The city had once been Aldwin's home.
Now it was a carcass.
Stone towers leaned at unnatural angles, their foundations eaten away by necromantic corrosion. Streets were layered with ash and bone dust, every step crunching softly beneath boots and claws alike. The sky above was dim, permanently overcast by the residue of death mana bleeding from the rift at the city's heart.
Aldwin stood at the edge of the ruined district, Tidecaller's Staff planted firmly against the ground. Behind him gathered his full strike force.
Hatch rested his axe against his shoulder, the blade still chipped from countless battles. Flambe radiated heat, molten veins glowing beneath hardened scales. Damascus towered like a living fortress, demonic branches creaking softly as toxic sap dripped onto the stone. Pietrov's puppets twitched unnaturally, strings humming with cursed mana. Marrang stood closest to Aldwin, black blade embedded in the ground, unmoving as a statue.
Above them all, Corvus circled silently, eyes locked on the city's core.
"The phylactery is inside the rift," Corvus reported as he descended. "Strong wards. Undead sentinels. The lich is anchoring itself directly to the rift's mana flow."
Aldwin nodded.
"So it intends to retreat if things turn south," he said. "Typical."
Inside his mind, Mulligan stirred with interest.
"This one is old," Mulligan said. "Cunning too. But it is arrogant. Liches always are."
Verakul's presence followed, heavy and predatory.
"And it has a body" the chimera growled. "Which means it can be devoured."
Aldwin exhaled slowly.
"Then we end it here."
The undead responded the moment Aldwin crossed the threshold of the city.
Skeletons clawed their way out from beneath rubble. Armored revenants rose from collapsed buildings, eyes burning with cold blue fire. Wraiths slipped through walls like mist, shrieking as they surged forward.
Aldwin lifted his staff.
Mana surged.
The sea answered.
A wave of compressed water erupted outward, crushing the front ranks of undead into fragments. Bone shattered. Armor folded inward. Wraiths were torn apart as mana dense water disrupted their incorporeal forms.
"Advance," Aldwin commanded calmly.
His forces moved as one.
Hatch roared and charged, axe cleaving through undead constructs with brutal efficiency. Flambe bathed entire streets in liquid fire, evaporating lesser undead in seconds. Damascus slammed massive roots into the ground, impaling skeletal giants and draining necrotic energy directly from their cores. Marrang cut through elite revenants, each swing of his blade erasing both body and soul.
Still, the undead kept coming.
At the center of the city, the lich revealed itself.
It hovered above a cracked cathedral, skeletal body wrapped in layers of enchanted robes. Its skull burned with violet flame, and its voice echoed across the ruins.
"You dare return," the lich hissed. "You should have remained gone, child."
Aldwin looked up at it, expression unreadable.
"I came to finish what you started," he replied.
The lich raised its staff.
Death mana flooded the area.
A storm of bone spears rained down, blotting out the sky. Aldwin raised a hand, mana shifting instantly.
Holy light surged.
Golden runes burned across Aldwin's skin as his fourth embodiment took hold.
Howitzer.
The Holy Knight's presence was overwhelming.
A radiant barrier formed above Aldwin and his forces, bone spears disintegrating upon contact. Holy fire erupted outward, reducing waves of undead to ash.
The lich recoiled slightly.
"Holy embodiment," it snarled. "You dare defile yourself with such power."
Aldwin did not answer.
He stepped forward, every movement heavy with divine authority. Howitzer's instincts guided his strikes. Holy chains burst from the ground, binding undead abominations and tearing their souls free.
Yet the lich laughed.
"Light alone will not save you."
The rift pulsed.
From it emerged towering undead monstrosities stitched together from dozens of corpses. Their bodies radiated corrupted mana thick enough to suffocate weaker beings.
Aldwin felt the strain immediately.
Holy mana burned bright, but it was costly.
"So you adapt," Mulligan said. "Good. Now counter."
Aldwin's eyes shifted.
The holy radiance faded, replaced by something colder and far more precise.
Kaito.
The exorcist embodiment awakened.
Where Howitzer was overwhelming force, Kaito was absolute control.
Aldwin's mana condensed into intricate seals that spread across the battlefield like glowing script. Each symbol anchored itself to undead entities, locking them in place.
"Seal," Aldwin whispered.
The air snapped.
Undead monstrosities froze mid stride, their cores bound by layered suppression arrays. One by one, they collapsed into inert piles of bone and flesh.
The lich screamed in fury.
"You cannot seal me," it roared. "I am eternal."
Aldwin raised his staff and pointed it directly at the lich.
"You are borrowed power," he said calmly. "And your lender is watching."
The lich's flame flickered.
For the first time, fear entered its voice.
"You know nothing of my master."
"Then scream his name while you fall," Aldwin replied.
The final clash was swift.
Marrang hurled his blade, pinning the lich in midair. Damascus's roots wrapped around the cathedral, crushing its foundations. Flambe surged upward, molten breath scorching the lich's wards.
Aldwin stepped forward and released everything.
Holy and sealing energies converged.
The lich's body cracked.
Its soul was torn free and crushed under the combined authority of Howitzer and Kaito.
The skull shattered.
Silence fell.
Almost immediately, Corvus' voice echoed through the ruins.
"Phylactery located."
Aldwin turned as his demons emerged from the rift, carrying a black crystal pulsing weakly with necromantic energy. Runes cracked as Kaito's seals spread across it.
The phylactery shattered in Aldwin's grasp.
A distant voice echoed briefly through the collapsing rift.
"I shall return with stronger envoys."
Aldwin stared into the void as the rift sealed shut.
"Send them," he said quietly.
The system chimed.
Contribution points surged.
Rank updated.
Rank 3.
Aldwin Everett stood amid the ruins of his past and felt nothing but certainty.
The lich had fallen.