Cut off from the evacuees, Vaerin and the remaining rearguard faced the full fury of Archivist Valerius and the enraged Iron Dominion legion. The chasm below became a silent witness to their final stand.

  Valerius, his amplified sonic weaponry now unleashed without restraint, became a force of pure destruction. Focused waves of sound tore through the air, pulverizing the remaining defenses and incapacitating the resistance fighters. The chasm echoed with the screams of the fallen and the relentless roar of Valerius’s sonic onslaught.

  Vaerin, knowing that a direct confrontation with Valerius’s amplified power was suicidal, adopted a different tactic. He moved with a desperate agility, using the collapsing terrain and the debris from the shattered bridge as cover. He focused his solar energy not on direct attacks, but on creating bursts of intense light and heat, aimed at disrupting Valerius’s concentration and the precise focus of his sonic blasts.

  The air around Vaerin shimmered with incandescent energy, forcing Valerius to momentarily shield his eyes and disrupting the delicate control required for his amplified attacks. In those fleeting moments of disruption, Vaerin moved closer, a burning shadow against the backdrop of destruction.

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  The Iron Legionnaires, emboldened by Valerius’s power, pressed their attack, their disciplined formations closing in on the remaining resistance fighters. Torvin, though wounded, continued to fight with the ferocity of a cornered beast, his earth aura lashing out, creating obstacles and buying precious seconds. Seraphina, her movements blurring, struck at vital points, disabling Legionnaires with swift, lethal precision.

  But their numbers were dwindling rapidly. The chasm became a graveyard, marked by the still forms of the brave rearguard. Vaerin knew their sacrifice had bought the evacuees valuable time, but the end was inevitable.

  Finally, Vaerin found an opening. As Valerius unleashed another devastating sonic blast, Vaerin channeled all his remaining solar energy into a single, focused beam, aimed not at Valerius himself, but at the focusing crystal that amplified his power. The crystal, already strained by the constant output, shattered under the sudden influx of opposing energy.

  The amplified sonic assault abruptly ceased, replaced by a deafening silence. Valerius staggered back, clutching the broken crystal, his face a mask of disbelief and horror. His weapon, his source of power, was gone.

  In that moment of stunned silence, the Iron Legionnaires hesitated. Vaerin, though exhausted and wounded, still radiated a potent aura of defiance. He stood as the last bastion against their advance, the chasm his final battlefield.