Hawis knew that his only chance to realize his dream of a peaceful life alongside Liliam and their future child depended on his ability to protect them with everything he possessed. He positioned himself in front of the broken door, feeling his heart pound fiercely and every muscle in his body preparing for battle. At the peak of his strength, he had been one of the most formidable Dark Rank Sentinels, a warrior who mastered darkness and the manipulation of elements with finesse, controlling fire and shadow to his advantage. And now, he would summon every drop of his power to face the horde of creatures that threatened him.
Inside the small house, what followed were hours of relentless fighting. The creatures came in endless waves, their distorted bodies lunging at him with brutal ferocity. He delivered precise strikes with his blade, cutting through flesh and shadows, while the fire he conjured burned the air and ground around him. With each movement, Hawis used his elemental skills to keep the advance of the creatures in check. He summoned intense flames that danced around him, forming an incandescent barrier and sweeping his enemies away in a storm of heat and destruction.
With every blow, he unleashed the energy of darkness, enveloping his blades in a black aura that penetrated the skin and soul of his opponents, instilling a fear that caused even the fiercest creatures to retreat. But their numbers were overwhelming. When one fell, another emerged to replace it, and he felt exhaustion mounting. The ground around him was littered with pieces of bodies and dissipated shadows, a scene that highlighted the magnitude of his endurance, but he knew it wouldn't last forever.
Finally, after hours of relentless battle, his body began to give way. His clothes were torn, and the ground was covered with fragments of his once indestructible blade, now shattered by the superhuman forces he faced. He tasted the bitter flavor of defeat, the pain of a warrior who had reached his limits.
When a colossal creature emerged, larger and more powerful than any other, an even more crushing pressure bore down on him. This entity not only stood out for its size but also for the aura of pure destruction and ambition it emanated. The creature's eyes gleamed with a cruel and hungry tone as they met Hawis's gaze. In that instant, he knew that this was not an ordinary opponent. It was a being driven by the intent to devastate, a personification of evil that could not be stopped by mere force.
The pressure the creature exerted was like an unbearable weight. He felt his vision darken, his mind bending under the impact, and finally, he collapsed, succumbing to exhaustion. Next to him, Liliam fainted, her fragile body unable to withstand the overwhelming tension. However, instead of killing them right there, the creature ordered that they be taken — the only ones in the village spared for a fate worse than death.
When Hawis regained consciousness, he found himself on a cold and imposing stone altar, surrounded by a sea of creatures of all shapes and sizes, a vision so terrifying that it surpassed even his worst nightmares. Next to him, Liliam lay motionless, alive but trapped in a deep and impenetrable sleep. He leaned over, checking her breathing, trying to wake her in vain. He stood up and inspected the surroundings: a legion of monsters watched him predatory, an army of fixed eyes and thirsty mouths, as if he and Liliam were being offered to satisfy some malevolent ritual.
Behind the altar stretched a black and unfathomable abyss, a pit of darkness that seemed to absorb any trace of hope. His heart filled with despair as he understood that, in those depths, death would not be liberation but a sentence of eternal anguish. The tension increased, the air became denser, and before he could react, an invisible force threw them into the abyss.
As they fell, Hawis grabbed Liliam with all his might. He tried to protect her fragile body, but the fall seemed endless. They did not know if they were falling for days, weeks, or even years. In the absolute void, time and space disintegrated, turning into endless torment. Gradually, he felt his hunger and thirst disappear, his senses dulling, as if the very abyss were draining his humanity.
As time passed, the bodies of Hawis and Liliam began to absorb the malignant energy of the abyss. Their bones became denser, resistant to an inhuman level, while their skins dried out, becoming almost like shells—fragile on the outside but grounded in obscure and immense power. Their souls were also transformed, slowly stripped of any remnants of humanity. The memories of happy days together began to fade, becoming distant and distorted memories. Their feelings were corrupted, replaced by an aura of hatred and disdain for life that permeated every fiber of their beings.
Hawis became a conduit of pure malignant energy, a presence of death that seemed to crush everything around him. He still held a trace of memory about Liliam, from the time they had spent together, but the warmth of that love no longer existed; it had transformed into something dark, a distant echo of who he once was.
Similarly, Liliam was transformed. Her pale skin contrasted with the almost metallic sheen of her silvery hair, which shimmered like strands of silver under the weak and spectral light of the underworld. Although her body was delicate, she radiated unmatched strength, an energy so intense and immeasurable that it made even the underworld creatures tremble. The love she once felt for Hawis had become a cold and distant memory, a deep and silent lake, lifeless and devoid of warmth.
With the presence of these two new beings, the underworld was forever altered. They were a supreme and unquestionable force, the monarchs of a realm where chaos and violence once reigned. Under their dominion, the underworld's creatures were unified, and a new order was established. What was once an anarchy of violence and destruction became an oppressive monarchy, where Hawis and Liliam, now transformed into entities of death and desolation, ruled with irrefutable laws.
Years passed, but one piece was still missing to complete the underworld monarchs' empire. Finally, in a display of power that reverberated through all the depths, the ruler of the Desolate Lands, as Liliam was known, felt an overwhelming pain. Fear coursed through her like a cold blade, an emotion forgotten but unmistakable. The air around became heavy and oppressive, so dense that no ordinary being could withstand it.
It was at that moment that the king approached her, monitoring her closely, like the only being who could resist the intensity of that energy. And then, from the depths of darkness and the power they had both conquered, a new entity was born.
The birth of Lilith, their first daughter, came into the world as a harbinger of a new era, a presence so strong that it would shake the underworld and bring a new order.