The air at the Main Gate didn't feel like air anymore; it felt like liquid fire mixed with the iron-stench of fresh blood. As I reached the front lines, the visual was paralyzing. The sky was choked with black smoke, and the ground was a mosaic of fallen soldiers and screaming civilians.
"Hero! Save us!"
"Why is the Sovereign just standing there?!"
The cries of the people felt like physical needles piercing my brain. Every plea for help added to the mounting Mental Trauma. My chest was heaving, my soul being stretched like a wire about to snap as Kiran (Night) exerted his influence.
"Why me? Why am I always the tool for their survival?" I thought, my vision blurring.
I looked ahead at the fifty 'Artificial' High-Rank demons. Their massive frames moved with the clumsy, mindless aggression of low-rank souls trapped in powerhouse bodies. It was a mockery of life. My soul was screaming from the strain.
"Kiran... give me the body. Now! This pain... I can't breathe!" I roared internally.
"We don't have time for this, Reyansh!" Kiran's voice was a jagged edge.
"Just for a few moments! My mind is breaking!"
The Brief Switch and the Coming Storm
Suddenly, the cold, alien energy of Night retreated. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I felt my own skin. But it was a nightmare. My lungs felt like they were filled with crushed glass, and my legs buckled. I collapsed to my knees, gasping, coughing up thick, dark blood.
I looked at the demon giants looming over me. "What a joke," I whispered, a dark, self-deprecating laugh bubbling in my throat. "I survived the arena just to die on my knees like a dog?"
"Time's up, partner," Kiran's voice boomed.
In a heartbeat, the Azure light exploded from my pores again. The pain returned ten-fold, but so did the power. Kiran took full control, his aura turning the falling rain into steam.
"Prepare yourself," Kiran growled, unsheathing the blade with a sound that tore through the air. "It's time for a massacre."
He raised his hand toward the darkened sky. "Divine Rain!" 🌧️
The heavens opened. A torrential downpour of mana-infused water slammed into the battlefield. The low-rank demons melted instantly, their flesh sizzling away, but the Artificial High-Ranks merely growled, their manufactured bodies absorbing the shock.The Sequential Arrival
Kiran didn't wait. He became a blue streak of lightning. SLASH! Ten heads hit the dirt before the sound of the swing even registered. But he was fighting like a beast, not a strategist.
"You're wasting energy!" I yelled from the depths of our shared consciousness. "At this rate, you'll burn us both out before the real fight begins!"
"I don't have time to think!" Kiran roared back.
Just then, the tide shifted.
First came the fire. A massive sphere of white-hot flame erupted to our left, incinerating a demon that was about to ambush us from the shadows. Hina stepped forward, her face a mask of cold fury. "I won't let you bear this alone, Kinji-ji!" she cried, her magic flaring brighter than I had ever seen.
Then came the darkness. A flurry of black slashes cut through the demon ranks from the right. Seraphina (Lady Night) appeared, moving like a phantom. "Eyes on the prize, Sovereign. We handle the fodder; you handle the giants."
Finally, the ground shook as Kaelen (Rank 2) and the elite palace guards slammed into the front lines. They didn't just fight; they formed a tactical wall, using the rubble as cover to strike with lethal precision. Their balance was terrifying.
The Rainbow of Death
Seeing his allies hold the line, Kiran's aura reached a fever pitch. He began to move with even greater speed, his slashes no longer just Azure. Every strike began to leave a trail of shimmering Rainbow Light. 🌈💀
The rainbow grew thicker, darker, and more violent with every swing. Fifty... a hundred... he was carving through the artificial giants like they were made of paper. Blood leaked from my nose and eyes as the power output exceeded my human limits.
I watched them all—Hina, Seraphina, the guards—fighting as a singular, deadly machine. They were holding the line. They were monsters in their own right."I was so obsessed with being the only savior," I thought, my consciousness fading into the agony. "But look at them. They are terrifying. Maybe... I was never meant to be the hero. Maybe I'm just the catalyst for their carnage."
Kiran's rainbow slashes lit up the horizon, a beautiful, deadly omen of the trauma yet to come.