The air tasted like rust, thick with the scent of decaying flesh and something far older, something that carried the stench of death before death had a name. Kaelis could feel it gnawing at his senses as the twisted creature before him the one who had just spoken with his voice lurched forward. It was no longer merely a mass of fused souls and contorted limbs. Now, it was something far more horrifying: a reflection of himself, born from his own soul's fractured shard.
Kaelis gripped his sword tighter, the Hellfire Chakra pulsing through the blade in waves of ravenous heat, as though the weapon itself hungered for the blood of the abomination in front of him. His body screamed in protest, muscles torn and shredded from the last battle, but the pain barely registered. The fire inside him was burning too hot to care.
The creature that was now him or perhaps more than him let out a low, guttural growl, a sound that vibrated the air like a grotesque heartbeat. Its face, a writhing amalgamation of his features, twisted and melted, reshaping constantly, as if reality itself was sickened by its existence. Its eyes his eyes flashed crimson, burning with the same demonic light as the blood-red eclipse hanging high above, casting jagged shadows across the scorched ground.
"Do you see it, Kaelis?" the beast growled, the voice a mocking echo of his own. "Do you feel it? The abyss calls us both. We are one. You cannot run from what you are."
Kaelis's skeletal arm twitched, the infernal fire surging through it in response to the creature's taunt. He could feel the pull of the abyss, like hooks sinking into his soul, dragging him deeper into the madness that swirled around them. His memories blurred at the edges, blending with those of the Fragmented, the countless souls the creature had devoured. For a moment, he saw flashes of their final moments their screams, their agony, the blackened void swallowing them whole.
"I'm not like you," Kaelis spat, taking a step forward, flames licking at his boots. "I still have my soul. You're just a monster a twisted reflection of what I could have been."
The creature let out a guttural laugh, its form shifting grotesquely, bones cracking and popping as new limbs sprouted from its back long, clawed, and grotesque, each one adorned with rotting flesh and exposed muscle. Its laughter echoed through the abyss, sending ripples through the unstable ground beneath their feet.
"I am what you will become," it hissed, its voice now a thousand voices, each one overlapping in a chaotic symphony of agony. "The Hellfire consumes everything. Even you. Especially you."
Kaelis felt the heat surge within him, his vision blurring as the flames pulsed brighter, hotter. His cursed arm crackled with energy, the skeletal fingers twitching involuntarily. He could feel the fire eating away at him from the inside, gnawing at his soul like ravenous wolves, but he couldn't stop now. He wouldn't stop.
Behind him, Lyra's voice cut through the madness, sharp and steady. "Kaelis! Focus. Don't let it in."
He glanced back at her, her masked face expressionless, but her stance was as poised as ever, her twin blades gleaming in the infernal light. She was always the steady one the anchor to his storm. But even she couldn't understand the pull of the Hellfire. No one could.
"Keep it busy," Kaelis growled through gritted teeth. "I have a plan."
"A plan?" Lyra scoffed. "You look like you're one step away from turning into that thing."
"Trust me," Kaelis shot back, the flames flaring brighter along his arm. "Just… trust me."
With a nod, Lyra darted forward, her movements fluid as she engaged the creature. Her blades flashed in the dim light, cutting deep into the beast's writhing flesh, but for every limb she severed, another sprouted in its place. Black ichor oozed from the wounds, sizzling as it hit the ground, but the creature barely flinched, its grotesque body regenerating almost instantly.
Kaelis could feel the pull of the shard even more strongly now, throbbing within him, urging him to give in, to let the Hellfire consume everything burn it all to ash. But he wasn't ready to become that monster. Not yet.
Summoning every ounce of his will, he plunged his flaming sword into the ground, the infernal flames spreading out in a jagged circle around him, forming a burning barrier that even the abyss seemed to recoil from. The heat was unbearable, the flames licking at his legs and arms, but it was necessary. He needed to contain the chaos before it consumed him completely.
He closed his eyes, focusing on the shard that still pulsed within him, feeling its connection to the abomination in front of him. They were tied together two pieces of the same broken soul. If he could harness the shard's power, bend it to his will, he could destroy the creature from the inside.
The creature roared in fury, its many faces twisting in unison as it lunged toward him, but Lyra was faster. She moved like a shadow, her blades slicing through the air with deadly precision, severing the creature's outstretched claws before they could reach Kaelis.
"Whatever you're doing," she shouted over the creature's wails, "do it faster."
Kaelis ignored the pain that seared through his body as he focused on the shard, drawing its chaotic energy into himself. His cursed arm trembled, the Hellfire surging with uncontrollable power, but he held on, forcing the flames to bend to his will. He could feel the shard now its power, its pain and with a final, desperate surge, he reached out with his mind, pulling it closer.
The world around him seemed to shatter, dissolving into a blur of light and sound. He was no longer standing on the cracked ground of the abyss. Instead, he was floating in a sea of darkness, the only light coming from the faint, pulsing glow of the shard in front of him.
It was small, barely the size of his palm, but it radiated a power that was ancient and terrifying. Kaelis could feel the weight of countless souls trapped within it, their voices screaming in anguish, begging for release. He hesitated for a moment, but then, with a final, determined breath, he reached out and grasped the shard in his skeletal hand.
The moment his fingers closed around it, his mind exploded with pain.
The abyss vanished, replaced by a swirling maelstrom of memories his memories, the creature's memories, and the memories of every soul the shard had ever consumed. It was overwhelming, a torrent of suffering and torment that threatened to drown him, but Kaelis held on, forcing himself to stay afloat in the chaos.
He could see the truth now the truth of the shard, of the Eclipse, of the blood-red sun that hung in the sky above. This was not just a battle for his soul. This was a war for the very fabric of reality, and the shard was the key.
With a scream of rage, Kaelis tore the shard from the creature's core, ripping it free from the abomination's body. The creature howled in agony, its many faces contorting in horror as its form began to unravel, its limbs collapsing into piles of rotting flesh and bone.
Kaelis staggered back, his body trembling with exhaustion, but he held the shard tightly in his hand, its power now his to command.
The creature was dead.
But the war was just beginning.