Alexandria strode forward without hesitation, advancing toward the hellish gate as countless spawn poured from its depths. Most were of the lowest ranks, warped beasts and malformed horrors, but even the rarer blights that emerged among them were of little consequence to her. To Alexandria, they were insects. Obstacles to be crushed, nothing more.

  Behind her, Vale knelt in the ruined field, drenched in blood.

  His body was healing, rapidly, unnaturally, but his mind remained shattered. The violent rupture of his blood vessels had thrown him into profound shock. Blood still streamed from his bloodshot eyes as his body trembled uncontrollably, breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps. He stared downward, unseeing, unaware of the war unfolding only meters away.

  He did not even realize when the ground beneath him changed.

  The grass vanished, replaced by a cold, metallic floor etched with faint sigils. Strong arms lifted him effortlessly. For a brief moment, he glimpsed white and gold, brilliant armor, radiant light.

  Callum.

  The shining knight smiled faintly as he looked down at Vale, relief softening his features at the sight of the boy still alive. He set Vale down gently, ensuring the armor’s systems were stabilizing him.

  Then Callum was gone.

  He vanished in a streak of light, returning to the battlefield without a second thought.

  High above the shattered mountains, something else descended.

  A light emerged, colorless, yet containing all colors at once. It surged across the battlefield with overwhelming force and came to a halt above the hell gate, hovering like a silent judgment.

  The light dissolved.

  Barbatos stood revealed.

  Tall and imposing, his long black hair flowed freely as harmonic atum gathered around him. His olive skin glowed faintly, hazel eyes fixed on the writhing tear in reality below. He inhaled once, steady and controlled, then raised a hand.

  Thousands of radiant motes appeared overhead.

  With a single motion, he sent them crashing downward.

  The lights struck the gate relentlessly, pouring harmonic atum into the fracture, stabilizing it, suppressing its expansion, tearing at its chaotic core. The assault did not relent for even a second. Barbatos’ full focus was on the gate alone.

  Elsewhere, Alexandria was a blur of motion.

  She carved through the spawn with terrifying efficiency, each movement annihilating dozens. Her attacks were precise, economical, no wasted effort, no hesitation. Entire waves vanished under her advance.

  But as the gate weakened, a final surge erupted.

  Winged abominations tore free from the fracture and took to the skies, shrieking as they scattered across the battlefield. Barbatos could not intercept them, his attention was locked on the gate. Alexandria and the others were similarly occupied.

  Then the sky screamed.

  A storm of lightning tore through the air, ripping the flying spawn apart in violent arcs of white-blue fury. The bolts engulfed the mountains, illuminating the entire range.

  Rikin hovered above the battlefield, arms extended, lightning pouring from his very being. His expression was grim, focused, unyielding as he erased the aerial threat in moments.

  Yet the true danger remained.

  On a shattered mountain peak, Evelyn stood facing a blight.

  The corrupted knight was clad in white armor, its sword broken yet no less deadly. Despite the damage, it fought with terrifying precision, each strike calculated, each movement refined.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Evelyn scoffed behind her mask as their weapons clashed.

  Every exchange detonated with explosive force, shockwaves tearing through stone and air alike. She sought a decisive blow, but the knight denied her at every turn. It was too strong. Far too strong for its rank.

  A unique case, perhaps.

  It did not matter.

  It had harmed her little brother.

  That alone sealed its fate.

  Evelyn stepped back, then surged forward, her blade crashing into the knight’s side with overwhelming force. It was hurled away, and in the same instant, countless dark chains erupted from the shadows, binding it in place.

  She leapt after it, blade raised high,

  And then the knight moved.

  Power surged violently from its form. The chains shattered instantly. Its counterattack came faster than Evelyn could anticipate, its broken blade moving with impossible speed.

  She braced.

  But the strike never landed.

  A white-and-gold blur slammed into the corrupted knight, the impact sending it flying through multiple mountains, pulverizing them before it finally came to a halt.

  Callum stood between them, armor gleaming, golden hair flowing freely without a helmet.

  He looked back at Evelyn and smiled.

  “I’ll handle this one,” he said calmly.

  Evelyn stared at him for a brief moment, eyes wide, then nodded.

  “Fine,” she replied, turning back toward the gate.

  “Don’t die.”

  She vanished into the darkness.

  Callum exhaled slowly, then drew his sword and faced the fallen knight as it rose once more.

  “I never expected to see someone from my fallen dynasty again,” he said softly. His smile faded, replaced by sorrow and pity.

  “But seeing one of you like this… hurts more than I imagined.”

  The knight’s helmet cracked and fell away.

  Beneath it was a woman with grey skin and long blonde hair. Her eyes were empty, utterly devoid of life.

  Callum’s grip tightened.

  “Do not fear,” he said quietly.

  “I will grant you an honorable death, elder.”

  The woman roared like a corpse awakened from the grave and launched herself toward him, crossing kilometers in an instant.

  Callum raised his blade.

  And met her charge.

  Their blades rang across the mountains like a tolling bell of war.

  The moment steel met steel, the ground beneath Callum shattered. Stone exploded outward as the force of the clash pulverized the peak, yet he did not yield. Gritting his teeth, Callum drove forward, relying on superior strength and control to overpower his ancestor. With a violent twist of his blade, he sent the corrupted knight hurtling into the sky.

  Callum inhaled sharply.

  Then the mountain beneath him cracked.

  He bent his knees and launched himself upward in a single, titanic leap, tearing free from the peak and meeting her midair. His sword descended in a radiant arc, a strike meant to end the battle,

  But she answered.

  Their blades collided again, and this time the sound itself shattered. The impact broke the sound barrier, the resulting shockwave ripping through the air and blasting both warriors away in opposite directions.

  They crashed onto distant mountains, stone collapsing beneath their feet.

  Without hesitation, both surged forward once more.

  Callum smiled as he ran, a solemn warmth settling in his chest. He was grateful, for this battle, for this moment. To finally grant his ancestor the rest she deserved. But mercy alone was not his reason for fighting.

  She was the strongest blight the gate had produced.

  And he would not allow such a monster to roam free.

  He could not.

  He was a knight.

  And a knight’s duty was to protect his people.

  In Callum’s case, his people were the entire world.

  They met again in the air, steel screaming as it collided. The corrupted knight roared in fury, her strength surging violently as she overwhelmed Callum and struck him aside. He flew backward, the world spinning, before slamming his blade into the face of a mountain. The sword bit deep, stopping his momentum in a storm of debris.

  Callum ripped the blade free and surged forward.

  He hurled it with incredible force.

  The sword tore through the sky like a falling star and struck the corrupted knight in the shoulder. She snarled in pain, staggering, just long enough.

  Callum was already there.

  She raised her blade to defend,

  Too slow.

  Callum seized her sword arm and drove his fist into her face.

  The punch alone broke the sound barrier. The sheer speed and physical force behind it were catastrophic. The corrupted knight was launched into the mountainside, the impact obliterating the peak in a deafening explosion.

  Callum followed, landing atop her before she could recover.

  His expression hardened into cold, absolute focus.

  He unleashed a relentless barrage of punches.

  Each strike detonated with a thunderous boom, the blows accelerating faster and faster, leaving no room for defense. The corrupted knight was helpless beneath the assault. The attacks were too fast, too powerful.

  Even among paragons, Callum was infamous for his speed.

  None had ever rivaled it.

  Combined with his overwhelming physical strength, the result was devastation incarnate.

  The mountain shattered again and again, pulverized into dust as his fists refused to stop. The knight managed to flinch under the storm of blows, but after several agonizing seconds, something changed.

  Callum felt it.

  He leapt back instantly, retreating to the opposing mountain as a brilliant, unholy light erupted from the corrupted knight’s body. The radiance twisted the air itself, pulsing with vile power.

  Callum’s eyes widened,

  Then he laughed softly.

  “So,” he said, rising to his feet, blade reforming in his grasp, “you’ve been saving this for your final duel, huh?”

  The knight lifted her head, glaring at him through tangled strands of hair, and unleashed a feral roar.

  Callum met it with exhilarated enthusiasm.

  “I expected nothing less,” he declared, eyes blazing,

  “from a daughter of Pendragen.”