Iside of the Nameless Dynasty's main building. Eyvind sat on the same chair as he sat while doing deals with Ivish. Besides him was tall and lean man, his features were sharp and calculated, mirroring Eyvind's intensity but marked by a cold composure. His clothes were very elegant: a tailored jacket of deep, indigo fabric that caught the light, gold embroidery tracing subtle patterns along the cuffs and collar. His dark hair was swept back, his posture rigid yet effortless, and his piercing brown eyes scanned the room with an expression that bordered on disdain. It was Eyvind's son, Nereid White.
Ivish stood across the table from them, her arms folded, her posture casual but defiant. Her eyes held a mischievous glint as she regarded the two men before her, aware of the tension sparking in the air.
"What is your matter?" Ivish asked, her tone cool and measured. "Do you want to make another deal?"
Eyvind's eyes flashed with anger, his jaw clenched as he leaned forward, fists pressing down on the table. "Don't play stupid, Ivish," he spat, his voice sharp. "You know exactly why I called you here. Did you sell that last tracking artifact to a young man with white hair and red eyes?"
Ivish's lips curled into a knowing smile, a spark of defiance in her gaze. "What if I did?" she replied, her voice light but laced with venom.
Eyvind's hand shot down, slamming against the table, the sound reverberating in the small room. Nereid's gaze remained fixed on Ivish, his expression impassive yet alert, like a snake poised to strike.
"You sold this to a man trying to kill my son!" Eyvind snarled, his voice echoing with fury. The tension was palpable, his anger barely contained.
Ivish's smile only widened, her eyes glinting with satisfaction. "I know," she replied, her voice dripping with satisfaction.
Eyvind's face fell, momentarily stunned by her brazenness. He hadn't expected her to admit it so freely. After a beat, he straightened, his expression hardening, a dangerous glint in his eye. "You'll pay for this, Ivish. You'll watch your children suffer for this treachery," he growled, his tone laced with a cold, vengeful resolve. "And you will not leave this room."
Without warning, the floor beneath Ivish began to shift, a faint glow spreading outward in a circle. Runes etched into the ground pulsed with an eerie, blue light, forming a complex diagram that spiraled outward from her feet. The air grew thick with magic, and a sense of dread permeated the room as the lines of the rune flared with increasing brightness.
The very ground seemed to tremble as a colossal figure began to emerge from the center of the diagram, a massive creature of stone and metal taking shape, rising slowly, its form towering and imposing. Eyvind's voice was barely above a whisper, laced with grim satisfaction. "You know I'm untouchable in this room," he murmured, watching the figure materialize.
Ivish didn't flinch. Instead, she smiled, her calm demeanor unbroken even in the face of this towering monstrosity. "Is that so?" she replied, her voice low and challenging.
And then, as if in response to her words, the room itself began to tremble violently. A crack appeared in the stone wall behind Ivish, spreading outward with a spiderweb of fractures. Dust and small bits of debris began to fall, the tremors growing stronger, more erratic. For a brief second, Nereid's composed expression faltered, his eyes darting toward his father in silent question.
Then, with a roar, the walls around them erupted.
The explosion rippled outward in waves, a violent, concussive force that shattered the stone and wood of the building, sending fragments of rock and splintered beams flying in all directions. The floor beneath them buckled and split, chunks of the ceiling raining down like a hailstorm of destruction. Ivish remained still, her form hidden in a haze of dust and smoke, yet untouched by the chaos swirling around her.
Instinctively, Nereid moved, his reflexes swift as he reached out and wrapped his arms around his father. With a quick incantation, Eyvind summoned a protective sphere, shielding them as the building continued to crumble.
Chunks of debris slammed into the magical barrier, bouncing off with sparks of energy as the entire building collapsed around them. Flames licked at the edges of the rubble, illuminating the dust-filled air in shades of orange and red.
But as the dust began to settle, the outlines of three figures became visible in the wreckage.
Ivish stood calmly, untouched and unscathed, her gaze fixed on the figures within Eyvind's protective barrier. Eyvind's expression had shifted, anger momentarily giving way to shock as he took in the destruction around him.
Eyvind's shock morphed into a twisted, almost mad expression, his voice a growl as he addressed Ivish, his tone simmering with malice. "You'll pay for this. I'll make sure of it. You'll watch your children suffer, one by one. Tortured, broken, until you beg for mercy."
Ivish met his words with a calm, collected smile, her tone steady and unyielding. "Second building next to the north gate," she said, her voice soft yet filled with certainty.
Eyvind's face paled slightly, his expression flickering with confusion. "What?" he asked, his voice faltering, caught off guard by her response.
Ivish's gaze remained fixed on him, her voice as steady as steel. "I know exactly where you keep them," she replied, her tone unwavering. "And they will be rescued before I even need to kill you."
Eyvind laughed, though there was a slight quiver in his voice as he looked at Ivish. "Hah… What can your little rescue team do to my guild?" His eyes narrowed, his forced grin faltering. "Don't you know I have far more forces than you could ever gather?"
Ivish's gaze was steady, her smirk unwavering as she studied him. She could see the cracks forming beneath his bravado. "Usually, you'd be right," she said, her tone dripping with a calm, calculated confidence. "But your strongest forces are busy, aren't they?" She glanced pointedly at Nereid, who stood at Eyvind's side with his sword unsheathed, his grip steady but his gaze holding a flicker of caution.
Eyvind's smile tightened, brow creasing as he caught the implication. "Don't think I didn't leave enough to deal with you," he retorted, his tone sharper than before. His voice rose as he yelled, "Guards! Defeat her!" His eyes flicked towards surroundings.
But the surroundings remained silent, and no one appeared. His words fell flat in the heavy quiet, and slowly, Eyvind's confidence wavered.
Ivish tilted her head, watching his frustration grow. "No one's coming, Eyvind," she said softly, her words cutting through the silence. "Your forces are busy… locked in a nice little skirmish with mine. Right now, it's just us." She gave a quick glance around the empty space, her voice dropping to a mocking whisper. "Until my reinforcements arrive, of course."
Eyvind's jaw tightened, his knuckles whitening as he clenched his fists. His veneer of control was crumbling, replaced by a barely concealed desperation. "Don't think you can defeat us both!" he snarled, his voice nearly a growl as he began casting a spell. His hands moved in a series of complex gestures, dark energy crackling between his fingers.
Beside him, Nereid didn't waste a second. As soon as his father acted he rushed to meet Ivish directly
Ivish's eyes narrowed as she took a step back, her hand slipping into her cloak. With a quick motion, she pulled out several small steel spheres, tossing them to the ground between herself and her attackers. The room erupted in blinding white light, the steel balls releasing bursts of harsh, radiating energy that forced Eyvind and Nereid to shield their eyes, momentarily thrown off.
As the light dimmed, the room took on a different tone altogether. Shadows writhed across the floor as strange, twisted figures began emerging from the ground. Out of the orbs Ivish had tossed, mutated humans crawled and staggered forth, their bodies grotesquely misshapen.
Some had unnaturally elongated limbs that dragged across the floor; others moved with legs too short for their massive torsos, or heads that bobbed grotesquely on necks that seemed far too long. The most unsettling of them were the swollen toddlers, their heads large and misshapen, eyes empty and haunting as they wobbled forward, their bloated forms adding an air of grotesque horror to the room.
Some of the mutants were fused together at limbs, shoulders, or even their heads, writhing as they moved in grotesque unity. Others stretched in unnatural ways, their fingers and arms extending far beyond what should have been possible. They let out guttural growls, their bodies twitching as they surrounded Ivish like a protective shield, their empty eyes fixed on Eyvind and Nereid.
Nereid's face twisted in disgust as he beheld the creatures, his lip curling at the sight.
Ivish's hands moved swiftly, drawing two elongated daggers from her belt. The blades glinted in the dim light, each one longer and sharper than a typical dagger, their edges honed to deadly perfection. She held them with a confidence born of years of experience, her stance low and poised as she prepared for the coming clash.
Eyvind, unfazed by the sight of Ivish's minions, completed his spell with a furious intensity. He thrust his hands skyward, dark energy rippling from his fingertips as he uttered an incantation, his voice echoing with arcane power. The air above them shimmered, and suddenly, with a mighty roar, ten massive iron doors descended from above, crashing to the ground with earth-shaking force. Each door was inscribed with dark, ancient runes, and their heavy clang echoed like a death knell in the room.
The ground shuddered, and as the last door fell, a bone-chilling creak echoed through the space as they began to swing open one by one. From behind each door, figures emerged: armored warriors, each clad in heavy plate armor, carrying shields and swords that gleamed with a ghostly light. Their hollow eyes glowed faintly from behind their helmets, their movements slow yet relentless as they lumbered forward, each step resounding with the weight of death itself.
Nereid's blade sliced through the air as he closed the distance between him and Ivish. Ivish met his charge head-on, her daggers flashing as she parried his attack, her movements swift and precise.
Steel clashed against steel as Ivish and Nereid engaged. Nereid's strikes were powerful and precise, each one intended to be fatal, but Ivish matched him blow for blow, her daggers weaving through his defenses with deadly precision.
Meanwhile, Eyvind's summoned warriors began their assault on Ivish's mutated creatures. The undead soldiers marched forward in formation, shields raised as they met the twisted monstrosities head-on. A grotesque battle erupted as the mutants lunged forward, their limbs stretching unnaturally as they clawed and battered at the armored figures. The undead, unaffected by pain or fear, hacked and slashed with relentless precision, their swords cleaving through flesh and bone with mechanical efficiency.
One mutant, a large, malformed figure with a hulking frame and twisted limbs, swung a grotesquely long arm at one of the undead warriors, its fist connecting with a sickening crunch. The force of the blow dented the undead's helmet, but the soldier barely flinched, responding with a brutal slash that cleaved through the mutant's arm, sending it writhing back with a guttural scream.
Another of Ivish's creations, a toddler with an oversized head and hollow, sunken eyes, crawled toward the undead, its mouth opening in an unnatural scream as it lunged forward. The undead warrior met it with a powerful thrust of his shield, sending the creature sprawling backward before bringing his sword down in a clean, merciless strike.
Eyvind, standing at the back, began casting another spell, this one quicker and less demanding.