The ground was covered in flames and blood.
Smoke curled into the sky, blending with the smell of burning earth and steel. The battle felt like it had gone on forever, but the enemy kept coming, never slowing down.
Micheal was in the midst of the chaos, his golden fire swirling about him. His sword, now a part of him instead of a tool, pulsed with extreme power. Each blow unleashed streaks of fire that swept across the battlefield, cutting down enemy soldiers as effortlessly as a heated blade slicing through soft metal.
And yet, something was amiss.
The moment the Crimson Warlord had fallen, the battlefield should have been theirs. The war should have been won.
But then—abomination. The sky had darkened.
A pressure unlike anything Micheal and his friends had ever felt before bore down upon the earth. The flame at his back seared—of course, not from exhaustion, but from something far more wicked.
Jade, to his left, tensed. "They're coming."
Micheal's gaze swept wildly, hoping to glimpse whom before the world changed.
A cold, unnatural chill fell over the battlefield.
And then, out of the shadows, they came.
"The Arrival of the Dreadborn Knights"
Six figures stepped out of the shadows, covered in jagged black armor that appeared to draw in the very light around them. The figures wore cold, faceless armor, with only empty darkness where their eyes should have been.
They had no expression, no glimmer of humanity—only empty, evil voids that seemed to swallow all light and hope.
The worst part wasn't how they looked, though. It was the silence they carried with them.
The battlefield, once filled with screams and clashing weapons, grew strangely quiet. Even the enemy soldiers, who had been eager to fight, stepped back in fear.
Selene's breath stopped. "No… it can't be."
Kai clutched his daggers. "Dreadborn Knights."
Riven spat on the ground. "So, the real monsters finally show up."
Micheal had never seen them before, but something inside him recognized them.
His hand tightened further around his sword. "Who are they?"
Jade's voice was low, menacing. "The Crimson Warlord's personal enforcers. But not his own alone." Her gold-toned eyes blazed with a look that couldn't be read. "They answer to one higher than he."
Micheal didn't have a moment to speculate further.
Because the tallest knight stepped.
One instant, he had been yards away.
The next—before them.
Micheal had no time to respond. He raised his sword, barely deflecting the knight's strike at the last moment. The strike flung him backward, his boots tearing grooves in the ground.
The strength behind the strike was not mortal. His arms shook under the weight.
He clenched his teeth. This was different.
Fighting with these knights wasn't fighting with normal foes.
This… this was something entirely different.
And the Battle Begins....
Riven made the first move. In a blur of motion, he sprang forward, his twin blades flashing toward the knight's exposed flank.
Too slow.
The knight twisted oddly, dodging without even looking. A clawed gauntlet swung out
—
And Riven flew.
He crashed into a pile of wreckage, coughing as dust exploded around him.
Selene raised her hands, purple magic rising around her fingertips. "Binding Chains"
A second knight appeared behind her.
Before she could even respond, a brutal kick connected with her back, and she went flying.
Kai barely caught her before she crashed into the ground. "These creatures are fast," he snarled.
Jade was the next to act, a dagger appearing in her hand as she blinked behind the lead knight. Her blade struck for his throat—
But the knight grasped her wrist in mid-attack.
Jade's golden eyes widened.
"Predictable," the knight breathed.
He then flung her.
She rotated in mid-air, landing hard but rolling to her feet within a heartbeat. But Micheal saw the flicker of pain that passed over her face.
"They're toying with us," she growled. "Testing you."
Micheal's flames flared in outrage. "Then let's show them what we can do."
The team reassembled, a tight group, drawing a plan on how to fight back.
Selene's magic burst into the air, surrounding them with protective wards. Kai's daggers glowed with a deadly poison. Riven rose, bruised but grinning, his blades ready for the next strike.
And Jade… Jade's eyes burned with something wild.
Micheal drew a breath, trying to ignore the way his body shook from the last impact. "We can't beat them in a straight fight," he said. "But that doesn't mean we can't win."
Selene nodded. "A coordinated attack?"
"Exactly," Micheal confirmed. "Selene, upon my signal, blind them with light magic. Kai, Riven—strike their weak points while they're blinded."
Riven smiled. " Yeaaah! Finally, a plan I can get behind."
"And you?" Jade asked, her gaze locked on him intently.
Micheal's flames grew brighter.
"I'm going to remind them who I am."
Micheal struck first as Jade looks on.
He sprang at the tallest knight, his sword a burning arc of gold. The knight raised his huge blade to block—
"Now!" Micheal roared.
Selene released a flash of blinding white light.
The battlefield flickered, momentarily blinding their enemies.
Kai and Riven attacked—daggers and swords thrust into the narrow slits in their armor.
A knight staggered. Another howled in pain.
For the first time—they bled.
Micheal didn't wait.
He drove his sword ahead, golden fire erupting on contact.
The lead knight reeled back, his armor splitting from the force.
Micheal's heart pounded in his ears.
They weren't invulnerable.
They were hurtable.
The realization caused him a surge of strength. He moved forward, fire erupting to life, ready to drive home the attack.
But then.....
A dark, icy blade sank into his side.
The pain was immediate.
A burning, unnatural cold spread through his body, snuffing out his flames.
Micheal stumbled, gasping. Blood ran down his armor.
"MICHEAL!" Selene screamed.
Jade's eyes widened in terror.
The black-clad knight stood towering above him, his black sword covered in Micheal's blood.
"You are not ready," he whispered.
Micheal's world blurred. The world Revolved.
And then—everything was dark.