EXT. WESTERN RIDGE – HELL
The blinding light of Ozyth's concentrated attack was still a searing image in Cassian's mind, but the Sigil's shadow was overlaid with the haunting image of her father.
[The Final Bargain] (Backstory Conclusion)
Cassian was still fractured, stuck between the sterile briefing room and the volcanic reality of the ridge.
Strategist (memory echo): Your purpose is not to survive; it is to break spectacularly for the cause.
Father (memory echo): Sacrifice is the highest command. You are the Shield, Cassian.
The Rank 3 Shield was built for this. But the raw, furious heart that beat beneath the disciplined armor screamed betrayal.
Cassian (internal, voice shaking with rage): You didn't train me to protect others. You trained me to protect your plan. You made me disposable!
The discipline was finally gone. Her failure was that she had been a perfect Rank; her awakening was her becoming the volatile Herald.
Suddenly, the cold image of her father's face was replaced by the towering, excited face of Ozyth.
Ozyth (memory echo, overlaid on the present): Show me the Herald's true worth!
The memory fractured violently. Cassian's mind recognized the true threat. The internal fight was over. The external one had just begun.
[The Battle Resumes]
Cassian's consciousness roared back into her body, searing every fractured nerve ending. She forced herself into a low crouch, the primal Crimson Rage acting as a searing, temporary analgesic. She found her halberd and seized the crimson-tinged hilt.
Ozyth had already turned his attention to a dozen scuttling, lesser Sigil Demons emerging from the canyon walls. They were not allies, merely opportunistic vultures drawn by the massive energy signature.
Ozyth: Interference. Annoying. I suppose the final strike can wait.
He whipped his hand out, dissolving three of the lesser demons in a silent pulse of heat, then turned back to Cassian with renewed, delighted focus. His fiery halo doubled in intensity.
Ozyth: Seventy percent power. Show me the real 6th Herald!
Cassian did not hesitate. The Rank 3 Shield merged with the 6th Herald of Crimson. She moved with impossible speed and flexibility, a blur against the scarlet landscape. She intercepted a lesser demon closing on Ozyth's flank, cleaving the creature in half with a furious swing, using the resultant splash of demonic ichor as a fleeting shield.
Ozyth met her charge with his weaponized aura. The enormous fiery halo above his head condensed its light, unleashing a narrow, concentrated, and deafening Halo Shockwave.
The blast impacted Cassian head-on. She was stopped dead, the force crushing the air out of her lungs and spinning her into the air. A sharp, sickening pop exploded in her left ear as the eardrum ruptured under the pressure. Hot blood instantly streamed down her neck.
She hit the ground hard, rolling once. The world tilted and roared with a high-pitched whine. She was deaf in one ear, but the pain and blood only fed the Crimson Rage.
[Distant Alarm]
Far below the Western Ridge, near the Outer Crater, the remaining survivors huddled, their makeshift camp shaking violently.
Tanaka (shouting, holding his head as ash rained down): What is that?! It sounds like the entire mountain is splitting apart!
Julian Reyes (pale, shaking): That isn't a mountain. That's... the Eighth Sigil. That sound—that's a Halo Shockwave. That's what happens when a Herald fights a Sigil!
Kael (grim, focused): Then the battlefield has already been chosen.
[The Final Exchange]
Back on the ridge, Cassian used her momentum to spin, dodging a sweeping attack from Ozyth that pulverized the stone where she had been standing. Her movement was a miracle of athletic rage, adapting instantly to her new disability. She stopped trying to meet his blows, instead using her terrifying speed and flexibility to circle him, turning the interrupting lesser demons into distractions.
Ozyth, using seventy percent of his power, found himself having to move slightly — a movement too small to be called strenuous, but enough to annoy him.
Ozyth (raising his voice above the roar): Excellent! The deafened little Shield finally learned to dance! But speed alone is not enough to break the Halo!
He unleashed a series of pulsing Light Waves from his hands. Cassian met the volley with a desperate, spinning shield-block, deflecting three bolts with her halberd. The fourth hit her shoulder, vaporizing a piece of her armor and sending her staggering backward.
Her body was failing, but her spirit, fueled by Crimson Rage, refused to break. She planted her feet.
Ozyth smiled, raising his hand, preparing to crush the defiant little Herald once and for all.
To be continued...