The ground trembles beneath our feet as the five Skeleton Lords rise together, their glowing eyes piercing through the mist of the graveyard.
Each one embodies a different weapon—sword, spear, bow, and wand—while the unarmed, pendant-wearing version stands at the center, its presence alone exuding an unshakable dominance.
Rhy wore a look of pure resolve—one I'd seen only once before.
It was the same expression Sho had given me, a gaze of absolute dominance, the look of someone who knew annihilation was inevitable.
With a swift motion, she swung her hand, and a black shadow erupted around us, encasing the battlefield like one of Tenshi's shields.
The bow-wielding Skeleton Lord moves first, drawing back its stringless weapon.
The very air around it bends, forming an arrow of pure mana. It looses the shot, and the projectile screams through the graveyard like a comet.
Rhy exhales.
A step. A blur. A slash.
The arrow never lands. Instead, the Skeleton Lord is gone—reduced to nothing but a shockwave that flattens the surrounding tombstones. The skeleton's bones scatter in all directions before disintegrating into dust.
The spear-wielding Skeleton Lord thrusts forward, its attack sharp enough to split mountains. The ground behind it fractures from sheer force, but before the strike connects—
A single chop.
The shadows itself split apart. The Skeleton Lord is cleaved in two, its halves collapsing lifelessly before fading into the void.
The sword-wielding Skeleton Lord swings its colossal blade. It carves a path through the battlefield with enough force to turn a castle into rubble. But Rhy doesn't step back.
She steps forward.
A flicker—no, a flash.
One second the Skeleton Lord is whole. The next, it isn't. The only thing left of it is a crater where it once stood.
The wand-wielding Skeleton Lord channels all the mana in the graveyard, its skeletal frame unable to contain the sheer magical force it's unleashing. A tempest of destruction swirls around it.
Rhy grins.
The moment before the spell is released, she vanishes. When she reappears, her fist is buried deep in the Skeleton Lord's chest. Its body cracks apart like shattered glass, fragments of bone drifting away before they cease to exist.
That leaves one.
The pendant-wearing Skeleton Lord watches its fallen counterparts, unshaken. Slowly, it lifts its bony fingers to its chest, clutching the pendant as if daring Rhy to take it. Its body begins to reconstruct, bones rising from the graves around them, fusing into its form.
"You finally made it," Rhy says, rolling her shoulders. "Now let me show you why I'm ranked three."
The graveyard quakes.
Rhy doesn't move. She vanishes.
Then, the world erupts.
A blow lands. Not just on the Skeleton Lord, but on the very concept of its existence. The force is so overwhelming that the pendant shatters instantly, its fragments scattering like falling stars. The Skeleton Lord has no time to react—it doesn't get the chance to reform.
It simply ceases to be.
Silence falls.
The graveyard, once teeming with an army of undead, is now empty. The air is still. The only sign of what transpired is the shattered ground beneath Rhy's feet.
She exhales, stretching lazily. "Tch. Thought they'd last a little longer."
With a smirk, she steps forward.
The graveyard is silent. The once-roaring battlefield, filled with the deafening clashes of weapons and magic, now lies in ruins.
The ground is shattered, graves turned to rubble, and the lingering essence of the fallen Skeleton Lords slowly dissipates into the air.
I watched Rhy from a distance, my body tense, hands clenched into fists. The sheer destruction she caused—it was terrifying.
"You were toying with them the whole time," I yelled, barely believing what they just witnessed.
Rhy flicks the dust off her gloves, glancing over her shoulder with a smirk.
"Of course I was." She stretches, cracking her neck. "Had to bait out the four other Lords."
A new, chilling presence washes over the graveyard, heavier than before. The shattered remains of the Skeleton Lords begin to move—not reforming, but sinking into the earth, vanishing as if devoured by something unseen.
A portal materialized before us—one unlike any I had ever seen. It shimmered with a deep yellow hue, its edges crackling with energy.
Without hesitation, Rhy stepped forward, disappearing into the glow. Reyna followed right after her, vanishing into the unknown.