing water and human wail. "You cannot take this from me!"
The Guardian raised his blade, silver light flashing in defiance. "If you are born of shadow—then I shall return you to it!"
The battle ignited anew. Steel slashed into waves that coiled and shifted—one moment a massive claw, the next a serpent of water constricting all within reach.
Nunna stood frozen, heart hammering, caught between terror and awe.
The battle ignited anew. Sparks of steel clashed against the surging tide, each strike echoing like thunder across the battlefield. Blades cut not only through flesh and armor but into the very waves themselves—yet the water did not break. It twisted with a will of its own, reforming again and again.
What had moments ago been a rushing torrent now shaped itself into a monstrous claw, its talons of foam and current snapping down with bone-crushing force. With a roar like a storm's fury, it swept through the defenders, scattering them as though they were nothing more than drifting leaves.
Then, as if the sea itself breathed, the claw unraveled, becoming a serpent of water—its coils glittering under flashes of lightning. The serpent wound itself around shields, weapons, even bodies, constricting with relentless pressure until steel bent and men cried out in strangled panic.
Nunna stood frozen at the edge of the chaos, her breath trapped in her chest. The salt in the air burned her eyes, the roar of water filled her ears, but it was the sight before her that rooted her feet. Terror shivered through her bones, yet threaded within that fear was something dangerous—wonder. The waves did not move as mere water. They moved as if they obeyed a master unseen.
Her heart hammered louder than the clash of war. She could not look away.