Chapter 53: Shattered Ground

The wind howled like a living thing, tearing across the broken terrain as the night ignited in fire and steel. Explosions of mana lit the sky in flashes—red, violet, black—clashing like stars colliding. Screams, war cries, and the ringing of weapons drowned out reason.


I darted through the battlefield, the ground beneath my boots scorched and unstable. Flames licked the edges of my cloak, but I didn’t slow. My dagger gleamed in the chaos, quick and silent. I wasn’t here to overpower. I was here to strike where it mattered.


"Crimson Fang."


My dagger pulsed red as I slipped behind one of the Eclipse Order's soldiers, severing his hamstring in a clean, practiced motion. He screamed, collapsed, and I vanished before his blade could answer. These weren’t amateurs. They were trained, elite, and cruel. But I had something they didn’t: the will to survive, no matter what it cost.


Overhead, the sky cracked with energy.


Count Vareon surged forward, aura-coated gauntlets gleaming with deep blue light. "Titan Breaker." He smashed a wave of kinetic force into the ground. The shockwave exploded outward, sending Eclipse soldiers flying like broken dolls.


But the man in the center didn’t budge.


The masked leader of the Eclipse Order stepped through the dust, his long black coat fluttering, aura sword humming with silver flame. "Eclipse Severance."


Their weapons collided.


Steel against steel. Aura against aura.


The world split with the impact. The air warped. My ears rang.


They moved like monsters. Each strike shook the earth. Gauntlet met sword. Stone shattered. Trees exploded into splinters. Their auras rippled through the battlefield in chaotic waves, blinding and choking.


I kept my distance, watching, waiting.


The dragon crouched near a broken boulder, breathing heavily. Her wounds were open, blood pooling beneath her. She couldn’t fight anymore. Not like this.


I wouldn’t let them get to her.


The Eclipse soldiers were dwindling, but they fought like zealots, dying with grim smiles. Vareon’s men were nearly gone. One by one, they were overwhelmed. The tide was turning, and not in our favor.


The Count fought like a storm unleashed. His gauntlets crackled with blue electricity, arcs of lightning lashing out with every swing. He roared, charged the leader.


"Iron Tempest!"


His fists became blurs, a cascade of strikes fueled by fury. The leader blocked with uncanny precision. Sparks flew with each impact. Then the sword flared.


"Moonlit Guillotine!"


A slash of silver mana carved a trench into the earth. Vareon jumped back, one gauntlet split, blood running down his arm. He staggered.


The leader tilted his head slightly, calm even in the midst of chaos.


I watched him. His presence. His poise.


And then I saw it.


A strand of hair, loose beneath the edge of the mask.


Silver. Blue. Familiar.


My chest tightened.


I know that hair.


But from where?


It was a fleeting echo. A memory .


A name on the tip of my tongue that I couldn’t recall.


The leader raised his blade again.


Vareon didn’t scream. He charged. A final, desperate push. His aura burned bright—too bright. "Heaven Breaker Fist!"


The leader met him head-on.


Their collision shook the hilltop.


When the dust cleared.


Bleeding.


"This... isn’t over..."


I raised my dagger, my hands trembling. My mana low.


I couldn’t win.


But I wouldn’t go down easy.


My eyes flicked to her, and the chapter of blood and fire slammed shut.


But the chaos hadn’t begun that way. The night had started with tension, a sense of dread that built with every distant shout and every glint of steel in the moonlight. I’d felt it in my bones—the certainty that tonight, something would break.


The first Eclipse Order soldier I killed didn’t even see me coming. I moved through the shadows, my body low, every sense stretched thin. The battlefield was a maze of shattered stone and burning trees. I used the chaos, slipping through gaps, striking from behind, always moving.


Every time I looked at the dragon, I saw her pain. Her breathing was shallow, her scales dulled by blood and dust, but her eyes—those ancient, golden eyes—never lost their fire. She watched the battle with a predator’s focus, searching for weakness, for a chance to survive.


I fought for her as much as for myself.


The Eclipse Order’s discipline was terrifying. Even as their numbers fell, they moved in perfect coordination, covering each other’s flanks, pressing the attack. Their magic was subtle—shadows that twisted and struck, blades that vanished and reappeared. I had to stay sharp, had to anticipate every feint, every trick.


Vareon’s men were a different breed. Brutal, desperate, but lacking the unity of the Eclipse. They fought for coin, for fear, for the Count’s approval. But as the battle dragged on, their resolve faltered. I saw it in their eyes—the realization that they were outmatched.


And above it all, the two monsters in the center: Vareon and the Eclipse Leader.


Their duel was a storm within the storm, drawing every eye, every ounce of mana. The ground itself seemed to recoil from their power. Each time their weapons met, the air rippled with force, and the world seemed to hold its breath.


I watched the Eclipse Leader move, and every instinct screamed at me. There was something wrong, something familiar. The way he shifted his weight before a strike, the way his blade danced through the air—these were movements I’d seen before.


He moved like a ghost.


I tried to focus, to push the thought away, but it gnawed at me. Every time our eyes met, I felt a jolt of recognition.


Who are you?


The leader never spoke. His mask was smooth, featureless, but I imagined eyes behind it—watching, judging, remembering.


The dragon’s strength was failing. I saw it in the way her wings drooped, in the tremor in her limbs. She was bleeding from half a dozen wounds, her breath coming in ragged gasps.


I knelt beside her, pressing a hand to her scales. "Stay with me," I whispered.


She nodded, baring her teeth. "I won’t die here. Not yet."


I believed her. She was too stubborn to die.


But I knew we were running out of time.


The battle’s end came in a blur.


Vareon and the Eclipse Leader clashed one last time, their auras blazing like twin suns. The ground split beneath them, mana tearing the earth apart. The sound was deafening—a roar that drowned out everything else.


I watched as Vareon fell, his body broken, his armor shattered. The Leader stood over him, sword lowered, but didn’t strike.


For a moment, I wondered if he would show mercy.


But Vareon was never one to accept defeat. He spat blood, muttered a curse, and activated.


A circle of light appeared beneath him. A short-range speed magic, hidden beneath his gauntlet.


He vanished in a burst of blue.


Only silence followed.


The battlefield lay in ruin. Bodies. Smoke. Craters.


Only I, the dragon, and the leader remained.


The Eclipse Leader turned to face me and the dragon. His blade hummed with power, casting long shadows across the ruined ground.


I raised my dagger, my hands shaking. I knew I couldn’t win, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.


The leader took a step forward, his mask gleaming in the moonlight.


I braced myself.


Then the dragon whispered, "I have a way to escape."


I glanced at her, hope flickering in my chest.






To be continued